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Here's a thread where people can add posts about where they showed exemplary intellect

I'll go first, to give everyone an idea....

Got a new chassis for my Tamiya TB-02 touring car, to replace the broken one I already had. It was falling apart, so had to disassemble it carefully, to keep an idea of where all the various spacers and screws go. Pulled just about everything off the old chassis, then started rebuilding on to the new one, starting with the lower arms. Installed the rear lower arms, and then the front lower arms, making sure not to lose anything.

Stopped for the night at this point, and had a look at my work so far.... all four arms on the chassis, looking good, except that the front arms were on the back, and the back arms were on the front!!!!! Built it back-to-front!!!!

Sometimes, I'm amazed that I've made it this far.......

Anybody else want to share a moment of their own brain-brilliance with the world?

Alex

One time I thought I made a mistake and I took it really hard. Then I realized I was right after all. It was a close call!

But seriously.... I screw up daily. My wife would be much better at rattling off the details.

GoMachV wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:00 am One time I thought I made a mistake and I took it really hard. Then I realized I was right after all. It was a close call!

But seriously.... I screw up daily. My wife would be much better at rattling off the details.

Oh, I prove my bone-headedness most days.... but not to the extent of building a car arse-about.... that takes real skill.

Not my screw up but when I had my Cleveland rebuilt and went to pick it up the fellow said the intake manifold was really difficult to install, and couldn't understand how a home mechanic could ever have fitted it.

I didn’t think much of it at the time untill I started installing the carb and accessories..... turns out the intake was installed backwards. I couldn't believe it and when I rang the engine builder he didn't believe me

I see how it's possible but really ?

Just today! I do alot of vehicle "safety insections" among other things in my "line" of work. Drove a jalopy on to the rack. After confirming the operation of brake/shift interlock, low, high, turn, tail, brake, and reverse lamps, wipers, windows, door locks....I turned the vehicle off, opened the driver door (triple checking to ensure it was INDEED unlocked before closing the door (key fob was in the vehicle as well) I stepped to the left passenger door, opened it, checked the operation of the child lockout feature, tugged on the seatbelt to check the locking feature, shut the door and made my way to the liftgate to check the spare tire, jack, tools, and presence of road triangle. My hand was 1.72 cm from making contact with the liftgate handle and I hear a KUH-CHUNK. I find myself in a classic lockout scenario. Customer vehicle on lift, locked with keys inside. If I was younger, I may have panicked with that hot sweaty feeling. But I'm older and expect this kind of stuff, really. No surprises, anything possible. But had a definate WTF moment. Luckily owner in the lobby had a spare "fob" on his person. Problem solved, we had a good laugh.

5 minutes later, next vehicle. In-cabin checks, GO. Get out check the left passenger position stuff. Move to rear of vehicle for that stuff. Open the liftgate. As soon as it opens to a distance to allow what fell out to fall out, BOOM, half-rack of Sprite falls out, busts a can and starts frothing on the shop floor. Exactly what you don't "need" to happen. So I was just like, what's next?

Well, never trust the customer, right? Even though you do, yeah? So I tear down the rear brakes on an '18 Ford Transit 350 Turdmobile for a pads and rotors R&R with customer supplied parts. Only I don't check the parts first. You gotta pull the axles to get to the rotors, so luckily I wasn't so dumb that I went that far before checking. Anyways, totally front pads and rotors in the box. So it's on jack stands and I play diplomatic texting tag with the customer throughout the day trying to professionally say, "Yuh done ordered the wrong crap." Pictures and everything. Being where I'm at, parts mix-ups are 2 to 3 weeks in sorting because everything comes on the slow boat.

But whatever, stuff happens. I work at a hobby automotive shop where I play more of roaming advisor for DIY types. Then a little light maintenance and repair work as agreed to with the customer and prices/labor rates are very reasonable. It's not like doing flat rate warfare at an independent shop or death-by-warranty/recall stuff at a dealership. I'm just whining, really.

And then I go and double post......

Reminds me of when we rebuilt the front suspension on my Fairlane and found one of front arms was shagged after everything was ripped out.... The car was stuck on my poor friends lift for a week while I found another arm. I don’t think he was too impressed with that one.


A funny one was with my old Chevelle going through the Burger King drive through. It had what you could barely call mufflers so you had to shut it off every time you stopped so everyone could hear each other. Move forward a few cars and finally get to the speaker box, shut it off, order my food, go to pull forward and it wouldn't start the ignition module died in the drive through and I had to push it out with the help of the guy behind.

My dad tells this hilarious story about the time he forgot to wear a condom. Wait a minute...

Received a padded envelope from Amazon yesterday, I ordered a few batteries. Whomever packed it folded the adhesive sealing flap INTO the envelope, so it was wide open. Needless to say, it was also completely empty when it was stuck in my mailbox.