Into thin air no less! Right in my hands, if that's to be believed, but I was dumbfounded myself, because one second it was there and the next, gone.

I've worked on C4's for years and have developed a 'never drop nothing' attitude to working on Corvettes. Because if you think C3's are bad for dropping stuff and never seeing it again, C4's are unbelievable about swallowing nuts, bolts and sockets. I use plastic Akro bins in our shop because I hate looking for lost parts.

Thus, the mystery last night. I'm under the front end of the 74', under the nose and removing the three 1/2 bolts that hold the main headlight assembly in place. Got my parts and tool bins. I have a ratchet and a 4" extension, with the 1/2 inch socket on the end and have loosened up all three bolts, I pull both the extension and the socket off with my hand, because now, I'm going to put the ratchet wheel on there, now that they're loose and just twist the handy-dandy little **** and off those bolt comes.

But the end of the extension is empty. I'm laying on an oversized Ergo-Kneel rubber mat. I haven't moved. It's at least a 12"-18" vertical drop from those bushings to anything below. I heard nothing. No clank of a socket hitting metal. I felt nothing, no socket hitting me on the chest, as I was right underneath it. There's only the radiator behind it and the supports for the fiberglass nose underneath it. I feel the three bolts and look up to affirm the socket didn't just stick to the fastener, but it isn't there. I get up and look around. Nothing. I pat myself down. Nothing. I search the lower radiator support, nothing. Look in my bins, again nothing.

Kind of perturbed, so I get the 6 point 1/2" socket and finished removing the drivers side headlight, so I can look down in there. Now we have a big square hole in the nose, where the headlight use to be. I search from above and still find nothing. I inventory all my tools at the end of the job, late and the only empty spot in the Craftsman tray, is that 12 pt 1/2 Socket.

I even look again this morning, feeling around all the supports, digging fingers within two to three feet of the area and it's still not there. We've all dropped stuff, lost stuff, moved stuff that wasn't found or forgotten stuff, but who's lost stuff right in their hands without moving an inch?

I'm going to look under the 95' right next to the 74' tonight and within ten feet of the car and I'd better find that sucker. Because if that socket can roll that far and I don't notice it, then I'm going

 

Yep, these are the things that will drive you crazy. My dad swore that there was a hole in the center of the earth that ate tools....or maybe it was me playing with them and not putting them back....not telling....

Good luck on your quest!

 

GFM!

The dreaded "garage floor monster"

 

Did you loose your beer too? The three MGB's I've rebuilt and sold probably have 30 bucks worth of tools in them somewhere...

 

Nah, I was drinking Margaritas! The ready-to-drink Kirkland (Costco) Golden margarita brand is pretty damn good! I was only on the second one and wasn't done.

The bizarre part was pulling the extension and socket off the ratchet handle and seeing no socket there. WTF?

Looking REAL good tonight!

 

Hi f22,
I've been looking for a very small, very nice, very handy, Snap-on screwdriver for about TWO YEARS.
When I come up from the garage my wife says she can tell by the look on my face when I've been searching for it.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

buy a boomerang .... when you lose something... you throw the boomer and wait... it will return and you will forget what you lost....

 

I have a boomerang ........ tried to throw it away several times. Just can't do it !!!!! I just comes back .............

 

I think we have all had a similar experience with the dropping of something, I know I have, but it will usually turn up, somewhere, sometime, and then you say, what the hell ????????

 

BEEN THERE! I lost a 1/2" twelve point Indestro socket about 5 years ago while working on my Silverado. Never found it, but bought an exact replacement on Ebay. Drove me crazy because it was a socket set my dad bought me back when I was in high school. (1968)
I also found a mechanic's vise grips when I removed the A/C condenser on that same truck this past summer. They were totally rusted together and had been there a long time.
Don't waste time looking for your socket. Just buy another one and move on!
Duane

 

Try one of these

http://www.basspro.com//GripOn-Retri...roduct/104351/

if it's loose somewhere in there, this will grab it.

 

It all ends up on the planet of the lost left socks.

 

jbrown8238 Working on my dock, dropped my favorite tool of all time. First tool I bought when I got married and bought a house....several centuries ago...a JC Penney's framing hammer. Yes, Penney's sold tools, power and hand, under the PennCraft name. Got that magnet and pulled it back up on the 4th try. And for Tim H, I have a ton of right socks but no lefts, want to trade?

 

 

It's a well known fact that gravity within 12" of any dock, bridge or shoreline, as well as just over the outside of boat rails, is approximately 246% more than over dry land.

 

Rarely do I lose the tool. As a mechanic for the last 30 yrs, I've had a few hide on me a time or 2. But a screw.......yrs ago a buddy and I were overhauling the carb on my 73 camaro. Typical MI winter. Cold and snow. Working in a borrowed garage, no heat. Somehow we dropped a small screw that held the choke on the carb. It simply vanished into thin air. Looked for quite a while. Its cold, been at it for awhile now, wanted to get the car going and get the heck out of the garage. Started the car, idled good, sounded good, gave it a little throttle and found out right away where that screw had fallen. It had been sitting on the throttle plate, migrated into the cyl head when I gave it some throttle and imbedded itself in the top of a piston. Be thankful your socket is simply lost.

 

I lost a 1/4 drive 7/16 socket two years ago, looked for 2 hours and gave up.

This summer i dropped another socket same size down behind the dist.
Used a mirror and located it on top of the TH400 down by by the shifter, also found the other socket to.

I am happy

 

That danged Loki has done it again!! He's the little Norse "imp" who hangs around where people are doing work and waiting until just the right moment....and then he steals whatever you think you have in your hands. It disappears. You can look...and look...and you cannot find it.

But, if you decide to give up and say "THWI!!", two hours later it will be laying right out in plain sight. How to I know? He was just here yesterday....

 

Damn, you've been there! Welcome to the club my brutha...I don't think it's an exclusive club. I've dropped two cell phones in the water, got one working by re-soaking it in distilled water, thought being the bad things would die in the good water, then it put in oven at lowest setting for a half hour. Phone is still working but the disc is gray so Verizon won't let me use it. Guess this has nothing to do with our mistresses, Corvettes, so I'm outta here. Waitn, I did think of something related to C-3's...the vent ball on the driver's side is a wee bit of a challenge to replace.

 

Cant be as bad as what happened to me today.
I was working on a customers 88 vette and I need to evac the AC system. Well in order to hook up my machine I needed a short adaptor hose with the proper size ac fittings. Hooked up the hose to the car and noticed it was leaking at the connection. Hmm must be a bad seal at the hose fitting. I hadn't hooked up my machine to the adaptor hose yet so I remove the hose, and walk over to my box to get a new seal to install on the adaptor.
I fish a seal and schrader depressor(its what opens the valve seal on the core)out of my little kit box.
Now I start looking around for the adaptor hose.. WTF it was just right there!!!! where did I set it On the tool box, No... On the car, No..
I look all over for the damn thing for about 3 min.. Then I finally find it....IN MY DAMN LEFT HAND where its been the whole time along with the shoptowel....

Holy carp I turn 50 in 2 weeks. Hope it's not a sign