Spare me 15 minutes!

[TimG]

We've all been there, Dave. It's the little things that foul you up.

[napa68]

I had the same problem on a repo fuel filter for a 65 GTO as well. Great read Dave!

[earntaz]

Now everyone knows why we put destruct buttons on missiles ... don't care how much or how little -- something can go terrible wrong!! TAZ

[mockingbird812]

Two recommendations:

1. Super Dave is now to be called "Carpal Tunnel" (if you didn't have it before, you do now with the post below).
2. Recommend to the mods to ban Woj (for at least a day) for tempting fate with his insensitive text.

;>))

[32KZ]

Yep, all all there pal�� Moments like those is when I take a deep breath, look around, and take stock..but I'm older now. In my youth i'd pitch a tool across the shop,,,more damage,lol!
27 years in as a professional firefighter in an old rustbelt steeltown on Lake Erie,,people got it way worse.

So this week dropped my oe shroud and cracked it,,hours spent boiling fasteners, two days in just mounting inner fenderwells and rad brace,,,but she is looking pretty��

Thats why I love there forums,,collective insanity!!

Oh, and too cheap to pay a contractor fir mama's kitchen remodel,,money saved going towards a roller. So that's on my plate also, and grandkids, and rescue pups, and aging parents.Way more fun building a drag car,,and bracket racing.

But how rewarding to step back and look at your work,,priceless��

[njsteve]

Sounds like the old high school tech class contests they would have. Chrysler used to sponsor them. They would have 25 identical Mopars lined up for the 25 teams to work on. Each one had a specific component sabotaged. With the clock running, the kids had to find the problem and get the car running before time ran out.

I recall one of the memorable items was a carb baseplate to body gasket with no holes in it for the air metering to go through.

My mechanic buddy Al, still has his trophy from winning one of those contests.

Dave, It looks like you got one of the leftover cars from the team that never completed their contest in time.

Now will you paint that thing and let me have it? It is obviously causing you far too much stress. I'm only thinking of your health, you know.

[carnut4life]

Great story Dave! Sounds like the time I switched the cam and heads on my Nova back in High School when I was 17. Spent the whole weekend tearing it down and putting back together so I could drive it to school Monday morning and show off my efforts with a huge burnout leaving the school parking lot Monday afternoon. Once I got it back together though it was popping and sputtering so I'm checking everything twice, like Dave wondering what heck's going on? Everyone knows the firing order is 18436572 so I'm thinking the cam must be off a tooth so I start tearing it down again to figure out what's wrong. Just as I'm about to pull the timing chain cover off, Dad walks up to the car, asks me what's wrong, and about ten seconds later say why don't you try switching #5 and #7 plug wires and walks away. I'm thinking no way, every idiot knows the firing order of a small block Chevy. Sure enough, I change 5 & 7 around and it fires up like a champ and I'm thinking Dad had to have swapped them when I wasn't looking. He didn't, I just missed it and learned one of the hundreds of valuable lessons an old car teaches us. I still get humbled on a daily basis it seems. Stupid cars, I love them!

[A12pilot]

Yes, as Charles Barkley would say, “This was just tuurrible.” But Des, miraculously, the cam broke in just fine. Not a pop, sputter, or miss now that it’s running. This may sound stupid, and I don’t know the reasoning for it, but there was a hot rod shop down the street from me growing up and this guy could build a thumper out of parts from lawnmowers and he had his own break in procedure. Dude built and raced Hemis, 454s, etc. I was a fledging Motörhead and didn’t know much about the whole intricacies of the mechanicalisms of certain engine procedures that I only read about. He was firing up a freshly built motor showing me his cam break in procedure. {crank, crank, VVRRRROM!!} right up to 5000 rpms, open headers, massive compression, the vibration through my chest was something I’ll never forget. Felt like the Earth was splitting apart right below my feet and I could see Hades. After he shut it down after about 3 minutes he smiled at me. I asked, “So, when you going to do the cam break in procedure?” To which he replied, “You just saw it.” Despite everything I read, everything everyone up to that point had told me, he didn’t do the traditional break in procedure and never has. That was it. He went on to explain all the junk behind it which I didn’t pay attention to since his girlfriend had a very low tank top on. But regardless, looking back this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this. But no matter, my engine from what I can see, is good! (and I did get in a few long pulls before the unpleasantness arose). And I just realized that my autocorrect spells motorhead like the rock group. Ah, Lemmy. What a great voice!

Thanks Triple B for the writing compliments and yes, Samitron, we need to start a ban campaign: Ban the Woj!!! Maybe we shouldn’t do that. He knows Mikey, and frankly, that dude scares me! Not to mention Grady and all his Gradyness. Oh and Steve-a-rooni, please Fedex your non-refundable deposit via Aeromail to secure your bidding position!

Seriously guys, it’s all in fun and yes, this was a MAJOR learning experience that I’m glad I was able to share in my own special, demented, and narrative way. I appreciate you’s guys listening and when my column comes out in Hemmings, please take a few minutes and read it.

Cheers
Dave

[carnut4life]

One big difference I forgot to mention in my first post. Dave obviously knows what he's doing, I'm usually improvising and learning as I go. I wish I had half your skills Dave.

[SuperNovaSS]

Dave,

Very entertaining and a worthwhile 15 minutes. I really enjoy your posts and appreciate you taking the time to share. I’m glad to hear you found the culprit and all worked out well. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. Maybe break in with cheap counter parts and install the resto pieces one by one to be sure they are good? Kinda sucks but “it is what it is.”

Jason