localtech

iTrader: (4)

mazdaspeed manifold with ihi/t3 adapter (I created). It actuually flowed well and made decent power. But, getto as hell.


Got desparate and picked these up (rokkor's). Never even rode on them. Sold them then picked up some koni sports w/sleves and custom springs.

These were my only actions that I consider a mistake.

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

going back to fmic installation...
after realizing there was plastic in the end tank (cold side too...ugh. luckily i found it before i started the car), one of the steps to installing this particular kit was to relocate the power steering fluid cooler.

only...i let too much power steering fluid out and didn't bring any to the install spot. soooooooo, i drove home with no power steering.

same front mount...the way the hot pipe is supposed to look



the way my hot pipe looked after ripping the bracket off...coupler most certainly worked...

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

fuel pump install - direct injection - two fuel pumps. one in the tank. one in the engine bay. idle should be around 400psi, wot should be around 1700psi.

fucked up fuel pump internals, drove home with 50psi from the in-tank pump ONLY.
backfiring all over the place. unable to drive the car above 3500rpm.

the list goes on and ******* on.

soviet

iTrader: (10)

Not replacing shitty allseason tires on a used car. Never again.

chokeasphyxia

iTrader: (8)

I bought someone else's project car that had sat for a year, still fixing crap 3 years later.

vehicular

iTrader: (3)

I pulled this one, too. I had this one 5 days

Bond

iTrader: (6)

Black out drunk driving in ice. Best idea yet.

jeff_man

iTrader: (7)

You deserved this.

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

+1 for talking about it.
i'm sure i'll catch some flak for this, but driving drunk used to be (just cause i haven't done it in a while) one of my favorite pass times.
i guess i was "lucky" though and never had an accident. thank ******* god.
aside from the broken car...any other repercussions?

smbstyle

When I was 16, my buddy and I found that forced air produced more power, and I was too poor to turbocharge or supercharge my 3000GT, so we decided to drill a hole in the airbox, duct tape the end of an air-hose into the hole, route the line out the side of the hood, through the passenger side window going to the air tank in the back seat, and my buddy would "control the boost" in the passenger seat by turning the compressor on.

We tested it out on the road, I went full throttle, buddy hit the compressor, and the car would bog down and stall.

Needless to say the car never ran right ever again. lol

I'll check to see if i still have a pic....

ThatGuy85

iTrader: (4)

My god. I think we have a winner.

This beats my spinner hub caps by a long shot.

Faeflora

iTrader: (2)

All I saw was the word Cavalier.

smbstyle

hahaha, wheres my trophy?

curly

iTrader: (25)

All I can think of is buying a late 80's 300zx for $600, replacing about $200 of parts (water pump, thermostat, belts, etc), and selling it for $850. Guy got 20 miles away and the timing belt snapped, I think. Paid $200 to tow it home, sat forever before donating it. Could of salvaged the slightly heavy 5 spoke American Racing wheels off it, looked a lot like my old ones on my Miata, even had fresh 225 rubber on.

Still have the haynes manual as a bitter reminder of my failure. Right after that I bought the Miata off my dad for $4000. $3000 for the Miata, $1000 for the Nissan, parts, and tow.

icantthink4155

iTrader: (12)

The sad thing is, Im one of 6 or 7 on here that had modified crapoliers.

Heres a pull after my CAI.



And the wheels that were going on.

ThatGuy85

iTrader: (4)

Don't be too ashamed. I've seem some really nicely modified cavaliers, and some fairly quick ones that would probably give a lot of cars on this site a run for their money.

But the majority of modded cavs suck.

turotufas

iTrader: (7)

Took the whip to the body shop to get work done. It took 2 months for prep work. I rattle canned the passenger side of my car because I didn't want to wait another month for paint. I guess I didn't want to miss a track day. That was a year ago! That was stupid.



Now I painted gold Jackie Chan stencils on the car and I'm thinking of putting a 'charm' on my rear tow hook. Maybe some rusted *** chain links that drag on the ground. I'm embracing the rat look until it gets painted right.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Biggest fuckup? Pretty much everything I ever did involving my '76 Beetle, including purchasing it.

This was my first car. I think it was $500, and it showed.

The previous owner had wrecked the car, and "repaired" it by doing a Baja conversion. You think a Beetle handles poorly? Try a Beetle with truck tires on it. Big, knobby suckers. And air shocks.

They'd also "upgraded" the engine by removing the factory EFI system and installing a carbeuretor. Now, in fairness, Bosch L-Jetronic was not a great fuel injection system (it was analog, for crying out loud) but it wasn't nearly as bad as what was left of the wiring harness after Robert the Redneck was done ripping it out. I never did straighten that mess out.

Oh, and did I mention the rust? Yeah. I "fixed" the body by taking it mostly down to the metal, applying a liberal amount of Bondo which I more-or-less straightened out, and I then rattle-canned it. Except nobody had ever told me about etching primer.

I didn't fix the rust on the floorpans, with the result that one day after I hit a bump, the battery (which is under the rear seat in a Bug) dropped part-way through the hole, shorted against what little metal still remained in its vicinity, and set the rear seat on fire. Fortunately, the rear seat is extremely easy to remove in a Bug (it just lifts out) so I was able to get it out of the car, flip it over, and extinguish it by throwing sand into it. Used a couple of oil bottles to prop the battery back up and stuck the seat right back in.

Then the engine crapped out. The #3 rod bearing sort of went away. I decided to rebuild it myself, having never actually opened an engine before. Now, a normal person would have either scrapped the crank, or at least taken it to a shop to have it re-ground. Nah, I just sandpapered that little bastard, polished it a bit, and put it back in. And the mis-matched rods? Yeah, I stuck those right back in as well. And I don't mean mis-matched as in "a few grams difference", I mean mis-matched as in "two of these rods don't even superficially resemble the others. I think one may be from a diesel engine and another from a lawn-mower."

I did eventually "repair" the floorpans, which was mostly about using sheet-metal screws to attach various bits of metal over the most egregious of the holes. In the process, the front seat mounts were scarified. (the front seats were shot anyway.) So I wend down to the U-pull-it and bought a set of nice-looking seats out of some early 80's Sunbird. Only problem was that the donor car was a four-door, and guess what the front seats in a four-door car do not do? They do not fold forwards so that you can access the rear seats. Didn't figure that out until the seats were nicely mounted in their new home, with some bits of plywood sandwiched between them and the floor pans on the inside edge to compensate for the fact that while a Bug has a flat floor, the floor in a Sunbird is apparently at a bit of an angle.

Astoundingly, I never did manage to fully kill that car. I sold it a few years later for $1, and I still have that dollar tucked away somewhere. I used it as a bookmark for a while.

Tim Irwin

iTrader: (1)

'78 Fiat 128. I probably don't need to say anymore except that I spent the purchase price replacing the engine after the block cracked from overheating. Finally got smart and gave up after a warped head on the second overheating.

fmowry

iTrader: (8)

Am I the only one who put the clutch disc in backwards on a Miata clutch job? The flywheel side sticker peeled off and I didn't think twice. Nothing like doing two clutch jobs back to back on the same car.