5 Common DIY Misadventures
With tools in hand, we venture out into the garage to resurrect, or at least maintain, the vintage cars and trucks we love so dearly. Unfortunately, the intentions of our actions are not always reflected in the reality of the situations we find ourselves in. Tools slip, parts break, and suddenly the afternoon of relaxing work has turned into a misadventure that will make just even non-smokers seek a cigarette break.
It’s just a side effect of working on cars. The parts and pieces that make up our rides are subject to all kinds of situations and materials that are trying to take that functional part and turn it into junk. Aging cars are at the mercy of their owners to keep the nightmares at bay, and sometimes the only way to make sure it doesn’t happen is to face the challenge headfirst. We can’t guarantee you’ll experience these five side quests and distractions that add time and frustration to our projects—but we certainly can’t say you won’t either.
Broken hardware
The old joke about “every 20 minute project is one broken bolt from a four-day ordeal” is only funny to those who can walk over the coals of extracting the hardware and completing the repair. Everyone who has attempted automotive repairs knows how fragile some hardware can be, and just how much time it can take to deal with a single momentary inattentive slip of the wrench.
Shipping delays
Some of us have righteous parts stashes. Most of us don’t, and are left to source at least a few bits and bobs from a catalog or online vendor for each project. This means being beholden to not only the vendor’s timeline, but also the shipping company. These companies handle millions of parcels a day and do impressive numbers for keeping everything on track, but just like my email outbox, there are occasional items that never reach their intended addresses.
Add in that it is often best to wait to order parts until your project is apart just in case you discover unexpected wear or damage that wasn’t visible when assembled. Having to make a second order, and pay a second shipping charge, for a single gasket or small piece is annoying, and you end up waiting a few days anyway. One order placed at the right time is great—but all those eggs are now in one basket and that basket can disappear without a trace surprisingly easily.
“Fixing” things that are not broken
This one is a misadventure from the start, rather than something that pops up in the middle of a project. Well-meaning “repairs” are often an invitation for little gremlins to enter the various systems of your car. I think it might have been the second time my mother and teenage me picked up my mountain bike from a bike repair shop when I heard “don’t fix what isn’t broken.” It’s stuck with me ever since. That bike shifted fine for years once I stopped trying to tune the drivetrain for better performance.
Cars are no different. If there is an actual failure or broken part, it’s time to get to work. But diving into the engine compartment to fiddle with something that is currently perfectly functional is asking for trouble.
Opting for the parts cannon over proper diagnosis
Want to have a bad time working on cars? Ride the roller coaster of having an issue, buying parts and taking the time to install only to still have the issue when everything is back together. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the same is true for diagnostics. Taking the time to troubleshoot and accurately identify what is actually wrong—especially if all signs point to a common or known issue—will save the time, money, and frustration of having to do the work twice.
Trying to make the wrong parts work
The sneaky folly of attempting to use the wrong part is not to be underestimated. It’s the lure of making a square peg fit the round hole simple to save the cost or frustration of acquiring the round peg. Phrases like “if I just drill the holes out a little” or “if we use RTV instead of the gasket” should be bright red flags to give you pause to ask if that is the route you really want to go. It’s rarely as easy as it seems in your head.
Then there’s the “I’m too old for this anymore” I said that to myself right after this 82 year old changed the rear shocks on my ’70 El Camino. As we all know, this is all done lying on the garage floor working uphill. Gee, it used to be easy 🙂
Back in the mid 70s, I swapped out the transmission in an Econoline just working at the side of a street in Atlanta. Now, I can’t even get under a van like that without jacking it up.
Remember that the manufacturer spent millions of dollars to design and build the car and in most cases you can make changes that may not make it better, I love seeing someone that has lowered a Jaguar and installed large tyres. I guess it looks better…. but it now will not go around a curve or over a curb.
I’ll add aftermarket parts that either don’t fit, or don’t work, or have the life expectancy of a house fly. Quality has taken a definite downturn – I’ve found things as befuddling as undersize mounting holes & misshaped contours.
Don’t buy cheap foreign parts! Buy brand name
#1 misadventure: being a retired auto tech and working on your own car with your garage door open for the whole neighborhood to see. My garage is heated/cooled but, gee whiz, on nice days I open the door. And get to spend the rest of the day with a parade of people from the ‘hood wanting to see my latest project and diagnosing their latest SNAFU on their pile of late model junk.
The worst misadventure is having your shop burn. There was a dumpster in the alley behind my shop that belonged to a neighboring building. That was a huge mistake. When it was set alight, well, it was the end of things automotive.
So…. as well as dumpsters there are lots of other fire dangers around your shop including greasy rags, flammable liquids and open flames. It could happen to you.
No greasy rags or open flames in my shop. Flammable liquids …… guilty as charged. But gasoline stays outside and the rest stays in the original containers. I also keep a large fire extinguisher in a wall cabinet. Instead of smoke alarms, I installed heat sensors. Nothing’s foolproof, but one can try.
I’ve encountered every one of these, with the possible exception of Shipping Delays. But as I think about it, most of them caught me in my younger days when I had more energy than brains/experience. I began working on cars when I was 14 (I’m 75 now) and back in those early days, would routinely break fasteners, lose parts, fail to mark where removed parts had come from, step on fragile parts, …. As I’ve gotten older & wiser, I make fewer of these mistakes (though, not zero).
Another advantage that I have today: Back when I was employed, I often had to get a car running for the next morning’s commute. Now that I’m retired (and have back-up vehicles) I can put something aside if I don’t have the right tool, the right part, or just get stumped. Today I wrench more for fun, instead out of necessity, which does allow me to pursue lower risk strategies.
I just finished a heater core R&R on my 68 Camaro convertible, with air conditioning! it went pretty well no broken bolts, a bit of fitting needed for the replacement core(The tubes were slightly narrower, so the part that the core attaches to needed to be opened up a bit). Getting the reassembled heater box back in was a bit of a puzzle, trigger the comments about a bit old for this! The weird part of this particular replacement is the fender skirt has to be opened up enough to get to the R lower bolt and the lower water tube connection. luckily, this is a West Coast car that has lived in the family garage since 1977. Crusty dirty bolts and old, undercoating, etc., and my OCD would not allow me not to get the fender to fit perfectly as possible with the skirt. remember the worst day wrenching is better than the best day farming(ie yardwork). now I’m in the doghouse my wife who loves working in the yard heard me make this comment…
The only time I “throw parts at it” is if I’m doing a complete system. When I replaced/updated my 50 year old brakes I did the complete job, including running new hard lines in stainless steel.
Broken hardware (usually some bolt) and shipping delays (thanks FedEx!) are definitely frustrating and totally out of your control. Although the bolt situation is usually a drill and tap away from solution.
Hard to remove hardware is an issue that preventative use of penetrating fluid solves. I’ve found a product called Fluid Film that works as a rust preventive penetrating oil.
I now soak everything I’ll need to unfasten in the next year with this stuff. There are so many items you can’t get at easily with anything larger that a 3/8 drive ratchet (non-powered) it can drive you crazy, or perhaps that should be crazier.
I picked up an off lease Mazda3 a few years back and ran into this issue. Fortunately this involved non crucial items like rear sway bar bushings (larger diameter bar to lessen understeer) and brake fittings on the flex lines (steel braided lines). I soaked them and a month later they came apart with ease.
With age you develop knowledge and can see one step ahead or realize that removing a couple of more items will make things easier. Having a hardware cabinet full of quality nuts and bolts is also a must.
Another thing I pound into the head of everyone I work with, reassemble assuming YOU will be taking it apart again. The use of micro-metal compound on hardware is the first step. Before you scream NO I’ve used this for 40+years and never had an issue when the correct torque settings are followed. Please note that ARP recommends assembly lube usage and they know hardware.
You forgot aftermarket parts that were built and designed while thinking about the vehicle the parts go to but in reality aren’t even close.
after the first picture of a corvair 2nd of another chevy, i did not bother with the article
i don biased toward an inferior auto maker
please repeat, can not understand spelling.
That’s because he doesn’t use it.
Had a miss on my 02 Firehawk LS1. The UPS guy turned out to be a LS1 tech. Codes said it was the #2 coil pack. UPS guy said to replace it and the plug, so I decided to replace that coil pack, all the plugs and wires. Dropped the new #3 plug into the exhaust manifold heat shield. I can see the plug, can’t get it out. Spent two days trying everything to get it out, magnets, long gripper fingers, every thingy tool I have or could make. Finally made a wire to hook the electrode, hooked a bungee to that to keep stress on the plug, then went under the car and with a long screwdriver, wiggling it and it eventually shot up out of the engine bay. Come on man!
I thought your story would end with the plug flying past you, landing on the sloped driveway, rolling down the driveway and ker-plop into the storm sewer. It can happen – I know.
Rebuilt parts. 5 ac compressors, 3 power steering pumps, 2 power steering cylinders, 3 calipers, all for my 72 Corvette. I think I’m better at what I do then these rebuilders. Solution, buy new if you can or NOS. Since replacing these parts with new, no more failures. My local shop has a area full of new rebuilt failures. Nothing like completing a job only to discover the replacement is DOA.