what's in your toolbox?

bluecoupe30!

bluecoupe30!

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So, what do you travel with? There are some nice wrenches in the trunk lid tool tray, but what do you put together when you are taking your Coupe out of town? It is easy to bring too much, but what have you decided MUST go in your kit when you hit the road? Optional: did you ever REALLY need those obscure, just-felt-like-you-should-pack-'em tools? Mike
 
I’ve never taken any extra tools and I’m leaving this coming Thursday for 1100 miles and four days on the Targa California drive up the central coast with stops at Willow Springs, Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca. I do have a spare diode for the alternator though! Stan will drive my 2800 so we will at least have two of everything.
 
When I bought my coupe from Coupe King (not a restoration but a nice driver) I had an extra alternator, fuel pump and distributor. Just the tools in the kit. Drove from the Coupe King in Wilmington CA to the seacoast of NH. 3600 miles about.
 
I carry a spare fuel pump and alternator belt under the spare tire at all times. For long trips, like my recent 2000 mile trip to the Vintage, i have a wood wine box that contains a spare distributor, fuel hose, coil, plug wire, and other minor electrical repair stuff. I throw a bunch of wrenches, screwdrivers, and sockets of the usual sizes into a soft tool bag and call it a day. I make sure my alternator and water pump are in known good condition. I've had to do a roadside repair to a leaking fuel line once, that's it. I used to carry more but now I'm pretty much over it. Just know your car and the age/condition of the vitals and replace proactively.
 
I must be paranoid. I have a small tool box, in addition to the tool kit in the car, with a bunch of stuff:

-- spare fuel pump, wired to plug into existing connector
-- ratchet and 10, 13, 17 and 19mm sockets
-- combi wrenches from 10 to 19 plus an 8mm
-- lineman plyers
-- small crow bar
-- knife
-- bailing wire
-- cloth and latex gloves
-- headlamp
-- wd40
-- duct tape
-- electrical wire and
-- flask filled with Maker's Mark
 
Would love to evolve down to just a bottle/wine opener, duct tape and a leatherman/multi tool, but Murphy's law would dictate that something would go wrong with that minimalist kit...so I keep a 'get me outta here now kit'.

It includes a couple belts, overalls and an umbrella....because I've been there....and I didn't wanna stay there..

keep couping ;)
 
Stevehose said:
I carry a spare fuel pump and alternator belt under the spare tire at all times. For long trips, like my recent 2000 mile trip to the Vintage, i have a wood wine box that contains a spare distributor, fuel hose, coil, plug wire, and other minor electrical repair stuff. I throw a bunch of wrenches, screwdrivers, and sockets of the usual sizes into a soft tool bag and call it a day. I make sure my alternator and water pump are in known good condition. I've had to do a roadside repair to a leaking fuel line once, that's it. I used to carry more but now I'm pretty much over it. Just know your car and the age/condition of the vitals and replace proactively.
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I like this. "Just know your car..." That is the thing. I am trying to downsize the kit I travel with. I feel I know my car better now than ever, so I should be able to thin the tool list. Just that I fear being one tool short of making a fix myself, or having to call for help :eek:
 
On long trips I like to store misc belts and hoses under the rear seats but specifically for tools, the smallest extra tool that I’ve had to use more than once and recommend is a very very little screw driver to tighten the ignition set screw (grub screw). Last time I used it was on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in Utah driving to Monterey.
 
I have a plastic milk crate in the trunk that contains a metric 1/2" socket set, a set of metric combination open-end and box wrenches, screw drivers, hammer, duct tape, shop rags, oil, antifreeze, the old belts from when I replaced them, points, condenser, rotor, cap, plugs, fuel pump, some wire, Windex, wax, and I am sure other items that I have forgotten. In 36 years of ownership I have never used any of it. If I didn't have it with me...
 
I think it comes down to knowing your car. I've driven 15.000 kms over three years, and the only thing that went out was my battery when I forgot to turn off the lights (in the Netherlands you're required to drive with lights on all the time). So over the years my preparation for a trip was less and less.

If you have just purchased a 'new' E9, there are some good hints above. I especially liked the idea to keep your old belts and store under the rear seats when you replace them.
 
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