Dumbest Thing Options

[bkrantz]

I know we have threads about PO stupidity, but how about the dumbest 914 thing you have done?

I will start with a, ahem, senior moment I had today. When I tried to add oil after my recent engine re-installation, it would not go in. Short version: I forgot to remove the paper towels I had folded up and tucked into the breather recess while the engine was out of the car, to keep anything from falling into the case.

I still can't believe that I installed the breather and did not see and remove paper towels.

[technicalninja]

Trusting the machine shop...

I once built a 74 Fiat 1.8L Spider motor that I didn't verify the bearing clearances when returned from the machine shop.

This was from the best machine shop I've ever used. I had assembled multiple motors that they machined, went through all of the bearing clearance checks on the previous motors, and never had a problem.

I trusted them and assembled the Fiat (my own car, Thank God!) in record time.

Built, installed, and tuned in less than 5 hours. FAST AS SHIT.

It lasted 60 miles...

Crank main journals had been ground an EXTRA .005" so they were .025 under instead of .020.

Wiped out an early Fiat spider crank which had enough different than the later ones that I had to find the right critter. Took 6 weeks to find one.

I am an anal-retentive pin head regarding machine work that I have not done myself now.

And I've stopped trying to do stuff FAST anymore. Just leads to problems down the road

That was back in 1987.

The ONLY saving grace was that it was my personal car. Had it been a customer car I'd have been really screwed...

[Superhawk996]

I trusted them and assembled the Fiat (my own car, Thank God!) in record time.

First might have been owning a Fiat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

[bkrantz]

I trusted them and assembled the Fiat (my own car, Thank God!) in record time.

First might have been owning a Fiat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

Hey, I have 2 Fiats in my owners log. My 1969 124 Spider was my very first car at age 16, bought from an insurance salvage yard. In a few months I learned serious body work, basic mechanics, and how to replace synchros in a 5 speed transmission. That might have been the start of my auto repair illness.

The second was a 1976 X1/9 that I bought in 1986. It had spent its entire life in southern Arizona and had actual, really, I promise it is true zero rust. That car was lots of fun, with even less hp than a 914 1.7. I sold that Fiat to buy my first 914.

[ClayPerrine]

I trusted them and assembled the Fiat (my own car, Thank God!) in record time.

First might have been owning a Fiat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

Hey, I have 2 Fiats in my owners log. My 1969 124 Spider was my very first car at age 16, bought from an insurance salvage yard. In a few months I learned serious body work, basic mechanics, and how to replace synchros in a 5 speed transmission. That might have been the start of my auto repair illness.

The second was a 1976 X1/9 that I bought in 1986. It had spent its entire life in southern Arizona and had actual, really, I promise it is true zero rust. That car was lots of fun, with even less hp than a 914 1.7. I sold that Fiat to buy my first 914.

We owned a 124 Spider at one time. I got the car cheap for $500.00. The owner's wife smashed in the oil pan and broke the pump off the bottom of the motor, and kept driving until it locked up. So I bough a short block out of a 124 sedan out of the wrecking yard. I bought a head gasket and a tube of silicone. Put the dohc head on the sedan block, and put it back together. It was in great condition, both interior and paint. Drove it for a while, and then sold it for 5K.

Betty named it Tony. The guy that bought it fell in love with it at first site. He renamed it Sophia. I hope he was happy with the car.

Clay