now we all know we all work on our cars a lot. What's the biggest fuckup you've made?

Mine would be not disconnecting my battery when I went to change out some oil feed fittings on my car, thinking that since I was doing absolutely nothing electrical related it would be no big deal. Unfortunately, something was grounded and I seem to have found an exposed power point as well (probably one of the connections on the starter) so that when I rested my turbo on that ledge, and touched my SS braided feed line to my charge pipe, the whole SS line caught fire and started smoking something fierce. I managed to disconnect the battery before it reached any fuel lines (which as you can see are quite close to the oil line, one of the things I did is relocate it across the engine bay to the normal spot though).
I've always been of the school of thought that "if it doesn't catch fire, no big deal" but obviously anything in my car could catch fire at any moment. The line sprouted a bunch of crispy white fuzz, is torched black in some parts, and no longer lets anything through. Only $50cdn and now at least I can get one thats the right length, but it also melted the wires going to that EGR valve, so I get to remove that now too :D

mine has to be when my #2 cylinder spark plug shot out of my motor. instead of doing the right thing and replacing the head, i took that head off and put a re-thread kit in, and needless to say ive been having problems since. not only does that cylinder misfire, i have another cylinder that feels like the threads are going on it too.

oh, and even bigger than that, i would say my number one mistake was buying this car off of a ricer who didnt take care of it properly. i thought i was doing the car a favor and rescueing it, but it seems its causing more problems than i was looking forward too.

i've had a few, most of them were just stupid mistakes

but the dumbest one that comes to mind is changing my oil and not putting the cap back on. Realizing it the next day with no cap to be found i headed to the parts store in my brothers car and in a rush to get home for dinner. pulling out of the lot during rush hour after sundown i pull out in front of a car that didn't have its lights on, but since i was the one who pulled out even though she was breaking the law by not having her lights on, it went down as my fault...almost three years later i think i'm finally done paying for it and am waiting for the next insurance bill to see how much it goes down after increasing about 800 a year.

here's another one took my hood off so i could see the mechanical fuel gauge when testing out my sfmu to make sure fp was rising, left a bolt laying somewhere around the engine, when i came back 5 minutes later, down to 3 bolts for the hood. Notice a pattern anyone?

also dropped several clamps in my fuel tank when changing pumps

fortunately i haven't fucked up anything major yet (aside from my brothers car-and i will never ever say that accident was my fault)

this reminds me of the most embarrasing moment thread

1. Didn't remove oil filter seal before installing a new filter...lost 5 quarts of oil in about 15 seconds.

2. Replaced alternator and threw wrench from positive terminal to the ground and the car wouldn't work once i got it all back together...couldn't figure it out, had my dad come and haul it away to his shop and found out it was just the fuse I blew.

put my exhaust cam in 180* off during rebuild and tried to start it about 15 times before i figured it out. thank god no bent valves!

Forgot to tighten the alternator bolt after my first rebuild ever, the belt shredded and slapped around like mad, and I thought a bolt fell in my timing belt and destroyed my car, (I almost pooped) Another time the bolt fell off the top of my strut in the front and popped out during a bump, thank god it only jammed up in the wheel well, the strut blew out completely and I am lucky the damn wheel didn't just fold under the car. AGX sent me a brand new strut for free. (They rock).
~Jeffo



Top end: Ported and polished head, REV stainless Valves, Crower stage 2 cams, Crower valve springs and titanium retainers, SBI rockers and lashers, Fidanza Cam gears, ARP Headstuds.
Bottom end: JE 8.8:1 pistons, Eagle H-beam rods, Balance rotating assembly, Clevitte Rod and Main bearings, Melling oil pump, Crank scraper, carter water pump.
Ignition: MSD Coil, MSD wires, NGK iridium spark plugs.
Bolt ons: MP 60mm throttle body, ported and polished intake manifold gasket matched, Magnaflow catback, high flow cat, Unorthodox UDP, Ground wire kit.
Suspension: Eibach Ground control coilovers, KYB AGX gas adjustable struts, Strut tower bars.
Drivetrain: SPEC stage 4 clutch
Body/Interior: VIS Evo carbon fiber hood, stock red body, stock black 16" rims. Ractive carbon shift boot and ebrake boot, Ractive carbon blue gauges (boost, oil press., volts, and cluster, blue underseat lights.
Installing at the moment: Garrett t3/t04e stage 2 water cooled turbo, RC 440cc injectors, Vortech SFMU, HKS SSQV BOV, Star FMIC and piping, Star manifold, 3" Downpipe, Tial 38mm WG, Walbro 255 fuel pump, Missing link.

my biggest mistake was trusting an ass monkey to properly torque down anything important...
didn't cost me much money, but the aggravation was incredible.



-----------
the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

turning the first bolt.

Secondly, dropping the speedo pinion in the trans case while changing speed sensors and not immediately biting the bullet and dropping the trans to get it back out. I ground that gear into plastic powder that got into every single part of the trans. I spend two weeks tearing everything down and cleaning it all out. No fun at all...

broke oil pressure sender when I took it out and tried to glue it back together. Low oil pressure light was on but wasn't leaking until I took it out a few weeks later and noticed this trail of oil going down my street into my driveway, luckily I didn't starve the engine.

Sold my 94 Z28 and bought one......uuuuhhhh i mean two.....shit I mean 3!

Pulled the starter relay and put it in a spare slot by accident. Spent an hour trying to figure out why the hell the car wasn't starting.

Forgot to replace seal on oil filter....lost hhella oil real fast...but I noticed and bought more.

During one of my suspension isntalls, I forgot to use the dust cover when reassembling...its an important, necessary piece...so I had to do it all again...

Coilover suck dont get them...I shoulda never bought them for my first eclipse...pain in the ass.

Passenger side window would not roll up... I had no idea why. I spent about 2 hours reading and completely dissassembling the door. It was the window lock button pressed on the driver controls....DAMNIT. Even more ironically, this event happened again a year later. AND STILL, I fully took apart the door panel...and fiddled with it.....finally realizing there was no problem...gah

I have many connections which should be soldered, and aren't....thats a mistake.

I made a mistake ever buying neons for the inside of my car...I just look back and realize...its just not...professional/classy..

Once I had a clunking noise I heard whenever making broad right hand curves, like m,erging onto a highway. Turns out my lugnuts on one wheel were very loose... mistake.

Originally posted by Ryan_Hes
Forgot to replace seal on oil filter....lost hhella oil real fast...but I noticed and bought more. During one of my suspension isntalls, I forgot to use the dust cover when reassembling...its an important, necessary piece...so I had to do it all again... Coilover suck dont get them...I shoulda never bought them for my first eclipse...pain in the ass. Passenger side window would not roll up... I had no idea why. I spent about 2 hours reading and completely dissassembling the door. It was the window lock button pressed on the driver controls....DAMNIT. Even more ironically, this event happened again a year later. AND STILL, I fully took apart the door panel...and fiddled with it.....finally realizing there was no problem...gah I have many connections which should be soldered, and aren't....thats a mistake. I made a mistake ever buying neons for the inside of my car...I just look back and realize...its just not...professional/classy.. Once I had a clunking noise I heard whenever making broad right hand curves, like m,erging onto a highway. Turns out my lugnuts on one wheel were very loose... mistake.

I LOL at the door lock button!

Trusting Satan to Rebuild my 200 mile old (yes only two hundred miles) transmission because they sold it to me with a bad input shaft bearing. Only to have that very same Input shaft bearing go again 1000 miles later. This time I lost it on Mitsu for all the BS. Took it straight to Savannah Mitsubishi (Savannah,GA 1/2 hour from where I'm stationed). Talked to Mark Stutzman (the service manager there) who Covered everything and replaced it with a brand new NV-T350 Even though Mitsu didn't do the Install (I did three times the first time was for the clutch which after which I realized the 1st gear synchro's went).
Oh you think that would be the end "But wait there's more" the Tech at SAV Mitsu Tore the new drivers side axle shaft seal and broke my Oil Pressure Switch while installing the Passneger side shaft so they had to make me wait while they ordered new ones cuz for some reason they didn't stock them. And then to top it all off he left My front cross member bolts and bushings completely out of the car which I didn't notice til I was already late getting back to work from picking it up on my lunch break. Had to Take it back and Wait another Day (as if waiting 3 weeks wasn't long enough). Well they finally made it right and I was Happy. Well at least Mark Covered all the BS for me Even though he had to fight with Satan for 6 months afterwards to get it covered.
Oh I bet you think the Saga is over. NOPE then 6 months later (just before christmas) the Clutch Decided enough is enough so thinking it's a collapsed throw out bearing I call up mark again. He get's it towed for me and the tech (new guy this time they fired the other guy after the first ordeal) dropped the tranny only to find all the fingers on my pressure plate (CM stage 3) bent to the point that it wouldn't disengage. So I send the Clutch to CM and they rebuild it for cost of parts and over nighted it back to me free. They got it back in the car only to now have My engine jumping around in the bad Mounts that Mark's Tech Failed to mention to him or I would have paid to have them replaced while the tranny was out. So once again Mark to the rescue (and I think another Tech got fired) I got the 2 mounts that were bad replaced At no charge. Any ways the worst part of this is 6 months later I did this to the car and had to Buy another 2gnt:

the only mistakes i ever had is trying to take out the 02 sensor with a breaker bar and snapped it off and i used a real shitty jack one time cuz it was the only one i had at the time and when i started to jack the car down it broke and crushed my intercooler and front underglow .

Putting together a "customudo" turbo kit and have the install half way done and when I looked at my car I realized I had an urelable, worthless paperweight that would never run right and eventually blow a motor...and still be slow.

But I broke even when I sold the kit. No biggie, car lesson learned.

Biggest mistake I made was when I was lowering my car I had to take a torch to cut a siezed bolt on my lower control arm. I cut all the way through the bolt and accidently cut a hole in my CV boot. So not only did have to buy a lower control arm (which I was going to have to replace anyway) but I also now had to take out the whole halfshaft and disassemble the entire thing just to put on a new CV boot.

Another mistake that pissed me off was when I was changing my oil I took off my old filter and the rubber gasket that comes on it riped off the old filter and stuck to the engine itself and I didn't know it so I continued to install a new filter with its rubber gasket too making it 2 gaskets that was between the filter and engine. Needless to say I lost just about all my oil onto the garage floor in about 15 seconds. Did it again about a half a year later. I learned now that with Fram filters you always make sure the gasket is on the old filter and if it isn't then remove it from the contact point on the engine. Fucking Fram x(

Originally posted by shazow1969
Trusting Satan.........

See? there it is, the ultimate mistake. trusting satan.
I was waiting for that one.
(sorry, not meaning to single you out or anything)

Is that mud IN your quarter panel? holy shit, doesn't even look like a 2G any more.

-----------
the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Originally posted by wite96gs

Originally posted by shazow1969 Trusting Satan.........

See? there it is, the ultimate mistake. trusting satan. I was waiting for that one. (sorry, not meaning to single you out or anything) Is that mud IN your quarter panel? holy shit, doesn't even look like a 2G any more. ----------- the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

it almost looks like the rear on the new 4g .lol

didnt get stick shift

Originally posted by wite96gs

Originally posted by shazow1969 Trusting Satan.........

See? there it is, the ultimate mistake. trusting satan. I was waiting for that one. (sorry, not meaning to single you out or anything) Is that mud IN your quarter panel? holy shit, doesn't even look like a 2G any more. ----------- the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Indeed Trusting Satan was the first mistake. However I never would have taken the tranny back to them if it's wasn't brand new (seriously less than 200 miles on it) and for $2200 Satan had better Honor their fuggin 12month 12k mile warrantee on parts.

Oh yeah I blame Satan for the damage to the rear of my car also they left the sway bars off the rear of the RS's which ultimately caused it pictured damage. But in the end I made out better than I went in cuz i got a 96 GS for $620.

Here's a pic of ^^^^ car prior to the mayhem.

and One of the replacement.


-Kevin

Originally posted by shazow1969

Originally posted by wite96gs

Originally posted by shazow1969 Trusting Satan.........

See? there it is, the ultimate mistake. trusting satan. I was waiting for that one. (sorry, not meaning to single you out or anything) Is that mud IN your quarter panel? holy shit, doesn't even look like a 2G any more. ----------- the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Indeed Trusting Satan was the first mistake. However I never would have taken the tranny back to them if it's wasn't brand new (seriously less than 200 miles on it) and for $2200 Satan had better Honor their fuggin 12month 12k mile warrantee on parts. Oh yeah I blame Satan for the damage to the rear of my car also they left the sway bars off the rear of the RS's which ultimately caused it pictured damage. But in the end I made out better than I went in cuz i got a 96 GS for $620. Here's a pic of ^^^^ car prior to the mayhem. and One of the replacement. -Kevin

'96 you say? good year! :cheers

what year was your RS?
Also, I don't blame you for going back, I would have too, if I had a warantee.

but really though, is that mud in a hole in the rear quarter? or just on the surface?

on a side note, that drivers headlamp can be cleared up with a lttle wet sanding, mine is so much better now. In case you didn't already know.

ALSO(not to drag this post on), not listening to good advice from knowledgeable 2gnter's, was another needless PITA.


-----------
the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Originally posted by wite96gs

Originally posted by shazow1969

Originally posted by wite96gs

Originally posted by shazow1969 Trusting Satan.........

See? there it is, the ultimate mistake. trusting satan. I was waiting for that one. (sorry, not meaning to single you out or anything) Is that mud IN your quarter panel? holy shit, doesn't even look like a 2G any more. ----------- the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Indeed Trusting Satan was the first mistake. However I never would have taken the tranny back to them if it's wasn't brand new (seriously less than 200 miles on it) and for $2200 Satan had better Honor their fuggin 12month 12k mile warrantee on parts. Oh yeah I blame Satan for the damage to the rear of my car also they left the sway bars off the rear of the RS's which ultimately caused it pictured damage. But in the end I made out better than I went in cuz i got a 96 GS for $620. Here's a pic of ^^^^ car prior to the mayhem. and One of the replacement. -Kevin

'96 you say? good year! :cheers what year was your RS? Also, I don't blame you for going back, I would have too, if I had a warantee. but really though, is that mud in a hole in the rear quarter? or just on the surface? on a side note, that drivers headlamp can be cleared up with a lttle wet sanding, mine is so much better now. In case you didn't already know. ALSO(not to drag this post on), not listening to good advice from knowledgeable 2gnter's, was another needless PITA. ----------- the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match....:wallbash

Yep 96 is a good year :cheers . The RS was a 95 (see sig below lol). As for the headlight I'm not concerned with clearing it up, the only part of the body of my 95 that survived was the headlights and they are 97-99 style projectors (the good ones with the black backing and NO halo's) they should go well with the R33 front I'm getting for it.

Well Yes that is mud in the Fuel fill door there. Long story ask me about it when we get together for the next SO. But I still Blame Satan for that.

Oh Yeah I should Mention the worst thing I ever did while working on anything (I really never did anything stupid to My 2gnt) was going 20k miles on an oil change in My 94 hyundai excel. Working at a Dealership sick of turning wrenches by the time the day/week is done so i just kept driving it. Finally I realized it had been almost a year since I changed the Oil and I changed it. But I beat the Living hell out of that car Every day and the only things I ever had to replace was a tune up 1x the tires 1x the brakes 3x (fuggin right front wearing prematurely) the clutch 1x (at 105k miles) and the tranny 5x (the last time I gave it away instead of fixing it again) seriosly hyundai should have put spare trannies in the trunk instead of doughnuts. either that or put carry handles on them they only weighed like 40#. I literally did one on the side of the road once with only a good floor jack a socket set a hammer and a big pry bar.

-Kevin

"I love this hobby (and this community) so much, I just went out and bought another one. It won't be the first dead car I've resurrected since joining this site, but it will certainly be the fastest."

you bought another car brian???? sweet...are you going the proper route for this one? (lol) :evilgrin

i dont have any bad horror stories as i tend to mess up on a lot of small things. ive done the "double seal" on the oil filter a few times, i almost ALWAYS leave my oil cap off after an oil change, i tend to loose tools in the engine bay, etc. the other day i was checking spark issues on my neon and decided it was a good idea to dissconnect the wires at the coil with the car running (warning: dont drink and tool). i got a real nice arc to my hand with that one.

Originally posted by SPL_Eclipse
you bought another car brian???? sweet...are you going the proper route for this one? (lol) :evilgrin

Yes. I go pick it up soon, but it's not a DSM. It's better.

I remember seeing a blown up GVR-4 on EBay with your username in the bid history last week. Joining the dark side?

I couldn't figure out why my speedo didn't work after changing the sensor. Tested all the wiring and all was good. Then one day it worked till I hit my turn signal. Thought I had a short and tested it all again. Then I noticed the gauge cluster wasn't in all the way. I felt stupid after all that.

Left the old oil filter seal on and installed the new one (with a new seal) after having the engine/trans out and the entire car in parts and installed a new wiring harness and a million other parts...

Everything worked fine, just a loud sucking noise, and dumped over 4 quarts of oil in my garage. I notice the noise, and killed the engine the second it did that. Sent my brother out to get a some new oil/filter, etc. Double checked the filter when I installed it this time, and everything ran fine.

Then there was the next day, when I snapped two bolts on one side of my hood off while heading home. I had decided not to replace them when I noticed the looked a little warped, as I wanted to get the car back on the road, as it had sat ALL summer because of a harness fire, while I put a new engine in my bros truck, and new clutch in my mother's Mini...

Those are the main one's I remember... Doing some more work this week, I'll probably have new stories.

My favorite two:

"eyeballed" piston ring gaps

forgot to install bedplate-to-block o-ring

The biggest mistake I think I've ever made, though, was introducing a certain 2GNTer to my wife. Ah well, things happen for a reason, right? :thumbsup Life is certainly better now.

I love this hobby (and this community) so much, I just went out and bought another one. It won't be the first dead car I've resurrected since joining this site, but it will certainly be the fastest. }(

Originally posted by DR1665
My favorite two: "eyeballed" piston ring gaps forgot to install bedplate-to-block o-ring The biggest mistake I think I've ever made, though, was introducing a certain 2GNTer to my wife. Ah well, things happen for a reason, right? :thumbsup Life is certainly better now. I love this hobby (and this community) so much, I just went out and bought another one. It won't be the first dead car I've resurrected since joining this site, but it will certainly be the fastest. }(

OH dear!

Anyways my two favorites are stripping the threads on the front o2 sensor and stripping the control arm link out when changing my shocks and springs, it took me 2 days to dremmel that friggin thing off.

ummm...1) the infamous double oil filter seal
2) i cant remember what i was doing but a few weeks ago i was hovering above the battery and somethin happened (kinda lost my memory of this hour)...and the battery blew up about 4 inches from my face, thank god it blew sideways and not straight up, but i coudlnt hear for a minute or 2..
3) today i was gettin ready to go to my uncles and i was puttin stuff in the trunk. put the hatch up (hands were full) and it started comin back down so i tried to catch it, and 2 of my fingers actually got shut WITH the hatch..hadda wait almost 5 minutes for my girlfriend to come outside with my finger stuck under my hatch...i gotta say tho thats the funniest shape i've ever seen my fingers have :shrug
4) took my pinstripe off with a razor blade lmao. this was before i knew ANYTHING about cars (i'd just gotten my 2g)..now im stuck with tons of scratches where the pinstripe used to be
5) when i first got my car, didnt realize i should check the oil when i got it home, and 2 months later the engine blew (bad oil leak)

It would have been the biggest fuck up ever known to man, but lucky for me I pulled my head out of my ass.

I finished up my oil pan for my 2.4, hacked, wacked & welded, oil return and painted, and I happily put it into place with a new gasket and all. But I could only find the 4 oil pan bolts that I used to temporarily keep the pan into attached to the black. Then I had to give up working on the car for a week or so, and during that week, by some divine intervention or something, it dawned on me that I didn't put the oil pick up on. x(

Thank god for the missing oil pan bolts...which I found a week later...or otherwise I would have not been thinking about the whole situation.

Lol. I've done it all. This thread proves that 2gnt'ers are naturally destructive. JK. I'd post some experiences but I'm spaced out and don't really feel like it. Maybe later. :P

Buy'n over $1K worth of "knock off bolt on crap" only to realize years later on that I'd need to spend $1K+ to get "REAL NAMEBRAND" stuff to replace IT!?!?! :whoa

Originally posted by DR1665
The biggest mistake I think I've ever made, though, was introducing a certain 2GNTer to my wife. Ah well, things happen for a reason, right? :thumbsup

OMG I Remember this!!! Does that make me old school :P

Originally posted by Blizare

Originally posted by DR1665 The biggest mistake I think I've ever made, though, was introducing a certain 2GNTer to my wife. Ah well, things happen for a reason, right? :thumbsup

OMG I Remember this!!! Does that make me old school :P

that wasnt even that long ago... OLD NEWS dear god yes... old school hell no.

Originally posted by djtrickee

Originally posted by Blizare

Originally posted by DR1665 The biggest mistake I think I've ever made, though, was introducing a certain 2GNTer to my wife. Ah well, things happen for a reason, right? :thumbsup

OMG I Remember this!!! Does that make me old school :P

that wasnt even that long ago... OLD NEWS dear god yes... old school hell no.

Jeez, fellas! Let it go, already! :rolleyes LOLz

(You have to admit. It was a pretty stupid mistake. I mean, furthermore, there was this one time when he was under his car fucking around with the fuel return line. There was gas everywhere and I flicked a dead cigarette butt down there to him. LMAO he came outta there quick. If he had gone up in flames that day, I wouldn't be where I am today. So I'm glad things turned out how they did.) :thumbsup

how about 'almost' made?

Was using a rotary grinder to clean up some welds that MikeW@RRE did on the rails for lowering the seat. I slipped a bit and ran the disk over my left index knuckle. Lots of bright red blood gooshed out. I was really worried that I had just fuckd up that joint. Fortunately the disk only gone through the flesh, and not the bone or cartilage just a fraction of a mm further in.

Apparently drawing blood at RRE is sort of a shamanistic 'rite-of-passage'. I definitely felt like a true DSMer that day... ;)

juan

So this thread's a little old, but that's okay. It's nothing serious, except I wasted money. The car was wrecked and I wasn't driving it, so I was bored and I took off my valve cover to check for anything weird like lack of oil, signs of lifter tick, etc... Well, I put everything back together, put the spark plugs back in, bolted the coil pack back on, figured everything was okay, went inside to go to bed. Came back out the next morning after I decided I wanted to drive it, and the car would NOT start. I was like, WTF. It looked like a dead battery, so I went to wal*mart and got a new battery. Got home, put the battery in and realized I had forgotten to plug in the coil pack plug. ::rolls eyes:: I also took off my passenger side radiator fan to check for clearance for the turbo and went to bolt it back on and on of the fucking bolts broke off inside the radiator. :-P

Tried to tighten my PS/AC belt and snapped the head off the long bolt that moves the pulley... Took it off, found out it was reverse threaded... Tried to do the same thing on my freind's 2GNT a week later, turned the bolt the right way this time... but forgot to loosen the bolt that holds the pulley in place, and snapped the head off again.

During my first pre-turbo rebuild, I didn't get enough torque on the bolt that holds the intake cam gear on. About 5 minutes into the first break-in run, the gear spins I get 8 bent intake valves. Oh well, I got SS ones because of that.

My biggest mistake so far was using misc. parts off a 420a neon. My car was acting like it was on crack and noone could explain how to fix any of the problems i was dealing with until i realized the sensors i used were off a neon set up and replaced them with eclipse ones and now everything is great. Basically i had a nasty idle surge and hang and my car was running richer than oprah due to a map sensor and a tps sensor off a neon 420a. i also used a 2 1/4" clamp on my downpipe to downpipe connection and didnt get a tight seal due to the smaller of the two being 2". other than that everything is great and im loving my car now.

wow i like this thread.

1. over torqued the cam cap bolts on my first rebuild. starved the exhaust cam. car idled good for about 5 minutes then died. could not get it to start. had to get a new head.

2. working on my fmu with the car on stands and the passenger door open. got out from under the car cause i heard "to the colors" (live on army base). sat up and woke up 45 mins later with a head ache. knocked myself out on the pass. door.

3. bought ebay coilovers with rubber perchs. now i have two dents in my hood.

4. didn't replace my clutch when i rebuilt my motor. now i think about it all the time. clutch still works though. (5000 miles)

5. painted my interior. looks like crap now.

Last Night:
My mother's Talon died on her in town. Went to check obvious things, went to look for my ratchet,extension and spark plug socket to check for spark and they're at home.
Finally found out the problem. The 2 relays beside the Master weren't working. I took her's out and removed mine. Plugged them in and Wham, she cranks. After several minutes of me grunting like Tim Allen because I had the problem diagnosed and my wife telling me how smart I was we went to check on new ones. No new ones to be had so I was just going to use mine to get her car to my house. While I waited on someone to take me over to the car I tried her relays in my car and it started. Lesson learned: If something electrical seems to be the problem try just unplugging it and plugging it back in.

Yeah it's an old post but...

Haven't done the double oil filter seal yet..

1. I was installing my first turbo after the rebuild and for some reason I cranked the motor without the oil line attached to show my girlfriend what the turbo looks like when it's spinning (without filter or dp)I watched her get sprayed by oil from the oil line that was pointing right at her
2. I put my valve cover back on after polishing it and cranked the motor, got out of the car to see that I messed up the gasket and oil poured out everywhere in my engine compartment.
3. trusted a mecahnic! Driving back to school from my house after the rebuild to have the little crown locking pin from my steering be missing cause he dind't put it on, so my left front wheel shot in (turned right against my wheel well) in a turn downtown seattle in heavy rush hour traffic causing my car to be stalled for a tow truck for an hour. Everyone walking by offered to help, but I pointed to them that one wheel was facing the wrong direction and it wouldn't roll. The tow truck showed up and said good luck, my cars too low to tow! I used his floor jack to lift up the front end in the street and pop the pin back in temporarily to drive the car to my house. He charged me for a friggin tow!

Lost so many bolts in the engine compartment to later hear them clinging around and hitting the ground as I'm driving
Left a wrench under the hood when I closed it and put a nice outward dent in my stock hood.

I love my car, it's fun to hear all of these stories because it shows the learning curve for a bunch of young guys doing things themselves.

Originally posted by xceler8
I was installing my first turbo after the rebuild and for some reason I cranked the motor without the oil line attached to show my girlfriend what the turbo looks like when it's spinning (without filter or dp)I watched her get sprayed by oil from the oil line that was pointing right at her

OMG Hahaha!

My biggest mistake I've made was when I was in high school trying to rebuild my car instead of sleep between a weekend of 10 hour workshifts.

This is the actual picture of what I did, after I took the head off a second time...

Um... how about being so excited that i found an eclipse that i baught it and it was an auto :-\

Originally posted by Diltzy
Um... how about being so excited that i found an eclipse that i baught it and it was an auto :-\

LOL Yea thats pretty stupid. But the guy before you has EVERYONE in this post beat imo.

Well, just now... I was replacing the fuel pump, and I was like, ok you got the tank open now go get the lines off and have a smoke. So I do just that, but in my eagerness to get the job done I hop right back in with a lit cigarette. I was there for about a second when it hit me like a ton of bricks. "What the fuck are you doing you damn moron" I think I said it out loud too. "Gas and lit cigarettes don't mix dumbass" So I proceeded to jump out of the car and come in here to share my idiocy with you all.

buying my car (which is still sittin in my parents 2.5 car garage
bolt-ons
buying an auto
bolt-on speed glo gauges that didnt allow enough room for my gas gauge to work
trying to re-dye my entire interior black with the rattle can
stripping a bolt on my valve cover, causing a SLOOOOW leak that eventually starved my motor
stripping the thread on a spark plug

but Ive learned from all of that...and I still miss her :(
-EE

buying an OBX LSD

paying someone to put in my clutch and cams instead of doing it myself and learning from it... regreted it ever since.
>98 eclipse RS

stage 2 cams + basic bolt ons = still slow as shit

DSM- Developing Smarter Mechanics since 1990

Dino should shime in

-crossdrilled fuel line

well I was drilling a hole in the firewall and I drilled open the fuel line.

The worst part is that its the small section of line between the firewall and the subframe.

I just ran a new section right ther ebut Ill run all new lines when the new motor is going in.

Tom

1) Painting interior
2) Stupid "bolt-on" trash
3) Buying an auto

-EE

old post

I spent 3 hours swapping my door to power. I put everything back on turned on the car and nothing didnt know about the stupid power lock and window relays that was a year ago, and I just got my relays last week time for round 2.

Cracked the thermostat housing (head side) when replacing the thermostat. weaksauce. Broke due to over torqued bolt

Drilled into the brake booster by accident when running a power cable to the trunk. Completely forgot it was there. Luckily I had a bolt the same size and some silicone. Sealed right up, amazingly.

Well, last night while racing, my alternator belt flew off... I thought the timing belt had come apart... Scared the shit out of me. Then, while driving (within the next few seconds) I knew it was the alternator. So, when I get back on the interstate to go home (within five minutes of the incident) I hear a really loud scraping noise. I pull over and my whole car starts to vibrate quite violently, so I shut the car off. I get out, and my cai, that I've had on for over a year, with my fourty some thing dollar filter is ripped to shreds and I no longer have an intake. So, I decide to drive home, just very gently, because I thought the shaking might have been from the intake, so about a mile away from my home, when I stop at a stop sign my car starts to shake horribly violent again, I was sure my motor was $#@!@#$... So I STILL proceed to go home. When I finally arrive I assesed the damage, I had no intake, no filter, alternator belt, and the weirest thing had happened. The shaking was from my radiator fan blade breaking and spining unevenly. How one blade breaks off I have no clue, my old fan died so I replaced with this, an OEM fan, and it dies. Should be all fixed by tommorow though... :thumbsup

Wow this thread is still going :D I started it back when I still loved my 2gnt!