admit to your stupidity - Page 21

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

Yes, Troy,..I can see this happening...funny as hell..

Doyle

trentwat · 11-12-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trentwat

I just rebuilt my front brakes over the weekend...as anyone who has done this knows, you line up the piston in a particular direction/angle -lining up a cut-out on the piston with an imaginery line through the caliper (creating 20 degree angle). After a full day of working on the car, I was excited to complete this task and be done. I did the entire project (first time) in about 1.5 hours.

While in bed and reviewing the work I had done that day, I realized the completed calipers had both been facing the same direction on the ground and that the cut-outs were both oreinted the same way...oops.

So, the next day, I set about reversing this situation. I quickly looked at both calipers. First eyeballing the diagram/schematic, and then then the calipers. I then picked up a caliper and fixed the issue. And, as I was setting my work back down, to go on to the next project, I glanced again at the diagram. DAMN IT....I fixed the one that didn't need fixin'!!!!! Needless to say, I will be able to confidently repair my calipers in the future!

UPDATE: I'm such an idiot/newb...As I was going to install the calipers, I realized I had oriented the pistons as if the bleeder valve was on the bottom of the caliper, SO I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN! And after all that, one of the calipers was defective, so I ended up having to buy a new set of calipers...AAAAAAAaaaahhhhh!

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

stupidest thing I ever did was invest heavily in stocks for the last 40yrs

billybek · billybek's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by slw911SC

Backed my then new 1998 Volvo S70, at my new house, into: a pile of topsoil, a wheelbarrow, a pallete full of sod, a planter pot, a garbage can - and (no foolin) the neighbour - all at separate times - and all in 1 day! Freakin blind spots! Gotta get more beer, I suppose! Or quit driving all together! Scratches? No, really?

Remind me not to park next to you at the club outings!!

I think one of the more stupid things I have done was looking at some rotted pan sections under one of my VWs and knocking all the loose crap directly into both eyes. Couldn't see to get from under the car and into the house. Another trip to emergency to get the crap out of my eyes. Non car related stupidity, I have a million examples........

fbarrett · fbarrett's Garage

About 35 years ago I had to replace the crankshaft seal, on the clutch end, on my 912. No problem. Whip out the floor jack, had the engine and transmission out in an hour, split them, went down to Grady's shop for a seal. Went home, put it in, buttoned everything up, re-installed engine and trans. Fired it up.

Still Leaks!

Repeat above.

STILL LEAKS!

Crank looks fine, so it must have been two defective seals. Go back to Grady with the rotten seal he'd sold me, show him how I put it in "this way," and he just laughs. It goes the Other Way Around, with the lip facing inward! Duh!

At least I got my engine-out time down to 45 minutes.

Then there was the time (1973) when I was editing the local PCA newsletter in Denver, and a guy calls from Rock Springs, Wyoming to run a for-sale ad for his ex-Richie Ginther RS60, fresh engine, with trailer, $3,500. I didn't have $35, so I had to turn it down. Another guy bought it, kept it two years, sold it for $9K, and thought he made a killing...

Frank

Winter · 11-12-2008, 03:25 PM

Bought my first and only P-car ('75 targa) off an ad in Craig's List for $3000, figuring "hey, it's air-cooled, just like old VW's. It will be cheap and easy to fix!: Hahhahahaa! Joke on me!

---

Tom '75 Targa ("stinky")

tvanbroekhoven · 04:08 AM

Ok, I've got a couple!

1: I wanted to do something about the sloppy shifting of my 915. After reading some posts concerning the issue I went to our hosts webshop and bought myself a nice shiney Porsche Factory Short Shift kit. Right. After 5 weeks the thing finally arrived in Belgium (2 days from US to Europe, 4 weeks and 5 days in our bloody customs). Couldn't wait to install it. So that's what I did. Sort of. Actually, the PO already installed one and it wasn't that impressive. *cough*. So I have 2. Anybody care to buy one ? (or two ?) Now I've got a Rennshift and love it.

2: Once again I was out on the prowl to improve my 911. So, my ignition cables looked quite worn out so I bought myself some of them magnecore ones. Once again, after a 5 week wait, they arrived! Installed them. No problem there until I had to fit the last one on the spark plug. I just could not fit the booth over the plug. So what I did was put my hand in de hole to feel where it exactly was. And there it stayed. Just couldn't get it out. It was really stuck because the edges of the hole are shaped inwards. Getting in was easy. Getting out took me 15 minutes and a bottle of window cleanser I was able to reach, just, with my left foot...

jagular911 · 02-17-2009, 03:30 PM

I was 15, oldest of 4 kids, and father just died.

Mom let me buy my first car - '69 Opel GT-it was junk, but all that I could afford for $350; Dad was a mechanic, garage had everything from wrenches, torches, welding equipment, Binks spray equipment -everything; Uncle taught me and my13 yr old brother how to use all tools, etc

We learned alot that summer-worked on that car for 5 months-thank God we didn't like girls then

Exhaust fan was not explosion proof. While priming the car (after welding 4X8 ft sheet of sheet metal on car-in many pieces, and 3 gallons of body fill-most sanded off numerous times), fan made a peculiar sound.

Looked over and the fan was operating as a jet engine. The vapors had ignited and were shooting a flame out the back of our garage 10-15 ft (at least thats what I remember). Unplugged fan with broom-lucky we didn't die that day.

First time we sprayed family wagon rear door (remember, we were 15 and 13), after doing body work, couldn't get paint to stick. Tried it 3 times-wouldn't stick.

We went and got Mom (who had seen our father do this- she had more experience than us), and she asked us how we were cleaning the door. Told her that we were using the proper cleaning solvent- showed her-ok. Asked us where we got rags-told her that they came from the house, above the washer. She told us that was where she kept the rags for waxing the furniture.

No wonder we couldn't get anything to stick-we waxed the door everytime before we sprayed it.

The love of and for cars saved my 2 brothers and my life after our father died. I hope to work on cars (as a hobby) until I die - hopefully it wont be the cause of my death-if it is, so be it

Cheers

Thanks for sharing your stories-you reminded me of great times that I have not thought about for a long time

Jon

sc_rufctr · 02-17-2009, 04:35 PM

It was a lovely day. Just finished washing my car and left the empty bucket just behind the rear bumper... (right side)

Anyways.. Jumped into the car and reversed over the bucket. Not a big deal if it was plastic but this one was galvanised steel. It put a nice elongated hole in the bottom of the oil tank... Perfect!.. and the old guy who was watching across the road said ..."Hey do that again...lol."

Earlier that same week had ordered a new front windscreen trim... Took the old one out thinking I could easily refit the new one without removing the wind screen from the car.... Pushed, pulled, grunt, regret at even attempting this... Fancy home made wire thingy... Bout 4 hours later, almost done.. Was pushing on the screen to help get the trim in place and crack!... Cracked the screen at the corner. Had it replaced the next day. Took the wind screen guys about 10 minutes to replace including fitting the new trim before installing the screen...

SteveinTO · 02-17-2009, 08:45 PM

Most of you probably aren't aware that if you scribe the ignition timing degrees on your Formula Ford flywheel, then install it one bolt off (i.e. 60 degrees, or one of six bolts off) that no matter how accurately you set the timing, it still runs like crap. Don't ask how I know this. After we figured it out two days later, we were amazed it ran at all. We figured 39 BTDC @ 5000 was coming in at 21 ATDC.

In fact it ran almost as bad as the time I put the carb back on and left a shop rag in the intake manifold. Blew pieces of red shop rag out the back like Wiley Coyote after he caught the Roadrunner. Mercifully, that finally cleaned up on its own after a humorous run down the Riverside back straight in 3rd gear.

cl8ton · 02-17-2009, 09:29 PM

Over torqued my rear motor mounts into the alum engine block and pulled the threads on 2 of the 4 mounts

I knew the setting was 35 lbs but for some reason it was set on 65 lbs even after checking it, after the first bolt didn't
torque up, I just thought it was an oddity and moved on. Then when the second one pulled, it was game over.

Going to time-sert the holes this weekend and DOUBLE check the torque wrench this time I swear!

sc_rufctr · 02-17-2009, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cl8ton

Over torqued my rear motor mounts into the alum engine block and pulled the threads on 2 of the 4 mounts

I knew the setting was 35 lbs but for some reason it was set on 65 lbs even after checking it, after the first bolt didn't
torque up, I just thought it was an oddity and moved on. Then when the second one pulled, it was game over.

Going to time-sert the holes this weekend and DOUBLE check the torque wrench this time I swear!

That's happened to me...lol... Thinking the torque wrench is at 12 lbs when it's actually 22... Last time I did this was when I was working on my bicycle... Fitting new brake leavers... Had to use a longer bolt to reach the threads that weren't stripped... lol. (Shimano specified 12 Ft lbs)

DTW_JWA · 02-17-2009, 09:59 PM

I got the bug to do a teardown on a 1982 SC that I purchased. I have rebuilt this car in my sleep. I have created spreadsheets for parts purchases, and changed my rebuild location three times. The car was at 150K when I did the tearup. The worst part of it all is that this all started 9 years ago.

sc_rufctr · 02-17-2009, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTW_JWA

I got the bug to do a teardown on a 1982 SC that I purchased. I have rebuilt this car in my sleep. I have created spreadsheets for parts purchases, and changed my rebuild location three times. The car was at 150K when I did the tearup. The worst part of it all is that this all started 9 years ago.

Oh I can relate... I find no matter how well I do something on my car I always feel like I should have done it better. I've had dreams about how to improve the shift of my 915 gear box. Oh boy

village idiot · village idiot's Garage

When I was in High School I had this '72 Camaro that i bought for $50 from one of my customers at the gas station where I worked. One day I scored a 4 barrel Holley carb from a buddy for free and decided I was going to swap out the q-jet that was on it. I pulled the old carb off and saw what looked like puddled gas on the floor of the intake.
So I tell my buddy to start the car and see if it will run off the fuel in the intake. He hits the key and the car sputters to life.

Then things got kind of hairy... in my quest for scientific knowledge I had forgotten to cap off the fuel line which was right above the intake. At first I thought : "cool it runs !" then larger amounts of fuel start coming out of the line and the rpms start climbing verrry rapidly. Pretty soon the engine is screaming at about a million rpms and my buddy has disappeared. My eyes were huge at that point but I had enough brain cells left to jump back in the car and kill the ignition.

I don't think I've ever been that scared of being around a car in my life

sc_rufctr · 02-17-2009, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by village idiot

When I was in High School I had this '72 Camaro that i bought for $50 from one of my customers at the gas station where I worked. One day I scored a 4 barrel Holley carb from a buddy for free and decided I was going to swap out the q-jet that was on it. I pulled the old carb off and saw what looked like puddled gas on the floor of the intake.
So I tell my buddy to start the car and see if it will run off the fuel in the intake. He hits the key and the car sputters to life.

Then things got kind of hairy... in my quest for scientific knowledge I had forgotten to cap off the fuel line which was right above the intake. At first I thought : "cool it runs !" then larger amounts of fuel start coming out of the line and the rpms start climbing verrry rapidly. Pretty soon the engine is screaming at about a million rpms and my buddy has disappeared. My eyes were huge at that point but I had enough brain cells left to jump back in the car and kill the ignition.

I don't think I've ever been that scared of being around a car in my life

After that story I would thank the Good Lord you're still here....

Just imagine what would have happened had you not turned off the ignition...

CABOOM!

village idiot · village idiot's Garage

heh, I got lucky there.

There was also this time where I was setting up to hone the cylinders of that same car and as I was guiding the three-bar hone into place I accidentally hit the trigger for the electric drill I was using for honing. My fingers on my left hand were pretty shredded, but fortunately no nerve or major damage

sc_rufctr · 02-18-2009, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by village idiot

heh, I got lucky there.

There was also this time where I was setting up to hone the cylinders of that same car and as I was guiding the three-bar hone into place I accidentally hit the trigger for the electric drill I was using for honing. My fingers on my left hand were pretty shredded, but fortunately no nerve or major damage

Oh dude... be careful

albroon · 04-01-2009, 10:15 AM

Did mine last night!

Having spent the last few weekends rebuilding my front brakes and suspension, as of Sunday night I only have one job left to complete - I need to bleed the brakes. I have bled loads of brakes on cars and bikes - using the 2 man, manual method.

Monday I bought an Eezibleed kit.

Tuesday night and keen to finish I read the instructions in the Eezibleed kit and decide I can get this done in minutes. So I set everything up as per the instructions, check that there are no air leaks and decide to go for it. OK fill the resevior. Tube on first bleed nipple. Jar in one hand, wrench in the other - here we go. Loosen off bleed nipple and for a few seconds everything seems to be going great - fluid full of bubbles start flowing. Then all of a sudden, fluid starts spewing, and i mean spewing out of the front of the car - what the h*ll. Quickly tighten bleed nipple and run to tyre with air hose on it and disconnect as quick as I can.

Spewing stops.

What the h*ll happened there. Panic sets in - what have I broken this time!

Better read my Bentley manual to see if I can figure why that happened and what have I broken.

From bentley manual when pressure bleeding "attach air hose and clamp off breather tube if fitted". Breather tube? the Eezibleed instructions didn't say anything about a breather tube?

Ooops!!

The moral of this sorry tale - if you are tackling a new task or in an unfamiliar way - read the manual!!

At least the only damage is to my pride and the price of the 500ml of brake fluid now on my garage floor.

aftermath · aftermath's Garage

Getting married