I think my entire build thread sums up my biggest mistakes. I pretty much have to start my truck over. No regrets though, it's been a great way to learn.
Back in about 1965 or so, I bought a '62 Olds. Wanted to add four way flashers to it, as at that point they were not standard equipment... Bought an aftermarket set up, and went down to my favorite gas station hang out, which of course had the whole crew there.. Got it hooked up real easy, even with the usual smart ass comments coming from the crew... Smiled at them and pulled the switch.... Whoops...three blinkers worked, as well as the HORN .... Bahaaaa...the one yellow wire I hooked into the horn, instead of the blinker... Took a long time and a lot of harassment to get that behind me....(but it was hilarious) Cheers, Bob
This gets my vote. 47 years of laughs from a simple act of brain fade [ the best valued entertainment ever ]
son n law bought a 59 ford galaxie with a 292. in it. they said i was runnin but it sure dont look like it ran in a long time. anyway after he run s few wires around we decide to pour some gas in the carb to get it going. well i poured and poured and poured some more. before i relized i was pouring brake fluid down the carb. i keep a coke bottle with a hole cut in the cap for just this. i also had a coke bottle with a hole in the cap that i used when i bleed bike brakes. oh did it smoke for awhile!!!!!! tht was just last week.im now going out to the shop and see if i can mess something else up!
Bought a 64 Ford truck a while back and went over one sat. to get it running. Took all the necessary tools. The carb needed a pump in the front as it leaked all over the manifold. Got it started a couple of times and went on to the brakes etc. When i got ready to go home for the day i couldn't resist starting it one last time to hear it run. Backfire and now the engine is on fire with all the gas on the manifold!! Ran to the house, no one home, ran around the house and luckily found a bucket and a hose. filled her up and ran back and gave her a bath. That did it. Went back the next week with pump and fixed carb first thing. Didn't even burn any wires just the extra gas i guess. Couldn't help thinking what the home owner would have thought if he came back and his ford was burned to the ground! Lesson learned!!
How about shooting two nice wet coats of primer only to find out while mixing the third batch you grabbed the wrong can and actually put in more reducer instead of the hardner? Five gallons of lacquer thinner, eight rolls of paper towels and three sets of rubber gloves it was ready to put PROPERLY MIXED primer on.....and here we are, two and a half weeks later with the first blocking after many body repairs!
Back when I was young and dumb I spread bondo over the entire left rear quarter of a 55 Chevy 150 2 door.It didn't have enough hardener in it and after a week or two I realized it was going to have to come off. It was like sticky play dough.
I'm always doing something that makes me scratch my head and ask why. Just yesterday I started the engine in my hotrod (it had not been started this year). It started and shut down. The second time, I realized the plug wires were not on cyls. 2, 4, 6, 8. Duhhhh....Installed plug wires, amazingly it runs, idles and everything. If I was embarassed to admit my mistakes, I'd be embarassed a whole lot of the time. Still able to laugh at myself.
Using a flat block with sandpaper to level a primed panel (smoothing out any waves, etc.) before painting.
Getting drunk one night and letting my equally drunk buddies convince me that the Plymouth "Really needs to be a convertible"... Yes. I mean you Elpollacko!
OK, 16 years old ,1960 pontiac, 389, doing a tune up. replaced cap and rotor and wires and plugs. Car won't start, hmm timing way out. Figured it blew a timing chain, (plastic shit gears) replaced chain and gears,still won't start.. I managed to put the rotor on backwards, round hole in square hole , but i managed to get that bitch tight
My 64 C10 was born a 283/3spd. I hated the column shift, it kept hanging up. I found a 93 NV3500 5spd and readied for the swap. First time I put the clutch disk in backwards, 2nd time I forgot the throw out berring, 3 time I realized I forgot to put the new pilot bushing in the end of the crank after I removed the original one. I can do the clutch in my truck now in 1.5 hours now. LOL
forgetting the oil pump plunger while installing a new distributor on a brand new engine.... then firing her up.
I had my 70' Mach 1 in the driveway (which was on an incline), engine and trans were out of it.Had the front wheel blocked with a brick and the emergency brake on. I put my leg in the car to release the emergency brake so I could push it back into the garage. Had done it many times. Anyways, just as I released the brake, the front wheel jumped the brick and the car started rolling down the driveway, I got knocked down, 1 leg in the car, 1 leg out and partially pinned under the door. Not good. The car finally stopped in the street, leaving me with lots of road rash. I still have a scar on my shoulder to remind me of my brilliance.
" Do you ______take this woman to be your lawfully wedded.........................." Did that one also.
Wasnt me, was old man, when restoring a vintage car. Cutting the wood for one door. Decided it would be easier of he did it in batches. So cuts two together. All four door frames went together really well. I still have two spare passenger side door frames on the shelf 30 years later.
Missed that one, but have basically been told "you two cohabitated for eight years... She gets half your stuff". It was worth it!
I rebuild a pontiac 400 that went into my 1975 Transam. Well during the build I left out two brass plugs on the front of the block. Fired the motor up and had very little oil pressure... Thanks to them two little brass plugs I forgot. Pulled it and found my error.
bought a near complete second 67 Dodge Polara fourdoor for the back seat so I coud carefuly remove the absolutley mint impossible to find factory pleated section of the seat bottom so it could be professionally sewed into the torn front driver bucket seat bottom of the freshly painted-new with re done 440 cu.in Polara two door .. paid 50 bucks for the 4DR. car 45 bucks for the sewing and re upholstry of just the bottom.....after a three week wait to drive the "freshly done car" installed the seat attached all the trim and sill plates jumped into the driver seat and realized I had the phillips screwdriver in my back pocket POKING NIICE FRESH ROUND NEW HOLES in the seat bottom and until then MINT seat back...
Well just went through it this week. I put a new motor in my truck, along as I had it apart I thought changing to a stall converter would go well with the new cam. Wrong! I changed drive shafts, wheels front and rear,u-joints, two rear ends, two axles, trying to locate a vibration. Got pissed tonight and ripped the stall back out and put my stock converter back in. Vibration gone! SON OF A %*@&!
20 years ago, my restored '60 Plymouth flooded badly when trying to start it after sitting for a while. I pulled the plugs, which were wet. I decided to hasten the drying process by doing what I had done dozens of times before - a small stick and a bit of flame - stuck down the spark plug hole. As I leaned over the front of the car the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd went as planned. The 4th - not so much. With a horrendous explosion, flame jumped from the hole, I was knocked backwards (or maybe jumped) and something whizzed past my face. I got up from the ground as my father made it out of the house. Well, the whizzing was my breather cap. It blew off, bounced off one of the reinforcing supports on the hood leaving a nice dent, and ended up about 100 yards across the lawn (we didn't actually find it for a week or so). Unfortunately, the same blast that blew off the breather also peppered my face with oil and grit. After finding I was OK, my father broke out in laughter - it appeared I had "black face" on. My face was raw for a day or two from the grit. Since then, I've let good ol' evaporation do its part.
How about replacing the pan gasket in a SBC and when all done it still leaked worse than before! Pulled the pan again and found the front pan gasket seal sitting in the bottom of the pan. Seems when I got it all stuck in place with RTV I turned to grab the pan and didn't notice it was starting to drop as I put the pan in place. Sure don't seal well without that front rubber piece!
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