learn from others fu#k ups

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Dart_Doctor

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Ok well i thought this would make a good thread for the new kids coming in to the mopar game . Tell what happened to you that you learned from working on a car . Like One of mine when working on a car thats been setting in a fiald for years when cleaning out rats nets never do it with just you hands lol always have a critter thumper in hand so when it comes runing out you can wack it . Or you can forget you have it and scream like a girl and run 1 of the 2 hahahaha :eek:ops:
 
always check on brake parts before you buy it in case the hardest to find part is junk.
 
Don't let your best friend and father try to fix your shift linkage or you will end up with a license plate floor board
 
New to the mopar game,ask questions.Guessing/assuming,usually leads to fixing it a 2nd time.
 
Put parts in bags and label them good, then 3 to 5 years later you might be able to find them!
I'm still looking for parts by the way. Found one head light rim and have been looking for the other for about 2 days now.
 
dont trust your 30 year old floor jack to hold the car for "just a few minutes" to change a tire......set mine right in the damn ground. the cylinder went poof right then and there.
 
If you have to change a tire, loosen the lug nuts BEFORE you jack the car off the ground! Otherwise you're gonna round off the lugnuts and leave you even more screwed than you were to begin with!
 
Don't let your dad tell you that something can't be done on a mopar if he hasn't done it himself on one. Also, don't let him tell you limitations on it, most of the time he'll be thinking of chebbies and applying those same ones to mopars. ie:connecting rods holding up past 5K.
 
Look underneath at the frame rails no matter how good the rest looks. Buy a floor pan everytime you buy a old A body no matter how good the rest looks. Take pain killers and stretch before getting under dash.Every time you go on vacation check the local craigslist for parts. Haha
 
Ok when changing the oil in a slant 6 and taking off the oil filter make sure not to hit the Distributor cap . When i did my 1st oil change on my old val i didnt even know it had moved could not tell it by looking lol . But it move just enough to stop the rotor bug from turning . and in turn took and knocked the teeth off the Distributor gear. Its plastic btw if you didnt know . I could not figer it out took me all day to get it. thanks for the help dad hahahah
 
make sure your jack stands are safely under the car . If im pulling tires off it i toss them under the carthat way if it falls i have some shot at not dieing . I always bump the car to make sure if its going to fall its going to before i get under the car . Remember you can fix the car you cant come back from dead .Btw im 340 so i dont bump it ez lol
 
Keep your hands clean that way oil and crap dont get all over the car your working on . I learned this one the hard way When i ended up with my paw prints all over the fenders of my old dakota that was hell cleaning it up lol
 
Always your ware your eye ware lol If you have ever had a a sliver of steel in your eye you know why
 
Always buy a factory manual first thing when you get a car and those sloppy wires to your wiper saudered to motor are a 3 spd and came that way factory and is not missing a part why i dont know.
 
I had some one ask me one time how to get rid of spiders in a car . well i know this 1st hand . Now if i had told my brother this before i sold the val to him he would have never got it lol My old val had sat for almost 2 years one time I never even looked at it in that time . well i made up my mind i wanted to drive it so i thought i was just going to get in it and change oil and stuff and go well i was wrong i opened the door on her and found a gate to hell full of spiders im not talking 100 here im talking covering the floor bords . I shut the door drove tot he store and got like 5 or 6 bug bombs two in the trunk and few inside . one under the hood remeber to unhook the battery could spark and make one hell of a boom then bye bye car
 
](*,)](*,)Tools Explained

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching
flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the
chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted
project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could
get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light . Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh--!'

SKIL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of
blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor
touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more
dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt
heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer
intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground
after you have installed your new brake shoes , trapping the jack handle
firmly under the bumper.

BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to
cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into
the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the
outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on
your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out
Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts
adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on
contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles,
collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts.
Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

SON-OF-A-***** TOOL: (A personal favorite!) Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling 'Son of a *****!' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.


Hope you found this informative. It's coupled with a community service
project I am working on. There is no need to send me a thank you note.

](*,)](*,)](*,)
I think this fits in this thread lol
 
when torqueing down various nuts and bolts be sure you have the right setting on your torque wrench
i helped a buddy do a tune up on his car once, we worked on it for a few hours and all that was left to do was put the spark plugs in and the wires back on by the time i had to go home
so i told my buddy "just put them in finger tight and then give it 1/4 of a turn"
but he was determined to do it right and use the torque wrench
i said fine, ill just leave the torque wrench here, gimme a call if you got any other questions and i took off
sure enough, 10 minutes later my phone rang, if i could help him pull a sparkplug out, it snapped off and he couldnt get at it.
so i turned back around and when i got there i was surprised to see he had snapped the spark plug right in half, the part with the hex head was still in the socket but the threads were still in the head

after a quick examination of the manuel and the torque wrench it turns out the book mentioned inch pounds but he had the torque wrench set for foot pounds
 
Ok when changing the oil in a slant 6 and taking off the oil filter make sure not to hit the Distributor cap . When i did my 1st oil change on my old val i didnt even know it had moved could not tell it by looking lol . But it move just enough to stop the rotor bug from turning . and in turn took and knocked the teeth off the Distributor gear. Its plastic btw if you didnt know . I could not figer it out took me all day to get it. thanks for the help dad hahahah

Rofl I remember that! I never had that problem in the 3 or 4 times I changed the oil!
 
If you want to put a big block in an a-body, you better have very small hands

On a side-note... first post as a senior member! Woohoo!!
 
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