Car pics too cool not to share

[Squatch]

I know a guy who did that with a motorcycle and forgot to go back and tighten it. When that plug vibrated out, and it did it in a hurry going down the road, well let's just say things got interesting. I think he shit himself.

It's one thing when someone makes a mistake, and/or is forgetful when working on something, but what about this?

There's a guy I used to work with who drove a '69 Fury III 4-door sedan. He bragged about having a "fully chromed engine". Well, I guess if rattle-can chrome counts, then yes, he had a fully-chromed engine. Same guy went to install an aftermarket pop-up sunroof in that same car. Problem is, he cut the hole in the roof the same size as the outer trim. He had to drive around with a hole in the roof until he could locate a bigger sunroof to install. And finally, he was heard telling another coworker that he only buys his timing chains from the wrecking yard, because they're so much easier to install than the new ones from the store. Said it was worth it, even though he had to change the chain out about every year, to year and a half.

Some people's kids...

 

[Wildman]

My WORST mistake when I was a heavy line mechanic was working for Russ Dean Ford in Pasco, WA & had come in on a Saturday to finish off this service truck that I was installing new gears into. I was all happy and thought I was doing great. It was a Dana 80 and I'd installed a Detroit locker plus 4.88 gears. So I'd wrapped up the install on Saturday and went home all happy. Now I lived about 75-80 minutes away from work and while I was happy that I'd gotten this job done I was also pissed that I'd given up a Saturday. So I come into to work on Monday ready to test drive the truck so I can write up the job & move onto the next job. I had to get my work done because I was leaving on Wednesday for Annual training in the Nat Guard. So I pull into work & hop into the truck for a test drive. I make it about 5 miles down the road before the truck goes into a skid and about throws me thru the windshield....
Yep I'd gotten into a hurry and had forgotten to put gear oil in the diff after the install. I got the gears so hot they couldn't be pounded out. The dealership had to order a complete new axle for the truck. And I wasn't there to replace it since I was gone for two weeks. I really thought I was going to come back from AT and be fired. I now hang a tag on the steering wheel telling me I need to check the oil in the diffs if I'm doing a gear swap.

 

[Squatch]

When I was eighteen, I worked at a brake and suspension shop in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Rebuilt the front brake calipers on a customer's car (back when it was cheaper to rebuild, than to replace). When I was done, we sent the customer on his way. Boss goes to lunch, and I'm still at the shop. Customer comes back in, complaining of a rattling sound from the driver's side. I put it up on the hoist, and realize that I had never tightened down the caliper mounting bolts. I quickly torqued 'em down, and proceeded to tell the customer that sometimes the caliper will get cocked at an angle, and that even though it was tightened down, once you apply the brakes enough times, it will settle into the proper position, and then it has too much clearance, and needs to be retightened again. Of course, it was a total bullshit "Cover My Ass" story, but the customer bought it, and left the shop satisfied with the "adjustment" I'd made. He was gone before the boss returned from lunch, and I conveniently forgot to ever mention it to my boss.

Hey, I was eighteen. Don't judge me!

 

[B1Toad]

We used to have "Econo Lube and Tune" here and one of my friends put long reach spark plugs into an engine that took short plugs and the pistons hit them and destroyed the engine. I can't remember if he got fired or not, that was over 30 years ago. I did have a shop forget to tighten my front lug nuts on an Olds Cutlass and I turned around and went right back and the mechanic accused me of loosening them up . I hadn't even gone a block and wouldn't have had time to loosen them anyway. Another time I was behind a pickup that had just pulled out of Brake Masters and made a right turn and both back wheels fell off, it took everything I had to miss hitting one.

 

[Squatch]

I did this on a '71 Corvette at the same shop. I had mistakenly crossed (reversed) the power steering lines. In my defense, it was my boss who had removed them. I was guilty of assuming how they went back together, though. If you're unfamiliar with what happens when you cross the lines, here's an example.

*It scared the hell out of me, thinking of what would have happened had I reached through the steering wheeel to start it, rather than going around the wheel, like I did...

 

[reddvltj]

I did this on a '71 Corvette at the same shop. I had mistakenly crossed (reversed) the power steering lines. In my defense, it was my boss who had removed them. I was guilty of assuming how they went back together, though. If you're unfamiliar with what happens when you cross the lines, here's an example.

*It scared the hell out of me, thinking of what would have happened had I reached through the steering wheeel to start it, rather than going around the wheel, like I did...

IIRC there was a brand of Chrysler steering box that had an issue with a certain valve and if it went bad it would spin the steering wheel to the right steering lock as soon as you started the engine. The reason I remember that is, one of the instructors at UTI saw me starting the car. we were working on, with my arm through the wheel, that's when he told me about that particular steering box failure. He said "never trust a steering wheel" and it has stuck with me ever since, I never put my hands or arms through the wheel.

 

[BlueC]

And you guys call yourself mechanics. I've definitely never done anything like the above mentioned.

 

[Squatch]

And you guys call yourself mechanics. I've definitely never done anything like the above mentioned.

 

[Wildman]

Figure it should have a top speed of maybe 15 mph? If stock that is...

 

[Wildman]

@RINC I found your hauler....

And JUST for @Zorba

1949 studebaker ramp truck. 350 Chevy with 700r4 tranny. Air suspension on all four corners. Power disc brakes all around. Alcoa rims. New interior seats console backup camera steering column and gauges. New fuse panel and wiring throughout.
$40,000.00


Yahoo, is isn't a Lame Shit engine but a tried and true Chevy 350.

 

[Woodrow]

Anybody else here do that? Look at a vintage photo, or watch an old movie, and try to identify as many of the vehicles as you can? I do that nonsense a lot, and my wife hates it, especially when watching a movie.
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View attachment 407366

I do that. But not as well as you

 

[Zorba]

@RINC I found your hauler....

View attachment 407449

View attachment 407450


And JUST for @Zorba


View attachment 407451

View attachment 407452


View attachment 407453

View attachment 407454


1949 studebaker ramp truck. 350 Chevy with 700r4 tranny. Air suspension on all four corners. Power disc brakes all around. Alcoa rims. New interior seats console backup camera steering column and gauges. New fuse panel and wiring throughout.
$40,000.00


Yahoo, is isn't a Lame Shit engine but a tried and true Chevy 350.

That screen bullshit is easy to fix...

 

[Woodrow]

And you guys call yourself mechanics. I've definitely never done anything like the above mentioned.

I have never had an actual mechanic job, but my first real job at 16 was at a 10 minute oil change on 8 mile in Detroit (yes, that 8 mile, but years before Eminem made it famous). Anyhow, I sent a customer out with a double gasket on her oil filter (I realized it looking at the used filter with no gasket after the car was gone). I was so worried she‘d dump all the oil and kill the motor. It was right at closing and way before cell phones. I had to find her info on the shop’s intake paper work and call her after she made it home. I bought some oil and took my own tools and fixed my screw up in her carport that evening. The story seems weird now, but she wasn’t mad and I was so relieved. These days, working in my own garage is much less stressful. When I mess up, no one but me is effected and its just another chance to learn

 

[Squatch]

I have never had an actual mechanic job, but my first real job at 16 was at a 10 minute oil change on 8 mile in Detroit (yes, that 8 mile, but years before Eminem made it famous). Anyhow, I sent a customer out with a double gasket on her oil filter (I realized it looking at the used filter with no gasket after the car was gone). I was so worried she‘d dump all the oil and kill the motor. It was right at closing and way before cell phones. I had to find her info on the shop’s intake paper work and call her after she made it home. I bought some oil and took my own tools and fixed my screw up in her carport that evening. The story seems weird now, but she wasn’t mad and I was so relieved. These days, working in my own garage is much less stressful. When I mess up, no one but me is effected and its just another chance to learn

Awesome story, brother. Good on ya!

I worked at Morris, Ford in Balston Spa, New York when I was 20 years old, or so. A black CJ with a 304 V8 came in, and I was to do an oil-change on it before it was to be put out on the lot in the Used Car section. The Parts Department gave me the oil filter, and I did the oil change. When I went to fire it up, I watched the oil pressure gauge jump up to pressure, and then immediately drop. I shut it off, and stepped out of the vehicle, and into a pool of oil. Seems that the Parts Department had given me the wrong filter, and I didn't catch it. When I removed the new filter, it became apparent that the O-ring was just different enough in size to be useless as a seal. I spent the next half hour cleaning up the mess.

Lesson learned.

 

[BlueC]

These stories reminded me of my first day as a trailer mechanic when I was about 19. It was my first day on the job, maybe first hour, and a guy not much older than I was showing me how to change air spring chambers. For safety reasons, their process was to destroy the spring with a torch before removing it from the tractor or trailer. So we were out in the middle of a gravel lot with a torch melting a spring under a trailer. He was doing the work, explaining this and that, when all of a sudden the mound of grease around the brakes caught fire. He first tried blowing it out. Then he threw his big taco bell cup on it, which seemed to piss it off. At this point it's been maybe 20-30 seconds, but the whole back side of this drum is on fire, and it was getting bigger, just like his eyes. In a real big hurry, he tried to tell me where to find a fire extinguisher, probably 100 yards away, which turned out to not be there. I did manage to find a bucket of some dirty shop water that I got out there. We got that fire out with minimal damage, but I think he had to talk to Jesus for a minute to calm down. I'm pretty sure he thought he was about to make the news setting a lot full of trailers on fire. At the end of all of that I learned the importance of melting those springs and to know where the fire extinguisher is.

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

View attachment 407369

looks like 84 Lumber (based in Eighty Four Pennsylvania) doesn't want to run out of lumber.

I was going to mention that the Wikipedia article claims the business constantly grew, which is probably true but the one 2 miles from my house as well as a larger yard about 30 miles away both closed some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s and really bummed me out.

Seeing this bit from Wikipedia changed my thoughts and had I already known this I wouldn't have bothered mentioning 84 Lumber at all:

"In 2017, 84 Lumber broadcast its first-ever Super Bowl ad, "The Journey", during Super Bowl LI. The advertisement chronicled the visibly arduous journey of a mother and daughter migrating from Mexico to the United States, to be then blocked by a border wall.[15][16][17] The ad was controversial even before its premiere; prior to the game, Super Bowl LI's broadcaster Fox rejected a version of the ad that contained the border wall scene, as they felt the imagery was too politically sensitive (newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump promised the construction of a wall along the entire Mexico–United States border)."

 

[Squatch]

looks like 84 Lumber (based in Eighty Four Pennsylvania) doesn't want to run out of lumber.

I was going to mention that the Wikipedia article claims the business constantly grew, which is probably true but the one 2 miles from my house as well as a larger yard about 30 miles away both closed some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s and really bummed me out.

Seeing this bit from Wikipedia changed my thoughts and had I already known this I wouldn't have bothered mentioning 84 Lumber at all:

"In 2017, 84 Lumber broadcast its first-ever Super Bowl ad, "The Journey", during Super Bowl LI. The advertisement chronicled the visibly arduous journey of a mother and daughter migrating from Mexico to the United States, to be then blocked by a border wall.[15][16][17] The ad was controversial even before its premiere; prior to the game, Super Bowl LI's broadcaster Fox rejected a version of the ad that contained the border wall scene, as they felt the imagery was too politically sensitive (newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump promised the construction of a wall along the entire Mexico–United States border)."

That's wild! I had no idea. I just thought it was a cool pic, and more in line with what this thread started out as. Thanks for the added insight, my friend. That was an unexpected bonus!

 

[Zorba]

looks like 84 Lumber (based in Eighty Four Pennsylvania) doesn't want to run out of lumber.

I was going to mention that the Wikipedia article claims the business constantly grew, which is probably true but the one 2 miles from my house as well as a larger yard about 30 miles away both closed some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s and really bummed me out.

Seeing this bit from Wikipedia changed my thoughts and had I already known this I wouldn't have bothered mentioning 84 Lumber at all:

"In 2017, 84 Lumber broadcast its first-ever Super Bowl ad, "The Journey", during Super Bowl LI. The advertisement chronicled the visibly arduous journey of a mother and daughter migrating from Mexico to the United States, to be then blocked by a border wall.[15][16][17] The ad was controversial even before its premiere; prior to the game, Super Bowl LI's broadcaster Fox rejected a version of the ad that contained the border wall scene, as they felt the imagery was too politically sensitive (newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump promised the construction of a wall along the entire Mexico–United States border)."

I had thought 84 lumber went out of business totally years ago - like you, we had one nearby that quietly closed up about the same time as yours (In Commiefornia). But there's one here in Florida fairly close to me. Haven't been in it as yet. They *did* have the reputation back in the day for sub-standard lumber, I dunno if that's still true or not.

 

[OHFIVETJ]

.................The other toy.

 

[BlueC]

.................The other toy.

View attachment 407541

I see a '68 or '69 (I can't see the door handles) with a big block hood. It looks good. I also see aftermarket grills, which leads me to think it might not be a "numbers car", so it may or may not be a big block car. What do you have here?