eunos1800

Too many to remember and mention over the years.

1 that sticks in my mind though was on my TZ250, it had rear drum brake with a brace bar.
I forgot the tighten the brace bar.

Was doing some Dyno runs and running the motor in and the brace came undone and nearly chopped off me mates (the Dyno operator) leg off.


Not me, but one that made me laugh.
Have I fitted this right? - Peugeot 106 Owners Club



Cheers
Mark

Loki047

iTrader: (6)

You know when your drilling the oil pan and everyone says go slow don't drill through the pick up? Yeah well I didn't drill through the pick-up...i tapped through it. JB Weld FTW

Pseudosport

iTrader: (9)

Painted a whole bunch of parts the day before and left them to dry in the garage. I get home from work the next day and go to the garage to check on them. The side door is locked so lift open the main door but it gets stuck. I duck under the door but as soon as I go to stand up I smash my head off the trunk lid knocking it off the stand. Lid goes flying through the air hitting more parts then hits the ground leaving a few new dents and marks.

I finally make my way to the light switch but then notice I can't see to well because I have blood in my eyes. Anyway I cleaned up some but it took a while for the bleeding to stop.

georgefury1

Whose ever done this?? Once I built a race engine for my CRX and went to crank it and the damn thing would not turn over. I was walking around the garage thinking about what it could be and noticed a really clean crank sitting near my parts pile. Pulled the oil pan off and realized I had put the wrong damn crank in. Another good one was I was working on my 91 Civic hatch. I had the rear wheel off and it was up on the stock jack......no jack stands. My friend came over to hang out and leaned on the car knocking it off the jack and on to my chest. I could feel my ribs bending!! I still give him **** about that.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

You are a dumb ***! I wish I had been there with my camcorder and could have done a Video Darwin Award.

gman3

Hate to admit it, because Im still in the middle of clutch install b ut I tried to put the tranny back on with the bolts for the turret still loosley screwed in. 2 of the bolts went in the turret. At least I was smart enough to take the side cover off and found them. Actually turned out lucky i didnt get the tranny back on or i guess id be wondering why i cant shift.

Also once did not have hood latch on an MGB fully locked. Flew open and bent over the windsheild on the interstate

Murphy, please leave me alone for awhile

N3v

I haven't had too many catastrophic failures yet, but I almost got decapitated by my brake rotor once.
I was finishing my rollcage install by putting the backing plates on the underside of the car. I was doing the ones on the main rollbar, which is much easier to do with the back wheels off. Knowing it would be simple I just jacked my car up from the diff. I was underneath the car putting them on and my dad comes outside and goes "So its really in there, huh?, grabs the cage and gives it a solid tug.

Edit: also i've done the no oil cap thing before. Fun. I also let my car sit outside on an 11 degree day with 85% water mixed coolant.

Edit2: I forgot the best one. I couldn't get my MS to make my car run on more than two cylinders for literally a month or two. I tried EVERYTHING, cleaned the board with acetone twice, flashed the firmware, checked all the documentation, then when I looked closely at the board I had soldered one of the ignition wires to the wrong pin.

wayne_curr

iTrader: (8)

Oh god. I kinda swore that I wouldn't tell some of these but some of the mistakes I read here make me feel slightly better about sharing...:P
Where to start...

4 times now with 2 different cars I've driven around without the oil cap on after adding some oil. Such a mess.

I've had 4 timing related no start issues, 3 with the integra and 1 with the miata. All of which I SWORE up and down that the timing was right and made threads on Honda-tech and m.net.

Didn't notice some missing plug in the head on my first start with the miata engine build. Turns out it went to the oil valley and shot 3 quarts of fresh oil all over the clean engine and driveway :(

My engine has less than 1600 miles and is leaking like 2-3 quarts of oil a month. Haven't figured that one out yet...

I had a couple of snafus when assembling my MS.

Soldered the CPU socket on upside down. By the time I got done desoldering that mfer the board was toast. Had to re-order that stuff...what a mess.

I've got a million more...

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

I've done this twice with the miata now! Both times I forgot the cap on the valve cover and it was still there when I pulled over. This was with the FM hood, so oil ******* flew out and got the window! Both times I felt dumb as a rock.

Vash-

Scuba_Steve

iTrader: (4)

I did this twice last summmer, once at a club run, just drove 15 miles to the meet and noticed the smoke from under the hood. The other time at an auto-x as I was in line for the first run. Fortunately I remembered that time and shut off the engine and replaced the cap prior to the run.

georgefury1

Fixed.

It was my first car and I did I did learn a valuable lesson that day though. lol

Fidgitk

iTrader: (3)

I had a MKII MR2 with a 3rd gen 3SGTE swap, I had a few bolt ons for it at that point but still the stock intake. So I took the factory airbox cut the bottom off, and threw a K&N in it, worked great, made some more power and sounded better. But since I had a Tom's intake scoop I decided I'd try to make it functional. I took the airbox and flipped it over and positioned it under the scoop.
It worked great for a couple weeks until I left the car outside overnight and it rained a few inches. I didn't think anything of it since the engine lid covers everything and no rain would land on the upward facing intake. What I didn't know was a lip that ran underneath rear window in the engine bay acted like a funnel and drained most of the rain that came off the roof and engine lid into my now inverted airbox.
So I climb in the car the next morning and fire it up, not knowing that I've got standing water in my intake tract. The car idles and runs without issue aside from the turbo sounding slightly higher-pitched and a little muted. I drive off and a few miles down the road I get on it and as I start to build boost I get a slug of water instead, and the motor stops dead at 3500rpm. I pushed it home and inspected the scene, and no rods hanging out the block. I pulled the plugs and spun the motor over and got a good amount out. Then dried out the rest of the intake pipeing(there was a good bit still left in the intercooler), put it back together and it ran like it had never happened. Although it did end up with fried ring lands about a 8 months later.

I guess I got really lucky and got just enough water to stop the motor and not enough to bend the rods. Either that or Toyota rods are strong enough to handle the stress of hydrolock.

That one is pretty high on the dumbometer. I've got some more I'll share if I get some time. I like to think I've learned from them though(probably not.)

99mx5

iTrader: (16)

Ouch! That also happened to my brother, brand new hood and paint job too.

evank

iTrader: (2)

A few weeks ago I changed brake pads for the first time. I was intimidated but it turned out to be pretty easy. Especially easy was unbolting the front passenger's side slider pin .... it turned VERY loosely .... the reason: I turned my ratchet in the wrong direction and busted off the bolt head. (Silver lining: I also acquired and learned how to use an extraction kit!)

bryantaylor

iTrader: (5)

for the past couple of weeks i have been wondering why my boost controller won't work on my new wastegate, but worked fine with the old one. i have changed springs, blocked off the vent hole and it still wouldn't work. had it on and off about 10 times.

i had it on backwards the whole time, it works now that its installed right.

jim-NA

from reading through this thread.... it's a wonder some of us are still here at all

and I always thought MT.net was a source of the most intelligent & knowledgable miata enthusiasts


anyhow, I've left wheelnuts undone plenty of times, not had a wheel come off yet though..... yet.

left the sump plug off and then re-filled with oil... holy crap! how much oil does this thing take? the ever widening pool of oil on the driveway kinda explained that particular mystery

rebuilt my 125cc 2-stroke bike after it seized, never checked the bottom end for debris... started up fine, but it died as I rolled out the driveway.... a bit of piston ring scored the barrel and f*cked the entire top end.... again!

Ben

iTrader: (33)

1 Had one miata on the lift and in the air, had a second miata behind but just barely underneath. Dropped the car in the air (could not see the other car through the lift post) and BANG. Bumper on bumper violence.

2 Had the 10AE on the lift and in the air, started lowering it but did not see the trans jack and BANG cracked my front lip.

3 ??? still open, but doesn't everything happen in 3s?

wayne_curr

iTrader: (8)

I just learned a new one the other day when I went to wire up my MS.

A couple of months back I put the LC1 in with one of the channels emulating the NB sensor. When I went to wire everything up for the MS last week I noticed that something wasn't right in the wiring diagram. I had plugged the LC1 into one of the ignitor wires for some ******* reason.

Needless to say I never got a CEL, has been running completely normal for the past 2 months and in fact, today I plugged the stock ECU back in to go to class (haven't gotten the MS sorted yet) and just left the O2 unplugged, runs fine lol

Stephanie Turner

I have had a wheel come off. It was tons of fun, let me tell ya! When i was 16, i went and had new tires put on my 280Z and the dude over tightened the nuts. A 1/2 mile from home, going up a steep hill, I see the wheel going down the hill and then the car starts dragging. It left a huge gash in the pavement. After getting the wheel back on (minus a nut cuz it split in half) and the car home, my dad calls the guy and rips him a new one. Anyone who knows my dad, knows it takes alot to get him pissed. It's one thing to make a mistake like this if you are a rookie, but a professional? Gotta love dads.
Stephanie

boardboy330

iTrader: (5)

From my brother, cherry 1969 Chevelle on the lift less than 3 weeks ago...putting new Baer disc brakes all around. Paul went to get the oil drum off the top shelf with a fork lift...swung around too quickly and hit the rear of the Chevelle...knocked the car off the lift.

Long ago working for a body shop...lifted a 1968 GTO convertible with rust damange. Being the new guy nobody would listen...the shop tech put the car on the lift and started welding along the frame...tightening the frame for a better ride. In additon put a few new body panels on. when we brought the car back down...the doors wouldn't shut because it wasn't flush...it looked like someone bent the car.

Working for a monster truck...unloaded the truck and got the driver in...everything was ready and the truck wouldn't start...I wired the batterys for 24 Volt instead of 12.