What's the stupidest thing you're ever done in your shop?

It wasn't me, it was the guys across the street. I worked for a while welding up VW exhaust systems. Across the street were some good ol' boys with a sandblasting business who ran a '56 Buick roundy-round car at Ascot. Big brother (and I mean BIG) was welding some roll bar braces in the trunk with a stick welder when he stopped and hung the cable over a bar in the trunk. It swung and hit the stock fuel tank that had been relocated in the trunk. Needless to say it exploded. We all came running and found the big fella sitting in a pile of sand across the yard laughing hysterically with his welding helmet still on. The back of the Buick looked like a grenade blew up in the trunk. He was unhurt and the car raced that Saturday. Coulda been real bad, glad it wasn't.

 

I was rebuilding an 360 SBM, and couldn't install all the freezeplugs on the engine stand. I put plugs in my front pocket to grant I remember put 'em in later. Installed tranny on the floor and the whole package took quite an effort to sneak in without helping hands but I managed. I assembled it so that all it needed next day was fluids and then break it in. It was too late in the night for that in basement garage. You guessed it right, in the Morning I found those plugs in my jeans and had to start all over, the ones behind flexplate cannot be installed in car. I was so happy.

 

stupidest thing this weekend: MIG welding with shorts/t-shirt. "just a quick weld" turned into fabbing an exhaust. got a nice sunburn on my shins, now. and yes, i totally knew better... just too lazy to go in and get some pants on.

now on to what was perhaps the stupidest thing i've ever done in the shop:

wedged myself into an absurd position on top of an engine, under the floor on a diesel pusher motor coach... "just a quick weld" my boss says... MIG, quick bead... all of a sudden SPATTER EVERYWHERE! the only place i noticed it, though: my crotch. spatter burned a hole in my pants, and i've got a scar on my Johnson now. the best part (other than just burning my junk)... i had a date that night and it was a sure thing. except the burn on my junk preventing me from being even remotely able to. i'm still bitter about that.

 

It's just when you find you have two 302 Ford motors and C4 cog boxes, one on either side of your project when you roll in the new 401 Nailhead you just bought and a week later wonder where all these engines came from!
Doc.

 

In the late 70's the bigger Ford F models (250's & 350's) the rear bearing in trans would go bad & howl a good tune. You could replace the bearing without pulling the trans. Helped on warranty jobs. Finished one, parked it on the lot and while I walked past my work area I see the rear bearing spacer laying on the floor. So much for saving time.

 

don't know as it's stupid (OK, maybe), but surely age must have some bearing on it...

Every now and then I would be needing a metric wrench for whatever (this before metrics were so common) Finally broke down and bought a nice set of S-Ks...into one of the lower drawers of the crowded roll-away they went.

Nice to have; just in case, ya know. Time passed and I had forgot all about having them as I didn't really have an immediate need at the time.

Many years later, I was in a Sears store and saw a nice set of metric comb wrenches on sale.
Man, those would be nice to have ! ...in case I have to work on some metric stuff.

Bought them and when I went to find a nice place to stash them in the roll-away...........you guessed it, found the SK set. DUH

 

I couldn't have made this up if I tried.

Today, I drove up in front of my shop at just after 5:00. As I was getting out of the car, I noticed something wasn't right with one of the windows in the roll up door. Upon further investigation, I saw that it was broken. So, I opened the door and had the crap scared out of me by a large Dove that was buzzing around the shop trying to escape. Unbelievably, I guess the guy had broken the glass with is sore head.

The doors are those insulated metal type doors, so I swept up the broken glass, got my electric drill and unscrewed 8 screws, removed the glass and measured it. I took off for the nearest hardware store, only to arrive at 5:35. They close at 5:30, so I head across town to Lowe's where I waited until someone could cut me a piece of glass. On the way back, I visualized how quickly I would install the pane.

I drove up to my shop, got out with the pane, walked inside, unwrapped it, inserted it into the frame and it was a little snug. One very easy push and the other half of the frame with my new piece of glass fell out the other side of the door onto the concrete. AAARRRGGGHHH!

After sweeping up the second mess, I got a piece of cardboard and a case cutter. The cardboard was laying on one of my tires for my Plymouth. Without thinking, I slashed the tire and the cardboard. After cooling down again, I cut the cardboard and secured it with some Gorilla tape.

I spent an hour trying to fix this broken pane and screwed up everything I touched. Time to call it a day.

 

More than likely, "all of the above" Jay