Admitting a Mechanical Mistake (Whats Yours)?

Ok...Sometimes part of being Human is admitting something stuppid you've done..Well I have been struggling ever since the prostate fiasco...Sometimes I think it made me partially brain dead..LOL...Anyway I put new roller rockers in my 350 SBC motor...Not being to familiar with the (Locking Nut Part)...Got all my lifters set and running like a clock..Put the valve covers back on...Only to have it start ticking loudy after starting it up...Well you guessed it..I forgot to set the allen set screws on the rockers and all of them came loose...Thankfully I did not hurt anything...Now I am starting over..This time I think I will pay better attention...I sometimes wonder why I even do this shit...But I still get a rush out of the end results...Just Sayin...

 

Dont feel bad I did the same thing.I also got distracted while changing the oil and forgot to put on the filter.Thats when you have to many project going on at one time lol....

 

When I fired up my 273 on the 66 Barracuda for the first time, I forgot to set the adjustable rocker arms and they were all too tight which was leaving the valves slightly open all the time. Needless to say, it didn't run - not at all. After scratching my head an hour and messing with the timing and a few other things I got nowhere. Although, I got a couple of pretty spectacular backfires! I finally regrouped and then went back over my checklist and realized I had forgotten to do that. Its the simplest things that will get you every time!

I felt pretty stupid (still do)!

 

12 years old, reassembled a 2 stroke Suzuki 70 trail hopper engine.
Dropped a circ clip piston retainer into theree case. I though oh fuck !! Then I talked myself into that it will just stay there and not bother anything. Fired right up, ran great for about a month until my friend crashed. Locked that sucker right up.

Light bulb moment : OOHH that's why dad said cover the open holes .

 

When I was hooking up my running gear on my rod,up on jack stands, fab. and welding the shifting linkage I though I would try it out. Put it in park, fired up the engine and the rear wheels started to spin. I had the linkage reversed it was in low. Thank god it was on jack stands.

 

I was only an observer on this one but its a good story nonetheless. When I was a service manager working at a GM dealer we had a customer with the complaint of an inop fuel gauge on his brand new car.The tech diagnosed the problem as a defective sending unit.On this particular car it was no easy task to replace said component and book time was a little over 3 hrs.The tech went to the parts department and got the new part and set in on his workbench and proceeded to drop the gas tank.This required removing part of the rear suspension and exhaust.After about an hour he had the tank out on the floor with the sending unit removed so decided to take his morning coffee break before he put the tank back.After another hour or so I decided to see how the job was going and got to his work bay just in time to see the car coming down on the lift.I was commenting on how he had done the job in in really good time when I happened to look over on his bench and saw the sending unit siting exactly where he had set it. When he removed the old unit he had set it on another work bench on the other side of his bay and when he came back from his break grabbed the wrong one and reinstalled it in the car. HE WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!

 

Ok so not me but a friend. We were running a 1961 mini in a rally and came across some friends in their 1968 mini on the shake down route broken down. Leapt out to help, diagnosed lack of fuel. Lent them our spare pump to fit, and we headed off to the start. They never made the start.

Turned out they’d rerun the fuel lines inside the car to protect it from rocks. Only trouble was they’d used braided fuel hose and run the pipe under the passenger seat. Nobody in the passenger seat = car ran fine. Navigator in the seat = fuel pipe pinched and car would run for a few hundred yards then cut out.

It took me two weeks to get him to admit to that one

 

Plumbed the rear brakes on a '39 coupe with hardline only. No flex line from the frame to the axle. My brother found out at either Englishtown or Island Dragway trying to stop after a run and no brakes. At least it wasn't on the street!!!

 

I've built a goodly number of engines, and i seemingly screwed up the piston to wall clearance on a pontiac I did for myself not too long ago. gotta pull it and hone another 0.003 or so. I'm out a gasket set and a day of work. It could be worse, but I see it as an opportunity to cam it up some more.

 

How many, like me, did an oil change and poured 2 quarts on the ground because they didn't dig the drain plug out of the oil catch basin and had a few beers while the old oil drained?

 

Torques the rods caps on a '64 289 to 40 ft lbs. Exactly as the Ford manual stated. t'was a misprint. Bought 32 rod bolts for THAT engine.

Cosmo

 

I have never made a mechanical mistake that I will admit to.

 

Found my 3/8 ratchet wrench, after 10 years. Worked perfect cause it was getting oiled every time I drove my truck. It was in the valley of my sbc laying on a shop towel.

 

Two 9 inch Ford rear ends without lube in a row. Got 1/2 of a mile with both. too stupid to live.

 

Not too long ago I was rebuilding a 4bbl Holley, as always I keep all the old gaskets during teardown for comparision. Dipped the carb, carefully put it back together, wouldn't idle. Took it back apart and realized the throttle plate kit had several gaskets for different model carbs. I had compared 2 different new gaskets and ignored the old one. Needless to say using the right gasket made all the difference in the world. Doh!

 

Every time I work on the drain of a sink I end up wanting to rinse a part and proceed to open the tap on the sink I just removed the drain.

 

Was installing a crankshaft position sensor on a way o/t vehicle. any way you have to pull the transmission out because of the ckps is behind the flywheel. well it didnt say in the dealer directions (because i had never done one)that the torque converter had to be turned and clicked in three times. well lets just say it didnt go into gear after I reinstalled the trans. I destroyed the front pump of the trans and the shaft. and still broke even on the job after the trans was rebuilt. so that was my biggest mistake

 

Like I said...It's part of being Human...I'm not proud..Just not afraid of making a mistake..

 

while fitting the pulleys on my 302 Ford, everything seemed to line up,so I tightened the waterpump pulley except I forgot I had'nt installed lockwashers,Luckily the first cruise night I took it to and had the Hood open,a guy was really looking it over and asked me" Did you know those 4 bolts are backing out?" Whew, a Big Thank You to Him

 

I started my Chevy truck for the first time recently. I had the rear on jackstands ,no wheels or tires. After the initial break in period, I decided to put it in gear to see if the tranny was going to work okay. I brought the revs up a little to see if it would shift and off flew the brake drum scootin and banging all over the place. Luckily I didn't have the bed on yet, so there weren't any fenders to damage. It just ran around my garage for a few seconds. What a Dickhead I am. I had quite a few choice words for myself. Bill

 

I was checking liner protrusion on an 855 CI Cummins diesel one day. I removed the dial indicator from the tool and promptly dropped said tool down the hole. It weighs nearly three pounds. It nicked the crankshaft rod journal. I never said a word, I just filed down the nick and polished it out. And I made damned sure I sunk the piston in that hole first to make sure it would spin okay. When the truck was sold it was still together, thank god.

 

At a shop I was working in the early 80s,,I put a new clutch,,,pressure plate,,,pilot bushing,,,throwout brng,,,and had the flywheel surfaced in a black o/t Camaro-----the WRONG black Camaro.

I felt like shit about it, but the shop absorbed my mistake,so I put *another* new clutch,,,pressure plate,,,pilot bushing,,,throwout brng,,,& had the flywheel surfaced in the RIGHT o/t black Camaro,,,but put the disc in BACKWARDS,,,all in the same day.

Needless to say I was VERY good at pulling the trans on a late 70s V6 Camaro.

 

Had a contract with 3M & they had a fleet of E-150 Ford vans with straight 6 cyls in them.

3M had their own 'planned service' books printed up for the drivers to keep track of,& I had serviced a bunch of them when working there,,they were all identicle.This one was due for a trans service,along with a bunch of other minor bs..

It was almost time to go home,& thought I'd bang this van out so I didn't have to work on it the next day.

The driver took the van & I was getting ready to leave.Looking around on the bench I realized I put 6 quarts of ATF in the engine & 6 quarts of 10/40 Castrol in the trans---they both held exactley 6 quarts & I mixed 'em up.

Went in & told the shop owner,and to call the guys office & have him come back right away.
Shop owner said "forget it,,it'll be okay,,see ya tomorrow"...

About 3 months later,the same van came back running/shifting perfect,although the engine "oil" was pretty black.I couldn't believe it,& went ahead & serviced it again,,,the right way!

 

Literally everything that I do I have done wrong at least once. I am not smart I have just made more mistakes than everyone else.

 

Biggest mechanical "mistake"... bought an OT Saab, thinking "how hard could it possibly be to work on?"

Don't buy a Saab...

 

after installing the motor back into my car , i forgot to hook up the oil gauge tubing and fired up the car ! what a mess !

 

Went to change the oil in my OT Super Duty ford once when my 55 was out of service, got it all drained, pulled the filter off then realized I had everything I needed except, the damn filter! Had to call a buddy to run me up to the parts house to get a filter, he still reminds me of this two years later....

 

Yeah, done that, tried to cover my ass by saying I was flushing it out.

 

While changing the fuel pump on the 283 on my old '63 Impala, I would remove the bolt on the front of the block and insert a longer one to hold the fuel pump pushrod in place. Got the new pump on, hooked everything up and proceeded to fire it up. Wouldn't run for some reason. Failed to remove the longer bolt and had the pushrod bound up something major. Live and learn.

 

Running my c6 tranny withough a kickdown....