We’ve all been there, be honest even if it is embarrassing.
I changed the Exige wiper motor and took great pride in tidying some wiring up while I had the front hatch up. Without realising it I cable tied the untidy wiring to the wiper linkage. Drove around for months in the dry and then got caugh in heavy rain. Turned the wipers on to find that the wiring had jammed blowing a fuse. I then had to wait for the rain to stop and get home in a steamed up car in damp conditions.
Lesson learnt, do not secure items to rotating parts.
so not one of mine, but it’s so good it needs telling…
so I used to be in vw’s and some of the rare LHD cars had a factory quick rack, mate had the great idea to just turn one around and use it on a RHD car!
Cue much comedy when he turned the wheel clockwise and the wheels turned left
Refitted the Elan’s head after changing the cams and having it air flowed . It produced a nice bit of extra torque. So much so that the carb linkages to the accelerator cable snagged on the brake line when I gunned it for the first time. Fortunately my progress was halted by a 600 year old oak tree which helpfully jumped out to save me.
New chassis needed.
I have a few Dremmel stories, lots of stickers involved but quite a few of you know that already Then there’s the telly
Lately when it came to removing the longerons from the subfame a rubber mallet helped me out. I didn’t realise how bad it dented them until they were off. Good thing Dave came to the rescue with Lotus’s very last set!
Pouring new oil in the 160 and not putting the sump plug back in… I even stood there and pulled the dipstick out thinking, “ooh, it needs some more” and carried on pouring it in… Only when it was pooling around my feet did i realise what i had done… What a mess it made!
My best mate’s sister used to work behind the counter in a petrol station. Some chap came in and asked her to put some oil in his car (showing my age, you can tell how long ago this was!), she hadn’t a clue what to do, so she opened the bonnet & poured the contents of the bottle all over the engine. The poor bloke thought her was on candid camera!!!
Ha ha that’s funny. In the army we were taught the finger check. Washer bottle lid off finger in… yep wet. Coolant…yep wet. Brake fluid… tick. One of the new lads lol, oil cap off… he just kept on pouring til it was full
I must admit I’ve over filled an engine. It was the first Ford Zetec I changed in a Mondeo when I was doing my City & Guilds with Ford in Bedford. Did a mint job, filled it with 4.25 litres of Motercraft oil and started it up. Filled the 20 ramp workshop up with smoke. How was I meant to know it came with oil in it, at least I could confirm the tappets were full. Anyway, drained the 8.5l out and refilled and all was good.
Changing the oil on my first car (a Mini). Left to drain overnight and went on the pi$$. Later next day went to fill with oil (remembered to put the sump plug in Gav) but started to pour the oil into the radiator.
Throttle cable broke once, 8 miles from home. I fiddled with the lever on the carbs to get around 4.5k revs. Found something to wedge in the lever to keep the revs steady, so I could jump in and ride the clutch to get home. When I lost control, mounted a kerb and just missed a wall I decided it was not such a good idea.
In my case, wipers on Morris 1000 van broke. Attached string round wiper arms, through each side quarterlight
(You remember those) and tugged on string with both hands when it rained while steering wheel was lodged in straight ahead position by my well-muscled thighs!!!
Perfect solution.
Chassis was a bit rusty but secured at the rear by three bits of 4x2. Two thrust up the fore and after chassis members and the third tied 'em together across the rear. Wish I’d taken some pics.
String…that’s just reminded me of one of my clangers!
Aged 21 I was lucky enough to have bought myself Lotus Elan S4. It needed quite a lot of work to keep it running well. At one point the vacuum operated headlights had stopped working so I tied them in the upright position permanently with string. One day whilst out driving nearby home, the brakes failed and I decided I could coast home safely and fix them there. All went well until I stupidly drove into the home drive way, then couldn’t stop and drove into back of dad’s car. I smashed both my headlights, scuffed dads bumper and ate humble pie for quite a while afterwards!!
Then there’s the telly 
