MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Abuse of kitchen privileges?

Hi folks. There is a recent thread about installation of a flywheel ring gear, using a kitchen stove as a heat source, while the lady of the house was not around. Personally, I have used my little woman's dishwasher to "deep clean" distributor caps, and ignition cables. (also without her knowing)
I am wondering what other kitchen or household appliances or utensils are being pressed into service, and for what purposes, when our significant others are not around? Reply here in strictest confidence, lest the woman of the house discovers what clandestine uses "her" appliances are REALLY being pressed into service for! Note: I suspect that sneaking the use of household appliances might be hazardous to an MG owner's health! Signed with deep, unrelenting guilt, Glenn
Glenn

I never have to hide anything I do in the kitchen, the table is available for anything necessary, gearbox rebuilds etc.

My wife comes from a family that was used to eating around sprint car gearboxes and crop duster engines that were taking up part of the kitchen table. :-)

Oh, if she reads this (and she probably will) you are in serious trouble for using the words "little woman". :-)
The Wiz

:-P

Yeah, and I'm the one that gave up my Pampered Chef potscrapers to remove the tacky-assed stripes the DPO put on MY car... In fact, I'm the one who took the potscrapers to the garage.

Same with the funnels.

Plastic jug of GoJo resides on the kitchen sink. I put it there.

Too bad your "little woman" is "little minded" enough to worry about "little things" like using a dishwasher for car parts.



TheMiz

Hey ! What are you "iz"s doing down here on the MGA BBS ?
Al McMillan

Well, you know...

:-D
TheMiz

Well I do know some enthusiest who's wives are very supportive and understanding but would most likely object to using the new Osko to clean the gearbox casing.
Paul Hanley

I've kept the car parts out of the kitchen, but when the wife (then girlfriend) first moved in together, I boiled 25 pounds of lava rocks from the fish tank in her best pots. Who would have thunk that the cheapest-looking pots were the really expensive ones? Needless to say, she freaked out when she came home. :(
Steve Simmons

In the past I have boiled up motor bike chain oil on the kitchen stove. I also frequently place freshly painted (cellulose) parts in the utility room near the central heating boiler. However, the smells given off permeate through the house and I always end up in the dog house.

Steve
Steve Gyles

im lucky to use her scissors after i broke mine,have to
wait tell she goes shopping.she can tell by the very
deep grooves after im done,oh well...
c.callaway

The electric carving knife works great cutting foam for seats.
gary starr

Powder coat in the oven.
Pete

Years ago, I had to rebuild a ZF gearbox out of my '59 Alfa--One step called for heating the parts to around 300 degrees in an oil bath. I used her "family heirloom" cast iron dutch oven and some cheap ND motor oil. The pot was ruined, the house had an obnoxious stench from the hot oil for weeks, but the rebuild was a success and the marriage survived the incident. (a peace offering involving some gold and percious stones seems to work best in these occasions)
R. L Carleen

I can assure you that petrol leaking from carb float chambers takes the polish off the diningroom table!
David
David M

Dishwasher for cleaning my head after grinding the chambers out. Thought it would be just the thing to get rid of all that grinding dust.

Problem was I put on the hot dry cycle as well, left a fine coating of rust over the whole thing. Oh well, start again.

Chris
Chris Paul Currah

The oven works great for drying regular paint on small parts, preheat to about 200-250F, paint and place onh middle rack. Watch out, though or the paint will wrinkle.
mike parker

Keep the miss's happy. I paid $10.00 for a used kitchen stove.Harbour Freight had a powder coating unit on sale for $49.00. It works fine. The oven will take one 15" wheel at a time. I used the rack with wire hangers to support the coated parts. I have not tried the dishwasher trick yet. I don't dare.
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

Her hair dryer works great for warming up cold metal on these cold fall evenings. I just need to do a better job of cleaning the grease off before sneaking it back into the vanity...
Scott

The oven seems to be the winner here. I had to wait for the little woman to leave town to cure a coat of POR15 silver hi temp paint on my exhaust manifold....if you've ever used POR15 products you know that had to stink!

When she returned: "What's that smell?" Gee, I don't know honey.
Gary

A hair dryer could have helped the Miz get those self-adhesive stripes off her car.

I have used the family dishwasher to clean all sorts of plastic bottles, reseviors, caps, etc., just making sure to run the machine again empty (and with soap!) to clean out any trace of contaminants after my parts got clean. The second wash was just a precaution and a psychological pacifier for the rest of the family.

The one thing that dishwashing soaps have that makes this practice relatively safe is that they are designed to "rinse free" ~ that is, when the dishes or car parts rinse, the surfaces rinse free of grime AND soap leaving a completely clean surface. And, as you can imagine, this also is true for the inner surfaces of everything inside the machine including the racks, door, and outer shell.

Even so, I have always made sure to get parts as clean as possible with other cleaners first, before putting them into the dishwasher to rid them of the stains and burned on grime. Going through all these processes has yeilded some surprisingly clean and like new plastic parts and so far, no cleaning related health issues.

The old stove purchase certainly is a smart move as it keeps the stink out of the house. And if your families are like mine, it is smells that bother them more than simply putting parts in the oven.
Bob Muenchausen

I've always been very fortunate to have a wife that is understanding of that sort of thing. There was however the ""problem" of doing the Harley Davidson cylinders and heads "Wrinkle Finish" paint in the oven, worked great but really smelled terrible! Fortunately we lived in Florida at the time and after leaving the windows open for a week or so you could hardly smell it anymore. Electric knife does work very well for cutting foam and I hadn't thought of cleaning parts in the diswasher.....got some headlight buckets that will go in as soon as she goes to work! By the way we just celebrated 27 years yesterday and the "Harley" instance was many years ago.
John Nelson

By the side, oven cleaner spray works great to clean carburettors, wheels etc...
Simon
Simon Beyertt

Not really kitchen related, but baby wipes are excellent for cleaning hands after road-side repairs and cleaning small oily bits. Good for polishing carbs too. I've no idea what they do to babies' bottoms though.
Dan Smithers

If younwant to abuse more than the kitchen appliance then perhaps you should look at this site.

http://www.wackyuses.com/uses.html
Cecil Kimber

As someone mentioned elsewhere, just remember that a dishwasher is not a "parts washer" and that what you can get away with cleaning in a dishwasher is probably those things similar to what it was intended to clean. Both the soaps used and the use of water are not appropriate for some types of cleaning as mentioned by various folks hard luck above.
Bob Muenchausen

This thread was discussed between 20/11/2004 and 15/12/2004

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.