My dumbest automotive mistakes
 

A post in another forum got me thinking about mistakes. I have been working on my own cars since 1959, and carburetors professionally since 1966. So what are my dumbest moments?

(1) installing an electric choke on my wife's car that had an automatic tranmission (not dumb, just plain stupid!)

(2) thinking I could make my son's Pontiac 301 Trans-Am run with a basically stock 1969 Toyota Corona (family car) by adding a factory turbo to the TransAm. It did help, Before the turbo, I could spot the TransAm both first and second gear! After the turbo, could only spot the TransAm first gear.

(3) listening to the internet that blocking the heat cross-over on my GTO was a good idea. NOT on a street car!

(4) NOT buying a 1958 Ford flip-top in excellent condition in 1970 for $45. because I personally thought the 1958 was ugly!


So tell on yourself, what have you done (or not done) that you wish for a do-over?

Jon

Not buying the 4 speed 69 Judge for $750.00 in 1979

Painting the red interior in my 66 Mustang gloss Rustoleum black.And adding shag carpet.

I used to work for a guy who said the only people who don’t make mistakes are those who do nothing. If you learn something, mistakes aren’t all bad.

I am sure I have done a lot of very stupid things in my lifetime. One thing that sticks in my mind was a midnight cam change on a Dodge Dart. Working with a buddy we were exhausted when done. On the first start, after one minute no oil pressure. Each of us thought the other had put the oil in. While I am sure it was tough on the engine. I put well over 20,000 hard miles and noticed problems.

Listening to my wife, and buying her that brand new Ford Windstar minivan back in ‘95. I’ll never buy another Ford, seriously.

In 1975 Not buying my brother inlaws 1968 Shelby Mustang he blew up the 428 Cobra-jet engine and installed a 390ci engine and he wanted $3,000 I thought that was way too much at the time! I was looking at the 1974 Mercury Capri!! I was wrong!!!!

My first car was a 70 Chevelle SS and I was hurrying to get it ready for a big car show. I multitasked quick vacuum, changed oil and filter, quick detail (back then the hot ticket using was lemon pledge lol).
Anyway start the car and then remembered I needed things from in the house. So I shut car off (ran maybe 20 seconds) got what I needed and as I came out of the house I saw a river of oil running down the driveway (a new cement paver driveway my mom had recently had put in). I forgot to put the new filter on :rolleyes:. Fearing mom would have my azz I screwed on the filter, topped off the oil and parked car in the street leaving a nice oil tire mark the length of the driveway. Luckily it was a one car driveway so I put the spilled oil to use (luckily mostly new clean oil) and on my hands and knees spread it with some shop rags and used more fresh oil to blend it into the other pavers.
I was wondering what was waiting for me as I returned home but nobody noticed it.
My moms 92 now. I think it may be safe to own up to it now. Maybe..

Putting the quarter panel stripes on my 70 GTO on the wrong sides. So dumb.

Crazily, most of the big ticket items that I went for, went good.

Drake. My only marriage (from1995-2001) was not a good thing. VERY glad I got out of that when I did. The ex bought a a lightly used Windstar van in 1998. She is VERY hard on cars. She could drive the Baja 1000, she's got plenty of practice driving on city streets, using the same driving techniques. Her Windstar only lasted another year or so, it was completely wore out!!!

The same woman tried to smooth talk me into selling the TA. It was not in great shape, back then, about same as now.. I'm really glad I said NO to that. She had the $$$ spent!

I go to an awesome church (since 2013]. God's complete truthful word is taught and preached there!!! One of the BEST decisions I've ever made in my life. My Pastor is a car Guy!!!

So thankful for my friends, here!!!

I'm still on the mend from my July 19th car accident. Got out of hospital, last Friday. Staying at my brother's house, until I can take care of myself, again!!

God's blessings upon all here!!!

John 3:17.

Well, since we are coming clean I will tell this on myself even though it is not automotive related.
In 1977 my first wife left me and I was really down in the dumps. Finally, one day I decided to go to the mall and just walk around. As I entered Sears a pretty young lady was coming out, She looked at me and a big smile came across her face. As I walked on I thought "I still have it"! I walked half way through the mall and was greeted by more smiles. Man, I was really feeling good! As I passed a mirrored glass I turned to check myself out. That's when I saw that not only was my fly unzipped but my shirt tail was sticking out of it!!

Timing a Pontiac 350 engine off #1(exhaust valve!). At 15 years old being offered by Tony Faulk a 62 Catalina 4spd for $1800.00. I had a paper route.Oh it was one of the Knafel 421 SD Tin Indians. Putting a slant pan hydro behind a 389. I didnt know flywheel needed machined. Took out couple tranny pumps before I learned, duh. Being offered a blue 66 Catalina 2 door while hanging out at a local gas station. Went to look at the car,beautiful he wanted $1800.00 again. It was a 4spd, 376 hp! I was in college,poor. Finding a 63 Catalina, swiss cheese car in Pittsburgh about 1980.Newly married. It had a dual quad RAV in it. He had the SD 421 at his shop. It was the Royal car. I put another guy on to it. Changing oil in my SD when new. Enthused. Then after starting it realized I didnt add oil, shut it off quick.fortunately no problems.

Buying a 1974 Ford Torino that was beyond clapped out in 1985. Actually, my first mistake was having no money. But it was like the Great Depression out west when oil went down below 18.00 a barrel. Zero opportunity for an 18 year old kid.
I bought that Torino out of desperation, for 150.00. I got what I paid for. It didn't start in good weather, let alone in winter in Edmonton, -40 for 10 or 12 days straight. If I did get some lousy job, I would get fired because I didn't make it there.
But it turned out OK. One day I got the chance to get a '74 Duster with the 225 slant 6. Man, that was one good car. I drove it all over Canada, eventually winding up in Toronto. I'll always hold a special place in my heart for that car. It saved my life.

The first dirt track race car we built had some frame damage that needed fixed before we could get it ready to race. The car was a wrecked 71 t37. The car’s owner took it to a frame shop and the guy running the frame shop told the car owner that he only needed a left front brake, not the right. He claimed it was because racing on the oval track cars always turned to the left. The thinking was that way when you hit the brakes, it pulled you away from the wall. That was what the driver of the car relayed to us anyway, we never talked to the frame guy. So since we were new at that, we listened to the “expert”. Then, first race… Watching from the grand stands as our driver hits the brakes, totally looses control of the car from the one left brake, and takes out the 40’ of the outer fence and a railroad tie buried 4 ft in the ground….LESSON learned..A car needs 4 brakes. LOL

Even though I heard that crap from a self appointed expert many years ago when I first started building, and driving dirt oval cars, I never tried it. Some sprint cars don't have RF brakes either, but they never turn right very well anyway, due to being a single purpose built chassis.

I believe that if you're using no RF brake to turn the car into a corner, your chassis is so far off, that you need that for a crutch ..........;)

I got kicked off my parents insurance and lost my license right out of high school, rolled a couple cars and 36 tickets in 3 years, hard to believe but i would get pulled over for speeding or careless and imprudent driving and they would give me 6 tickets for equipment problems. Sucked. The car i did not roll was a 68 bird 350 two barrel car, auto. i had done pretty well at keeping it running but had no clue except hot rod mags as to how to build a performance engine. i tore it down since could not drive anyway. took the block into a machinist and it was trashed. he had a 455 block though....i bought and put the base 350 heads on it. not sure what compression was but i brought home a battery from a crane at the construction company i worked at, plus a 3rd party hand built starter to turn it over. The infamous '3/4' race cam'. got it to run and drove it up the street a few times. ran terrible.

My dad passed on the offer to buy the neighbor's 69 Yenko Camaro for $400 in the mid 70s because he said it was a worthless, used up POS. Guy still has it. I'm not saying I'm a car guy, but the fellow that owns the car came to my dads funeral in 2016 and I tried to buy it right after dad's service was over. I'm hopeless. I'm still hoping to have it someday. I love my Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles, but it was the hugger orange 69 Yenko that first got my heart beating and 20w-50 flowing thru my veins when I was an early teen. I will have one some day.

Starting a restoration while I was still renting a place to live.

ok i gotta ask about #1 & #2.

why is installing an electric choke on an automatic car just plain stupid? lots of auto cars have electric chokes & they work great. i have 2.

& how does a 69 toyota corona with all of 90-108hp beat a 301T when its running right? or even a NA301? specs i saw for the corona show 90mph top speed, half the HP of a 301t & quarter mile times of 19-20 seconds... most basically stock 301t's run at 16.5 et, my mostly stock 81 tta with the boost set at the designed 9-10psi runs mid to upper 14's.

Back in 88 the cam in my 305 powered 77 camaro gave up. I swapped a 69 olds 350 into it and used the 69 alternator. Didn't realize I was running with no voltage regulator and one night a few days later I was driving down the street and one of the battery posts blew off and shot out in front of the car like a rocket, blew most of the lights in car too. Pretty funny and a valuable lesson.

On older cars with automatic transmission, the transmission REQUIRES the engine to be completely to operating temperature before the choke completely relaxes. At the first stop sign, choke was completely off, engine stalled, and would not restart as the choke was completely off. Wife walked home. Of course, when I got home, choke was completely closed, and engine started normally. The worst thing was I did not initially figure out the problem, and didn't fix it; figured just a fluke. Same thing happened the next day! That night, wife said fix it, or buy me a different car! That was a Friday. Saturday, after testing, fabricated a new choke stove and reinstalled the hot air choke cover. We put another 200,000 miles on that car!

As far as the Toyota versus the TransAm: never tried to run them at top speed, so don't know; neither one was awe-inspiring after maybe 80. The Toyota needed a sway bar, don't know what the T/A needed. The Toyota, with a full tank of gasoline, weighed about 2150. The TransAm, with a full tank of gasoline weighed about 3900. Before the turbo, I could spot the TransAm first second gears in the 1/4. After the turbo, could only spot the TransAm first gear. TransAm had a dogmatic transmission.

Modifications to the Toyota: 1967 (pre-smog, but same engine) cylinder head and distributor; plus someone ;) breathed on the carburetor. 4-speed was swapped out for a 5-speed, but gear ratios were the same, except for the 5th gear overdrive. This was purchased before I was bit by the "buy American" bug.

I don't care what the magazines said; we had both cars.

EDIT: had a telephone call, and quit before finishing. I don't know enough about torque converters and automatic transmissions to know why the newer automatics don't require the long warm-ups like the old ones did. Have had LOTS of customers of older cars in the last 25 years that didn't want to repair the heat tube in the intake manifold exhaust cross-over, put on an electric choke, and basically made the car not driveable until it warmed up. I used to tell customers to either fix it right, or go back in the house AFTER starting the car, and drink a second (maybe a third) cup of coffee. Once the engine is to normal operating temperature, no problem. Had my wife known to pump the footfeed several times and then start the car at half throttle, it would have worked; but she didn't know that. Personally, on my own drivers, I replace ALL automatic chokes AND automatic transmissions with manual ones.

Jon

In 1968 I traded my "shade tree built" '62 Tempest, 389, 400 turbo, 55 chebby rear end for a 1957 Bonneville Convertible (fuel injection had been removed).
6 months later I traded back. A year later I pulled the engine/tranny and sent the Tempest to the junk yard. :(

never heard of choke operation that way where the transmission? requires a certain temp to pull off the choke. GM service manuals state the choke should pull off completely in just a few minutes, has nothing to do with the transmission. i have a factory electric choke on my 81 turbo TA & it pulls off within the specified time of about 2-3 minutes & runs perfectly fine when its pulled off in that time in any ambient temps, especially in warmer temps.
i also have a converted electric choke on my cliff built 78 Q-jet on a 500+hp stroker engine with auto trans that operates the same way, pulls off in a few minutes way before full engine temp & runs great. actually the electric choke cars function much better than the original hot air choke on my 78 TA with a cliff built carb.

as for the toyota vs T/A, i dont doubt your experience with them, but something wasnt right in the T/A if a toyota that runs 20 sec quarter mile times was beating a turbo'd 301 that bad. doesnt have to be max speed, every spec of the 2 cars shows a turbo 301 in stock form being faster than the toyota. yes the toyota is lighter but the added HP & TQ of the t/a more than made up for the weight differences. was just curious, but every car is different with lots of variables so i believe what you said for those 2 cars at that time.

Back in the early 80s when electric chokes were becoming commonplace there were growing pains, one being as Jon has mentioned the choke opening at a quick rate that the car would stall.

I had run across a local mechanic that came up with a easy cheap way to fix that problem. He used a chrysler ballast resistor inline to the choke heat wire to slow it down. It worked quite well to keep the choke from opening too quickly, and leaning out the mixture too fast. It may not be the answer to everyone's electric choke problem, but it worked well back in the day on the then, new cars.

:2cents:

in my experiences with elect or hot air chokes, they are adjustable, you can adjust them to determine how long before they fully open... if its opening too fast it can be adjusted to stay on longer, or vice versa to open faster.

i dont doubt there can be variables & growing pains with each car, but for the most part i have never had problems with electric chokes, factory or converted. i also live in the midwest where we have pretty extreme seasonal changes in temps, once adjusted right, the electric choke cars run great in any temps up until it snows when i put them away for winter.

Taking the Auto trade as my Job. Yes it had it's benefits, but buying your own tools to the tune of at least 50g, putting up with stupid Engineers crap, then having to repair it in somebody else time frame, where they got the time from I don't know. I could have worked in the lumber industry for more money, less crap and no worries that somebody is gonna accuse you of not fixing something right, or crap goes wrong and you get to fix it for free. I did earn a living but it has taken a toll on my body and mind. A few more years to go.

This occurred almost 50 years ago. Aftermarket electric chokes were NOT adjustable (unless one fabricated a variable voltage source) at this time. Most were completely off in less than 1 minute. Guess I should have given a time-frame.

Jon

wasnt aware of any electric chokes at least on GM cars 50 years ago, they didnt come out until around 1980 or 81, all previous years were hot air. aftermarket may be different but the factory hot air or electric chokes were adjustable, at the coil itself & for the flapper by tweaking the arm. GM manuals describe the adjustments.

After working on cars for a living most of my adult life, and being told by my father (also a mechanic most of his adult life) to learn most any trade but "auto mechanics", I couldn't agree with your sentiment more.

When my father tried unsuccessfully to dissuade me from making my living being a wrench turner, I'll never forget his words. "To be a successful mechanic you have to be fairly proficient at many trades, but you'll never be paid as much as any of those trades are". The older I got, the smarter he was....;) Of course just out of high school, and Vo Tech, he was as dumb as a box of rocks, until I walked in his shoes, the further i walked the more his advice kept coming back to me............:D

Funny how that works out.....;)

I've never met a mechanic that actually likes cars - what is your secret!

1) I am an Engineer, 39 years in the game.

2) Last count I had 12 tool boxes (in my garage and workshop downstairs).
About 50% Snap-on stuff and 25% smaller Harbor Freight boxes, (7 drawer end cabinets, (as they are easier to organize in my workshop). The rest were older Sears chests.

3) I did the Mechanic job in my Uncles Pontiac Dealership for a few years and went back to the University for an advanced degree.

Several years working for Holley Carburetor and 39 years for the FOMOCO
guys. I did the 24 hour shift work in the Emissions/F.E. organization as my first job there. Threw 50 lb bags of shot (weight) to set the correct weight for EPA testing prior to shipping the vehicle to EPA's test site.

Did the traveling deal living out of Motel rooms another 8 years as a Truck Test Engineer. Testing was all over the USA.

Did the Advanced Engineering work for 6 years. Lots of travel to different test tracks and wind tunnels. Again living out of motel rooms or Company owned condos.

Research was nice as I was finally able to be with my family. But I have always been a hardware guy.

So you could have made more money working for the Lumber guys vs the Mechanic job. Why didn't you leave???

Always interested in why people stayed in the same job for years even though they hated the work. Care to explain????

Tom V.

Never ever made an automotive mistake.

Really. :)

I made lots of mistakes over the years, Bart. If you haven't made a mistake how can you learn anything vs "Book Knowledge". I am surprised to see you post that. I made my share of mistakes on my own vehicles. Never made mistakes on customers vehicles as I had experts watching over me.

What kinds of mistakes are you referring to: Starting the engine with no oil in it.
I did make a SALES mistake one time. Sold a Pontiac buddy a Crane camshaft.
New in the box 744 High lift camshaft.

He was trying to install it and it was not working out. Turns out the camshaft machinist apparently was going home
and the next shift guy grabbed the cam and put it in a shipping box without the cam keyway being machined.

So I brought him a second camshaft and he installed it. Worked great in his 65 Tri-Power GTO.

So I guess you could be correct that I have made automotive mistakes. Automotive being a large general topic.

Tom V.

...

Not going to Blame Engineers, just something that comes up when doing our line of work, why did they do it like that. But ya my brother worked in Lumber industry for 40 years, made 5 bucks an hour more than me. He did not have a trade, nor did he have 50g in tools that he had to pay for. But to start over again in the middle or close to the end of my career life span was not really an option.

Life in the beginning was good, so never thought about moving into something else. By time it got bad it was too late to really gain anything, start at the bottom, no holidays, last on holiday list etc. Now I'm too old to go anywhere, 60 this year and just had Heart surgery so must wait out my time and maybe start picking my jobs. Things are getting tougher in the trade, nobody wants to pay to figure out what is going on in the vehicle. Nice to have this as a Hobby but as a career it's Tough to earn an Honest dollar. In Dealership life the Warranty flat rate system is not really that great.
But this is just my opinion.

I was changing the oil on my Firebird 400. I was going through a divorce at the time. The wife was there packing her things. I happened to see a new "tramp stamp" on her when she bent over to pick something up. That rattled my mind. I finished with everything and started the car, and after 10 seconds there was no oil pressure. There was a pond of oil under the car. The oil filter was put on with the old seal still stuck to the block. At least there was no damage done, unless you're counting mentally!

Off topic but......Again, I greatly admire people that hang in there on their jobs.
Sounds like the Heart Surgery went well and I hope you have a quick recovery.

I have done stupid stuff in my life on my car but fortunately never got hurt by it on my 64 GTO.

I had a pressure plate fail and the engine would not drive the trans properly.
I was not married yet. There was a Home Depot/Lowes type store with-in 100 yards of the place where to car was parked.

So I had my GTO jack and I raised up the car enough to see the problem.
So I went to the store and bought 16 concrete blocks like used on a house foundation. I raised up the front of the car slowly
one block at a time and then did the rear of the car. (All with a car jack.)

I got the car high enough that I could work under the car and drop the trans on my chest after removing the driveshaft.
Then I removed the Lakewood and the Clutch parts.

I had my future wife take me to a auto parts store and bought a new clutch/pressure plate.

About 1/2 way thru the reinstallation, (Lakewood was back on), a Mall "Rent a Cop came by and asked what I was doing.
I told him I had a part fail and I replaced the part and would be done in a couple of hours.

So in two hours he came back, as I raised the car slightly we removed a block at a time on the front and a block at a time
on the rear. Eventually it was back on the pavement on the times again.

At that time I had no clue how weak and dangerous the concrete blocks were.
So I admit to doing stupid stuff, not at work but in this case on my own vehicle.

So that is my story BART for this thread. I use wooden stands like you do now Bart.

Tom V.

I have made some great automotive mistakes! I am going to keep my comments and stories on the lighter side.

One of the crazier mistakes involved a Pontiac, my brother, myself, and a bunch of classmates I went to school with that now are Engineers at John Deere, Caterpillar, New Holland, Xmart, Ariens, and several other well know companies, a couple were civil engineers also. The mistake was a kill switch on a remote control car. Not a small kids car, a 1980s Pontiac Bonneville wagon. Several guys chipped in and bought it. After finals, my classmate’s got together and worked on that 80s station wagon making it remote control to do a controlled jumped out in the middle of a farm field. It was just for fun to see how far we could get it to jump with a 1/4 mile run way.

It sounds crazy when I think of it now, a bunch of engineering students blowing off stress from school, i have no idea who thought it up originally. We did some tests and thought everything was ready to go. But on pass #1 the car spun out and did a donut, and took off full throttle in the wrong direction. I was driving a 4x4 with the guy running the remote control riding with me, he tried getting it under control, but didn’t have any luck. The kill switch didn’t work, it was a cord connected to the chase vehicle. We had to run the car down to stop it. I dove the 4x4 in front of the Bonneville and slowly let the car hit the back bumper and applied the brakes, probably hitting 30 mph by that time. The car was rapidly gaining speed. Luckily this was all before youtube! I think there were about 10 engineers with me that day. Everyone was kind of wiped out from finals and class projects. Someone overlooked hooking up the kill switch! Next pass with everything ready, we lined it back up, then right before the ramp it hit some mud, spun to the left and hit a tree! That Bonneville was possessed! What can I say…mistakes were made! :)

Went racing and took the air filter off to go faster. Left the shorty carb stud in.
It rattled out and down the carb at 100 mph.
Grenaded my new expensive engine.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Here is an automotive mistake I see over and over again made by others, and one I totally learned the hard way. That is exhaust systems that end right at the back axle. We ran one for years, no issues, and did not think anything of it. We had the car for along time, little did we know the seals on the gas tank and rubber hose on the vents were getting older and apparently not doing their job as well. A needle and seat stuck on it’s holley carb, the engine back fired… then the gas tank caught on fire. Luckily we carried a big fired extinguisher! It ended up not hurting anything, but scary does not come close to describing that.

First hot rod the 409 impala-put clutch disc in backwards rubbed the crap out of the flywheel bolts!. Cam swap did not exactly line the gear dots as did not know how to rotate crank but thought we had it exactly just one tooth rotation from lining up . Popped and farted, blued the nice newly chromed headers firing out with the exhaust valve open.

My 1984 and 1986 305 Caprices with Q-Jet had an electric choke and a 700R4 trans. Never had an issue with either of them with a cold start and initial takeoff.

My 1972 Chevy C20 with 402, TH400, Q-Jet with the divorced choke goes right into drive and takes right off once the engine has built up normal oil pressure.

Same with my 1976 LeMans with the Q-Jet, hot air choke and TH400.

Lol
 

never had chokes on any of my performance cars. didnt like em and had no problem working the throttle till all is warm.

had a new 301 non turbo TA. still dont like thinking about it, zero power got out ran bad by a friends piece of junk el camino with a poor running 350. that moment I knew the TA was goin away. moved to a original 1969 RA3 4SPD judge and became a hero.

would love to buy a 1980 TA turbo car, put a pontiac 400 with a turbo charger on it and have a "real" pontiac turbo TA. avenge my pain!

stuck with my 42.5 year aircraft factory job because it paid great with great benefits. no college so it was the best job around then. once married and having a family, no luxury to risk moving to something I may like better as needed the pay scale where it was at. yep, nvr really liked it but still had job appreciation.

cinder block story scary. awhile back a fella did that and cost him his life.

I have changed oil, dbbl seal and leak, also backed off the ramps with dry engine. dad freaked out.

amazing how threads/e mails are mis-interpreted. makes for great humor. seems only moderators can "provoke". I once chided about football and got a pm threating to ban me. lol

I've made many over the years but a few regrets still linger. Selling m 67 Ram Air GTO during the 70's gas crisis for a mere pittance. Not purchasing a really nice 62 SD Grand Prix for $2500 back in 73.

Judge,
I test drove a new 81 turbo, off the lot. Mostly because it was the color I wanted my 77 to be, silver. That turned out in my favor. We all know that most all silver colors essentially fell off of cars Around that time, revealing primer and shortly after....,rust.

When I went on the test drive, the car was nearly empty on gas, so I offered up $5.00 of my own money for the drive, salesman didn't argue. I drove it about 10-15 miles. Got it up to operating temp. I gave it 3-4 full throttle stomps from about 25 MPH. It had NOTHING!!! It sure looked nice though...

still cracks me up I still feel pain having had that car. Please 1980-81 TA guys, no slight to you intended. the cars were still incredibly cool looking at least.

sigh, heres the brief painfull story though: I had my dad take me up because there were 6 or 8 used 1977-78 Trans Ams I wanted to look at. wanted a 77 or 78. it literally was not until we got to the dealer dad said "gonna spend that much you may as well buy a new one". I was 18, he was guiding me away from the 400 engine cars, I didnt know it but i'm sure he did. he had the power being the co signer.

anyhoot, sadly, love pontiacs, but that was the worst car I ever owned. cool looking but thats it.

When I was 20 I blew the rearend in my '65 chevy P/U.. a week later I blew the rearend in my '59 Impala. A friend of the family offered to buy the Impala so I sold it to him as I didn't have anything to drive to work the next day. Later that day I bought a '75 Caprice so I could get to work. Young and dumb.....

I rebuilt several engines over the years. I would always have my local machine shop install the crank and main seal, and I would do the rest. Once the long block and heads were installed, I would use an oil pump primer rod to pump oil through the oil passages. I would rotate the crank a few degrees, then run the oil pump for about 15 seconds seconds, then repeat. I would do this until I saw oil coming out of all of the rocker arms.

On one engine, I had one rocker arm that wasn't getting oil. I took the rocker arm off, confirmed the push rod wasn't bent or clogged, and spun the oil pump again. No oil was coming out of the lifter. I took the lifter out, looked directly into the lifter bore, and had a friend hit the trigger on the drill. A solid stream of oil hit me right between the eyes. I ended up going to the emergency room over that. I finally went back to the parts store and got a new lifter.

“They‘ll never notice!” Yikes!

My first blend job! Looked liked it was sealed.

Dumbest non-purchase mistake. Test driving a 1970 Superbird, 440 6 BBL. not buying it because it was a cheap, pile of junk, poor fitting, rattle trap. Along with running lousy and being slow! Seller wouldn't take a penny less than $1500.00 for it. Yikkkess!!!! Orange, black bench seat interior, auto on column, good body, paint. Tiny bit of rust along the edges. Who Knew??

Rebuilt the original 400 engine in a.72.GTO post and installed the distributor 180 degrees out. Took.us a.day to.figure it out.
Twisted the oil drain plug the wrong direction on a girlfriends.Dodge D 50 pickup the wrong way and.tore.the oil.pan.
Sheared a few.small bolts off by over torquing on dirt bikes. The early days in training of a shade tree mechanic.