oil spills, parts falling off, things that go KABOOM

[Jim Ratto]

See a pattern here and other forums? Somebody will ask about the integrity of some hot rod VW part, and then a number of replies stating things like "I've run __________ for years and my car never overheats" or "I switched my qp mufflers for a _______ and lost 5 tenths in my et", etc.
I love the cooling claims made sometimes... then you see the said car has no decklid, or find out the guy drives in Greenland or soemthing...

But seems there's never stories of guys ADMITTING to really screwing things up, resulting in a trail of oil down the freeway... or worse... parts. Anybody that's laid a hand on a VW has made some fatal mistake somewhere in time...  but it's funny how many guys will proudly type their "success stories" but won't cop to royally fubaring their car.

so let's hear it....

[louisb]

Does realizing that you forgot to put the oil drain bolt back in after you poured 5 quarts of oil into the engine count? 

--louis

[Jim Ratto]

Does realizing that you forgot to put the oil drain bolt back in after you poured 5 quarts of oil into the engine count? 

--louis

of course!
In fact.....   

[lawrence]

I've been lucky and not done anything too stupid. Dropped a engine tin screw down into my single port head while the intake was off. I was able to fish it out though. I pulled my front ercos off one time to adjust brakes or something. Put them back on, lowered the car and got in to take a drive. I got halfway down my block and heard a strange knocking sound. I had forgot to tighten them They were VERY wobbly could have been bad.

Ill keep thinking im sure there are more...

[Mike Lawless]

This kind of stuff happens to almost everyone who races. Just a matter of time and is a result of asking a piece of equipment to exceed it's design limitations. But the following is more a story of good friends coming to the rescue than it is about actual damage.

http://home.comcast.net/~mlawless29/Kaboom.html

[Jim Ratto]

I've been lucky and not done anything too stupid. Dropped a engine tin screw down into my single port head while the intake was off. I was able to fish it out though. I pulled my front ercos off one time to adjust brakes or something. Put them back on, lowered the car and got in to take a drive. I got halfway down my block and heard a strange knocking sound. I had forgot to tighten them They were VERY wobbly could have been bad.

Ill keep thinking im sure there are more...

I have a drain plug story AND a loose wheel story for later...  both resulted in some coarse language and slanted eyebrows, among other things.

[ian c]

i've done a quick oil change before going out .
arrived at a mates house about 6 miles away , and promptly dumped the oil all over his driveway !! 

the rubber oil seal ring from the old filter had managed to stick to the filter-mount ,
and i hadnt noticed and screwed the new filter on 

luckily for me ..... it only leaked once i parked up .
luckily for him ..... he had a pebble drive , so we re-arranged the pebbles to hide the stain from his wife .

[Carlos De Alba]

See a pattern here and other forums? Somebody will ask about the integrity of some hot rod VW part, and then a number of replies stating things like "I've run __________ for years and my car never overheats" or "I switched my qp mufflers for a _______ and lost 5 tenths in my et", etc.
I love the cooling claims made sometimes... then you see the said car has no decklid, or find out the guy drives in Greenland or soemthing...

But seems there's never stories of guys ADMITTING to really screwing things up, resulting in a trail of oil down the freeway... or worse... parts. Anybody that's laid a hand on a VW has made some fatal mistake somewhere in time...  but it's funny how many guys will proudly type their "success stories" but won't cop to royally fubaring their car.

so let's hear it....

  

[Harry/FDK]

I've did TONS of stupid things, no Kabooms or Oil Spills. Just things costing money,  because i had to
do it my way. Tried to outsmart all the books and just learned the hard/stupid way.

[Jim Ratto]

See a pattern here and other forums? Somebody will ask about the integrity of some hot rod VW part, and then a number of replies stating things like "I've run __________ for years and my car never overheats" or "I switched my qp mufflers for a _______ and lost 5 tenths in my et", etc.
I love the cooling claims made sometimes... then you see the said car has no decklid, or find out the guy drives in Greenland or soemthing...

But seems there's never stories of guys ADMITTING to really screwing things up, resulting in a trail of oil down the freeway... or worse... parts. Anybody that's laid a hand on a VW has made some fatal mistake somewhere in time...  but it's funny how many guys will proudly type their "success stories" but won't cop to royally fubaring their car.

so let's hear it....

  

what? You referring to toll road # 241?

You ever heard of Loctite? 

Vrooommmm.... booggggggggggg!!!!! hahahahaha

[Carlos De Alba]

See a pattern here and other forums? Somebody will ask about the integrity of some hot rod VW part, and then a number of replies stating things like "I've run __________ for years and my car never overheats" or "I switched my qp mufflers for a _______ and lost 5 tenths in my et", etc.
I love the cooling claims made sometimes... then you see the said car has no decklid, or find out the guy drives in Greenland or soemthing...

But seems there's never stories of guys ADMITTING to really screwing things up, resulting in a trail of oil down the freeway... or worse... parts. Anybody that's laid a hand on a VW has made some fatal mistake somewhere in time...  but it's funny how many guys will proudly type their "success stories" but won't cop to royally fubaring their car.

so let's hear it....

  

what? You referring to toll road # 241?

You ever heard of Loctite? 

Vrooommmm.... booggggggggggg!!!!! hahahahaha

hahahahahaha!!!! Loctite?? what is that ??       

[Hong Kong Syndicate]

 Kaboom 
 My first T4 engine, a dropped valve

[alex d]

"yeah, that rocker cover gasket will be okay to reuse"
 

[Carlos De Alba]

  "it should be interesting to find out how many views vs how many replies this post gets"    
 
  " Hi, I'm a VW owner and I have screwed up "      

[Christoph]

Does realizing that you forgot to put the oil drain bolt back in after you poured 5 quarts of oil into the engine count? 

--louis

me too, i realized it after 1,5 liter on my parents driveway.

-forgot cloth in my inlet ports and mounting the mainfolds/carbs, later wondering why the engine didn´t fire.
-a valve of my 30hp engine hit the piston, destroyed piston and head.
 1. try to rebuild it: the camshaft gear was displaced to camdrive gear, engine was back in car and didn´t fire.
 2. try: engine was striped down again, this time the crank main bearing was displaced, put the engine back together and the crank was stuck in the case. the dowel pin destroyed the bearing and journal.

[Ohio Tom (DdK)]

OK, I got a good one...
When I was in College (many moons ago.). I had a valve burn on 73 Beetle (same one I race today). I decided to re-build the motor myself (and maybe do a few mods).
I knew enough to get the heads re-done and Hone and Re-Ring, but had no idea about oversize bearings.
I had no idea that my case was already line-bored, so I purchased "standard" bearings.
The motor ran fine and I drove it for about 5,000mi before realizing that the crank shaft dancing around at idle wasn't good...
I tore it down again and got some education about oversize bearings from a local shop. I then purchased the correct set of bearings and just put it back together...
That motor got me thru College...

After that, i got John Muir's "Idiot guid" and read it cover to cover.

 

[Jim Ratto]

The motor ran fine and I drove it for about 5,000mi before realizing that the crank shaft dancing around at idle wasn't good...

 

Wow! I'm amazed it went that far.... what was oil pressure at idle like?

I converted my ex girlfriend's Super Bug to Kadrons from stock 34PICT 3 thing, this was 1994. We traded cars for a few days. At the time I was in college, and working @ BH. Anyway, got carbs on and everything seems cool. Day off, girlfriend has my Vanagon (miles away) and my bug has motor on stand (what's new?). Leave for class, get almost to campus and the motor falls down a cylinder and begins clacking like crazy. Oh crap... the clacking was valvetrain time too, not piston... so maybe it just backed off an adjuster screw...  get to school go to class, don't pay attention at all because I'm all nerves, wondering WTF I did to her car.... chewing my nails down to the bone..
Get out of class, walk out to lot, look around to see if anybody is watching me, dive under car and rip valve cover off... well that's wierd, one valve has like a quarter inch of lash... oh wait it is stuck OPEN.... 
Limp the poor thing back to my house, turn the phone ringer off, jack car up, pull motor.. pull head off, yep, sure as all hell, fricking 6mm tin screw got down intake and stuck the intake open on # 3... rip head apart, do a quick lap on seat and valve, luckily it didn't put a window in a piston. Good thing because I was without car to run for parts and I wanted to get it back together before my girlfriend found out my mistake...
Had it back on the ground, running and tuned later that afternoon... and she never knew. 

[deano]

I wonder how many VW Bug owners have hit a large pot hole in the road, only to have the battery break through the already rusted floorpan, and fall on the street. Ever run over your own battery?

[John Rayburn]

 

[Jim Ratto]

I wonder how many VW Bug owners have hit a large pot hole in the road, only to have the battery break through the already rusted floorpan, and fall on the street. Ever run over your own battery?

not with a Bug, but yes, with my 70 Bus, after trying to jump it.

[Carlos De Alba]

I wonder how many VW Bug owners have hit a large pot hole in the road, only to have the battery break through the already rusted floorpan, and fall on the street. Ever run over your own battery?

not with a Bug, but yes, with my 70 Bus, after trying to jump it.

trying to jump a bus?? was that with a girls bike or a scooter???   

[iowa mark]

My first ever engine rebuild was a 1641 with type 3 carbs on homemade manifolds. A friend cleaned up the sealing surface of the heads and I did a little port work with a 3/8" drill. The valves looked great so back they went. JC Whitney go-fast spring package and some reground cam of unknown lift got stuck in the case and fired it up. The engine ran great and the carbs only needed to be pumped to stay running at idle. The sellect-a-drop was cranked all the way, the 135's made the speedometer stay buried at 80 everywhere I went. Was that a little pinging I was hearing? Crank up the 8-track and keep the peddle mashed. Took my girlfriend up to meet the family for Christmas about 25 miles away one cold December night. Coming home and showing off at some deafening speed, one of those used exhaust valves decided it had enough of this world and left the engine. It had many friends that made a break for it also. Sitting on the side of the road in the below zero night, with a faint glow of town several miles away, will humble even the worlds best engine builder. Hacks like me just don't have anything but a long walk with their tail tucked embarassingly far up between my legs ahead of him. I have never blown one up that good since. And that girl ended up marrying me. She may have frozen some brain cells in the car waiting for me to come back with help.

[Gary Justus]

No real "KABOOMS" but....
**first engine "rebuild"...start up...TURN IT OFF-TURN IT OFF!!!///popped the Rapid-Cool cooler (prime?)
**on the way to VW JAMBOREE '97(?)..traction bar slowly coming off with lots of sparks
**the wheel "thang"...didn't tighten lugs on driver's side.thump/thump/thump...SHIT!
** new motor won't start..bumbuba-bumbumba-bumbuba-bumbuba........NO ROTOR!
**new motor trial spin around the block....OIL TRAIL ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STREET! my bad.
**DAMN...forgot the ARMORALL!

[Rennsurfer]

Hmm... when I first read the title thread on the main page, I was expecting a discussion regarding a certain '67 with a 40hp. engine and oil dripping out from the decklid. Thanks for proving me wrong, Jim. HAHA!!

 

Thankfully,  over the years, I've had really good luck with my cars. The one story that will always remain fresh in my mind; don't remember which Drag Day it was... but I woke up early. Cleaned my '66 and had it lookin' good for a day out at O.C.I.R. I go to fire it up and it ain't starting. BUMMER! So, I'm push starting it up and down my street with zero luck. The starter would turn but the engine wasn't turning over. Getting extremely mad, I did something really stupid. I smashed my windshield with my fist. At about this time, my Mom comes walking out of the house and sees me in the middle of our street, sitting in my Bug with a broken windshield. She offered to push start my car with me. We're running down the street and I'm ready to jump in and put it in 2nd gear and pop the clutch. At that moment, she asks, "Mark, is the kill switch in the on position?" I reach to where it was, flick it on, and the car started.

At that juncture, I felt like a complete idiot and a fool for wasting my windshield. I walked over to my Mom to hug and thank her. She asked if I was going to the shop (Auto Haus) and install some new glass. I told her I was and hauled arse to the beach, opened the shop, and had a friend in the shop next door help push on the new glass as I pulled the wire from the inside. We both were laughing at me and I floored it down the freeway and got to the raceway in time for the event.

I put kill switches in my cars and because of that day, I don't think I'll ever forget to check it again before starting my cars. HAHA!!

[louisb]

I wonder how many VW Bug owners have hit a large pot hole in the road, only to have the battery break through the already rusted floorpan, and fall on the street. Ever run over your own battery?

I Have! I had forgotten about that one.

--louis

[Jason Foster]

you mean things like the tuck away muffler knocking my valve cover off on the 605 at alondra going to Bill and Steves?  Or burning a hole in #3 as a newbie tearing the thing apart replacing of course just the one piston and cylinder only to repeat the process because of a failed vaccum advance? Or maybe you mean finishing a 5yr. build and taking the maiden spin around the block and realise upon returning the AN fitting coming off the Berg pump cover isn't quite tight?(Gary ) Or doing the oil on the sand rail getting out to the dirt and realizing the old filter seal is still on and all the fresh oil is now on the ground (me too Ian ) Then there is of course the classic all time favorite forgetting the stack covers endless cranking......   Is this whatcha mean Jim?

[danny gabbard]

Rebuilt the 1835 in my xwifes car and had her drive it to work for a couple day . So after a couple days I drain the oil and adjust the valves. Then start the thing up and walk to rear of car while idleing, and then look down while its running for a few and see the new oil unopened.

[Sam K]

Once, when I was about 15, I was jacking up my bug to put my new (to me) chromies on and I put the jack under the engine because I didn't know any better. As I was jacking it up the jack slid onto the lower tin area. When I was done putting my wheels on, I fired the car up and it ran rough and had a huge oil leak. Ovet the next couple days, I learned all about bent pushrods and nylon spring loaded pushrod tubes.

The day after I got my liscence, (literally) the clutch sort of quit. My uncle had parked the car several years earlier because of clutch problems that he couldn't figure out. I pulled the engine and replaced the throwout bearing because one of the clips had broken and the breaing looked beat up. I put it back together and in worked as well as it ever had. Over the next year or so, I ended up replacing the throwout bearing a couple more times, the pressure plate a couple times the disc a couple times and the cross shaft at least once. My Dad kept telling me that it was my fault for driving the car too hard, but then HotVW's did a tech article about making sure that you have the matching throuwout bearing and clutch and everything became clear. My car had a late pressure plate with an early thorwout bearing and since I just kept replacing them with the same models that I took out. Once I knew what was wrong, I installed the right parts and that was end of my clutch problems.

Another time, a few weeks after I turned 16, the original 1500 seized up and I was replacing it with a junkyard 1600. I decided to use the fuel pump from my single port because I had recently replaced it. Naturally, it wouldn't fire up and it took me several hours to figure out that generator and alternator fuel pumps have different pushrods. Then, the alternator wouldn't charge because it was an externally regulated alternator and I just hooked up the big wire. It took a couple weeks to figure that one out. I just drove it every day and charged the battery every night.

I'm sure I've done a lot of other dumb things to my bug, but those were some of my first lessons learned the hard way.

[Bewitched666]

I have a few:
Broken flywheel seal and oil spilled all over the freeway and engine
Once left the oilfiller cap off and oil everywhere
At a dragrace where  i broke my gearbox after swapping gearboxes with a friends one i got called to race and somehow someone forgot to really tighten the trottle cable and after launching it got loose(still hold the slowest record on the strip in curacao,haha)
Forgot to put the seal of the cylinderhead cover,oil everywhere again.

I had my share of stupid things,lol

[Fastbrit]

Learned the hard way that an early (non-guide tube) clutch in a late car (with guide tube) doesn't work. So simply removed the guide tube... That didn't work either. Real fun in the dark in a muddy driveway.

Had a series of three aircraft-spec motors to build. Machined two new crankcases for 92s no problem and then left for the night. First thing in the morning, mounted third case on the mill, reset the cutting tool, hit the switch and went to grab a sip of coffee (I should note, you could set the machine to cut off at the correct cutting depth). On my return, the mill had bored the case ten millimetres oversize on the first hole... Stud inserts? What stud inserts? They were history, as was the case. The boss was not a happy bunny. A lesson in check and double-check – and never leave a machine to work by itself! 

On a Golf (Rabbit) head, the caps that hold the camshaft in place are unique to each head. I picked up the wrong set – they fitted, kinda. Torqued the first one up, no problem, the second, no problem, the third... Crack! Sh*t! It snapped clean in two. Had to get a set of caps off a scrap head and have the cam-bore align-bored and sleeved... A cost that we couldn't pass on to the (irate) customer. 

The boss's son had a Formula Vee car for which he wanted to build the engine. He assembled the bottom end and the crank went tight. His father gave him an ear-bashing when he discovered that he'd not set #1 main bearing on its dowel properly. Lectured him on the cost of a new set of bearings, etc. So son tries again and does exactly the same thing... Father really pissed and says, I'll do it this time. You know what's coming... He takes a third set of bearings, bolts up the case and locks it solid. I laughed my head off from across the workshop and almost got the sack on the spot. But this was the guy who rebuilt a 356 motor for a customer and then noticed, a half hour before the guy was due to show up, half a main bearing shell on the bench. Was it from the new motor? Or was it a 'spare'? Only one way to find out. It wasn't a spare.