FUN THREAD: What was the dumbest thing you ever did when working on your car???

ILLS

ILLS

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Ok so I thought of this about a minute ago when I was posting in another thread.

What is the dumbest or most idiotic thing you accidently did while working on yours or another persons vehicle. I don't care if you have been working on cars for 5 minutes or 50 years there has been a brain fart or two along the way so go ahead and share it.




Here is mine:

I was finishing up a Kenne Bell supercharger reinstall on my SUV one night a few years back. It was getting late as hell and I was tired from working on the truck all day long. I had problems finding the proper amount of fuel with the current configuration given the power the vehicle was making. So halfways through this fiasco I thought that maybe I was maxxing the MAF even though I knew it could support about 800 horsepower and I was maybe only pushing 675-700 or so. Well in a hurry I replace the MAFS with the other one I had laying around in hopes that this would finally solve it and I could tune the vehicle. Well I got the new MAF back in and fired the truck up. Ran like SH*****T and died!!! Now I was really confused, running out of energy, and just plain ticked off, and then on top of it all it is now dark outside. I had been fighting this vehicle all day long and now THIS??? I was thinking that I do this crap for a business and I cannot even figure my own vehicle out?!?!? What the heck is wrong with me. Am I losing my mind? I went inside and ate dinner with two of my friends that were there for the ride and thought about what could be causing this new problem.

As I was sitting there a lightbulb lit up in my brain. I thought I knew what it was but if I was right then I sure as heck didn't want my buddies to find out! So I nonchalantly slip outside and take a look at it. SUCCESS!!! I GOT IT!!! The damn MAFS was installed backwards!!! Yep, you heard me right. I installed the MAFS backwards. Now you might ask "How in the heck did he do something THAT stupid?" Well I will tell you. The MAFS was 4" in size and the aluminum filter adapter that bolted to its flange was 4" in diameter also. Through getting in a rush and then also not seeing too well because it was getting dark out I put her in backwards and never realized it.

Ok now I go into Operation Cover Up... Here I am sneaking around looking for my tools as if I were Steve Irwin looking for a deadly Cobra in the Aussy bush. I am just praying my guys inside the house won't come out for a few minutes to see my ninja mechanic hat trick. Swapped her around in 2 minutes. She started right up after that and ran fine again. They came out and asked what I had done and I just shrugged my shoulders. Later that night I got the fueling taken care of with the truck and finally got her all dialed in.

I have been modifying performance cars for a while now and there is one lesson that I hold above all else. NEVER EVER forget to check the small stuff. Another lesson I learned is that no matter how good you are there will be times that you occasionally screw up.





Ok enough of my story. Lets hear yours.
 
Dropped it and caught my hand between it and my damn wheel.
 
In my earlier detailing days I was using my Porter Cable to polish my hood, and I didn't really know when the polish actually flashed into dry. I picked the buffer off the hood while it was still on and turned it towards me to flip upside down to see how the polish looked. When the side of the buffer faced me it spit polish all over my face and into my eyes. I fell back and knocked a 5 gallon water bucket over and drenched my shoes with dirty water. Now I make sure I turn the buffer on only when it's on the place I'm working.
 
when i first got my ls at 15 years old i was "swangin" and broke the ball joint...lol...i was young and dumb...with suspension problems

if you dont know what swangin is, i suggest you youtube it...
 
KD00LS said:
In my earlier detailing days I was using my Porter Cable to polish my hood, and I didn't really know when the polish actually flashed into dry. I picked the buffer off the hood while it was still on and turned it towards me to flip upside down to see how the polish looked. When the side of the buffer faced me it spit polish all over my face and into my eyes. I fell back and knocked a 5 gallon water bucket over and drenched my shoes with dirty water. Now I make sure I turn the buffer on only when it's on the place I'm working.
Click to expand...



Haha that is a good one. :p
 
Was changing the oil one time in my first car, a Dodge 600 turbo, and as I was filling it up I notice this dripping sound under the car. I look and the drain pan is FULL to the BRIM with oil running straight through the engine, out the drain plug hole, and into the pan. :slam And the plug is still sitting right where I left it on the radiator support after I wiped it off.

Another time, also has to do with oil, was finishing up putting an alternator in my Caddy. Alternator replacement means you have to remove the radiator on that car because there just isn't enough room under the hood with the transverse mounted Northstar in the way. So its all together and full of antifreeze and ready to go, crank it, fires right up. I take a quick check to make sure my tools are all out from under the hood and am about to close it when I see a lake of black running down the driveway. I run around to but it off and then realize... I forgot to hook up the oil cooler lines. :D :slam

Im sure there's more but those instances just stand out in my memory.
 
working on my 94 camaro Z28 6 speed, did pacesetter headers. had everything apart on it it seemed like lol. more then usual for me anyways. starter, most of the things on the front of the engine, anything that was in the way. got the headers on. car had been sitting for a month about. id been waiting on parts and driving a mini van. camaro is up on jack stands. i stick my head in the window, turn the key...nothing. figured i :q:q:q:qed up the starter, i get under the car take the starter off. then i realize its a 6 speed and not an automatic mini van. this time i approach it differently. i get in the car, push the cluctch down, and it fires right up. i felt retarded :lol: kind of need a clutch depressed to start most manual cars.
 
I was putting a new downpipe on my accord, and got excited because I actually did it myself. So I drive the car around the block to make sure everything is right. out of the blue I hear this noise that sound like a motorcycle. This car passed me and i looked at them like "damn" your is loud, and they are lookin at me the same way. As they pass me the sound is still prominent. Turns out I forgot to tighten up my O2 sensor, so it was just like i had a dime shape whole in my exhaust. I just screwed it back in once it cooled off.
 
haha!! These are some good ones! I like the one "i brought my car to a lincoln dealer once" lol

This one has to do with buffing also. I was buffing out my hood and i pulled the buffer off of it to put more compound on it,and I locked the buffer to the "on" position i thought I had it held far enough away from me. I was wrong,it caught up in my hoodie i had on and wrapped up in it,and the rear of the DeWalt buffer smacked me in my face,cut my lip,and was still trying to turn. Not thinking i still had my lock button still on i ran to the wall and unplugged it...That crap hurt!
 
I've got lots of them..... I taught myelf how to work on cars... so I learned by :q:q:q:qing up!

Most annoying.... dropping a wrench under the intake on a Vic abd having to pull the intake back off to get it out.
 
When I first started fixing my own vehicles I would leave tools in the engine bay. I'd say the dumbest thing I've ever done was while hooking an electric fan up on my old S10. I had been working on the truck all day and could not get the fan to work for the life of me. I left it alone for the night and came back the next day with my dad. Come to find out I forgot to hook up a relay switch. I looked all over the night before and missed it every time. After we hooked up the relay the fan worked perfect.
 
Helping NickT do exhaust on a truck and went to take the tail pipe section out from under it after he got done welding it. Guess where my left hand grabbed? Yeah, right on the weld he just got done with. That left a mark.
 
after taking my old F-150 out for a ton of off roading, I pulled my back wheels off to adjust the suspension. truck was in park and the e brake was on. I didn't block off the front tires and the truck came down off the jackstands in a hurry!!!!!! I did everything i could think of for safety to make sure I was going to be ok. I just didnt think the whole thing through and block the tires off like we ALL know to do. The dumbest part is this...... it was at my buddy's house and he sets the jacks ontop of the blocks so you cant forget to block off the tires. I had to move them to do my work that day.


when the truck fell.... i smoked half a pack, changed my pants, lifted the back end and blocked off the front wheels. The truck sat over night, while i finished off my pack of "oh crap i almost died" smokes, and sobered up
 
Back in the early 70's when I first started driving I got a speeding ticket (some things never change because I still do) that I didn't want to tell my dad about. The day of the court hearing (you couldn't pay them on-line back then) my dad decided we were going to paint a 63 Bel-Air that we had. Well half way through the second coat I had to leave to go to the court house and I still didn't want to tell my dad so I intentionally screwed up the paint job. We had to stop to let the paint dry to sand out the mess I made which bought me enough time to face the judge. Needless to say the judge was not impress with me showing up in shorts and paint all over my clothes and my dad was pretty ticked off too but he never found out. ;)
 
My friend's Altima was having a problem charging, so we popped open the hooded. I say "well this is your problem." The belt wasn't moving so i go to push it along, Duh!! The belt caught my finger and almost took it under the idler, which was broken. thank god it was. It ripped off most of the skin off of my pointer, but it could crushed my finger too.
Duh Will, You don't put you hands where parts that should move aren't!
 
There are so many dumb things done, esp. when you do it for a living. First thing comes to mind is when I did my 5.0 carb conversion into my 85 Turbo t-bird, yanked the 2.3 out and layed the 5.0 engine and 5 speed in. I was wiring the car and figured I would tap the ignition to be sure I have connected correctly for the starter, well guess what, damn engine started on that tap and was in gear, no clutch cable hooked up yet, so car went straight into the tool box. Did not screw anything up, but still stupid.

Another one was I replaced 5.7 in a 88 Iroc and made it carb., while working on car the engine cylinders filled with fuel. Easy one, take out the plugs and crank motor to get the fuel out, well guess what the dumbass move here was??? Ya got it?? If you guessed I forget to disconnect the ignition coil you are correct. ow that's a fire!!!!
 
NHLSV8 said:
after taking my old F-150 out for a ton of off roading, I pulled my back wheels off to adjust the suspension. truck was in park and the e brake was on. I didn't block off the front tires and the truck came down off the jackstands in a hurry!!!!!! I did everything i could think of for safety to make sure I was going to be ok. I just didnt think the whole thing through and block the tires off like we ALL know to do. The dumbest part is this...... it was at my buddy's house and he sets the jacks ontop of the blocks so you cant forget to block off the tires. I had to move them to do my work that day.


when the truck fell.... i smoked half a pack, changed my pants, lifted the back end and blocked off the front wheels. The truck sat over night, while i finished off my pack of "oh crap i almost died" smokes, and sobered up
Click to expand...

Wow,
First car I ever owned was a 67 cougar "kind of dating myself"
I decided it was time for headers and duel ex. saved all my pennies from my part time job and bought a set of cheap Doug Thorley headers.
I had striped it down of its stock stuff, had it up on flimsy jack stands, thought everything was safe.
The Passenger side was a Bit@h and wouldnt fit....then the header got stuck between the engine and the tourqe box.
So I gave it a real good wiggle with a couple of cuss words.
Shook the car right off the jack stands with me underneath it.
The header... by luck.. was pointed straight down almost at 90 deg. and stoped the oil pan spreading my gray matter all over the garage for my dad to find.
So I found myself under my beloved cougar with a cheap header for a jack stand holding up the car.
I wiggled out....cleaned the $hit outta my undies and jacked up the car and the header just fell out a little bent.

Heres the kicker the header was bent perfect it fit right in the car !

Lesson learned...as soon as I start to get a little hot under the collar I just walk away and regroup.
By far the dumbest thing I ever did.
 
I have a couple... I'll start off with a normal one that happens all the time.
Lifting a truck is a pretty easy job; time consuming but relatively straight forward. But, when shops do the work, they have a lift... when you do the work at home, no such thing (unless you are one of the few VERY fortunate to have a lift in your garage). Anyhow, for those of you who don't know... when you lift a truck, you've got to support the frame... Not a big issue up front when it's independent front suspension; just get it up so the arms hang free, then take tension off the torsion bars. Well on the backside it's a bit different. To fully unload the leaf springs and be able to drop the axle down low enough so you can put lifting blocks in requires the rear frame to be raised a CONSIDERABLE amount. So, using a heavy duty floor jack and some jack stands, you start out by placing the jack on some 6x6's and 2x4's until at the down position it's right under the axle. Then you lift it as high as it will go, take a pile of 6x6's, two or three high, put your jack-stand on it and support the frame. Now when you drop the jack you have the room needed. Only problem is, it's not really the most stable way to elevate a vehicle. So you do your work carefully, making sure you don't place yourself anywhere that the vehicle could kill you if it falls (this means stay low and work in the wheel well). Usually also pile up your tires under you hitch; this way if it falls, there will be something there to prevent it from coming all of the way down. Anyhow, people do this nearly on a daily basis... And yes, it isn't very safe.

On to other stupidity... Both of these are while working on the same car back in high school; a 1985 Pontiac Fiero. There might be some here who know what that little piece of crap 2.5L I-4 can do with the right parts, work, and disregard for longevity... That was my project; building a little screamer of a 4-banger, which might last me 30,000 miles or so. Fully prepped block, cleavite 77 bearings, larger valves stolen from a Chevy 350(exhaust) and some random chrysler with the right head and stem size (intake)... extensive port/polish work, flat top Chevy 350 pistons (yup, they fit...), a hot cam... oh yeah, desk top dyno projected right around 220HP naturally aspirated. WELLLLLL... this was my first engine build, and although I had a good deal of help in the build... making sure I didn't screw up... I did the install myself. First time I installed it, I forgot to prime the oil pump... So out it came for new bearings (some how that was the only damage). Well, after feeling like the biggest moron in the world... forgetting something so OBVIOUS... I reinstalled the engine. Ran great... for a few minutes... then I noticed a very strange sound... like a bolt or two rattling around. Yup, I forgot to put loctite on the flywheel bolts. So out it came again... Problem solved.

Unfortunately, I never did get that car really set-up right; Shortly after the engine adventure, I joined the Army... the car sat in my parents back yard for several years and eventually, knowing I'd never do anything with it and realizing the amount of work it still needed... sold it for about $1000. Not even what the engine cost me!
 
ford nut said:
Shook the car right off the jack stands with me underneath it.
The header... by luck.. was pointed straight down almost at 90 deg. and stoped the oil pan spreading my gray matter all over the garage for my dad to find.
So I found myself under my beloved cougar with a cheap header for a jack stand holding up the car.
I wiggled out....cleaned the $hit outta my undies and jacked up the car and the header just fell out a little bent.

Heres the kicker the header was bent perfect it fit right in the car !

QUOTE]

All I can say about that is "damn"... That was luck!
Click to expand...
 
ok my story goes like this:

I was replacing the engine in a old 1973 Ford F100... pulled the motor out totally rebuilt it in about a week, painted the engine up nice and it was ready to drop in... got the engine on the engine mounts and was now trying to get the trans to bolt up... no luck.. same thing as ills, starting to get dark out side and really getting frustrated... I left the exhaust connected to the truck so when i dropped the engine in I could bolt the manifold straight to it.. So im think the exhaust is in the way of lining the trans up with the engine (the part that connects to the manifold is right up against the bell housing)...

So I grab my reciprocating saw.. and get ready to cut the exhaust off... start by putting a drop light under the truck so i can see what i'm doing... in the process i notice the studs on the Torque converter are sticking out kind of far!

That's when i remembered that in the process of removing the engine the converter slip out of the trans and only got put back in enough to keep it in place... So we pull the engine back out... I grab the converter and it drops in about another inch at least! Got it... engine drops right back in lines up perfect and I was done... went and had a Corona and laughed about it...

Like I always say, Don't for get the basics and never over look anything!


Nice thread ILLS!
 
I was swapping an engine and trans in a tbird for a girl I was dating at the time. I was doing this swap in the street out front of her house, cause at the time it was the only place I had to do it. Anyway I had to break some bolt loose, and my ratchet wasn't long enough to get enough torque on it. I also didn't have a pipe to use. No big deal, I just put a socket that fit over the end of the ratchet, then an extension in the socket and crawled under the car to break the bolt loose. Well the size that fit snugly over the end of the ratchet was the one I needed, so I used the next size up. When the bolt broke loose, the make-shift pipe came off the end of the ratchet, and with the full force of me pulling on it, plus gravity helping a little, I clocked myself right above the eye, splitting the skin open and I started bleeding quite a bit. I go inside, clean up, stop the bleeding, and put a band-aid over it, and back out into the cold to get back to work. I finish getting the engine out and I go to swap the flexplate over to the new engine. Needless to say I am pissed about clocking myself in the face and giving myself a black eye, and I am cold (this was in November by the way), and I am rushing and not thinking. I couldn't find the 3/8 extension I was using, so I just put the ratchet on the bolt with no extension, grab hold of it, and break the flywheel bolt loose. Unfortunately, the teeth on the outside of the flywheel caught the skin on the top of my hand, and ripped it down to where I could see my muscle fibers moving when I moved my hand. "DAMMIT! Well I'll just finish getting the flywheel off then I'll go in and clean it." Well as soon as I gripped the ratchet again, blood started pouring out of my hand like water out of a garden hose. So much for that idea. I stopped right there, and had to heal for a few days before I could get back to working on the car. I had a black eye, and a split hand that was all swollen up and wrapped in gauze. I looked like I had just gotten my ass kicked! Now, I have 2 scars, one on my right hand and one above my eye, to remind me not to try to work on cars without the right tools in the cold on the ground while pissed off and tired.
 
Working on my 67 mustang taking the quarter panels off (they were rusty). I thought i figured out where the quarter panel was spot welded on by the door. I proceeded to drill out all the spot welds (a mega pain using a spot weld drilling tool). After i spent about an hour doing this, i realized that they were the wrong spot welds! Not only did I waste an hour drilling out welds that didn't need it, but i wrecked that piece of the door jamb that i would have to come back and fix. Needless to say, i was pissed.
 
NateRW21 said:
All I can say about that is "damn"... That was luck!
Click to expand...

Yes it was, sometimes I wonder how I am still alive.

My brother was buffing a car my dad painted....standing in water....in tennis shoes :)

I looked over at him and he was getting lit up like a Christmas tree, trying to do what ever he could to free himself from the buffer.
Just when I got the thing unpluged I saw it bouncing down the driveway as he threw it the second I got it unplugged.
It still makes me smile to think about it.

But stupid...stupid...stupid.
 
A couple of oil changes back, I had a "dammit!" moment. My oil drain pan is one of the round plastic squashed-cylinder types, with a concave top that has a drain hole in the middle. There's a little plastic threaded plug that goes in that hole so you can transport the oil somewhere for disposal (you can see where this is going, can't you?).

So I slide the pan under the car, pull the drain plug out of the LS's oil pan and carefully set it aside, then get out from under the car. As you can probably guess, I'm standing in front of the LS when all of a sudden I see this black lake forming, and I have to dive back under there to pull the drain plug out of the hole in the top of the oil drain pan. Some Dawn dishwashing liquid, an acid wash brush, and elbow grease later, and I got most of the oil off the driveway...

Now fast forward to the next oil change. Of course, I vividly remember the previous change, so I slide the drain pan under the LS, carefully remove the drain pan's drain plug and set it out of the way of the draining oil, pull the LS's oil drain plug and carefully set it aside, then get out from under the car to await the draining. And as I'm standing there in front of the LS, damned if another lake of oil doesn't start forming.

So I dive under the LS again to find that the oil splashed enough to knock the drain pan's plug back into the hole...fortunately, its little plastic behind didn't have enough mass to travel far when I flung it...
 
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