I'm looking for a good toolset. Any brands or how pieces I should get in a set

 

S-K... My favorite brand and still made in the good old USA.

 

Thanks I will check up on that.

 

How much do you have to spend?

Honestly I don't make a ton of money and tools can get expensive so I went to harbor freight and got the 300 piece tool set as a start, then got screwdriver set, torx sex, extension set, etc... I'm an at home mechanic and work on my cars and a few friends but not a ton of cars all day and all of my hf tools have held up. I know a lot of people don't like the Pittsburgh brand but they have been good to me

 

I always liked Stanley tools from Walmart.

 

What are you looking to do? Just basic car stuff? It's hard to beat the craftsman stuff for the money and convenience. They have sales all the time with different tool sets and such.

 

I would start with craftsman. Over the years, you can add to it. I have a lot of snap-on, Sk, blue point, matco, mac, wright, williams, etc as well as harbor frieght/craftsman. My opinion, build as you go, the items you use all the time upgrade, the ones you don't, keep them cheap. I'd start with a good craftsman multipiece socket set 1/4-3/8-1/2dr, and a williams set of supercombo wrenches. Best wrench on the market, and you will use them the rest of your life. Then a good, sturdy and bright flash light or headlamp. I have 2 headlamps I've been using every day for about 3-4 years, the use rechargeable batteries. Must have for being under cars/trucks.

If you get more specific on what you are up to, where you are starting, what your budget is, and what you have, I can make better suggestions. But if you are a car mechanic, you'll want one of these sooner or later, its a nice time saver on OEM hose clamps:
cat's paw mayhew hose pliers
Good set of striking prybars, nice screw drivers, torx/allen bit sockets, etc etc. Tons of stuff to work on.

Here's where I spend all my money, its why I'm broke :-D
Garage journal classifieds

Super combo wrench, don't get the williams super wms, not as nice.

Start with the basic hand tools, work your way into specialty tools/air and electric tools and you'll be pretty well set. It took me 3 years to get a good setup, and 5 or 6 to really perfect it. now I just buy things to replace older/dated things, and items specific for new projects only.

If you have more specific questions, I would love to hear them. I'm a bit of a tool addict.






***I forgot one thing. I see you are considering or enrolled in a tech school for auto mechanics. The school around here requires you to buy a specific set from the Snap-on dealer, and its rolled into tuition. If its required, its fine. I'd avoid it personally, as you can save a lot on a cheaper tool box, and cheaper sockets. If you are in school, snap-on gives a huge discount to students. Utilize it for the few things worth while, such as a nice SL80a or FHL80, 3/8 flex head 80 tooth ratchet. Other than that, wrenches and sockets by snap-on are too much money for the benefit usually.
A second thing, if you fancy a good deal, save up $1000-2000, and go on cragislist and buy someones old, whole tool set. Its easily the best deal you can get, if you know how to shop. Lots of guys try to sell old tools at near retail, but used name-brand tools usually get 50-70%, so search for a good bargain.
Examples:

This is a good one: http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/tls/4875590539.html

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/tld/4881250223.html

 

Looking for tools that can help me break down a ls1 engine like swapping the cam,heads,intake manifold etc.

 

Thanks. My budget to start with is about $400-500

 

There's little tricky about it. Its actually quite basic. The one tool you'll need, then Is a good torque wrench. This is one item I wouldn't cheap out on. I'd get a 20-100 ft lbs precision instruments unit, a good used snap-on, or another high quality brand. Craftsman, Harbor freight, etc, just aren't worth it. Craftsman are lucky to hold a cal for 1 years time.

http://www.torqwrench.com/tools/C.php

Aside from that, the link I posted in san diego, maybe try buying some of the snap on ratchets (3/8, 1/2, 1/4) and combination wrenches, and his screw drivers. That's all that's worth it. The other option for sockets is to go to a pawn shop and grab a set from their socket bins. I have a place local to me I can get sockets for $.25 each of misc. japanese/chinese sockets. Fine to start with.

Again, all you will really need are a few ratchets, sockets/spanners, extensions, and a torque wrench. You'll need a 24mm (15/16) socket for the crank pulley bolt, or 16mm(5/8ths) for the newer crank pulley bolts.

Once you have a 5/16"-1" socket set, wrench set, and ratchet, just build from there as you need. Allen and torx set will come in handy in general as a mechanic, as well.

 

if you do end up going to school for a trade and must make required tool purchases for that program, try and do them out of pocket. same for books.

buy new and save the receipts. When you do your taxes, if you take the AOC tax credit, you can claim the books and tools. It can end up being quite a stack, which you can purchase more tools with

 

While MsmNick has a very nice tool set, he also has more in his box alone than most people do in their entire collection! (I'm jealous)

IMO, buy for what you plan on doing. If your going to work daily on cars, don't waste your money on HF tools. If it's a hobby/weekend thing, they will probably be fine. Craftsman tools are ok and that's what my box is loaded with. Since they have went over seas, I try to buy from companies that didn't sell out.

 

That's hard to do since many manufacturers including MATCO, MAC, and Snap-On sell tools that are made outside of the US. It would be incorrect to say that all of their tools are domestic or all are foreign but from what I'm seeing today they have a mix. My Craftsman are older and were made in Ohio.

 

All my dads tools are older Craftsman. Ayways, have you ever tried Kobalt tools? I have bought a few tools from them over the last couple years and I really do like them. Recently bought a 3/8" torque wrench and its very nice. My buddy is a boat mechanic and brought his digital snap on to compare them to when I was torquing my heads down. They were within .3 of each other on the final pass. Cant complain about that considering it wasnt 1/4 of the cost.

Im not saying I still dont buy a Craftsman tool. If I am beside Sears and need something, Ill go get it. But, their customer service has slacked big time over the last couple years. Hate its came to that.

 

I too also grew up using older Craftsman tools. Two years ago I bought myself a set of more recent newer Craftsman tools...garbage I will never buy another craftsman again. Granted my job I needed tools at work and we have Matco and Snapon dealers come to us. So I am spoiled and exposed and addicted to spend to much money on tools.

Like it has been said as far as high caliber tools like torque wrenches spend some good money on those. I love my SnapOn digital TW.

Sockets and wrenches I would say go hold the tools in person and see what feels good and what your comfortable with. For instance when I started building my tool box for work I tried out Matco's ratchets they were nice and all but SnapOn's ratchet just had a better feel and I felt more confident when I came to really putting some torque on the ratchet.

I'm not a fan of harbor frieght tools. Try out Kobalt and Stanley and Gearwrench.