I'm going to try this out. I'm a bit of an improviser at times, don't always have the right tool at the time. So I've learnt to make do, with varying success. Sure, there are classics like the coat hanger aerial and alfoil fuse, but let's see who has used what to get by? I have undone and retightened a rear wheel axle nut with a hammer and cold chisel because no one brought a decent sized spanner. But the most recent tool that really inspired this thread was a ⅜" ratchet with ½" slide bar head: And you're welcome! :-D
I cant wait to see what custom tool's @Murdo put's up Here's a couple of mine Carby mixture screw adjuster, 5mm pvc hose heated and slipped over a small flat screwdriver bit Clutch nut tool, 17mm socket cut down to suit the clutch lock nut, then case hardened And a spark gap tester tool, spark plug with electrode removed and an alligator clip welded to the side and an adjustable length thread for the earth strap
I cut a rather crude version from a piece of pipe to undo the triple clamp but on an R1. A socket gives you the drive, too, unlike mine
Forgot about my diy Manometer I'll have to swap out the red water for some 75wt oil if i ever want to use it again, the water easily suck's up a tube if the carby's are way off being balanced Here's a sanding roll, good for porting and cleaning up casting mark's etc made from a bit of rod with a 1mm slit cut in it so you can slide some sandpaper/emery cloth in, then use it with a cordless or electric drill And my commutator cleaner/polisher (Not really a custom tool though) One of many home made spoke tightening tool's Spark plug thread chaser Just cut a slot into the side of an old spark plugs' thread so it can be used as a thread cleaner / chaser (pic isn't too good)
Portable air in a can Solder an old Schrader valve into the top of an old aerosol tin And refillable paint aerosol Same as above but with a 1/8 npt filler plug soldered in
For the carb sync tool, if seal the tubes to the lid, use a glass jar, fill it with oil (atf is good), then it is less likely to draw the fluid as far up the tubes as the pressure in the jar drops quickly.
On the left is a ghetto tool I made for doing the fork oil level on the zxr front forks. It's made from a choke plate from a ryobi whipper snipper with a piece of Honda civic brake line soldered to it with a bit of hose and a syringe . On the right is a tool for holding the piston rod in the forks while putting the spring on. It's a piece of Diesel train fuel line welded to a Honda shock absorber nut (**** weld from running out of argoshield whoops)
It's an adapter for a compression tester: a nut welded to a nut with a spark plug thread screwed in. The electrode of the plug is used to screw in/out the adapter. Sure, you could turn a pretty one out of brass, but I don't have a lathe, so I'm king of bodgey!
The threads in the nut don't even match the spark plugs... I'm THAT dodgey! If @Murdo went to quickly knock one up on the lathe for a one-off, he'd probably still run the knurling tool on it at the end because it just wouldn't be right half done. Not to mention the threads actually being aligned.
While we are on tools, these are some I have made in the past to get a job done. With Evilbay I now buy what I need if possible, but will sometimes still have to make some. While I have the CBR head on the bench, these are some I made for doing valve re-cuts. To get the old valve seals off down in the spring holes I made this. To put seals back on this one.
I was worried about getting a poor compression reading if there is too much volume between the chamber and the valve. Do you have a valve in the low end, @Murdo ?
The ones I have seen have had small diameter tube to clear the head.. mostly to keep the volume down.. but really, compression testing is for a guide only.. you get far more info from leak-down testing.
Some more home made tools for specific jobs (some not pretty but worked ok). This one for getting a bearing out of a blind hole. Fit into bearing and as bolt is screwed in it expands the 'fingers' to get a good grip on the bearing and can then be pulled out with slide hammer. 'C' spanners.