on the radiator problems
small holes can be fixed with sikaflex. its like a super heavy duty version of silicon only stronger. get it from the local hardware(well around here anyway) It doesn't have a very long shelf life (a week once opened if your lucky) and is worth about $25 a tube. Dad used it to fix some pin holes in the aluminium dingy we had. years later, after dragging it across sand etc. it still looks like new.

and if you've run out of water in your car, its over heating like nothing else, and you just have to get up the road, knock it back a couple gears as if you were engine braking, and make it rev. the temperature gauge should drop to about half. (it'll go straight back up again in a matter of seconds, but hey... it helps a bit)

pepper is the best thing I have found for pin holes in the radiator, and if you get a pin hole in the fuel tank, rub it with a bar of soap until it stops. (temporary of course)

Have a broken gas filler door that keeps flying open?

I fixed mine using 2 magnets out of a hard disk. These are VERY strong magnets, they make it almost difficult to open the hatch and it never blows open on the road.

A $10 bottle of chemiweld will temporarily (or perminently) fix a blown head gasket/ cracket head. Good if you blew a head gasket and want to sell the car quickly.

Try wraping magnetic strip around your oil filter and running it - catches all the minute metalic particals at the filter housing and stop them circulating through your engine. First time I did this I was surprised how much particulate matter was captured.

Found this out off a bloke from the tip!!

If you think youve got all types of #### floating round your engine coolant system or radiator, get a thickly densed sock (prefrebly cotton [wooven]) and shove her over the top ( & bottom?? ) hose to collect all the dodge stuff in there!! Easy!
When satisfied all #### gone take it off or even leave it on there!!!

*It doesnt cause any heating probs just MITE run abouit 5deg hotter..

Dave

this isnt really a get ur car runing better, but when ur at ur mates place and he goes for a shower or sumthin run out side and take the rotor cap of his car, get a lead pencil and put a circle running around it touching the things the rotor button touchs to give spark to the leads, wack the cap on and close her up. wait for ur mate to start her up and go for a drive and watch him fret and think about why his car is missing so much!

got a rattly muffler, then get the biggest self-tapper you can find, and run it through the middle of the muffler, this will hold the broken core in place.
Fella at a muffler place told me this.

1)
if you have 'floaties' of scale and whathaveyou in your cooling system, cut the base off a 2L drink bottle and stick it small end first into the open radiator then turn the engine on an let it idle for a while.
the 'floaties' will float to the highest point, that being the 2L bottle end. pick them out with a sieve or whatever and no more floaties.

2)
filling up a gearbox with oil - use a thin piece of clear water pipe long enough to reach into the engine bay. shove the pipe onto the top hole. stuff the end of the bottle into the end of the pipe (now conveniently in your engine bay) and squeeze it in. you can see if you're going too fast coz the pipe is clear. now you don't have to tape the tailshaft yoke to the box while trying to fit it up.

3)
after installing new brake pads, take it for a short drive and drive up to 60kph, then with your foot still on the accelerator, brake to 50kph. do this about 20 times to bed your pads in and see how much longer they last!

4)
when fitting your engine, only fit the nuts/bolts up by about 5 turns or so until all nuts/bolts are located. this will eliminate the "last-bolt-just-won't-line-up" syndrome and save a lot of swearing and knuckle grazing. then when all nuts and bolts are located, tighten them properly.

5)
when fitting nuts/bolts to anywhere in your engine bay, whip out the dipstick and give the thread a light brush with oil. makes the nut/bolt resistant to sticking or binding when tightening and you will get a better seat on crucial nuts/bolts like for suspension parts / engine mounts etc etc.

6)
use some engine oil on your neg battery terminal. this will reduce corrosion and electrical gremlins. it's a good idea on your earths too.

7) if you do any arc/stick welding, put the rods in the oven on high for half hour or so while you set up. this dries the rods out and makes them MUCH less prone to sticking.

that's all i can think of at the moment.

How to hone your cylinders with engine in place and free up the compression rings

1. get engine up to normal operating temp.
2. remove spark plugs put a tea spoon of Jiff (or any other gritty house hold cleaner) down each cylinder.
3. start engine, and hold at moderate revs and ocasionally rev the &^% ot of it.
Job done..... works great on lawn mowers to.