Never Tighten Oil Pan Bolts With The Flywheel Cover Off!!!!

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63dartman

63dartman

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Sorry for the bad pics....I just got done destroying my converter and oil pan. I had just put the 90 degree adapter back on and noticed that the oil pan was leaking slightly at the very back by the converter. Well, It's a long story but, I just installed a new exhaust and noticed that the header was rubbing on the torsion bar. I decided I would start up the car and get the exhaust hot and see if I could tweek it in. I was under the car and noticed the oil leak. That when **** rolled down hill:) I tried to tighten the back oil pan bolts with the car running and the converter bolt came around and caught the top of the socket.....Stopped the engine instantly. Needless to say it ripped the converter bolt right out and there are no threads left. It also drove the socket up into the oil pan and crunched it too. I feel so stupid for being so careless. It happened in a split second and I was just laying there saying "WTF just happened"? I just heard a pop and the engine stalled. Looks like I need to replace the converter and possibly the oil pan too:(

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Lucky its only the oil pan and converter that is the only loss and not a finger.A fan blade got my buddies hand while he was setting the timing on my Road Runner.After I realized he was OK I laughed at him an told him Road Runners bite.His hand was sore for a day or so. Jim
 
Yeah, I thought about that too. I was LUCKY I didn't get a bolt or socket in the side of my head or worse. It just makes me upset that I was careless and caused it:(
 
Wow, you are so lucky you didn't get your hand or worse in there!!! Chaulk it up as a valuable lesson learned.
 
Thanks for reminding us all to :stop: and THINK,THINK,THINK. It could have happened to any of us 'in the heat of battle'. Glad you are OK ! I hope you get your leak fixed, and other repairs come easier.
 
LOL, Nothing seems to be easy on these friggin early A's!!!! I'm gonna open up a can of wuppass on my dart if she don't start behaving!
 
Just be happy you didn't get hurt. It could have shot that socket at your face.
 
Yowch! Glad to hear you're OK. This could have been a tragedy. Car parts are easier to replace than body parts although neither are fun.

While I was breaking in a new cam just this last Saturday I started to reach over the front of my truck to pull the vacuum line from the timed vacuum port on the carb and thought "whoa brother, what if you're yanking on that hose and it lets go putting your hand right into that cuisinart looking flex fan you got there?". Needless to say, I waited until break-in was over to set my total timing.
 
I had a fan on a forklift try to take my little finger off. Now I watch a lot closer.
 
I will definately continue to keep my wits about me when working on the car. I think we get so comfortable we tend to forget sometimes. I had a friend years ago that got his hair stuck in the alternator belt not once but twice. The second time was near fatal. He yanked back so hard the hood latch went into the stem of his brain about 4 inches. He was in a coma for 3 weeks and had a head the size of a watermelon. Unfortanately he was never the same afterwards. I always hope he finally came to terms with his injury.
 
It's the little things that you'd never suspect can hurt, but seem to do the most damage. Thanks for this thread. It serves to remind me daily to respect the power these machines have. In a split second, they can take away the most precious gift of all.

Hoooooaaaaahhhhhh!
 
Love that Tag Line.... I have to use that on the Soldiers... :)

ramcharger said:
Yowch! Glad to hear you're OK. This could have been a tragedy. Car parts are easier to replace than body parts although neither are fun.

While I was breaking in a new cam just this last Saturday I started to reach over the front of my truck to pull the vacuum line from the timed vacuum port on the carb and thought "whoa brother, what if you're yanking on that hose and it lets go putting your hand right into that cuisinart looking flex fan you got there?". Needless to say, I waited until break-in was over to set my total timing.
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Your an example of my motto: " I YOUR GONNA BE DUMB, YA GOTTA BE TOUGH" Lord knows I'm dumb enough. You got away with one, this time. We've all done things that leave us thinking WTF! I'm sure you learned a lesson out of this.
 
When I was a kid there was the Worlds Greatest Mechanic living up the road from me. At least that what's he said he was. But anyway, he taught me a couple of things that I still remember:

Rule #1: Respect your engine and it's associated spinning things.
Rule #2: A loose bolt will still be loose when you walk around and shut the engine off. It can wait.
Rule #3: Exhaust pipes are hot. Really hot.
Rule #4: The radiator cap says "don't open hot" for a reason.
Rule #5: When starting the engine make sure all tools are away from the engine. See rules #1 and #2 for further clarification.

He'd repeat at least one of these rules each time we were working on a car. Then he'd show me his mangled hands, one of which had two fingers that were much shorter than they were originally.
 
Dont know why I thought you had a slant. If i had a xtra 360 pan it would be yours but unfortunately I dont.
 
Glad to hear it didn't get you Dartman. When I was 17 I was tuning up a buddies 318 and don't know how I did it but I got a finger ran around the alternator pulley. It cut it real bad but not off thanks to the belt being real loose. Buddy I'll tell you what that hurt too. A couple yrs. later a kid I knew got killed helping his dad work on the family car. It had a noise in the engine and the dad jacked it up and put it on stands and had Steve lay under the engine while he revved it to see if he could tell where it was coming from. It was a rod and it came through the oil pan and hit him right in the forehead. Bad deal for sure. Things can sneak up on you alot easier than you think sometimes.

BTW: you may be able to salvage the converter. The stock bolts are only 5/16". You may be able to drill them and tap them to 3/8" or 7/16". Should be able to do the same on the flexplate. Most race converters use the 7/16" bolts anyway so their common.
 
We do stupid things sometimes..........Heck, I have a Doctorate.....don't do me much good around cars though........

I bought a 70 RR with a rusty trunk.......I grabbed hold of the loose floor on the right hand side with my left hand and wobbled it to see how bad it was.....it was bad........

The passenger leaf spring shackle was rotted so bad that the spring let go and came up through the car like a lightning bolt.......missed my skull by a micron.....I heard the noise and felt the breeze as it went by my temple......it caught my right arm, exactly over top of a main artery, and laid me open like a fresh caught mackerel........never touched the artery.........another millimeter and I would have bled out before anyone got to me, more than likely.

Really smart..............We get lucky sometimes........this was your time.....thank God. :toothy10:

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This calls for one of my dads favorite quotes

"And what have you learned from this experience?"

This was usually said to me while I'd be holding a bloody rag or shirt on some body part of mine as my dad got out his stitching kit.
 
The important thing for sure is that you are ok. I too have done some classic acts of self destruction and mutilation in my years also. Last biggie was a couple of years back, I was installing ductwork for my woodburner in the ole pole barn. As I was carrying a freshly shortened piece of 8" duct in one hand, cutters in the other, and whatever else, I proceeded to go outside and install this newly cut and may I remind you, SHARP piece.

Ok, now for some visual aids of the scene of the self-mugging. I had just pulled some carpet up during a living room remodel and had it rolled up on the floor of the barn. My "in-need-of-repair-get-to-it-one-of-these-days" riding lawnmower was sitting there in the middle of the doorway thinking "you walk past me again and I'll hurt ya".

Ok, you all can see the stage is set. I tried to take a short cut over the carpet and by the mower to get out the main door. Being the smooth and coordinated smooth mover that I am (klutz), of course I tripped. Ok, here we go . . . flying forward with all of these implements of maiming and self destruction . . . . with my right hand, I fell on the duct which I was carrying between my first two fingers . . . it sliced through the flesh like it asn't there. Cut right through the webbing between the fingers. With my left arm, I attempted to catch my fall and got it tangled up with Mr. Mower which severely wedged my forearm on the way down. So there I lay all tangled up in the mower (which I think I heard it giggling). I serverely bruised my arm as it twisted and wedged in the mower's deck linkage. I couldn't remove it until I stopped bouncing on the floor and the dust had settled. It took every ounce of strength this old body had, to raise up, suck up the pain it created, and remove my arm from the grip of that great white grass clipper. I was a mess. Mind you, I hadn't realized up until this time I was bleeding from the other hand like some kind of sacrificial lamb on an altar.

Another note, this is the guy they made Safety Coordinator at the plant where I work. I guess they aren't too smart either. I'm better now about wearing gloves, putting things away, not taking shortcuts. I healed from the severe cut and the almost broken arm. The scars and reminders are still there. I guess it could have been alot worse.

Do you believe it? I never fired up that woodburner, but that next weekend, I threw away the carpet, put away all the clutter, and fixed that T-Rex of a lawn mower.
 
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