Badger_Boom
Veteran
- Location
- York
I took the alternative route of ditching locking nuts. Anyone who can jack up a nearly 3 ton car to take the wheels is going to be able to overcome the nuts without difficulty, so why inconvenience myself.
Car DIY Errors
- Thread starter fossyant
- Start date
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Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
On the subject of wheel nuts, years ago I knew a lad who thought his first car would look cool with the wheel nuts reversed and the chamfered side pointing outwards. On a faster section of road as a wheel sped off to one side, he realised the wheel nuts were shaped that way for a reason. He and the friend who was travelling with him escaped shaken but unharmed.
A few years ago I could have set the house on fire after doing some welding on one of my cars. My wife hates the sound of a grinder, so while she was out for the day, I had spent the morning in the garage, welding and grinding a car body which for ease, was on a home made rotisserie. I decided to break for lunch and as I opened the door into our kitchen, I happened to look up to a deep shelf on which was stored several tightly packed plastic storage boxes of bits from the car body. I thought I saw wisp of smoke, so climbed some step ladders to investigate further. Yes there was smoke, and it was coming from right at the back of the shelf. The source transpired to be a 1970s car rear bench seat, the foam in which was due to be replaced, as it had deteriorated to crumb stage. I moved a couple of the boxes which instantly gave the material more oxygen producing quite large flames.
My first reaction was to make even more space and get the burning seat off the shelf, but this succeeded only in giving the flames more seconds to develop and then as I dragged it, liberally coating burning foam across the shelf. To make matters worse, as the seat hit the floor, the deteriorated flaming foam then flew all over the floor.
Fortunately I had a fire extinguisher in the garage, but it was quite a scary moment.
The extinguisher powder took ages to clean up, but the smell of burnt foam lasted a good couple of weeks in the house and even longer in the garage.
A few years ago I could have set the house on fire after doing some welding on one of my cars. My wife hates the sound of a grinder, so while she was out for the day, I had spent the morning in the garage, welding and grinding a car body which for ease, was on a home made rotisserie. I decided to break for lunch and as I opened the door into our kitchen, I happened to look up to a deep shelf on which was stored several tightly packed plastic storage boxes of bits from the car body. I thought I saw wisp of smoke, so climbed some step ladders to investigate further. Yes there was smoke, and it was coming from right at the back of the shelf. The source transpired to be a 1970s car rear bench seat, the foam in which was due to be replaced, as it had deteriorated to crumb stage. I moved a couple of the boxes which instantly gave the material more oxygen producing quite large flames.
My first reaction was to make even more space and get the burning seat off the shelf, but this succeeded only in giving the flames more seconds to develop and then as I dragged it, liberally coating burning foam across the shelf. To make matters worse, as the seat hit the floor, the deteriorated flaming foam then flew all over the floor.
Fortunately I had a fire extinguisher in the garage, but it was quite a scary moment.
The extinguisher powder took ages to clean up, but the smell of burnt foam lasted a good couple of weeks in the house and even longer in the garage.
OP
OP
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
My son has set fire to himself welding a couple of times, and then there was the time he didn't bother with the mask - ended up in A&E as he couldn't see properly due to the brightness. Course of eye drops and a severe telling off by the medical staff. Always use the mask/eye guard.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
And, even longer for your wife to forgive you about the smell of cremated foam in the house?
'Arc-Eye'
We see (sorry, bad word to use..) that every so often, or the fools who decide not to use goggles with angle-grinders
We have a full Opthalmology unit, but it's not open 24/7
A ccouple of years ago, I used a Dremel, with cutting-disc to trim the mudguard stays on my work-bike (Spa Cycles 'Aubisque'), I wore safety-glasses as matter of routine
I could feel the minute particles bouncing off my face
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Indeed. I've not found any lockers yet that I couldn't remove swiftly with the proper extractor.
Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
Correct.
Your words suggest you may have walked the same or a similar path. 🙂
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
SWMBO's Q3 has had a slow-puncture for about a month, maybe 10PSI a week
I've finally got fed up of reinflating it, so with a few wooden blocks to give extra height, the relevant wheel was taken off (who'd have thought that a Q3 had such a suspension 'drop'!)
It didn't help that my BIG trolley-jack is 'buried' at the back of the garage, so a scissor-jack was pressed into service
I got the wheel off, examined the tyre for cuts/nails/etc...
None in sight, so it went in the garden pond, with a ratchet-strap on it, so I could get it back out
I’d better not mention about almost overbalancing & falling in, whilst putting it out….
It's a 235/55 x 18, heavy enough, but nowhere near the 235/85 x 16 I had on my last Landy (or the 9.00 x 16,. on a friends 101FC)
There's no fish in it now, so not an issue
No bubbles............
Hmm, keep it under for a while, & a slight bubble from the rim, it seems that it might not be sealing properly & there's a bypass at the bead/rim?
I'll head down to one of the local repairs centres, near the Station, & get him to reseat it
I've finally got fed up of reinflating it, so with a few wooden blocks to give extra height, the relevant wheel was taken off (who'd have thought that a Q3 had such a suspension 'drop'!)
It didn't help that my BIG trolley-jack is 'buried' at the back of the garage, so a scissor-jack was pressed into service
I got the wheel off, examined the tyre for cuts/nails/etc...
None in sight, so it went in the garden pond, with a ratchet-strap on it, so I could get it back out
I’d better not mention about almost overbalancing & falling in, whilst putting it out….
It's a 235/55 x 18, heavy enough, but nowhere near the 235/85 x 16 I had on my last Landy (or the 9.00 x 16,. on a friends 101FC)
There's no fish in it now, so not an issue
No bubbles............
Hmm, keep it under for a while, & a slight bubble from the rim, it seems that it might not be sealing properly & there's a bypass at the bead/rim?
I'll head down to one of the local repairs centres, near the Station, & get him to reseat it
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Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Thankfully not, just with fell-running shoes after a race that passed through a field that the Cows had only vacated an hour or so before the start
it was a warm day too...........
They were left outside, but the smell permeated the house
presta
Guru
I forgot to hook the straddle cables back after I'd serviced the bike once, and overshot the end of the drive. No harm done.
Chatting to a health & safety inspector once, he told me about a car body shop he visited. There was a young lad washing a car with a bucket of thinners ready to spray it, and his boiler suit was soaked in the stuff. Working on another car next to him was a guy with a welder, showering him with sparks.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Several for me...(probably told them in similar posts in the past)
K reg mini van, a nail of a thing, we were at my FILs and the front brakes were being done between us. At some stage we swapped sides and completed the job, I drove off and after a few miles got a horrendous knocking when we went round bends. Turned out I thought he had tightened the wheen up on one side, he thought I had. The wheel was barely on when I looked.
Open Ascona Mk1, front brakes , replacing pads. My son (then around 9 or 10 maybe) asked
If he could sit in the car while I was doing g it.....yes, but DONT touch anything.
Minutes later as I'm sat on the floor working on them....the caliper pistons popped out, fell to the floor in Al, the dust and muck....aggggggh.
Cleaned them in petrol and carefully re inserted them in the caliper. Luckily no issues after I bled them.
Stripped the front hub on a Maestro once to replace a noisy hub bearing. Got most of it apart, only to realise it simply couldn't be done without grinders, pullers and ideally a press. Put it all back together and drove to work....where there were all the things I needed.
Even skilled guys get into trouble sometimes. Marek, a former colleague who constantly did private work on cars, sometimes big jobs, was forced to go to a scrapyard once after he stripped the Vanos system on a BMW, then realised he couldn't figure how to get it back together. The trip to the scrapyard was to furtively strip another down and carefully take notes.
K reg mini van, a nail of a thing, we were at my FILs and the front brakes were being done between us. At some stage we swapped sides and completed the job, I drove off and after a few miles got a horrendous knocking when we went round bends. Turned out I thought he had tightened the wheen up on one side, he thought I had. The wheel was barely on when I looked.
Open Ascona Mk1, front brakes , replacing pads. My son (then around 9 or 10 maybe) asked
If he could sit in the car while I was doing g it.....yes, but DONT touch anything.
Minutes later as I'm sat on the floor working on them....the caliper pistons popped out, fell to the floor in Al, the dust and muck....aggggggh.
Cleaned them in petrol and carefully re inserted them in the caliper. Luckily no issues after I bled them.
Stripped the front hub on a Maestro once to replace a noisy hub bearing. Got most of it apart, only to realise it simply couldn't be done without grinders, pullers and ideally a press. Put it all back together and drove to work....where there were all the things I needed.
Even skilled guys get into trouble sometimes. Marek, a former colleague who constantly did private work on cars, sometimes big jobs, was forced to go to a scrapyard once after he stripped the Vanos system on a BMW, then realised he couldn't figure how to get it back together. The trip to the scrapyard was to furtively strip another down and carefully take notes.
My brother is a welder and works in steel fabrication. Years ago, after a visit from H&S, the guy who spray painted everything was forced to wear a mask. It was one of the proper ones for spraying paint. He cut a hole in it so he could still smoke his pipe while working. 
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
With regard to the puncture posting, his bead-breaker/reseater was broken, he was waiting for the repair guy, so the wheel went back on
I had a walk down with the dog this morning, & yes, he was back in business
I took the wheel back off about 13:30 & went down, now he's got the backlog to catch up on
Oh well, try again in the morning
ERmm, one thing that had me wondering "Whar the Heck!?!" for a fwe minutes when I was putting the wheel on again, I could get the bolts to line up wirth the 'hub-holes'
Eventually I realised that the disc moved on the hub..............
I had a walk down with the dog this morning, & yes, he was back in business
I took the wheel back off about 13:30 & went down, now he's got the backlog to catch up on
Oh well, try again in the morning
ERmm, one thing that had me wondering "Whar the Heck!?!" for a fwe minutes when I was putting the wheel on again, I could get the bolts to line up wirth the 'hub-holes'
Eventually I realised that the disc moved on the hub..............
Years ago when I was a young whippersnapper I decided I wanted a better radio cassette in my Ford Capri.
The new all bells and whistles one needed a permanent live to retain the radio station settings so I duly drilled a hole through the bulkhead and run a wire through it and straight to the battery terminal.All was fine for a few months and then we noticed the radio reception started to become crackly.
Then one day whilst stuck in heavy traffic along Sealand Road Chester,smoke came bellowing in through the air vents.
With panic gripping me and the now "ex" we jumped out of the car and upon opening the bonnet I was met with a small electrical fire.I whipped my t shirt off and yanked out the wire that was on fire with it.
In my stupidity when fitting the live wire to the radio I didn't put a rubber grommet in the drilled bulkhead ,and a fitted the in line fuse close up to radio instead of close to the battery.The wire subsequently rubbed itself away against the bulkhead and as the fuse was inside near the radio it caught fire.
I ended up with a burnt hand and some very angry motorists behind me.
The new all bells and whistles one needed a permanent live to retain the radio station settings so I duly drilled a hole through the bulkhead and run a wire through it and straight to the battery terminal.All was fine for a few months and then we noticed the radio reception started to become crackly.
Then one day whilst stuck in heavy traffic along Sealand Road Chester,smoke came bellowing in through the air vents.
With panic gripping me and the now "ex" we jumped out of the car and upon opening the bonnet I was met with a small electrical fire.I whipped my t shirt off and yanked out the wire that was on fire with it.
In my stupidity when fitting the live wire to the radio I didn't put a rubber grommet in the drilled bulkhead ,and a fitted the in line fuse close up to radio instead of close to the battery.The wire subsequently rubbed itself away against the bulkhead and as the fuse was inside near the radio it caught fire.
I ended up with a burnt hand and some very angry motorists behind me.
Another stupid thing but not so serious was when I put some rear speakers in my first ever car.
It was a Ford Fiesta 950 popular in midnight blue.
I had an old radio cassette player in the house which had detachable speakers so I thought they would be ideal to use as rear parcel shelf speakers.
Fitted and wired up they worked perfectly and the next day it was holiday time to Tenerife for two weeks.
When I got home there had been a heat wave in the UK and the cheap plastic speakers had literally melted on the rear parcel shelf from the intense summer sun.
It was a Ford Fiesta 950 popular in midnight blue.
I had an old radio cassette player in the house which had detachable speakers so I thought they would be ideal to use as rear parcel shelf speakers.
Fitted and wired up they worked perfectly and the next day it was holiday time to Tenerife for two weeks.
When I got home there had been a heat wave in the UK and the cheap plastic speakers had literally melted on the rear parcel shelf from the intense summer sun.
And this one is no word of a lie about my dad.
When I was young we lived in Chester and my dad had a Austin 1100 with a knackered engine.He got another engine for it and erected three scaffold pipes into a tripod over the engine bay to lower the replacement engine in with a piece of rope.
I was only little and I came home from School walked past my dad who was wrestling away trying to get this engine in ,with my only intentions of getting in to watch Play School.
Well, Play School came and went and so did Blue Peter and it was now the Clangers and still no sign of dad.
When Nation Wide came on I looked out the window to see where dad was was.
He was still in the same position as when I came home standing upright in the engine bay.
I went out wondering why tea wasn't made only to discover he was wedged into the engine bay.
The daft bugger had stood in the engine bay and lowered the engine down and ended up getting his legs trapped against it and the inner wings.Worse still he didn't have the strength to lift it up to free himself.
He was stuck there for 3 hours in the freezing cold until I got the neighbours to come round and lift it off him.
When I was young we lived in Chester and my dad had a Austin 1100 with a knackered engine.He got another engine for it and erected three scaffold pipes into a tripod over the engine bay to lower the replacement engine in with a piece of rope.
I was only little and I came home from School walked past my dad who was wrestling away trying to get this engine in ,with my only intentions of getting in to watch Play School.
Well, Play School came and went and so did Blue Peter and it was now the Clangers and still no sign of dad.
When Nation Wide came on I looked out the window to see where dad was was.
He was still in the same position as when I came home standing upright in the engine bay.
I went out wondering why tea wasn't made only to discover he was wedged into the engine bay.
The daft bugger had stood in the engine bay and lowered the engine down and ended up getting his legs trapped against it and the inner wings.Worse still he didn't have the strength to lift it up to free himself.
He was stuck there for 3 hours in the freezing cold until I got the neighbours to come round and lift it off him.
