What You Need for Your First Garage

Michael James

What You Need for Your First Garage

You have loved cars for as long as you can remember, but you have never had the proper space to work on your vehicles as you might like — until now. With your very own garage, you can begin creating the home mechanics station of your dreams and tinker with your vehicle to your heart’s content. To start, you need to assemble a functional set of mechanics tools, and this list will help ensure that you have the basics on hand to begin your new automotive hobby with style and ease.

What You Need for Your First Garage

Work Light

You will have an exceedingly difficult time diagnosing problems with your vehicles or even admiring your handiwork if you cannot see properly. Garages are not well-known for their ample natural light, so you will need additional illumination to work effectively under the hood. A good budget option is a hood light, which hooks onto a car’s open hood and shines directly into the dark engine space. However, if you want even more light, you might invest in a standing work light, which you can reposition around your shop as you bounce from job to job.

Floor Jack

It’s unlikely that your very first garage will have a vehicle lift already installed, and because this equipment is rather expensive, you should probably start with a lifting mechanism that is a bit more within budget — like a floor jack. Jacks allow you to work on vehicle wheels or see the undercarriage more easily. You want to acquire a high-quality jack known for its reliability, as you don’t want your jack to fail in the middle of your project.

Magnets

Vehicles are held together with an almost countless number of small metal screws and clips, and if you don’t take steps to contain them, all those little pieces will get lost in your garage as you take your vehicle apart. The simplest and most efficient way to keep all your little components in one place is with a magnetic tray, which will hold them tight even if you turn the tray upside down. While you are at it, you might also invest in a telescoping magnet, which will help you reach small bits and bobs that fall down into the depths of the engine compartment.

Carbide-tip Scriber

While we are on the topic of managing the small pieces that come out of a car, it is worth mentioning the importance of a scriber. Scribers allow you to make notes directly on components as you detach them from the vehicle, so you can keep better track of which bits fit together in what order. These marks will make reassembling your car much more straightforward, and because scribers are small and inexpensive, a high-quality scriber should certainly have a place in your garage.

Mechanics Wrenches and Sockets

The fastest and most economical way to get all the wrenches and sockets you need to work on vehicles is to invest in a comprehensive kit. Mechanics wrenches and ratchets are slightly different than hand tools made for other purposes; they are built to fit into tighter places, molded for greater comfort in the palm and designed for greater precision in torque and release. Though mechanics tools kits can be pricey, you should be able to use these tools for the rest of your life — and perhaps pass them down as heirlooms to the next generation.

Tite-Reach Extension Tool

Barely a millimeter of space is wasted in vehicle design, which means that there often isn’t enough space between the larger components in the engine compartment to fit a wrench or a ratchet. Fortunately, there are specially made tools that are thinner and capable of reaching through tight spaces to loosen or tighten bolts. These tools should work with your ratchets and sockets, so you might only need to acquire one or two for your garage.

What You Need for Your First Garage

Scaler and Chisel

Rust and scale are the two great enemies of automotives, and keeping car components clean of rust and scale will be a constant chore within your garage. Thus, you should give yourself the gift of an air-powered scaler and chisel, which will act as a hammer to beat away rust, scale and even dirt from any part of your vehicle. It is much faster and more effective than old-fashioned methods of rust and scale removal, so you can finish this dull task and get back to the gear head projects that hold your interest.

A spacious garage is every car lover’s dream, but a space to tinker needs to be equipped with the proper tools. Fortunately, you can fill your garage with a handful of important items and get started on your must-do projects in no time.

Article Last Updated: November 13, 2023.

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