Let's hear your "oh shit" moments

wombat

TCG Elite Member
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Sep 29, 2007
14,097
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WI
These would be moments of a time that you fucked up either a little bit, or a lot a bit when working on either your own car or someone else's or just a time that you may have done something stupid that hurt your car. I looked for a thread like this but nothing immediately jumped out at me so sorry if this is a R.

Alright for me, these both happened on my first car ever which was a 2007 Cobalt SS/SC that I bought when I was 17. First one, the car drove itself through our fence and into our garage. Long story short, my mom parked the car the night before and I had NEVER parked the car in gear, would always just use the e-brake (that has since changed). Cold winter morning getting ready for school, went to start the car didn't even check the brake or gear, half in right foot on clutch, turned key, got out. Well...soon as I released that clutch you can only imagine what happened. Car pulled perfectly to engage in first gear, I tried getting back into the car to stop it but by that time it had moved forward enough to hit the gate and slam the door on my arm. Went through the fence, and into the garage door and died. Mind you, the keys were in it and the car auto locks the doors when it moves... :rofl:. Damage- scraped front bumper and some nice scratches on the door.

Story 2, same car. Cold winter night (seeing a theme here) in a hurry to go out for the night and that was my mistake. Needed to put the winter tires on due to the fact there was a good amount of snow on the ground. Grabbed the jack, threw it under the front to jack it up by the front support like I always do and missed by about 3 inches. That means the jack was on the radiator. Jacked it up and immediately knew I dun fucked up. Fluid EVERYWHERE. $800 later, we were all good.

Doing brakes on a 2003 Hyundai Elantra for a friend of mine and I broke a wheel stud. Wasn't too worried because I knew how to fix it, just freaked out a little bit because it wasn't my car. Needless to say, after that, it happened on a few cars that we've done brakes on. Fucking mid-west winters :rofl:.
 

DirtyDan10

Regular
Aug 29, 2014
450
18
I was like 14 or 15 was working at my dads shop i took out a honda that just got finished up being serviced on, so i took the car out tried to park it but got a little TO CLOSE to the iron rot fence, scraped it along side the driver door and rear driver door ran got a can of white spray paint , hit it with paint and still went oh shit as it clearly made it worse. I have many more shop stories to share.
 

Spivitz

The Throttle is ur friend
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Oct 5, 2012
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This falls into the driving like a dumbass category.



Back in 1990 I was racing my 1989 Probe GT up @ GLD. Ran a 15.00 flat @ I think 90 something mph.
Anyhow, I was racing this Mustang GT convertible & beating him, he was pissed.
So pissed that we just happened to be leaving @ the same time, I did not know him, we ended up racing the length of that long ass driveway into the track.
I don’t think it’s changed much over the years. In any event, I came up on to the main road going just a “lil” too fast…I turned the tires right but she still went straight across over the street, I think we caught a lil air, landed in a large ditch filled with water -- upside down.
I had two passengers with Me, thank the Beer God we were all OK. We climbed out & watched it sink to about mid door.

My Father was not impressed driving up to grab my young dumbass self. We had to go where they towed the car too, he had to check it out before taking me home.
 

Angus

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Oct 12, 2007
11,796
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HHI, SC
#1
Was working in the back seat of my ghetto fabulous 318is (with non-working parking brake) and reinstalling the headliner I had just readheared. Was parked on the parents driveway with a slight incline and had the car in gear (I thought) and a 2x4 chucked behind a wheel. Passenger side door wide open and I'm in the backseat working on getting the headliner back in and I feel the car start to roll back with me in the back seat and the door wide open. And there was a parked car on the other side of the street. I scrambled out of the back seat to watch the door get bent backwards on some decorative rod iron fencing next to the driveway, and then was able to stop the car mid-street before hitting the parked car....

IMG_1809.jpg


Just used the 2x4 chuck bloc and a framing hammer to ghetto fix the door to close somewhat properly...

IMG_1806.jpg
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail
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Mar 3, 2008
39,016
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Pingree Grove IL
cam swap with my buddies on the Camaro... i did NOT purchase any additional Valve spring seats ( sP? )
2nd to last valve spring.... one of the seats drops... my buddy Rich looks at me and says.. " you bought a couple extra, right ?"
trying to hold back a :fu: panic i said.... " uh, negative"

thankfully my buddy Ed found it on the k member.

butt hole puckered for sure.
 

Chester Copperpot

Unvaxxed Untermensch
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May 7, 2010
39,411
40,188
Blanco el Norte
This falls into the driving like a dumbass category.



Back in 1990 I was racing my 1989 Probe GT up @ GLD. Ran a 15.00 flat @ I think 90 something mph.
Anyhow, I was racing this Mustang GT convertible & beating him, he was pissed.
So pissed that we just happened to be leaving @ the same time, I did not know him, we ended up racing the length of that long ass driveway into the track.
I don’t think it’s changed much over the years. In any event, I came up on to the main road going just a “lil” too fast…I turned the tires right but she still went straight across over the street, I think we caught a lil air, landed in a large ditch filled with water -- upside down.
I had two passengers with Me, thank the Beer God we were all OK. We climbed out & watched it sink to about mid door.

My Father was not impressed driving up to grab my young dumbass self. We had to go where they towed the car too, he had to check it out before taking me home.

Ah, this reminds me of a good one I had.

After I got done with boot camp and was on Recruiter's Assistance, I was out one night fucking around with my hardcore, race ready Monte Carlo Z34 complete with stock ass 3800 and trans. I was bombing down some back roads near Lakewood and I was coming out of this stretch where the road dipped and I couldn't see where it went. Being a hard core motherfucker straight out of boot I said fuck it, kept going and next thing I know, it's a stop sign with route 47 as the "cross street". Suffice to say, stock ass 3800 brakes do not stop by any stretch of the imagination and I came barreling across 47 doing about 40 with the nearest car probably 300ft from me.
 

VenomousDSG

Don't Tread On Me
TCG Premium
Apr 30, 2006
20,636
21,956
Yorkville, il
#1
Was working in the back seat of my ghetto fabulous 318is (with non-working parking brake) and reinstalling the headliner I had just readheared. Was parked on the parents driveway with a slight incline and had the car in gear (I thought) and a 2x4 chucked behind a wheel. Passenger side door wide open and I'm in the backseat working on getting the headliner back in and I feel the car start to roll back with me in the back seat and the door wide open. And there was a parked car on the other side of the street. I scrambled out of the back seat to watch the door get bent backwards on some decorative rod iron fencing next to the driveway, and then was able to stop the car mid-street before hitting the parked car....

IMG_1809.jpg


Just used the 2x4 chuck bloc and a framing hammer to ghetto fix the door to close somewhat properly...

IMG_1806.jpg
What'd you do!?!?!?!

original.jpg
 

Diavolo

Needs more turbos
Jun 20, 2007
1,204
0
Chicago
going down the drag strip in the GTP after installing the N* throttle body (or the LS1, whichever one had the linkage on the opposite side)

Let off after crossing the finish and the car kept going. Throttle linkage got stuck open. Had to turn ignition off and back to on and stop the car just before the gravel pit. Couldn't get the car started for a few minutes, yet no one from the track came down to help. They just kept sending cars. I believe this was at Norwalk too.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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May 24, 2007
122,223
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Niche score of 2,363
tried using a bud light can to cap off one end of my charge piping after about 27 bud lights to pressure test my piping

apparently budlight cans shoot out like missiles out of a charge pipe around 20psi out of a 2.25" pipe.

hit the hood, crushed itself, and bounced into the driveway.

then we stopped playing with cars that day.
 

Blownbyyou

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Mar 27, 2008
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I was about 17 and working on my buddies 85 foxbody with a 347 Stroker, Paxton blower, 5 speed in his garage. For some reason the car would just die out horribly around 2k, after a little investigation we found that the fuel line connecting the fuel pump to the housing had a hole in it. So we replaced the line and decided to verify that it would hold pressure. So instead of putting it back together we ghetto rigged it and dropped the assembly in a bucket of gas and gave the fuel pump some power via a batter charger. Yeah now that i am little older that was DEFINITELY a dumb ass move...

Next thing I know my friend accidentally kicked over the flaming bucket of gas (right next to the full gas tank)... to make a long story short if his dad wouldn't have been able to get to fire extinguisher and kill the blaze we would have needed the 4 fire trucks that showed up...
 

IceCreamAssassin

When in doubt, throttle out
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Jan 28, 2011
12,486
16,843
Cary
First car was a 1981 Camaro V6. Had it for a week, friend begged to drive, let him... A 360 and 3 mailboxes later cost me $1,200 and car damage and my dad to take my DL for 6 months.

Same car .... Reverse drops cause V6 from the 80's. Fried the trans and made all the bolt holes in my flywheel very large ovals.
 

willsmysticcobra

Classifieds Mod
Mar 3, 2006
21,252
7,907
Algonquin
Got one more good one for you guys..... Had a sprayed fox that was poorly maintained by a buddy I picked up for cheap. Driving it home, I mashed on the gas to see how she pulled and the throttle cable snapped and the car coasted to a stop. A NORMAL person would have called a tow truck or fixed it on the side of the road... NAHHHH. Lets daisy chain zip ties together and hook them up to the throttle body to get it home. BY FAR the most dangerous thing I have ever done ( And stupidest).

Shitty pics but you get the idea... I am no longer allowed to own mustangs ever again

67784_488664065925_5946107_n.jpg


69065_488663805925_1975223_n.jpg
 

Euro

GM or Nothing
Oct 22, 2007
20,450
641
Roselle
Real Name
Matt
Had a similar, yet more embarassing story than [MENTION=127]wombat[/MENTION] 's.

I was 17/18, and just finished washing my Lumina one summer day. Since no one else was home, it was blazin' hot out, and our driveway wasn't very well shaded..I decided to pull the wet car into an empty garage to dry it off. My flip flops (why didn't I just remove them?) were wet, and I didn't want to get the carpet all dirty..so I decided to let the car coast into the garage while using my right hand to operate the brake/gas pedal while my legs hung out the open car door.

Went into the garage fine, until I pressed what I thought was the brake pedal :ugh: ended up hitting the gas, and went slamming into the front of the garage. I quickly threw the car in reverse and parked. Luckily the car was fine, bent up the front license plate + bracket. No damage to the bumper or rest of the front end. The garage wall was peg board, and a spot about knee high was pushed in and cracked.

Thought no big deal, took a piece of scrap pegboard that was laying around and placed it in front of the big crack. Finished off the car, cleaned up the garage...and thought no harm done, and THANKFULLY I didn't come sailing through the wall and end up in my bedroom(on the other side). Now, I had a shelving unit with model cars and my desk up against that wall, and a few pictures hanging on that wall.

After my heart rate coming back down to normal, I walked downstairs to get ready to hop in the shower...and found my desk/drawers/shelving unit/shelf contents/picture frames thrown fucking EVERYWHERE throughout my room. Literally, everywhere. I was picking up pens and pencils on the other side of the room(about a 22'x22' room) the rest of that week. Luckily, none of the glass picture frames broke...and only a couple model cars needed major work.

Only major downside was a HUGE crack in the wood paneling:)rofl:) that went the height of the wall. Noticeable from just about any angle you look. So, I decided to re-organize the posters on my wall and place most of them on or around the huge crack to hide it :hsughlol:

It wasn't until a few years after that I saw 2 small skid marks on the garage floor from when I hit the gas instead of the brake :rofl:

Parents first found out about 6 years later when my dad was cleaning out the garage and asked how in the fuck this big ass crack got there :rofl:
 
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