What do I REALLY need for on-board tools and spares??

I perhaps optimistically think I shouldn't need much more than a Beetle carried.

So, I am pretty much limited to changing a fan belt or tire.

I carry a small tool kit in one of the black canvas bags that were made that one year for Carlisle. In the other identical bag I carry spares and such.

I have an oil pressure idiot light switch and a brake light switch, they both can go at any time.

A spare fan belt is a must, although I've never had to change one.

I have tire plugs and the tools to install them.

I carry spare fuses and a few pieces of stranded wire. Plus stripper/crimper, butt connectors, ring connectors, and spade connectors. Plus ty-raps and tape. And a small volt-ohmeter.

I do carry my snail synch tool, a stubby screwdriver, 5/16" and 3/8" wrenches for linkage adjustment. They're not for me, they're for one of you carb guys.

Any specialty or one-off tool: Trans 17mm hex, 8mm hex for my valve cover bolts, pin tool for switch escutcheons, coilover spring perch wrenches, etc.

I carry a half-dozen pairs of nitrile gloves, carb cleaner, and some rags.

The tool bag has  most of Gordon's content: screwdrivers, comb wrenches, spark plug wrench, 3/8" ratchet and short 6 point sockets, pliers, 1/4" metric ratchet set, lug wrench(short) and 10" pipe for leverage. Also fan belt tools(22mm wrench and pin tool for 911 fan).

I don't carry a jack or spare any more. I have Hagerty Roadside Support.

@DannyP wrote: "Any specialty or one-off tool: Trans 17mm hex"

I forgot about that.  When I bought my moosey 17mm Allen Wrench it was really long on one end so I cut off a piece about 1-1/2" long which will fit into a 17mm socket or a wrench and I carry that instead of that big moosey wrench.  Just one of the many things that I cart along and never, ever use.

I also have a fan belt, but forgot to include it.  I probably have a few more things I forgot, but you get the gist - Figure out what you're willing to do on the side of the road and then what you'll need to do it.  I have driven almost an hour one-way with no clutch when it broke, just to get home to fix it there, rather on the side of the road.  Gutsy, but it got done with no gear grinding (just be patient).

Jack Crosby suggested a large trash bag to put your wheel/tire into if you have to remove it on the side of the road so you don't get all dirty from it.  The bag also doubles as a ground cloth to lie on.  Good thinking!

My bag has way more than I would need, but it also has a secondary role as ballast.

There is that, for sure.  My tool bag is about 8 pounds but the only place I have to put it is between the frunk firewall and the gas tank, so it's about centered.   Still - Weight is weight!

BUT!  I have the gas heater in the nose (another 8 pounds or so) and anything else I can think of to put out there - Just no room for the spare tire any more, so it's replaced by a 12 Volt air pump, a hole plugger and a bunch of spare parts.  

I remember when we went to Watkins Glen, one of the original Speedster guys from New Hampshire showed up and had a complete, roll-around floor jack and three-drawer tool chest tucked into the passenger footwell.  He ended up using them on other people's cars in the hotel parking lot as well as at the green in the village where we parked to fix other people's cars - Never his own!

Gordon--I really like how you broke down the supplies needed by the job.  I never thought of it that way but will from now on.  I used to carry everything except a line borer but have pared it down considerably.   Thanks for your latest list and how it's presented!

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A small thing.

If you do carry a spare, a jack, and tire change tools, have you thought about where the dead (full size) road wheel is going once you remove it? It won't fit in the frunk.

You'll probably stuff it in the back seat where road grime and brake dust will do evil things to the upholstery, your pricey German square weave, your wife's rolled up jacket, and anything else it touches.

Unless you pack a full size trash bag to wrap it in, too. You can also lay that on the ground while you're changing the tire, so as not to scuff up your Bruno Maglis.

It's always the small things.

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I do my maintenance at home where all of the tools reside. If we're going on a trip I check the car over before I leave. I'm rolling up on 25k miles...maybe I've been lucky. My friends who had VW's, 55 years ago, carried no tool that didn't come with the car. VW's were reliable then. What's changed?

With a parts store in your car how do you have room for the driver? Everything I carry fits in a 1 quart zip lock bag.

When I was flying I always offered a little prayer on take off. Probably be a good idea now.

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@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

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I do my maintenance at home where all of the tools reside. If we're going on a trip I check the car over before I leave...

I do as Jim does and have had similar luck.

The poking around and checking stuff should really be part of a constant process, and not just before trips.

Some of us have the luxury of driving our cars frequently year round, and I'm convinced that helps 'reliability' a bunch. The car talks if you listen. Try to learn what it's telling you.

How do the pedals feel as you work them? How do the engine and gearbox sound as they warm up? Any new squeaks or rattles as you roll down the road? Changes from 'normal' almost always mean something. Don't ignore them.

It's easier and more convenient to change wear items in your own garage on your own schedule before they break. I get a new battery every five years, even though I probably don't need to. I try to keep the bottom of the car wiped as clean as possible - easier to spot new leaks or changes in old ones.

No matter how good a relationship you have with your wife, it's amazing how little you'll find to talk about, waiting by the side of the road for a tow truck.

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The old Porsche Hazet tool kits were amazingly complete when it came to having all the right emergency tools for the car.  The kits were designed/spec’d by the Porsche engineers so, of course, they were complete, right?  But none of us will be shelling out $1,400 for an original Hazet tool kit for our cars these days.  BUT!  You can make up a duplicate for under $50 bucks, today.

I think that the foremost issue with our cars, both original and replica (VW), is the growing unavailability of parts.  That said, you NEED to bring along anything that is custom or unusual, like a Magna-Spark or Pertronics ignition module or a set of points, a few select gaskets, some pieces of wire and so forth.  I can just see you having an issue with a blown exhaust gasket and, Behold!  There is an Autozone just down the road!  So you hoof it on down there and ask for an exhaust gasket for a 1970 VW sedan, only to get that “Doe in the Headlights” look from the counter person and you immediately know that this will not go well.  The answer?  Bring one with you!

Figure out what might fail on the road, figure out how you might fix it with minimal (often, the wrong) tools and what parts you think local parts houses won’t have ( like, everything ) and gather whatever you need.  I guarantee that it won’t take up more space than a gallon jug, can be hidden away out of sight and might, just might, save your ass (or someone else’s) somewhere down the road.

Whenever I went to Carlisle, I would bring my “Road Tools” - a three-drawer Craftsman tool box chock-o-block full of tools that is actually my primary tool chest in my shop.  I also brought a floor jack, jack stands and a bunch of other stuff from my shop, just in case of anything happening.

Did I ever use it to fix MY car?  
Never.
Did I use it to fix other people’s cars at the “Carlisle Hilton” parking lot or the show field?
Every…single…gathering.

But that’s different.  At Carlisle we’re dealing with all levels of home maintenance, some great, some not so.  Regardless, we SOC’ers would fix them all and keep them going because that’s what we do.  I’m just tying to give some of us on here a better level of confidence that when they leave the house they’re going to be able to get back home, one way or the other.

I carry a moderate level of tools with the intent of fixing easy problems (flat tire, fan belt, loose things, etc). If I'm stuck with something more serious, I'll depend on my Hagerty road service to get me back to the garage.

So, air pump, tire plugs, belt, wrenches, screw driver, gloves, vice grips, 1/4" sockets, rag, 1 qt oil, spare return springs for throttle bodies (or carbs). Fits between the gas tank and firewall.

I've never had to use any of it...

And don’t forget Kona Beer…..

For while you’re waiting for the road service truck to show up.

And save one Kona for the road service driver.

I highly recommend their Coffee Stout.   🫶🏻

... because what could be finer than sipping on a well shaken, hot, 3-year old can of beer while explaining the entire situation to Johnny Law?

I had my wipers fail on a rainy mountain pass in BC.  Best tool kit was Henry!  The man drove 20 miles back to find me and knew exactly what to do.  I dumbly handed him tools.

I agree, having the right tools for roadside emergency is a must. The tool and spare parts listed on this sting is great. Mine is much smaller. I feel better adding more to my tool/parts kit for emergency- thank you  for the list. But, I'll need my wife to drive a support car to carry all that stuff. I don't really have all the room under the front storage with my half size spare tire. 

@Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal) posted:

I agree, having the right tools for roadside emergency is a must. But, I'll need my wife to drive a support car to carry all that stuff. I don't really have all the room under the front storage with my half size spare tire.

For the non-traditionalist, here's a way to get more storage space for your tools and spares in your speedster:

https://www.speedsterowners.co...space-for-speedsters

@Gordon Nichols posted:

I go through my tools and spares carried in my car from time to time to make sure I have what I need for most roadside emergencies.  This year I threw out a bunch of stuff that didn't apply to my car any more and added a few specific to what my car needs and have posted that below.  I sat down and thought about what things could be fixed on the side of the road and which really should be handled by a AAA or insurance call just to get it home or to a shop and added tools and spares accordingly.  I am NOT going to be pulling an engine on the side of the road.  This is what I came up with and it all fits into a canvass tool bag in the frunk.  I welcome comments.  Remember, YOUR car may well be different and need different spares and tools.  If you don't have the right stuff, you're stuck with these common roadside failures.

...Isolate a single wheel brake cylinder/fluid line

Pair of Vise Grips

Crimp metal brake tubing very tightly to stop flow to that wheel

Comments are welcomed.

Wait...you wouldn't actually crimp your metal brake lines, would you?

Depends on the situation.  That happened to my Dad in his pickup truck in the middle of the Vermont woods when we were deer hunting a long time ago.  A big tree branch was lying on the ground and as we went over it, it tore off a flexible brake line on the front brake.  I can't remember if it was a dual-circuit brake system but it was leaking a lot so he grabbed some Vice Grips and crimped the metal line leading to the flexible hose and that was good enough to get us home to properly fix it. We were some ten miles from anywhere when it happened.

Different situation, different fix.

Note to self: Don't cruise with Gordon. He's possibly got an open container of warm beer and maybe no brakes.

I too had a car in HS that lost the rear brakes, with no tools a palm sized rock was used to hammer the front to back line flat against the frame and drove it like that until I had the money to fix it .

Thank you Michael P. What a great idea. I'll move my small to medium spare parts to the empty space of the door panels.

A short story for @Stan Galat:

Back in the 1990's I put a small team together to install a new computer storage system (single cabinet about the size of an ice cream display case) which we installed at AT&T in Maitland, Florida, on the other side of town from Walt Disney World so, of course, we stayed in a WDW hotel (This was a "Perk Trip", right?)  

The team was chosen to reward a few people who had been working their butts off getting this system ready.  One of those was the design prototype guy who normally worked in his shop/lab and seldom came out - Most people didn't know he existed, let alone where his lab was.  His name is Bill and he was a wizard at taking a napkin design and making it real and even better than the designer expected.  He had done a great job on this particular system and it became one of his "Babies".

So we all show up at work to get a Limo/Van to the airport and Bill, who was an Infantryman in SEA, has four Military-sized duffle bags and one small duffle.  The van arrives and I go grab one of the big ones and had all I could do to get it off the floor.  The small one had all of his personal stuff, while the four big ones had what looked like an entire workshop of all sorts of tools, including a Sawzall, 3/8" drill, 3' pry bar, full sets of wrenches and screw drivers, multi-meters, even a small bench-mounted vice.  The system shipped with a small tool set needed for normal service so to say he over-planned this trip was a vast understatement, but he certainly was prepared.

This was before there was TSA screening so we get to the airport and Bill checks his big duffles as baggage (and we paid a small fortune for them because of the extra weight) but we forewarned the Skycaps that they were heavy (Bill said, "Gee....  Maybe I should have put stickers on them saying "Heavy Load" or something.")

We got there, got the system installed, got it up and running (that's a whole other story for another time) and Bill never had to use his tools - OK, so we DID use that 3' pry bar to lift a floor support to adjust it level, but no Sawzall, drill or vice, not even a wrench).  Still, that was the best-prepared customer visit I've ever been on.  We could have done an engine swap on our rented Mustang in the hotel parking lot with all those tools!

Stan would like Bill.  He bought a big new Harley Davidson for around $15K and then added another $15K to it with lots of chrome goodies and full electronic ignition and EFI for the engine.  That was back in 1997!

Great story, Gordon.

I've got one as well. It's 1987, and we're in Papua New Guinea, doing the "local development officer" thing with the mission. Best-man Steve had been there since early '86 and had already gone pretty much "full-bush" - 8" beard (not trimmed), a haircut every 4 months or so, and showers when one was available. The locals knew and revered "Estip", even two tribes over - he could walk anywhere, eat anything, and sleep in any conditions. He ended up staying in-country for 7 years.

The VW powered sawmill needed a new engine case. We were remote enough that anything from the US was taking 10 months or more to get here. I needed lumber to do my thing, and we were dead in the water. Steve had a furlough due, so he flew home for 2 months in the summer of '88. While there, he ordered and received a new VW case. When he flew back to PNG, he taped a handle on the case, and used it as his carryon luggage (nobody trusted checked baggage then, either).

Keep this scene in your mind - mid 20s white guy. Lanky like Abe Lincoln. 8" bush-beard. Wild hair. Ratty clothes. Smells funny. Flying from ORD to SFO to Manilla to Brisbane to Port Moresby to Mendi - roughly 24 hrs (or more) in the air in total, and probably 3 or 4 days in transit. All the time, schlepping a VW engine case with a handle taped to it.

We had the mill running the day after he hit the ground.

On a fast trip back to Beaufort from Massachusetts over a holiday, my checked bag got rejected by the Providence, RI, TSA when they spotted something very suspicious in it that they didn’t think belonged in a checked bag.  I was called over to explain what it was.  The TSA officer made a motion and several other TSA officers suddenly appeared around me.

The TSA folks were all excited.  Apparently, they had never seen a pair of VW heater boxes in a checked suitcase before….

My sister is a cat-person. I am most certainly not.

But she lived in Atlanta and had come up for Thanksgiving. We sent her home with a wrapped Christmas gift.

It was a pistol-shaped laser, for playing with a cat. They go crazy chasing that little red dot that they can NEVER catch!

This was in pre-2001 times. The TSA ended up opening the gift, then re-wrapping it and letting her fly with it CHECKED. Imagine the hijinks when they asked her to open it and she said no, it's a Christmas gift!

My ex-wife and I never even thought about a pistol-shaped laser being a problem on an airplane! We ordered it online and it came through the mail...

We all laugh about this from time to time.