Tell us something stupid that you've done!

[New SBB]

This idea came from another thread, but that wasnt the purpose of that thread. But it is here. So, what have you done that is a little embarrassing? I'll start.
I was changing the oil in my daughter's car, nice day, right out front of the house on the driveway. Drained the oil, changed the filter, added two quarts of oil, and I look down behind the front tire. It seems I neglected to reinstall the drainplug. Oil running all over the driveway. !@#$%^&*):Dou:

[DaWildcat]

First 430 engine rebuild ever in '85, didn't know I had to pack the pump with petroleum jelly OR even prime it. Ran it for a moment with no oil pressure and sought advice. Luckily it lived a long time afterwards. Lesson: pack it & prime it.

Ran with oil & water gages only, no warning lights. Overheated it so badly one time that the hardened exhaust valve seats dropped and destroyed pistons. Luckily the forgings took the abuse without grenading. Lesson: the warning lights need to stare you in the face; you cannot drive and watch gages at the same time.

There are tons of piddly things, I've just chosen to block them from memory at the moment.

Edit:

Baffled the oil pan and didn't remember to make clearance for the dipstick.

Another mid '80's lesson - broke a TH350 front pump on a buddy's Olds because I didn't check for correct torque converter insertion.

Devon

[buick64203]

I honestly wouldnt know where to start.


Just today? Or in general? :Dou:

[DaWildcat]

I honestly wouldnt know where to start.


Just today? Or in general? :Dou:

'Fess up man, we want Gore.

Devon

[V8Sky]

I have a tendency to leave a mess as I am working on a project - was doing an intake swap and leaning over to put a 2bbl intake into a corner of the garage. As I am stretching with the intake I hear a hiss and cannot think what it could be. I put the intake down and look for where the sound is coming from - while leaning over, my knee was resting on a Buick engine red spray paint can which shot a perfect red circle onto my jeans.:Dou:

[DaWildcat]

I have a tendency to leave a mess as I am working on a project - was doing an intake swap and leaning over to put a 2bbl intake into a corner of the garage. As I am stretching with the intake I hear a hiss and cannot think what it could be. I put the intake down and look for where the sound is coming from - while leaning over, my knee was resting on a Buick engine red spray paint can which shot a perfect red circle onto my jeans.:Dou:

It's a classic WW1 book. "The Red Badge of Courage".

Devon

[Smartin]

When my engine was assembled last January, we were getting it ready to dyno. We filled it with oil and installed the filter. I started priming the pump with a drill, and ran it for about 15 seconds before I heard oil hitting the floor. We forgot to install the sending unit!

I proceeded to fill Dan's shoe with a quart of 30w $$$ break-in oil:laugh: Dan didn't think it was too funny...but it was a good break in a VERY long weekend in Cinci.

[buick64203]

'Fess up man, we want Gore.

Devon


End of last summer- I was backing the 70 GS out of the garage. The right side mirror wasnt adjusted properly, so I had no view. Too lazy to reach over and fix it. Didnt see the car trailer and scraped the right side quarter against the side of the trailer. I felt sick to my stomach for three days.

Yesterday- I took the freshly painted Riv out of the garage to clean it up and start putting it back together. There is sand debris in the dash from the massive amount of sandblasting the car had received. I was trying to use come compressed air to blow it out of the dash. Instead, I got fine sand debris inside all the guages. So now the instrument cluster has to be removed and completely disassembled. Two steps forward, three steps back.

So after royally effing up the instrument cluster and giving myself two weekends of extra work, I narrowly averted disaster when I closed the garage door after carefully rolling it back in the garage. I had some lengths of steel line and a piece of door molding against the wall very close to the garage door track. A little too close. When I hit the buttom to close the door, the steel line and molding got caught in the track. The steel line bent, but the stainless molding didnt. It popped out and was headed straight for the quater panel. I literally dove onto the garage floor like a football player and cought the molding literally a split second before it kissed the quarter. It was like a millimeter away. I wound up pulling something in my side after that.

After that I just went inside and started popping open some Heinekens.

Those are the only two I'll fess up to. Any more and you'll think Im a complete idiot.:spank:

[techg8]

:af: I took a freshly rebuilt 8.5 posi axle out for a spin with no lube in it.

Made it about 2 miles before the pinion bearing cage melted and locked the rear solid.

I was not happy with myself

[DaWildcat]

Jason, I feel better already. That would have been a Kodak moment for sure.

Devon

[71skylark3504v]

After putting rags in the lifter valley to catch dirt as I cleaned the heads I forgot to take them out. Made it a few miles down the road before oil pressure started going down. The rags made their way from the lifter valley into the oil pan and clogged the pickup.:Dou:

[Ken Mild]

In fact, just yesterday. :rolleyes:

I rigged up an oil priming tool from an old distributor, put it in the cranked the drill only to have it almost break my wrist. Posted on here with one of the many "WTF" emails you see from people who are usually stumped.

I forgot to take off the distributor gear. :error: Try turning over a 455 with a 14.4v Dewalt sometime. :Dou:

[Ken Mild]

By the way, this is a very therapeutic and entertaining thread. :cool:

[DaWildcat]

Shared workspace with a friend in the '90's. We put his Ford F150 baja racer up in the air to give the new 460 engine and transmission a run through the gears before he trailered it for the next off-road race.

I hadn't thought about the fact that his tires could have been full of stones from a previous run, and my Wildcat was sitting some 15 feet in front of the truck. The stones were in the tires for a very short time, then ended up ricocheting around the shop with some taking chunks of paint out of my car. That being said, I'm lucky I didn't put my eye out, or lose some hard-to-find Buick glass.

Devon

[New SBB]

By the way, this is a very therapeutic and entertaining thread. :cool:All thanks to you with your response to Devon's query about the gear on the disty. I caught myself, as all of us have, with the DOH! moment. We've all been there. :beer I may even relate the story of my avatar someday.

[garybuick]

Ive had many moments like that. One time in particlular comes to mind. It was my first transmission swap. I took the old powerglide out and bolted the TH350 in place, got all the linkage and connections hooked up.

This is the kind of job where you lay on your back on the floor and its cold and it takes you all day, looking for tools, cramped workspace, using the wrong tool for the jobs, improvising.. I was 21 i guess.. so go to test drive, it wont grab.. cant figure out why? I look over and see the powerglide and its torque converter laying quietly in the corner on the floor.... and I realize, the torque converter that I see is the Turbos torque converter, and the powerglides converter was covered with a shop towel on the workbench... so DOH!

I installed it without a converter had to take it all out again and basically start over.. See if you can top that for stupid. LOL

[Ken Mild]

All thanks to you with your response to Devon's query about the gear on the disty. I caught myself, as all of us have, with the DOH! moment. We've all been there. :beer I may even relate the story of my avatar someday.

Let me guess. Fan blade? :pp

[DaWildcat]

Dave, it's time to come clean on the busted thumb.

Gary, welcome to the stupid thread. Nice to know you're in good company with me as another dumba$$.

Devon

[DaWildcat]

In the automotive industry nowadays, Things Gone Wrong (TGW) is documented, believe it or not. By documenting it we learn from it.

TGR (Right being the last word) is too, but less so.

Cheers to a good V8Buick thread on TGW.

Any time we can learn from what's been done is a good thing.

Devon

[Jim Jones]

Years ago was doing a rebuild on the 454 in my '70 Chevelle. I had just gotten the intake manifold back from having it chemically stripped, and noticed some gunk (for lack of a better term) between the manifold and the splash shield. These shields were riveted to the manifold, and I couldn't get a tool between them to get the stuff out. So in my infinate wisdom, I decided to use a hammer and chisel to sever the rivets, and remove the shield.

I set the manifold on the concrete apron at the entrance to the garage and began hammering away. First rivet...cut, second rivet...cut, third rivet...cut, fourth rivet....well as the fourth rivet released it's hold on the shield, the shield was propelled and flew like a frisbee into the garage in what seemed like slow motion. I looked at my GSX, I looked at my Chevelle, and I looked at the flying splash shield. The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I imagined the damage that that shield could do to one of my beautiful cars.

As luck would have it, the flying hunk of sheet metal totally missed both of the cars, but landed in a 5 gallon plastic bucket that was full of used ATF. It split the bucket from top to bottom causing the entire contents to spill out onto the garage floor. After taking my first breath in what seemed like hours, I got to work cleaning up the "Red Sea".

[yuk]

in high school i had a 57 chevy 350 2x4 4speed 4.11:TU: . i could race it all night till sunup on the weekends and the car stayed on about 195-210 degrees. but each morning when i drove it to school it would be very overheated:af: from the normal drive of 3 miles on the highway.

for the longest time i couldnt figure out why..... :rant:
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.BTW ... i would store my snare drum in its case in front of the radiator on the way to school:Dou: .... the drum stayed home on the weekends

[yuk]

i was lucky enough to learn LOTS of what not to do from my 2 older brothers ....
like the time my oldest brother wanted to raise the rear of his 55 chevy by moving the rear leafs to the top side of the rearend...
after a couple hours of removing the rearend, plugging the vent, flipping the rearend end to end, drilling a hole and implemanting a new vent, redoing the rear brake lines.... all to install the rearend upside down to get the perches to the top side...he then discovered he had a NEW shift pattern. R was now forward and he had 4 different gears to choose from the go backwards.:Brow:

[BUICKRAT]

Just to name a few...

Finished a timing chain job, and found the oil slinger on the bench...

Ran over my Gibson SG Standard. Long story.

I could go on

[jay3000]

Hmmm.. Plastigauged the only main bearing surface that was correct. All of the other four were cut too small and the engine had no oil pressure at idle.. Lesson learned..

Then, when I put the engine back together the second time, I could not remember tightening the the cam gear. So, I took it all back apart only to find that it was tight.. Sure does run good now though..

[Woodsters]

I was out with my fiancee one evening and punched it hard coming out of a corner. BAM! Busted a spider gear. The next day I put the car up on cement blocks to swap rear ends. Of course, I had 3 ton jackstands hanging in the garage but didn't take the time to get them down. :Smarty:

She's underneath when the car teeters and falls! :Dou:
Thankfully it stopped falling a fraction of an inch before smashing her face. She still married me.:beers2:

[CraigFaller]

Last spring I took the engine and transmission out, and did some work to the heads, and put in a new cam.. cleaned everything up put the whole thing back together. Got the car going, broke in the cam, go to take it out for a haul on the highway, BAM! no reverse. No forward. Sounds great but doesn't go anywhere!

Ended up pulling the transmission because I took those two tabs off the front pump when I installed the converter... :spank:

May not be the most serious thing, but man I felt dumb... nothing like a make work project!

[richopp]

Oh, Buickrat, an SG Standard...I'm about to cry!

High school, first car, '55 Ford coupe, bored 312, 3x2 on an Edelbrock, Hurst shifter. Friday night date across the river in Norfolk with a very excellent lady; a friend offered to change the oil and gas it up for me. Changed the oil in his garage and took it out to get gas. Did not close the hood tightly, hood came up at 45mph, he lost control and totaled the car. His dad, a local preacher, wanted to sue US...I was 16 and really upset. The girl, well, she got away.

Her name was Rhonda, too, when the Beach Boys were popular...I am still sad about this one many years later!

Cheers!

Richard

[buickgs350]

Last summer took dads 396 four speed out for the weekend for some exercise, (with his permission) For some reason the last time he worked on the car when he replaced the alternator belt, he installed one that was just slightly too long. Me and a couple buddies took the beast downtown, we were cruising around with my buddies slant 6 duster and a small block 70's camaro. I'd get an open stretch of road on the waterfront with no houses on either side and ganked on it in second gear, powershifted third at about 6500, then blam, thud, thud, thud, thud. I was crapping myself, I thought I'd blown up my dads pride and joy, (I thought I was being pretty conservative, he shifts it at 7400.) Well the long alt belt had whipped off of one pulley and clanged around in the engine compartment and then ejected onto the road at 80+ mph. So turn around drive a half click down the road and we pick up the belt and stick it back on. You would think after that I wouldn't have stomped on it again that night so as to not repeat the belt throwing, well saturday night was still young and I blew that alt belt off 7 more times. One of which me and the duster were jerking around on an empty 4 lane, not racing, but he would accelerate past me and slow down, and I yanked it into second and blew by him at 7000 snapped er into third and then wouldn't you know it that alt belt flew off again, we went and got it and we were fixing on the side of the road when johhny law in the form of two cruisers came creeping slowly by, I thought we were screwed but they just crept by and gave us that 'we know your upto no good' look, so we toned it down a bit. But a blast of a night. Of course were upto no good, a laquer black 396 Nova, a 350 camaro, and a 70 duster, fixing things on the side of the road at 12:30 am.:3gears:

[Dale]

Just to name a few...
Finished a timing chain job, and found the oil slinger on the bench...

I've told the tale here before, but I have done that on more than one occasion. :Dou:
It's amazing how quickly you can tear it all back down and back together again when you are P.O.'d at yourself! :rant:

When I was assembling the '70 Riv's engine a couple of years ago, I thought about hanging it from a string around my neck.

[Golden Oldie 65]

This is one of those threads where I think I'll keep my mouth shut and read :grin:

[71GSX455-4SPD]

My dad had an old Bronco II that we used to haul around behind his RV. We were on a trip to see relatives in PA and hooked the sucker up for the ride home. He and I both checked that the transfer case was in neutral. We never did figure out who was first to check it and who was last to check it. It was an old car and the transfer case shifter was loosy goosy....

Anyway, I was driving and got on the highway and got 10-20 miles when I'm trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with the RV. I mean I have the gas nearly to the floor GOING DOWNHILL and I'm losing speed. About this time a car pulls up next to the RV and a lady signals me. I roll down my window and she yells, "Your car is smoking!!!!"

I pull over and sure enough smoke is pouring out of everywhere on that Bronco II! The passenger cabin is full, it's pouring out of the grill, under the body- at least it didn't catch fire. Moral of the story is you can't get too far pulling a Bronco II at highway speeds when it's in FOUR WHEEL LOW! :o

As my father and I couldn't figure out which one of us was the Dufus, we split the tranny and transfer case repair. :Dou:

My brother had the best line on the side of the highway that day, "Maybe if you just flush the fluids it'll be ok". :laugh:

[New SBB]

I bet if this were a boating forum we'd be hearing stories of launching from the boat ramp without checking to see if the drain plug was in the transom. Blub Blub Blub.

[1967GS340]

Can't make me do it!
I've done stupid stuff car related and non car related going way back.
If we learn from our mistakes, you are reading the words of a very very smart man!
The way I see it is it's only embarrassing if people know when you do something stupid.

[ahhh65riv]

There are 2 kinds of people in this world; There are those that have done something stupid, and those that choose not to admit it!

There are the classics we have all probably done at one time or another... Such as:

- leaving a screwdriver in your back pocket; poked a hole in the seat upolstry
- Forgot to put the cap back on the _________ (fill in) before taking it for a spin.
- Left a wrench setting on the _______ (fill in) before taking it for a spin.
- Didn't block the tires and set the brake before jacking and car started rolling
- Not watching where you set the wrench across the battery terminals.
- Something else (besides the proper fuse) in a fuse holder, "just to get by for now".

Ok... now I think I'm starting to embarrass myself. Sometimes I think my garage is out of an old Benny Hill episode...

Erik

[geologyjeep]

Visiting at relative's cabin in mountains and decided to move the car I stored there back a little in their parking area so we could get around it. Took off brakes and put it out of gear and pushed from front. Just lucky it wasn't one of my Buicks or Buick powered Jeeps. Rolled off parking pad and over slope. Missed hitting cabin about 50-100' down the hill by about two feet. Lucky car didn't roll or hit any of the numerous trees and I could tow it out with my Jeep. Oops! Mr. Ed Thornton, Colorado

[Mister T]

This is one of those threads where I think I'll keep my mouth shut and read :grin:

Me too!:grin:

[doug adkins]

had the ignsition(spell check) on in my 225 on an incline, let my 2yr. old daughter sit in drivers seat. was at the toolbox when I hear it shift out of park, run out to the car to see my wide eyed daughter headed down the drive.:Dou: I was able to get to the open window and try to shift it into park, "NOT" you've hear the clicking sound. So here I am steering the car thru the neighbors bushes across their driveway into their front yard where it slowed enough to lock up in park.
Neighbors usually have a line of cars parked in the drive none that day.:pray: :pray:

I now chock my cars at the store, when I park:laugh: :laugh:

[70_Lark]

OK,
This is not car related, but it ranks up there in the halls of stupidity. I was changing the oil in a relatively new lawn mower. I had just drained the oil and then became distracted with something else. When I returned to the mower, I had thought I had refilled the crankcase...but nope I left this part out. Needless to say, I cranked it up and had made a few passes over the yard. I wondered why it was making a whizzing noise a short time afterwards which only proceeded to get louder. I then remembered that I had not added the oil. Crap, it was pretty much down hill for that mower after that, it still ran but used a boat load of oil. I did managed to squeak a few more years out of it before it visited lawn mower heaven.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://www.v8buick.com/<o:p></o:p>

[ahhh65riv]

Interesting to note if alcohol was a factor in any of these????:beer

[jay3000]

I bet if this were a boating forum we'd be hearing stories of launching from the boat ramp without checking to see if the drain plug was in the transom. Blub Blub Blub.

That reminds me of a time when the anchor was stuck and I tried to yank it out and almost sunk the boat...

[jay3000]

Left a pry bar laying on the cowl, closed the hood and cracked the windshield..

[kenm455]

quit school at age 15.....:error:

[Riviman]

Not Buick but, working on a mazda, doing a head gasket replacement. Service Manager hawking me cause customer is waiting and needs the car to go on vacation. So I'm going as fast as I can with interuptions ever 15 minutes for an update when it will be done. I get it together and reach for the antifreeze, low and behold my eyes catch the new head gasket still in the packaging. Talk about rip it all apart and together in record time. Next time I paid more attention to the job than my boss!:Dou:

[Smartin]

She's underneath when the car teeters and falls! :Dou:
Thankfully it stopped falling a fraction of an inch before smashing her face. She still married me.:beers2:


Holeeeee crap.:shock: :shock: :shock:

[Mister T]

All thanks to you with your response to Devon's query about the gear on the disty. I caught myself, as all of us have, with the DOH! moment. We've all been there. :beer I may even relate the story of my avatar someday.

When I was around 14 or 15, my brother and I were building something or other that requiring using a power drill. We failed to ensure that the bits were sharp though:spank: My left thumb felt the now broken bit dance across the nail, carving a nice slice through my flesh. It looked similar to Daves thumb.:grin:


This is one of those threads where I think I'll keep my mouth shut and read :grin:
Just couldn't do it.:laugh:


I bet if this were a boating forum we'd be hearing stories of launching from the boat ramp without checking to see if the drain plug was in the transom. Blub Blub Blub.

Yup, done that too while taking this smoking hot blond out fishing one day some 15 years ago. We had a good laugh over that. Both her and the boat are now long gone. :ball: :ball: <(over the boat)

[Mike Trom]

When I was in high school I was mounting one of those 100 kraco power boosters for my stereo in my car.
Found a nice place for one of the brackets under the dash on the back wall. Got the drill out, drilled a hole, removed the drill bit and green fluid came squirting out:Dou:

Drilled a hole right in my heater core:Dou: :Dou: :Dou:

Took the heater core out, put a few lead fishing split shots over the hole and got my propane torch out, melted the lead and fixed the hole:TU:

Now I always check twice before I drill :laugh:

Anyone ever back there car up and over their ramps :rolleyes: Do they even sell those things anymore:puzzled:

[Smartin]

I drilled a bracket for my stereo amp right in the the headlight wire harness and about burned the car to the ground trying to figure out why my headlights wouldn't work...this was on my 71 convertible:shock:

[Mike Sobotka]

Got married :error: not once but TWICE :error: :Dou: BUT :Smarty: no more :laugh: :TU:

Sorry--couldn't resist :bla: :bla:

[Free Riviera]

My second car was a 70 Satellite and I didn't know much about cars back then. I took the valve cover off my 318 Satellite cause it had a valve tap ...and it was like a jello mold of sludge. I worked most of it out with a screwdriver but what was left was falling down into the oil return holes in the heads...

I got frustrated, took the oil plug out of the pan and sprayed the whole thing off with the garden hose, shooting a strong jet directly into the oil return passages. Once the water stopped coming out of the oil pan, I used up two cans of WD40 trying to displace the water.

I suppose the jury is out for how stupid this really was... it ran when the kid I sold it to (not long after) drove it away!

[TheSilverBuick]

I have dozens but the one that comes to mind the quickest was last march when I put the engine in my Skylark. Engine in, trans in, hooked everything up and the last thing to hook up was the clutch pedal before firing the engine off for the first time, and something didn't feel right. I put the throw out bearing in backwards:Dou: I was even smart enough to take a picture of it BEFORE installing the transmission, D'oh! I was not happy about having to pull the transmission.


http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/19/l_4bb1fdcb1b404022a93f7b5c7d302b12.jpg

[1967 Big Buick]

Ok back in the day when I was in junior high my dad would always leave a list of stuff for us to do when we got back from school. On my list was to change the oil in the 78 Park Avenue. So I did as he instructed. When my dad gets back he ask me if I changed the oil and I said yeah. So he takes off and he is only gone for a little bit and comes right back and ask me how much oil I put in the car. I said 5 quarts. So he opens the hood and checks the oil and ask me where I put the oil I took out of the car. I showed him it was still in the pan.Whe take the car to another friend of his and shows him that his car is full and I mean full of oil, and the guy says "well joe if I were you I would patent this car because it seems to producing oil" So we get back and we changes the oil again and tells me to go get the other 5 quart container sitting by the door, and when I get there it hits me, I put 10 quarts of oil in the car. That was one hard walk back to my dad to tell him what I did.

[MikeM]

In high school my car would normally be in a parking area away from the garage. But that day, I had backed it up to the garage to wash it or something.

Then my dad says, go buy the afternoon newspaper. So in that case, I asked if I could use his 66GS Riv. OKay. So forgetting my car is behind the garage, and being a stupid 17 year old and not looking in the mirror first, I backed the back end of his car rapidly into the back end of my car doing a fair amount of metal bending to both.

Nothing like running your own cars into each other to piss off your dad. But he was a good guy and I lived.

[1967GS340]

Anyone ever back there car up and over their ramps :rolleyes: Do they even sell those things anymore:puzzled:

I sure do watch close for that. Make the wife come and look if I can't see what I'm doing.
Never done it but imagined it a lot.

This is an entertaining thread.

[skierkaj]

The story of the pry bar on the cowl reminds me of one of my big "oops" moments.

I was removing the decklid filler panel between the decklid and the back glass of my (at the time) Camaro (in signature). It was held in by factory sheet metal screws to the window frame area and I wanted to undo some of the previous paint job flaws that were on the car when I bought it. One of the screw heads was just barely under the lip of the glass; we're fractions upon fractions of an inch.

Needless to say, the screw won, and the glass went "POOF!", all over the freshly redone interior and most of the shop. Could have used a new pair of shorts after that! :laugh:

I've also managed to pull the "double gasket" trick on an oil filter change. Makes me double check every time I do it now.

[John Codman]

I was putting the heads back on a SBB and didn't like the headgaskets that came in the valvegrind package. I called the parts store and discussed the situation with them. They assured me that the headgaskets were the "new improved" design. I'll bet you know where I'm going with this! I put the gaskets in, completely assembled the engine, started filling the cooling system; there was coolant coming out everywhere. I had to pull the customer's heads and re-replace the gaskets. I think I got home at about 10 PM that night - not in the best possible mood. I now match up gaskets very carefully.

[harley9443]

I was replacing a bad power window motor on a 72 skylark. Had a drop light in the door so I could see what I was doing. Got all done and put the door panel back on and saw a big wire sticking out of the back of the door. Stupid me left the drop light in the door.

[sroys]

Ive got some silly ones, but my favorite "Coulda been REAL bad" was when I was only 5 or 6 and Dad and his friends thought it would be cool to do a "FIRE" burnout in front of our house....not a bad idea I guess, but nearly 5 GALLONS of gas is a little excessive, they lit it and of course the fuel running down the curb lit up the neighborhood on both sides!!!!

[kcombs]

Ok, this goes back a ways. When I was in junior high school I used to build model cars. My favorite color was candy apple red. One day I was spraying plastic parts when the can plugged up. I tried running a needle into the spray nozzle and that didn't do any good, so I figured it must be the can that was plugged. If the needle would unplug a nozzle it should unplug the can, right? So I sat the can on my mom's stove and proceeded to shove the needle into the top of the very pressurized spray can. Very bad idea. After I got the paint out of my eyes I could see what I had done to my mom's kitchen. There was paint all over the kitchen. After cleaning all the flat surfaces that the paint had stuck to I looked up! Yes, I had to also clean the ceiling. That was about 50 years ago and I still remember that goof.

[Bent Rod]

One of my best was the first th350 I ever rebuilt. Rebuilt it for a chevy truck with a 454 on a Saturday after work, and finished it Sunday. I threw it in the back of the work truck and headed to my buddies house to install it. He was still at work, so I had an hour to kill.
Thought I'd go ahead and start gathering up all the bits that attach it to the motor (odd looking cylindrical things with a lump on one end). There at the bottom of the bucket is a very familiar looking snap ring. Oh sh@$! And since Mr. Murphy was watching over me, it was the very first one I should have installed. Yea, the one on the output shaft. Tore the whole damn thing back down on the tailgate of the truck in his driveway. Luckily the Kansas wind wasn't blowing that day or I'd have had to take it back to the shop. Had it back together in less than an hour. Damn thing even worked!
Well, until it exploded anyway.
If you ever rebuild one with a drum that bolts together with allen head cylindrical things, I would suggest using LockTight on them.

And I burned the carpet up in a 85 Celebrity by using a paperclip for a fuse. There was a penny that fell in the cigarette lighter. I guess pennies don't belong there. Or paperclips for that matter.

[Ken Mild]

I was replacing a bad power window motor on a 72 skylark. Had a drop light in the door so I could see what I was doing. Got all done and put the door panel back on and saw a big wire sticking out of the back of the door. Stupid me left the drop light in the door.

That's awesome. :laugh:

That's me in a nutshell.

[wildcat4]

This thread sure makes me feel better!!
My most recent stupid act was my 96 Silverado stalled one day. It would start right up then die, over and over again. I thought it must be the fuel pump so, called my Dad who had to drive 20miles to pick me up then take me 20miles home to get my car trailer. His van won't go in my short garage so we had to winch the car trailer out of the garage so we could get my GS off the trailer, then drive the Van and trailer 20miles to pickup my Truck. I get home, roll it off the trailer and immediately pull the gas tank, and put a new fuel pump in. After about 8 hours of dicking around, the truck still won't stay running.
For the first time in this ordeal I opened the hood...(most smart people do that first) just to notice the air cleaner hose had fallen off.

:Dou: could have fixed that with my left hand in 5 seconds.

[idahoskylark]

unhooked my camper from the truck on a slight incline without wheelchocks and it was fully loaded
back was heavier so the tongue shot straight up as soon as i unhooked it and started rolling backwards down the street
my wife was just pulling out of the driveway and all i could do was hang on and yell for her to help
didnt get any help but got it stopped about 30ft later
she made sure to let me know i was an idiot just incase i forgot that too

[idahoskylark]

oh ya i started a thread on this one
put my old mufflers in the trunk and went around a corner too fast on the way home now i have 2 small dings from this inside out on my left rear quarter
FIRST DAY DRIVING CAR SINCE NEW PAINT UGHH
this is why i want internal trunk panels
haven't put anything back there since
makes me sick to look at it from the drivers side its all i see

[425 Dual Quad]

OK here's 2:

A long time ago (15-20 years) I was changing upper balljoints on a '67 Mustang. Whacking at it like mad with a pickle fork separator and my head in the wheelarch. Suddenly it lets go. Comes out like a rocket and embeds itself 8 foot up in the wall. My blood ran cold. Must have missed me by inches. :shock: Could have had a severely disfigured face or even be dead.
Now I always, always leave the nut on the bottom of the stud when removing ball joints.

On a lighter note I was checking the rear turn signals on the '67 Chrysler wagon about 3 years ago. I had a faster flash on one side. I engaged my then 6 year old son to help me. Called out 'Ok left turn' checked the left hand one fine. Called out 'Ok turn right' Our driveway is on a slight slope. (You know where this is going) No flashing but car starts to roll forward. Oh Sh*t, run to the open door to hit the brake just not in time for the peaked bumper of the Chrysler to come to a stop against the front licence plate of the the '93 Caddy and put a golfball style dent in it.
Perfectly logical to a 6 year old. Pull down on the left lever to indicate left, pull down on the right lever (the shift lever) to indicate right!
Now I know whay they introduced neutral saftey switches! :laugh:
Nick

[Jeff T]

Years ago I had a 70 GTO. Spent the winter in the body shop having everything fixed, rear wing added... Got it home, Dad and I tore the interior apart, new carpet, scrubbed, scrubbed...

Finally done, everything buttoned up, weather warm, had to go for a cruise. Grabbed the smokes off to a buddies house to harass him and his AMX.

Drive was a few miles, smiling ear to ear. Get to my buds and he was shocked at how great the car looked. He was amazed at how everything looked especially the burn hole in the back seat from the cig I tossed out the window...

One good note, last smoke ever.

[GotTattooz]

I was using a slide hammer once to remove a bearing race from an axle housing. I'd never really used one before so I just grabbed the end of the bar and grabbed the slide hammer and went at it. Apparently, there's a "T" at the end of the bar that you're supposed to hold onto while using the slide. I, however, placed my grip firmly on the bulge at the end of the bar. It only takes one hit to realize that my hand wasn't where it was supposed to be. I made the biggest, most painful blood blister on the webbing between my thumb and index finger!!! I was beating my hand on the ground, because it felt like it was on fire!!! Lesson learned.

-Josh

[skylark7deuce]

I once took my car to get painted to a guy who was supposedly cheaper. Only for him to later get caught in it driving around town him and his buddies drunk. Not a big deal though, I got the car back, cleaned out the beer cans , bottles and cigarettes and took it to a professional.

[r0ckstarr]

I may even relate the story of my avatar someday.

Today is someday. Spill the beans.:grin:

[cstanley-gs]

When I was in University, I had a 92 Mustang.. 4-banger....
The trans was acting up so i decided Id dry a fluid change. Having next to $0 funds, I decided I would suck the fluid out of the dipstick tube instead of dropping the pan.

I had an inline pump thingy with a rubber bulp you could squeeze to suck the fluid. I guess it would work great with water but not for thicker trans fluid. So I ended up using the ol' suck with your mouth method....

Lemme tell ya.. sucking the smell/fumes of burned trans fluid will give you the heaves...I had a friend there and he did nothing but laugh at me...
I didnt get sick, but geez did I urge...



another one...
That same friend...wanted some work done on his car...
For some reason he had his dads jeans on.

well previous to this, I knocked over a can of Rust Checks (like WD40) off the bench. Broke the tip and all the gas escaped. The can was still almost full so I put a hole in the can and poured it into an empty manual pump spray bottle. It was the bottle left from some type of cleaner/de greaser...

so the next thing I see my buddy, spraying this on his jeans... he had got grease on them...

I laughed at him and told him what was actually in the bottle... he was not impressed.. and neither was his father! LOL



That same friend again... we were on my girl friends fathers Honda 3-wheeler... we came to a steep hill, I told him id walk up and he could drive it up...he got almost to the top, when we heard a snap.. the chain broke... and with hardly any brakes... lets just say he came to rest at the bottom of the hill after being flung off the bike...


I could go on and one about this friend... he's a great friend and would do anything for you...but stuff just seems to happen when he's around LOL

[Ken Mild]

:Dou: could have fixed that with my left hand in 5 seconds.


But then you'd have nothing to post in this thread. :Smarty: :bla:

That was priceless. :grin:

[Ken Mild]

I once took my car to get painted to a guy who was supposedly cheaper. Only for him to later get caught in it driving around town him and his buddies drunk. Not a big deal though, I got the car back, cleaned out the beer cans , bottles and cigarettes and took it to a professional.

Not a big deal? You must be hard to piss off. :pp

[Poppaluv]

Once my wife asked me "the question" and I told her the truth......:Dou:

[Naranjalark70]

About those ramps....went to change the oil in my 4 banger 5 speed mazda with some particularly slippery metal ramps. Tires kept spinning trying to drive up slowly, so I got some momentum and drove right off the front of them. They hit the jack points so hard I thought the car was going to break in half. Got out to see the tires hanging about a half inch off the ground.

Oh and also, as a sixteen year old kid with a new license and an orange 70 skylark custom:
Used scotch brite to clean mud off the rockers :blast: :Dou:
Raced one of my high school buddies past a Dunkin Donuts...287$ and the full rage of my dad later....:spank:

[New SBB]

OK, so here's the story of my thumb. No big deal compared to a lot you've already read about.
I got this Jeep with a 327, and the guy who sold it is telling me all the goodies and machining that he put into it. Supposed to be a nasty little Vette motor from back in the day. Only he built it, didnt quite finish, then let it sit for 10 years. I get it home and start looking closer at the motor. Pulled the plugs and 3 of them are rusty. WTH? So I tried to turn it over with the crank bolt and a socket, only it was kinda tight, so out comes the breaker bar. It would turn over very reluctantly but only about 2/3 of a revolution. I couldnt figure out what was stopping it, so I just put more behind the breaker bar. Well, I pulled on it pretty good, and it slipped off the bolt. My thumb kept it from denting the rusty fenderwell. The fenderwell looked like when you squish a fat tick. Yeah, it hurt.
Come to find out, a mouse had crawled up the header and past an open valve into a cylinder and lived for who knows how long. The movement of the crank was the piston travel below where the cylinder was a bit rusty (see pic below).
Later, Thanksgiving Day 2008 to be exact, I was pulling on that damn breaker bar again, trying to get the water pump off (I think), only this time my wrist found a nice piece of rusty jagged metal and laid me open. It was one of those moments that you know you've just hurt yourself pretty good. I squeezed the chunk of skin and meat and went and told my wife she needed to take me to the ER. The doctor that stitched me up was wearing a suit, on his way to Thanksgiving Dinner. Well so were my wife and I, at her sisters house. I still take crap about finding a better way to get out of visiting with the inlaws...
click on pics
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/lordy611/51%20WILLYS/th_51Willys016.jpg (http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/lordy611/51%20WILLYS/51Willys016.jpg)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/lordy611/51%20WILLYS/327%20parts/th_IMG_2334.jpg (http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/lordy611/51%20WILLYS/327%20parts/IMG_2334.jpg)

[Woodsters]

....was wearing a suit, on his way to Thanksgiving Dinner.

Ouch for the thumb. Double ouch for the wrist. But it's the being late to dinner that hurts the worst! Christmas eve (years ago), I'm messing with the trunk of the LeSabre. Decided to fill the trunk lid with the expanding foam "Great Stuff". Still a couple hours before we needed to be at the preachers house for dinner, so ... I'd never worked with it before and didn't know that it would ooze out of every hole, crack and orifice, nor did I realize it would quadruple in size.:shock: Worst, I didn't leave enough time for cleanup of the trunk floor, fenders, rubber weatherstripping and skin. I had that stuff everywhere - and didn't have a solvent to remove it from my skin.:Dou: Ended up taking a knife and scraping my hands as clean as possible and wearing a long sleeve shirt to dinner -- and we were almost an hour late! I keep boxes of latex/nitrile gloves in the garage and car now! :Smarty: David

[Phil]

Back when my brother-in-law graduated from Wyoming tech he brought home a nice clean 72 Nova from Colorado. We immediately took the 307 out and dropped in a well built 350 his dad had built for him while he was away at school. We got it all hooked up and just had to adjust the timing and when we turned on the key the floats on the carb were set to high and gas started running everywhere.

We took an old shirt and sopped up all the spilled fuel, readjusted the floats, and commenced on firing the car. Well she backfired real good and the carb flashed and a small fire started. My brother reached back and grabbed a rag to snuff the flames but before I could tell him to stop, he managed to put out a carb fire with a t-shirt well soaked in gasoline.

Not having an extinguisher handy, I ran outside and grabbed a garden hose and put it on a real wide fan mist and put the fire out. We then got the shop vac out and suctioned all the water out of the carb, turned hte key again, and she started right up and idled at 800rpm.

We both shrugged and still laugh about it to this day.

Lesson Learned: I now have a fire extinguisher handy in the garage.

[Briz]

That reminds me of a time when the anchor was stuck and I tried to yank it out and almost sunk the boat...
Thats how thoes NFL players went down in the gulf of mexico last spring.

[WickedWay]

Last summer I had just swapped a good th350 into by 69 Skylark a few days before, and wanted to show what the "weak buick" could do compated to my brother's 5.9 Dodge. Took it out on a backroad for a burnout contest, wasted my brother's truck with an 85 yard non-posi burnout.. Point proven.

Thought I'd drive it home to him not to underestimate the old buick, so time for another burnout.. Started nice, lots of smoke, them bam! Ripped the tread off the right rear (thought the tire blew out) and put a baseball size hole in my lower quarterpanel where it hit while coming off. :ball:

Lesson learned.. it dont pay to show off.:Smarty:

[GotTattooz]

OK, fine. I'll go again.

A friend of mine was painting a Honda CRX for some girl in his dad's pole barn/ makeshift paintbooth. I was just hanging out and actually got to paint and clearcoat the roof because I'm tall and have really long arms. Well, we were just talking and whatever when a bug landed right in the middle of the roof, and got stuck in the fresh paint. I tried to just grab the bug without getting into the paint, and, aside from it's legs, I got the bug out. My friend noticed a little bit of paint on my fingertips from retrieving the bug, and he hands me a paper towel. Obviously, the paper towel was for my fingers, but I wadded it up and dabbed it onto the roof to wipe off the bug legs that were still in the paint. As soon as I touched the paint with the paper towel, I froze. It was like stepping on a land mine!! I was stuck and didn't know what to do about it. My friend is glaring at me from across the roof of the car, and we're all freaking out!!! We tried to fill the crater in with paint and clearcoat, but you could see the edges of my mistake.

-Josh

[jeff0547]

I have already posted in another thread so I'll just send you there.

Always remember that if your radiator has a small leak, don't forget to check the level before you embark on a road trip. :Dou:

I'm famous for having parts left over.....:Do No:

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=197689

[BuickNut455]

Once I hit my finger with a rubber mallet trying to coax a rusted bolt....hurt so bad I threw the mallet at the closest thing, which was a wall. It proceeded to bounce back square in the middle of my forehead, which hurt a lot more than the finger.

[atticus427]

Probably some repeats here but it saves me the time of retyping my own screw-ups.

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=192628

[71GSX455-4SPD]

Traded in my original 4-speed distributor (same as a Stage 1 number 2016) way back in '77 for a rebuilt unit. Got my $5 or so core charge back. I paid thru the nose to get a duplicate with the right number- and it was a restamp.

[JimJames]

Once I hit my finger with a rubber mallet trying to coax a rusted bolt....hurt so bad I threw the mallet at the closest thing, which was a wall. It proceeded to bounce back square in the middle of my forehead, which hurt a lot more than the finger.

VERY FUNNY! :laugh: LOL over that short little story! My stupid move? Volunteered for Vietnam after receiving orders for Germany back in '68. Survived with no ill effect (I think), no bullet holes or wounds, so it all worked out, and exciting to boot (but still stupid :-). Jim :cool:

[1965_wildcat]

I didn't do this myself but it was a very dumb thing..... One day while I was outside, I saw my cat climbing around my Wildcat, and then all of a sudden he lifts his tail up and started squirting stuff out of his butt into my rear speaker, .... Oh man I was pissed

[New SBB]

Once I hit my finger with a rubber mallet trying to coax a rusted bolt....hurt so bad I threw the mallet at the closest thing, which was a wall. It proceeded to bounce back square in the middle of my forehead, which hurt a lot more than the finger.
That's only funny as hell 'cause it didnt happen to me! I may have to give you my avatar! We'll have to look for one of a knot on a forehead too.

[sandys70]

Hey, need some help with a case of stupidity. My wife has a 70 Skylark Custom convert and it needs front shocks.

I had purchased some in went to change them but found there did not seem to be a way to remove and replace the shocks through either a hole in the lower control arm or in the shock tower.

Does this mean I have to drop the lower control arm and remove the coil spring to replace the shock?

What am I missing?

thanks

[RipRohring]

Sorta not Buick related, but THREAD PERFECT - My (now EX wife) - as part of her "liberation mode" always had to do what guys did. So when her Dad started putting new white tab shingles on his 3rd story roof - up 33 feet on an 1880's Queen Anne. Well, everyone had to give her room to get up there on the 40 foot ladder, and everyone intended to help her climb off onto the roof.
.
She was terrified of the height and more terrified of the wasps that had taken to flying low over the roof for the joy of soaring on the reflected waves of August heat off the new tar paper and so on.
.
So, as she was laying shingles from perhaps her second bundle - a wasp buzzed her low and hard - she had a mouthful of nails (just like the guys) - however, she decided to take a swing at the wasp.
.
No, she didn't swallow the nails.
.
No she didn't fall off the roof.
.
No she didn't get a wasp sting.
.
She DID however WHACK the WASP with the HAMMER - as it landed on her FORHEAD. Almost passed out; slumps forward onto the bundle of shingles laying on the roof jack.
.
Moaning, she started hollering for HELP.
.
Took about 4 GUYS to get her backed up and onto the top of the 40' ladder, just as the fire department arrived. They carried her down the hook and ladder unit as only firemen could.
.
She became a wonderful mother to two, and grandmother to 7.
.
We were divorced after 28 years - she wanted to be her own person again. Perhaps she decided to pursue this solo lifestyle after the perhaps 1,000th time I told her to "watch out for the wasp" and used my open hand to whack my own forehead. :error:
.
Rip Rohring :Comp:

[BuickNut455]

Another...Was timing my Z/28 (distributer in the back), and had a handfull of my distributer cap, twisting it while reading the timing. I got zapped...jerked my head back and hit it on the hood which hurt a lot, which caused me to jerk forward and hit my forehead (again).

[william.ali.kay]

I let the Misses talk me into buying her a Toyota. :(

[69 Skylark]

A few hours ago i was changing my timing belt and my gaskets on my 91 camry. As i was putting it back to check the timing i took a spark plug and put a long screw driver in to see when it was at peak. Forgot to take the screwdriver out and started her up. Screw driver almost went through my hood but did no damage thank god. Thats what happens wen u rush lol

[wunquik86']

when i put a bbb engine in my 86' cutlass i deleted the heat and air. that removed half the rain gutter that drains the water off the side of the cowl. so when i wash the car water runs down on the engine and stands on top of the breather. so i just lay somethilng over the engine while i wash the car. last fall while getting ready to go to our local Sonic for the weekly cruise-in i placed an old sweat shirt over the breather and engine while i cleaning the car. i finished the car and drove 10 plus miles to Sonic and as is the current practice after parking i popped the hood latch and got out. i went around front of the car as 2 onlookers approached, i pulled the latch and lifted the hood as i turned to address them one gentleman says "is that your engine warmer?". much to my great embarrassment there lay the tan sweat shirt over the engine. the sleeves had holes already smoldering in them from laying on the headers. i've since opted for and old shower curtain and i leave a corner of it sticking out from under the hood.
:spank: i'm gonna fix that this year.

[breakinbuick11]

I think this goes for all of us: We all picked an expensive hobby!

Just kidding, Its worth every penny.

[breakinbuick11]

I think this goes for all of us: We all picked an expensive hobby!

Just kidding, Its worth every penny.

[CJB72Skylark]

A year or so ago I put the float hanger in upside down on a beautifully rebuilt carb by a board member. Started the car and gas poured all over the new carb and my freshly painted intake. I didn't know what I had done wrong at the time so I shipped the carb back to the guy that built it and he had to fix it for me and was kind enough to re-coat it in the eastwood paint for me.

When I was 15 and just started racing circle track my car was horribly loose after one practice session to the point I couldn't touch the gas without the ass end coming around. After we took the car home and scaled it we seen the weight distribution was horribly off on the rear of the car and found we had a spring jammed into the LR of the car at a weird angle- the dumb move of this story is me sticking my hand in thru the trunk and giving it a smack trying to dislodge it. It worked- but I had NO idea how dangerous what I did was until my dad made it perfectly clear.

One time shortly after getting my license I needed to charge my cell phone but the fuse tip of the car charger wasn't long enough to reach inside the cigarette lighter, so I put a penny inside to act as a spacer since I thought it would conduct the electricty. Bad idea.

I took my dads '77 Vette out one night when I was in highschool because I knew him and my mom wouldn't be home until late. Me and a buddy went out cruising in it and after we were done eating dinner we hopped in the car to head home and it wouldn't start. It's a 4 speed car and the parking lot had a little bit of a hill so we tried pushing starting it, over and over again. No luck. Finally someone came over to help us jump it, still couldn't get it started. Finally when I took the (-) jumper cable off I realized the cable was loose. I finally got the car started and home- but not in time to beat the parents.

[tom65special]

First real shop that I worked in was when I was 16. The service manager has me doing an oil change. He walks buy and I ask him why there is so much oil in this car, it's like a mazda or something, and why it looks red. He tells me it's trans fluid. I plug up the trans drain plug and change the oil. The guy basically got a free trans service out of my stupidity. My boss was pretty cool about it and laughed at me.

[Rad005]

In 1971 I rebuilt a small block chevy engine and dropped it back into the 65 Chevy Impala SS. Started fine, idled fine but had a knock when you rev it above 1000 RPM. Dad and I spent a couple of evenings trying to figure out where it was coming from. Pulled the oil pan and checked the rod and crank bolts and put back together and still had the knock. Dad said go back and check the rods again while he worked on the upper engine. This time I checked the bearings and found that half a rod bearing was left out during the assembly. Replace the bearing and the engine ran fine until I sold it 3 years later. Dad is 86 now but has never let me forget this little error and has told the story to each of my sons.
:Dou:

[Briz]

This afternoon I was laying under the car fitting a new oil
pressure sending unit. I extended it out put in a "T" and screwed the orig sender back on to work the stock idiot light. Well the reading I got was kinda low so I figured there must be some air traped in there. with the engine idling I layed under the car loos'nd the sender. nothing came out. couple more turns it flew out with a big POP :error: 40 psi oil was shooting out and all I could do was put my finger in the hole and try to get the other hand on the sender to screw it back in. :pray: Im all by myself. after a Qt or so soaked me from head to waist I made a dive for the coil wire to shut down the car. Really felt like a bone head. a soaking wet, slippery smelly bone head.

[GS464]

Oh, man. So many stories to tell on myself, so little desire to look so stupid.

There's the time I put my wife's 71 Formula 455 Automatic Firebird over the end of the car trailer and into the back of my pickup. AFTER I sold it and already used 1/2 the money! Luckily, almost no damage to 'Bird. Plenty of injury to my pride and the tailgate on my truck.

There's the time I worked on a '66 Tempest for three full days trying to figure out why, after driving it in, pulling the engine and replacing the rear main seal, it now wouldn't start using the key. It would start and run fine if I used a remote start button I had but the ignition switch and key was completely useless. Sitting in the driver's seat, feeling like an incompetent moron, I completely reinforced that thought when I looked down and found the floor shifter in the "D" position.

Perhaps the time I dropped the box-end wrench I had been using and it fell on to both of the battery terminals, instantly welding itself to both.

Maybe the time I verbally blew the doors off the guy at the machine shop for incorrectly installing the cam on the BBC I put in this guy's '66 Chevelle. I played with everything trying to make the car run properly. Ran the firing order at least five times, checked for vacuum leaks, stabbed the distributor four or five times and finally came to the conclusion HE made the boo-boo. The machine shop owner came out to my place to look the thing over prior to me pulling the engine back out and dropping it off for them to correct what was so obviously their screw up. He was actually very nice when he informed me that I had crossed not one, but THREE plug wires...

Perhaps the time I decided it would be simple to bleed the fuel injectors and lines on an Olds diesel wagon by simply pulling the glow plugs and turning the engine over. Worked great until I blew my hair backwards, scared the crap out my (then) wife and the neighbors for a couple of doors down both sides of the street and nearly crapped my pants. I was outside the car, reaching through the open window and holding my balance using my left hand on the fender. The same hand that held my lit cigarette in the middle of the misty cloud of diesel fuel that was pumped out the open glow plug holes.

Perhaps the time I pulled the dipstick out of a Saturn DOHC engine that had a bad IAC valve. It was running at the time, "idling" at about 2,000 RPM. Those little engines can flat spit some oil out of that little tube. Now I know why a dip stick fits pretty snugly in the tube though I still don't have any idea what possessed me to pull that dipstick out.

Oh, I've got it. How about the time I asked my first wife to tighten the nut that holds the battery wire to the back of the alternator while I held the alternator, keeping the belt tight. Needless to say, she touched the end of the wrench to the intake manifold creating what would have been a very nice July 4th show, scared her enough to whip her hand, the one holding the wrench, back toward me. Luckily she missed hitting my head with her hand. Not so luckily, she didn't miss with the wrench. I'm bleeding, she's yelling about how it was my fault and served me right anyway.

Sometimes I wonder how in the world I've lived to be a bit past the big 50 mark still sporting all of my original fingers, toes, eyes, ears, etc. I do have a few Oh *&^% scars however. :beers2: :Do No:

[cstanley-gs]

Oh, man. So many stories to tell on myself, so little desire to look so stupid.

There's the time I put my wife's 71 Formula 455 Automatic Firebird over the end of the car trailer and into the back of my pickup. AFTER I sold it and already used 1/2 the money! Luckily, almost no damage to 'Bird. Plenty of injury to my pride and the tailgate on my truck.

There's the time I worked on a '66 Tempest for three full days trying to figure out why, after driving it in, pulling the engine and replacing the rear main seal, it now wouldn't start using the key. It would start and run fine if I used a remote start button I had but the ignition switch and key was completely useless. Sitting in the driver's seat, feeling like an incompetent moron, I completely reinforced that thought when I looked down and found the floor shifter in the "D" position.

Perhaps the time I dropped the box-end wrench I had been using and it fell on to both of the battery terminals, instantly welding itself to both.

Maybe the time I verbally blew the doors off the guy at the machine shop for incorrectly installing the cam on the BBC I put in this guy's '66 Chevelle. I played with everything trying to make the car run properly. Ran the firing order at least five times, checked for vacuum leaks, stabbed the distributor four or five times and finally came to the conclusion HE made the boo-boo. The machine shop owner came out to my place to look the thing over prior to me pulling the engine back out and dropping it off for them to correct what was so obviously their screw up. He was actually very nice when he informed me that I had crossed not one, but THREE plug wires...

Perhaps the time I decided it would be simple to bleed the fuel injectors and lines on an Olds diesel wagon by simply pulling the glow plugs and turning the engine over. Worked great until I blew my hair backwards, scared the crap out my (then) wife and the neighbors for a couple of doors down both sides of the street and nearly crapped my pants. I was outside the car, reaching through the open window and holding my balance using my left hand on the fender. The same hand that held my lit cigarette in the middle of the misty cloud of diesel fuel that was pumped out the open glow plug holes.

Perhaps the time I pulled the dipstick out of a Saturn DOHC engine that had a bad IAC valve. It was running at the time, "idling" at about 2,000 RPM. Those little engines can flat spit some oil out of that little tube. Now I know why a dip stick fits pretty snugly in the tube though I still don't have any idea what possessed me to pull that dipstick out.

Oh, I've got it. How about the time I asked my first wife to tighten the nut that holds the battery wire to the back of the alternator while I held the alternator, keeping the belt tight. Needless to say, she touched the end of the wrench to the intake manifold creating what would have been a very nice July 4th show, scared her enough to whip her hand, the one holding the wrench, back toward me. Luckily she missed hitting my head with her hand. Not so luckily, she didn't miss with the wrench. I'm bleeding, she's yelling about how it was my fault and served me right anyway.

Sometimes I wonder how in the world I've lived to be a bit past the big 50 mark still sporting all of my original fingers, toes, eyes, ears, etc. I do have a few Oh *&^% scars however. :beers2: :Do No:

Ding Ding Ding...we have a winner! LOL
great stories man! :TU: :beers2:

[V8Sky]

Not me, but at this past Thursday's local cruise night. When you are backing up a mile long 1957 Dodge four door into parking spot, get someone to tell you how close you are so you don't back into a '65 Corvette Stingray:Dou:

[GS464]

Ding Ding Ding...we have a winner! LOL
great stories man! :TU: :beers2:

LOL! Thanks. Sadly, all true too! The worst part is, there's lots more, I just can't bring myself to tell anybody about most of the rest! :puzzled: :laugh:

[Briz]

Not me, but at this past Thursday's local cruise night. When you are backing up a mile long 1957 Dodge four door into parking spot, get someone to tell you how close you are so you don't back into a '65 Corvette Stingray:Dou:


Ouch man. and how embarrasing. I feel for ya.

[Rad005]

Well I didn't do this one but my buddy did. It was back in 1971 and we were both working at a Standard service station in town. Randy had only worked there a couple of months when one day he was out pumping gas and popped the hood on a car to check the oil. All of a sudden he started yelling for help and came running into the garage all wild eyed and grabbed a tire iron and told me to get another one and come help him. The look on his face was the kind where you don't ask questions you just respond. I grabbed a long tire iron and went towards the car and as I get there Randy has his tire iron wedged between the frame and the engine block and he is pulling for all he is worth and yelling for me to help him quick. I asked "what are you doing" and he said this ladies engine fell over on it's side and we have to push it back up into position. I said, Randy that is a slant six engine and that is how they are supposed to look. Randy gets a stupid look on his face but won't let go of the tire iron. I said, Randy let go it's OK. Slowly he let go and was relieved that the engine didn't fall out. True story.

[GotTattooz]

Today, as a matter of fact, I got off of work early, and decided to do a little bodywork on the Buick. Mine came with a vinyl top, and I"m welding up all of the trim holes. I pulled out the passenger side sail panel interior to get to the back of the holes I was planning on filling in. Well, I started spot welding up the holes, checking to make sure nothing is on fire or smoldering. So far, so good. I put a few more tack welds in, and then went into the garage to get the flap disc grinder, to smooth out my work. I come out of the garage, and the Buick is billowing smoke!!!! I'm freaking out, and I see the top of the back seat is on fire. I run into the garage to get a spray bottle, and fill it with water, because I didn't want to saturate the whole interior. I get the flames out, but it keeps smoking and smoking. So I pull the top off and douse the whole back seat, and the smoke goes away. Wanna know the OTHER stupid part?? There's a small fire extinguisher AT MY FEET on the driver's side rear floor board, and another on the welding cart!!! Below is a picture of the top of the back seat that caught fire.:Dou: :Dou: :Dou:

-Josh

[V8Sky]

Thank goodness it was only your back seat that got destroyed Josh!

[TheSilverBuick]

One from this last weekend.

Don't use non-reversable gear wrenches to remove the bolts behind the power steering pump's pulley :Dou:

[GotTattooz]

Thank goodness it was only your back seat that got destroyed Josh!

Well, I was planning on doing 4 bucket seats anyways. But you're right. It could have gotten out of hand quick!!

-Josh

[crazyjackcsa]

My oil pump went bad so I'm replacing it. The driver gear decided it didn't want to come out, and I had been working it back and forth forever on my back looking up. I decided to yank the distributor and hammer the damn thing our with a screwdriver.

In my anger, and zeal to get it out, I neglected to mark the rotor and distributor. Timing city here I come:Dou:

[GS464]

One from this last weekend.

Don't use non-reversable gear wrenches to remove the bolts behind the power steering pump's pulley :Dou:

Or take your brand spankin new hot rod Rodac 3/8" drive air ratchet for it's maiden voyage tightening some bolts under the car on the lift. Bolts that you can only reach by standing on your tip toes. With the go lever against your palm, facing away from you. :idea2: Things like squashed fingers and can't reach the air hose coupler tend to happen. And a big fat loud NO, it isn't funny to the guy in the next bay over who is laughing so hard he can't walk far enough to unplug the other end!! Definitely a Kodak :kodak: moment! :laugh:

[CJB72Skylark]

Don't use non-reversable gear wrenches to remove the bolts behind the power steering pump's pulley :Dou:

I almost posted one like this. Was taking off a externally mounted shock from a circle track car, it loosened up about 75% of the way- right up against the rollbar. We had to cut the shock mount off to get the wrech and shock off and then weld a new mount on.

[GotTattooz]

Along the lines of what GS464 just posted, I worked on Aerial platforms for a while. On some models, you can honk the horn from the platform, even if the machine was turned off. I saw a co-worker pull the machine in, and then exit the platform and head toward the ground controls. I new he'd be walking right by where the horn is mounted, and I was going to startle him with it. We'll I reached through the backside of the controll box to hit the horn button, and then I got snatched up by my wedding ring!!! When I reached up to the platform controls, my co-worker switched it over to ground controls, and began to raise the platform to allow more workspace in the shop. My ring got caught just right between the safety railing and a sheetmetal panel that I'd stuck my hand through to hit the horn. I got about 4 feet off the ground, screaming "DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!!!!!!" He realized what had happened, and set me back down. I'm lucky to still have a ring finger left. Now, I use my right hand for practical jokes.

-Josh

[GotTattooz]

Same job, helping a friend rebuild a main lift cylinder. My friend got the cylinder all ready to be pulled apart to replace the seals, but couldn't get the rod out of the cylinder. I helped pull one side away from the other, but it wouldn't budge. I put a prybar in the eyelet of the rod side to get a better grip. My friend put a blowgun into the "push" side of the cylinder, and just burped the nozzle. It moved a little bit. I wiggled it some and it moved a little bit. He burped it, I wiggled it, all the way to the edge of the cylinder. It was being stubborn, so he burped a little bit more and more air into the cylinder(you see where this is going, don't you?). I'm standing at the business end of a bad deal. As soon as the thought of the rod shooting out of the cylinder crossed my mind, it happened. There was a loud "BOOM!!". I took the eyelet of the rod straight to the pelvis, just below the belt, but not "quite that far down". I flew through the air, like a storm trooper in Star Wars, for 10 feet, landing on a stack of used tired. Somehow, I caught the rod in mid-air and held it up, even as I landed, being careful not to damage it. I set it down gently, crawled far enough away from the huge puddle of hydraulic fluid we'd just made, and collapsed, laughing my ass off. I couldn't believe that it'd actually happened, and that I was alive to tell about it. It broke my belt in 3 places and left a bruise bigger than a cowboy belt buckle just below my belly button. What's even more remarkable is that the rod I'd been shot with and caught in mid-air, the next day, I couldn't so much as lift it by myself. We weighed it, and it was almost 300 lbs.

-Josh

[Mr Blue Wrench]

Demo derbied a 66 225 electra when I was in my 20's. But I did sell the engine, windsheild, and air cond. to a guy who needed it. That car looked wicked painted flat black and went like hell with all the glass and interior stripped out of it. Should have kept it. Even the speed "buzzer" thing still worked.

[Billhillytim]

Back just after high school I had a 1985 Regal T Type that took some engine damage after the timing gear sheared and blocked the oil intake to the turbo, and being low on funds, I put the extra 69 Olds 350 Rocket I had in the car until I had the money to fix the 3.8. I just got off work at the local Goodyear with a couple trade in tires on the back of the car and was turning onto my road when a couple hot girls crossed the road. Being the showoff I have been know to be, as soon as they get clear I nail it coming out of the turning lane and make the turn, spinning the car around so fast I lose control and hit the curb with the passenger rear wheel, which managed to disassemble itself from the axle and procede to launch into the air (way in the air) and upon landing spin all the way past my house and into the woods as I am 3 wheeling the car to a stop about 20 feet to its final resting place till a wrecker came by to charge me $80 to pull my car about 1/8 mile to my house, effectively making me look much like the fast and furious idiots of today. I have many other similar stories, but that one hurt the most to both my pride and my pocket.

[rflegel]

This thread is great! It's good to know I am not alone! :)

Here is one of my many stories of stupid...

While roller skating with my daughters years ago and clowning some, I broke my tibia bone in my right leg at the ankle and right leg fibia bone just below the knee (Stupid #1). We opted to make the trip to the hospital on our own in a Chevy Astro Van and not ride on in in an ambulance (Stupid #2). I lie down in the shorter center rear seat with calf and foot (toes pointing upward) extended over the edge of the seat and where every bump, bounce and turn not only caused severe pain, but allowed the top-heavy weight of the toes on my size 12 foot to twist everything in a clockwise direction at the fracture points. Made it to the hospital. My foot now had toes pointing more toward the floor. Checked into the hospital where they partially "set" the breaks and outfitted me with a full leg cast and told me to make myself comfortable for about nine months... No pins or screws due to the fractures being too close to the ankle and the knee, so a longer healing time.

I decide 9 months was a very long time, so my cast and I went shopping for a project. I bought a 1970 Chevy 1/2 ton truck with a three-on-the-tree, transmission issues and air cleaner on the the passenger side floor. The engine sounded very good and the body was in good shape. I managed to drive it home with my full length cast (Stupid #3) and parked it in front for the night. Next day I drove it around back to the alley and up to the garage. During the drive there arose such a clatter and knocking I stopped to see what had happened. The problem was with what I did not see. Previously there was a wing-nut on the stud for the air cleaner and it was now missing. I had not removed it for the drive (Stupid #4). I don't remember really finding the wing nut, but there was crunched steel in one of the cylinders. Maybe a wing nut, maybe a washer. I don't know.

I worked for months wearing my cast removing and doing a total rebuild of the 307 engine as well as having the transmission rebuilt. The day comes to drop the engine back into the truck and in my excitement wearing my full length cast with exposed toes (You hear it coming?) I smacked my toes into the engine block while scurrying around it to adjust the chains on my lift doing some serious damage to toes! (Stupid #5). I promptly fixed said toes with bandaids and masking tape. No hospital this time, I had an engine to install!

My leg finally healed and I continued restoring and driving the '70 Chev for many years. Finally, a friend asked to borrow the truck for an extended period of about a year or so. For practical purposes, I do not loan vehicles, so we agreed I would "loan" the truck to him, but would transfer the title into his name and that he would return the truck into my name when he was finished with his projects. (Stupid #6) I received an old Bayliner boat on a rust eaten trailer for loaning the truck.

It's been over eight years and my "friend" has aged, still has the truck and has grown very attached to it. His memory is not so good anymore. Good bye truck and nearly $4000 invested.

What can you say? I am no longer angered every time I walk past my old Chevy truck, but do regret my lack of forethought and not writing up an agreement of some sort. I still believe trust and a handshake is a good thing, but so is a paper and pencil.

Sorry for the length!

[buickjunkie]

I was trying to fix a broken antenna, I thought the base was chrome plated steel. I was going to trade the base from one antenna to another. I tried pressing it off, it wouldn't budge. I thought I warm it up with the torch. Do you what happens to pot metal when it's warmed with a torch, it turns to butter, then falls off :Dou:
Bruce

[scott kerns]

OK my turn....anybody do the simple 5 minute oil change on your car and forget to put the oil cap back on? :Dou:

[GS464]

Or forget to put the drain plug back in and wonder why the hell there is oil all over the floor. Fortunately for my customer, wallet and sanity I realized the boo boo BEFORE I started the stupid thing! :laugh:

[New SBB]

Or forget to put the drain plug back in and wonder why the hell there is oil all over the floor. Fortunately for my customer, wallet and sanity I realized the boo boo BEFORE I started the stupid thing! :laugh:
Yup. See post #1 in this thread!:idea2:

[buickjunkie]

Or forget to put the drain plug back in and wonder why the hell there is oil all over the floor. Fortunately for my customer, wallet and sanity I realized the boo boo BEFORE I started the stupid thing! :laugh:
X3:laugh:

[mjkinga]

Well I was walking around the house naked as I often do because the Irish curse didn't fall my way and I thought "Hell, lets cook some bacon"! Well needless to say I now wear boxers when cooking bacon.

I know nothing to do with cars as I don't have one yet but during this build I'm sure to have a few.

[Gulfgears]

Changing a good running 300 with a 2 barrel over to a 4 barrel. The idle and dieing problems are driving me nuts.

[bhclark]

I bought a '58 chevy truck about 4 years ago. Never have driven it much due to steering problems and a bad shake at speed.
Replaced king pins, wheel bearings, balanced tires, replaced shocks, brakes, had it professionally aligned and it still had a terrible shake and shimmy.

Crawled under it today and realized that a "c" clip was missing on the front universal joint.
75 cents later, the truck was driving like a new car! (Okay, a new '58 truck with manual steering, but still!)

AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

This post is 1 in a series of 247.

[GS464]

Well I was walking around the house naked as I often do because the Irish curse didn't fall my way and I thought "Hell, lets cook some bacon"! Well needless to say I now wear boxers when cooking bacon.

I know nothing to do with cars as I don't have one yet but during this build I'm sure to have a few.

TMI TMI TMI TMI!!!! :moonu: Literally!

[Briz]

Well I was walking around the house naked as I often do because the Irish curse didn't fall my way and I thought "Hell, lets cook some bacon"! Well needless to say I now wear boxers when cooking bacon.

I know nothing to do with cars as I don't have one yet but during this build I'm sure to have a few.
TMI dude, LOL

[Doubleclutch]

Here's my best-- In the late 50s I was working my way through school in a paint body shop that ran a wrecker service. In order to meet the police contract we needed a big wrecker so the boss bought burned out International 5 ton for us to fix up. Long wheelbase dual rear axles and a ships winch it was real big. Anyway, it was seldom used and always had mechanical issues. One day we got a call for a big panel truck (like a fed-ex) ran off a small bridge and landed on its windshield in about 10 feet of water. All the clean laundry went forward and was under water ---very heavy. To save the truck it needed to be lifted by its back frame straight up and we rolled the big truck. After a battery jump off we went with me driving and the Boss riding shotgun. The battery box was under my legs and the floorboard cover was loose because of the battery jump. My Boss leaned down to fit the cover with his head in the middle of the seat. Just then I was winding 3rd (5 speed with 2 speed rear) and a car jumped out in front so I went into the brakes without holding on to the knob. The transmission was worn and we all knew 3rd would jump back violently when used in deceleration. Opps cold cocked the Boss! really! Somehow I kept my job.

Chuck:TU:

[Doug Ray]

Borrowed the dog dish caps off the Police Sargents Cruiser, then we rode around with them on my GS looking for him, and we found him....

[Rusty Davenport]

Back in the early 80's a buddy and I worked afterhours part time in a bodyshop.One evening we came in to find a 76 Blazer hit hard in the front that boss man wanted us to tear down and put a used front clip on it.The front bumper was so mangled that you could not get to the bolts to remove them so I got the shop torch set but couldn't locate the cutting tip so I just heated up a bolt cherry red and got a big hammer and hit the bolt with a big glancing blow from the side to konk it off .It worked! but the heated cherry red bolt flew 50 foot across the shop and landed right in the open top of 5 gallons of used lacquer thinner at the paint mixing bench.We were expecting a explosion and to burn down the body shop full of cars but thankfully nothing happened:laugh:

[racerx8413]

I think my favorite was trying to see if the 318 in a dodge challenger would turn over, many years ago. It had no carb, only a starter and ignition components. No steering wheel, no gear shift, no brakes, just an empty shell with a motor. After hooking the coil and distributor up, dropping a splash of gas into the intake, and hitting the starter, it started right up for a second or two! We figured we could "regulate" our gas pouring into the intake and see if we could keep it running, which did not work well...

First, a backfire out the intake set the glass cup of gasoline on fire... So my buddies dad decides to do the smartest thing, TOSS IT!! Which of course, increased the flammable surface area of the gasoline exponentially.

The second fun part of this adventure, was after we stomped the backyard out, we tried it again... and we were semi successful... got the engine to rev up. However none of us had the foresight to see if the car was in gear..

[David Butts]

Ok, About 1980 or so I was working in a hobby shop and in walks this little old lady wit a sad look on her face. She reminded me of my grandmother and she asked if I could help her? Her Plymouth Volare wagon would not start and I had a mechanical background so out into the parking lot I go to do my good deed for the day.

Well just as she had said, the car did absolutely nothing when she turned the key and she said she'd never had that problem before. I can remember that car like it was yesterday, almost a chocolate brown. Like a big piece of well you know, Chocolate.

Those Mopars all had fenderwell solenoids on them so out comes the trusty pocket knife to see if it's the switch or the starter and zap boom crunch. She had the shifter in reverse and that's why the car would'nt start until I jumped the solenoid and then it started immediately and backed right into a UPS truck. She was stunned but ok and I was embarassed and the UPS guy was po'd so back in the hobby shop I went but with a renewed respect for neutral safety switches.

Come to think of it, That Volare wagon was about the same color as that UPS truck.

[David Butts]

Whoa! This thread is jinxed. Just today I was getting the last of my stuff out of a storage unit that a buddy and I have shared(he paid, I stored:shock: ) and lo and behold I had a new stupid moment to add.

About 10 years ago I parted out a couple of Skylarks and a GS and had most of the glass stored and "had" a perfect rear windshield until this morning.

While trying to rearrange some stuff in my Jimmy to make more room I lifted one end of the backglass and KABOOM! I guess it was caught under something on the other end and my leather interior had a really bad glass rainfall.


I can only hope the same bad luck does not befall anyone else who has posted here.

Here's what that looks like. Duh:Dou:

[buick64203]

Yup, been there done that. Years ago I was moving some door glass I had saved when the 71 was getting painted. I picked it up and was holding it right in front of me. I must of just banged it against something just right and POW- the damn thing shatters right in front of my face. I was standing there with my arms in front of me and no more glass.

The exploding glass made little nicks in my eyeglass lenses. Thank God I was wearing glasses! :pray: My face had little cuts as well.

You got a mess on your hands, but Im glad you werent hurt. :beers2:

[Smartin]

My 58's back glass mysteriously exploded when it was sitting on the basement floor (carpeted). I put it there the nigtht before, and came home after work the next day to find a pile of tiny little glass pellets in the shape of a curved rear window on the floor. Try finding one of those in good shape.:Dou:

[71skylark3504v]

My 58's back glass mysteriously exploded when it was sitting on the basement floor (carpeted). I put it there the nigtht before, and came home after work the next day to find a pile of tiny little glass pellets in the shape of a curved rear window on the floor. Try finding one of those in good shape.:Dou:

Redneck diamonds!

[faster]

Back in 69 when I was 16 I worked in a gas station when they were full service. A friend kept pleading with me to get him a job there but he knew nothing about cars, absolutely nothing. I finally relented and talked the owner into hiring him.

The first day he was filling up a pick up truck and back then the gas tank was behind the front seat. You filled them from the filler cap at the drivers door, door handle high. The driver had the window open while "Tommy" was filling the truck. When Tommy took the nozzle out of the tank he kept the trigger pulled and sprayed gasoline all over the driver and interior of the truck.

He never learned where all the items were we checked, oil, coolant, brake fluid, power steering and tires. He just could not get the hang of it. On another occasion a week after the fueling disaster he put a quart of oil in a radiator and that was his last day.

Personally
I ripped the drivers door off my 61 Chevy backing out of the garage.

I've put the trans and drive shaft back in but forgot the throwout bearing in my 69 Valiant.

In a blinding white out in a snowstorm I got tired of waiting for it to let up to see. I was afraid I was going to get rear ended so I decided to just gas on it to cross a main highway hoping no one was coming.
Wrecked my 69 Pontiac, a pickup truck and a sheriffs car.

Installed a timing cover without the oil throw ring on the crank in my 71 Electra. Had it running filling the radiator when I found the ring cleaning up.

Drove 400 miles without the loading ramps in the car hauler.



The worst though was;
I am an A/C contractor and was repairing a freon leak in a huge evaporator in a department store. The leak had sprayed oil everyhwere and refrigerant oil is extremely flammable. The evaporator was 8' long, 6' wide and was horizontal about 2 feet off the floor of the air handler. I had to lay on my back and crawl and clean my way in mopping up the oil that was everywhere before I could find the leak and braze the copper line. I cleaned as much as I could and proceded to braze the crack but flame spread everywhere overhead and was spreading down the walls to the floor on all th oil residue that was there. The heat was building fast and I crawled out on my shoulder blades at lightning speed. I was hoping I could get back in and extinguish it before the fire alarms went off.

I keep 2 20# CO2 extinguishers handy for my work and it only took one of them to put out the blaze. Fortunately the box only had one way to feed oxygen to the fire and that was through the access door I used to get in. The CO2 did its job and put the blaze out quickly without the smoke/heat/fire alarms going off. No one ever knew. The fire burned off the oil and I fixed the leak.

The list is endless.

Mikey

[killrbuick66455]

THE ONE THING THAT I DID STUIPID WAS BREAKING IN MY NEW 455 WITH A V6 DIS WITH A V8 DIST CAP!! I BOUGHT IT USED FROM SOMEONE I WONDERED WHY IT DIDNT SOUND RIGHT. ALSO RAN IT OPEN HEADERS LOL :Dou: THAT WAS ALONG TIME AGO

[Dan Healey]

When my engine was assembled last January, we were getting it ready to dyno. We filled it with oil and installed the filter. I started priming the pump with a drill, and ran it for about 15 seconds before I heard oil hitting the floor. We forgot to install the sending unit!

I proceeded to fill Dan's shoe with a quart of 30w $$$ break-in oil:laugh: Dan didn't think it was too funny...but it was a good break in a VERY long weekend in Cinci.

Adam, you failed to mention the oil was about 35*!!! Damn was that cold.:Dou:

Back in about 87 I was driving the GS when I heard a strange clunk. Pulled over to see if something was broken, only to find the idiot (me) had installed the wheels and forgot to fully tighten one wheel!!!:error: I was lucky to find it before it left the car. Now, I usually check 3 times before driving.
.:3gears:

[Dan Healey]

Not to mention the time I did an all nighter in the heat of summer (upper 90's) on my 350 rebuild. About 4:30 am I installed the shim kit on the oil pump. I subtracted instead of adding the clearance I was after.:rolleyes: Anyway, it was very easy to find the problem on the dyno (you know, after shearing the distributor pin and wasting the pump shaft).:af: :Dou: :rolleyes:

[GotTattooz]

Years ago, on my old 67 Skylark 4-door, the rear u-joint was causing a driveline vibration. I bought both u-joints and figured that I'd replace both of them while I had the driveshaft out. My dad looked at the front u-joint and said it was fine, so I left it alone. We replaced the rear joint, and re-installed the driveshaft.

The next day, I was hauling ass on the interstate when things got violent. I pulled over, thinking I had a flat tire or something. I couldn't find anything wrong, so I started back down the interstate, and then it started shaking again. I looked under the car, and I'd slung off one of the front u-joint caps. I was about 40 miles from the house, and I figured I'd limp it down the shoulder. Anything over 15 mph caused the driveshaft to hit the hump in the floorpan.

When I got off the interstate, there was a stop light at the bottom of the ramp. When I came to a stop, I heard a clunk, and that was the driveshaft hitting the pavement. The front of the driveshaft was destroyed. It cost me $150 for the tow truck and the repaired shaft, for a $13 u-joint that I had IN MY HAND, and my dad told me the old one was fine.

Worst of all, my dad walked out of the house when I got towed in, and said "Well, that'll teach you to listen to me, won't it!!"

-Josh

[gregw]

15 years ago I worked for a car audio shop. We did most of the installations for the surrounding dealers. In comes in a brand new 4 door Explorer with 3 miles on it for a CD changer. After the installation was complete I started backing the truck out of the garage, looking over my right shoulder. Never noticed the drivers side back door was open.
:Dou:

We have to have the spider gears welded in our race cars. During a routine inspection my friend noticed one of the welds broke loose. I grabbed a can of brake cleaner (that's all we had at the time) to wash out the remainder of the gear oil. He immediately jumped in with the welder and we found out that brake cleaner ignites very quickly when presented with a welding arc. Good thing hair grows back.

[skierkaj]

We have to have the spider gears welded in our race cars. During a routine inspection my friend noticed one of the welds broke loose. I grabbed a can of brake cleaner (that's all we had at the time) to wash out the remainder of the gear oil. He immediately jumped in with the welder and we found out that brake cleaner ignites very quickly when presented with a welding arc. Good thing hair grows back.

Not only is it flammable, it's downright dangerous! Ever hear of phosgene gas?! Inhale one little puff of that stuff and your nervous system is fried for life- If you survive the ordeal.

[68Rivi_In_Cali]

I..... Sold my 68 Buick Riv with 455, 1st car I got @ 12:Dou: :ball: Only 20 now but I atleast picked up a 69 Skylark:beers2:

[ancientx]

My Dad had a little auto fix-it shop while I was growing up. Nothing major, Oil changes, tire changes, etc., ya know?
So anyway, for some reason I can't remember, the front brake calipers had to be removed before getting the piston out to replace the seal.
We could NOT get that bloody thing out! :af::af:Dad knew he'd seen another way to do it somewhere, so he started hitting the books.:sleep:
I went and got a couple of sodas and apple pies.
I get back and "Eureka!" He's found it.
Air Pressure.:eek2::eek2:
So Dad's holding the blow nozzle into a clean rag, blowing through the bleeder hole. I notice the 3 inch piston, which earlier WOULD NOT MOVE, is now coming out at a fairly decent clip.
Deciding dispersion is sometimes the better part of valor; I lean off to my right. JUST as I do that, the piston POPS out; hits 12 feet up the roll-up door 15 feet behind me!:eek2::eek2:
The ol' man drops everything; slaps a hand to each side of my head and starts yelling "Are you OK? Are you OK?"
I tell him I'm fine, that I'm stepping out for a cigarette, and I am not helping him with brakes anymore. (I was shaking like I had hypothermia!)
He came out a few minutes later and says he put a C-clamp on so the piston won't do that again. So I tell him he doesn't need me to hold anything now, so he can do it all on his own!:rant::blast:

[ancientx]

Most recent of mine: Backing into the garage section of the barn with the truck; driver door open; and consequently crunching the window frame on a 8x8 post.:Dou: Luckily the window was rolled down.


Also, put a new tranny in my 'Lark. All new fluid and filter too. Went for a test drive for a mile or so. On the way back, the trans started slipping. Got into the driveway and found that I forgot to tighten down the hose clamp on the return line from my external cooler.:Dou::spank: I don't think any damage was done. I filled it back up with fluid and ran it slowly through the gears; checked the level and topped it off again. That was two weeks ago and there's no slipping.:beer

[Phoenix350]

I wanted to take my Skylark for a test drive one day, without a front end. The battery was bungied to the frame, the rad hoses were looped together with pool hose and I put a hose between the tranny lines. Started it up and cruised down the street with the 4 blade fan spinning away.

I go to turn around and I see a cop a couple streets down hit his brakes. With a flash of profanity and a goose of the go pedal I whipped the car around and booked it in the driveway. I hear a clanking sound thinking it was my 'shortened' driveshaft.

My friend gets out telling me to quickly shut off the car. The battery went into the fan cutting a small breather hole into it. Nothing was bent though. The battery worked fine for a while but today it is nice and rainy and even with the car in the garage the battery is dead I think some moisture mixed with the acid. And to make a stupid thing stupider I am trying to get my car on the road for graduation where I will proceed to drive to school with no rear window, no inner fenders, and a custom rad support mount since there is a nice size hole where the bushing should go. Ah what people do with lots of free time and no cash.

[DaWildcat]

Not only is it flammable, it's downright dangerous! Ever hear of phosgene gas?! Inhale one little puff of that stuff and your nervous system is fried for life- If you survive the ordeal.

So true, and so sad...I've read of a few people who have never been the same even with brief exposure. Brake cleaner and combustion must never mix.

Devon

[Phoenix350]

So true, and so sad...I've read of a few people who have never been the same even with brief exposure. Brake cleaner and combustion must never mix.

Devon

Wow I never knew that about brake cleaner, I have alot of friends who weld. I will warn them:TU:

[skinnypimp419]

just paid 175 for a front grill, turns out its a different make.. :blast::Comp: needless to say im slightly pissed

[ancientx]

OK my turn....anybody do the simple 5 minute oil change on your car and forget to put the oil cap back on? :Dou:

Nope, but I did do that with the radiator cap after a flush and coolant change.:af: :Dou:

[bhclark]

I had the car jacked up for some reason...inspecting brake lines or something.

since I was laying under the car, I asked my wife to get in and put it into gear so I could check something.
Just as she put it in gear, I realized that I only had the front of the car jacked up....the drive wheels were on the ground.

Luckily, I was able to scream loud enough that she never took her foot off the brake. :)

That was a close call.....

[Ohighway]

Was changing the oil on my 67 Impala w/327 engine. I was using a friend's driveway as I didn't have a place of my own. Got the old oil drained, and changed the filter element (canister type oil filter). Refilled, fired everything back up and all was fine .... until the oil light came on. Stopped the engine, got out, and saw a HUGE pool of oil under the car. I'd somehow managed to NOT get the canister seated correctly against the gasket in the block, and as a consequence most of the oil dumped on their driveway. Not cool. I did manage to clean up the mess, though it took a couple hours.

[GS464]

:gp: More proof that no good deed goes unpunished! :gp:

[corvettzo]

When I was 18 I learned you do not cut steel with a torch on a concrete floor , the hard way , Spent a painful evening in the ER getting exploded concrete chips removed from my face , eye , and arms . One of many hard learned lessons !!
:beers2:
Chuck

[Dale]

Mentioning the torch reminded me of a time I had to make a temporary exhaust down pipe for the Riv.
I had it in a vise welding away using an Oxy Acetylene torch when I took a phone call.
After I hung up, I loosened the vise to reposition it while at the same time grabbing the still screaming hot pipe with my bare hand.
:shock: http://www.fadzter.com/smilies/censored.gif



.

[Buickgs1]

I got married. :laugh:

But really... when I was 18 I pulled the stock shifter from my 66 GS 4-speed and replaced it with a Hurst shifter... CUT the floor to make it fit better, then tossed the original shifter in the trash. That was 1979. I remember it like it was yesterday. Cleaned the trash out from under the seat the same week, at this point I'm also pretty sure I tossed a build sheet. Clearly at 18 your brain has yet to develop fully. mine at least...

[mikeyalpine]

After putting rags in the lifter valley to catch dirt as I cleaned the heads I forgot to take them out. Made it a few miles down the road before oil pressure started going down. The rags made their way from the lifter valley into the oil pan and clogged the pickup.:Dou:

did the exact same thing to a 3800 s/c gran prix, fun mess to clean eh?

[beach cruiser]

I am a framing contractor and for many years we did work for a real frugal builder. He did houses in remote areas that required a generator for power. He was too cheap to buy a good portable one so we used his real old motor home which had a great generator and bathroom facilities.
The big block gm motor was in horrible shape and was hard to start. During one move to a new job he couldn't get it started, so he undid the engine cover inside the motor home and started pouring gas from a drinking glass into the carburetor while cranking away on the starter.
When the engine backfired, it caught the glass and his hand on fire and he threw it upward and it hit the ceiling and spread like a Molotov cocktail. Twenty seconds later that fine motor home was "fully engulfed". This was in 1985, so no cell phones. I drove him to the hospital, and my guys hung out and watched it burn to the frame. Quite a sight.

[GS464]

Mentioning the torch reminded me of a time I had to make a temporary exhaust down pipe for the Riv.
I had it in a vise welding away using an Oxy Acetylene torch when I took a phone call.
After I hung up, I loosened the vise to reposition it while at the same time grabbing the still screaming hot pipe with my bare hand.
:shock: http://www.fadzter.com/smilies/censored.gif



.

Want to guess why he called it a "screaming hot pipe"? :puzzled: :laugh:

[Poppaluv]

When I was young and dumb, I purchased a unregistered oil drum off the street. Almost got in A LOT of trouble, but this was before 9/11. Stupid I know, but I lived in the hood and needed protection... :idea2:

[Briz]

Mentioning the torch reminded me of a time I had to make a temporary exhaust down pipe for the Riv.
I had it in a vise welding away using an Oxy Acetylene torch when I took a phone call.
After I hung up, I loosened the vise to reposition it while at the same time grabbing the still screaming hot pipe with my bare hand.
:shock: http://www.fadzter.com/smilies/censored.gif



. Been there done that. I say "Damit man!":idea2:

[cstanley-gs]

not done by me... but today, this passed me on a 2 lane road...

You cannot see but the white Dakota is towing the Ford Super Duty, which is towing a car hauler with 3 cars on it.... all with just one of those nylon yellow tow straps...

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w75/cstanley444/V8Buick/TowThis1.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w75/cstanley444/V8Buick/TowThis2.jpg

[breakinbuick11]

not done by me... but today, this passed me on a 2 lane road...

You cannot see but the white Dakota is towing the Ford Super Duty, which is towing a car hauler with 3 cars on it.... all with just one of those nylon yellow tow straps...





As stupid and insane as that is, you have to admit that is a pretty impressive Dakota towing all that wieght.

[Poppaluv]

Well as long as it's one of Garrison's straps, it cool, right???????:idea2: :shock:

[TTNC]

This is what happens when your GVWR is 400 lbs heavier than what you thought :eek2: :error:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d133/motorhse/rampfail.jpg

[buickjunkie]

This weekends lessons:
The #2 brazing tip needs new O rings when the third time you try to light it the whole torch handle ignites. Damage not too bad. dropped it, dragged it outside with my foot turned off the tanks, it went out, lost all the hair on my hands and lower arms.

Pot metal cannot be brazed, it turns to goo before the bronze does.

If it looks like bronze or copper, it's not, its pot metal with a copper or bronze coating.:Dou:

Bruce

[buick64203]

Not me, but at this past Thursday's local cruise night. When you are backing up a mile long 1957 Dodge four door into parking spot, get someone to tell you how close you are so you don't back into a '65 Corvette Stingray:Dou:

That was a 67 big block car. I saw it happen. I literally felt sick to my stomach. And thats not the first car that a hole in the Dodge hit like that.

[swampedge]

The other night when I fired up the second B350 I put in my Jeep it had a lifter ticking and I threw the little B&D flash light. It hooked the wrought iron car port support and swung around and came back and hit me. I can honestly say that after hitting me it will never ever work again...........I got on it with a 3 pound hammer! The next morning I re started the engine and no lifter noise. All is good.

[69skylarkcustom]

sold my 70 GS Stage One for 200 dollars to a trucker back in 1985.:Dou: Of course it had a blown motor but the body and interior were cherry. If any one knows of a trucker :Do No:who bought one back then from Illinois drop me a line.

[bhambulldog]

I have a tendency to leave a mess as I am working on a project - was doing an intake swap and leaning over to put a 2bbl intake into a corner of the garage. As I am stretching with the intake I hear a hiss and cannot think what it could be. I put the intake down and look for where the sound is coming from - while leaning over, my knee was resting on a Buick engine red spray paint can which shot a perfect red circle onto my jeans.:Dou:
That could never happen to me. My Buick Engine is green.

[bhambulldog]

Another...Was timing my Z/28 (distributer in the back), and had a handfull of my distributer cap, twisting it while reading the timing. I got zapped...jerked my head back and hit it on the hood which hurt a lot, which caused me to jerk forward and hit my forehead (again).
Me, same story on 73 Olds 88.

[Poppaluv]

This is what happens when your GVWR is 400 lbs heavier than what you thought :eek2: :error:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d133/motorhse/rampfail.jpg

It just got crushed with nothing on it???????:shock:

I've got some just like that and have been told not to use them. 400lbs over should have been factored into the "safety" margin.:Dou:

[APVGS]

Hmm...Where to start..:rolleyes:

1) Changing a thermostat..remove housing and old stat..clean surfaces..apply gasket..re-install bolts..glance over to your right...see new thermostat on rad support!! :Dou:..did it twice in 10 years!!!

2) Installing converter on input shaft..click 1..click..2..click 3..(sounds like a click)..a few miles later..no GS movement!!!..tranny out...broke the front pump tangs :rolleyes:

That`s enough for now!! Later,Tony.

[cstanley-gs]

2) Installing converter on input shaft..click 1..click..2..click 3..(sounds like a click)..a few miles later..no GS movement!!!..tranny out...broke the front pump tangs :rolleyes:

That`s enough for now!! Later,Tony.

huh... I had the same unfortunate experience LOL
- I think it was about 3 miles for me

[chrisc1541]

mistake 1 decided to have a couple of beers and finish bleeding the brakes

mistake 2 decided to finish bleeding the front brakes the next night but crack the lugnuts free before jacking it up

mistake 3 decided to have a couple of beers while finishing bleeding the front brakes

mistake 4 figured out i could get at the bleeder screws without jacking up car

mistake 5 bled brakes while having a couple beers bs ing with a friend i haven't seen in a couple years

mistake 6 took car on a 37 mile one way trek to work the following morning

can anyone find the fatal error?

i did with my head in my hands on the side of the road realizing i stupid i have been.

the correct answer is: forgot to tighten the lugnuts here are the results

[TTNC]

It just got crushed with nothing on it???????:shock:

I've got some just like that and have been told not to use them. 400lbs over should have been factored into the "safety" margin.:Dou:

Drove my '05 Sierra ext cab Z71 up on them and the left ramp got crushed. Backed off the ramps, checked the sticker on the ramp, it said "GVWR 6500". Checked the sticker on the door jam of the truck, "GVWR 6400 lbs". I thought it was 6000 lbs, but now that I think about it the truck was nearly empty except for the weight of a bedliner, myself, and a couple pieces of junk under the back seat so it still should have been way under the max for those ramps...

My dad was directing me up the ramps and he said I went up one of them cockeyed so I figure either that killed it, or the fact that they're probably 15 years old, at least...done many oil changes on those ramps on at least eight different vehicles. The scary part is that I've been underneath the truck twice already on those ramps. :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

[Poppaluv]

Glad you were on top Nick!!!!:TU:

[scott kerns]

CHRIS1541 no more drinking beer for you! Looking at your pics hurts....


Scott

[TTNC]

same here! :beer

[raminc]

Nobody mentioned asking the board members for help installing a chevy yet? :Comp:

[cstanley-gs]

Nobody mentioned asking the board members for help installing a chevy yet? :Comp:

:TU: :grin: :laugh: :puzzled:

[chrisc1541]

CHRIS1541 no more drinking beer for you! Looking at your pics hurts....


Scott

so did the hit to the wallet
new rule: no beer in garage except when hiding from wife and kids and only if the tools are not being utilized

[bhambulldog]

(accidentally, of course)1989, shot a hole through the end of my left hand index finger with a .357 magnum.

[New SBB]

(accidentally, of course)1989, shot a hole through the end of my left hand index finger with a .357 magnum.a HOLE? Surprised you have a hand left.

[DeeVeeEight]

I sent Phoenix350 a Power brake booster, Master cylinder and proportioning valve for shipping costs only. Phoenix350 "estimated" shipping costs at $12.00, actual shipping costs were $21.00, now he is crying over $9.00. We all told him that his rust bucket was a bad investment but he insisted on doing it his way. I eventually stopped being negative (and rude) about his misguided actions and thought that by "donating" the parts for shipping costs I would be doing a good deed.
Well, obviously, no good deed goes unpunished, now Phoenix350 is pissed that the shipping was $21.00, not $12.00. I told him that if he does not want the parts that he can ship them back.:Do No:

Some days it does not pay to get out of bed. I should have left the poor misguided neophyte to his own resources.:mad:

[bhclark]

I bought a '65 Triumph Spitfire.

'nuff said.

[bhambulldog]

I bought a '65 Triumph Spitfire.

'nuff said.
:TU:Everyone would've thought you were a genius if you would've put an aluminum Buick V8 in it
:3gears:

[bhclark]

:TU:Everyone would've thought you were a genius if you would've put an aluminum Buick V8 in it
:3gears:

Not quite....remember, it had Lucas Electrical.
Lucas has 3 settings. On, Off and FIRE. :)

[bhambulldog]

Not quite....remember, it had Lucas Electrical.
Lucas has 3 settings. On, Off and FIRE. :)
LOL!!:laugh: Yeah, Dad got a 1967 TR4a about 1972. "On, Off and Fire" That's funny! And, so true.
I saw a Austin Healy once. It was beautiful. Underside of the hood was painted as Great Britain flag. also on the hood underside was very professionally lettered;
"The parts falling off this car, are of, the finest English craftsmanship".

[buick64203]

THey sell a kit to put the smoke back into the wiring for British cars.

Lucas Elecrtic- Prince of Darkness

[bhambulldog]

THey sell a kit to put the smoke back into the wiring for British cars.

Lucas Elecrtic- Prince of Darkness
LoL:laugh:

[GSX4me]

Smart: Spontaneously bought a '72 GS350 for $2,000...
Stupid: ...then couldn't come up with $3,000 for a 1 owner '72 GSX a week later...:shock: :af: :ball:

Stupid: Sold the same '72 GS350 for only $1,500, instead of stripping it & keeping all the GS parts I could've used for my other GS's (Sport Mirrors, GS Hood, nice doors...)...:(
Smart: Invested the money from the car into other hobbies that make more money!:dollar: :bglasses:

Stupid: Attended the GS Nationals, to sell parts & cars, but never got to see races OR car show.:Dou:
Smart: Attending GS Nationals as spectator only, and never trying to Buy or Sell parts there, again!:bglasses:

[bhclark]

"The parts falling off this car, are of, the finest English craftsmanship".

Now that is just too good.
Should have been a factory sticker!:gp:

[nick tomlinson]

Stupid is as stupid does! Spent the winter pulling the front clip off my 72 GS. Rebuilt the frontend,cleaned up entire engine bay. Very proud. Have the car up on jackstands front and rear. Should have known when had heck of a time getting engine to line up on mounts. Could not get right fender to line up with core support.It is sitting 2 inches above core support. ready to sell the car cause thinking it was wrecked and everything twisted out of shape. call a friend and first thing he asks is where we have jack stands mounted. I said under the cowl, why. Frame is sagging from weight of engine. Put floor jack under crossmember and, gee everything lines up! DOH!!!:Dou: :Dou:

[roverman]

OK, I just bought a set of "Real Steel" heads,(rover/sbb.), but their alum ! Yeah, I know, I shudda waited for TA's....how long ? I refuse to sell an organ, just to buy Wildcats' ! I predict "Oz" will be gettin lion's share of TA's,when-ever. Plan is to flow bench ,o.o.t.b. and then port. Aggreed, they will never stay with the TA's, but their available now, and a least 1/3 less $'s ? Wish me luck. I'll probably need it.roverman :Dou:

[446670h]

Unbolted starter (while I was laying on my back under it) on a bronco project that luckily had 36" tires; the starter swung just over my face still attached by the wires.

My '72 Skylark's top motor temporarily stopped working so I unbolted the hydraulic cylinders in the down position so that I could throw the top back. After the first time up an down manually, I heard glass shattering and had to stitch in a temporary Lexan window.

I achieved liftoff in my first car a my grandmother's Nova. I was driving passed the 100mph speedometer down a road I had never been on. I saw that there was a turn over the hill. The brakes and steering did not work until I landed. I ended up riding in a ditch (It looked similar to crash landing on Dagobah.) with branches repeatedly hitting my windshield. It sheared the front sub-frame bolts buckling the roof. I was forced to buy my 72 skylark I had looked at earlier that week.

I used cheap bolts on the front of the rear drive shaft on a Grand Wagoneer. The front drive shaft bit into the interstate at about 80mph bending it before snapping the rear bolts pole-vault style.

... in addition to the normal unintentional hoisting up of cars by parts that is not fully unbolted, winching down the rafter because I forgot to unbolt something like the grounding strip, and having to take things back apart after messing up the first step and/or having spare parts.

I parked my GS for about 8 years so that it wouldn't get embaraced by its poor condition.

[lemmy-67]

Touching up a paint chip on my roof pillar with the windows open. Next day, bright spot of paint on the new vinyl interior. Try using low-speed dremel felt pad to buff it off, end up wearing into the vinyl. Now it has that nice: "weathered," look.

:Do No:

[Trikeman72]

I installed it without a converter had to take it all out again and basically start over.. See if you can top that for stupid. LOL[/quote]


well im not sure if it tops it but i felt beyond stupid.....

a month or so ago i got back into the itch to get the beast going and ready for paint in the spring...

so i wanted to fire it up and turn around to pull motor out to repaint it..
all is going spiffy...

start it after replacing the battery.... and it kept dying... i said to my wife well its probably the bad gas its been sitting in it for a year... so i put gas in carb runs then dies.... run the pick up hose into the gascan... works great... so i said... probably gunk in the tank i need to have it etched and resealed b4 i rebuild the 4gc and piZZ away 200bucks..

alls still groovey... little did i know how much of a total hemeroid it is to pull the gas tank out of a 62 invicta 4dr ht... but i found out... i pull the sending uniit. i look down in tank and its all nice n shiny no rust im like woohoooo .. and take tank outside to start emptying it...

wife holding mason jar... i got 1 and about a half of another l of gas and thats it..

she looks at me and says whats wrong..... ummmm well.... i believe it was out of petro honey turns out the tank is fine ....:Dou:

she called me a dork and went in the house :laugh:

[tallytony1000]

Well finally got the Le Sabre running good so I decided to uncover her, drop the top, and cruise the city. Forgot to move the car cover out of the way completely and bam. Gets caught up in the flywheel while Im backing up. Still kicking myself lol:Dou:

[buickgs350]

Few weeks ago, after many $k's, and knuckle dusting hours spent on bringing the life back to my 396 Nova, first week I had her running really clean. I had a hard but satisfying day at work and decided I'd take the car out for a burn at the end of the day. Me and a buddy took her down town and I babied the car all the way downtown for a good hour+ cruising around the waterfront etc.. Side note, this car doesn't like to be babied, the cam runs 4200-7200 and she overheats real easy if idling around at stoplights. So where heading out of town on the highway on ramp with nobody in sight and I decide to give it a little squirt and powershift into second and let off, no big deal, slowed back down to 50mph before I even merged onto the highway. Proceeded to baby it down the highway, almost home and theres a totally empty black stretch in front of me for a good mile or so, I check behind me, no lights in sight, nothing on either side of the highway, so I downshifted into 3rd and stood on it, short shifted it at about 5500 or so into 4th and held it for about 3 seconds, I was around 105 mph, and then slowed back down to 50 mph. As I was decelerating I rolled past a pair of blue lights that had just flicked on out of the pitch black. UGG, they got me as I was decelerating on the long range radar, they clocked me at 148k (90mph ish) I apologized and the cop was quite to the point and didn't feed me any bull**** speeches about public safety (that leads into another story) but anyway, they knew that I was hottrodding and they told me I just had bad luck, I picked the right place to do it and made sure there were no cars around, and they aren't usually there, but there was late night construction going on another half mile down the road. So they ended up giving me wayyy under the minimum fine for excessive speed, but because of new legislation they were required to impound my car for 7 days.. Boy did that feel good, first day the cars really on the road and I get nailed and impounded for giving it a little squirt on a totally empty highway, arg, things sure arn't the same as when my dad was driving the car around in the 80's.

[67skylark27]

I was swapping a 3800 motor into a 99 buick regal. I've done this 20 times before. The very last 3 bolts I put in are the flywheel to torque converter bolts. Wouldn't you know the flywheel didn't match up and i had to pull the whole dam thing again to change the flywheel. I haven't done another since, I was super pissed. To top it off the car ran like crap after I fired it up and could never get it running right. Had to sell it for a loss!!!!!!!!!!!