Lesson of the day!
08-30-2013, 03:35 PM
#16
Drifting
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Toronto, C eh! N eh! D eh!
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Two fat guys, put a 944 Turbo up on jack stands to change out the clutch. Work all morning, fit under the car fine, we break for lunch. Have foot long subs at Subway... after lunch, both of our stomachs would scrape the car when we are trying to move around underneath. It was pretty funny...
Finish clutch change, huge job in a 944 Turbo, but decide to save $30 and install aftermarket rear main seal. Finish, start car, new rear main seal leaks. ARGH!!! Drive to PFAFF, buy factory rear main seal, do the whole job again, but with a 6-inch sub, and everything works great.
Finish clutch change, huge job in a 944 Turbo, but decide to save $30 and install aftermarket rear main seal. Finish, start car, new rear main seal leaks. ARGH!!! Drive to PFAFF, buy factory rear main seal, do the whole job again, but with a 6-inch sub, and everything works great.
08-30-2013, 03:41 PM
#17
Drifting
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Toronto, C eh! N eh! D eh!
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A long long time ago (almost 20 years ago! wow!)... on a date, driving a VW Golf GTI. Muffler clamp on new exhaust falls off, muffler slides out, and drags along the ground. I have my date wrap my hands in duct tape I had in the car. Lay out the floor mats on the ground, pick up the hot exhaust with my duct tape hands, slide it back in, and everything stays together for the rest of the night.
08-30-2013, 07:14 PM
#19
Drifting
Removed door panel, removed and installed a new window regulator, put it all back together, tested it and I was quite pleased with the result. On the way back into the house I noticed I forgot to put the padded lining back in. D'oh !
08-30-2013, 10:13 PM
#21
Race Director
Ah, another blunder of mine....
Was on a cross-country trip in the Cuda. Stayed overnight at a cheap motel in some crappy little town in Ohio (wait, that's a redundancy). The next morning, my car wouldn't start. Starter ran fine, but that's it.
I didn't have any tools, so called a local mechanic. He came over to the motel, looked at the car for about a half hour, but couldn't find what was wrong. He then towed me... using a rope tied to his truck while I rode in the car working the brake and steering the car... totally unsafe...
As he made a wide turn into the yard for his shop (we were going about 50 mph), the rope comes undone...
I coasted across the shop's yard (this was Nowhere, Ohio, so the shop was on a huge dirt lot), and stopped near the shop building.
The shop owner comes out, looks at my car for maybe 5 seconds. Then, he reaches up under the dash and flips my kill switch!!!!
Musta' accidentally bumped it the evening before. The guy who owned the car before me put it in, and I never used it, so I completely forgot it was there. Needless to say, the car started right up!
Quite embarrassing.
Was on a cross-country trip in the Cuda. Stayed overnight at a cheap motel in some crappy little town in Ohio (wait, that's a redundancy). The next morning, my car wouldn't start. Starter ran fine, but that's it.
I didn't have any tools, so called a local mechanic. He came over to the motel, looked at the car for about a half hour, but couldn't find what was wrong. He then towed me... using a rope tied to his truck while I rode in the car working the brake and steering the car... totally unsafe...
As he made a wide turn into the yard for his shop (we were going about 50 mph), the rope comes undone...
I coasted across the shop's yard (this was Nowhere, Ohio, so the shop was on a huge dirt lot), and stopped near the shop building.
The shop owner comes out, looks at my car for maybe 5 seconds. Then, he reaches up under the dash and flips my kill switch!!!!
Musta' accidentally bumped it the evening before. The guy who owned the car before me put it in, and I never used it, so I completely forgot it was there. Needless to say, the car started right up!
Quite embarrassing.
08-30-2013, 10:53 PM
#23
Drifting
Always check to make sure the gasket of the old oil filter didn't stay on the mounting face on the engine side, especially on an engine where the oil filter is installed horizontally, because the old gasket will fall and get hung up on the threaded neck, preventing the new oil filter from fully seating, thus creating a leakage allowing oil to be pumped out onto your driveway in a big puddle, and as you drive down the block leaving an oil trail behind your car.
08-31-2013, 12:21 AM
#24
Rennlist Member
Quite some time ago I owned a Plymouth Horizon.
It had the old style pull up door locks.
I once locked my keys in the car and immediately went and got a coat hanger and some pliers. I fabricated a hook and gently worked it in through the door jamb and managed to unlock the door. I then opened the door, jumped in, shut the door and stuck my elbow out the fully opened window!!
Just when I thought I couldn't be more stupid, I glanced over to notice the passenger door was unlocked.
Doh!!!
Oh yeah, I left the oil cap off the top of my Mazda motor once and ended up soaking the motor and under hood pad in oil.
Once upon a time I built a great little 75 Honda Civic street/race car. In order to make it easier to work on, I would unbolt the hood hinges and take it right off. (hood opened forward on those cars) Sometimes, I would place it back on at night in case of rain. One morning I forgot that I hadn't finished the job and hopped in and took off. The hood flew off at about 35 MPH, but miraculously landed flat and wasn't badly damaged at all. Whew!!
It had the old style pull up door locks.
I once locked my keys in the car and immediately went and got a coat hanger and some pliers. I fabricated a hook and gently worked it in through the door jamb and managed to unlock the door. I then opened the door, jumped in, shut the door and stuck my elbow out the fully opened window!!
Just when I thought I couldn't be more stupid, I glanced over to notice the passenger door was unlocked.
Doh!!!
Oh yeah, I left the oil cap off the top of my Mazda motor once and ended up soaking the motor and under hood pad in oil.
Once upon a time I built a great little 75 Honda Civic street/race car. In order to make it easier to work on, I would unbolt the hood hinges and take it right off. (hood opened forward on those cars) Sometimes, I would place it back on at night in case of rain. One morning I forgot that I hadn't finished the job and hopped in and took off. The hood flew off at about 35 MPH, but miraculously landed flat and wasn't badly damaged at all. Whew!!
08-31-2013, 07:19 AM
#25
Drifting
How about a dumb thief...Had my GPS stolen out of my old Kia DD a few years back (my bad for leaving it in, tired after a long trip). They smashed my window, scratched up the door in the process, and took the GPS. Sad thing is that i never lock the doors on that car, he could have just pulled the handle. $500 bucks for the window.
09-01-2013, 05:15 PM
#27
Intermediate
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
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Always check to make sure the gasket of the old oil filter didn't stay on the mounting face on the engine side, especially on an engine where the oil filter is installed horizontally, because the old gasket will fall and get hung up on the threaded neck, preventing the new oil filter from fully seating, thus creating a leakage allowing oil to be pumped out onto your driveway in a big puddle, and as you drive down the block leaving an oil trail behind your car.
Try explaining that to Dad.
Here it was that I was the reason my father drank...
09-01-2013, 09:50 PM
#29
Rennlist Member
Leaving work one day I found that the battery in my remote died so I could not unlock the doors. No problem, I thought, the Circuit City is only about a 10 minute walk, I can just get a new battery! I walked about 1/3 of the way when I remembered I could actually use the key to unlock the door...
09-02-2013, 09:30 PM
#30
Drifting
Changing plugs on Iroc Z way back. Just as I'm hand threading in last plug, I get a call to the phone in the house. Come back later and push spark plug wire boot on and fire up motor. Sounds a little rough so I take it around the block for a run and BANG! Suddenly running on seven cylinders... Drive back home and when I look under the hood I see loose wire and a hole where there should be a spark plug. Plug is no where to be seen (never did find it) but there is a mark in the underside of the fiberglass hood. Lesson learned: don't get distracted next time I do maintenance. 