After re-building the 389 (punched to 400) in my '64 Goat, I figured I'd wait until I got the engine back in before installing the distributor. But I didn't know that the distrib/oil pump drive shaft had to be installed from the oil pump side - two notches on the shaft prevent it from being installed from the top. No prob, Bubba, I just ground off the taps and dropped it in from the distrib hole. Uh-oh, I dropped the shaft alright, down into the pan. Out comes the engine (using a big tree and old chain, yet).

 

I've got a couple ... :lolg: or should it be :leaving:

Anyway, I used to have a 1980 Scirocco, thing ran all of three weeks total for the two years I owned it. :rolleyes: I had just replaced the cylinder head and was torqueing down the head bolts. I am tightening them in sequence, then proceed to set the timing. I neede to place the #1 piston at TDC, so I insert a medium sized flat blade screw driver in through the spark plug hole. I go over and click the starter. :eek: Broke that screw driver in half. One piece fell to the floor, the other inside the engine. :rolleyes: Had to use one of those claw thingies to extract it. ... I'm not done yet ... So after I break in the engine, it is smoking immensely out of the exhaust. :confused: I consult my local expert, they say it should go away after a few hours. After running it for 24 hours, it still smokes. :mad: So I tear it apart, come to find out that when I torqued down the cylinder head, I over torqued them. I cracked the block at the corner of a water jacket and oil passage. :( Now, not only had I needed a new head, but a new engine as well. :rolleyes: all on a part time job "salary". :lolg:


[Modified by MRZ28HO, 9:55 AM 2/26/2003]

 

My neutral safety switch is unhooked in my vette and I reached into to start it but did not verify it was in neutral, fired up and smashed into the back of my garage. Lucky a tree is behind the garage or I think it might have gone right through. Just damaged the already messed up front bumper. :bb

 

I guess the funniest and most sudden thing going rong for me, was upon pulling a Pontiac engine from an old car once, I had the lift chain ties to one cylinder head, the other to the block so there I am, happy as a clam, wit the thing suspended there in front of me....I go to pull the heads....

that last bolt was coming out, you would THINK, I could see the damn head separating from the block as the block was sagging....well maybe not, I had an impact on it....so the block flipps over and drops onto the oil drain pan, scattering oil and crap all over the driveway...I was SO pleased....but I was alone then, and frankly could NOT stop laughing.....
and in fact I still have that exact same smached up oil drain pan today....
olde tyme faithful...takes a licking and keeps on ticking...

GENE

 

Back in the Winter of 1983 while attending college, I had my q-jet rebuilt on my '74 Z28 and didn't bother to check the carb for loose parts. I drove about 90 miles back to school and the loose screw that was in the carb made its way to the #2 cylinder and promptly got hammered into the crown of the piston; bent the rod, cracked the cylinder and forced me to perform an engine rebuild in the dead of winter in the heated garage of my brother-in-law(adding to the pain, I had to rent a trailer to take the car back home, $200 round-trip for the rented trailer). Didn't help that I drove nearly 20 miles with the screw getting progressively hammered into the piston. Very lucky to get off with about $500 in rebuild costs. I had the cylinder sleeved and replaced the piston and rod with inexpensive, used pieces (the 350 turned out to be non-original, 2-bolt main block that had cheap cast pistons and cheap rods). Other than a basic engine rebuild kit, the crank needed a polishing only and the heads just a quick cleaning, a few guides, fresh long-slot rockers and 3-angle valve cut. Oh, added a little cam while I was at it :smash: :smash: :smash:

After a fresh dual exhaust, the car was better than before (it really hauled with its 4.10 10-bolt diff)!!! But then, one of the wolverine long slot rockers broke in sub-zero weather and I was out another $160 to have it towed and hooked up to a Sun machine to find the broken rocker. I suspected a spun bearing at the time given it was so near to the rebuild.

Very glad that I don't have to worry about metal fatigue due to cold in Florida. Oh, I always check the carb when I remove it just in case foreign substances make their way into it... :smash: :smash: :smash:

 

I once used an impact to tighten the lug nut bolts on my Blazer. The funny thing is those impacts are a lot more effective when you actually power on the air compressor and let it compress some air. 20 minutes later I'm buzzing down the freeway when I feel a wobble in the front end followed quickly by the front end falling to one side and me watching my driver's side front tire go rolling down the freeway. So driving on three tires and a rotor I pull off to the side of the freeway. Sparks from the rotor were shooting everywhere and managed to get the floorboard so hot it started to melt the tread on my shoes. It also shot sparks off to the side of the road and started a fire in the dried up grass. Luckily two truck drivers stopped and had fire extinguishers to put it out. :eek:

 

I had a 60 Lark ( remember Studebaker ) convertable with a 259ci V-8. They came with an old 3 speed Fordamatic. The shift pattern was PD2LR. Of course a GTO was behind me one Friday night on the local cruising street. He kept goosing it right on my rear bumper. I showed him. Above thirty mph the trans would not downshift, and I was right at 30mph. I slamed it down into low and floored it. Of course it went into reverse, the rear tires began to spin backwards at 30 mph, and then they started to smoke like I was doing a burnout. I realized what I had done and knocked it back up to second gear, and it shot forward. Saw the GTO guy later and he asked if I had one of those supercharged Studebaker engines. I played it cool while he told everyone about it. Naturally, that tranny had to be replaced within a month. Hershey :confused: :lol:

 

Ok one time I did some repairs on a magneto off a old lincon gas welder, after putting the new parts on I decided to see if it had spark so I rotated it up against my washing machine which I must have been touching at the time. Needless to say I had spark. yyyaaaaaawwhhhch!!! :cry

 

Gees, all I ever did was to drive over the glass t-tops to my wife's 82 vette. I don't feel to bad after reading everyone else's screw up, but she probably wouldn't agree.

 

Along time ago I was working for a landscaping co. I had just got done putting in a new clutch in the bosses 3/4 ton Dodge pickup. I took it out for a test drive. Raked thru the gears smoothly and decided to try a power shift. Waaaaaaaaaa up thru first...slam clutch pedal down and pull shifter to 2nd and release clutch pedal and...BANG!!!! Blew the brand new clutch disc to pieces. Uhhhh well boss..its like this..... :smash: :smash: :smash:

 

Well lets ee here. Where do I start...

1) My first motor vehicle was a 3 HP mini bike. I learned that you need OIL the hard way...

2) My second vehicle was a Honda 90 Motorcyce. I learned while rebuiling the motor (yes I took it all apart myself without a book), that you DO need that cam gear key. Had to take that one entirely apart again...

3) My third vehicle was a 1969 (cool) VW bug.. Bought it for $150.. Found out that you cannot take it over the same jumps that I did with motocross motorcycle. Broke all four shocks , mounts and the accelerator cable (figure that)..

Thats enough , but the list goes on and on...

 

16 years old when I first got the vette....
First, i put in a new oil filter and tightened it so tight that it took punching screw drivers through it to get enough leverage to get it out
Second, I removed oil plug, took out filter, put in new filter, and filled with oil....what did i do wrong here???? HeHe didnt put the plug in and after 3 quarts of oil in the driveway I realized. Then had to walk a mile to buy another 3 quart of oil. :banghead: :banghead:

 

Plug wires on a Pontiac. The Chevy firing order was carved in my brain. It's a GM ain't it? Who'd figure they'd spin the distributer "backwards".

 

My first big screw up was at the age of 16. No license no permit - but I owned a 70 Impala with SBC. We had power shoip in high school, so I pulled the
heads off and did a nice rebuild on the heads. All was well. .... Until I decided
to 'flush' the short block out with the garden hose. I bolted it all back up and fired the motor up a few weeks later. We sold that car, and found later that the lower end of the motor had 'gone south'. :rolleyes: :bb

 

http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...threadid=32022

Definately a good read from my other favorite car site (have an 89 IROC, too), and that thread's been going on forever.

 

I don't recall ever forgeting the oil plug before. But I do recall letting the vehicle down and draging the oil drain pan sideways down the driveway on more than one occasion. :D What a mess.

 

I guess since my post started this whole idea for a thread i must post it again even though it now looks like nothing compared to the stuff i have just read :yesnod: . I just messed up two plug wires and didnt know which went to which, but with the help of you guys, its all good :steering:

 

I had, what could have been a very ugly screw up!!!! My power steering ra, broke and so did the bracket that holds the end of the ram. at closer inspection, the frame in that area was torn.....it held by a sliver on frame. well, i have no idea about welding frames so i took it to a shop. all was done, all i have to do was take the car home and intall the new ram. so i got a trailer put the car on it and went home. once i got home i found the straps that held the car down where completely off. the car was on the trailer only help by the park pin :eek: :eek: :eek: ......i counted my blessings and forgot about that day :yesnod:

Rod

 

Well mine are all backyard mechanic on my own cars type.

1. First car I owned was a '52 Studebaker auto 6 cly. After about a month of owning it a buddy and I took every bolt on off the engine and repainted everything. It looked great, but our idea of running the plug wires all nice and straight with no regard to firing order didn't work :crazy: . It took over two months to find anyone who knew the correct order.

2. My first disc brake job was on a '76 Gran Prix. Did the right side while looking at untouched left. Put it back together finger tight and moved to left. Completed left side and replaced wheels. Drove to work for two weeks and started hearing a metalic jingle that turned into metalic roar when right caliper's bolts fell out and it set down on rotor. Yep, never went back and tightened the bolts.

3. Same Gran Prix doing oil change and don't notice that old gasket stayed on engine. Start to drive out of driveway and hear loud POP and see large puddle of oil behind me. Bad feeling until problem discovered.

Well I got more, but you get the picture. :lol: :lol: