Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[admin]

Whats the worst mistake you've made when working on an old motor?

mine was probably fitting period 60s alloy wheels to my Spitfire shortly after I passed my test, but using the original, steel wheel, nuts which had the wrong shoulder on them (as I found out afterwards when the back wheel nearly flew off).

Rick

[Stuchamp]

Accidently installed a mechanical cam in place of a hydralic cam in a sbc. Took me a couple hours to figure out what the problem was after we fired it up.

[Cranki]

Filling the carb's on my Vauxhall Cresta with Redex, then went for a drive 'up the hill'. Poor s*ds behind me could'nt see a thing thru the fog I left behind

[admin]

Hi Cranki

Hehe yeah bet you were popular!!!!!

Welcome to the forum by the way, if I've not said it before

cheers
Rick

[Standardsteve]

Getting into old cars! I've been poor eversince

[admin]

Hi StandardSteve!

Welcome along - do you own a Standard??? tell us more

cheers
Rick

[buzzy bee]

Like I said in another thread my worst mistake was done while at work, well it was actually my boss but I ended up cleaning it up! 75 litres of hydraulic oil leaked over a weekend covering most of the workshop floor, it took ages to clear up and many bags of absorbent grit!!

Cheers

Dave

[Rick]

My most recent mistake was trusting my &^*&*** torque wrench!!! end result 2 snapped head studs on the Ford pickup. They've been replaced now, but still having probs with the gasket sealing

Golden rule (I've now learnt) : wind off the torque wrench after using it, otherwise years down the line it'll drift away from being accurate and cause major problems if you put faith in it again

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[buzzy bee]

Hi

Not sorted the sealing issues yet then?

Cheers

Dave

[Rick]

Haven't had chance to look at it yet, with it being so bl**dy windy and hail lately I've not been near it same with the new Devon, I've a plan of attack but til it gets a bit less blowy thats on hold too

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[Old-Nail]

My worst mistake was erecting a canopy/gazebo to extend my garage last week... I woke up on Sunday to find it mangled by a storm!

[gillberry]

My worst mistake was welding under the car (the underside of where the pedals are) and standing up having successfuly done the weld round the angles to find I had black windows in the car (carpets had been removed) .
A bit of the old wiring loom had caught fire and spread behind the dash luckily it did not penetrate the bulkhead .
I now always have a bucket of water and a sponge when I weld .

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Welding fires allways are a pain in the ar**, you don't notice them until it is eiter raginig or burnt everything out!!

Cheers

Dave

[UKdave2002]

A few of my many worst mistakes;

I had a Mini, the gearbox self destructed, when I removed it there were bits of swarf and lumps of broken metal in the gearbox casing.
Put a new box on, what I didn’t do was flush the engine oil ways out or change the oil filter, result was 500 miles later the engine was shot due to gearbox debris circulating round the engine, downside of shared engine gearbox oil!!

Another more embarrassing one was with my old newly acquired Bedford CA (my first vehicle!!), treated it to a “full novice service” after which it wouldn’t start, flattened the battery so then called on a few mates to give it a push start, they pushed me for about a mile, no joy. My Dad spotted us on his way home from work, stopped, got his jump leads out, but first took a quick look under the bonnet, there was a silent pause before he said “ Novel firing order this van…1,2,3,4,” I had to buy the beers!

About 3 weeks ago I was mentally preparing for an imminent conference call for work whilst filling up with Petrol at Morrisons in Nantwich, trouble is my modern is a diesel!, put a full tanks worth in about £60 and then cost me £45 to have it pumped out and disposed of!

Dave

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Petrol in Diesel, did you drive it? My mate put about a some in his by mistake and just topped it up with diesel, and drove like normal, didn't do a thing, actually we drove all of the way to northampton to watch the F1 stock car world final.

Cheers

Dave