What's your biggest, best, funniest most bone-headed move related to your car?

[Kern Dog]

You guys are losers.......I've never done anything stupid in my life.

It would seem that the only people that don't make mistakes are the people that never do anything.
A person with some drive, some initiative, curiosity and desire can do great things AND make some mistakes along the way.
We've all seen the armchair QBs that say **** like That seems like a waste of time who, in the next breath tell you that you should take your car to a professional. The same mentality dismisses any non stock changes that you make to the car as if you're defacing a bible or something.
If you are a motivated and curious person, you may try some unconventional things and sometimes they don't work out.
When you get distracted, you sometimes forget what you did last and have to correct the mistakes that are a result of that.

 

[junkyardhero]

a few of my own highlights:
>rebuilt and installed a bmw 6 and forgot the headgasket (hanging on the bench pegboard)
>forgot the clutch disc on a clutch job trying to beat the book
>tightening up something in the front end, socket let go and knocked myself out cold when the super long 1/2" drive ratchet hit me in the face
>backed my 69 barracuda into my 64 dart in the driveway, stone. cold. sober. caught the DS edge of the finish panel right on the money of the DS headlight ring-- years ago when neither of these things were available.
>forgot to tighten an oil filter and blew it clean off along with the mounting threads.
>360 pan on a 318 (thankfully caught while still on the stand)
>forgotten the oil slinger more times than i care to admit
>pulled pans back off for any number of reasons: forgot to check [rod, cap, etx torque] off the list or have an oil pick up on the bench and not 100% sure if that's the used one
>removed a motor and torn down because i put the wrong rings in it (before lighting it off)
>blown mufflers of all degree and manner
>lost a wheel and axle at speed on a 7.25 (totalled the car, humorous now looking back)
>all the usual: lost hair from carb back fires, oil slicks from forgot to put in drain plugs and/or overfilled because: derp, forgot. broken bolts, punctured seats, headliners, gacked paint from a tool slipping or a part dropping.

[**this list is ongoing and still developing**]

but i've still got all my fingers and toes, only minimal scars-- both physical and emotional

and to the guys recalling fleet work: it's still the same dudes. guys replacing tires with 500mi and refusing to replace 50 yr old tires. a bunch of flat rate freddies doing bone head work (well, that's what came out so that's what must go back in!), finger tight jimmy, andy overtorque, sloppy joe and careless charlie are all still on the payroll.

 

[Vertex_Jeff]

I pretty much have to do everything at least twice to my cars. Because, well, I'm a moron.

 

[Demonx2]

Great reads! Here's mine...

It was 1993 and I thought perhaps I'd work on the one area of my 71 Demon 340 that needed some body work. It was in front of the rear wheels as that area had been cut for slicks early in the car's life. To have a pretty nice car and then have this one area (on both sides) with a clearly visible fubar previous repair was just unacceptable and I was going to fix it.

So my garage was 24' wide and roughly 48' deep - basically a "2 wide x 2 deep" garage. The Demon was in the back left up on rear jack stands with no rear wheels. The car cover was on it so I pulled it up halfway to get it away from the area where I was about to attack with some sheetmetal and my trusty mig welder.

So I'm welding away and just so happen to notice smoke broiling out from under the car cover! What?? Car is on fire? There's nothing behind that outer sheet metal!?? So I jump up, pull the cover off, and this thick yellow smoke is pouring out the windows of the car? I take a gulp of air, poke my head in, and it looks like the rear seat bench is burning. I can't let my car burn up and catch my house on fire too!! And I can't roll the car out as its up on jack stands with no rear tires!! So I hop out, get another gulp of air, jump back in, and try to get the seat bottom out. Nope, it ain't coming no matter how much knee kicking I give it and I run out of air. Jump back out, another gulp of air, and back in I go. I'm no muscle man but I literally ripped the back seat out (bent the frame wires that clip into the floor brackets) and hauled that seat bottom out to the front yard to douse the "fire."

Turns out, the rear side "door pads" (or whatever they're called since there are no doors) had somehow gotten toasted and caused the jute under the seat to start smoldering. And smoldering with a ton of thick yellow stenchy smoke!

Now what to do? Well, the car sat for another 26 years until our kids were raised and out on their own. Then we sent the car off to have the paint/body all done professionally. And of course, as part of the restoration, I had to get new rear seat door pads and cushions/covers from Legendary! $$$$...and explain how the other ones got burnt up!!

I've never forgotten that boneheaded situation and am quite cautious when I've welded on my cars since. But now I'm about to do some sheetmetal work on my 69 Charger. Hmmmm...

 

[CFD244]

It would seem that the only people that don't make mistakes are the people that never do anything.
A person with some drive, some initiative, curiosity and desire can do great things AND make some mistakes along the way.
We've all seen the armchair QBs that say **** like That seems like a waste of time who, in the next breath tell you that you should take your car to a professional. The same mentality dismisses any non stock changes that you make to the car as if you're defacing a bible or something.
If you are a motivated and curious person, you may try some unconventional things and sometimes they don't work out.
When you get distracted, you sometimes forget what you did last and have to correct the mistakes that are a result of that.

I agree....I have had my fair share of broken bones and scars that can attest to my curiosity. I also have a fairly extensive list of **** that I busted trying to figure out how stuff works. I rarely pay anyone to do anything for me unless a license number is required, hazardous materials are involved (I know enough to be dangerous), or they are operating on me.

 

[PA Dodger]

At an early age I learned a lot in the garage from my dad including proper application for swear words in any given circumstance. I had a pin hole in my radiator that I was gonna fix 'cuz I saw how dad did it. So I carefully pull the cooling fins away from the core, and clean it real good, then solder it. Nope, still leaked but now a little worse. I let loose the first stage of expletives and get the hairy eyeball from dad. He shows me what I'm doing wrong and walks away. Solder attempt #2 goes even worse, now leaking worse. I let loose DEFCON 2 level words which got me an ear beating for. Solder attempt #3 was an abortion. I step back and roll with a "mother fu" and before I could finish what I was sayin' I slam the screwdriver on the floor at which point it bounced on the end knob and drove the screwdriver right thru the radiator. I thought my dad was gonna piss his pants he was laughing so hard.

 

[missing linc]

I thought my dad was gonna piss his pants he was laughing so hard.

 

[abdywgn]

At an early age I learned a lot in the garage from my dad including proper application for swear words in any given circumstance. I had a pin hole in my radiator that I was gonna fix 'cuz I saw how dad did it. So I carefully pull the cooling fins away from the core, and clean it real good, then solder it. Nope, still leaked but now a little worse. I let loose the first stage of expletives and get the hairy eyeball from dad. He shows me what I'm doing wrong and walks away. Solder attempt #2 goes even worse, now leaking worse. I let loose DEFCON 2 level words which got me an ear beating for. Solder attempt #3 was an abortion. I step back and roll with a "mother fu" and before I could finish what I was sayin' I slam the screwdriver on the floor at which point it bounced on the end knob and drove the screwdriver right thru the radiator. I thought my dad was gonna piss his pants he was laughing so hard.

should have gotten that on America's Funniest Videos...i would have voted for you!

 

[Bob67Barracuda]

Original poster here: May just go ahead and one-up myself with this new anecdote.

So my Cuda started doing a super rapid turn signal blink something like 5 years ago, maybe more. At the time, I dug into the forums and went through all the usual suspects. Bulbs, flasher, ground wires, corroded sockets, etc. No luck. I remember talking about the problem with guys at a Mopar show, and there was a suggestion about doing some type of new master ground wire from the battery through the firewall to the ignition switch, or something that sounded like a bit much.

Anyway, my co-owner and I just lived with the rapid blink, thinking maybe we'd give it another go sometime down the road. So this year before getting the car out of storage I started thinking this would be the year. Dug back into the forums, and then started noticing references to the fact that there are two flashers, one for hazards and another for the turn signals. I started piecing my memory together and realized I knew for sure I'd replaced the flasher by the emergency brake... but I didn't have any recollection of changing a 2nd flasher by the ash tray.

Today topping 70 in Minnesota, I pulled the Cuda out of storage. Once home, I reached up under the ash tray and sure enough, there was the turn signal flasher, with a big dent in it. I pulled out the (newish) hazard flasher and put it in the turn signal slot. Bingo -- normal blink rate. So off to NAPA for a $5 flasher and we're good to go with turns and hazards.

Pretty stupid to live with rapid blink for so many years when the solution was $5 and five minutes away.

(Photo is the bashed old flasher)

 

[abdywgn]

reminds me of my blinker story. I took the whole ash tray assembly out and mounted a two gauge panel there. I tucked the blinker up under the dash somewhere. went around a corner one day and smoke starts coming out from under the dash. the blinker rolled over and touched the ridges under the dash and grounded out. I stopped it before it melted much more of the insulation. had a spare from another car to splice in.

 

[jimbo1096]

I do something almost daily. My worst one was a Volkswagen Baja bug I had built. Decided I need to put an extra oil cooler on it. The only place that was really good, In my opinion was on the roof of the roof. it worked good but I lived in San Diego at the time and I had to drive to Los Angeles to pick up my girlfriend. About 5 miles left on the triple on interstate five I suddenly noticed in my mirror that there was a lot of smoke behind me and I couldn’t even see the cars. I pulled over and found one of the oil hoses up to the cooler had come loose and draining old on the exhaust headers. Had Spare oil and all tools because I never went unprepared back then.

 

[abdywgn]

I do something almost daily. My worst one was a Volkswagen Baja bug I had built. Decided I need to put an extra oil cooler on it. The only place that was really good, In my opinion was on the roof of the roof. it worked good but I lived in San Diego at the time and I had to drive to Los Angeles to pick up my girlfriend. About 5 miles left on the triple on interstate five I suddenly noticed in my mirror that there was a lot of smoke behind me and I couldn’t even see the cars. I pulled over and found one of the oil hoses up to the cooler had come loose and draining old on the exhaust headers. Had Spare oil and all tools because I never went unprepared back then.

built in mosquito fogger!

 

[Jeremiah (jd)]

- Powershifting from 3rd to 2nd at the drag strip. I swear I could count the milliseconds between when found 2nd, heard the engine pitch, and stabbed the clutch back in. This departure from the normal procedure ( 3rd to 4th) immediately commanded my full attention.

2) I was vacationing in mx when the car died after the burnout. No restart and it's pitch black out. Remove brain bucket, jump out with a screw driver, remove air cleaner, smack both float bowls with driver handle...wot and crank and pray....it restarts!!! Reinstall helmet, purge n20 and it's party time. The 31 model A in the right lane leaves hard on me which is unusual. As soon as the progressive times out in 1st I spin, grab 2nd more spin, grab 3rd and it still out of shape so I abort and as that darn A model pulls away it suddenly get very dark!

I forgot to turn the headlights back on after the stuck float fiasco :/

No wonder I didnt see the flashlight shake when the starter moved lol. I also got my *** handed to me n/a by a disco era firebird with a 6-71 that night. Life on a DOT 235-60-14 can be humbling.

3) Some guys I know left a repurposed bathroom hand towel under the intake manifold on a 440. I was shocked to learn that it drove 4 blocks before the oil pump drive bound up and sheared off. Don't use dark colored rags was the lesson learned that day.

 

[RustyRatRod]

There's probably not enough bandwidth.

 

[FredP]

Oh man, I was smiling when reading this all... sounds familiar to me!

35 years ago, I was driving home a classic '76 Ford Granada MK1 station wagon (European version - ask Google)). One owner, metallic gold, low mileage survivor car I bought the very same day from a very old lady. That car came with the 4 cyl/2 liter engine making +/- 90hp.
Arriving home, I noticed some "tick-tick-tick" noise and I tough the engine was bad.

I went to the local Ford dealer for a 2nd hand engine, but he sold me a 76 Granada sedan, MK1 V6/2.6L used car he waas planning to restore.
I swapped the whole thing: engine, front axle (the 2.6 had power steering and front vented disc rotors), trans, rear rend, suspension, etc. I even changed the dashboard to have the factory tachometer, etc. Took me hours of work!
After 2 weeks, my car was working again, with a nicer engine producing 125hp.

To get rid of the donor car and old 2L engine, I decided to put it back together as a self-moving car, just to move it away from my driveway. I topped the engine with fresh oil, started it: running like day one! I just forgot that the 2 liter was running hydraulic lifters that were noisy due to low oil level.

Well, at least I had a V6 engine in my classic!

 

[abdywgn]

Oh man, I was smiling when reading this all... sounds familiar to me!

35 years ago, I was driving home a classic '76 Ford Granada MK1 station wagon (European version - ask Google)). One owner, metallic gold, low mileage survivor car I bought the very same day from a very old lady. That car came with the 4 cyl/2 liter engine making +/- 90hp.
Arriving home, I noticed some "tick-tick-tick" noise and I tough the engine was bad.

I went to the local Ford dealer for a 2nd hand engine, but he sold me a 76 Granada sedan, MK1 V6/2.6L used car he waas planning to restore.
I swapped the whole thing: engine, front axle (the 2.6 had power steering and front vented disc rotors), trans, rear rend, suspension, etc. I even changed the dashboard to have the factory tachometer, etc. Took me hours of work!
After 2 weeks, my car was working again, with a nicer engine producing 125hp.

To get rid of the donor car and old 2L engine, I decided to put it back together as a self-moving car, just to move it away from my driveway. I topped the engine with fresh oil, started it: running like day one! I just forgot that the 2 liter was running hydraulic lifters that were noisy due to low oil level.

Well, at least I had a V6 engine in my classic!

oh, you knew that all along and it was just an excuse to install the V6, right?

 

[FredP]

oh, you knew that all along and it was just an excuse to install the V6, right?

Today you would be 110% right


At that time, well, you know, good coincidence

 

[nutz]

ha too many over too many years
was replacing the trans in my 1st 69 dart 3spd in the gravel driveway
it was on these tin steal jack stands as i was pushing the trans in i noticed the car started moving rolled out under the car as it came crashing down
never used jack stands in a gravel driveway again

 

[nutz]

was doing a clutch on a toyota pu
i guess we where slow cause the whole crew was standing around
went to push it in and the whole truck slid forward 2" and dropped 4"
everyone dove out of the way ,all i could do was laugh (like a crazy person )

 

[rbkt65]

1969 dart. Orig 340 swinger auto. Decided to put a 440 in it w/4 spd. Got all parts needed. Had built a hoist in garden out of telephone poles and 6x6. Picked up eng and trans to install in car. Used 11 in clutch. Flywheel would not go over rad support. I jumped up in car, spread eagled on inner fender panels and had brothers push car forward while I was lifting up on tail housing of trans. Feet slipped and fell backwards and left *** print in windshield.

 

[4fortyDemon]

Bar none was my 1st car, 70 383 Superbee. I just got it running (had a perma-grin) but the original Magnum exhaust manifolds were cracked and leaked terribly.

I save up money ( I just turned 16 when I bought the car) and talk my dad into taking me to the local speed shop to get ( whoooo hoooo!!) my first set of headers.

I get them installed and it's just turning dusk. I'm thinking.. it would so cool firing it up with open headers. Not just for the sound, but to see the fire come out of them in the dark!
I fire it up and my 16 year old mind is elated. I look underneath and watch the flame come out...cool! But, why out of one header?

Well, I was so excited to get them on and hear them that I completely forgot to put the spark plugs and wires on the WHOLE drivers side bank!
I couldn't believe it ran and revved up like that...lol

 

[RustyRatRod]

Aight, so here's something BONEHEADED and just happened about an HOUR ago, so you know I am still in practice! Doing some work on my Toro zero turn......GAWD I hate the thing. Anyway, replacing the carburetor.....AGAIN due to ethanol. So I'm done with ethanol in everything now. Anyway, the carburetor has like a plastic 90 degree manifold "elbow" that bolts to the engine. Held onto the engine with two bolts. The carburetor is held onto the elbow with two long "stud" bolts. So, going back together, I get it all lined up wondering why it won't go back together. I mean really, a chimp could literally do this. So, all of a sudden it hit me that I have the carburetor mounted BACKWARDS on the manifold elbow. I'm tellin you boys, I'm still full of um.

 

[Ddaddy]

Waaay back, but a seriously bone head moment.

I was changing the oil on my ‘70 Duster, dropped the filter and spun a new one on. Filled the oil and fired it up.

Was letting it run and stepped out in front of it and saw a huge stream of oil pouring out underneath. WTF?!

I quickly jumped in and shut the engine off wondering what happened.

I crawled underneath and saw the leak was from the oil filter. I took it off and found that a big chunk of the gasket from the old filter had broken off and was stuck to the mounting surface.

If I had taken the time to just look at the old filter after I took it off, I would have seen it…and not been spending money on new oil while cleaning up the 3 qts of oil spread all over my garage floor.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Waaay back, but a seriously bone head moment.

I was changing the oil on my ‘70 Duster, dropped the filter and spun a new one on. Filled the oil and fired it up.

Was letting it run and stepped out in front of it and saw a huge stream of oil pouring out underneath. WTF?!

I quickly jumped in and shut the engine off wondering what happened.

I crawled underneath and saw the leak was from the oil filter. I took it off and found that a big chunk of the gasket from the old filter had broken off and was stuck to the mounting surface.

If I had taken the time to just look at the old filter after I took it off, I would have seen it…and not been spending money on new oil while cleaning up the 3 qts of oil spread all over my garage floor.

The silver lining there is, I bet you've never done that again.

 

[nutz]

Ha was over a friend's house
His ford had a small under hood fire think it was the fuel line to the carb leaked
Rewired the engine
Checked for spark
Woof up I. flames again
Lucky i just put it out with a rag
I guess there was still gas on the intake