Hot Rods The stupidest thing I did in the garage.

Bought a 63 1/2 Galaxie from a relative many years ago, cool car! He had towed a travel trailer with it and it had a huge brake controller thingy hanging under the steering column, I thought it was ugly so set off to remove it. Got under the dash and used side cutters to cut a 10 gauge red wire going to it, the wire took off like a spring and hit the remote mirror control cables and welded itself there in about a millisecond! Everything started to glow red so I jumped out under the hood and managed to rip off the negative battery cable. Felt pretty good until I watched the mirror slowly collapse down onto the front fender then fall to the ground. Note to self "always disconnect battery cable first" .

 

Hello,

One day I had just finished putting in a custom sliding screen door between the kitchen and garage. (similar to the popular barn doors for home remodeling) there was no room for a swinging open standard screen door, so I created one out of aluminum “U” channels on top and rolling wheels. Now, our little toddler son could go in and out with ease and no self powered hinged door was going to slam his little fingers. The open door was an invitation to go into the garage with dad. The kitchen to garage door had to have a returning hinge and close automatically as per code... fire rulings.

Upon completion, I noticed the sliding screen door was sliding close to the original earthquake strap I had put on the water heater sitting in the corner stand. So, I had to choose another interior beam/post to secure the approved screw and strap. Using the old method of tap, tap on the drywall to figure out where the solid beam/post was located, then using the electronic device to accurately pinpoint the 2x4, I proceeded to drill a small hole for the screw.

Somehow I got the marking off by a hair and when I drilled into the drywall, (just past the thickness of the drywall,) I felt something and then flew backward 3-4 feet onto the smooth concrete garage floor. The drill flew under the workbench and I was rolling on the floor thinking, “What the hell happened?” I was aching and my wife did not hear me working, so she came out to see me on the floor staring up at the rafters.

Jnaki

Needless to say, she was dumbfounded and so was I. Why did that extremely strong shock come blasting out of the wall at that point? I had missed the drill point and the small drill went into a Romex wire stapled to the outside of the 2x4. It was fully functional and I was on the end of a huge surge that threw me back 3-4 feet.

Lesson learned by that incident and it never happened again. Now, those electronic devices show where the edge of the 2x4 is located and in the middle, there should not be a Romex wire there.

That certainly was a shock to the system and perhaps it gave the 30 something heart, a boost for longevity… one could only hope.

 

I could go on for hours but here is one that I have done consistently for well over 50 years. Cross the number 5 and number 7 plug wire on an SBC. I have done it often enough that if I light one and it bangs really hard in the exhaust mrs. beaner just walks out and says, you mixed those two wires up again.

Here is a one that will go down in the annals of time. Back in the '90s me and one of my racing buddies were swapping the cam in a 440. It was late and the garage door was open, and for whatever reason we decided to swap the intake for who knows why. Just as I was setting the gasket in place a June Bug flew in and right down the gullet of the motor it went. We set it anyway and were headed out for pancakes in an hour. We pulled the motor down the following year for a freshening and found the June Bug stuck to the pickup screen for the oil pump. he still has it in a jar on his dresser.

 

was it still alive???

 

Just thought of another. 1957 or so, still in school. Helping my pal work on his car one night and we drop the drop light (pun) and of course the bulb croaks. No spares in the house so we go out his back gate into the alley. Across the alley there are apartments with garages underneath. Each garage has a light over it. Simple, unscrew a bulb and we're back to work. Soon the L.A. police dept. rolls up and tells us a woman in the apartments reported us for theft. He didn't just let us off with a warning. It got a little dramatic and we decided not to try that again. Was probably a slow night for the cops as they spent a while hassling us delinquents.

 

I cant pick just one! But heres a few for laughs! One time i was helping a buddy of mine get his 60 dodge truck going one time. We did the typical check for fire and fuel and see if it would run. So we found out that it wasnt getting fuel, so i get the idea of i’ll just sit on the radiator support with a cup of gas and pour into the carb while he cranks it and ill keep it running long enough to pull it into the shop. Well i pour a lil gas in the carb and he cranks it and wouldnt you know it pops through the carb and shoots out a fireball with it! I jerked my head back real fast to avoid the fireball and hit my head on the hood latch! 5 stitches in the back of my head taught me not to try that one again! Another time i was gonna weld the spider gears in a chevy 12 bolt to make a poor boy posi. Si i started out with a can of brake cleaner to clean off all the gear oil in the hog head. I sprayed the whole can in the and had those gears lookin nice and shiny. So i just decided to fump the hoghead out in the floor. Brake cleaner dries fast right?!?! Well not mixed with 90 weight! So i pulled the welding helmet down and went to welding. For some reason my legs started getting really hot! I pulled the helmet off and noticed the floor and my pants was on fire! Wish somebody caught that dance on camera! Who knew brake cleaner was flammable?!?! I sure learned that day!


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Ohh brother


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This’ll make you think twice about where you put your mig welder tip when you’re not using it. Back in 2009 I was helping my dad get his’39 Plymouth convertible together. One afternoon I was helping out with filling some trim holes on the grille ( I was holding the heat element from a stud gun behind it for him to use as a welding surface) after about half an hour he sets the welding tip on his lap, well about 30 seconds later he starts screaming bloody murder, seems that the welding tip had burned through his pants and well, there is now a half inch round scar on the inside of his left leg.


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I don't think I'm alone, but there's days when I'm sure the stupidest thing I've done in the garage that day was to go in side in the first place!!

 

This thread reminds me of a story my dad told me and why he was in charge of the Model A at 12 years old.
So he had an uncle on the farm. My grandfather asked him to check and see how much gas the A had in it. So the uncle takes the cap off and strikes a match for light. You can guess what happened, luckily no serious injuries. The following year, I guess my grandfather asked the uncle to check the gas, my dad noticed him looking in the tank and reaching for his pocket. I guess my dad caught him in time as he was running towards him hollering “no”.
My grandfather saw this and told my dad “Natale, you’re in charge of the truck now”.
Ya, I grew up a poor Sicilian grandkid of grape growers.

Ever since my dad told me that story, I could only laugh at Italian jokes, because I knew where the jokes came from!

 

Nope pretty much mummified.

 

LOL jokes are like legends mildly based in truth.

My uncle had a *Poppin Johnny when I was little. It was in the barn/garage with the carb off. Well I was a mechanics kid so my older cousin said if I put the carb back on he would take me for a ride. Well putting the carb on was easy enough, I did forget the gasket (I was about 7 or 8). My cousin turned the with on and grabbed the flywheel and gave it a tug. (they had a big external flywheel and that was how you started them). Well it coughed and then spun backward. he failed to let go of the flywheel. Broke both of his wrists.

After we came back from the hospital my uncle scolded me for working on the tractor when he was
not there. Then pulled the carb, put the gasket on and told me I did good work. Then he showed me the proper way to start the tractor and laughed because I didn't weigh enough.

Guess the dumbest thing I did that day was pick up a 7/16 box end.

* single cylinder John Deer tractor. I think they were built in the 20s or 30s.

 

Read a few and saw some old friends.

Ben

 

Janette

 

Let's just say it involved a puddle of gas, a roll of caps and a hammer. We'll leave it at that...

 

Installed the (plastic, Tanks brand) fuel tank in my 46 Ford with the body off the frame... The tank has thick flanges on the front and back sides that sit on top brackets in the frame... I put the bolts in from the top and they are inaccessible once the tank and the body is in place. That means the top of the tank, sending unit and the hose are also inaccessible... You know the rest of the story...

 

I started the below thread like 16 yrs ago,,pretty entertaining!

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/crazy-insane-shop-accidents.81682/