Tell us your "stupid move" story!

[mr.bch]

When I was 16.....
I was all fired up to change the plugs and wires and cap in my 'first' car, a 914 1.7L. When it came time for reassembly, I was left with a hand full of wires and no idea how to route them. I had to ride my bicycle to work that afternoon starting a long, currently still running tradition of 'how come you aren't driving the Porsche?' questions.

Thanks goodness for technological advances, I take digital pictures of everything before I take apart anything. And, thank goodness, there is the internet.

[trade14u]

Not as exciting as the others but:

I inherited a 70 911 E that sat and sat for years - very original and clean. Well, I was sitting in the car marveling at how unscathed the interior was...but I did notice a bit of dirt on the face of the vent controls. Sounds like a job for a tooth brush! After about 10 minutes of carefully scrubbing the face, I was satisfied that the piece looked nearly brand new! Just one more swipe ----- OH NOOOOO! "Figlio di putana! Pezzo di merda! [fill in your own Italian cursing here]! Some how the brush snagged (?) on the paint and completely PEELED a 1 inch strip off of the face! Right down to bare plastic!! I almost cried!

BTW: I'm thinking of repainting it with Testors Model paint ---like the one you did as a kid. Thoughts?

[Hugh R]

About 32 years ago when I was in the Marine Corps I was underneath a 2 1/2 ton truck spraying undercoating when another guy got in the truck and started it and began backing it out. Since I was half way under the truck I crawled out really fast. The only thing that saved me was that in boot camp they teach you how to crawl really fast (you dig in and use your elbows). The guy who started the truck was a Corporal, and I was a private, and I was so mad that I punched him, he tried to have me punished for hitting a senior ranking marine, but the Captain told him that he was lucky that I only punched him. He wasn't supposed to have moved the truck.

[TerryBPP]

Replaced the vinyl piece behing the gauge with carbon fiber and forgot to take pictures of the gauge wires. I had labeled a few of the wire with #'s so I figured I could guesmate the rest. Got all the guages working except for the tach. I figured I give it another shot later and drove the car to work. About half way there the tach Caught On FIRE! Luckly I was able to put it out with my hand. Tach stiff doesn't work.

The moral of the story is that a picture is worth..............at least $350 for a new tach.

[jrb964]

I changed out rear brake pads. Drove the car two or three days before an autocross. My wife (of all people) kept saying the brakes sounded funny. My educated comment was "...don't worry they just need time to set up...."

At the autocross my wife is still on the "...they sound funny...." Well I finally relented and pulled of the wheel, and guess what to my suprise. I had accidently put them in backward.

Now, remember this happened in 1971. How do I remember is so clearly, I'm reminded about once a month at a party or something....

And yes I still love my wife.

[voodoo45]

Just put new ignition wires on my 1970 911E. I didn't check to see if the coil wire was snug on the cap. Went for a short drive. The car was missing and terrible to drive. I then checked the cap. I had melted the distributor cap from the arcing ignition wire from the coil. Replaced the cap and checked the wires. It is all a learning process and I have learned lots fron others on this baord. It's a great place for Porsche fans.

[CHILI]

washed car once and was rarin' to go thereafter. fired her up and it looked/sounded as if a chicken was being slaughtered in the engine bay. i had laid a towel in the engine compartment just under the grill to prevent too much water from entering the area. tip = remove towel from engine compartment before starting engine.

Done that too! Mine was a large plastic hefty bag. Took forever to get out.

All the first time oil draining stories make me laugh. I even read Wayne's 101 before I started and was still cleaning up oil cuz the bucket wasn't big enough!

I'm glad I have an office! I've been laughing for 5 minutes straight, reading these stories. The cheater bar left in the case. Man!

I feel smarter now. Thanks

[CHILI]

Feeling smarter, but remembered another one.
Recently I decided to fix the hand throttle in the P-car. I also figured it would be a good time to re-connect the handbrake wire that went to the light in the dash to let you know it's engaged. Well, I saw two wires chillin in the tunnel, so I hooked them both up. (Hey, don't laugh, they both fit in what looked like the correct places). Everything was great. Drove the car, hand throttle worked, hand break light worked. Then it got dark....
Went to pull the car in the garage and smoke pored out from under the dash. Smelled terrible. Come to find out, that second wire was for the heater. Oopsie! Fried the wire and I mean fried it all they way from the heater control in the dash to the hand break! Who needs forced heat anyway, right!

There is a reason for the top and bottom screws that secure the rear speaker deck in my '85 911 being different sizes. I was resecuring the rear deck after monting new speakers. I screwed the short screw in the top and then proceeded to screw the long screw into the bottom on the drivers side. I looked over at the passenger side realizing I had switched them. So I started to unscrew the bottom screw. As soon as I got it out I was blasted with a stream of freon, draining the whole system. Apparently I'd screwed the long screw into the longest most expesive A/C line in the car. $300 just for the freakin hose, not to mention a new drier and a recharge of R-12!

[lukeh]

Many years ago as I kid I bought my first Civic. I tried to do my first oil change on it. I drained the trans fluid by mistake. I thought trans fluid was a different color than oil but it's not on a Civic. So as I start to drive I have double the oil in the car. Smoke is coming out of the tail pipe and forms a HUGE cloud as I drive. I quickly went back home and assumed I added to much oil. I should have checked the dip stick but it said in the book to just add 4 quarts. So as I drain oil I keep checking the stick and finally get the level set. If I had any brains at all I would have asked my self "if I added 4 quarts and drained out all this oil to get the level correct, something can't add up". Well the car was fine and the level was good so no harm done. Some time later my car started poping out of gear. Took it in to get looked at and the guy said all the trans fluid was gone, how could that have happened? That turned out to be the most expansine oil change of my life.

[Argeo]

The one day my car decided it would start like it should I was outside the car turning the key. Well I forgot it was in gear. It took off down my driveway about 30 feet and drove right into my garage. It hit a large pieceo f plywood I had seperating my powertools and car area, pushed it like a plow into my tools and then pushed the back wall of my garage off it's foundation. I only got a very unnoticable dent in the hood. My garage is not very big and only has about a foot and a half clearnace on both sides, so needless to say, it could have been a lot worse. My garage has not yet recovered.

[Vipergrün]

A picture is worth 1000 words........

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by HawgRyder
Also....rolled out from under the car to get a tool...and while out...the car fell off the jack stands....wheels were off....cross member hit the ground....sat in the corner and sweated for an hour...very close call!!
Humbled by my own stupidity...Bob

Same thing just happen to me the other week, except that the tires were still on the car. Ended up with a nice shiner and a cut over my eye. I would like to think that someone was watchin over me.

[joehahn]

Brad, what is that? What did you shoot it with?

[BuddyC]

My supreme stupid move did not involve my 911 but a 4x4 pickup truck I owned years ago. But it was a stupid move nonetheless. I managed to run over myself with it in the middle of a busy intersection. It's a long story, so I posted on my band's website a while back for my friends' amusement.

Stupid Move Truck Story

Sadly, a true story.

[CHILI]

Ok, BuddyC, that's definitely one of the better ones (for the lack of a better term). Good to hear you're ok and that you eventually wised up and bought a Porsche!

I wish I could have seen that! LOL

[Zeke]

You guys are scareing me. But I did manage to knock the console shifter into reverse on a '71 XJ6 while crawling around inside under the dash chasing an electrcal problem. Why the engine running? Couldn't keep a charge in the battery long with the ignition on w/o alternator running. Result? Another one of those suicide doors. Tweaked the A pillar, not pretty.

[Mr9146]

I was 18 and hot-rodding up the freeway on-ramp in my dad's 911 --> 2.8 twin plug RSR motor with short gears. I was winding the nuts off the car, and on the shift from third to fourth ... I missed and hit second.

I watched the needle on the 10,000 RPM tach pass the 10, and I heard the motor change its tune ... bounced the pistons right off the heads and bent 8 brand new valves. You see, less than 1000 miles before, he had just finished rebuilding the motor and doing the heads - new everything.

Oh, and my dad was sitting next to me in the car when it happened.

[Hugh R]

Originally posted by WJG2
A quick tip: Do not drop wrench so that it touches both battery terminals at same time. I'll spare you the gory detail$$$$$.

I spot welded my stainless steel watch band shut doing that between the hot and a nearby ground.

[HarryD]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Okay..I've done the "pouring in new oil while forgetting to replace a drainplug" bit...hasn't everybody???

No, I "chose" to do the "put the full drained oil pan behind the car and back over it maneuver". DOH!