What have you done thats really sucked!!!

[Desert Rat]

heres a couple i remember well
1.at night swapping distributors in truck in the rain,using a small maglight held in my mouth and dropping the clamp bolt down the dist hole that sucked,needed truck for next morning.

picture this one 283 all clean and painted on garage floor, awaiting to go into the 62 Chevy-hadnt bolted the Performer on yet,carrying a bag of kitty litter lifted up over motor and bottom of bag blew out,all kitty litter YES into the motor,i was so pissed i kicked that MutherTruckin motor over,never made it into the 62 i sold it as a package deal with a few other 283's i had.

3.Sitting in parking lot at Goodwill truck wouldnt start,or do anything,at night.i tried everything called my dad for advise,nothing worked,got pissed slammed the shifter handle on column,one last try IT STARTS!!!!wasnt in park all the way!!!!I felt like a FOOL(Never admitted the problem)hope your not reading this dad!!

4.Had a 70 Short Step with 327 2bbl.ran like a top,but i wanted a 4bbl,Dad said dont screw with it well i bolted on that 4bbl intake and Holley-it never ran good again!!!!HE will still say-I told you so!!!Never ran good again,got poor mileage,i was always under the hood and so was he(listen to your father-sometimes he does know best)

5.Was mad at wife one time got in my 80 Dodge Mirada reved that slant6 as high as i could threw it in reverse(hoping to squeal tires)BANG killed tranny,than got pissed got out and threw a brick at the windhield!!!Gained nothing-but i was only 18-19 ive learned alot in last 11 years,dont take anger out on something that hits your pocketbook,and listen to your parents chances are theyve been there before!!!!

Ive done countless other things some i cant remember,some i chose not to,or to dumbassed to share.

Oh how about the one where my wife and i were playing with the new digi cam,taking some x rated ones,and i sent the wrong picture to a fellow board member,it wasnt the part picture requested,but definently a shocker-suprised that one hasnt surfaced!!!or has it???probably deleted it as soon as he opened probably illegal in his parts!!!LOL

[nosurf]

LMAO!!!!

[LeRoy]

I've done many but this is the latest. Decided a new after market temp guage would be cool. So I put it in. Then while I was at it, heck why not an electric fan. So in it goes. I fired the rig up and sat waiting for the fan to kick on. All cool but the temp keeps rising. I'm thinking what the hell? Not enough fan? Thermostat stuck? Bad temp guage? Truck hits 230 and I shut it off. Dieseling and all. Then it hits me. How much coolant did I lose when changing out the temp. Sender, in the side of the block? Too much obviously. Duh!!!!! Fill it back up and all is cool. Good thing, I don't have aluminum heads. LOL

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MOUNT VERNON, WASH. STATE
GOT MY BASES COVERED
-Big and bad 70 CST Blazer
-71 K5 Blazer, 350, 4spd, 2" lift, 35" BFG mudders, Camo,
-Work in progress 72 SWB
-72 Cheyenne, lwb, 1/2 ton, 4x4, V8, 4spd.
-71, 3/4 ton, 402/400, Custom Camper
-69, 2wd, ST6, auto, ghetto lowered, 3/4 ton, LWB, "BOMBER"
-69 Chev., lwb, utility trailer, 35" tires,
Add or Delete Daily

[COBALT]

This happened a couple of months ago:

I was checking the rear wheels on my '69 C20 for play in the differential locker. I had the truck up on jacks, and I had the brake off and the truck in neutral. After spinning the back tires I went off to do something else...forgot to set the brake, or put the truck back in park! Novice mistake.

Later I dropped the back and pulled the jack stands, and went to drop the front. Since my driveway slopes downhill from the garage to a VERY busy street as soon as I jacked the front clear of the jack stands the truck AND the jack itself started rolling away from the garage! OH SH!T. There I was like an idiot holding onto the jack handle and the front bumper trying to keep the truck from rolling ass first out of the driveway...

...I managed to get the wheels on the jack pivoted perpendicular with the heal of my boot, and ran around like a jackass, and jammed the e-brake down.

I cussed myself out for an hour after that. Drank a cup of coffee, and took it easy for a minute pondering my stupidity.

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'69 3/4 ton C20 2wd w/ 350ci/400THM and a wood bed!
'69 3/4 ton Custom 20 2wd w/ ORIGINAL 350ci/4sp Manual and a wood bed (parts beast).
Seattle, WA.

*See pics of my trucks and project at www.webshots.com!

[Spoof]

I once changed the oil on my truck...actually I didn't change it, I just removed every last drop and neglected to fill it back up before I started it up again.
Damn whats that clattering noise! Oh yeah....!

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71 GMC 2500 Custom Camper
71 GMC Suburban 1500 Super Custom
71 Chevrolet 1500 Donor
http://www.able-bravo.com

[COBALT]

OUCH. Did you seize the motor?

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'69 3/4 ton C20 2wd w/ 350ci/400THM and a wood bed!
'69 3/4 ton Custom 20 2wd w/ ORIGINAL 350ci/4sp Manual and a wood bed (parts beast).
Seattle, WA.

*See pics of my trucks and project at www.webshots.com!

[O'l Buck]

I onced had a 77 F@%d F-150 4X4 with 390 4spd that I just used for a hunting rig. My best friend and I were shooting prairre dogs out of it and decided maybe the farm pond was low enough to drive through. I backed up about 10 yards, dropped the clutch in 2nd and hit the pond at about 30mph, wide open throttle, made it about 15 feet before the front end sank in the mud, the holley filled with water, killed the engine. had to crawl out the back window onto the flatbed and jump for shore, pulled the pickup out with the loader tractor, took about 2 hours, ripped the back bumper off, bent the frame, etc, etc, dried the motor out, started it, ran a garden hose under the hood for 4 hours to wash all the mud that was packed around the engine off. Kinda destructive, but hey, what else is a Ford good for??

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'72 Chevy 1/2T 4x4 shortbox stepside 350/350auto on '84
ralleys and 31/10.5s

67 Cutlass convertible
330, 3spd stick

90 GMC Jimmy
350/auto
Chad Stephens
Orleans,NE

[Mixup]

I was putting the motor back in my truck. It was on the engine stand and I hooked the hoist up to it. when I took the last bolt out of the engine stand the hoist tipped over and the engine hit the ground. I forgot to extend the legs on the hoist. So it cost me an oil pan and lower pully.

[TC70C10]

Here's one I don't recommend.

Dropped in a new engine in my 70 C-10 about 4 years ago at my buddies body shop. Before installing I put all of the usual new parts on (fuel pump, water pump, motor mounts etc.) After everything was buttoned up, I put on new battery cables. Started it up in the shop for a few minutes and all was fine. Had a couple of beers with my buddy and headed to the house about 10. Got about 3 miles from the shop and the headlights and dashlights flickered and the engine sputtered. Cab filled up with nasty smoke and in a few seconds all lights were out and the engine dies going up a small hill on a 4 lane road. Manage to get it off to the side avoiding a 3 foot ditch. Turned out the positive cable from battery to starter rubbed up against exhaust pipe, melted, then shorted out. Me and my buddy got to walk about 3 miles to get his car. Fortunately I did not damage the engine, battery or starter.

[COBALT]

Lucky. Usually that ends up as an expensive fix (holes burned in the exhaust and everything).

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'69 3/4 ton C20 2wd w/ 350ci/400THM and a wood bed!
'69 3/4 ton Custom 20 2wd w/ ORIGINAL 350ci/4sp Manual and a wood bed (parts beast).
Seattle, WA.

*See pics of my trucks and project at www.webshots.com!

[68 Stepside]

Hmmm...where should I start?

1. I was out in my 77 monte carlo one night, out in the middle of nowhere, drinking....(stupid). Well, my throttle cable broke, and I wasn't about to go up to a house and call for help...it just so happened I had a roll of clothesline in the trunk (was gonna put it up the next day), so I took a piece, cut it off, tied it to the carb, ran it under the hood, and through the drivers side window....it was pouring rain, and like 40 degrees...and I didn't have good heat. Talk about a pain...had to roll about 5 miles home in the pouring rain with the window down, and with no wipers b/c they'd get hung up on the cable....what a night.

2. I was out in my next car, an 87 Audi 4000S, and the left side of the plastic front bumper cover kept falling off on the way home...well, the last time it fell off, I was only about a mile from home, so I said forget it, it can drag for a mile...no problem....got about another 1/4 mile...and CRUNCH...it fell off completely and I ran it over....grrrr....on top of that, it ripped what was left of the exhaust off too.

3. next...my 84 Ranger (I know)....it needed a cam..no biggie, had to jack the engine up a little, and remove the hood latch...SNAP, both of the bolts broke right off. Great...got the new cam in, and took it out for a test run....going along, everything is ok...then suddenly...BOOM...the hood came up, bent the cowl,and busted the windshield....I forgot to fix the hood latch before I took the truck out...LOL

4. Next....my 66 3/4 ton....Kinda the same situation...Bought it for 200 bucks, no floors, no rockers, no corners, no cab mounts, and a bungee cord to hold the hood down (hey, I needed a daily beater to get me around town).....popped the hood before I left the place that I picked it up...and filled the brake fluid, b/c it had a slow leak , and I forgot to hook the bungee cord back to the hood....about a mile from home...BLAM...there goes the hood....dented it up, and broke both of the hinges, but I closed it, hooked the bungee cord back up, and drove it home...no biggie...lol

5. In my 85 monte carlo...out cruisin' and boozin' one night...just got back into town, but was still about 3/4 of a mile from home...and the car just died....couldn't figure it out b/c I was stupid drunk....I assume I pushed the car home, b/c I woke up the next morning and it was in the driveway, so I popped the hood, and lo and behold...the coil wire fell off....

That's about all I can recall for now....glad I don't drink much anymore, I did some crazy stuff...we won't talk about the crazy driving stunts I used to pull....glad I've outgrown it.

68

[>X<]

the day i got my truck my dad picked t up and drove to teh bus stop t pick me up(i was a sophomore)at east ten of my friends followd the bus home to see my truck. i had told them all how loud it was. it has an old b&m shifter and it has to be n park, but a litle bak, to really be in park, so i went to crank i up in front of everyone in the front of my subdivision an it wuldnt start, wouldnt make a sound, we ended up towing it home thinking th battery was bad, when all teh time i just had to move the shifter, the f*rd guys never let me live it down

[oldiron]

I was working on the race car forgot I had it in first gear and the key on. I was setting the dwell and gave the engine a bump with the remote starter button and the stupid thing fired up at full throttle with me mounted on top of the engine going for a ride thru the pits. I grabbed the coil wire and yanked it from the coil. Lucky no one was in front of me. Scared the H out of me.

[67c-20]

me and my dad were pulling home a 57 chevy wagon parts car one time with a u-haul dolly. things were going good until the right rear wheel came off the wagon and smashed into a mail box post holding up 15 mailboxs. mail went everywhere in the snow no less. it helps if you check to see if the lug nuts are all there and tight before you tow. the left rear wheel only had two lug nuts!!! had to fix the mail box post in knee high snow the next day.

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67 k-20 w/327 and a 3speed and 4.57 rear with 17 inch split rims and 9 inch wide rubber(is my current project)

73 blazer 6 inch all spring lift 350/350 with crappy 3.08 gears and 35 inch bfg tires

54 chevy delray .060 over 250 i-6 which was taken from my first truck(68 gmc)

[Desert Rat]

One i wish i was their for at my stepfather and brothers recent experience-i got a lead on a FREE 350 motor,they went and got it,on the back of his little flatbed trailer,well they strapped it down with a pull strap and one ratchet strap,made it most of the way home about 25mph around the s-snake curve in the road-stepdad looked in mirror OH SH*T,F*ck,GodD*mn,this is from my brothers mouth,i could picture how my stepda was yelling-youd have to know to understand.My brother looked out the back said he saw this motor bounce about 5 feet in the ait off the road,and slam back down and roll a bunch of times,it was in the middle of a fairly busy area,said my stepdad threw that truck in reverse backed up to it and they both picked it up,and put it back on the trailer-musta had some adreniline working with them.I woulda left it!!!!!!!
Then when they were pulling in the driveway after this,trying to back in-the balljoint BROKE on his truck-and wheel was crammed in fenderwell,he tried everything-eneded up calling a Buddy with a wrecker-What a day-i laugh everythime i think bout it!!!!I dont bring it up to him-unless were really drunk and happy!!!!

[StingRay]

I was 18 the first time I ever tore down and put back together an engine. It was a 350 from my 71 Chevelle. I got a Melling high volume pump for it and the instructions said to use the same bolt to hold it to the main cap. I read it about 6 times after looking at that bolt thinking it's not long enough for that. Oh well they know what they are talking about. Installed it and torqued it to spec......tore the the rear main cap apart. Had to tear everthing apart, get another cap, line bore it and put it all back together(with a longer bolt). They didn't know what they were talking about.

Or the time about 6 years ago I was prepping a car for paint and had spent an entire day reviving the plastic rear bumper on it. Was up real late too. Got up early the next day and went to start the car to move it from the garage, reached in yup it's in neutral....and cranked it over(I was outside the car). NOT in neutral, was in reverse. The car backed into the work bench, over my sandblaster and my halogen work light. It ruined the back bumper. I ended up buying a new factory part for 300 bucks.

To all of the newbies to the hobby that seek advice know that the WISDOM you find here is because for lots of us WE'S BEEN DUMB and learned from it.

[This message has been edited by StingRay (edited April 02, 2002).]

[brennecke]

Changed the clutch in my wifes Geo, and was pretty pleased with myself. My dad and I put it all together, and let the ladies take it out for a drive. We sat around the garage laughing and cleaning up. about 15 minutes later the ladies come walking back up to the house. We didn't put any lugnuts on the front passenger tire! It came off around a corner and smashed the fender all to crap.

[>X<]

wen i sd working for a concrete company last summer we went back to teh shop one day and the othe rednecks that worked for that place told us that they picked up a refrigerator from a "dumpster" (probably meant stole it from truck at jobsite) and that it fell out of the truck o the interstate, they just left it they said. so we of course didnt believe them, until we heard on the radio ten minutes later thattraffic was backed up on I 10 from what looked like a refrigerator in the road according to the news chopper.Glad i wasnt part of that

[Big69C20 Toy]

Where to start... well here's a great one: Was off roading in my 3rd vehicle, an 85 s-10 blazer 4x4 that's got a 4.3 motor from a 95. anyways was off in the dirt coming off a trail spun the tires while in 2wd in the dirt then caught the pavement while the wheels were spinning. Front end jumped about 3 feet in the air with 4 guys in the truck and we were all laughin pretty good. Heading back home we were going down a main street in my town and all of a sudden i hear CLINK and i go SH!T and start pullin over.. Too late, the rear left axle and the tire etc flew off and went hi-tailin down the road. Truck slammed it's ass on the floor. That was a good one, me and 3 buds all stuck, had to call a tow of course and it was a Sat. night so all the kids from my HS saw me, that took a while to live down.

2. Same vehicle, small creek this time. I always go through this creek, rainin, dry whatever, there's always some water. Well it was a couple days after a light rain so the ground was moist but not muddy. I get the genious idea to drive upstreem since its shallow and looks like decent stuff to drive on. Woops... turned out to be silt and i hung the damn truck on the frame, couldnt get it loose. Ran the truck from 9pm to 430am in the water when we finally got it out after i had called every tow in town to try and find someone to come tug my ass since all my 4x4 buds were outa town. That one cost me a tranny, full engine flush and some other crap i think too.

There are many more stories, i just chose to block them out i think....

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69 Custom 20, 396BB,Longbed fleetside.
Just Installed Wood Bed... Gorgeous

Edelbrock performer RPM-O, Edelbrock 750Carb, Headers, HEI.

SN= Ares220

[JoetheMobster]

A buddy and I were pissed up, and crusin in his old Chev Nova. Well, we were heading to this waterfront park, but you had to park about 1 mile away, and walk. There were old railroad tracks going down, so hey, we were gassed up enough to drive down them. Keep in mind this is a car and not a truck we were in! Well, after starting, and all was well, we started to get bold, and go faster! Well, we ended up ripping the tranny right out of the car, clean! BANG, and there was a friggin hole right where the tranny had been. We, ended up walking!

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1970 GMC 1500, 350ci, 3 in a tree

http://members.tripod.com/~Jungleman_2/1970GMC.html

Vancouver, B.C.

[jku72]

I left the oilpump driveshaft out of my last engine I built, didn't realize it until it was in the car, bloted down, and every thing. I found it sitting on the bench, in a baggie, labled, neatly, .......
What other sins.....
Spent three days putting a trans in my cadillac, by myself, in the gravel drive, in bug infested area, only to not get enough oil in it and burnt it up instantly. That sucked. Then a couple of weeks later, scrape together enough money to buy another one, another three days in the gravel, bugs, dirt in my eyes, and this time I make sure the thing has plenty of oil. It did, but that did not change the fact I was ripped off, the thing had no reverse. I was 17 at the time, and had saved forever for that stupid used trans, what kind of dickhead rips off a 17 year old kid? Anyway, I drove with no reverse for a long time, that car was crushed finally last year. That car was the funnest, biggest piece of sh** that was ever made. 68 Cad convertible. RIP you rotten miserable ........

[bigjimzlll]

The most recent...decided to give my 283 a little more compression and H/P..took the stock heads off and replaced them with my 64cc fuellie heads...this has to give more comp? right...wrong.the stock heads turned out to be 60cc....

rebuilt my F%$D small block..i was 16..13 to 1 pop up pistons.... .600 lift 320 duration cam...and I had the heads milled just for that added compression...lol...you want to talk about some horriable noise...it destroyed everthing....did I mention I never once thought the valves would hit the pistons....lol

[busterwivell]

I LUV MY TRUCK, BUT........The gauges didn't work in my 71 1 Ton Longhorn when I bought it...well, the gas gauge worked......When my Grandma died, we were moving her stuff......I was buzzing down the freeway.......the little wisp of smoke I saw in the mirror kept gettin' worse. I didn't realize the belts were gone till it was too late. It gets worse!!!!!
I had a 402 buillt for my truck. When I picked it up, I told the guy who built it it didn't sound right, like it had a valve out? He said"don't judge and engine by an exhaust sound, it could be the exhaust." I drove down the freeway with it a couple weeks later, and it runs HOT (with the under dash gauges I installed) I tell him at 70/75 it is running 225/230. He changes the fan. Soon it is time for emissions test.....it fails miserably.......It gets worse......Three different times he works on it to try to get it thru.......no help. remember, he gave me a 24 month, 24K warranty. He finally pulled the motor and went thru it again......rings, bearings, etc. He puts it back in, and has it running in his shop. Now picture this......the cab and front end are in the shop, the overhead door is pulled down to the top of the bed...a Bronco they had been working on is on the battery charger and periodically they are checking to see if it will start with the remote....It fires up IN GEAR and pushes my truck out the door and into a chain link fence..,,The back of the cab is dented, the sliding back window is broken, the Bumper and grill surround are V shaped and junk. He knew I had a new grill surround and bumper for the truck. He says will report it to insurance company. He gives me back the truck and says take it to emmissions.........It passed......He called me a week later and said, well, did it pass? When I said yes, he says stop by......I do and he hands me a bill for 1100.00! I said, that was under warranty, and he says" warranty void, you got the motor HOT. I said, what about your insurance company. To make a long story short, he settled the claim on my truck and deposited the money in his account. I sent him an estimate for 1700.00 for his damage. The worst part, he was a friend of mine for years......we went to his daughter's wedding......he's been to my house for parties, etc.....he's not in business any more........wonder why?

[Benrs86]

well i spent about a whole summer trying to get my 350 to run, going though a lot of coils, carbs, spark plugs, wires, before i figured out that my condenser was bad. my excuse is that was the first engine i had ever worked on and didnt even know i needed a condenser.

then i replaced my cab and the cab came off a automatic pickup so it had the neutral/park safety swithc that my old cab didnt and i spent a loooong time trying to figure out what was wrong with my starting selenoid before i figured out that i needed to short across that plug. lol

its all been a lot of learning experiences though.

[ddsmith]

1. Was putting the intake back on my 71 vette in my grandfather's garage. It had a fuel fitting leak that I cleaned up with a rag and tightened the fitting back up. My grandfather comes walking in the garage so I figured I was ready to fire it up. When it fired up the distributor was set to far in advance and the hooker headers got nice and red then started a plug wire on fire. I figured I would put it out with a rag. That's right, the gas soaked rag. My grandfather walked away shaking his head.

2. Same car which would crank over and act like it was starting but when the key was released would stop immediately. I figured it was a starter problem. My vette has about 4" of ground clearance so I put a scissor jack under it and jack it up enough to get to the starter. While I was partially under the car the shaft nut separated on the jack and the car came down. Fortunately for me the sidemount exhaust pushed my head forward minimizing the damage. I really like jackstands now. The problem turned out to be the ballast resistor. I didn't even know what that was for until this happened.

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66 Chevy C30 Stakebody Dump, PS,PB, 327cu in
71 Corvette Coupe 454 4 speed
79 Chevy 4X4 (Tom's old truck)