The Official: "How NOT to (fill-in-the-blank) on your 3x8" thread...

LMAO!!!!

 

1] miata alternator dies on way to pick up friend from airport.
2] Leave car at airport lot
3] return with recharged battery and a tested junkyard alternator in trunk
4] remove bad alternator and decide you need new belts
5] take bad alternator to parts place to test it while getting belts.
6] confirm bad alternator really is bad and toss it in trunk
7] get back to airport, open trunk, grab alternator and install

a good junkyard alternator looks remarkably like the one you just pulled out of the car. I drove home on the battery before discovering the next day that I put the bad alternator back in.

and sign me up for the next "yank stuck new tensioner bearing off shaft" club meeting. That's about when I started on the scotch.

 

Here are a couple...How NOT to stop the cams from turning during a belt service. DO NOT use the matchbook trick under the camshaft saddle mount. If you tighten this too much, you will snap the camshaft saddle mount (it is a die cast part). Then you will need to get a new one of these, and machine it for the proper clearance of all the other mounts....It didn't happen to me, but I saw it done!

Make sure your lift is clear of parts before lowering the car...I was on the left of my lift lowering it and saying to myself that I should check the other side. A little voice in me said...it's ok...not to worry...After I lowered my car...and went around the other side...I saw my crippled fcar saddle tank trapped under the lift, with the hose port almost closed. Fortunately, it wasn't closed shut, and I was able to get a tailpipe expander in it..

 

on my old 442 convertible, i was filling the tank at the gas pump. filler neck was behind the lisence plate. i got distracted and drove off with the pump hose still connected. ripped the pump nozel right off the hose. i went into the filling station with the nozzle and told the (foreigner) behind the counter what happened. he said to get out of there real fast with my car and dont come back. apparently he did not want to know about it so he could play dumb on his shift.

and never underestimate the height of a curb when driving a euro 308 with the deep chin spoiler - only had the car one day and crunched the spoiler - ouch!!!

 

Glad to know there are other Rx-7 enthusiasts here. I ran a non-turbo FC to 215,000 miles before I sold it, which now I view as a big mistake. I came *real* close to buying a 3rd gen. Instead, I got an '85 GSL-SE -- the best choice of all IMHO. Good thing because if I had bought that low mileage 3rd gen I would not have been able to get my 308!

Seamus

 

Thought you might enjoy that one Birdman.... Nothing happened but it occured to me while I was doing it that something really bad could happen with a mere slip of the soldering iron. The makeshift repair is holding up remarkably well with no fusebox issues since said repair some 15 months ago.

 

While we're on Rx7s:
Back in '89 I installed a TurboII engine in my '82 GSL. Spent weeks stripping the entire TurboII harnesses apart & reassembling them so they'd mate up with the '82's harness.

Finally was time to start the car. Started right up, but wouldn't run worth a darn, wouldn't respond to throttle changes either. ECU wouldn't come out of 'limp home' mode. I spent 2 weeks going all thru the wiring, even tried another ECU. Couldn't find a problem. Finally gave up in disgust & let the car sit for 6 months or so.

Finally decided to have another go at it. Had a buddy come over. He'd just taken an accelerated 'auto technician' course. We went all thru the harness again, checking against the two schematics & my home drawn one. Ohmed out every wire again. This made the 3rd time I'd gone over the harnesses & wiring.

Finally after 9 or 10 hours, and several beers, he said"I don't think that ECU's got a good ground', you ought to run a big braid over to a frame bolt.

My response was:
"You're blowing smoke, we just Ohmed out 18 different ground wires that come out of the ECU & go to various ground points on the engine. We also verified that every one of them was connected to the ECU case. Besides, no EE in his right mind would trust a bolt thru the case and the body to provide a good ground for a computer." (Yes, I'm an EE & have designed mainframe class mini-computer power systems.)

His somewhat inebriated response was 'Yeah, well, you may be an EE, BUT I SAY THAT ECU OUGHT TO BE GROUNDED".


Finally, to shut him up I scrounged up some copper braid & grounded the $@%@ ECU case.

YES, THE $@%@# CAR STARTED UP & RAN PERFECTLY...

 

Now THIS is a good "what not to do" story!

LMAO!

 

When either stowing or pulling out your targa top from behind the seats on your 3x8, resist the temptation to lean on the painted roof "roll bar" as you lift or you will end up with a bunch of tiny dimples from your elbow and you will need to offer the local paintless dent repair guy a room in your house for the night.

 

When refitting pistons, don't just reach for a bigger mallett if there seems a little stickiness ...

... or you'll be replacing at least 1 broken ring sooner than you think (like next week).

From my experience, finding yourself wanting to "go the bigger hammer" is a damn good time to take a break & get some fresh air!

 

Don't replace your XK150's front U-joint in a college stadium parking lot in mid-July in Texas.

Especially don't lie on your back while doing it after pull ing your t-shirt off because it's soaking with sweat.

BTW, the XK150 had wooden floorboards, the sheet metal trans tunnel was nailed down to them...

Your room-mate & a couple of your buddies will walk by & one will yell 'BELLY BUTTON HAIR' & grab a handfull...

Yes, you'll forget where you are & try to sit up, driving one of the Jag's floorboard nails into the middle of your forehead.

Meanwhile, your 'buddies' will bust a gut laughing while you're trying to get blood out of your eyes so you can see well enough to kill them....
;^)

Unn, I could tell why you don't try to power around a curve on a gravel road in the family car. Especially when there's a railroad track about 5 feet outside of the curve....

 

DING DING DING!! Folks, we have a winner!

 

Confession time:

After I just bought my 308 I noticed all the holes and chips in the paint from years of use. I searched long and hard for paint to cover these holes. Eventually I found some paint, but didn't realize that the paint on the car had changed ever so slightly over the years compared to what it was back then.

So after I applied those small amounts of paint it looked just as bad if not worse. So I went online to order spray paint. Now it got really ugly since I also didn't know about proper paint prep and taking off the wax on the existing paint etc. So long story short I ended up with fish eyes all over the front and now the car really looked ruined. As was my morale.

So I took it to a paintshop nearby. They said it'd take them a week, which was ok. I had to leave town for a business trip. As I came home my neighbours were in total shock: Storm weather had flooded the lower level parking garage and destroyed several cars. Everybody was concerned about the Ferrari, which I picked up the next day from the paint shop.

Things happen for a reason.

 

Never remove a transmission drain plug and drain out the oil thinking that was engine oil.
Never forget to paint a mark on every bolt that you have properly torqued when you are doing a timing belt (on your friend's car and said bolt came loose in 2 days to fall down to the bottom and on top of the timing belt drive pulley and throw the car out of time)
Never forget to put oil in a freshly rebuilt engine before you turn the key
Never put a pulled out thickness feeler guage on top of a battery (and watch it turn into a lamp filament, then disappear)
Never try to tackle the damn passenger side door hinge pin on a 308. Even if you win, you lose.
Never grab an IR impact wrench with the business end pointed at your face

 

Never turn on your lathe with the chuck still in place.

 

I like this thread. Thanks for reviving it. Not that I want to laugh at anyone's pain, but it makes me feel like less of a heel knowing that I'm not the only one who has had stupid stuff happen.

My contributions:

-When needing to replace an engine cover mounting bolt, check the length of the new bolt before just putting it in and creating an "outy" in the paint
-When hooking up 2 Crane XR-700 boxes to eliminate the points, make sure the each optical sensor is hooked up to the correct box
-Before applying spraying touchup paint, make sure it matches
-Before running the engine and letting it get up to temperature, make sure the expansion tank cap is secure

 

I rebuilt the transmission in my 1969 Mustang Mach 1. Thought I was a mechanical god when the new clutch went together as slick as could be and the transmission went back in smooth and easy, no problem... was all ready to take it out for a spin...

And found the new pilot bearing still in the box on the bench and not in the flywheel.

 

Just a statement--------------------- Never attempt any job ,for the first time, without reading evrything you can on this forum. I learned the hard way! Lost
The WSM is a translation.

 

Great story; btw - I'm not stalking you; just ran across this thread tonight for the first time!
When I bought my 308, I knew one thing - ALL of my previous automotive DIY projects were not applicable to this car. With the exception of keeping it clean; I let the pros work on it.....
Great thread.
Kevin

 

Never (in your teenage enthusiasm) wire up a fog light with speaker cable (expensive error)

Never slip on ice and lunge forward towards a shiny red bonnet with the car keys in your hand (more expensive error)

Never assume a replacement engine from a breakers yard has been drained of oil before it is sold to you (even more expensive error).

 

Never assume you that the laws of inertia and mass are suspended when you push your little red car off the ramps you use when changing oil.

 

Never justify a Ferrari you are buying as an investment.
Sinkhole, yes.