worst job you have done on any car

[wdb]

These are from back when I made my living as a mechanic.

Putting tire chains on milk trucks that were fully loaded, out on the road, and stuck in the snow. I was the skinny kid so I got to climb under them.

VW Beetle heater boxes.

One MGB gearbox in particular. The 2nd and 3rd gear synchros had gone. I took it out of the car, pulled it apart, replaced the bad bits, reassembled, put it back in. On the road test it popped out of 3rd when I lifted off the gas -- something I never saw a 'B' gearbox do before or since. Heavy sigh, lather rinse repeat.

[cowmeat]

Once upon a time I changed the timing belt of my 79 Honda Civic 2-speed Hondamatic on the side of I-275 in St Pete Florida with the only hand tools and car jack I had in back, inches from early morning rush hour traffic that was spraying me with sand the entire time. Although it was about twenty years ago, as I remember it went something like this:
Kick myself in the ass for not having already changed the belt (the new belt was in the trunk), jack up car with my quivering ass inches from traffic, crawl under car while expecting my legs to be crushed at any moment, loosen motor mount, jack up driver side of motor a couple of inches, remove the old timing belt (which was missing some grooves), cuss myself some more, pull plug #1 and manually find tdc intake stroke with a dirty rag while hand-turning the motor, eyeball the notches even on cam sprocket, pull distributor and keep re-inserting it until I basically had #1 lined up, which isn't that easy since it rotates like 35 degrees, put the new belt on (I probably reduced it's life expectancy by half by jacking it on with a screwdriver), jack motor down, replace motor mount, get in, pray real quick, hit the key (a screwdriver) and fire it right up! Check to make sure I hadn't peed myself at some point, throw the tools in back and headed on to work.
Total elapsed time 2 hours, total time it likely took from my life, 2 years.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Total elapsed time 2 hours, total time it likely took from my life, 2 years.

Remember: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" :-)

[elhigh]

Replacing the heater fan in a '91 Volvo 240.

The way I understand it, the AC blower, motor and ducting are held firmly in a jig in Trollhatten, then the rest of the car is screwed to it as it progresses down the line.

Getting that thing out is a challenge far and away more strenuous than you would think.

Surprisingly easy: water pump on a 1980 Chevy Citation. It's its own little housing just hanging down there. Couple of bolts, hose clamp, Bob's your uncle. After replacing about five of them, Dad could do one in about 30 minutes, that includes throwing down a doormat to lay on. Then he bought a genuine GM replacement pump and never did it again.

[a8ksh4]

Some kind of Mercury passenger car... couldn't fit a standard wrench or socket onto the oil pain drain bolt (because of it's position next to the front crossmember or something) trying to help a friend change the oil... told them to take it to Jiffy lube and to buy a honda/toyota next time.

[rmay635703]

Jetta MKIV glovebox remove replace, I hate hidden bolts

[sarguy01]

Installing a shift kit on a 727 trans in my 1971 Dodge Dart.

Instructions, step # whatever: Remove piston spring and piston. Install piston stop.

What I actually did: Remove spring and piston, install piston stop, install spring. When putting it back together, that spring was a pain to keep in there. As I was tightening the bolts down, I heard a loud pop. Instead of taking it back apart to check, I put the trans back together, filled it and found out that reverse was not reverse, 1st was 3rd, 3rd was whatever, 2nd was everything, basically the trans didn't work. I pulled it apart to find out the piston had broken from the spring pressure and fluid was going everywhere inside the valve body, hence the weird gears.

The spring was not supposed to go back onto the piston since the piston stop was there to keep the piston from moving...oops.

[CFECO]

Yep, I was doing a shift kit in a 72 Power Wagon. While trying to loosen the band adjuster lock nut, it came loose ALL at once sling my arm against the floor cut out 7 stitches later at the ER, I finished the trans about 2 am.

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by CFECO

Yep, I was doing a shift kit in a 72 Power Wagon. While trying to loosen the band adjuster lock nut, it came loose ALL at once sling my arm against the floor cut out 7 stitches later at the ER, I finished the trans about 2 am.

Ouch. That sucks!

My first experience ever working on a car was with my dad. I was 9 and we were pulling an engine out of a '65 Falcon. I was supposed to make sure the trans coolant lines cleared the radiator support. I did and then stood against the wall. One of the chains came loose, as he was backing the forklift up and the tail shaft of the transmission slammed down on the radiator support. The back end of the trans rolled off and hit me in the chest, throwing me into a parts rack behind me. I had two cuts on my back and a bruise on my chest.

The first thing I said to him as he jumped off the forklift and the engine and transmission were bleeding out all over his shop floor was, "Mom's gonna kill you!"

Ever since then, I was hooked on fixing cars...

[yoyoyoda]

Originally Posted by sarguy01

One of the chains came loose, as he was backing the forklift up and the tail shaft of the transmission slammed down on the radiator support. The back end of the trans rolled off and hit me in the chest, throwing me into a parts rack behind me. I had two cuts on my back and a bruise on my chest.

eek!

Most difficult repair for me was a week underneath while on stands a toyota celica 1989 taking out the old power steering rack, easy enough, but getting the new one in, a major pain with the engine and gearbox still in there.

I was not only scared of the car coming down ontop of me as the only thing holding it up was two stands, twas my first time underneath a car for longer than an hour, but besides that the rack had to come in at 360 angles and then clear quite a few poles and objects on its way to the firewall.

Aside from that, lifting the bonnet on a 1980s Ford Falcon XF Sedan X-Pack was enough for me, I bought a Toyota based upon the fact that in this paticular Ford each bolt on the engine or body was a slight variation from the other one, with a mix of imperial and metric bolts, some of them 25-30 years old and have seen a various number of badly made cheap tools on them.

And when I checked the timing gear, 1st piston exhaust and intake rocker/pushrods were pushed up higher than normal with a stack of 3 washers. Removing the washers resulted in an engine which would detonate and ping like crazy and once engine ignition had been cut the engine continued to run for at least 15 seconds after turning it off. The emissions control system was a mixture of vacuum operated and electronic solenoid with no clear indication of any match to anything in the service manual for any year that the car had come out, infact it was closest to a hybrid between XD and XE vacuum emissions control systems.

I never did figure out the proper arrangement of all of the tubes and solenoids, ended up sending it to the wreckers because the detonating and pinging was just getting too crazy and the rust had set in.

Car drove like beautiful though, I could put the front wheels right on the edge of a white line from feel alone, it had a beautiful front end suspension and steering system, all manual, no power steering to detatch from the feel of the road, and this is a real big car, no small thing.

In retrospect I wish I had kept it and rebuilt the engine, it would have made a great post-nuclear vehicle as the thing was EMP proof, should have done more repairs on the body, but it was just a sedan and I needed a wagon, and its not going to win any awards at the track on performance and the people around here thought it was an ugly car.

I'll have to wait until my father gives up driving then maybe I will get his XF Wagon to rebuild.