How's this for simplifying tools? You're looking at Powerhouse Products' popular, new, adjustable AN wrenches. Race-car plumbing usually includes a myriad of AN fittings of various sizes. For a long time, an equal number of wrenches that correspond to each AN size was required for installing and removing hoses efficiently and without damage to the fittings' soft aluminum bodies. Powerhouse Products [(800) 872-7223; www.powerhouseproducts.com] has broken down the typical, 18-wrench assortment (AN -3 to AN -20) into these two tools, and they're perfect for a racer's track equipment box, race car, or engine shop. The two sizes are: AN -3 to AN -8 (PN POW302000) and AN -10 to AN -20 (PN POW302001).
These are the "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" tools of the millennium, and once again the focus is race-car plumbing. Koul Tools [(928) 854-6706; www.koultools.com] has a set of ingenious socket-type devices that eliminate the pain and suffering that go hand in hand with connecting AN fittings to steel-braided hose. While the Small Kit (PN 468) covers AN sizes -4, -6, and -8, a Large Kit (PN 1016) is also available to handle -10, -12, and -16 hose and fittings. Koul Tools sockets come with spacers and sleeves of various diameters that can be used to tighten excess space within a capsule that's the occasional result of using different manufacturers' fittings. They're must-haves if you have plumbing work to do on your race car and you value the skin on your hands and the blood in your veins.
Busted, bleeding knuckles are a thing of the past if you use these short- or long-reach HeaderSockets to extract spark plugs from near-impossible positions on a Mustang equipped with equal-length short- or long-tube headers. The chrome-moly sockets feature unique slotting, which shortens their effective length and makes installation on a plug possible (using the short sockets) with slightly less than 0.500 clearance between the end of the spark-plug tip and a header tube or other obstruction. HeaderSockets come in short, mid, and full-length sets for both 51/48- and 131/416-size spark plugs (PN POW301150), and are available through Powerhouse Products [(800) 872-7223; www.powerhouseproducts.com].
Good things really do come in small packages. At barely two pounds, don't be fooled by the small stature of this CTEK battery charger (PN MULTI US7000) because it's plenty strong and it virtually eliminates the need for the big, service-style 12-volt battery chargers that are usually next to the hatch or trunk of a race Mustang during between-round servicing. No joke-the MULTI US7000 is the do-it-all battery charger of the next century. It has a range of 14.4 volts (for wet and most gel-style batteries) to 16 volts (for recovering severely discharged batteries where stratified acid may be present). It can also adjust charge output based on the condition of a battery. So, it'll revive a stone-dead battery in short order by steadily increasing, then adjusting, the percentage of charge output as the battery gets stronger. It'll also keep a maintenance charge on a battery that isn't being used. Like most CTEK [(330) 963-0981; www.ctek.com] battery chargers, it has plenty of amperage to put life back in fully discharged Optima Red and Yellow-top/deep-cycle batteries, which seem to be the 12-volt cells of choice for many Mustang racers. They're relatively new in the United States, and we knew CTEK chargers were the real deal when we learned that companies such as Harley-Davidson in Scandinavia and Aston Martin include a CTEK charger with every car and bike they sell.
Valve adjustments, clutch adjustments, finding TDC, and other similar work that requires bumping the starter are usually two-person tasks-one person to make the adjustment and a crew member or buddy inside the car to turn the key and trigger the ignition. This pushbutton, remote starter switch (PN POW301220) by Powerhouse Products [(800) 872-7223; www.powerhouseproducts.com] is simple to use and removes the need for the extra person, which makes those jobs a lot easier.