What was one of your 'oh duh' moments?

[DAVID_T]

Turns out, it's a lot harder to install the rearview mirror on the body when the windshield is on.

:eek:

[mikeinatlanta]

By far my biggest 'oh duh' moment (there have been many) was buying too much motor. I didn't realize the difference between internet horsepower and real motor builder horsepower. I figured it out when McLeod said "oh no, go talk to Quartermaster" at PRI, and when my head builder treated me like an idiot for not knowing that there is no such thing a pre-built headers for their heads.

You can go up an unlimited amount of money when buying a motor, but I didn't get that there is a threshold where your budget almost doubles because everything attached to the motor has to be built custom.

[egchewy79]

I accidentally ripped off my front battery box while doing a "quick" oil change after breaking in my motor. The 4" round tube rolled off my jack while coming up, putting the entire weight of the car on the battery box.

[OSU Cowboy]

I had a similar situation as egchewy79 - except that my jack moved from 4" tube to oil pan and crunched it up a bit.

At 600 miles on the car - I finally got my wife in it for a ride for the first time. Two or three miles from the house she starts smelling something. Turns out the front calipers were locked down hard on the rotors causing the smell. Once I found a place to pull over, smoke was roiling up from both front wheels. Had it been dark, I'm sure the rotors would have been glowing red like in the Ford v Ferrari movie. So my wife's first ride in the car was not a success - and destroyed the confidence in my car-building abilities in the process.

Not long after that, I'm driving 25 MPH on a rough pot-holed asphalt road, and start hearing something like metal dragging behind the car. I open the drivers side door to find the drivers-side side pipe dragging on the pavement, with only one loose bolt/nut still hanging on - the other 3 long gone. I never thought to check the bolts/nuts holding the sidepipes on - and - I didn't have the side pipe supports attached yet. Passenger side was loose as well. I simply didn't have enough miles on the car to really know what to listen for, and was running the original FFR pipes at the time that were very loud on their own. I found a length of cord just off of the road I was on. I wrapped the cord around the pipe, holding the cord / sidepipe off the pavement for the mile and a half or so drive back to the house. Thankfully my wife was not with me on that little jaunt.

I'm sure I've got a couple more ... but I've also shared enough at my expense.

Would not trade any of it though. 15K miles in two years in gel coat - it's been a blast.

David Peck

[rich grsc]

Doing a 360* on an onramp in the rain. :(

[egchewy79]

I had a similar situation as egchewy79 - except that my jack moved from 4" tube to oil pan and crunched it up a bit.

At 600 miles on the car - I finally got my wife in it for a ride for the first time. Two or three miles from the house she starts smelling something. Turns out the front calipers were locked down hard on the rotors causing the smell. Once I found a place to pull over, smoke was roiling up from both front wheels. Had it been dark, I'm sure the rotors would have been glowing red like in the Ford v Ferrari movie. So my wife's first ride in the car was not a success - and destroyed the confidence in my car-building abilities in the process.

Not long after that, I'm driving 25 MPH on a rough pot-holed asphalt road, and start hearing something like metal dragging behind the car. I open the drivers side door to find the drivers-side side pipe dragging on the pavement, with only one loose bolt/nut still hanging on - the other 3 long gone. I never thought to check the bolts/nuts holding the sidepipes on - and - I didn't have the side pipe supports attached yet. Passenger side was loose as well. I simply didn't have enough miles on the car to really know what to listen for, and was running the original FFR pipes at the time that were very loud on their own. I found a length of cord just off of the road I was on. I wrapped the cord around the pipe, holding the cord / sidepipe off the pavement for the mile and a half or so drive back to the house. Thankfully my wife was not with me on that little jaunt.

I'm sure I've got a couple more ... but I've also shared enough at my expense.

Would not trade any of it though. 15K miles in two years in gel coat - it's been a blast.

David Peck

my wife's first go kart ride with me, I had the parking brake on the whole time. couldn't figure out why the car wouldn't coast and then smelled the brake pads after we got back. probably helped bedding in the brakes!

Doing a 360* on an onramp in the rain. :(

at least you were facing the right direction afterwards :)

[Blitzboy54]

Mine was installing the cuby wall and carpeting before taking my trunk gas struts out of the box and realizing they had to go through it. It wasn't the biggest deal but it set me back a week trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I have a compulsion about un doing finished work. I really hate going backwards


Doing a 360* on an onramp in the rain. :(

That's how one creates wisdom. Learned a lot about the car that day I suspect.

[Jeff Kleiner]

The one I always think of was when building my own car and preparing for first start. When I built the engine I pre-lubed it while it was still on the stand then after it was in the car I did all of the other preparations; I spun up the power steering pump to fill, leak check and bleed it, topped off the cooling system and purged as much air as possible, charged up the fuel system (EFI) and leak checked, static set the timing. etc. Last thing before actually going for the first start was to spin it over on the starter to circulate oil again without starting it since it had been a couple of months since the pre-lubing. I have a toggle switch for fuel pump power and shutting this off cuts fuel preventing it from starting. I thought that I had shut it off however I hadn't...it spun over about 2 revolutions and started scaring the cr@p out of me :eek: I wasn't expecting that; it wasn't supposed to run yet!

Jeff

[Norm B]

I spent about two hours trying to get the transmission A frame mount to fit. Looked at the manual about ten times.
Turned it the other way up and it fit perfect. Had to look around to make sure no one was watching. Definitely a Homer moment.

Norm

[cob427sc]

I've had so many over the years that if I started to list then I would have many pages to writ. Always thought it was just "me" that had this problem. Biggest/funniest was when I was in college I was working part time at a garage part time. I was asked to install a rebuilt engine and transmission into a corvair, which I did one day but didn't quite finish. Came back the next day and took it out for a test drive. 2 miles down the road the engine and transmission fell out onto the pavement as I forgot to tighten the rear mount bolts.

[toadster]

LOL got a closed end wrench lodged against the frame...

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?34952-25th-MKIV-9772-Build-NOR*CAL-restarting-wiring&p=401006&viewfull=1#post401006

[Dave 53]

This happened last weekend... I took the hood off my 818 and set it on the ground in front of the car. Did some of this, a little of that, jumped in the car, started it and drove over the top of the hood! Happened in the pits at the track and when it made some noise, everyone turned around and saw what I just did. Amazingly, only a few scuffs and a quarter sized damage to the gel coat. 163075 The dragon cannot be killed!

Put the engine cover on and forgot to pin in back down. As soon as I got up to speed on the freeway on ramp, it flew about 20 feet into the air and landed between the freeway and onramp lanes. Again, only some scuffing!

I think I'll stay in gel coat until I get smarter.163076

[Otee453]

When I first started welding, I fabricated some beautiful storage racks for long sticks of steel. I proudly self engineered a series of very strong triangular racks, cut my steel and started welding like a madman. After I welded everything up, I realized my nice straight triangular racks were shaped like a medieval english longbow at full draw. My first experience at heat warpage.
Fortunately, Ive learned how to control & work with that a bit better. LOL

[GTBradley]

My Coyote chugged to a stop and wouldn’t go more than a few feet after restart before stalling again, so my wife and I walked back home in July heat. I got a gas can, got a ride to gas station and back to the roadster, put the gas in…same problem. Opened the hood and fixed the actual problem in five seconds by simply putting the filter tube with MAF back on. Not going to get that Saturday afternoon back:confused:

[john42]

Mine happened at Factory Five.. Dave Smith himself was having me backup into the showroom to do a photo shoot. I backed into the glass door! The metal frame of the door aligned perfectly with my role bar I couldn't see it. I'll mention Dave was also signaling for me to continue backing up! Made quite a noise when I hit it. It added another inch to the crack in the fiberglass below my left taillight. The original crack is from racing before I purchased the car, so I can't take credit for that.



163080

[johnnybgoode]

Doing a carb swap and watching one of the washers I didn't notice drop and disappear down the open intake!

[Bob-STL]

Did a cross country trip with Mark Dougherty. Was a shimmy in the rear end at 118. Determined it was a loose rear axle nut. Jacked car up in Autozone lot and tightened it. Hopped in the coupe to take off and the car wouldn't move. Both of us sat there trying to think what was wrong.....the car was still on the jack!

[edwardb]

My Coyote chugged to a stop and wouldn’t go more than a few feet after restart before stalling again, so my wife and I walked back home in July heat. I got a gas can, got a ride to gas station and back to the roadster, put the gas in…same problem. Opened the hood and fixed the actual problem in five seconds by simply putting the filter tube with MAF back on. Not going to get that Saturday afternoon back:confused:

That exact thing happened to me! Cold air intake with the MAF fell off the 90 degree coupler on the way to a Saturday AM cars and coffee. Car coasted a stop and wouldn't restart. Carefully analyzed the situation (:rolleyes:) and was convinced it was a fuel pump issue. Called for a flatbed and they took it back home. Once in garage, the tow truck driver was interested in the car so popped the hood. Immediately saw the separated intake. To this day can't figure out how I missed that when it first happened. Classic case of thinking I knew what the problem was so didn't check the obvious. Pushed it back together and of course immediately started and ran great. I have plenty more going back to my teen years and some "interesting" mechanical goofs. For another time.

[Avalanche325]

I spent many hours designing and fabricating a custom heater housing, because I wanted it in the center for a full sized glove box and decided I needed the air coming from the passenger compartment instead of the engine compartment. It was very cramped, but I got everything in behind the dash. I was proud of my work. Then I did a test, and the motor behind the dash was horrendously loud. Out it came. I still did the center, but with the motor in the engine compartment.

[Railroad]

Doing a 360* on an onramp in the rain. :(

While displaying your best, "I MEANT TO DO THAT LOOK"

[rich grsc]

While displaying your best, "I MEANT TO DO THAT LOOK"
Well of course I did

[Papa]

Mine was diagnosing a coolant leak as a failing water pump only to realize that the leak was still there after swapping the pump. Turned out to be a radiator leak. :o

[TheHelixx]

Mine could have ended much much worse.. I was changing the u joints in my Ram. It’s tall enough that you can just slide a piece of cardboard underneath and easily work on it. When the last bolt to the rear end came out I quickly realized OH **** the trucks rolling away. It only moved a foot but DUH, Park doesn’t work without a driveshaft. Whew..

[Al_C]

There are many. I don't know where to start. Let's just say that dex-cool looks an awful lot like ATF when it's on the garage floor!

[Nigel Allen]

Not related to my roadster build, but still dumb and embarrassing.
Whilst providing training on a new high voltage inverter to some technicians I managed to brush my finger across the 432 volt DC bus. This resulted in me doing a spasmodic dance and a very loud uncontrolled fart. Needless to say no one stuck around to check on my well-being. They pretty much broke the door down trying to get out of the room. Still occasionally get reminded of it 25 years later.

[rich grsc]

There are many. I don't know where to start. Let's just say that dex-cool looks an awful lot like ATF when it's on the garage floor!

But they don't taste the same.:rolleyes:

[Glen Davis]

I've done my share of "duh moments" but sadly I watched this happen. A beautiful 1962 Impala was towing a 1957 Bel Air by a chain that was just out of the paint shop without an engine. As the Impala came to a red light he applied the brakes but the ’57 just went into the left lane doing about 15 or so MPH and passed him. As soon as he got even with the Impala the chain got tight. Guess what? The ’57 did an immediate 180 and slammed the two driver’s doors together. Nobody was hurt except the cars and their pride.

[hineas]

I have enjoyed reading this thread. We all have these moments. Here are a few I have done on this car:

I couldn't figure out how to install the transmission polyurethane mount. I couldn't figure out where the metal plate went in relation to the polyurethane. I spent hours trying to figure it out. I read and re-read and re-re-read the manual and all it said was "install the transmission mount." I scoured the forum and nobody talked about it, just "I installed the transmission mount today. It was easy." I finally found a picture that showed me how it went and installed the mount. About 30 minutes after installing the mount I found the included instructions at the bottom of the box that showed how the pieces fit together.

Another time was installing the panhard bar. In the manual there are numerous sentences that say, "Remember, one side has left hand threads." We still wasted about 15 minutes because we couldn't get the end to thread...

When installing the headlights and rear lights, I realized that we used butt connectors instead of disconnects. We will fix that when we remove the body for paint...

Lastly, my brother installed the power steering hoses and put the AN fitting end into the o-ring side, which ended up being the same threads. We didn't realize it until we started the car and it sprayed power steering everywhere!

[KDubU]

As many have said there have been more than enough. I think mine was changing my first oil on the roadster, being very careful to check the oil and any filings that many have come out. All good, screwed the new filter back on, put in the oil, checked and checked again it was at the right level and no leaks. Decided to take her for a short drive and on my way back home decided to stop at the bank and noticed a leak underneath….oil! Checked the level and it was low and dripping away at the filter. Called my wife and had her bring up more oil and was able to get it home. Drained remainder and removed the filter that I swore I and screwed on fine….I had but left the previous filters rubber gasket and had not noticed -doh!

[Jeff Kleiner]

…I had but left the previous filters rubber gasket and had not noticed -doh!

Ha! You’ll only do that once ;) I did it almost 50 years ago and of the thousands of oil changes I’ve done since I have checked every one. One of those lasting impression things :)

Jeff

[Railroad]

Well, since it is tell it all,,,,,
93 F150, doing some work while on the lift. Must have been brakes or tire related. Anyway, backed off the lift headed to somewhere, 1/4 down the driveway, rear of truck went sideways. You guessed it, I had hand tightened the rear lugs to get them started and forgot to tighten them.
I had enough still on the studs to tighten and get home. I never found all those chrome lug nuts either.

[ydousurf]

I think mine was simple and set the tone from the go! I never built a car before to this level. Never worked with aluminum panels prior. Never used a rivet gun. Hell, I didn't even know what a cleco was? BTW - purchase more the 25 of them!

I learned very quickly that you can not drill a hole where a rivet gun can not fit! Yep, I got two on the F-Panels - DOH! Live and learn! That mistake helped me to not make more mistakes! And to just slow down, research and plan several steps ahead, all the while studying and measuring many times prior to cutting, drilling, or fabricating whatever phase I was at. I was mad at myself, of course. But a mistake is a learning opportunity unless you make it again. Lesson learned!

[Papa]

Ha! You’ll only do that once ;) I did it almost 50 years ago and of the thousands of oil changes I’ve done since I have checked every one. One of those lasting impression things :)

Jeff

Guilty! I did this on the very first oil change on a brand new Ford Explorer many years ago. What a mess! At least i was taught to check for leaks when you start the car after an oil change.

[BradCraig]

I accidentally ripped off my front battery box while doing a "quick" oil change after breaking in my motor. The 4" round tube rolled off my jack while coming up, putting the entire weight of the car on the battery box.

I may or may not have done the same thing. That 4" tube is slippery.

[legend42]

Here are my top 3- We are all sworn to keep these in the "circle" as no family or friends will ever ride with us again if they found out :)

1. In all my excitement to get a head start on the build, I order a Lokar throttle cable for my Coyote drive by wire.
2. Accidentally "brushed" the steel braided power steering hose against the engine bay battery posts, after the sparks flew, decided it was not that bad. Made it 10 feet out of garage before seeing trail of power steering fluid everywhere.
3. Blew a top radiator vent/by pass hose off top of motor on go cart ride- fluid everywhere- and no windshield!(I actually have this one on video)

[CaptB]

I learned very quickly that you can not drill a hole where a rivet gun can not fit! Y!

Yep, figured that one out, if you take the engine out, peer real down low on the passenter footbox against the fire wall, you'l see a small hole. I figure the engine will cover that one!

[Joynt Venture]

Ditto on not cutting out the cubby for the lift ram. I am now convinced that the prop rod from Breeze will look SO much better.

[AC Bill]

Not my fault.

I took a buddy for an afternoon cruise, and along the way he pointed out a new housing development. A buddy of his who was also a car buff, was the foreman for the site, so he suggested we stop in and show him the Cobra. The construction trailer that this fellow worked out of was up a newly constructed dirt road. It was busy with dump trucks, and other equipment throwing up clouds of dust.
So we parked a distance away in a grassy common area that looked perfect, and was well off the road. Construction in this area had been completed, roads paved, and some buyers had already moved in, so it seemed like a good spot. We walked up to the trailer to get him.

10 minutes later we arrive back at the car, to find out the automatic sprinklers had turned on. The seats had puddles in them, and everything was completely soaking wet.:eek:

[BradCraig]

As many have said there have been more than enough. I think mine was changing my first oil on the roadster, being very careful to check the oil and any filings that many have come out. All good, screwed the new filter back on, put in the oil, checked and checked again it was at the right level and no leaks. Decided to take her for a short drive and on my way back home decided to stop at the bank and noticed a leak underneath….oil! Checked the level and it was low and dripping away at the filter. Called my wife and had her bring up more oil and was able to get it home. Drained remainder and removed the filter that I swore I and screwed on fine….I had but left the previous filters rubber gasket and had not noticed -doh!

Yup....I did that while in college with my 280Z. I had just started dating my wife and that was her first trip back home with me to my parents. She was sitting on a stool in the garage watching the ordeal when I cranked it up, shot oil all over the floor and ceiling. I looked at her and she was laughing, what a mess. 30'ish years later with many more garage "incidents" we are still together. I have checked that f'ing gasket evey time since though!

[phileas_fogg]

I may or may not have crushed the oil filter on a 1984 Subaru trying to get the damn thing off by tightening it, but I'll never tell.

On my F5 build, I was setting up the Holley Terminator and neglected to "tell" the computer it was controlling timing. With no spark signal, the coil wouldn't fire and so no start. Took a few days to figure out I hadn't properly configured the GCF...But when I did & it fired right up I felt like I'd just won the Super Bowl!


John

[Wayne r mckee]

It happen many years ago , my nephew was 16 years old just started driving and wanted to learn how to work on cars , his dad isn’t very mechanical. I had him come over to my house to show him how to change the oil . I had him remove the drain plug and filter let the oil drain out , then install the new filter and reinstall the drain plug . I told him to go ahead and pour the oil in while I ran to the store , when I got back he was mad as hell and had oil all over the driveway . The whole time I was gone he was trying to pour the oil down the dip stick tube ! We still laugh about to this day . And now he’s an established body and paint man .

[Fman]

Recently... Backing out the Cobra out of my car hauler forgot I had a wheel chock that slid under the car while towing, when I started rolling backwards it got up under the exhaust hanger and bent it all to heck... luckily it was a rubber chalk and did not actually break the bracket and weld off my gas 'n side pipe... felt like a complete dip ****. Fortunately I had another spare bracket to use. And will never forget this one... a long, long, long time ago when I was 16 first oil change on 1973 K5 Blazer, took off the oil filter and did not check if the gasket was in the filter ... not good... I ended up doubling the gasket on the new filter and quickly realized once I fired up the engine this was not a good thing... oil leaking all over the place. Needless to say since that event I have always double checked to make sure the gasket comes off with the filter.

[CP82AERO]

Finally at age 62-about 6 months ago-- I did two "firsts" after decades of oil changes.
1. Watch beautiful amber oil exit the hole where the pan bolt should be as you pour a 5 gallon jug of the stuff up top.
2. Also leave behind the old filter gasket on the engine side--but I've rarely checked and never had an issue--and pour a quart or more along the driveway pavers while backing out the car.

Senior moments? I've always remembered to final torque wheels but I now throw a card on the dash that reads "Torqued?"--just to insure the future!

[GTBradley]

As long as we’re doing dumb moves on other cars…

I can top the oil draining out stories: when I was 17 and had rebuilt my engine in a 63 MGB I installed the engine and transmission in the car connected everything up. It had bee been four years of restoring the car and on first start all the engine oil came out at the back of the block. I had neglected to install the rear main oil seal on the crankshaft.

On another day, I installed a very expensive, new electric generator (of which I could barely afford on my part-time dishwasher job.) I connected the electrical connections in the typical way and turned to the workbench for a minute and turned back around because of a bad odor. My new electric generator was now a smoke generator. The MG has a very atypical positive ground…

[Blitzboy54]

When I was 18 I had a old **** box of a first car. This proved valuable later but my cousin and I decided to go camping for the weekend. Like a "responsible" car owner I checked all my fluids including the brake. It was an old 79 mustang and had a steel master cylinder with a clip that pressed over the top. I put it all back together. On our way to Allegany a deer jumped out and I slammed my brakes on. I then found out I had not put the master cylinder lid back on correctly and all my brake fluid slushed out.

The long and short of it is we attempted to bleed the brakes in the parking lot of a convenient store with a leatherman. We limped home eventually.

[k-roy]

When I was about 16-17, I was out in my CJ7 in the deserts near Moab, Ut. I don't remember what went wrong with the Jeep, but we were parked on top of hill with the hood up. As someone went to look into the engine compartment and leaned on the Jeep, I realized the Jeep wasn't in gear, and it started to roll down the hill. In a flash of brilliance, I stuck my foot behind the tire to keep it from going down the hill. After some screaming, a 10-15 seconds of agonizing pain while people tried to figure out what was happening, then another 1/2 minute for people push the Jeep off my foot, I learned a few interesting things.

1. Cars are heavy.
2. Always put your car in gear when parked.
3. How lucky I was not to break a foot.
4. Feet are not meant to stop cars.

[JMeyer914]

I had a similar situation as egchewy79 - except that my jack moved from 4" tube to oil pan and crunched it up a bit.



This thread is pure gold with lessons learned - thanks all for sharing your shame for others to benefit from!

Glad I'm not the only one that's done that...:eek: the jack slides easier on the frame than it does rolling across the garage floor. Now I'm always closely watching the jack pad any time I'm raising or lowering the car...

My worst was actually leading up to my first start. I had put some fuel in the tank, confirmed all my wiring, made sure the inertia switch was good and tried it out. It started up and ran for about 20 seconds and then died. Subsequent starts led to shorter and shorter run times until it would turn over but not fire. I had fuel pressure at the EFI, brand new spark plugs, and a brand new air filter. I called the BluePrint tech support line with my symptoms and they recommended changing plugs thinking they'd been fouled with so many attempted starts. With a plan in hand, I bought and changed my plugs out. After changing the plugs... had the same symptoms. :mad: :confused: Fuel, air, spark... Did I mention yet that I hadn't configured my fuel gauge yet? Turns out I hadn't put enough fuel in the tank to consistently feed the pump. There was enough to prime the pump and pressurize the system, but not enough to keep the engine running. Lesson for me was to double check your work - especially when you're SURE that isn't it!

[SnakeBitten14]

Was driving with my wife in the car. Came to a 4 way stop and a car cut me off as I was about to go. I was irritated and gave it a little gas once they cleared and ended up getting a little sideways in the intersection. The wife was not impressed...

[NiceGuyEddie]

163337

On our Pines to Palms run in 2008 we'd drive through the SoCal mountains and take the back roads to Palm Springs. JUST as I passed the 100-mile tick on the odometer, I was officially beyond my AAA 100-mile-towing-for-free limit and suddenly SMOKE was coming out of the engine bay. I thought the engine caught fire.

I pulled over and turned off the engine. I immediately pulled the hood and, and, and - no fire.

Instead, there was oil all over the left side of the engine bay and the headers. I hadn't the foggiest clue what happened.

Since I was MIA someone from down the hill came back and said I could easily coast all the way down Snake Highway (attached) to the rest stop/overlook where everyone else was. I got a push and made it all the way down with MANUAL steering on a power steering rack.

By then, the engine bay cooled down and someone noticed that oil filter was loose. He screwed it off and VOILA - the oil filter gasket from the OLD filter was stuck to the block! So I had an oil filter gasket to an oil filter gasket, I have NO CLUE why there wasn't a problem for 2,000 miles before that!

[cob427sc]

I wasn't going to admit to this one but .... shortly after building my first roadster back in 1998, I drove and parked at my parents house on a rather steep driveway. Left it in gear and pulled up the emergency brake (salvaged from the donor) and walked up the stairs to the front door. Just as I opened the door I heard a "pop" as the e-brake ratchet let go and the car started rolling backwards down the long driveway. I stood in awe as it rolled straight back, about 100 feet, then made a 90 degree turn and landed on top of a large rock, stuck on the rear axle. For some reason the starter solenoid locked in and the engine started to crank over. Didn't start but the rear wheels kept spinning. Luckily the only damage was paint scraped off the rear axle from landing on the rock. I had visions of the car ending up in the street and getting t-boned by some unsuspecting driver!

[DAVID_T]

I love these, guys.

I'm reading them to my wife, and she's laughing with me.
Another to add on a different car, that probably saved my life:
I had to change the oil in my 94 Miata, so I jacked it up on a scissor jack, and 24 year old me was looking at it and thinking, 'that's probably alright, I just need the pan bolt'... I started to go under, then thought; I better check something.
So, I pressed against the bumper with my foot, just a little, and SNAP! That scissor jack snapped and the car came crashing down.

Yeah. You better believe I put Jack stands, wheel chocks, parking brake, and ensure the car is in gear each time I go under any vehicle.

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?"

[Joe Campbell]

Some rear brake pads are amazingly bi-directional.

[GoDadGo]

We were at a restaurant where I couldn't see my car so I took my steering wheel with me.
When we finished dinner I realized that someone had stolen my steering wheel.
My Oh-Duh moment was the fact that I was holding it in my hand.

[Dave 53]

Mine was diagnosing a coolant leak as a failing water pump only to realize that the leak was still there after swapping the pump. Turned out to be a radiator leak. :o

I was certain I had a cam shaft seal leak. Oil was dripping out from the timing belt cover right under the cam pully. On an 818, replacing a cam shaft seal involves pulling the fire wall, draining and removing coolant piping, removing the timing belt, special tools to pull the cam pullies, etc. It's a big job and took probably 20 hours. Replaced all 4 while I had it apart. Started it and cried when it still leaked. I thought maybe I damaged the seal when I installed it, so I got a new one and did it all over again a second time. At least it only took about 10 hours the second time. When it STILL leaked, I wanted to just give the car away. This time I looked really hard and discovered there is an easily accesable plug on the head above the timing cover. It plugs a port that is used for versions of the engine that have variable valve timing, but my car doesn't, so there is a plug. The leak was coming from the plug and dripping down through the top of the timing cover, down past the cam seals and back out from the bottom of the timing cover. The fix - give the easily accessible loose plug half a turn.

[nucjd19]

I was certain I had a cam shaft seal leak. Oil was dripping out from the timing belt cover right under the cam pully. On an 818, replacing a cam shaft seal involves pulling the fire wall, draining and removing coolant piping, removing the timing belt, special tools to pull the cam pullies, etc. It's a big job and took probably 20 hours. Replaced all 4 while I had it apart. Started it and cried when it still leaked. I thought maybe I damaged the seal when I installed it, so I got a new one and did it all over again a second time. At least it only took about 10 hours the second time. When it STILL leaked, I wanted to just give the car away. This time I looked really hard and discovered there is an easily accesable plug on the head above the timing cover. It plugs a port that is used for versions of the engine that have variable valve timing, but my car doesn't, so there is a plug. The leak was coming from the plug and dripping down through the top of the timing cover, down past the cam seals and back out from the bottom of the timing cover. The fix - give the easily accessible loose plug half a turn.

Reading this post makes me want to cry for you too. Dang!!!! That was soooo much time and effort.

[Derald Rice]

I had a Sunbeam Tiger......And for those who have never had one, the spark plug for #4 cylinder is only possible to remove by using one click on the ratchet at a time....

Many times I did a plug change, . I only did seven cylinders..

Then around 2005 , I was admiring a Tiger in a parking lot, and started a conversation with the owner....I told him about the #4 plug, and he opened up the passenger door, pulled the carpet back a little bit and asked if my Tiger had an access hole through the firewall like his had.

His Tiger had a 8 inch square removeable access plate for changing #4 plug

[KDubU]

I had a Sunbeam Tiger......And for those who have never had one, the spark plug for #4 cylinder is only possible to remove by using one click on the ratchet at a time....

Many times I did a plug change, . I only did seven cylinders..

Then around 2005 , I was admiring a Tiger in a parking lot, and started a conversation with the owner....I told him about the #4 plug, and he opened up the passenger door, pulled the carpet back a little bit and asked if my Tiger had an access hole through the firewall like his had.

His Tiger had a 8 inch square removeable access plate for changing #4 plug

Now that is funny!

[Mike.Bray]

I had a Sunbeam Tiger......And for those who have never had one, the spark plug for #4 cylinder is only possible to remove by using one click on the ratchet at a time....

Many times I did a plug change, . I only did seven cylinders..

Then around 2005 , I was admiring a Tiger in a parking lot, and started a conversation with the owner....I told him about the #4 plug, and he opened up the passenger door, pulled the carpet back a little bit and asked if my Tiger had an access hole through the firewall like his had.

His Tiger had a 8 inch square removeable access plate for changing #4 plug

I had a similar thing happen when I was a teenager. My dad was changing the plugs on his car (I think a Chrysler) and having a bugger of a hard time. I happened to look in the front wheelwell and the plugs were staring at me. You could literally change them while standing beside the car with a ratchet and long extension. I guess that was his moment but it was still funny.