I'm not a mechanic, so I'm going to make mistakes. So I'm prepping my V8 a few days ago, and I decide in put the thermostat in. I have the thermostat(160deg w/3 small holes drilled in it) sitting on the workbench, and I go ahead and put sealant on the gasket and install the thermostat housing. I tighten it down, and then I realize that my new thermostat is still sitting on the workbench... Then while I was installing the brass 90deg fitting on the moroso oil filter adapter, I overtightened it and totally collapsed distorted the threaded portion of the fitting(got another one.) Geez... I think I'm going to have major problems with my memory when I get old. So what's the dumbest thing you've done while working on your Fiero?

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www.speedtricks.com (it's up but still under construction...)

i wasnt working on a fiero
but i tried to drive away while my car was up on axle stands once

My gas tank was complety empty and i pulled into the gas station, but my boss was there also and i started talking to him and got caried away and he went inside to pay for gas and i was talking to his wife and he came out and was leaving and i was going to follow him to help but his boat in and i took off w/o putting any gas in i ran out 3 miles later ..

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95 Camaro 3.4 with mild cam

replaced a front side v-6 exhaust manifold gasket. The only problem was that I put it in upside down without realizing it until I fired-up the engine. An extra half a day of work due to shear brainlock. duh!

After taking a couple of days to make sure I disconnected everything. I drop the engine and try to pull it to the side. It's giving me some trouble and then I noticed that I forgot to remove the clutch slave cylinder from the tranny. DOH!!! Need a new clutch line as the old one is kinked now.

quote Originally posted by GT Bastard: I'm not a mechanic, (etc). So what's the dumbest thing you've done while working on your Fiero?

It's not really dumb until you injure yourself - all the things you did were part of a normal learning curve

I heard about a guy , who, before gaining decades of experience and wisdom, was using WD-40 to find a vacuum leak on an early Escort. Something about a heavy concentration of WD-40 fumes, bad ignition wires, and singed facial hair I think

I routed my brand new shifter cables directly next to the exhaust manifold on my 84'. The cables worked great...until they melted from the heat. Doh!

The dumbest thing I've done is probably sliding under the car with it only supported by a single jack. Nothing happened but it's a pretty foolhearty thing to do.

Beside that, the stupidest thing I've done is forgetting to put the oil plug back in after an oil change. I was wondering why I was hearing the sound of fluid pouring on the ground as I was pouring in my first quart.

Or...driving off my ramps. I've done that twice! Never in my Fiero though, just in my old Mustang.

Following the damn Haynes manual for setting the valve-lash after I rebuilt my motor..Who checks for compression when a motor won't start??It took me a week to figure it out....

I cant list all of my errors here because Ive done too many.

But there are things you can do to make someone THINK they screwed up.
For example. WHile working in a shop. One of my CO-workers replaced an engine in a car. While he was in the car doing some finishing touches before starting, I slid under the car on a creeper with a balpeen hammer. When he started the car....tap tapp tapppp on the oil pan. He was pissed when he found out. But thats what made it so funny. hehe

I am only admitting this stuff because enough time has passed that I feel I have learned not to do these things...

I drilled a whole into the gas tank of my 96 Sunfire GT while installing an AMP (5k miles on the car at the time.)

I was storing a 92 tracer for a couple monthes, so I was going to change the oil, top everything off, fill the tank to 1/4 and let it sit under a cover in my dad's garage.

I drained the tranny fluid, and added 4 more quarts of oil. I couldnt figure out why it wouldnt go unless it was level, and then the damn thing started smoking like crazy.

Ah, the younger days. Coincidentally, I wont say how many engines I have destroyed via oil deprivation, but I learned that lesson too.

JesterFox

Okay, this didn't happen to me, but it does bear repeating. When I was a teenager, there was a guy in our neighborhood who had an older 60's (but still nice) GM sedan. Seems like it was a Buick. Had a V-8.
Anyway, he decided he was going to do his *first* oil change.
Drained out the old oil.
Put the plug back in.
Filled the engine with new oil.

In case you missed the previous line...
Filled the engine with new oil.

Blew every seal out of it.

I'll bet it ran very quietly for several seconds, though.

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Raydar

From the Department of Redundancy Department.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 08-01-2002).]

I kept on putting the damn ALT/WATER/MAIN drive belt upside down... basically tapered side up. And for the life of me I couldn't understand why my belt kept slipping off. So I went and bought another belt and sure enough when I replaced it with the new belt I took the other belt (which was sort of new) and compared. Damn! I just then notice that I was installing it upside down or inside out.. how ever you want to call it. I felt like a damn fool.

Where do I start?

I'll keep it at one experience for now. While working on my 91 Ford Probe (long since gone btw) I decided to put in a factory cruise control out of a wrecked car. The switch mounted in the dash, and the steering wheel needed to be removed to get into the dash. Once there, the car was pre-wired. I was putting the bolts on for the puller, screwed them in real tight, pulled the wheel off, and realized your not supposed to put them in as far as they would go! I ended up putting them right thru the back of the wheel and the turnsignal transmission, which on that car is all electronic.

I did manage to get it all back together, and it all worked except the left turnsignal wouldn't always turn itself off. But it looked BAD. I thought I was in deep enough to be buying a new column!

You know, I used to forget to tighten the lugnuts when I rotate my tires. Nothing bad ever happened, but I took it on the freeway after I chaged my tire to a doughnut spare, and I was on my knees thanking God that the spare didn't fall off! Oh, and i start my new job at Discount Tire on saturday...Shhh

Mike

Got a motorcycle one..

Had a 550 Katana that I was detailing and tinkering on.

Had the backshocks off for a rebuild, and the calipers all off for painting...while waiting for the paint to dry I was looking for something else to do and went hey....

I'll put the new springs and shims in the front forks yea...thats what I'll do!

Had one cap off and was just finishing taking the other off when it SHOOTS over my right shoulder and the front end settles down to the stops as I'm jumping back.....

Just in time to see the whole bike rock forward on the center stand and FLOP on to its bottom (on the pipes)...

DOH!!! no back shocks Dumb(*$%!!!

Took me and two friends to get it back up on to the stand, them holding it while I frantically thread the fork caps back on.

Then there was the time with WD 40 and the thought it would stop a squeaky brake.....thank God my friend called (he's a mechanic) and said he was just joking..DONT DO IT.

This and many other reasons why I go to a shop whenever affordable.

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Little Duce Coupe
"You Don't Know What She Costs"

Hey once I was pretty drunk and stopped to put gas in my new truck. Sounds pretty lame except for the fact my new truck was an F350 Turbo Diesel !! Had to drain the tank AND wasted $50 bucks worth of gas doing so.

quote Originally posted by 80's BOY: Hey once I was pretty drunk and stopped to put gas in my new truck. Sounds pretty lame except for the fact my new truck was an F350 Turbo Diesel !! Had to drain the tank AND wasted $50 bucks worth of gas doing so.

Drinking and driving is not good.

dumbest thing ive done was pulling the 4 cyld and trying to do a conversion to a new V-6.

I had a 1971 Impala (2 door)about 10 years
ago, did a complete tune-up on it and it wouldn't start afterwards. I messed around with that car for 2 straight days cursing it kicking it and every thing else. then i realized that i had removed the old points but didn't put the new ones in. (why i didn't check for spark is still beyond me)
My mom's 78 coupe deville started missing
really bad whenever it rained so the next time it rained i popped the hood open (standing in the rain leaning on a wet car)
i found the problem, a worn spark plug wire
arcing on the steering shaft, so what did i
do you ask? i reached for the faulty wire
to move it away from the steering shaft,
(while the engine is running) The back of my head still hurts sometimes from hitting that
solid caddy hood.

The dumbest thing I have done is work on my engine while wearing a belt.

Doesn't sound like much... until you see the marks left on the side of the car from my BELT BUCKLE!!!

See O/T .. window thread.

Blew a rear main seal on the original 2.8 in my 87GT. Instead of doing a motor swap *which was not so popular or heard of then* I decided to do a mild performance rebuild on the motor. Really wish I'd swapped for a 3800SC now.. Live and learn.

My radio quit working (10+ years old), ex-hubby replaced with a nice CD player/radio and found the new once wouldn't power-up either. Replaced the fuse and it worked just fine! LOL!

Kim

Do you really want to know and do you have a while to listen.

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Central Florida Fieros Web Sitehttp://CentralFloridaFieros.com

Vist the Daytona Show Site

floridafieros.org/daytona2002/

There's too much for me to list, but here's a couple:

While replacing the starter on my Fiero, I forgot to disconnect the battery cable. I got to watch some really pretty sparks.

Back before I got into Fieros (long time ago), I was driving a Ford Tempo. The fuel injector was going bad, so I decided to replace it. When I pulled the injector out, the rubber O-ring fell into the engine. So what did I do to get it out? I put the new injector in and started up the engine to blow out the O-ring.

I think I've blocked out all my stupid mistakes...

...but I heard about this one from my Dad:
A guy's son offered to change the oil in the family car. Guy let him do it. Kid drained out the oil and dumped linseed oil in. Car ran beautifully for a little while...then started to lose power...and finally wouldn't run; it wouldn't even turn over.

Linseed oil thickens (PERMANENTLY) when heated. The entire engine was glued together.

* * *

I too have forgotten to replace the oil drain plug...that's a mistake you only make once--or, at least, that you only want to make once...

Once my Dad's MGB stopped running at a gas station. I asked my girlfriend to go in and get me a cup, so I could pull the fuel line and see if we were getting fuel to the carb. She came back out and handed me the cup; I pulled the line and let the gas flow. The cup began to dissolve...
"No, Beth!" I yelled, too late. "Not a STYROFOAM cup!"

Ed

My 'you dummy' story occurred when I was working on my 64 vette. While taking out one of the front springs, I dropped it, which knocked the spring compressor off. Unfortunately, the spring just happened to land right next to the lug nuts. When the compressor came off, it hit one of the nuts in the 'sweet spot', like when a ball player hits a home run - you just know it is gone. Anyhow, the nut was launched down my diveway and up my across the street neighbor's driveway. It put a nice little dent in his metal garage door!!!

Glad no one was watching, or listening!!!

My father and I were putting in a 318 we rebuilt into one of our old Dodge Diplomats. I was in charge of the hoist.

We began lowering it to get it in. My father told me to stop lowering it, but I turn the hydraulic lift control the wrong way and dropped the new engine on the newly painted front end. It was quite a mess.

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Done a lot of "not smart" things, but I just really hate the time I had the car up in the air to change the oil, did the oil change, then dropped the car down... right on the full container of nasty old oil!
Is this the part where I ask for forgiveness and do some kind of penance?

Didn't happen to me, but a friend of mine got bit by the car bug, so he decided to learn on an old Corvette Stingray. (bad idea.... make that "expensive idea")

Doing an engine swap (L82 short block with L48 heads :wtf he is so paranoid something will come loose, he breaks off a valve cover bolt over tightening it.

Oh, and he forgot to put the through bolt in the engine mounts. Doh!

A long time ago when I first joined the military I had a 66 Corvair Monza 110. I decided I was going to replace the stock springs with a new set of lowering springs from Clarks Corvair Parts.
Well I went to the craft shop on base and started my project. It all went very well except for the great fun I had installing a new heater cable. It was getting late and I needed to finish the car or it was going to have to stay overnight. I didnt have another ride so I rushed to finish the job. 2 minutes AFTER the shop closed I was lowering my car (was up on a hyd lift) and I started to hear a metal scraping cement sound. I stooped down a bit to see if anything was in the way when I noticed that even though I pulled eveything from under the car I forgot that the lift V'ed in toward the middle and one of the springs was almost completely compressed! I dont know why I started to raise the car back up. I could only watch as the spring bowed and shot out from under the lift arm. Good thing the bays beside me were empty cause the spring shot out with so much force it went THRU the cinder block WALL!!
After the MP's finish their damage to govt property report (this goes all the way up to the base commander!) I finish taking the car off the lift and notice that the damn car now sat about an inch HIGHER than before I put the lowering springs on!
What an expensive lowering or should I say "lift" job that was.

Or how about the time I put my first clutch in a Fiero GT only to find the new and old throw out bearing setting on the work bench after the car was completely put back together coolant and all! DOH!

Steven

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88 Fiero coupe 2.5 5 speed
87 Fiero GT 14.9/ 89mph
87 Fiero SE v6
84 Fiero 2M4 T-top, Turbocharged and tons of extras!
87 Conquest TSi 406 SBC V8!

I forgot to re-install the upper (pivot) bolt for my alternator, after I finished rebuilding the heads on my 86 GT last summer. Adjusted the $%^&* belt about 6 times in the squeal fighting battle before I realized the bolt wasn't there. It went almost 11 months, and about 5000 miles like that. Luckily, I had the bolt in my spare (not leftover) parts bag.

And I'm a nuclear-trained Chief Petty Officer (Selectee), US Navy. Homer Simpson is a nuke, too... DOH!!!

I got a used engine from Darklord a couple weeks ago. I needed it to hold me over until I have time to rebuild mine after it started to get a small knock in the bottom end.

I put it in without remembering to check the condition of the rear oil seal first.

A few days later I was dropping the cradle again for a 15$ part.

David

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His Fiero: 1984 2M4 Coupe

Her Fiero: 1984 2M4 Convertible

drilled a hole in my gas tank. if you feel around at the top of the console wall you can feel it has two layers of metal, but the two layers don't go all the way down. if you drill near the bottom and come through you're outside of the car and the bit is now against the gas tank.

also dumb for my health, i couldn't move it much after it started leaking so i got it up on ramps and removed the tank pretty much where it has been leaking. the gas fumes were so strong i has to crawl out frequently to clear my head, but i wanted to finish as soon as possible so i'd crawl back in and work till i couldn't stand it and had to come out again. if someone had taken a blood sample at that time i probaly could have got an octane rating.

I was changing the oil in my 300ZX, up on a hydraulic lift. I finished it up and was ready to take it off of the lift. I lowered the car, but did not have anyone to spot me back. I did not want to drive off of the ramps, so I cracked the door open so that I could watch the wheels to make sure I did not drive off of the ramp, I did not notice it when the door was pulled from my grasp until the sound of crunching medal started. My door caught the garage door as I backed out and was a mangled mess before I got the car stopped. I rolled it forward to get the door off of the wall, stepped out to take a look at the damage, and to see if the door would close. The car was still running, when I closed the door. The door lock was shorted out to the locked position, so of course the doors locked when I closed them... do not forget, the car was still running, and I had no spare keys with me.

I was so pissed at myself for that one.

If you want to see my supid mistakes just take a look at my garage or in the engine bay of my 2M4

Oil all over the floor (the oil pan was to small and overflow'd)

Spare nuts all over (the go somewhere but i just don't know where)

I mean since the 2M4 hosted my 1st engine jobs i made alot of mistakes, i do pride myself on installing the header without any trouble...well a few extra nuts but i mean i'll figure out where they come from someday.

I think that the stupidest thing i've done is while my header job, i installed the header and just finished tightening the last bolt to perfact torque specs when i realize i left 4 large cloths in each cylnder DOH!!!

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Steven Rossi
2M4 to GT conversion underway

quote Originally posted by stevenrossi: I think that the stupidest thing i've done is while my header job, i installed the header and just finished tightening the last bolt to perfact torque specs when i realize i left 4 large cloths in each cylnder DOH!!!

Before I installed my 2.8 into my coupe, I decided to put sprint manifolds on it. Packed the ports with bits of shop towel while I was grinding the old gasket material off. After I got it installed, it had a tremendous misfire. It kept crossing my mind that maybe I had left a piece of shop towel in the exhaust port. Turned out to be a bad injector.

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Raydar

From the Department of Redundancy Department.

Topcat, I applaud you. That one took the cake for me.

fierolover87, I will think twice before I take my car to Discount Tire.

Anyway, I'm pretty good at not making any serious mistakes, but I got a few anyway.

Oil change, in the Indy. Changed the oil for the first time on a fresh rebuild, about 2K miles on it. Started it up and the oil light stayed on for 3 seconds and the engine was making excessive noise, Even for a duke! look under the car, 3 qts of oil shot out, the old oil filter's gasket stuck to the paint job on the engine. Two gaskets just won't hold. I couldn't tell becaue I couldn't see. That's not stupidity is it?

I used a Haynes manual once, needless to say I couldn't figure out why my car wouldn't run right for a month. The electrical schematics are just plain wrong. That's not stupidity either is it?

I didn't bother to bolt the air cleaner cover to my duke, it came off while I was driving and landed on the exhaust manifold, I smelled something burning, but thaught that it was the dodge caravan in front of me. Someone nice, told me MY car was smoking, I pulled over and found my air cleaner cover burning its gasket away on the exhaust. Now that's stupidity!

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Matt D
1984 Indy Fiero 4sp.
1985 2m4 now equipt with a 1996 3.4 DOHC.