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MGB Wise tool investment - if you can find one

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Boggsy64

Boggsy64

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I inherited a bunch of tools from my dad. One that has REALLY come in hand when working on my B is his old "rigid" universal joint 3/8" ratchet adapter. This adapter allows access, and work, on many fasteners I would have killed myself to get at. One prime example was the nuts holding the dash on. Using several extensions and the universal adapter I could reach the nuts easily, even around the wiring harness. Also used this jointed adapter to get at the front cross member bolts. If you can find one I would strongly recommend adding this to your tool box!
 
Show us a picture of it if you can...
 
I looked on Ebay and found a picture and lots of these for sale. universal joint .jpg
 
Snap-On now gets $40 for a ÂĽ" one. :crazyeyes:

They used to give them away as promo trinkets!!

For the stuff in places like the crash-pad bolts I have both SAE and metric swivel socket sets in 1/4" and 3/8" drive.
 
Yes my dad used to own a service station in the early 60's and I think he received these then (maybe as freebies?). There is also a small set of universal jointed sockets in various socket sizes. I have carried them for years in my toolbox and just never found a use for them, until the MGB! (now they have become "goto" attachments).
 
Snap-On passed out their small U-joints as key-rings, the pivot pin was removed and rings put thru the resulting two holes in each piece. Convenient way to detach the car key from a set of others to reduce the stress on the iggy switch.

I consider those quarter-drive socket sets invaluable. I work (and worked) primarily on Euro-trash cars, so a lot of the fasteners were in hard-to-access places... Porsche, Alfa and Rolls come to mind as the prime suspects.
 
I need to add in a few of these little helpers -- though with the Bugeye there are fewer hard-to-reach bits. Just fewer bits in general, really. Still, every time I've added a new specialty tool and then done the job it was meant for, I'm always reminded of how nice the right tool for the job is.
 
Something else that I just found is "wobble" extensions at Harbor Freight. They let the socket or another extension angle a little, so they don't flop over completely, but still "swivel". And they aren't too pricey.
FWIW
 
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