my biggest screw up just happened last month. not in the vette fortunately, but in the big dodge. have an odd shaped garage, a 3x2 shape. the dodge was in the middle bay and we had cars scattered everywhere in the garage and in the driveway. as i was attempting to pull out, i was trying to avoid all the corvettes we had around, but i wasnt paying attention to the left side. i was looking over my right shoulder the whole time, not realizing the car was slightly angled and not pointing straight out. kept going and eventually scraped up the rear fender on my concerete garage wall. very emabarassing so i havent driven the car since. going through big block withdrawls now :mad

 

perryth - not to the opps thread, but I love that paint. What is the color/brand etc.

-Greg


[Modified by GregP, 12:36 PM 10/17/2003]

 

A close oops, but not actual. The '64 was stuck in first. So, pushed it backwards w/the wife steering. Then, needed to tow it up a slight incline to get it back in the garage. She was driving the Jeep pulling the Vette w/clothesline while I steered. She suddenly stopped, causing the two vehicles to almost hit. Was able to then push it into the garage. THEN, I realized, you bonehead, you could have just driven it up the incline since IT WAS ALREADY in 1st!!!! All that risk for nothing! :conehead

 

On my 1979 L-82. Bought a Pedal-Lock anti-theft device that secures the brake pedal. Fired up the Corvette in the driveway. My daily driver was about 10 feet in front. I was backed in, nose to the street and the daily. I wanted to move the 1979 ahead just a few feet. It was on fast idle. Put it in "D" and then realized my brakes are locked. The urethane nose hit the front license plate of the daily. Can you spell spider cracks?

 

I was changing out my Camaro's tranny cooling lines, had the job done (really not a fun one) and was just tightening up the upper line at the radiator tank with the engine running, torqued it a wee bit too much and busted the fitting at the tank! Needless to say tranny fuild sprayed everywhere and just about caught my freashly detailed engine bay on fire!

Dumb!

:cry

At first I was :mad , then I was :eek: after that I was :cry and finally :) that I didn't end up a lot worse!

 

Have you ever seen how fast you can drain the oil out of a bib block without having the oil filter on correctly, I have!!!!! :mad

 

My most painful Oops was when I first got my first Corvette ('67 Convertible, Side pipes). I wanted to figure out what gears I had in the differential, so I jacked up the rear of the car and got my Dad out to help. I started turning the wheel and all of a sudden, ouch! I sliced my index finger open at the second knuckle because once it was jacked the rear wheel had maybe a half inch of clearance between it and the side pipe tip. I'd never seen anything bleed that fast, and I still have not.

The scar is still dark from the carbon that got into the cut.

 

Well, Its EXACTLY what you did, AND the console didn't cover my mistake. I have to live with it everyday I drive as a reminder to measure twice and cut once.

 

I had the body for my 60 suspended above the frame ready for the drop. I had ratchet cables attached to four corners. I got impatient and deciced I could do this slowly all by myself. A little at a time just take your time and go slow and do one thing at a time. It was a great plan and worked well until, while standing on a stool, reaching high to release one notch at a time,
my thumb gets caught in the ratchet. I can't reach it with my other hand. I'm already on my toes. Nobody is home. I can remember standing on my toes, wondering how long I might be there. After the panic subsided, I lifted the strap with my other hand enouph to release enouph presure to pull my thumb out. The rest of the drop went well. Has anybody else ever done this completely alone?
:jester (by the way, I really do have friends)
Larry :cheers:

 

In the late 70's I added a Porsche 911 SC to the garage. I decided to change the oil so I slid the plastic pan under it that I used for the 69 and 65 Vettes and went in to the house to let it drain. When I came back out to the garage I found out that Porsches hold 11 quarts of oil not 5 like I expected. Can you say realy PITA to clean up?

 

I've just sent everyones personal information on this post to the Board of Directors at Bowling Green KY. They will be taking your Corvettes away and sending them to people who actually know how to work on cars. And dont worry they plan on giving everyone a 2004 160hp front wheel drive Monte Carlo SS to bear the pain. The 2004 SS RS option has an extra cigerette lighter. ;) :lol:

 

Had the truck in my garage, all loaded and ready to leave for deer season when the power went out. Great, the door won't go up. There must be a way to open the garage door manually. Get the ladder out and start looking at it when I notice a red "t" handle on a chain. Hmm. This looks like it says "pull me" written all over it. So I pull it, releaseing a decent sized metal bracket which swings down to allow the door to be open. Problem was my face was in the way. Saw it coming, but wasn't nothing I could do but hope the garage floor was soft. (It wasn't) Kinda felt like Chevy Chase in that one movie, but it is funnier when he does it.

Was so excited to the my first oil change on the '63 that I forgot to take the drain plug out first. More oil was on me and on the floor than in the container.

And the creme 'de le creme was barrel rolling the '63. What an idgit. Classic

 

Seventeen years old (that's a clue right there) and backing my Impala into the garage for an oil change. I had the mirrors off (that's the excuse) for the bodywork I was doing. So I had my cardoor open, looking backwards and kind'a hanging out into space so I could back in just right. Yep, jammed the open car door into the side of the garage.
Now flash forward 30 years. Backing a 1 day old Tahoe out of the garage and letting the garage-door frame rip off the passenger mirror. So much for older and wiser. :nopity

 

Driving to the Carlisle show this year on Saturday on I-81....Great day, top was down...3/4 of the way there I started to feel a slight shake in the front end...Got worse....and worse....Cell phoned by buddy in a 65 behind me and said...Do you see any of my wheels shaking....Look all good to me was his reply....My kid said...Hey Dad better pull over....Got to use my jack for the first time....Popped off the left front hub cap and saw what looked like allot of graphite on the wheel.....yep...didn't tighten the lug nuts....what saved me was one was tight....What was interesting is while I was examining the wheel 3 C-2's, 1 C-1 and 1 C-4 stopped and asked if I needed help....You guys are great....My son said he saw allot of C-5's go by and point.... :skep:

Save-That-Wave :seeya and thanks for stopping.

 

Getting married, and thinking "I won't need this car any more", and selling the split window coupe for $1,700 (this was 30 years ago!). It was a completely original 340 hp, close ratio, 4.56 posi, factory near race car. It was hot inside, but it would do 7,000 rpm 'til the cows came home! I miss it!

Or, in a Buick GN, forgetting to put the front oil gallery plugs in (behind the timing chain) during a rebuild. While priming, the oil pressure gage doesn't move (ahhh, the drill just isn't spinning it fast enough.....) (Hmmmm, boy, look down that distrubutor hole, man, that timing chain sure gets a lot of oil!!!!). But we persisted, it started right up, and during the 20 minute "cam breakin" the oil didn't get above 5 psi, but at least it had SOME pressure, we got a little smarter quickly and shut it down after a few minutes and, red faced, pulled the front off and put in the plugs!!! The engine was fine, no damage!

 

got a new 4-post lift and with some sketchy instructions, proceeded to assemble. i had a 50/50 chance of getting right a hydraulic connection for the ram and of course i got it wrong. upon startup, the ram shot straight out, wedged against a steel crossmember, and actually starting bending the 1 1/4" steel rod. as the hair is raising on my neck, knowing a very bad situation is about to get worse, the hydraulic connection bursts and sprays fluid (under pressure) everywhere in the garage, saving my butt from a catastrophic failure but giving me a nice oil shower!
what a freakin' mess! called the company and they were nice enough to replace the ram, no charge, and a week later my lift is working, but the garage floor and surrounding areas have some permanent stains to remind me of the charmed life i lead!
:seeya

 

A couple of weeks ago, had to turn my 85 Mustang GT around to install inner valve springs(car has a solid cam and just broke new motor in) Figured might as well take it for a quick spin around the block. 3 houses down, look down at the guages, hear a loud BAM, look up at my hood standing straight up. Didn't remember to put the damn hood pins in that I reminded myself ten minutes previously to do. Now I have a chipped hood, a broken cowl trimpiece and a wasted cowl panel. At least it ran 11.9 on motor a week later to soften the memory a little.

 

Came home half in the bag one cold wintry Michigan night back in the 70's and parked the Avanti next to the house for some weather protection because the garage out back was full of my "projects". It snowed some more during the night.

Got ready for work the next morning and needed to do some puttering in the garage to pull some parts together to be dropped off during the day. So, I leaned in the driver door and started the Avanti (heater still turned on) to let it warm up while I went out to the garage to do my thing. After about 5 minutes there was a huge CRASH!!!! and suddenly the dark garage was filled with daylight and engine noise.... the Avanti had taken out the center post between the two single-car doors, along with the doors themselves. The Avanti and one of my project cars suffered minor damage.

Seems the cause was a confluence of factors that all came together to get me:

1. I never use my emergency parking brake.

2. I had inadvertently left the car in "drive" when I parked it

3. the shifter grounding switch that allows an automatic car to be started only in "park" or "neutral" had failed, unbeknownst to me, allowing me to start the car, not noticing the tranny was in "drive".

4. the tranny was in the initial stages of failing, so the transmission slipped until it warmed up enough to soften hardened seals.

5. the overnight buildup of snow held the front wheels from moving easily.

After starting, the carb remained on choke hi-idle step, building rpm as the engine warmed up, but the car was held in place by the snow barrier in front of the wheels until the transmission seals warmed enough to kick in fully, whereupon the car broke loose of the snow resistance and made a bee-line for the garage about 60 feet away!





[Modified by waynec, 12:02 AM 10/23/2003]

 

This was completley unintended so I guess it falls into the OPPS catagory.
I entitle it "How I fell in love with the C2,.....and got my butt beat in the process."
It was the Summer of 1969. I am 11 years old and in love with my stepfather's 1965 Stingray Coupe. It had the 327 small block, Automatic transmission and was a strange color of green....like this color :rolleyes: Well he thought he had hidden the keys to the Garage and his precious C2. But I found them! And proceeded to go from just sitting in the car to starting up the car to sitting on some phone books and driving the car around the neighborhood and giving my friends rides in it........Well all was going swimmingly until the day I drove back into the driveway and there was my stepfather standing in front of the now open garage a 100 feet ahead. As he motioned with his index finger to come to him. My best friend that was sitting next to me says "I think I will get out here, Good luck dead man!" I slowly drove up, put her in park, got out and said " I guess I'm gonna get the belt for this one?.............I guessed right!

And that gentlemen is why, MY 66 Roadster is a 4 speed.......That has got to reduce the potential "Belt Factor" by at least 80%...............LoL

 

Another Avanti story (Wife drove it daily for 17 years):

Avanti had a 350 SBC with Turbo 400 trans that had given a sign that it wanted to stay in 2nd gear (rather than upshift into drive) during a high speed pass (got a little interesting as I tried to pass this guy with oncoming traffic coming in a hurry, and it WOULDN'T upshift! But it only happened once (couldn't get it to duplicate the fault).

Well, the wife decides to take daughter up to Grandparent's place up north of the Wis. Dells (about a 220 mile trip normally) for a week visit, leaving me back at home. On the way up north of Chicago, she misses her exit to Rockford (towards the Dells), and goes up via Milwaukee (just a LITTLE out of the way!). She later "said" that the Avanti got a "little noiser" just north of the Illinois line. Well, she drives all the way up, and back (going the correct route on the way back) in 2nd gear, since the sprag clutch broke for good in the Turbo 400. Yes, the engine did burn more oil all of a sudden, so we ended up rebuilding both the engine and trans just because I did not take the initial "Hint"!

Yes, I did teach her the benefits and uses of the Tach! And no, it still wouldn't of done any good! She later drove an extra 5 miles to get off the Tollway, when she saw steam coming out from under the hood when she stopped at a Toll Plaza. She "wanted to get off the Tollway so that it wouldn't cost her so much for the tow/repair"! Of course, I ended up replacing the head gaskets because she went those extra 5 miles!

17 years and 5 engines! Of course some were replaced just because I needed something to do.

Plasticman


[Modified by Plasticman, 12:06 PM 10/23/2003]