I bagged a 67 C-10 for a guy ! Told him to take it home and do not hit the switches because he had to cut a tunnel for the drive-shaft in the cab, due to it rubbing. Well long story short,a few weeks later we are loading in for a local indoor show and we see a guy driving the truck down the highway hitting the switches like he is ICE-CUBE! I looked at my brother and said "I wonder if numb-nuts tunneled the cab" ? We load in to the show, later that night I get a call from the owner saying that someone cut his driveshaft in 2 at the show! So I guess he never notched the cab for running clearance! The cab riding on the drive shaft did a fine job of creating its own running clearance.
In a hurry, a friend install the thermostats in his 38 Ford truck with a flattie. One was on right, the other upside down. The engine cooked.
Most of my mod mishaps involves the smell of burnt wire and me frantically trying to remove a battery cable off of it's post!!
Though not of my own doing. Neighbor rolls into Midas I worked at as a young teen and said we changed the muffler but something is rubbing. Put it up on the lift and the Muffler clamp was cutting the driveshaft in half. oops!
In 1973 when I put the 48 together in time to drive it to the Street Rod Nationals in Tulsa I swapped the trans rear end and drive shaft two nights before we left for Tulsa. I installed the axle in the wrong position (centered on the spring bolt but the driveshaft fit pretty well. I then took it loose and moved it back where it belonged and the yoke was a bit further out of the trans than it should be. Just south of Marietta OK there was a big bang as the trans let go. Bob Davis of Waco helped me get into a station where we borrowed a jack to raise the rear of the truck up and started to pull the driveshaft. the yoke was welded to the trans. we split the U joint and went to a little wrecking yard where the old gent who owned it sold me the back half of a trans for 15 bucks and let me use a can of grease to install the needle bearings. An hour later we had the trans back in the truck, the kid at the station filled the trans with grease after i installed the yoke I had behind the seat and we were off to Tulsa. Almost every one of my screwups on cars has been because I got in a big assed hurry trying to meet a deadline. Custom wise the bonehead one was chopping the top on my first cab before I saw an article saying to brace the cab so it wouldn't move in a magazine that came out while I was still trying to get the door gaps right. That cab got replaced with the one I have now which is getting replaced again.
I heard a damn good one yesterday! Local guy (color blind) took his hotrod truck to a buddy to get it painted "candy apple red". He's a big Univ. Alabama fan. His old pal painted it Auburn orange and told him "no charge". Dude #1 is riding all around bragging on his new paint job until.....somebody asked when he became an Auburn fan. True story and one pissed off old pal.
30 odd years ago, I fixed some rust in the trunk of my 65 Chevy II. Smelled a bit of gas the next day. Cut the tank straps loose to see what was wrong and the tank was just hanging there. 60 odd rivets into it, were holding it in place pretty well. That same day, I learned how to braze holes in a gas tank after learning how to remove rivets.
When I was aroung the age of 19, I had a bad stumble in my buick so thinking the carb needed overhauled I purchased the rebuild kit for the 2g carb and proceeded to take the carb off. Well I notice the base was lose and one of the three screws holding the base plate on was gone. So I tore it down and found another screw to replace the one that was missing put the carb back on and fired the old buick 350 up. Right away I heard a high pitched pinging that seemed to come from different cyclinders, so in true knothead fashion I thought I could run the pinging out of it. So I drove it around the section and never made it back to the drive way under its own power.. Died and wouldn't turn over about 3 miles into my trip. My grandpa pulled me back home, I told him what all happend and he told me with a smile on his face that I needed to pull the top of the motor apart and I would see why it locked up. Pulled the top of the motor off and Found the lost screw or I should say what was left of the screw that was missing out of the bottom of the carb, along with 4 bent valves and 3 broken pistions. It was a mess. Grandpa came over when I had it apart and his words he told me still live strong in my head. He looked at the damage turned to me and said: Education is not cheap and most is never tought out of a text book... Never made that mistake again...
I put a ford 9 inch in my 38 Chevy Couple about 15 years ago. I set it on the spring saddles and installed the u-bolts, set it on the ground at ride height and adjusted the pinion angle then called it a night. The next day I took it for a spin and the first time I hit the brakes the rear end spun 180 degrees yanking the drive shaft out of the tranny braking a ujoint and bending the drive shaft. That was the last time I called it a night before welding on the spring saddles.
Early '70s, jacked up the front of my '33 Tudor to install the newly painted front fenders. Got the fenders and grille on, put the wheels back on and lowered the jack, oh shit moment, found out the hard way that the floor jack was taller than the lower edge of the fenders at the point under the grille. At least it wasn't too bad to straighten and the black lacquer was easy to touch-up.
long ago, i bought a 1962 ford been bent when new and parked and rebuilt it but the upholstery was dirty, pressure washed the interior and trunk it had sat 10 years water did not drain so i punched holes in the trunk floor ., car run like crap with water in the fuel think i put a different tank in the car it come with a parts car
17 years old installed set of under dash gauges in my 60 f100.all went well till out in the desert between wikieup and kingman AZ on hwy 93 at 3am running about 70 mph some wires hanging down under dash decided to nudge them out of the way shorted out on metal dash smoked main stereo wire not hooked to fuse burning oil pressure gauge supply line spraying hot oil all over cab and on my friend and I had those burn marks for quite awhile..
Sounds like a guilty conscience to me "MELTDOWN DRAGS" July 20, 21 2013 at Byron Dragway Byron Ill. www.meltdowndrags.com
Not sure if I follow how the amount of holes a plate has in it have anything to do with how much of the giggle gas gets to cylinders. Isn't that the purpose of the orifice hole in the jets? I've only ever run direct port or single nozzle systems in EFI combo's.
Changing water pump on small block chevy... Why is there 3 holes on one side?, eh just fill it with silicone. Why is my engine overheating, days later tear heads off it. Humm looks good. Change water pump... oh yeah the hole i filled.... maybe its suposed to be open. Problem solved.
You have to be careful with copper oil pressure capillaries under a dash with exposed switch and gauge terminals. Also remembered that my newly painted 28 cowl is single skin after I finished welding tabs to the inside to attach the kick panels. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
57 caddy and the rear brake shoes weren't adjusted. Took it for a test drive, worked great. Take to get a burger and the wheel cylinder rod fell out. No brake fluid. Through 3 red lights and a hard right turn on red.....not a scratch...lucky!!!!
When I was a pup I decided to make an exheaust system for my 63 Chevy out of "offcuts" from the local exhaust place. Fitted it up, nice twin system with lots of welds- big deal, it was quiet, and no-one but me would see it. I was heading down the road one night and I hear the worst noise- sounded like banshees gettin' it on- and as I slowed down for an intersection, I see my exhaust- as it goes sailing past me, letting out a bunch of sparks as it bounces down the road at about 50 MPH. I thought "hey, some guy in a low rider is draggin his tail in front of me" , but it was my engine pipe and muffler doing their own light show. I stopped, picked it up (had most of it hanging out of the trunk), drove home and welded it up again, and this time bolted it in securely.
I guess I've always been pretty common sense.If I didn't know how to do it,I asked.This comes from having an older sister that was in the emergency room every week,usually me sitting there cringing and thinking "damn that looks like it hurts".It's better to be a spectator in failure than an active participant.
Yeah I go over ambitious and was going to do some rust repair on my 59's core support last month..one small cut ended up into a big cut and redid the bottom corner half assed and it warped it slightly..will fix it later, or just get a new core support.
I was about 14 when my dad ask me to change to oil in his 68 Polara wagon before we left on a trip. I drained oil, changed filter, added new oil, and started. No oil pressure. Walked around front to see why and saw a big puddle of oil running from under the Dodge. I forgot to replace the plug. I walked down to a station and bought six quarts with my trip money. Corky at the station teased me about that for a long time. Haven't forgot a plug since.
Rebuilding my first engine at age 14.As I was putting pistons and rods back in I noticed how difficult it was starting to rotate.By the time I got all 8 back in that 283 I could barely turn it over! I talked to my mechanic pal he said"Did ya keep the rod caps in order?" I said HUH?
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