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PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRRGGGH

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Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

And I thought I was the only one who kept all the old clapped out parts that I changed out of my car; looks like the packrat gene is alive and well in this group!
Come to think of it I've got timing chains and gears and stuff for cars I haven't owned in 20 years in the garage.
 
Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

So, you have all the parts in boxes of one type or another. Maybe all over the place or even in one place. If you are doing a total off the frame restoration how do you keep up with what part is where? If you are going to re-furbish the tranny, for instance, how do you know where all the parts are, to do the job?

Tinkerman the Curious.
 
Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

i know this isnt going to help much, but all my stuff goes into the same boxes and not seperated....i normally can pull out a part and remeber where it went if i cant then i can always pull out the parts books or workshop manual. i keep stuff seperated by the major assembly it came from, for instance all my engine bolts are in one box etc etc. when you do this for a while youll probably do the same thing, you get good at visualizing where parts came from.
Randy
 
Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

zblu said:
Over here the termites love cardboard for breakfast
Click to expand...

Here too. I lost HUNDREDS of dollars' worth of gaskets to those things. Didn't realize they'd "ingressed" 'til I went to the gasket box for a needed piece only to find they'd eaten the box AND a goodly number of the gaskets inside, leaving their spoor to ruin the inedible ones! I ~HATE~ those things. Now ALL stuff is stored in plastic containers. And WAR has been declared on any and all insects within my patch. Scorched earth philosophy engaged.
 
Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

I put something called termimesh in the floorslab, stopped the lil buggas in their tracks, looks something like flyscreenmesh
 
Re: PARTS, parts, Parts, parts, par..........ARRRR

For storing parts during the restoration I use the large clear storage boxes as pictured earlier. I have also found the new cat litter containers to be fantastic for storing the heavier items such as brake and suspension parts. They are sturdy, stackable and come with a carry handle.
 
Doing a full restoration does take courage and patients, keeping all those pieces, fastners, washers, etc in a organized collection can be challenging. I used plastic containers from dairy products and zip lock bags to contain all the pieces of any one assembly and labeled the containers. As mentioned prior by other members a good photo collection is important, manuals do not always show you everything. I rebuild whatever unit I take off before removing another, that way things do not get mixed up or forgotten too quickly. That way I put into storage these newly rebuilt assemblies so that once the framework is redone and your ready to rebuild it back up, things are ready to go together. Taking on a 1950 Triumph Mayflower right now so I know what you are facing.
I am sure your finished car will be fantastic.

Cheers

Larry4a
 
I have reread this thread several times now. I thank all of you that tossed in your thoughts.
I have been using rubbermade tubs approx 14 x 22 x 8, 12 of them in fact, to put parts in. Mostly in plastic gallon and quart size plastic bags. Each tub is numbered and I use a spread sheet to keep up with it all using the Stanparts numbering system. I put out the question because even though I feel that I have a good system it still breaks down. Most probably operator error, heh.
Anyhow by re-reading the thread I think I have figured out the flaw in my system. Several of you mentioned keeping up with the parts by assembly ie: engine, front suspension. electrical and so forth. I feel that the major weakness in my system is that I have engine parts mixed in with elec stuff and so forth.
Some of you have already done that and my question is what description did you use. Did you use the Stanpart section title or did you base it on another system. Would like to know because I feel that I need to take the time and fix it cause it is giving me a fit.

Thanks to all of you, Tinkerman
 
I put them in the same type tubs as you after they are removed and either cleaned or rebuilt. Extra new parts or electrical (rebuilt distributors, etc.) stay in the basement near the workbench and used parts stay in the garage.

I'm too lazy to be any more organized than that, but I guess that I do have them separated by category, as in suspension, brakes, etc., but that was more by accident than by design.
 
Tinkerman said:
Did you use the Stanpart section title or did you base it on another system.
Click to expand...
I use a mixture of the Stanpart section title and my own ad hoc system. For example "electrical" got too big, so I broke it down into "ignition", "lamps" and "other". The idea is just to know what box to look in, so use whatever makes sense to you.
 
Thanks Paul, I'm going to bite the bullet and get it done this weekend. I feel that has been the missing link in my retrievals ystem.
First car that I ever did a frame off restoration on was a 1927 LaSalle BIG sedan. I spent more time looking for the parts I took off then I did re-assembling them. I have gradually gotten better at it but I get really frustrated when I can't find the pats that I know I have somewhere.
I really have to fix the blame on ME, hate it though, sigh.

Any how, on to a more organized system.

Regards, Tinkerman
 
Aloha Tinkerman,

I'm sure that if you occasionally buy parts from either Moss Motors or Victoria British, you receive a catalog about every six months or so. Keep the old ones to cut up and stick in your boxes (type is your choice, but I like Randall's Coscto type). Mark up the catalog pages with what you have in the box as an inventory, a colored hi-liter is an easy method. The catalogs are generally grouped by systems or sub systems so you don't have to use to many pages per box. Another plus is that most of the parts are illustrated. I would also suggest you name and perhaps number the boxes with an outside label to make it easy to find something.

If you really want to keep an inventory of usable disassembled parts, you can make an spread sheet of what you have by box and what you need to maybe buy. The catalogs provide the parts with a commonly used descriptive name and you can add the part number to your spread sheet also. Keeping the inventory on your computer, solves a problem of bugs eating the paper in the box.
 
Aloha Dave, thanks for the goood ideas. One of the things I like about the BCF are the ideas from so many folks. Prior to this I had thrown the catalogs away as new ones came in. Won't do that anymore.

Thanks, Tinkerman
 
MGTF1250Dave:
What line of work are you in?
(system sounds very good)
 
Aloha Patrick,

I'm a sales engineer for a manufacturer's representative business selling HVAC equipment. Thanks, I just figured you might as well do something with all those catalogs.
 
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