Screwdrivers
Healey Journal
Screwdrivers- Perhaps even more mundane than wrenches but the humble screwdriver is a mainstay of modern industry, and few products could survive without such a basic tool for essential fasteners. (I commend to your attention the book "One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver & the Screw" by Witold Rybczynski, Simon & Schuster, 2000 and the article "At the Turn of a Screw" by Bruce Sinclair in Technology & Culture, Vol. 10, 1969 for a disquisition on the importance of these tools and fasteners). But so much for historical background....
In addition to the usual slotted screws the Healey also exposes its restorers and rebuilders to Phillips and Pozi-drive screws- superficially identical but in reality, different. Norman Nock's Article (click for link) explains the differences more fully.
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An illustrative collection: standard ones, stubby ones, narrow bladed ones and long, heavy ones. |
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I've found standard screwdrivers to be just about the most useful and effective tools along with a good set of wrenches. Wrenches for nuts and bolts, screwdrivers for screws- each absolutely necessary for these two basic fasteners. Easy to use and essential to any mechanical work.
The ordinary slotted screw is very common, though for some reason the Healey more frequently uses Pozi-drive screws.
A variety of such screwdrivers will always be useful: and its soon possible to obtain a toolbox full of ones with small, medium and wide blades with short, medium and long shafts and with stubby versions and extra-long and heavy duty versions a great collection may soon accumulate.
I think that it is particularly true that the quality of a tool is important when it comes to screwdrivers. There is so little involved with these tools that any deficiencies will soon be evident- blades that twist or bend under pressure, heads that shear easily, etc. A good quality screwdriver may last decades, particularly if you don't try to use it as a prybar, or awl, or hammer, or chisel or ... any of those other applications for which screwdrivers seem almost a natural substitute for the proper tool. In the photo the several shown at the top have been used for more than thirty years, with little evident wear and tear from that, apart from the handle of the one having been gnawed by a mouse at some point....
One minor point to note- I prefer screwdrivers with square shanks over those with round ones- these then allow a wrench to be used to help in turning any reluctant screw. Obviously, smaller and thin bladed screw drivers have little need (or ability to cope with such torque) but most medium and large screwdrivers may need a little such assistance at times.
Phillips (Cross-Head)
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The standard slotted screw is not always the most appropriate, and few are found on the Healey. The most common alternative, a Phillips headed screw with its distinctive cross head is often encountered, though few of the similar looking screws on the Healey are actually Phiilips headed screws.
The Phillips head screws were developed to provide a fastener that would be more effective in mass production than the simple slotted screw- one that would be more accurately centered on a driving tool, tolerate reasonable torque loads without being so prone to the slot becoming damaged. The Phillips headed screws were found to be much faster for production lines and became the standard by the time of World War Two in the American automotive industry.
Again, a variety of these screwdrivers will soon accumulate: Phillips screws come in different size "crosses" No. 2 and 3 being the most common with smaller sizes regularly found (No. 1 and No. 0) and larger ones (No. 4, is there a No. 5?) being less often seen. Again with standard length shafts and handles, with stubby versions and long and/or narrow variants, and the odd heavy duty one its possible to soon acquire a tool box full of these too.
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These are pozi-drive screwdrivers suitable for use on most of the screws generally found on Austin Healeys. A variety of sizes are used but the most frequently seen ones are No. 2 which the middle screwdrivers fit. I do not recall if the smaller sizes are used, but the very large screw driver shown at the top is a No. 4 and is needed for the screws use to attach the door hinges to the "A" pillar and to the doors. A set of pozi-drive screwdrivers are essential for working on Healeys- No. 2 in stubby, normal and long lengths will all find a use sooner or later.
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There will be times when a screw (or other fitting) proves difficult to move. In these instances something more substantial may be required. As a first resort, it may be possible to apply substantial torque using a "normal" screwdriver. The trick in doing this is to use screwdrivers with square shafts (as some of the heavier ones shown in the photo of the flat bladed screwdrivers) or some "professional" ones may have a hex molded as part of the shaft itself (as may be seen with the large No. 4 pozi-drive screwdriver in that photo). With these arrangements the screwdriver is held hard against the screw and a wrench used to twist the shaft far more than could ever be managed with the handle normally. In most cases, such methods will remove the most recalcitrant screw- or mangle the screw slots sufficiently that nothing else may ever work....
An alternative is an impact driver. This is appropriate where simple twisting effort is not sufficient, and some additional shock is needed to jar things loose. With the impact driver a hammer is used to provide both the pressure against the screw and the turning motion. Impact drivers come with an assortment of "blades" for large flat, Phillips and pozi-drive screws, and they may also be used on nuts and bolts with appropriate sockets.
Of course all this brute force might be considerably eased by thoroughly lubricating the fasteners in pentrating oil or the old stand-by:WD-40. If possible a little heat from a propane torch too can help loosen things up some.
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These are not screwdrivers, strictly speaking, but they're a close relative.... With some screws a six sided hole is used rather than a slot or cross-type fitment. Most of these fasteners are used for relatively small and light torque applications. Some may be rather more substantial, though, and those may need sockets with special hex extensions for them. The keys shown in the photo came as part of a full set and have been adequate for handling virtually every application I've encountered. A smaller set with fewer "keys" would probably have sufficed but the real difficulty then (as I'd often found when "saving" money buy only buying what was immediately needed) would lie in not having the critical tool needed at inopportune moments. Sometimes the ends of these are rounded to allow the key to be used at an angle if necessary. These can be convenient, particularly for fastenings that do not require much torque.
While the Healey will not present any unusual challenges its entirely possible that any more modern cars will. These will use a variety of screw fasteners with various head patterns entirely alien to older cars. Though some older cars too do present some oddly shaped slots. The easiest approach to the myriad of possibilities is a relatively cheap multi-bit driver set. This generally has a wide variety of the most frequently encountered oddities and a good variety of standard sloted, Phillips head and pozi-drive bits. This is the sort of thing useful for a traveling tool kit- compact and flexible.
Copyright© 2005 James M. Wilson All rights reserved.