In This Chapter
► Getting the best tools for your money
► Determining which tools you need to buy (and which ones you can just borrow)
► Stocking a trunk compartment toolbox
► Making your list and checking it twice: A tool checklist to take with you to the auto parts store
Whether you’re trying to cook up a decent meal, paint a picture, run an WW office, or work on your car, you’re only as good as your tools. Just as you can’t slice tomatoes super-thin with a bent, rusty, dull knife, and you can’t type a professional-looking letter on a broken-down typewriter, you can’t do any kind of job on your engine if you lack the means to loosen or remove parts, clean or gap them, reinstall them, adjust them, and test the results.
Before you run off to return this topic because you aren’t prepared to spend a lot of money on tools that you’ll probably never use again after you ruin your engine or cut off your thumb, let me tell you that all you really need are a few basic implements, and they’re not very expensive. (I’ll deal with the engine and your thumb later.) In this chapter, I list and describe the tools you need for working on your vehicle. You may be surprised at how many of them you already own, and in the event that you do need to buy a few, I give you pointers on getting value for your money.
