pulled an engine to paint the bay- pulled the pan and a cap to check, and all was great. Slapped the pan back on and shoehorned the engine back in. Fired it up.knock, knock, knock... yup- forgot to torque the cap again. Does that count???

 

A little different angle but i hope it fits in:

... you use your wing window support to slam your door crushing 3 fingers so hard your eyes cross with pain as you let the clutch out rolling a in line of dentists, doctors and lawyers itching to get their foot to the floor - out onto warkins glen raceway...

That work?

 

... for no apparent reason, back you car into your garage wall (rear quarter panel) at pretty good speed. Get out to look and see a 4 in square section of paint is gone. After much panic and self loathing, I figured out that the paint on the quarter was fine, I just needed to thumb nail scrape the garage wall paint and drywall chalk off the panel. Did this yesterday. Phew.

 

...here's a couple for ya...

... you get your re-built engine all bolted together and sealed up and find the oil pump drive shaft on the workbench?

Could be worse. You could have found it after you tried to fire it up for the first time.

Paul

 

.... you change the oil, put plug back in, fill it up, fire it up, and gaze at the pool of oil running past both your open door --- and the new oil filter still on the fender.

 

And another one.
... at the gas station's air pump, when the instant you slam the trunk shut you remember that you foolishly put the keys on the spare tire, which being down on air was the reason you opened it in the first place. And people behind you are honking wondering why you don't get in the open drivers door and get the h*** out of the way for them. Suddenly you think -- hey, simply take apart the back seat area to reach through to get the keys. And then you also remember your tools are in the trunk:shrug:

 

Installed a fresh 351C into a '72 Pantera. Got the engine in, the rear deck back on and aligned, and the exhaust all hooked up when I suddenly see the the block plate sitting on the bench...

 

How about an engine with a new cam, and it refuses to start. Yeah, I'll be replacing the cam in a couple years.

 

how about you go through the effort to rebuild an automatic transmission, in this case a powerglide, and you are now ready to reinstall the trans, and find that you left out a couple of thrust washers. back apart comes the trans....

one that was done by a couple of old pros;

two guys were hired to help out a formula one team. they got to the shop about an hour early, and they decided to show the young guys up and install the engine. took them less than an hour to do, and when the rest of the guys showed they showed off their work. one of the young guys asked, did you remember to install the pilot bearing? so back out comes the ngine so they can install the pilot bearing. does anyone have any idea how hard it is to line up a triple disc clutch WITHOUT the pilot bearing installed, and get the trans in place?

even us old guys are prone to mistakes.

 

I did something stupid by changing the spark plugs that ended up being fine. But when installing the spark plugs back into the aluminum heads on my 351w with not a lot of room in a 65 fastback I stripped one of the spark plug holes. I ended up having to rip the head off, take it to a machine shop to have them put a sleeve in it for $18 and then put it all back together. And part of the reason why it stripped is because I thought I'd do it the quick way and it ended up stripping because of this. Should've just left it the way it was.

 

I forgot to tighten a connecting rod after changing bearings. Luckily it was on a 58 Rambler but it was an easy fix. Forgot to tighten the cam sprocket bolt on the old motor in my 66. Took the cam out on that one. Luckily I had a good used cam from the previous motor in my 66.

 

This thread should be required reading for anyone starting a project.

 

Sorry I have nothing to add

 

nothing to add? or nothing you are WILLING to add?

i once changed out the head gaskets on my old 289, and i had a friend helping me bolt everything back together. when it came time to torque the intake, i did one side and had my friend do the other, or so i thought. turns out he just put the torque wrench down, and i didnt know about it until i went to fill the cooling system. i noticed a leak at the intake on his side, only AFTER i filled the engine with water. the engine died shortly there after.

 

I checked the brakes on my '66 with the help of a buddy. I put the front tires on and he did the rears. Rain hit so into the garage she went.

The next weekend, I went for a ride and noticed a "shimmy". Turned the corner and boom. He didn't tighten the lugs and the wheel came off. I found the lug nuts in the intersection where I turned. Luckily, I was close to home. No damage, put the wheel on and drive her home

 

Once I pulled the front end off of the motor, put in a new cam and timing chain, put everything back together, broke the timing cover, got a new timing cover, put it on, started the car, and then the engine started knocking.

And that's what caused me to hot rod an entirely different engine together in 18 hours flat...

 

So I bought a pair of Fog/driving lights I've had my eye on for a long time a couple of weeks ago at WalyWorld .Then today I did some shopping at another Buyout type store only to find the exact same lights at half price ,,,,Do you think I can find my receipt for the first set

 

How about pulling half the dash apart for a little cleaning and some paint freshening? Went ahead and changed out the instrument cluster bulbs. All buttoned up and looking good.......until I used my turn signals. Lots of nice light spilling out across the panel with each flash of the T/S. Sure enough....sitting on my workbench are two nice little cardboard tubes that go around the T/S bulbs.

 

I rebuilt the 302 in a truck I used to have. Fired it up and had almost no oil pressure. Machine shop forgot to put the oil galley plug in the passage at the rear of the lifter valley. Same project - after I fixed that, I went for a drive. Transmission (C6) shifted from 1-2-3 just fine, but wouldn't shift back to first when I stopped. I forgot to put 2 screws back in the valve body when I installed it. Put the screws in and it worked fine.

A buddy of mine pulled the engine out of his car to do some work after he overheated it really bad. He reinstalled the engine, went to start it and got nothing. His brother walked around the car to check on something and tripped over the starter.

On my '66, I noticed it was running pretty warm on one of the first drives. Stupid me installed the thermostat backwards (that was just one of many things I had to fix before it finally starting cooling correctly).

Also on my '66 (when the friend I bought it from still owned it), we pulled the 289 one time to do some work on the internals. After we reinstalled it, the engine would not turn over - it acted like it was mechanically bound. He installed the flexplate backwards and it was firmly jammed against the separator plate. Out comes the engine again to flip the flexplate around.

I helped a friend replace the 5.0 in his '88 Mustang. He reinstalled all the accessories. We fired it up and it made a horrific metallic clanking sound. Turns out he forgot to tighten the crank pulley bolts. We had also forgotten to reconnect the MAP sensor (speed density EFI). Since the computer saw atmospheric pressure instead of manifold vacuum, it thought the engine was under a lot of load and was dumping tons of fuel into the cylinders, causing a really rich condition. That was an easy fix - just had to reconnect the vacuum hose to the MAP sensor.

 

My old man, mechanic since the 50's including many off-road race teams helped a friend rebuild a 302 whilst enjoying beverages... He put a rod cap on backwards, the motor self distructed virtually instantly...

 

Had a friend come for a quick visit. He pulled out of the drive and I noticed a trail of oil coming in and going out the drive. I called his house (no cell phones in that day) to warn him. He said he had noticed a trail of oil on the road and thought to himself, "Some dumb SOB is loosing oil bad!". And then when he follow the trail into his own drive he realized who that poor dumb SOB was. Turned out he had just changed his oil and part of the O-ring on the old filter had stuck to the mount and was letting a steady stream out when the engine was running.

 

on my third oil change for my mustang, way back in the 70s, everything was going fine, until i went to put the filter back on. it didnt use as many threads when screwing it back on before i met resistance. pulled it back off, checked the threads on both the filter adapter, and the filter itself, and no issues. i completely missed the old "O" seal that stuck to the block. so i reinstalled the filter and in those days i would really crank down on the filter as i didnt trust the manufacturers instructions. never had a leak, but when the fourth oil change rolled around the filter was harder yet to get off, and when i did get it off, the old seal fell off onto my head. probably the only time not following the manufacturers instructions prevented something bad from happening.

...can't find a funnel when you need one, so you grab a box cutter with a brand new blade and an empty bottle. A few minutes later you're on your way to the ER feeling like a dope with your hand wrapped up in a towel to stop the bleeding.

except for the trip to the emergency room(my cut wasnt very deep) been there done that.

 

I bought a 1966 GT, rust free, loaded for bear, for basically nothing. It had a freshly rebuilt engine, from 12 years earlier, and no one could get it to run, people would get frustrated, and sell the car.

I pulled the engine, looked great, pulled the heads, looked great, but would not turn over. Pulled the pan, looked great, but would not turn over. Pulled the main, and it turned over perfectly.

Put the mains back on, would not turn over.

Took the mains off 1 at a time, and #3 was the problem. Did not see any issues, but when #3 was torqued, the engine would not turn over.

Took the crank and bearings to the machine shop, and the verdict came back:

The crank had been turned 10/10, except for #3, which was still at 0, but with a 10 over bearing. They turned it down 10, I put it back together, and the engine ran like silk.

 

...can't find a funnel when you need one, so you grab a box cutter with a brand new blade and an empty bottle. A few minutes later you're on your way to the ER feeling like a dope with your hand wrapped up in a towel to stop the bleeding.

 

Had a friend help tune the carb and the car popped into reverse. I was standing by the front driver side tire at the time. Did I:
A) Reach in and turn the car off.
B) Reach in and throw the shifter in P.
C) Run to the back of the car to keep it from rolling down the driveway.

 

That must have left a mark on your fingers. !!

Here's my Glenn "hate when that happens". There f3r a HPDE, Change plugs at track that AM (Porsche 914) In haste to put plugs in scross thread 1 plug.. Scream off start to uphill turn#1 . Shift. Bang, plug pops out. Have 35-40 911's son my tail . Instructor screams GET OVER To Right. Have just enough momentum to pull over. Instructor jumps out running up to pits. Later found someone with right size threadsert. Finish weekend.
Joe

 

Did a cylinder head replacement on a pontiac sunbird and went to start it and engine jumped and locked. That's when I realized the radiator cap was missing. It wasn't really missing. It was in the number one cylinder. OOPS!