SharkSkin

OK, first of all, thanks and credit for the idea of creating this thread goes to dr bob, who suggested it in my Ghetto Tech thread.

To start with, I'll relate a few just to get things going in the general direction...

1) Never grind, drill, or chip at anything, or crawl on your back under the car, without safety glasses. 'nuff said.

2) Never run an engine in a closed garage; always provide lots of ventilation when working with flammables.

3) Never trust the jack, use jackstands, ramps and wheel chocks liberally.

4) If you have the car in the path of the garage door, wedge it open with a 2x4 and unplug the garage door opener.

5) Never use a cutting torch such that hot metal gets near the hoses. A kid in high school metal shop class wasn't paying attention and he burned through the acetylene line. Real scary until the shop teacher backed out the regulator.

6) Never start a dirt bike in a closed garage that has a broken clutch cable, and the gear shift on the same side as the kick starter....

7) Never drill a large hole in a long workpiece on a drill press without first checking to be sure the piece won't swing around and whack you in the ribs in the event the drill catches.

And on and on... Toss in any suggestions, experiences...

This one was taken by my older brother when I was in diapers, and it's my dad demonstrating that if you are finished testing your oil pressure with a mechanical gauge on your project truck in the garage, make sure you double-check that you have screwed the oil sender back in before starting it back up. My brother was shooed away before he could get pics of the oil that had soaked the boxes & such stored in the garage rafters and basically splattered all over...



Now, I've been trying to figure out the best way to ask my neighbor about what I see in the following pic.... but I bet it would make an interesting post here, and I bet it's embarrassing...

icat

Never drill a hole in the garage wall with out first locating the water main pipes. Learned how to cold solder on that one.

bd0nalds0n

Never use a ditch witch without knowing where your PVC water lines are

Bill Ball

"Now, I've been trying to figure out the best way to ask my neighbor about what I see in the following pic.... but I bet it would make an interesting post here, and I bet it's embarrassing... "


How about explaining this one?

Garth S

- when mounting accessories anywhere in a car, never use a drill bit longer than 1/4"! ( helped a friend replace a heater core - victim of a drill, recently a much perforated gas tank made the List)
- when bleeding the brakes the traditional way, get a helper that drives a standard: in a too recent episode, I was under the car doing the " OK, pump ..... and hold" thing. Despite the furious pumping above me, there was no pressure to bleed - my assistant was furiously pumping the clutch!!
- when about to take on a potentially risky dissasembly alone where your common sense side is telling you " be careful Stupid!" , do,
a) wear a heavy pair of leather gloves for protection if something slips/breaks
b) have a second set of wheels available to get you to an Emergency center should you cut your gizzard open.

hacker-pschorr

- When on easy out breaks off in the bolt your trying to remove from the block, don't go up one size and try again.
- Don't torch a tight bolt 6 inches away from your fuel lines that are wide open (nothing happened, I was going to use the torch until I remembered the fuel lines)
- If you going to mess with the gas tank device that bleeds off gas vapors to the engine. Plug the open fuel lines under the hood real good. Pulling and tugging on these lines causes a lot of gas to come spurting out the fuel lines.
- Always remember - Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosie

zmandan

What happens in my garage..stays in my garage!

I grow up around machinery and moving stuff,

"cause and effect"

If I do this, this and this..what will happen?, you just got to think things through, and some times you don't get a 2nd chance!

Natural selection weeds out the stupid and careless!

dan z

Ketchmi

Hi

Never leave push brooms in the passage way of cars. They tend to reach up and strike the nicest car you have!

Just a good recent piece of advice.

Thaddeus

Never poop in there, unless there are toilet facilities.

Quite an amusing story about this really, although not involving me directly... perhaps another time.

Glenn Evans

When you've had your 928's clutch out, and have to make that extra effort to slide the torque tube driveshaft coupling forward again, don't leave your thumb in the way!

I have hit my thumbnail before, and blackened it, but that was the only time I ever l ended up losing the nail!

SteveG

Oh, god. I split a rib on the tire streaks. I needed that.

Beth

Always remember to disconnect the battery ground strap when messing with anything electrical. If not, the blown fuse will be a hidden one that you didn't even know existed and it will take you days to find.

jon928se

When the spring compressor on the spring/strut you have removed from the car starts creaking and kind of moving. Retreat to the far end of the garage and poke it with a long stick till it comes right off.

Garage still has the 1/2" dia 4" deep hole in the joist from this one.

Jon
Black SE

Many more like that one.

Scott M.

Zman;

So not true. The stupid just get put on disability and we end up paying them to have more kids!!

Scot

Flint

Or cable lines, or telephone lines...