<VV> Lost Hardware

[Craig Nicol]

Shaun wrote:
Hi Dave, and others, now I'm not telling anyone what to do, but when I 
dissassemble something that isn't going right back together, I reassemble 
all the fasteners into their original holes. It takes a minute but probably 
less time than going for baggies and a marker, plus when I pick up the parts

again, all the fasteners are right there in the right spots. For me this 
isn't really important with Corvairs, because now I can reassemble almost 
any part of a Corvair from memory and if there's a missing fastener I have a

"hellbox" filled with fasteners from stripped parts cars, but with some of 
my less familiar contraptions it works wonders. I'm teaching my kids this 
trick too, so now when I come across something that they've disassembled and

left for dead, all the fasteners are right where they should be so I can 
still fix it!

Craig replies:
I couldn't agree more with Shaun's habit of putting the bolts right back
where they came from. I call it "physical memory". With that trick I don't
have to remember which hole got the long bolt, which hole got the stud and I
don't have to remember which coffee can or bag went with what.  It makes it
super easy for someone to come in behind you and finish the work, if it's
collaboration or if it's you coming back yourself two years later, it's
still brainless. (I seem to need more and more of that, but I digress)

For pushrods and valve gear, I made a wooden box (about 12" by 20" by 8")
that has two rows of 12 holes in both of the long sides.  It's sized so
pushrods go through from one side to the other and there's a wooden plate
that bolts over all of the open holes. On the one of the top rails, it's
marked 135 246. I can store two sets of valve gear in there for 10 years and
they'll all stay together. Flip it over and it doubles as a box to stand or
sit on. Simple and oh so satisfying... GGG
Craig