admit to your stupidity

[Jamie79SC]

RGruppe - you may have jepordized your 'winner' status with this latest admission.

[Pete000]

I talked my dad into selling his 56 speedster to get a 77 924!

[CrossT]

Installed an aftermarket oil cooler fan and realized [uuhhh, 6 months later] that it was blowing away from the cooler. I was wondering why I saw no temp improvement.

todd
86 coupe

[911mot]

Driving down the road and thick black smoke started coming from under the bonnet.
As I braked to a hault the passenger opened the door ready to jump out and do heroic firefighting stuff but wasn't holding the door properly. As I stopped the door flew right open, busted the check strap and sprung back on itself, causing the checkstrap to mangle the inside edge of the door, and the panel the door hinges off.
Thing was, it wasn't a fire, it was the webasto heater I didn't even know I had in the smugglers box belching out soot. At least I found out what the dial in the centre console was for....

[jorian]

When I was young and penniless (and an idiot) I tried to siphon gas out of my Dad's car with a hose. After a mouthful of gas I thought their must be a better way.

I duct taped the hose to Mom's vacuum cleaner and let er rip. I could see gas coming up the tube but before I had a chance to remove the duct tape and hose, gas/fumes blew up the vacuum (no kiddin' - a piece of the palstic housing lodged in my ankle). I threw the flaming hose on the lawn and yanked the electrical cord out of the socket. I looked back at my Dad's car and noticed a large black streak up the rear quarter.

I hid everything but Dad found the clues and put it all together! Years later he admits he laughed his ass off but at the time he kept that fact well hidden.

[Wrecked944]

Cross post from OT...go read this vdub story. It is just too good to pass up.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1703095&page=1

[cstreit]

I can't believe someone would really be that dense. (THe guy in the VW thread). It's GOTTA be a troll.

[Drago]

I agree...troll.

[Wrecked944]

Originally posted by cstreit
I can't believe someone would really be that dense. (THe guy in the VW thread). It's GOTTA be a troll.

I'm that dense...lol...my p-tech once said to me (jokingly), "I don't know if I've made more money fixing your car or fixing your mistakes."

I think the answer is implied in the question...

Case in point: What I don't admit in my web page is the long list of expensive tools and parts I destroyed during my very first project (i.e. tranny rebuild). This included (but is not limited to) a hand full of bent screwdrivers, Snap On cold forged steel punches and chisels, a 911 high performance clutch disk, a speed sensor disc (shattered when I tried to remove it using a hydraulic press), tranny main bearing (also shattered), clutch fork (destroyed when I used a pry bar to yank it out without first removing the retaining pin), at least three hydraulic bottle jacks (while trying to remove the tranny from the motor without first disconnecting the nuts - don't ask how)...

Oh yeah, and the tranny drain plug. I managed to strip it and get it permanently stuck in the tranny when I tried to remove it by turning the wrench the wrong way (hence my "Lefty Righty Loosey Tighty" subtitle). I swear I must have "torquelexia" or something. So I drilled a hole in it to drain the tranny. Then I realized I had just put metal filings into my tranny (sound familiar?). Then I posted a question on Pelican asking if I should learn to weld so I could get a nut on it. Fortunately, the pelican crew talked me down off the ledge and said NO FREAKING WAY. So I ended up pounding a chisel into the plug and forcing it out of the hole. Miraculously, the threads were unharmed and the replacement plug did not leak.

I'm much better now...really

POST SCRIPT: Oh yeah, and then there was the time I was very tired and groggy and accidentally put windshield washer fluid into the coolant overflow tank on my 944. For days I could not figure out why my windshield washers still failed to spray and I must also confess the blown head gasket cost me a bundle of $$$.

So yeah, I am as much or more of a doofuss as the vdub guy. Maybe he is real and maybe not. Eek!! I hope you guys don't think I'm a troll!

[ken_xman]

No wonder these kids cars have the wheels fall off, engines blow, and sound like my old weedwacker.
I'll bet his mother/ sister is just as bright.
Ridiculious.

[DarrylD]

This one still makes me shake my head and ask, "WHAT WAS I THINKING?"

The weather-strip around the base of my old 911SC Targa's rear window was looking cracked and dry. I got out the bottle of ArmorAll and sprayed it on the rubber. A light bulb went off over my head, "HEY, LET IT SIT AND SOAK IN" in big letters, scrolled across the great idea lobe of my brain.

So, I left the ArmorAll sitting on the rubber, a nice even white coat of liquid. Overnight should be enough time to let that stuff perform its magic on that dried rubber.

Next morning, I turn on the lights in the garage and see that all the ArmorAll has proceeded to run down the rubber seal, pool and the base of the targa bar and run down the fender over the paint. When I wiped it off the paint, I found the paint had been eaten off DOWN TO THE PRIMER!!!!

Words cannot describe my anguish. A self-inflicted wound of the worst kind. How would I describe such stupidity to the guy at the bodyshop?

Well, the bodyshop was rather unemotional about taking my money to repaint it. However the story doesn't end there. ArmorAll and paint don't get along very well and with the best efforts of the bodyshop, several nice deep fisheyes appeared close to the targa window's weather-strip above the engine lid. ArmorAll kept weeping out of the weather-strip and made paint prep nearly impossible.

Yep, ArmorAll performed a miricle on my targa window weatherstripping because by the time I was finished it looked brand-new because it was!

[Steve87-911]

I've had good results on the targa rubber using Vinylex. And I wipe it off after a couple minutes.

[JimJa43]

This is the greatest thread ever!!!

1) 1st car. New MGB bought upon my return from VN in 1966. In WY and heading home for the summer from school at about 0230 on a 2 lane winding road. New moon = very dark. I'm flathatting it, about 85 and feeling good with a little help from my pharmacist friends. Meet an oncoming car, hit dimmers, all lights go out. As in dark. Managed to get stopped but it's difficult finding a new set of underware in the dark. Let's hear it for Lucus.

2) Fast forward to '88. Friday night and heading to dinner downtowm Honolulu w/wife on the H1 - 4 lanes each way. About 45-50. So is everyone else. Bumper to bumper and a light rain. Difficult to see with wet asphalt soaking up and reflecting the car lights at the same time. RX7 is closing fast in the fast lane on my left. Too fast I remember thinking, given the traffic and weather. When he gets about 1/2 car length ahead, his right rear wheel comes off, bounds across in front of me and out of sight on my right. Afraid to brake hard because of the traffic I slow, gently braking, as does everyone else. The guy in the RX doesn't seem to know what the problem is, he is staying up with the traffic and is now about a car and a half length ahead. Finally he begins to slow and -POW- his left rear wheel comes off, bounces against the median, and OVER the top of my car into the following traffic. I glance into the rearview mirror to see what looks like a thrill show, cars all over the place skidding an spinning. Finally I see brake lights from the RX, and he slows up against the median, but what a show of sparks. Fortunately no one was hurt, but we didn't make dinner - it takes so long to go home and change underware.

Not exactly a dumbs**t, but I've so many of those in my life, I'm embarassed to tell them.

Jim

[ghnat]

I took a part my brake calipers, completely. Then I found out every one says do NOT take the brake calipers a part....

[strupgolf]

Well, here's mine. Back in 75, when the cops didnt look everywhere for drinkers, I was with some Corvette Club friends on St. Pats day. Since it was march, I drove my wifes car to the bar. Well, late at night, I left in her 1968 Chevy Impala, big and bigger. I was blocked in the parking lane front and back, so I did a 90" turn, up a steep hill, and then on the top, went over a curb. All of a sudden, the car became VERY loud, but in my state, I didnt give it much thought and drove home. The next day, I was sleeping, and my wife came in to ask me why the car was so LOUD. I went out, only to see that there no longer was a exhaust system. I said "I have no clue". Later, I went back to the bar, and sure enough, there laid my complete system, right were it broke off.

[ausgezeichnet]

Couldn't lock/unlock my door when the door was open. Fearing the lock mechanism has broken, I ripped apart the door and removed the lock mechanizim (no small feat). After playing with the lock mechanisim it dawned on me that it was designed to be locked/unlocked only when the door was closed.

[jfw834]

on the way home from buying my targa i thought, well gee....why the hell don't i put the top down. pull into a gas station and in such a hurry.....can't wait to drive topless So i remove the top no problem, fold it (not anymore), and proceed to the front. I remembered that the hood shocks didn't work so I opened the hood and held it with my head while i reached down and grabbed the folded top. As i swung the thing into the luggage compartment one of the pins (bare metal w/o the rubber sleve) caught on the headlamp trim ring and took a dime size chunk of paint and primer out of it. Needless to say, my first DIY job was those stupid hood shocks.

[Quicksilver]

Originally posted by ghnat
I took a part my brake calipers, completely. Then I found out every one says do NOT take the brake calipers a part....

But you didn't set them on fire though...

Actually I don't see this as stupid. I took my right front completely apart so I could hone the bore. It used to severly taper wear the pads on that corner and now it is fine.

You should try to burn the seals out of them and then post back here.

---
Not really stupid but another fun one. A guy I used to race with used to always gas weld while wearing those fuzzy yellow work gloves. If you touch a new set of those gloves to a flame the fuzzy nap will burn off in a wave of flame that runs across the glove.

He would get someone new in the garage and light a glove off and then jump around, waving his 'burning' hand and howl. The 'victims' reaction was always good for a laugh.

Wayne

[notfarnow]

My first car was an '86 Renault Lecar. I suppose I could stop there....

I bought it for $260 from the local Jeep/Eagle dealership... someone had taken it in for a tuneup, only to be told the headgasket was blown AGAIN. They refused to pay the bill or collect their car, so I bought it for the price of the headgasket job. It only had 60 000 km's and was immaculate. It had a great big canvas sunroof. and even had a set of 3 bolt mag wheels.

I buy a core engine and start building it up with Archer Racing performance stuff... Weber, headers, crossflow head, hot cam, big bore pistons (1.4 liters!!!). It was my first rebuild and I was meticulous and VERY careful.

On first highway run, I take it up to 6500 rpms, then all of a sudden things don't sound "right". I notice oil mist on windshield, then SMOKE... I kill the engine, pull overand get out. I notice a long line of engine oil behind the car. Sure enough, oil filter is nowhere to be seen, blew right off. Took a long time to figure out the cause... the "core" engine I had build up was from an '82, and I assumed the filters were the same as the 86. The threads changed in '84.

I was lucky though, when I disassembled the engine everything was still in spec. Put it back together and got 7 years sut of it before I got hit head-on in Montreal.

[bigrubberjeep]

Drive at 5.5K RPM in 4th, then downshift to 3rd thinking your upshifting to 5th, drop the clutch and hit the gas.

Oh joy!