The Mechanically Declined.....

[69f100]

When I was 17 (1968), I used my friend's cherry picker, a 20' boom truck from his Dad's junk yard (I grew up in hog heaven), to change the engine in my cherry '57 Chevy 2 door post. We carefully positioned the boom over the engine bay, pulled the hood, and disconnected everything to pull the engine and transmission (283 3 speed for a 327 4 speed). Only the boom tip-top was about 2 feet in front of the Chevy. So when the engine cleared the engine compartment, it swung forward and then back through the windshield of the Chevy. I cried.

Or the time my Brother-in-law cleaned the garage floor. His Mom and Dad were mad because he got a bunch of oil on the floor. He got a mop and a bucket of gasoline, which worked fine until he got to where the gas water heater was...

Or the time I stopped at the office to pick something up for a meeting. Jumped out and ran in and out. To find the car locked, the keys in it and it was running. Twice. On the same day.

Or the time I pulled into a BP gas station in a diesel truck in a somewhat sleep deprived state. Have you noticed that BP is the ONLY station to use green covers on the GAS handles? Grrrrr!

Back to the '57. I just had to have bucket seats. But I could only find one. And then got a date with the hottest chick in town. No problem, I just put a milk crate in on the passenger's side.

Or the time my brother wanted to build a corral. 8' posts, 4' down and 4' up. "You got a post hole digger?", I asked. "Yup.", he said. Walking out of the barn with a sharpshooter shovel (which is 3' long).

I gotta stop now. Honey says I'm boring you guys.

whoever decided toput a 2hp gas motor on an ogger with handles on the side is a friggin genious. i hate digging post holes with my dad on the weekend. till we got one of those things.

 

[nate379]

I felt mechanically declined this afternoon. Took me 12ft of vinyl siding J molding to trim out a 10"x14" block

First one I had to do and took a bit to figure it out. Good think the stuff is like $2 a stick!

 

[agoogol]

So I am not the worst, but my level of experience is limited. I bought a 52 Chevy and proceeded to go down the path of a 350 swap and bit off more than I can chew. But I am doing what I do best, working deals, angles, trades and learning a little bit as I go. But with two kids and a full time job, even what I learn I forget and have to relearn all over again.

For many months I had the car in my garage without engine, it was lightweight and I could roll it around myself in the garage with no help, parellel parking it back and forth so to speak to nudge it cloer to the wall when I was done working. So anyway, I had a local shop weld in my engine and ****** mounts and dropped in the 350 for me and brought back to my house. This time, when I was nudging it back and forth and the extra weight, I couldnt stop it as easily as before and before I knew it the tires happened to go past the edge of the garage floor and onto the downhill slope of the driveway. Suddenly it is rolling faster down the driveway straight at the house across the street. Fortunately no traffic or pedestrians were coming, so I was lucky. The door is fairly froozen shut at this point so Grab the wheel and point her downhill (why didnt I point uphill I dont know!) and was running along next to her steering....not knowing how long I could keep it up or what to do. Suddenlt I had a moment of inspiration - Dukes of Hazzard! I launched myself through that window and soon enough was sitting in the drivers seat -

DRIVING MY CAR!

 

[hdossett]

OK, so I have always thought of my self as pretty self sufficient when it comes to most things mechanical, electrical, and hydrological. Raised an a farm where you had to be. Had four years of shop in high school, sixteen week Navy Class "A" propulsion and engineering school, then operated and maintained steam turbines, pumps, and all sorts of stuff in the engine room of an oil tanker for two years.

Fast forward a couple of years... one day the engine of my '68 Chevy Impala started over heating. I worked on it, don't even remember what I did, and drove it a mile or so down the road for a test drive. Stopped, got out and remove the radiator cap. No steam, must be good... Then I hear this gurgling sound. Strange! So I put my face right over the opened radiator! Well... I think of Old Faithful every time I remember that. Not much pain and no permanent damage, but my reddened face did peel for about a week after that!

There's more, but for another day
Harold