Oopsies made while working on your car?

[97lt1camaro]

No, i know we drive Awesome cars and all, but we are all not perfect!
Post up some stories about mistakes made while working on your car.

Mine.

I had just finished installing my long tubes and was about to reinstall the wires and plugs. I had bought a new set of plugs at wires earlier on the day at the store. I noticed the box said 94-96 years on it when i was buying them. I had asked the guy NUMEROUS times to check to make sure they were correct and would work with a 97, and he assured me they were correct numerous times. Ok fine, i go home as im anxious to get my beast running with open long tubes haha.

I finish up the install and get the wires and plugs in. I go to put the coil wire on and its tight, not thinking anything, i man handle it on and figure its just a snug fit. :hmm: I proceed anyways as I'm impatient.

Start up the car and she it runs like shit. Engine light blinking at certain rpms and tranny shaking like it was shitting razor blades. WTF i think to my self. At this point i wasn't exactly sure how it was supposed to run as i deleted most of the emmisions. I call around a few places and they tell me its because its untuned. I don't believe them but i have no idea what to do.

Button up the car take it for a spin. Seem's sluggish and seems to have a miss only when i romp on it. I take it home pissed off and park it in front of the house to call it a day as i was frustrated. Cool down to supper and a couple drinks and decide to go take one more look as maybe i had missed something when i was frustrated before.

Check everything over and sure enough its all fine. For shits and giggles i decide to check my wire ordering. Low and behold i have 5 and 7 mixed up. I switch the wires around and take it for another spin. Goes like a raped ape but still have a slight miss.

Little background info, previous 2 days before the header install, i find a small puddle of coolant under the car dripped from the bottom of the block. I watch it and fear the worst but surprisingly nothing became of it. Never happened again, so i never worried about it

At this point after reminising i figure the Opti is fucked. I once again pack it up and call it a day as i have work the next day. I drive the car for a week or so like this and notice that it only misses when i romp on it. If i roll into it its fine. Another 3 days goes by and the car's still running strong for the most part, i park it at work all day and leave it. I go to go home at the end of the day and it cranks and cranks and cranks, but wont fire. I check fuel and fuses. Check all my plug wires. Go to tug on the coil wire and POOF. Crispy wire everywhere, along with a MELTED COIL. What the fuck? I get my old coil wire out of the box and compare with whats left of my new msd one. Different plug end. I go to the store once again to buy a new coil and as suspected, the moron was wrong and i had the wrong wire set. Coil wire being the only different. The gap the spark was jumping was probably at least a inch. It lasted like this for a good two weeks and finally gave up the ghost and took out my coil in the process.

Needless to say im much more observant when replacing parts and wires now haha.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Cobra2k7/Camaro/plug2.jpg


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Cobra2k7/Camaro/coilside1.jpg

[Firebat]

Just a few...

Forgetting to tighten a hose clamp on the radiator hose. It came off and lost all of its coolant instantly all over the road. Thought I blew the radiator and so did the passers-by but didn't.

Not installing the charcoal canister system and just plugging the lines. Burned up a fuel pump.

When using Tunercat, not doing a Read PCM command first before writing a tune to the PCM. Burned up the chips in the PCM. Had to take the PCM apart and solder in new sockets for new flash chips.

Did some welding on the body to shave the key lock. Didn't cover up the window and ended up getting a whole bunch of little metal specs burned into my passenger side window. Had to replace the window.

Didn't adjust the Throttle Valve cable correctly on the old 700R4. Blew up 2nd gear within 5 minutes after making the adjustment.

Wanted to watch fuel pressure while driving around. Hooked up the gauge. Shut the hood but got the gauge caught between the hood and the windshield. Now, got a nice crack in the windshield.

[Camaro_94]

When I was 15 and had my first Camaro, I attempted to buff the thing out.... Lets just say it wasnt as easy as it looked. :laugh:

After having to repaint the rear spoiler, hood, front & rear bumpers.... I decided maybe I should learn from someone who knows what they are doing. It was a costly mistake, but I learned my lesson.

Thats about the only major mistake I had when dealing with a car.

[bluebird94]

Hmm.. I know some mechanical mistakes have been made but nothing major comes to mind.

When we tried to take the decal off of the headlamp, it wasn't coming up and we ended up taking a whole bunch of paint off, decal outline still intact.. haven't ever fixed it either :D

Oh, and when we went to repaint the roof not too long ago, it came out purple-ish... not fixed yet, but working on it!

[95formula383lt1]

tired to take the motor out (going through the top) and forgot to take off the cover that goes around the starter on the t56 trans, needless to say by the time i got under the car to figure out what was holding me up it could never be put back on the car.

hooked up the pcv system wrong blew oil all over the engine bay

cracked the knock sensor with the header install thought it would be ok an tried to drive it.

when putting the motor back in the car i slid the trans in through the clutch and pressure plate, bolted everything up and after pulling the trans out i learned i put the fork on the backside of the through out berring.

the reason for pulling my motor and doing the build... installing a ported intake and 58mm tb dropped 2 nuts down in the crank case through the hole next to the oil pump drive.

im sure theres more i cant remember its too early.

[GreenZ96]

shut the hood with a brand new booster box still under the hood

left the oil fill cap off the gf's car after an oil change, that was a fun clean up

moved my car to the end of the drive way to sell it, didnt like where it was parked so I decided to move it and drove off the edge of the driveway where the ditch culvert was and got stuck.

[bluebird94]

moved my car to the end of the drive way to sell it, didnt like where it was parked so I decided to move it and drove off the edge of the driveway where the ditch culvert was and got stuck.


Driving down the dirt road from Sabaktes' place one night, I thought my transmission performance button was on cause it had a glow emitting from it. I started fiddling with it then looked up just as I was driving into a big ditch on the side of the road. I was going like 5 mph.. and I got stuck.

[95formula383lt1]

and all these years i had been thinking fbodys were impossible to get stuck, i had a 96 formula i used to drive off road from time to time (idk y) and then next to my house used to be a field of sugar sand and i used to drive in it and do donuts in it and dumb stuff, the point is i could never get it stuck lol.

[bluebird94]

Haha, Sabaktes got his Camaro stuck in like and inch of snow. What up with that?

[95formula383lt1]

never driven in snow lol dont think i want to ether im lucky enough to live in florida.

[Fastbird]

Dropped hood on headlight cover and fender of current Bird. Scratch fender and dented headlight door.

On my old trans am, cracked the windshield trying to pry the wiper arm off.

Dropped an IAC bypass tube into the intake manifold right after I finished installing it.

[proace4]

awhlie back someone posted a video of a guy doing donuts in an open lot... wonder if that was you 95formula383LT1? lol it was on youtube i think.

[Camaro_94]

I used to drive my f-bodies in the winter. Its not as fun as it looks. :laugh:

Thats why I sold my Formula and got a trailblazer for a DD. I'm hopefully going to by buying a 6 speed LS1 T/A soon as a weekend warrior.

[BLOWNDFIZ]

Broke the oil pressure sending unit installing the motor from the top. Didn't know until the initial start up. Imagine the look of concern on my face when the new engine fired and I had "0" oil pressure.

Oh, then prior to starting it for the first time when installing the DFI we ran all of the wiring but left the connectors unplugged. I go to start the thing and it just cranks, and cranks. We check everything we would think of possible. Come to realize the connector on the opti was disconnected. Took a small screwdriver snapped it in place and she fired right up, albeit with what appeared to be zero oil pressure!!!

[95formula383lt1]

awhlie back someone posted a video of a guy doing donuts in an open lot... wonder if that was you 95formula383LT1? lol it was on youtube i think.

negative lol, i had also learned cars dont stop very quickly in sugar sand and kinda slid into the front of my fiances car lol didnt do nothing to her car but busted my fender up bad and my headlight along with scraching the front bumper... i really didnt like that car!

i was really dumb a few years ago and thought money grew on trees.

[z28rob18]

hmmm well one time wen i changed the plug wires i had the same problem as the OP two were switched and it ran lik crap pissed me off for a day.

the trans mount broke i thought there was a bad problem because wen i accelerated the pinion angle would get f'ed up so it would clunk bad i parked it searched for the problem never found it the car ended up sitting for 2 1/2 months of summer because of that.

the biggest mistake so far. i started my project and instead of putting the bolts in little seperate baggies i put them all together. its not a fun guessing game and its now slowing our progress especially since i cant seem to find a few. not good at all. but you live and learn right?

[mpe331lx]

when putting the motor back in the car i slid the trans in through the clutch and pressure plate, bolted everything up and after pulling the trans out i learned i put the fork on the backside of the through out berring.


Similar to what happend to me when helping a friend put the T56 back in his 04 Cobra. We were in a hurry to get both of our cars ready for a track event the next day (I had to install a weld in rear anti roll bar and strange adj rear shocks in my car, he had to do the trans install and a line loc).

I just got done rebuilding his trans and set it next to the car for installation. I went and did a couple things to my car and asked him if he's ready to put it in. I got under the car and he helped put the trans on my chest and I lifted it and slid it into the bellhousing (it was almost too easy!). I put one bolt in it to keep it in place and passed the job onto my friend to button the rest up.

I want back to working on my car...... After about a half hour or so (after he bolts up the crossmember, driveshaft, and exhaust) I hear him start fiddling around with something and start saying (yelling) FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!

Neither of us noticed that the clutch fork and throwout bearing was not installed on the trans:doh:

[Speed Density]

Put sand in my intake.

[Camaro_94]

Broke the oil pressure sending unit installing the motor from the top. Didn't know until the initial start up. Imagine the look of concern on my face when the new engine fired and I had "0" oil pressure.

LOL! I could only imagine. I would have been flipping out too. :laugh:


Put sand in my intake.

:laugh: That was such an awesome thread.

[MeanGreen94Z]

put my T56 in when i did the swap on the LT1, got all new trans to bell bolts... ( prior to donig the swap we tried to blow up the TH350 and thought the motor had a slight tick to it) i put everythnig in the car, bolted everything up tried to start it... clunk NOTHING!... replaced the starter cluck... NOTHING! went to take the trans out to start pulling the motor and noticed the bolts were 1/4" too long and were sticking on the pressure plate, loosened the bolts up and the car fired right up lol!

at the race track i used to take my slicks with me and just change the rears, while putting them back on i swapped one side out and my friend got the other... forgetting i had the 4 way i tossed it in the back and drove off, showing off i took of out the track spining then the car starts to bounce and wobble... i had forgot to give my friend the 4 way and he left my lugs on about 1/4 threaded on... didnt lose a wheel or anything but it did toast 4 studs and i had to drive home on 3 lugs (only 5 miles :))

put the grounds on the bac of my LS1's head, then realized once i got the motor in the car that i had to take the harness off... the bolt that was holding the grounds was 1.5" long... the space to remove the bolt was 1"... FML! cut the wires and they are still dangling back there on that bolt haha

put the LS1 in the car and left my LT steering rack, tried to get the lines bolted in there and tight... once tight i got a glance of them and they were crooked... then i realized 2 sets of trashed lines later that LS1 and LT1 line fittings were different pitches.

put the fuel pump in the car and decided to not be lazy so i took the exhaust, and rear out... got it all back in then while replacing a pump in the stock bucket for my friend about 2 weeks ago for his car, i noticed 2 of the same return lines that fill the bucket sitting on my table... needless to say i got lazy and cut the trap door and put that damn line BACK in the tank

then today i was trying to get the car out of the shop... after idling for a few minutes it started to choke up and foul out the plugs... so i thought... changed all plugs and then bam still it doesnt start. start punching the steering wheel and noticed that the fuel gauge said "E" LOL!

[KissMyWhtSS]

Nothing major yet. *Knock on Wood*

[tlinville]

I put on a set of long tubes on a 95 camaro for a customer and friend. The install went smooth as silk and no problems at all. So the guy drives off and all is well, so i thought. He calls me about 2 hours later the car is dead and instantly i know what my dumb ass did, I had forgotten to put the alternator wire back on and the battery went dead i felt like a dumb ass.

[MeanGreen94Z]

not to mention the COUNTLESS times i forgot to hookm my EWP back up after letting the car sit in the ACCY position while working under the hood to listen to the radio or clean it out... then 5 minutes later pulling into the industrial park with coolant spewing all over the place and having to walk to the truck stop to buy a gallon of 50/50 lol...

thinking back im SHOCKED that car still ran and never toasted the motor after 152k and 53k of that being me giving it hell and about 300#'s of nitrous lol oh so many careless backfires and detonations to see if it would blow lol... poor car :(

[K-Dawg]

A few years ago on a local board a guy offered up his rear end out of his car (98 Camaro) for FREE because he went with a beefier rear end. I had 2:73's and this car had 3:43's so I figured why not. It's FREE. I went to pick it up and the cover was off it and he had the retainer brackets out of it. Only things missing were the backing plates for the brakes. No biggee, I had mine. It sat in the garage for a few weeks until I got the courage to swap them out. A buddy came over and helped and we worked on it for hours (was a first time for both of us). Finally, about 12:30 in the morning we got it all back together. :metal: Hell yeah. Lets take it out and see how it feels.

We got about a quarter mile down the road when we heard a very loud thud/clunking sound followed by this extreme metal on metal grinding sound. The smell of gear oil was overwhelming. I babied it home at about 2 mph with the grinding noise sounding like a chainsaw chewing thru metal. Got back to the house. Opened the garage door and the first thing I saw was the retaining brackets pushed up against the garage wall. :cry: Looked under the car and the gears had sliced thru the rear cover. There was a trail of gear oil a half mile long that lead straight to my driveway.

Ended up buying all new bearings, seals, and 3:73's. Then paid a shop to install them. So when all was said and done, my "FREE" rearend upgrade ended up costing me about a grand.

[BLK95TA]

i was jump starting my car a couple years ago and saw smoke coming from the jumper cables. the vehicle i was using to jump start it had some pretty nasty cables and i couldn't tell + from - (no markings on the battery) but figured since the battery on the T/A had the + on the right side and - on the left that the other car was the same.....it wasn't.

only damage was a set of deep fried jumper cables.

[z28orshoot]

forgot to take rag off top of carb before firing fresh 496. for future referance, engines love to shred reg wrags and never think twice. spit out of the header in 2 parts. motor procedded to put down over 800hp with no damage.


NOTE TO SELF....remove ALL obstructions in intake track

[Counted Out]

My biggest mistake was letting Pep Boys work on my car. I was really young and just purchased the car and I had taken it in because it was making a weird noise that sounded like it was coming from the transmission. It turned out to be a broken U-joint that was shaking around and hitting the torque arm, which caused a small dent in the torque arm.

They wanted $350 to send a torque arm to a shop (owned by one of the mechanics buddies) to have the dent fixed. I told them fuck that and went and picked up the car right away.

About a year before that, at the same Pep Boys, I had taken my 94 V6 Camaro in to have a 1-Piece drive shaft put in it. After hours of them trying to convince me it wouldn't work, they finally put it in. They called me to tell me it was in, but there was a really bad vibrating problem.

When I got to Pep Boys, it was completely fine.

[Huff035]

then today i was trying to get the car out of the shop... after idling for a few minutes it started to choke up and foul out the plugs... so i thought... changed all plugs and then bam still it doesnt start. start punching the steering wheel and noticed that the fuel gauge said "E" LOL!

I dont think I have ever laughed so hard. lol



On my old trans am, cracked the windshield trying to pry the wiper arm off.


Those things are a bitch to get off, I've done it too. lol Thing that sucks is I JUST took my car off of insurance because I got the 96 and was getting ready to put it up for sale. So the $277 for the windshield came out of my pocket instead of my insurance. :(


I used to drive my f-bodies in the winter. Its not as fun as it looks. :laugh:


Been there done that and I agree... it isn't fun at all!

[bitchinbird99lt1]

and all these years i had been thinking fbodys were impossible to get stuck, i had a 96 formula i used to drive off road from time to time (idk y) and then next to my house used to be a field of sugar sand and i used to drive in it and do donuts in it and dumb stuff, the point is i could never get it stuck lol.


he forgot to mention while it can't get stuck he hit my car, and then yelled at me because my car only had a scratch on it. :laugh:

[1995LT1]

When lowering the engine out of my car for a rebuild my dad and I thought everything had been disconnected....wrong. We had left the clutch actuator cable connected to the transmission. :pinch: By the time we found it , it had already ripped through the clutch actuator, and stretched the cable enough so that it was useless.

The next one wasn't my fault, my dad started yanking away at the oil pressure sending unit until it flew into a million pieces... oh well, live and learn :shiner:.