Taking Pictures For Reference

[Norm's Coupe]

I know this has been posted before by myself and others over the years. But, since there are a lot of newer people since then, thought I'd post this.

Regardless if you have a service manual and parts manual for your car, we should never take apart a car, or part of the car without first taking detailed pictures of what we are taking off, before taking it off. That way we won't forget how it goes back together again. After all sometimes it doesn't get put back for a year or more for various reasons. If working on something like the interior, or something that needs measuring, we should measure that on the old and write the measurements down on the picture. Or, in the case of the interior, you could keep the old door panel until you make and finish the new one. That way, you have the pattern of where everything goes. That's much better than a picture. But.........still take a picture first, just in case.

Your pictures (if done in great detail) is actually better than any parts or service manual pictures you may have. For example, the linkage for the carb, transmission, etc. I have pictures of my engine compartment for just about every inch of it, taken before I started taking anything off. When I pulled the headliner, I took detailed pictures of around the doors and windows prior to removing it. Also with the headliner out and pictures of just how the windlace was installed (again, every inch) and the clamps for the headliner over the door. Even pictures of the sunvisors as I took those apart and the package shelf when I removed it.

Save those pictures for reference for when you go to put everything back together, and they will be the most valuable thing you have for the car. Plus, if you want, it makes a nice scrapbook of what you've done when the car is done, if it ever gets done.

[Young Ed]

Norm I will sure second that. My truck was about as taken apart as it could be when I bought it. I had no reference pictures. I eventually got some from dads pickup and from junkyard trucks but the rest was a lot of work figuring stuff out. There are many things I had to do multiple times before I got it right.

[Merle Coggins]

The old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words", is so true. My truck was partially disassembled when I got it. I ended up asking for pictures from people here, and I spent some time around one of ToddB's trucks trying to figure out how things were supposed to be.

I also took a lot of pictures of my truck as I disassembled it. I referenced many of those photos during the assembly process. However, I found that I wished I had taken more pics when I had the chance. It's hard, though, to stop in the middle of a task to get the camera and take a few pics, then go back to work. But I often wished I had done just that.

I also found Ziploc freezer bags VERY usefull. As I took a section apart I put all of the hardware and small parts into the bags. The freezer bags have a area on them that allows you to write on them with a marker, and it won't rub off. Use a Sharpie and label each bag as to what the hardware or small pieces belong to. Later when you're reassembling things you be glad you did it. It's much easier to find all of the appropiate hardware for the "dash", "driver's door", "cowl vent", etc... if they're all together and labeled. The bags come in different sizes. I mostly used the quart and gallon size. Get a couple boxes of them and a Sharpie the next time your at the grocery store, and keep them in your tool box.

Merle

[Young Ed]

Merle I need some sorta grease proof coating for my camera that would really help. I find I don't stop often enough because of the time involved with cleaning up taking the pic etc

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed,

That's where rags, handi wipes or waterless hand cleaner comes into play. Keep those around for quick hand clean ups, so you don't get the camera full of grease. Or, just make it a point to take the time to do it by stopping and washing your hands the slow way.

[Niel Hoback]

Wanna try putting the camera in a baggie and see what kind of picture you get? If it works, let us know.

[Norm's Coupe]

Almost forgot. One reason I keep rags handy when working on the car is so I can wipe them off before picking up another tool. After using a tool for whatever, I immediately grab a rag, wipe the oil or grease off my hands, then off the tool. Then and only then do I pick up another tool to continue the job.

Not only are my tools clean and ready to put back in the drawer when finished, I don't have grease and oil on my clothes either.

[blueskies]

The hundreds of photos I took of my car became the basis for my website, www.50plymouth.com.

The photos were invaluable in putting my car back together, because of the time lapse between taking it apart and the re-assembly. Some parts of the car sat in boxes for years. There is no way I would have remembered how some things went.

And now the same photos have helped hundreds of others who didn't take the photos for themselves... The internet is an amazing thing.

I also used zip lock bags and a sharpie. This was probably the best advice I've been given about a car project. I still have a box full of small parts in labled bags for my interior, waiting to go back on the car after the upholstery gets done.

Pete

[TodFitch]

Almost forgot. One reason I keep rags handy when working on the car is so I can wipe them off before picking up another tool. After using a tool for whatever' date=' I immediately grab a rag, wipe the oil or grease off my hands, then off the tool. Then and only then do I pick up another tool to continue the job.

Not only are my tools clean and ready to put back in the drawer when finished, I don't have grease and oil on my clothes either.[/quote']

Just how many rags (or other cleaning cloths) do you go through on a simple job, say repacking the front wheel bearings?

Maybe I just don't have enough shop cloths, because I seem to run out of clean cloths long before the job is completed. That is one reason that I have started using disposable gloves. At least my hands stay clean now even if my tools and shop overalls get a bit dirty before the end of the job.

[TodFitch]

...snip...

And now the same photos have helped hundreds of others who didn't take the photos for themselves... The internet is an amazing thing.

...snip...

It is also helpful for the hundreds of others who got the coffee cans full of unidentifiable parts from the previous owner and did not have a chance to photograph them in situ.

[RobertKB]

Almost forgot. One reason I keep rags handy when working on the car is so I can wipe them off before picking up another tool. After using a tool for whatever' date=' I immediately grab a rag, wipe the oil or grease off my hands, then off the tool. Then and only then do I pick up another tool to continue the job.

Not only are my tools clean and ready to put back in the drawer when finished, I don't have grease and oil on my clothes either.[/quote']

I like putting my tools away clean also. However, I usually wait until the job I am doing is finished and then I will wipe down every tool before putting it away.

[jimainnj]

here's a lesson I learned th hard way, " i don't need too take pic or mark parts"

A little over 2 years ago I started tearing apart th 70 challenger, dash gauages, panels etc. I got a little anginia in my throat and my jaw got very tight just before a I got finished taking things apart and sending out most of the parts, well it happened again, (no pain down the arm or chest pain) wife said go to Doctor I did and he put me in the Hospital for a bypass

of the widow maker clogg up, You can see where 3 months later I had to put stuff back, what a night mare, I take pictures and tag it all now, even the horn I just rewired. I hope maybe this long winded post will help,sign's of an Attack there not all the same. Jim

[Norm's Coupe]

Tod,

I always have lots of rags around. You can never have too many. Whenever I go to a swap meet I will usually pick up a bundle or two of the large blue rags like they use in hospitals. I think they are actually used rags from hospitals that are cleaned and resold as shop rags. I have also trained the wife to never throw away old bath towels. I put those in a large plastic tote container. Then when needed I cut them up into smaller hand rags and use those too.

Usually when working with wheel bearings I may go through 3 or 4 or more rags. But........that's ok, I have lots. Before I start a job like that, I will lay the rags right next to the work area so they are handy at all times. If I end up using the one for my hands to clean a part, I'll get up and pull another one from the cabinet in the garage. Always have about 8 to 12 of the blue rags or ones I have cut up from towels folded up in the cabinet of the garage and the cabinet in the basement shop. That way I don't have to stop in the middle of a project to cut a rag.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't wash and save rags after using them. Once the rag is too dirty to use, it goes in the garbage.

RobertKB,

I use to wait until I was finished to clean the tools too. Doing it that way though, sometimes the tools didn't get put away right away because I didn't clean them up. So, they may sit out for a few days. So.........started doing it as I used them. Either way, it doesn't take any more time. There's nothing worse in my book than picking up a dirty tool, and getting dirty from it when you shouldn't get dirty for a particular job.

jimainnj,

Glad you caught that problem before it became more serious.

[Don Coatney]

I buy the big rag bundle at Sams Klub for about ten bucks. I used up one bundle rebuilding my engine and drivetrain. I am about 1/2 way through my second bundle. So for twenty bucks I am set on rags for about 10 years at the rate I am going. I do sometimes wash them if they are not too greasy.

[Normspeed]

Since I retired I'm cutting up all my work clothing for shop rags.

[dezeldoc]

here's a lesson I learned th hard way, " i don't need too take pic or mark parts"

A little over 2 years ago I started tearing apart th 70 challenger, dash gauages, panels etc. I got a little anginia in my throat and my jaw got very tight just before a I got finished taking things apart and sending out most of the parts, well it happened again, (no pain down the arm or chest pain) wife said go to Doctor I did and he put me in the Hospital for a bypass

of the widow maker clogg up, You can see where 3 months later I had to put stuff back, what a night mare, I take pictures and tag it all now, even the horn I just rewired. I hope maybe this long winded post will help,sign's of an Attack there not all the same. Jim

My 37 Ford p/u I pulled it apart 28yrs ago and did not mark anything but I have pics but lost them! that is gonna be a pain figuring it out. Anyway I always take a ton of pics and bag or box and mark everything as the cars come apart. I had a customer one time that had a 74 vette I restored for him and the ol boy brought me a factory manual to make sure I got every nut and bolt back where they belong, never thought he was gonna be happy and low and behold happy as a clam and became a very good friend. I miss the ol boy.

[Californian]

Norm ,You hit it ball out of the park when you said,

"Regardless if you have a service manual and parts manual for your car, we should never take apart a car, or part of the car without first taking detailed pictures of what we are taking off, before taking it off. That way we won't forget how it goes back together again"

With the invention of the PC & Digital Camera and flatbed scanners it has all aidded us and others in the catologing of all important information. Now we have the tools to do what Norm pointed out...When something with a lot of parts is taken apart I clean the parts and lay it out in order and then I take a digital photo thats what I didn't do before digital cameras , back then I just cleaned and layed it out in order...Inspect and put in a box & get the parts needed...

Forty years ago when I started this MoPar quest there was always an example car to be found and some things don't change much on these Mopars in a few years, I do remember being at the Chry-Ply dealer looking at the parts book to get that rubber grommet that went in the trans shift linkage on P15's and up and when worn out it made it hard to get into reverse on a hill ... I built motorcycles from aquired parts and it was the parts book and knowledge of others that helped me put things together right....It was back then wheather at a swapmeet or finding a wrecking yard or auto parts house going out of business I scored an orginal Holanders interchange book and Mopar parts books or one that was really great and was free when buying parts from them, was a Mitchell Motors catolog from when they were in Ohio in 1983 or on the M/C side and outfit called Kick-Start that used the Harley Davidson parts, their book had diagrams and pages from a Book called Question and Answers. They all used OEM diagrams in their parts books, bottom line it's all about the right information...

The point I make is that a lot of this info is being repoped and if your in it for the long hall its worth geting the info that pertains to what your into....It used to be you could ask the counter person at your parts house if they had last years TRW, Esis, Mcquay Noorris, Champion catologs and when they got new ones they would let you have the old ones...great source for sizing charts for intake & exhaust valves & springs and guides and spark plug heat range charts...

Rags ,Vinyl gloves ,cleaning solvent or paint thinner is the same thing and acetone in a spray bottle will save a lot on brake clean and clean up oil or grease spots on the floor with a rag, before brake clean we used to use Carbon Techrachloride (cleaning solvent) to clean oil or grease off the brake linnings.. Those freezer bags mentioned in this thread are great for keeping small parts grouped together...

happy wrenchin,

Tom (09)

[DutchEdwin]

Norm,

When I took my car apart I tool lost of pictures, stored them on the hard disk of my PC, looked if the closeups where good and went on with the project.

Al parts with label and small ones in a zip bag. All good until.........

MY HARDDISK CRASHED!

It was just a week before I planned to go the the shop to get a backup disk.

Luckily I was able to recover most pictures from the crashed HD but a lot of the pictures taken from reassembling my engine, cataloging all the measurements and adjustings where not recovered.

So in addition to your advise, GET A BACKUP DISK.

For the dirty hand and clean expensive digital camera, I use big plastic gloves I put over my hands when I'm using the camera. The inside of the glove gets dirty, not the camera, and more important, no plastic in front of the lens.

The gloves I take from the gas station. Over Here it is common to use these gloves when you put diesel in your tank, to prevent to get diesel on your hands.

[blueskies]

...For the dirty hand and clean expensive digital camera, I use big plastic gloves I put over my hands when I'm using the camera....

I do just the opposite... I use the surgical gloves you can buy by the box at the hardware store and wear them for working on the car. When I need to snap a pic, I peel off one glove, toss it, and take the pic. The gloves are cheap, and I don't have to scrub the fingerprints off of my hands to get the grime off. Not to mention the carcinogens absorbed into the skin from solvents like Brake-Clean... I rarely do anything on the car without the the gloves.

Pete

[Norm's Coupe]

I guess you could say I'm "Old School". Don't worry about getting solvents on my hands. We didn't worry about such things when I started working on cars years ago. I'll still use gasoline, kerosene or some other solvent to clean my hands once in awhile.

Also. Guys, I bought and started on my coupe long before I even thought about buying a digital camera. All of the pictures I took was with a 35mm Film camera, using rolls of film and having them developed. Also all of those pictures on my website were taken with the same camera, except the ones that are of the sun visors rebuild and carpet that was digital. I just scanned all of the 35mm photos to put them onto the site. That way I don't have to worry about the computer crashing. I can just rescan them.

Now, when I do wheel bearings I still don't wear gloves. However, when I pack the grease into the hub and bearings, I use a plastic sandwich baggy. Just pull it over my hand and it serves as a glove. Hands really don't get full of grease that way. Put the baggy over the hands, pull out a glob of grease and just pack it in. Then toss the baggy when I'm done. It's cheaper than buying surgical gloves and does the same job. If you want, you could also use the baggy over the hands to take your digital pictures when the hands are dirty.

Again, not worried about the solvents in the grease. It's just that a lot grease is hard to get cleaned off your hands. That's the only time I use the baggy as a glove.

[Flatie46]

I'm a big fan of the disposeable gloves, never thought I'd use em. I tried them at work on some really nasty jobs and they saved a lot of time plus my hands get really dry in the winter from all the washin.

[old woolie]

I guess you could say I'm "Old School". Don't worry about getting solvents on my hands. We didn't worry about such things when I started working on cars years ago. I'll still use gasoline' date=' kerosene or some other solvent to clean my hands once in awhile.

Also. Guys, I bought and started on my coupe long before I even thought about buying a digital camera. All of the pictures I took was with a 35mm Film camera, using rolls of film and having them developed. Also all of those pictures on my website were taken with the same camera, except the ones that are of the sun visors rebuild and carpet that was digital. I just scanned all of the 35mm photos to put them onto the site. That way I don't have to worry about the computer crashing. I can just rescan them.

Now, when I do wheel bearings I still don't wear gloves. However, when I pack the grease into the hub and bearings, I use a plastic sandwich baggy. Just pull it over my hand and it serves as a glove. Hands really don't get full of grease that way. Put the baggy over the hands, pull out a glob of grease and just pack it in. Then toss the baggy when I'm done. It's cheaper than buying surgical gloves and does the same job. If you want, you could also use the baggy over the hands to take your digital pictures when the hands are dirty.

Again, not worried about the solvents in the grease. It's just that a lot grease is hard to get cleaned off your hands. That's the only time I use the baggy as a glove.[/quote']

We're to damned old to worry about dying young.