Embarassing momments

[RUNNERBUN]

The recent post by Rubatoguy "Is there a trick to getting a head on" to which he admitted to an embarassing obvious oversight on his part got me thinking, how many of us have done something rather embarassing while restoring or servicing our beloved Model A's.
I'll be the first, so here goes:
On completeing a rebuild of my Differential (Rear Axle) I was in the process of assembly and just as I was about to insert the axles and diff centre to the diff halves (trumpets) when my wife called me to lunch. After lunch I went out to finish the job. Without thinking I picked up the axle assembly and turned them around thus placing the crown wheel on the wrong side of the rear axle. The result was of course that I finished up having 1 forward gear and 3 reverse gears. What a shock when I went to drive out of my workshop and nearly drove thru the back wall instead.
Believe me, once you make this mistake you will never do it again.

[jimvette59]

LMAO !!!!! I am happy no one got hurt.

[ora masters]

Originally Posted by RUNNERBUN

The recent post by Rubatoguy "Is there a trick to getting a head on" to which he admitted to an embarring obvious oversight on his part got me thinking, how many of us have done something rather embarassing while restoring or servicing our beloved Model A's.
I'll be the first, so here goes:
On completeing a rebuild of my Differential (Rear Axle) I was in the process of assembly and just as I was about to insert the axles and diff centre to the diff halves (trumpets) when my wife called me to lunch. After lunch I went out to finish the job. Without thinking I picked up the axle assembly and turned them around thus placing the crown wheel on the wrong side of the rear axle. The result was of course that I finished up having 1 forward gear and 3 reverse gears. What a shock when I went to drive out of my workshop and nearly drove thru the back wall instead.
Believe me, once you make this mistake you will never do it again.

i did the same thing allmost got a neck whip lash whe i started to back out of shop i still get ribed about this from my freinds

[WTSHNN]

Timed the engine....forgot to put the pin back into the timing cover, took the truck out for a 30 or 45 minute drive. The oil got everywhere in the engine compartment, out the louvers, onto the fender, running board and rear fender. Took forever to clean.

-Tim

[Big John]

Got in car, turned key but did not let it pop out, of course will not start..... Also forgetting to turn gas valve on....

[Napa Skip]

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“Humility” thy name is “working on an old car.”

I have long believed that those who don’t make mistakes probably aren’t doing anything, or at least anything interesting. In my case, as a registered professional mechanical engineer in two western states (Idaho and California) – which means I’m legally licensed to use a pocket protector and tell bad jokes (we won’t get into log-log-duplex-decitrig slide rule use) – it’s sometimes hard to believe that I’ve made any mistakes while working on Model A’s. However, after much soul-searching (and several pointed reminders from my wife) I do recall a couple of instances – some 33 years apart (which points to a VERY slow learning curve) – that I suppose could be considered “mistakes,” so here goes:

After I had to leave my 1931 standard coupe in storage in San Diego because of a transfer back to Idaho, I found that I missed driving an A more than I thought I would. In February 1977, I found a quasi-assembled basket-case 1930 coupe sitting outside a sheep rancher’s trailer outside Idaho Falls. Ignorance and a healthy does of hubris led me to the classic “hey-how-hard-can-this-be-I’ll-just-tear-it-completely-down-and-rebuild-it” approach. Fast-forward to May 1979. Facing another transfer back to California in three months, I pretty much had everything reworked, replaced, repainted and/or reassembled. Three friends, two six-packs, a couple of 4x4’s and all the spare towels I could lay my hands on proved that in fact you could reinstall a freshly painted coupe body on a shiny frame without too much trouble (until my wife found out about the towels, that is). A couple of more all-nighters and I was ready for a test drive. Starting up the highly polished, fully-assembled (more or less) coupe I carefully backed straight out the garage onto our driveway and thence onto the street. Straightening up the wheels to point the car in the right direction, I was pleasantly surprised at how effortlessly the steering was. I carefully shifted into first, let out the clutch, pressed down on the accelerator and watched – horrified – as the car drove into the curb, despite my frantic efforts to steer the other way. Fortunately, all this took place late at night, so none of the neighbors could see that I had left the bolt securing the pitman arm to the steering sector shaft lying on my workbench.

Earlier this year, our car club got together over several weekends to make a concerted effort to get one of our member’s Model A back on the road. The work list included rectifying a hydraulic brake conversion gone bad and numerous other items, among which was a chewed up and virtually useless crankshaft (ratchet) nut, so badly mangled that the engine could not be turned by hand using the lug/crank starting wrench. Lacking any experience in hydraulic brake conversion repairs (and being an engineer, which does not garner the respect I expected from the other – all much older and experienced – club members) I was relegated to replacing the crank nut. On the workbench, as evidence of much preparation and forethought – were three brand new and two very serviceable used crank nuts, along with an array of the proper tools. To aid things, the radiator had earlier been removed, so I envisioned a relatively straightforward swap-out-the-nut-and-get-on-with-it task. Taking the lead (did I mention I’m a mechanical engineer?) I removed the chewed up crank nut, handed it to someone, and – noticing a large chunk missing from the two-piece crank pulley – set about replacing that. Having done so, and being bent over the front of the engine, I called for the crank nut which I thereupon reinstalled. We had just enough time to reinstall the fan belt, radiator, hoses and support rods before lunch. After lunch, we reassembled in the shop, whereupon someone commented that “Hey, I thought we replaced the chewed up crank nut!”

Sure enough, would you believe it? During lunch, someone had snuck back into the shop, drained and removed the radiator, taken off the hoses and support rods, and replaced the new crank nut with the old chewed up one!

Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it, despite continued, repeated (and increasingly embellished) ribbing by the other club members. And I keep the chewed-up crank nut, now mounted on a walnut plaque, on my workbench as a reminder…

[msmaron]

Called everyone to help me get started....THEN realized i forgot to turn on the fuel!

[gweilbaker]

Hmmm- if a tree falls and no one hears it does it make a sound? Physically, yes and psychologically no.

I ain't telling anybody about the time I changed a clutch and after putting away all the tools, stands and jacks I find the throw-out bearing still in the box on the bench.

GRRRRrrrr.

[MikeK]

OK, Runnerbun. You just had to start this thread. Read it this morning, had a little chuckle. Then I went out to the garage. Ever blow a 300 Amp fuse? I just did. Irreplaceable blue, bakelite smelling electric smoke escaped, never to be recovered! I have two A's in the garage, and I wanted to check up on the one I'm taking to the Illinois Region garage tour this saturday. I wheeled my big 300A boost 60A charge 6/12V machine with heavy #4 cables up between them. I guess I had a brain freeze. (senior moment??) Well, one car is 6+, the other 12-. I think you can figure what I did. Correct ground polarity, wrong car, or was it the other way? Yep, flipped the switch and the charger went WHAM, melting and spattering a heavy internal fusible link. The A is fine. I'm still picking melted fuse link particles out of the charger.

[Doug in NJ]

Originally Posted by WTSHNN

Timed the engine....forgot to put the pin back into the timing cover, took the truck out for a 30 or 45 minute drive. The oil got everywhere in the engine compartment, out the louvers, onto the fender, running board and rear fender. Took forever to clean.

-Tim

You're not the only one to do that!

Doug

[Greg Jones]

Hmmm, so far the dumbest thing was when I was tuning up my Model A watching the engine purr, when lo and behold I saw the nut was loose on the top of the spark plug. Without so much as a nanosecond's thought, I reached over and grabbed it to tighten it. Let's just say my ignition system was certainly cranking juice...

[Napa Skip]

It's really hard - when firmly connected to the spark plug on a running Model A, even at idle - to yell out (between the 20,000-volt jolts) anything intelligible (such as "Turn the f#$%ing thing off!!").

Or so I hear...

[jojofilo88]

Originally Posted by Greg Jones

Hmmm, so far the dumbest thing was when I was tuning up my Model A watching the engine purr, when lo and behold I saw the nut was loose on the top of the spark plug. Without so much as a nanosecond's thought, I reached over and grabbed it to tighten it. Let's just say my ignition system was certainly cranking juice...

I've done the same with a snowblower in high school! Learned not to do that again pretty quick! haha

I went to take out my A this weekend and she wouldn't turn over. I said no problem, I'll roll it out of the garage and down the hill and roll start it, as I've done many times before. I pushed her down the hill and she wanted to catch but just wouldn't. Brought the Explorer down and towed her up again, thinking it was me that was the problem, and maybe one more roll start would do it. Had my mom steer the A while I towed it and got to the top of the hill. Same thing happened on roll #2. I thought, I've never had to tow it up once before, let alone twice! What's going on!! By that time, my cousin came down to see why I was driving up and down the hill. He jumped in the Explorer, and I steered the A back up. Confused, I rechecked everything on the way up the hill and found I forgot to turn the gas on!!

[RUNNERBUN]

Isn't it amazing, when we do these silly things how angry, annoyed, frustrating and embarassing it could be. Time heals all wounds and when we look back it all seems so hilarious.
I'm enjoying the chuckles.

[Chris H]

I have found that my Model A will make it just to the end of my drive way before it quits, with the gas valve turned off! No one around to see it but me, thank goodness.

[Dick Deegan]

Wondered why the passenger side brake on the front vibrated a little. Checked and found that I had not tightened up the backing plate nuts and inserted cotter pins - about a year earlier!! DAHH

Dick

[Richard Wilson]

Originally Posted by Greg Jones

Hmmm, so far the dumbest thing was when I was tuning up my Model A watching the engine purr, when lo and behold I saw the nut was loose on the top of the spark plug. Without so much as a nanosecond's thought, I reached over and grabbed it to tighten it. Let's just say my ignition system was certainly cranking juice...

I know an old man that will grab a spark plug connector while the engine is running just for fun. He says the secret is to not hesitate and to grab it firmly and hang on. That way he does not get the shock that the rest of us get when we accidently bump a connector on a running engine. The worst or funniest (depending on where you are standing) is when he grabs a connector and then touches someone with the other hand.

[[email protected]]

Some of the "old guys" would also put their hands across all four plugs at the same time on a idling engine to shut it off. Their hands would short out the plugs killing the engine. Remember this was normally done back in the days before pace makers...

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by WTSHNN

Timed the engine....forgot to put the pin back into the timing cover, took the truck out for a 30 or 45 minute drive. The oil got everywhere in the engine compartment, out the louvers, onto the fender, running board and rear fender. Took forever to clean.

-Tim

I've done that twice, so now as soon as I find the dimple in the cam gear I remove the hand crank and reinstall the timing pin.

[1928Pickuppain]

The bigest opsy i did was when i had the body off my frame doing the restor, i needed to rebuilt the stering box. I had one good box with bad threads one bad box with good threads so i cut the threads off and tack welded them to the new shaft (nuthing big just for a short time so i could roll the chasse around the yard). Well fast forward 3 months and i had forgoten that i had tacked the shaft like that. I drove out to east boston to get a 2 ton press in her. On the way home about 3 streets away from my garage theres a really shap corner as im taking this corner at about 25MPH with my buddie steve in the pasenger seat and my buddy ron trailing us the stearing wheel snaps off in my had and we proced to travel though the corner though the intersection and into some old mans lawn. Meen while as were going though the intersection my first instinct was to pass the wheel to steve as if to say i give up your turn!! now at the same time my mother happened to be at the intersection and saw this whole thing unfold. So steve my mother my buddie ron and the old man all got to see this very very hysterical happening and i have never lived it down sence. lol

[Stretch Cab]

40 years ago my dad and I restored my rdst PU. I was lowering the engine into the frame with a ratchet type chain hoist. As I was cranking the handle on the hoist to lower the engine I let go for some reason. The ratchet kept ratcheting hitting me under the chin each time the handle came up. Still have the scar and daughter has the truck.

[Fred K-OR]

Old dummy here. While loading my huckster to haul to Boise, I loaded it in a grass field. Then thought it would be a good idea to pull the truck and trailer (with huckster on board) up in the driveway to tie it down. Well almost to the driveway I hear this thump, thump and looking back to see the front end of the huckster almost to the end of the trailer. The rear wheels on the ground behind the trailer-slid right off. Did not hurt the huckster but did hurt my pride of a good idea gone bad!

[Tom Wesenberg]

About 6 years ago I was painting a spare oil pan and I hung it out to dry. I used a piece of copper wire instead of steel to make an S hook to hang it, and after a couple minutes the copper bent and sent the oil pan to the concrete floor. I still haven't removed the dent and repainted it.

[Napa Skip]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Some of the "old guys" would also put their hands across all four plugs at the same time on a idling engine to shut it off. Their hands would short out the plugs killing the engine. Remember this was normally done back in the days before pace makers...

With your hands across all four plugs, perhaps you don't need a pacemaker...

[Art Bjornestad]

We just don't have enough space to cover the 40 years of dumb stunts I have pulled.

[Kohnke Rebabbitting]

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Originally Posted by RUNNERBUN

The recent post by Rubatoguy "Is there a trick to getting a head on" to which he admitted to an embarring obvious oversight on his part got me thinking, how many of us have done something rather embarassing while restoring or servicing our beloved Model A's.
I'll be the first, so here goes:
On completeing a rebuild of my Differential (Rear Axle) I was in the process of assembly and just as I was about to insert the axles and diff centre to the diff halves (trumpets) when my wife called me to lunch. After lunch I went out to finish the job. Without thinking I picked up the axle assembly and turned them around thus placing the crown wheel on the wrong side of the rear axle. The result was of course that I finished up having 1 forward gear and 3 reverse gears. What a shock when I went to drive out of my workshop and nearly drove thru the back wall instead.
Believe me, once you make this mistake you will never do it again.

Yup, I did that when I was 14, went into the house and asked Dad what could have happened, and he told me. I said how do you know this, and he said he did that when he was 19!!!!!

[cpetku]

Placed the wrong size ball on my trailer hitch when I had to pick the A up for a mechanical break down. Turned out to be a battery issue and I got it started with the hand crank. Drove the A up on the trailer and the hitch let loose jumping up above the car.

At least the back of the trailer went down making it easy to get the A on. I got lucky and as the trailer came back down it missed the back of the car and actually landed back on the undersized ball.

[RUNNERBUN]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Some of the "old guys" would also put their hands across all four plugs at the same time on a idling engine to shut it off. Their hands would short out the plugs killing the engine. Remember this was normally done back in the days before pace makers...

Saw an old friend of mine do that many times to kill a model T engine. Claimed us young ones are "to soft." Didn't do him any harm as he is now 102 years old and looks like he may have another couple of years left in him.

[John Duden]

Originally Posted by RUNNERBUN

Saw an old friend of mine do that many times to kill a model T engine. Claimed us young ones are "to soft." Didn't do him any harm as he is now 102 years old and looks like he may have another couple of years left in him.

i have seen that done before!! They are tough old Guys, it hurts like hell when they grab you!!!!

[ursus]

Let's start with the first Model-A. Barn fresh after a 30 year slumber. Lots of wrenching, greasing, screwing, torquing, adjusting, futzing, and mucking around. Careful to store and return dozens of tools on the passenger side running board. THen, .... ignition and that wonderful rumble and roar. Without restraint and logic, the car is soon in gear and running down the road, around the curves, up and down hills, hitting 55 on the steepest section, and back home with that warm glow of satisfaction, to take on just a few more adjustments, to find: what happened to all the tools?

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Yup!
A number of embarrasing things! (DOUGH HEAD!) You think I'm gonna' tell the WORLD???---NO!!! Bill W.

[RUNNERBUN]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

Yup!
A number of embarrasing things! (DOUGH HEAD!) You think I'm gonna' tell the WORLD???---NO!!! Bill W.

Come on Bill, you can do it. Don't be shy. Kind of like going to confession, makes you feel good afterwards.

[Logan]

No ones mentioned leaving the rotor out of the distributor... Most of us have done it atleast once

[mass A man]

YUP, There's another one I pulled, now that you REMINDED me of it Logan!! Twice, in ONE week, forgot the gas shut off valve. Had sore knee from kicking myself in the ass.

[Greg Jones]

gweilbaker, that is a good one leaving the throwout bearing out. I would have to bang my head against the wall a couple dozen times for that one! But I can see it happening....

[Dave in MN]

A friend called me to report his '30 CC Pickup would not move when he let out the clutch. He indicated it "seemed like the clutch was slipping". It would no longer climb the apron into his garage. He came over and picked up a new clutch disc and I explained how to slide the rear end out with the back of the truck raised. He started and I got there just as it was ready to back the bolts from the bell housing and roll it back. The disc was pretty worn and the clutch cover (pressure plate) was caked in grease. I went home and picked up a lightened flywheel and rebuilt pressure plate and we installed it. Put it all back together and started it up...put it in gear...and let out the clutch. The truck would not move! What! First reaction...panic...what did we do wrong? He was missing a hubcap on the rear passenger wheel...I happened to walk around that side as he was working the clutch to find the rear axle nut spinning but the wheel was not. The axle key had split and the slipping was at the rear hub. He was a pretty good sport about it…and it makes a good story!

[Bill Lee/Virginia]

My wife and I spent one of our colder winters inventorying and recording the storage locations in a spiral notebook my 75 year collection of yard tools, antique tools, power tools, hand tools, Model A tools, used parts and new parts. I was proud of that notebook and used it frequently. One day, I left it on the passenger running board. Decided to test drive the A after lunch and when I returned, the book was gone. I drove the test run route many times and did not locate the book. Countless hours lost. Bent over and kicked myself countless times since.
Bill Lee/Virginia Peninsula

[MikeK]

I remember back when my knees were good and I could do like mass A man mentioned.

[Farrell In Vancouver]

My Dad did a good one when we were getting ready to start his Tudor in my garage. His task was to get the fluids in while I was underneath laying on one of those cargo blankets, installing cotter pins, and snugging up misc. bolts etc. I like this blanket as it keeps me off the cold concrete and keeps my clothes clean while crawling around under neath. While adjusting my position, I happen to lay my head down in a puddle of brand new 30 wieght. While he's loading the oil in he's watching the Canucks on the little t.v. and manages to pour most of it all over the engine and me.
I was about to voice my opinion on this, when the team scored and he looked down with a satisfied smile and then.....locks eyes with me.......dripping oil from my ear, hair, and collar.
By the time he stopped laughing I had my lubed ear dry, and I couldn't keep a straight face either. Time to crack a can of beer and finish watching the hockey game. Somethings are more important the models A's.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Farrell In Vancouver

... Some things are more important than Models A's.

Don't let my wife know this!

[KR500]

There are no free scholarships to the school of experience!

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by RUNNERBUN

Come on Bill, you can do it. Don't be shy. Kind of like going to confession, makes you feel good afterwards.

O.K! O.K! RUNNERBUN,
Here's my best shot & it's TRUE! Had a bad reaction to Flexarill, a muscle relaxant, hallucinations, "little people" etc for 3 1/2 weeks!
In the beginning, I was under the '30 coupe adjusting the brakes for a run to Hollister, scooted out & was staring at the running board splash apron and I could see little tiny FORD scripts, in RED, all over it! DAMN! Chuck didn't cut & polish this panel! he just covered it with a plastic overlay, wonder where he got that? DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
Yes, I made the 180 mile trip O.K. & shortly after, I was in the horspistal & re-hab for 3 1/2 weeks. The cute nurses at re-hab thought I was an old man, spaced out on drugs! Well! I WAS!! Bill W.

[RUNNERBUN]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

O.K! O.K! RUNNERBUN,
Here's my best shot & it's TRUE! Had a bad reaction to Flexarill, a muscle relaxant, hallucinations, "little people" etc for 3 1/2 weeks!
In the beginning, I was under the '30 coupe adjusting the brakes for a run to Hollister, scooted out & was staring at the running board splash apron and I could see little tiny FORD scripts, in RED, all over it! DAMN! Chuck didn't cut & polish this panel! he just covered it with a plastic overlay, wonder where he got that? DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
Yes, I made the 180 mile trip O.K. & shortly after, I was in the horspistal & re-hab for 3 1/2 weeks. The cute nurses at re-hab thought I was an old man, spaced out on drugs! Well! I WAS!! Bill W.

I just knew it. I knew you had in you Bill. Well done!

[kp]

Not related to Model a's but all this ass kickin reminds me of the guy who was on the roof thinkin bout "other times " he remembered how when he was a single man he went to help a divorced neighbor lady do some repairs in her house,after all the repair work was finished she appeared in her house coat and asked if he needed anything else,while on the roof he figured out what she wanted and he kicked himself in the ass fell of the roof and broke his leg.

[Napa Skip]

Well, now that we've introduced humor into this thread:

An engineer was riding a bike when he happened upon another engineer. “Where did you get the spiffy red bike?” asked the second engineer. “Well, I was standing by the road when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, dismounted, took off all her clothes and said I could have anything I wanted.” “Well, you probably made the right choice,” said the second engineer, “The clothes wouldn’t have fit.”

[Keith True]

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I tanked up my A one Saturday after lunch,stopped at home for a minute and headed out.My wife owned a camp about 35 miles from here so I would run up there in the afternoon and come home the next day.About two miles from home the truck just quit.I took a quick look,no fuel to the carb.No fuel coming out of the bowl either.Very odd,as I have an extremely clean system with a finger screen and no tank liner to melt into goop.I turned the line upside down to blow in it,and listened for bubbles with the cap off.No bubbles,just a hiss.I had no gas.Where did it go?I figured with a leak big enough to lose 10 gallons in two miles I would have smelled something.Luckily I was in front of the town dump on dump day so I had plenty of folks I knew offering anything I needed.I poured in a couple of quarts of gas and drove home looking for a leak.When I got home I realized I had filled up the roadster and then driven off with the pickup.I had gotten sidetracked with a couple of people at the shop and just drove off with the wrong vehicle.I've done a lot of dumb things in almost 40 years of working on equipment,never anything major.Most were of the,stand back,this might not work type of thing.Also known as hold my beer and watch this.I think my best was when I was about 13,my mini bike clutch was so worn out it would no longer engage.I jammed two pair of vise grips between the shoes,clamped tight to the drum,making it direct drive.I figured I could start it with the rear wheel off the ground on a cement block and push it off.As soon as it fired the vise grips were off and flying.One pair hit the ground,and the other pair took the brake lever right off the handlebars.I was straddling the bike,the parts just happened to go away from me.

[flatheadkev]

An old engineering was laying in a hospital bed. He was approached by his very pretty, young nurse and asked if he would like super sex. He replied,"I'll take the "soup".

[dave in australia]

Just after I purchased my A, I had to clean out the carb. So I pulled it down cleaned out all the rust flakes and dirt, which was blocking all except the main jet. At the same time, the venturi was badly corroded swollen and cracked, so I turned a new one up in the lathe. After putting it all back together, fired up the old girl. Adjusted the carb, running sweet. The next day, go on a club observation run, fill her up at the start. Fifty miles later, needed to fill up again, what?....oh no. Yep, forgot to screw the GAV seat back in. Got home, and there it was, sitting on the workbench waiting patiently to get put back into service.
I've also done the 'forgot to turn the fuel tap on' and also 'turn the ignition on' thing at various times in all my vintage cars.
There's only two type of people who don't make mistakes, those who don't work and liars.

[james hitchcock]

I can now add to this forum. Today I decided to find out why Ol Walter wasn't starting. I found that the timing was way off. Got adjusted correctly and wanted to check the spark and cranked him over touching the coil wire to the head stud. Then without thinking I touched I touched the coil wire to a plug (not realizing that Walter was badly flooded) next thing is a extremely loud kaboom ! He sparked alright and in the process blew a fist sized hole in the muffler. My neighbor was a block over and he said he heard it. Now I can also post on the farmer fixes when I cut a large coffee can and band it around my muffler.

[RUNNERBUN]

Fortunately no personal injury or uncontroled fire destroying you pride and joy. The muffler is an easy fix. The Farmer fix is OK for the short term, but why not give ol Walter a birthday present and install a nice new shiny Stainless Muffler. If ol Walter really likes his new muffler and he feels appreciated he will be less inclined to give you another scare.

[james hitchcock]

Walter will eventually get a nice new muffler. Neighbors will appreciate the farmer fix for the time being.

[MVal]

Once I pulled the carburator as it was leaking and went completelythrough it and checked the float setting. Put it back on and the car barely ran but was able to get home. Pulled it again and went to disassemble it and uh-uh there's the problem--the venturi was laying on the bench! But it did prove that the car will run with a venturi-less carburator, not well but run!