admit to your stupidity - Page 6

47silver · 47silver's Garage

just finished body work and having my uncle paint my 64 volkswagon. stopped at a hardware store for something and paralled parked. opened the door and boom a guy in a 58 olds drives down the block with my door. he did not have a license, or insurance, so back to my uncles after redoing the side and door.

same car...forgot to put a cotter pin on the castle nut holding tie rod to the drivers side wheel...i guess i believe in angels as we went through a tunnel and over a bridge when i realized that i could not turn. no damage but made me very careful.

SC-targa · 12-03-2003, 04:45 AM

Some of you guys have me in tears. This is a great thread.

In 1982, I had a buddy who stuffed a 460 motor in his beat up 69 Mach 1 Mustang. The 460 was a monsterously big motor and he had to do a little "adjusting" to the steering box and the left ehaust manifold to get clearance for the steering column.

Anyway, he fires it up and takes a test drive. No license on the car, no insurance. The car hadn't run when he bought it, so it was the first time he'd ever driven it.

The car was doing a great big burn out, when the steering column rag joint pulled apart and he collided at great speed with a nearly new jeep. Had to have his dad bail him out financially on that one.

Regards,

Jerry Kroeger

Crowbob · 12-03-2003, 06:06 AM

Bought a Porsche...then another one...enough said.

HawgRyder · HawgRyder's Garage

Was working on my old Ford (54) one time....had it up on blocks (concrete)...had been under it for hours.
Went to lunch....when I came out...the car was on the ground...the blocks had turned to gravel....scared the H*ll out of me.
Lesson...DON'T USE CONCRETE BLOCKS..!!!
Bob

tab tanner · 12-03-2003, 08:07 AM

I bought a 87 944s with a bad engine. Got a good used one from a yard and put it in. The car ran great, so I drove it down road and before I could get back to the shop I heard a knocking noise. Then I could not shift the trans out of gear. WTF I thought. Guess what, the fly wheel was loose. The yard had sold the fly wheel off of the motor and then the customer didn't want It so they just put it back on[loose of course] There is no more fun than doing the same job twice..

CHILI · CHILI's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by scottb
There was a pretty good thread recently, where people admitted their garage mistakes. Very funny!

Scott's right. It was my thread. Pretty proud of it, too

For those of you who want to continue reading some of this hilarious stuff, here you go....

Tell us your "stupid move" story!

Good times!

Mike Andrew · 12-03-2003, 09:18 AM

I managed to get my front calipers on the wrong sides of my SC. Had alignment work to be done so I asked the shop to properly bleed my brakes while they had the car......
3 hours later, I get the call asking me if I realized that the rotors were backwards & informing me that the bleed valve always should be at the top.

Talk about feeling like a dumba$$ when I picked up the car. I could barely look the guy in the eye.

911ctS · 12-03-2003, 09:37 AM

oh yes...here's a good one. I had just finished the rebuild/upgrade on my 2.2 T engine. Made it a 2.4 S engine with all the necessary case work, new crank, new mahle P & S (9.5 to 1 comp.) and E cams. Sweet engine all beautifully power coated metal and shrouding, I spared no expense. anyway the day had come to install the new beauty and i had taken my oil tank out previously to clean it and re paint. so when i put the tank back in i put the filter neck on rotated slightly the wrong way (you have 3 different possibilities). Being way to excited to run the beast and probably guilty of some herbal remodies action the night before. i fired the baby up and it seemed to be totally ok at first. The oil was going from the pump up, over, through the filter (sort of) and stright against the side of the tank, about 1 inch from where the passage way hole is. Its wierd because right from the start my oil pres. gauge was reading totally normal and it stayed that way untill the very end. Since there was so much pressure it forced the filter bypass spring back and was barely making its way to the tank. This put (needless to say) ALOT of stress on the oil pump and caused it to machine itself a larger bore inside, thats when the pressure began to drop. F'd it UP big time. I caught the problem that day after driving it for about 15 mi. and took the whole thing apart that night, all night. Everything was ok except the pump and the fact that everything needed to be re cleaned and re-assembled. Guarenteed that will never happen again!!

Clint

aj88cab · aj88cab's Garage

One day I was having lunch a my desk and reading one of those automotive forums. This particular thread was about stupid things people have done related to their cars. I was so engrossed by the thread that when I went to put my coffee mug down I missed the edge of my desk!

Now excuse me while I go get a towel!

DavidI · 12-19-2003, 12:30 PM

I had a 67 912 P-car that I was taking to a body/paint shop for a few coats of Guards Red color. I was following my wife (so she could give me a ride back home) on the freeway at a comfortable 70mph. The front end of the car started shaking violently. I flashed my lights at me wife trying to get her attention, but obviously she had other things on her mind.

I thought the next best thing to do would be to speed up along side her to get her attention so we could pull off to the side of the freeway. As I reached 80 mph, the front driver side Fuch decided it no longer wanted to be part of my P-car. It flew off ripping the fender outward sending my car into a spinning motion at 80 mph! As I was spinning, traffic swerved around me nearly crashing into me.

My wife was oblivious to the whole thing and continued her journey into the sunset....

What I found was that a thief had tried to steal my rims the night before. I had locks on all four wheels that prevented them from coming off. The only thing holding my rims on were the locks!

Damage....Fuch rim, ground A arm, rotor, suspension pan, etc.

And you thought it was over...my errant rim landed in the center divider of the freeway. Not using my best judgment, I made a quick dash to retrieve my bent, broken rim. The things we do at 19 years old...

djmcmath · 12-19-2003, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seqcgr
Thanx, I just laughed myself silly!

While you're laughing, I once changed the oil, and forgot to peel the old oil filter gasket off the engine. The new filter went on real nice, and the system held oil, right up until I started it and backed it out of the garage. "What's that gurgling noise?" I wondered. I left a dripping trail of oil 50ft away, when the oil light came on. Guess the pressure of actual oil was too much for a double-gasket seal, and it violently exploded, dumping oil all over the engine bay.

Dan

djmcmath · 12-19-2003, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CarreraDan
I won't even go into the drag racing incident with the county sheriff sitting behind me watching the whole thing in disbelief that neither of us checked our mirrors until it was way too late. I was much younger back then and I learned a very important lesson that day about what can happen when you are caught street racing--which I have never done again and never will.

Late night in Georgia, wandering down some unfamiliar country roads trying to get back to the freeway, and I'm rapidly getting annoyed because the a$$munch behind me is tailgating and has his high-beams on. So finally I find the freeway, and this guy is still right behind me, so I decide to show him who's boss. I did my personal best up to 65, and he was still right on my tail, so I roared right on through 80. At that point, I decided it wasn't worth it, and backed down, which is fortunate, because it turns out that the a$$munch with his high-beams on tailgating me the whole way up the on-ramp was a Sherriff... For whatever reason, he decided not to pull me over, and just go wherever it was he was going that fast...

epbrown · 12-19-2003, 04:38 PM

I don't know if it counts as stupid, but it felt like it: trying to remove a stuck air filter a couple of weeks ago, I followed the standard tip (hey, I think I got the idea from 101 Projects!) and stuck a screwdriver through the filter to help twist it. It didn't work: bent the hell out of 2 screwdrivers and ended up with a car that will spew oil if I so much as try to start it, much less drive it.

And of course, I was blocking my other car with it.

I ended up leaving a huge trail of oil everywhere, and the engine bay was a mess, but the tools suggested by some of the other Pelicans did get the darn thing off.

Emanuel

beamonk · 12-19-2003, 05:24 PM

Let's see, there are so many... Parking my beautiful 72 240z under my parents big oak tree so it wouldn't be so damn hot to work on the next day after a night of heavy drinking. My sister in her bratty tone said, "you'd better not park it under that tree, a limb will fall off and smash it". Yeah, whatever you dingbat.... Well, she had the pleasure to wake me up with a bad hangover with the news......

beamonk · 12-19-2003, 05:28 PM

Oh, I almost forgot, rebuilding my z car brake calipers late one night, forgot to take the finger out when I applied air to get the pistons out. That really hurt. I think I will stop here before I have to go sell some cars.

SSL · 12-19-2003, 06:16 PM

I have to go back quite a few years in recalling my biggest bonehead mechanic'n stunt. Was rebuilding an Alfa Spider 4 cylinder--down to the mains (19 yrs old with a Haynes manual and half rack + of PBR as guides). When torqueing mains, one torqued on bolt, then checked for .0004 gap under opposite bearing--if less than .0004, then use a flat surface and emery cloth to remove material from base of maincap to attain correct preload. Well, thats simpleright? Simply use a standard feeler guage right?--yea, right if you want 4 thousandths, only off by a magnitude of TEN! Boy, this engine has some compression--damn near impossible to turn the crank! Soon became familiar with the concept of Line Boring-- Did establish a benchmark for me to compare many other of my less dummervoyer stunts, always a good selfdepreciating story to share with others , though. Happy Holidays.

Rondinone · 06:37 PM

Here's another one of mine. My first car was an 81 ford escort. AC didn't work. Decided it was the expansion valve. Spent whole day removing dash, environmental unit, evaporator coil. Hey where's the expansion valve? Turns out Ford uses those darn orifice tubes, which are on the other side of the firewall in the engine compartment.

I can't remember if I told this other one before or not. My female companion in high school had her engine light come on one day. She knew where the dipstick tube and the oil cap were, and proceeded to fill up the engine until it overflowed from the dipstick tube. Hey that's full right? Then she started the engine. Yikes.

47silver · 47silver's Garage

on old tired motorcycle a yamaha 250 twin 2 cycle dirt track racer with a 14000 rpm tach .could not get it to start...on both cylinder,,, hmmm which one is not running...i reach down and grab the exhaust pipe.......sizzling bacon...i found out which one was working....found out that the spark plugs where the wrong ones....

Rondinone · 05:06 PM

OK I have to post another one. Or two.

I've changed alot of struts, but only once did I remove the main retaining nut (on top the strut) without putting spring compressors on.

Then there was the time my buddy was washing his car, then his dads. He decides to move his dads car to a better location. Forgot that his driver's side door is open on the other car. Runs into his door with dad's car. Bent the door out past 90 degrees. Door is now several inches from closing flush. So he calls me for help. I was 18, had a POS ford escort with a trailer hitch (!???!). We wrapped some steel cable around the escort trailer hitch, and then around one of the hinges. I got a running start up his driveway. Wham! How's it look? Better! Do it again. OK. Wham. A dozen or so whams later we had those hinges pretty straight.

Just this summer I've adjusting the valves. I'm turning the engine over with the lugwrench, but watching the main pulley not the wrench. The wrench flies off, hits me in the left eyebrow. OK some blood, that not too bad. Later that day, the bruise was draining down behind my skin and pooling in my eyelid. I looked like I'd been in a fight for 2 weeks.

Hugh R · 12-20-2003, 05:36 PM

Years ago when I was a consultant, I was working with the local flood control agency and we went up into the Angeles Crest (local semi-mountains) with their 4x4 up a dirt fire trail. Got stuck in a big rut and the driver takes the winch from the front of the truck and proceeds to attach it to a stump about 25' ahead of us and use it to pull us out of the rut. You guessed it, the stump came flying out and slammed into the windshield of the truck we were in. Really f'd up the truck, but at least we were OK.