The Official "How Not To" Thread

-
MrJLR

MrJLR

Built, not bought
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
5,619
Reaction score
6,712
Location
Menifee, California
By popular demand. ...a thread for ALL of us to explain how NOT to do various repairs!

For instance, do NOT install your starter before the bell housing cover...ask me how I know. ....

Do NOT attempt to flare stainless steel lines with a Harbor Freight flare tool...ask me how I know. ...

Do NOT forget to order new torque converter bolts with your new converter. ....ask me how I know. ....

All this in the last month...lol

Your turn!

Jeff
 
Not an auto repair, but now i need to.......

Do not chain off to a 4ft high 12 in diameter tree trunk with a 3/8 50ft chain and attempt to yank it out of the ground. The chain just might break, whip back and dimple your truck hood, grill and bumper. Glad it didn't come thru the windshield.
 
Don't reef on the oil pan bolts thinking that your hand knows the torque specs, as it snaps off and carma (not Karma) has your hand hit the threaded bolt end on the exhaust pipe. Amhik.
 
Do not take a running car down to the shell unless:

1. You have a warehouse sized shop to store everything and still be enough room to work.

2. You have 10Gs reserve to order parts and materials at the drop of a hat.

3. You are independently wealthy and don't need to work a 9 to 5er and have infinite time to put into the car.

4. have a 4 man crew not including yourself of experienced car builders at your 24 hour disposal.

5. You are a high dollar sponsored tv show.

The rest of us poor folk need to take it easy and concentrate on one car and one aspect of the car at a time.
 
Last edited:
Down to the "shell". You're killing me. Took 30 seconds to realize you didn't mean Shell gas station. Man was I scratching my head. Thanks for the chuckle.
 
Do not test fire a 340 recently placed in a car with a painted engine compartment but the rest of the body is in "sanded with 400 and ready to paint" primer IF the oil pressure senor has not been re-installed. There is a pretty good chance that the oil will soak into the primer, and you will be forced to do a lot of sanding and re-priming. I of course never did that, but I guess it could happen. LOL. Seriously, it took me several weeks to recover from that bonehead mistake. But the engine did run pretty well.
 
IMG_2811.JPG
 
Do NOT push the car out of the garage to test fire it up because the wife doesn’t like the exhaust fumes in her little smoking space if...

a) it hasn’t been running in like 40 some years
b) the driveway is on an incline up to the garage door
c) the car outweighs you and your young son by at least 10x
d) you will be doing all the pushing back in WHEN it doesn’t start
e)it looks like rain, but hey, it’s still 1/2 hour away, according to the radar

asking for a friend!!
 
Never grind metal 2 ft from your door glass
How do I know this? I now have a door glass size piece of 60 grit sandpaper!!
 
zkx14 said:
You forgot the caption. "Hold my coffee!" :rofl:
Click to expand...
And at the point someone says "hold my beer", possible next steps...
1. Stop. and resume tomorrow. (smart, but rarely happens)
2. Ask someone to hold your beer and jump in to help. (normal :D)
or...
3. Take the beer. Grab a chair at safe distance. Enjoy the show . :thumbsup:
 
Never ever shoot a beer can full of set concrete out of your home made canon straight up thinking what are the chances it's going to literally come straight back down.
Chances are it won't, but there is that one time it does.:D
(personal experience is a great teacher)
 
BWDart said:
Never grind metal 2 ft from your door glass
How do I know this? I now have a door glass size piece of 60 grit sandpaper!!
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, I had a guy at a body shop do that to my drivers side window.
I was there to fix their computer issue's and when I came out to the parking space where my car was parked the guy was grinding on a fender sitting on two saw horses about 4 feet from my car with the sparks (still red hot) blasting right onto my door glass.
I was so pissed I lost control and yelled "HEY, WTF? REALLY!?"
At a body shop.:wtf::BangHead:
 
TrailBeast said:
Believe it or not, I had a guy at a body shop do that to my drivers side window.
I was there to fix their computer issue's and when I came out to the parking space where my car was parked the guy was grinding on a fender sitting on two saw horses about 4 feet from my car with the sparks (still red hot) blasting right onto my door glass.
I was so pissed I lost control and yelled "HEY, WTF? REALLY!?"
At a body shop.:wtf::BangHead:
Click to expand...
Can't fix stupid oopps that would be me!
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Do not take a running car down to the shell unless:

1. You have a warehouse sized shop to store everything and still be enough room to work.

2. You have 10Gs reserve to order parts and materials at the drop of a hat.

3. You are independently wealthy and don't need to work a 9 to 5er and have infinite time to put into the car.

4. have a 4 man crew not including yourself of experienced car builders at your 24 hour disposal.

5. You are a high dollar sponsored tv show.

The rest of us poor folk need to take it easy and concentrate on one car and one aspect of the car at a time.
Click to expand...
6. You're sure you're actually going to live another 20 years or so; I won't
 
SSG_Karg said:
^^^^^^^^THIS!^^^^^^^
Most cars never come back from this fate...
Click to expand...
I resemble that remark... :(
30 years and counting on my project, BUT I finally got back to work on it earlier this year (one of the few good things to come out of this coronavirus fiasco)
 
OK, I'll confess again. @CudaChick1968 will appreciate this. I have been powder coating for almost 20 years now. I started off with a cheap Eastwood setup and a used home kitchen type stove. I did buy a good compressor and sand blasting cabinet, though. I now have a big oven specifically for powder coating. I have gotten pretty good at it. I do about 25 hours a week for others, usually word of mouth. I can pay for my car habit with the profits. Anyway, a while back, I did a lawn art piece for someone in Copper Vein with a clear coat. So I blasted the piece and coated it with Copper Vein. After about 20 minutes in the oven, I pulled the part out to put the clear coat on. When I put the High Gloss Clear in my gun's hopper I saw High gloss on the front of the container and the powder in the container was white (clear powder is white, and it turns clear when it melts/cures)So I sprayed the powder on the piece, and the piece turned a chalky white (totally expected). Then I put it back in the oven. 15 minutes later I peeked in the oven and saw a shiny white pieces. WTH! I looked at the powder container and it said High Gloss White, NOT High Gloss Clear. ARGH. It takes a while to strip off two coats of powder. You can bet you butt that I double check to see the word "WHITE" on the container since then.
 
Haste makes waste. We all know the saying and sometimes get to live it. Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience when it happens.

Case in point for me, last year I was out in the pole barn and my wife texts me "dinner in 30". I wasn't back in 15 minutes later so she reminds me again. "I bet I still have time to get these wheels studs in" I thought to myself. Let's see how quick I can do this...

Got it done with time to spare. Then set the axle down on the work bench to admire my speedy work:


Wheel Studs.jpg
 
Keystone said:
Haste makes waste. We all know the saying and sometimes get to live it. Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience when it happens.

Case in point for me, last year I was out in the pole barn and my wife texts me "dinner in 30". I wasn't back in 15 minutes later so she reminds me again. "I bet I still have time to get these wheels studs in" I thought to myself. Let's see how quick I can do this...

Got it done with time to spare. Then set the axle down on the work bench to admire my speedy work:


View attachment 1715521177
Click to expand...
That's the best yet!!!

Jeff
 
Don't have your car on ramps, and after you change the oil, put in neutral to start it, and then remember the rear wheel is chocked, so don't leave it in neutral and get out to kick the chock out and let the car roll off the ramps because you will have to chase it down the driveway as it's headed right for your Impala sitting on the street.:eek:

Don't do that. :rolleyes:
 
Keystone said:
Haste makes waste. We all know the saying and sometimes get to live it. Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience when it happens.

Case in point for me, last year I was out in the pole barn and my wife texts me "dinner in 30". I wasn't back in 15 minutes later so she reminds me again. "I bet I still have time to get these wheels studs in" I thought to myself. Let's see how quick I can do this...

Got it done with time to spare. Then set the axle down on the work bench to admire my speedy work:


View attachment 1715521177
Click to expand...

Good news is that it changes the backspacing, and allows you to run much wider tires!
 
Here's one that's SERIOUS!

I cleaned my front wheel bearings in solvent on a lift at the station where I was working. (40 years ago, on a Saturday. Nobody there but me, pumping gas.) To dry the first one, I put it on my finger, sort of like a ring, and shot air at it. The whirling sound it made as it spun was "cool", so I sped it up.

In the next instant, it exploded, tearing the finger next to it, knocking a lens out of my glasses, and one ball went across the shop, through the office and made a BB hole in the front window.

Moral: Never spool up a caged bearing. It needs the race to contain it and keep it from going KABOOM!! It also "may" have exceeded it's designed speed limit. :rolleyes:

Nobody ever said anything about the BB hole in that BIG, EXPENSIVE window!

NEVER, EVER do that! :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top