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Location:
Western Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 12:11
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When working on cars, things don't often go as planned. I want to hear everyone's war stories (there must be a ton of them) about things that have gone wrong whilst working on the car.
One of my stories involves pressing out an old rubber bush out of the control arm. I was using a bolt and a spacer with a few washers to try and press the thing out. The bush was hardly budging. I kept turning the nut tighter and tighter and not much was happening. Anyway I kept going and then BANG the bolt snapped and went flying past my face, narrowly missing my eye and impaled itself a couple of metres away into the garage wall. All I could say was faarrrkkk.
In the end I had to hack the bush up into lots of little pieces and use a wire brush to get rid of the bits of rubber still stuck to the control arm. I use much stronger bolts now when pressing out things.
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Location:
Gold Coast
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 12:28
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I got a face full of Hydrochloric Acid from out of the battery today... 
Was tapping it on the side so I could see the ripples to check the level... I was only tapping gently too... 
Wasn't really a face full, just a splash on my right temple and underneath my eye. Washed it straight away but still feels a bit funny... 
Constantly amazes me how quickly the human eye can close when something is approaching it...
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Location:
Cabramatta, NSW
Registered:
May 2002
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 Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 13:35
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6 weeks of working during the dead of night in the middle of winter to do an engine swap. The engine lasted 2 weeks....
The culprit, I forgot to tighten the bolts on the oil sump pickup.... Two bolts!
Also, during that conversion Pete20V threw a screwdriver into the grass but instead of hitting the grass, he got concrete. The screwdriver bounced up and missed my head by a few millimetres....
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth WA
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 13:56
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Changing the oil filter the first time, the previous guy had over tightened it. In desparation I bashed it with a screwdriver and knocked a hole into it. Oil went everywhere, but the bugger was still stuck! I kept bashing it and it wouldn't come off. It was a Sunday night, and I couldn't get my oil filter wrench in.
I eventually "muscled" it out, but cut my hand up badly.
I never overtighten the oil filter now
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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
June 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 14:10
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a spring from a hyudai excel almost took off my head.
i was changing the shocks on it and the spring claming things werent as tigh as i though they were.
almost just flew off the thing but luckily i had tightened em up a bit.
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 16:05
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i've left the oil cap off once, luckily i could smell it after driving a short distance. I've forgotten to properly close the hood a few times, I drove the car 50km with a shifting spanner on the bell housing.. years ago on my first car i put the battery leads the wrong way around, locked the keys in the car while it's running...
I try not to do too much mechanical work for obvious reasons
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Northern Beaches
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 27 June 2002 21:47
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I didn't put the oil sender cable on very tight so got a shit of a fright when I looked at my oil pressure and it was at 0 ahhhhh.
I also left a spanner in the engine bay to a big thump and clang as I was driving my newly installed GE. Thought something had blown up.
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Location:
Western Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Fri, 28 June 2002 01:09
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 Keep the stories coming guys 
Ages ago when I was 15 I was out having a look at my dad work on the camry. He was trying to fix something in the engine bay and asked me to start it up for him. I jumped in and turned the key with the car still in first gear! Needless to say I gave my dad a good whack on the knee with the front bumper and made him rather unhappy.
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Location:
c'town, NSW
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Fri, 28 June 2002 01:33
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driving one weekend to waterskiing, my fan belt broke, this was fine cause i knew it was going to happen at some point as the shitty belt had stretched and pulleys were still rusted from engine being in wrecking yard.
anyways i had a spare belt and put it on, as i was tightening up the bolt on the alternator the socket drive fouled the +ve terminal of the battery, got stuck and sparks spat up everywhere, i managed to get the -ve terminal off and all was fine... although the socket drive was rooted, the plastic direction switch had melted away...
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Location:
Mentone
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Fri, 28 June 2002 13:35
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First Left off the oil cap, it hit the fan which was two week old after i changed the mini gearbox. The fan shattered and mangled a brand new radiator that we had to wait two weeks for. To get out a radiator in a mini it is quicker to drop the whole engine but i hate diong that so over 1 hour later struggling with one screw the radiator and fan came out.
Got it back together which takes longer because the fan fills out the shroud and it is harder to manoeuver.
Next week i was at southland carpark and the gearbox bottomed out shifting the engine slightly which sent the fan into the shround. Didnt damage the fan but another 2 hour job replacing the fan
Lesson, put the oil cap on and do not go to southland.
sorry about the essay
Brad
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Registered:
May 2002
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 Don't try this one at home...
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Fri, 28 June 2002 22:29
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Here's one for you...
Was replacing an axle in my old Mk2 Escort.... made my own bearing puller and everything... no probs. Pull brakes apart, axle out, axle in, fine.
So I'm sitting on the ground and have my head in the guard to see properly. All that is left to do is to put the spring between the drum brake shoes in, put on the drum, and the wheel, and lay rubber!!!!
The spring is fairly tight, so I have a nice fairly large pair of needlenose pliers. One end in, stretching the spring to get in the other end... head right over the work, in the guard remember...
The inevitable happens and the spring slips from the pliers... it's a LOT of effort to pull a brake spring. Once the spring is no longer gripped, what happens to the pliers?
Well, they rush upwards in the general direction of the force... towards my head... into my head... with FORCE!!! Mmmmmm.... blood..... dark, dark red blood.... washing through my eye.... better go check this out!!!!
Look in the mirror, blood streaming out of a fairly large hole in my eyebrow, a half-inch above the eye itself!!!! Think I'll have a snooze now.... DOWN I GO!!!!!
Made for a nice scar too.... which is still there...
Alex
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Location:
Newcastle
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 29 June 2002 13:04
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hmmm i got a real good one.
bout 4 months ago my car started makign a clack clack clack noise (and no its not a chicken) so i assumed it was the timing chain. ordered a new timing chain kit from rollmaster and went to go put it in. turns out i have to pop the head up to ge the timing case off. so up come s the head turns out the sump has to come off too so off with half the steering rack to get the sump off. get the chains on and put it all back together with a new head gasket and sump and timing cover gasket. and the chain is so tight i cant get some of the guides in
so i have it towed to toyota they fix it up but the head had to come off again so that is a new headgasket again $600 + parts for Mr toyota.
got it home and put all the other items on it like plennum and fans and shit. start it up and still makes the clack clack clack sound. i get realy shtty and start laying into the interior of the car  this is after the carhas been off the road for about 3 weeks - a month so get a person i know who is a mechanic to come down and help me sus out the prob. bout an hour after he started turned out number 3 bigend bearing had flogged out. so im up for a complete engine rebuild. and ANOTHER HEAD GASKET. so while waiting for parts to come in and stuff get done to the motor it is another 2 months. so all up my car was off the road for 3 months. but i know the job was done right cos i did it myself
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Toymods Board Member
I supported Toymods
Location:
Turramurra, Sydney.
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 29 June 2002 14:17
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Well, I've got some great home mechanic stories..... take the celica vs sprinter thread bellow, I went to take out my drive shaft today to try in a different one cos mine was rattling real bad, and 2 of the d'shaft to diff bolts were loose! Once they were done up tight, problem solved. Mind you, the rattling/vibrating only happened over 110km/h.........
WHen I was prepparing my car for painting, I decided at the biggining to leave the engine in. So once I'd pulled off all the manifolds & alt etc, I wrapped it all up in newspaper & sticky tape, just to give it a bit of protection while I was sanding the old paint.
Anyway, I got aroung to the part where I was weldind up all the rust I'd cut out, and weldind up all the holes in the engine bay (surpluss holes & holes from spot welded unused brackets I'd drilled out). So I was welding a hole on the firewall, just near the heate tap, & through the really really really dark welding mask, I started to notice a bit of light next to me. It turns out some sparks had caught in some folds of the newspaper, and when I lift up the mask, half my engine is on fire!
I quickly started trying to pull the burning newspaper of my motor, which which seemed to help the paper burn better, and managed to burn myself (only slightly) a bit of my engine (only slightly again) and ended up pulling out most of the flaming paper, by which time it was really just a handfull of flames.
From then on, I wrapped the motor in tinfoil, untill I eventually decided I would pull it out for painting........
Leaked brake fluid onto my new paintjob
forgot to tighten up wheelnuts, on more than one ocassion
knocked the fuel tank with the grinder a couple times when I was cutting the parcel shelf.....
I'm sure I'll think of more.
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 29 June 2002 14:56
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I have a friend wityh a VK commodore and 4 studs broke off one of the wheels. He drove it to the mechanics with 1 wheel wobbling around. Commodore drivers...
I was taking a spring off a strut and forgot about the spring compressors. the spring went fuckin' high (lucky I was outside) when I undid the bolt that holds it on...
Tim.
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Location:
Brisbane, Queensland
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 30 June 2002 06:41
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Well I don't know whats worse, Backyard or front yard mechanic's.
I'm sure a lot of you have read my Tailshaft story in the old forums. I should really take a pic of the twisted tailshaft and post it.
Anyway, gees's the stories I can tell you about being an apprentic mechanic. Like the time I was helping to do a service on a spanking new Patrol. we fill up the batrey levels and we spray the terminals with an anti-corrosion stuff. WELL....THIS STUFF IS HIGHLY FLAMABLE!!!!, as we found out when pulling out the dipstick to check the oil it flopped down onto the + terminal, Before you knew it the top of the battery was engulfed in flames and some of the underbonnet felt as well, luckly no damage to the paintjob or the rest of the car.
Or there's the time at home when I drove straight up the car ramps and off the other side, I don't recommend this.
Or there is the time when I went to drive my g/f car back to her house one night and I could here a knocking sound, so I stoped at the servo as soon as I got over the bridge. Stopped got out and had a look around and couldn't find anything so I just put it down to the diff. started to drive off and it got really bad so I decided to go back home and just take my celica. Before I got to the bridge....Bang!!! The LHR side drops, I look up into the rear mirrow and see sparks flying out and something that resembles a wheel bouncing off the fence and rolling along the road. Moral off the stories double check things on your g/f's car. I seem to DEVELOP a lot more bits on her car then I do on my own. must be some strange power she has.
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Location:
cambo
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 30 June 2002 12:07
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not really a backyard mechanic story but funny anyhow. my old mans a mechanic and a customer took a car into his shop complaining about a smell. opened the hood and theres kitty wrapped around the fan belt. yeah its gross but its funny too.
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Location:
Mentone
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 30 June 2002 15:41
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Have not done it yet but if i really hate someone i am going to put a big dead fish on the top of their cat converter and neatly wire it there.
Can you imagine the smell?
Hahahaha
Brad
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 30 June 2002 16:56
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If I hated someone, I'd smash their windows, then splash brake fluid all over their interior and then write FAG on their bonnet with some fluid, slash their tyres and put a club lock on their wheel so they can't move it, and then hack the lock so they can't try unlocking the thing. Then I'd give all the panels a good kick in, not too much, so instead of the car getting written off, they have to repair it.
Also, this didn't happen to me coz I don't do many thing myself (Slowly doing more myself...$$ but when I took my car to the mechanic, he was flushing the coolant outta the radiator. It was pouring all fine, then he went to adjust the bucket which was collecting the coolant and then this little cap popped off, which hit the car (which was on the hoist) and then then it hit his head, then the mechanic got up and hit his head on my car and then the coolant started splashing on his face.
Inside I was laughing my ass off but I was like 'OH SHIT!!! Here's a towel!'
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Location:
The Rainy City
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 01 July 2002 00:56
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for wrecking another persons car, sugar in petrol tank, kicked in panels, paint stripper on every panel, leave the car on phone books (seen it done to a brand spanking new merc...) and remember to undo the fan belt, so the sugar kickssss in pretty quickly heheheh
But most of the time, i want to be able to write the car off with the least effort... no one likess going out to their 10k+ car to find some really small problem is going to cosst them the price of the car to fix...
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 03 July 2002 01:06
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If u hated em then it wouldnt matter how much they paid. I rather make em pay $6000 to fix panels and engine and stuff than to pay $400 and they get a new car. That's just me!
With paint stripper....are you able to put it in a water pistol and walk past the car and spray it, will that be enough? Coz sometimes u gotta be discreet, especially when it's in a busy parking lot.
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 04 July 2002 06:24
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I've just rebuilt my 18RG, I was hoisting it back in using a chain that I thought may not quite hold it all (18RG and W50), being a lazy git I couldn't be bothered going to a hardware store to get a metre of chain so I used the dodgy one.
So all was going well, the chain was doing a fine job, had the engine halfway in, sump was hovering over the bumper when I saw two links bending!!! I stood there thinking 'oh fuck, oh fuck', I quickly grabbed my vise grips, clamped it around the worst link and prayed.
It held and allowed to get the engine in. Moral of the story, DON'T BE A LAZY PRICK.
Kev
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Location:
Cairns
Registered:
June 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 24 July 2002 22:19
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Till recently i own a datto 16 with the sr20 engine conversion done on it. Well with all the torque those little 2L put out the stock uni joints on the drive shaft would snap if i flat shifted it into gear (5 puck cerimic clutch (no slip at all)). So here i am snapping these little fuckers one after the other and it is starting to get expensive . So i keep fixing them over and over again then finnaly i read on a thread somewhere that holden uni joints fit into the datto drive shaft. So to the holden shop i go get some and sure enough they fit. Anyway all is going good till one afternoon just around the corner from work i decide to give the boys a bit of a show. Powered through first into second and snap the uni joint snaps on the diff side and the arm wildy swings around and knocks 4 great big holes in my boot (this thing was spinng at about 80kph). So here i am friday after noon under my car trying to get the shaft out so i can go get it repaired and some dick head i work with comes around the corner in his car and yells "Should have bought a holden". This was the last straw i went crazy and bent the shaft (bad mistake took me 2 weeks of looking to get a new one). Anyway i did get my revenge once i had fixed the car AGAIN i got the smashed uni joint which had "HOLDEN" stamped on it all so neatly, carmly worked up and placed in the guy who yelled at me hands and worked off.Now he wants me to take him for a drive
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Berowra-Sydney
Registered:
July 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 27 July 2002 09:50
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blown diff up, gone and got one from the wreckers get back go to install it and find some of the bolts on the diff i just got were broken, to late to go back so ad to wait another week till i could go back and get the pricks to give me a decent one.
put on battery terminals wrong way in the dark, simple fault because i set them all up and everything then thought the batter would look better turned around the other way so i did but forgot to swap the leads around as well
hit my hand with angle grinder while doing rust work.
tried to reverse my car up onto some big bricks to give me more room under it then the car suddenly dropped down looked around couldn't see the brick until i walked down the driveway and found it in the gutter, (no idea how it went that far)
taken skin off my knuckles everytime i work on the car.
get dirt in my eyes everytime i work on the car.
putting it all back together after painting then realise i had to put these two little chrome strips on before the light/bumper/and heaps of other crap so all had to come off again for two little chrome strips.
spent 8 hours lying under the car in the cold trying to change a sump gasket which resulted in me looking like a skinny black buy by the end of it from all the oil plus my red hair was now black and i had a good time trying to get the oil out of my ear!!!
been shocked by the spark plug leads that many times its not funny.
and many more things, but what i don't get is after all the stuff my car has done to me over the years i can't help but still love it. 
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Location:
sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 27 July 2002 11:04
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first real car, mk2 gt cortina
great car expect for one thing.the gearbox had roll pins in the selectors most people would say that shouldn't matter,well I say it has twice.
living in mudgee at the time (the first time) and I was 25kms out of town when the roll pin fell out, I had to drive 25kms in 2nd or 1st if I wanted to.
second time left for sydney in shorts and t-shirt got 50kms from lithgow when it happened again,it was winter and all I had was good cloths anyway get to lithgow at 6pm and it's dark and cold.I had to pull out the g/box by myself on a concrete driveway with limited tools in shorts and a t-shirt all for 1 rollpin.
I put in a screw after that
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
June 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 27 July 2002 12:53
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i was helping a friend fix up a holden HR ute. We needed to get the fuel tank out, but it was rusted in, so he suggests we use the angle grinder to remove it.
of course, thats so stupid i thought he was joking and walked off. came back just in time to stop him actually doing it. and to top it off, the tank was still half full of fuel.
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Location:
s/w Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Location:
s/w Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 28 July 2002 16:26
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| jza70-mel wrote on Thu, 27 June 2002 11:56 PM |
Changing the oil filter the first time, the previous guy had over tightened it. In desparation I bashed it with a screwdriver and knocked a hole into it. Oil went everywhere, but the bugger was still stuck! I kept bashing it and it wouldn't come off. It was a Sunday night, and I couldn't get my oil filter wrench in.
I eventually "muscled" it out, but cut my hand up badly.
I never overtighten the oil filter now
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Easy and quick way is to hammer a big screwdriver straight through the oil filter(side on) and use the Screwdriver handle as leverage to unscrew the filter. Just put a pan under the car for the oil spillage.
Das...
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Location:
s/w Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 28 July 2002 16:51
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This aint home mechanic but it takes the cake.
An old mate of mine worked for endrust. He was spraying the cars as they come in. He went out the back to check some of the drums of the chemical he was spraying. Now this shit is HIGHLY flammable. He looked into one of the drums and couldn't tell if it was empty or not and so wadda ya think the bright spark did to see inside...You got it, he got out his lighter and guess what, it wasn't empty. BOOM!! He ended up in hospital and burnt endrust factory down..
Das..
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I supported Toymods
Location:
melbourne
Registered:
June 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 03 August 2002 13:54
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just a short one, while fitting lowered springs into my sprinter, a job which would have been easier with spring compressors that fit (oh yeah, if you worrow someone elses, always use a rattle gun on them, saves time) manhandled the strut back under the guard, making double sure that all brake/steering etc bolts are tight, see a rubber thing sitting on the floor, which looks suspiciously like a bump stop.
didn't take all that long to put back in, i should have cut rubber some off while i was at it.
[Updated on: Sat, 03 August 2002 13:55]
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Berowra-Sydney
Registered:
July 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sat, 03 August 2002 23:39
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how about those guys who were on the news a few months back where they got burnt and there car cought on fire as they used a lighter to see what they were doing while they were trying to put fuel into the car!!!
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Location:
Wollongong
Registered:
July 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 07 August 2002 10:34
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Geez I don't even know where to start on this one!
...How about when I was getting my first car ready (XB falcon, ended up ditching it for an XA Coupe)and I had it up on four scizzor jacks. I finished doing whatever and got out from under it, ten seconds later (seriously) all the jacks collapsed and it was almost flat on the ground!!
...Or when i was working as an apprentice sparkie, I got sent out to put a new battery in a truck, wasn't really paying attention when I pulled the old one out, both leads were the same colour....when I tried to hook them up wrong (of course!) the arc burned the positive terminal right down into the battery! Thats 24V for you I guess!!
...I was finishing putting an auto trans in a camira, you have to break the bottom ball joint and move the control arm out of the way, I was levering on the arm with a ball joint breaker (you know the forked types), standing underneath it, got my whole weight on, it slips and I drive it straight into my forehead! It was then that I discovered that my big tough boss didn't like blood, I thought he was going to pass out..he was whiter than I was!!
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
May 2002
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
May 2002
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Epping, Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 04 September 2002 04:53
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opening a hot radiator is not a mistake you make twice ... but a lot of people make it once
I did the same thing to my car... I already knew what happened when you opened a hot radiator, but for some reason it didn't click that my radiator was hot (even though I needed a towel to open it)
put it down to stupidity
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Location:
cambo
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 04 September 2002 07:08
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few weeks ago when my car was overheating (which it does often as its had a blown headgasket for over a year now) i HAD to pull over cause it was as far to the hot as the dial would go.
anyway i had no water, i pulled over on that road thats just after apin road on the way to the gong near what i thought was a toilet or something. anyway it was just installed so i had no water, picked up a coke bottle on the side of the road and collected a few bottles of muddy puddle water. opened the radiator cap with a maccas bag i found and put the muddy water in. yes i know not to open a hot cap but its either than or sit on the side of hte road for 5 hours waitng for it to cool and muddy puddle water is better than no water.
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Location:
Central Coast & Sydney
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 11 September 2002 10:29
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Shit, I'm a second year and I've already started.
Doing up a caliper bracket on the O/S/F. Head under guard (cars was on a two post hoist). The spanner slipped and I managed to punch myself square in the jaw which sent my head right up into the guard. Killed two birds with one stone.
Pressure release was not working on a radiator pressure tester. Had about 12 pound in there. DON'T RELEASE THE PRESSURE ON THESE THINGS WHEN THEY'RE HOT!!! The resulting explosion of coolant knocked me about a metre back and onto my back. The boss laughed!! Wasn't too badly hurt.
Put a car on the ground with only three wheels. Then tried to drive away!
Didn't remove old gasket from oil filter seat before placing new filter on. 4 litres in 20 seconds, not onto the floor, but onto the rest of the engine bay. Got many many more, but I think I'm done for tonight...
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Banned by his request
Location:
moved to tamworth
Registered:
July 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 11 September 2002 11:24
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redrolla were do you work at or your not keen to say!
mick
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Location:
Central Coast & Sydney
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 11 September 2002 11:43
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I work at Eastwood... in Sydney. Won't tell you where...
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Location:
Brisbane, Queensland
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 12 September 2002 08:39
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Lol I hearing you Redrolla.
I've given my self better punches than what I got in the school yard, One time I was doing an auto service and tried to do it in record time, got my 10mm rachet with extention and crack the first bolt, went to flick it back and sconed myself right on the nose, made me cry I was suprised there was not blood!.
I've done the old pressure tester trick, coolant in the eyes is not a pleasant feeling.
Or this one time I was taking off an oil filter and it has all the oil running down the sides making it really hard to keep yourself clean and without droping it into the catch can without it splashing. well the oil filter finally can loose and I had a poor grip, tried to catch it so it wouldn't splash oil everywhere. but instead got my finger onto the end of it and flicked it up into the air showering anything in it's path which just so hapened to be another mechanic. I don't think you could have got much more oil in his hair if you poured it on it.
I too have put a car on the ground with three wheels but I haven't tried to drive away in it, I sort of noticed it lop-sided and got it quickly back in the air.
or before I started my aprenticship I found out that rear drum brakes have a leading and a trailing shoe the hard way.
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth
Registered:
August 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 12 September 2002 11:28
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i didnt do this, but my mechanic did
he forgot to put the oil stick back in, i get the car home, smoke is pouring from the bonnet, open it up and theres oil f'ing everywhere! thank god for industrial de-greaser
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Location:
Central Coast & Sydney
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Fri, 13 September 2002 13:04
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dba are great rotors, they're made and owned in australia, and have patented kangoroo paw interior construction for rapid heat dissipation (sorry that sounds like a sales speel). i guess you'll be going for dba gold rotors, in that nice black and green packaging!
as for pads, make sure you buy bendix performance, because other pads of poorer quality will get too chewed up by the slots in the rotors!
ryan
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 18 September 2002 00:32
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Just thought I had to add to this thread now I had something to say.
Yesterday, flushed the coolant system on my new car, and had it running with the cap off to let the air escape.
Lent over to the coolant overflow, which is near the igniter...zap...and it hurt
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Location:
Adelaide and Queenstown T...
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Tue, 24 September 2002 06:09
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My first car was a yellow KE30 corolla which I crashed into a RA65 celica- with those pointy bonnets I thought I would go straight over.  I bent my chassis a bit but kept driving the car for 6 months after some dodge(!!) panel beating and with the radiator held in with coat hanger wire. I eventually sold the car to a friend for $50 to thrash. Once the clutch and starter motor (??) died we set fire to it when it had half a tank of fuel. Thick black smoke could be seen for miles.
I had to jump start my Torana once and had nothing else around so out came the coat hangers again, they worked but car batteries can give you quite a jolt. 
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I supported Toymods
Location:
yandina sunshine coast
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Wed, 25 September 2002 03:57
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To start with ... the apprentice did it.. my story and im sticking to it
Ok picture a brand new jag owned by the local doctor calls into work .. ok not home war story but i got a laugh
he wanted a two way radio fitted under the glove box so i made a steel bracket to pop rivet under the glove box to the fire wall.Drill in hand the apprentice come away looking like he's done a good job so 10 minutes later i go to screw the radio to the fitted bracket .... oopps wotts this moisture im laying in .. lift the bonnet oops a battery oops acid .. oops 
by now the brand new jag has battery acid right through the interior carpet
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Location:
Gold Coast
Registered:
November 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Tue, 12 November 2002 12:57
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Got to work late , still asleep , Was putting first car on the hoist for the day,i lifted it up all the way and the hoist broke, the car fell down 1.5 mtrs,broke 3 safety catches on the way down,bought a new hoist that day..
Left a big rag in the aircleaner of a diesel the customer came back,complaining of black smoke pouring from his car.
Test driving turbo cordia that some little old lady had brought in complaining of noise in the rear of the car, i was about 1k away from work and i could smell something burning , i pulled over and lifted the bonnet to find it on fire and me lifting the bonnet made it 20 times worse,It burnt to the ground.
Bitch some how knew it was gunna BLOW,Lucki for insurance,
I should have sued her for making me drive her crap heap...
UNFORTUNATELY these are the ways in wich we learn (Most ppl dont do it twice..
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Location:
Brisbane, Queensland
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 17 November 2002 11:44
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yes well another story to tell, helping another mechanic put a replacement leaf spring into a HR sedan, we had the front of the leaf bolted into the bracket and had finally managed to mount the diff into the center, only by a few turns of a nut on a bolt, So that all what was left was to bolt in the rear of the spring. So I stopped pushing it up and went to get the last bolt on the bench and as I came back and looked up the nut broke free on the diff bracket, and the spring swung down and sconed me right in the middle of the head
Tell you what it actually didn't hurt ALL THAT MUCH!!!
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Sun, 01 December 2002 04:40
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hmm well if i could remember everything that went from bad to worse with my car and my brothers i would fill this forum...
latest 'incident' was yesterday... trying to swap my pulleys for a gilmore drive set, trying to undo the main crank bolt which was VERY tight... got the sledgehammer action going on the 21mm spanner (i'd spent an hour and half a can of WD40 on this one bolt, so believe me the sledgehammer was warrented)... slipped and cut my hand on something sharp in the bay... bent my little finger down and saw the tendens at the bottom of the 10mm deep cut, just before the blood started flowing.
now i've got 3 stitches and half the feeling gone in my little finger. the gilmore drive set is still in my garage. one of my mates mentioned something about a pulley puller, but old sledgy always feels good on those annoying bolts !!
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Location:
Mornington Peninsula
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 00:32
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Where do I start? Every weekend It's something new. I think my latest would be I pulled up in the driveway and smoke was coming out from all under the bonnett and I lifted it up and a rubber oil line had fallen onto the extractors, well you could imagine what that was like!
I've got too many to tell! All I can say is thanks dad for all your help and putting up with my car, and the phone calls at all hours asking for help or a tow.
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 01:06
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that reminds me of driving my parents magna home from work (celica getting fixed), went around a corner fast and lost all power, thought i'll just roll home, then realised smoke was comming out of the bonnet. I was in my work uniform (white shirt) and because i kept rolling the fire had spread to the sound retart shit on the bonnet, so i opened the bonnet which made the fire pickup, and i just stood there not knowing how to put it out. It melted the corner of the batter, i was lucky that didn't explode. I eventually put it out with an oily rag and rolled it home, smoke was still comming out, ran inside and told my dad, he almost had a heart attack. hehe. it was just the battery mount moved, shorting on the positive.
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Location:
Mornington Peninsula
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 01:25
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Yeah, smoke is never a good thing. I was cruising with my friends, one was in an HR holden and the other was in a big white american thing. Anyway I couldn't keep up with them in my little Celica so I headed home. I pulled up at Doveton Macca's and all this smoke was pouring out of my bonnett, I totally freaked. I popped the bonnett but didn't actually lift it. I had a look through the grill and under the car and could see no flames so I carefully lifted the bonnet. With all the vibrations of my car doing about 130 the oil cap had come off and there was oil everywhere. For the next week I had to park in the dirt on grass cause oil was dripping from everywhere. What's even more amazing, the oil cap wedged under the carbie so I didn't loose it! 
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Toymods Social Secretary
Location:
Sydney
Registered:
July 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 01:38
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dude i used to know had an LC torana... we went for a drive, had problems starting it... figured it was flooded... then smoke started coming from the bay, so i jumped out and ran away. The dude just opens to bonnet, and WHOOOSHKA!! FIRE! do he jumps in, tears off the seat cover (!!!!) and dowses the flames with that. Thank god the synthetic seat cover didnt flame up.
Apparently with those old V8s, if you take off the air filter or something fuel spurts out and causes fires... guess what my friend had done?
i was checking my oil thru the oil filler cap (taken off) on my 4afe, just to see if there was any crap in there. My mate decides that he wants to hear what its like while im getting a rag to complete cleaning my engine bay. So he starts the car.. of course the cam gear is DIRECTLY below the filler... oil all over me, in my eye, all thru the engine bay, the bonnet... and the workshop!!
old N13 pulsar i had... had spark problems. Noticed there was the odd spark arking onto the engine from the igntion coil, so while the car was running i thought i would wiggle the spark lead fromt eh dizzy to see about this arcing spark.... of course this sent 20000 odd Volts down my arm.... was knumb for a few mins.
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Location:
Cairns
Registered:
June 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 01:46
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Hey that one reminds me of a time I went camping with some mates in the st141 and had to do a bit of off road driving (crossed 4 creeks that were built for 4x4 UP THE MIGHTY CORONA) anyway yeah cruzing along on way home and seen smoke pouring out from under the bonnet, all the 4x4ing rattled oil filler lose. Oil was every where and had fallen onto the exhaust thous causing the smoke  . Anyway next thing was SHIT where is the filler cap for the oil filler, shit, here i am 500k's away from home, one car, half a bottle of oil and no cap for filler. Anyway decided make best with what we can do, so in went the Power Aid lid with a hammer to seal the filler (bush mechanics). Car made it home and had a great weekend. ST141 POWER
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Location:
Mornington Peninsula
Registered:
September 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 02:46
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Some friends of mine went away for a boys weekend so there was lots of beer drinking. On the way back they came around a corner in their corona and there was a branch on the road that ripped their exhaust clean off. So they got all their beer cans, but holes in the top and bottom and taped them together to make an exhaust. It got them home without gasing them in the car!
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Epping, Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 04:33
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oohh.. I've had the ignition lead to te dizzy spit all it's juice down my arm before. really hurts.
not as much as 240 volts (which REALLY hurts)but still not pleasant at all.
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Location:
Brisbane, Queensland
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Mon, 02 December 2002 08:37
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Yeah I've done the 240volt thing, thought I might find out what was wronge with the tv so I was pokeing a screwdriver in the back of it then it grabed me. When the electricity finally let me go the thought of pulling my arm away was still fresh and with that the screwdriver flew across the room and stuck itself in the wall on the other side of the room,
I only need to learn once.
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Location:
Auckland, New Zealand
Registered:
January 2003
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 16 January 2003 07:20
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Working on Dad's civic, (I forget what I was doing now, I think I was replacing the thermostat) anyway the ring spanner I was using slipped and landed right against the starter motor contact and the engine mount, so of course spark spark spark, I couldn't knock it away with my hand so I had to run off and get something non-conductive, when I got back I was starting to smell an electrical burning smell and the spanner was starting to glow, well I knocked it out, the battery wires were pretty warm, and now the spanner has two nice little arc weld type spots on it.
(Note to those who opened a hot radiator cap, if your car is overheating, do not open the cap, the system obviously is under pressure, releasing said pressure actually makes the temp rise for the rest of the fluid in the system, works like a pressure cooker does)
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Location:
Canberra
Registered:
December 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 23 January 2003 04:25
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When i was a aircraft mechanic i was working with my boss on an engine on a fairly small aeroplane (360 cubic inch turbo) and i had cleaned all my tools up and had to go out for something so i left him still working. Anyhows he happened to leave his breaker bar sitting on top of the engine just behind the propeller. The plane went from canberra to QLD somewhere and back. The breaker bar stayed about 3 inches behind the prop if it had of come forward into the propeller arc it would have killed the engine. I neally turned him into a lolly pop with his own breaker bar for that.
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Location:
On your mum!
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Home mechanic war stories
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Thu, 23 January 2003 07:26
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I suffered the tight oil filter syndrome, so I am generally careful not to over do it now. Then there was one night after a club meeting we went to Maccas. I left Maccas with a few RPM (7500) a lot for a 3T. Look at the oil pressure guage to see NO pressure (Oil filter had come loose). Quick engine shut down - less than 3 months after a rebuild with forgies etc! Lucky I didn't kill the engine. Wife would never have forgiven me!
First engine conversion 18RGEU into HiLux - Placed the clutch disc on the wrong way around, this undid the flywheel bolts and created a horrible vibration especially at 6000rpm.
Also trying to reverse up some car ramps, tried to give it a bit more gas and ended up spitting them under the car - an old american tank - my dad's - while he was watching. Fuck it had some raw grunt and throttle reponse.
Melted my tape measure trying to measure the battery the other day. Shits me cos I knew the size, just don't trust my memory as much as I used to.
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