Hagerty's 11 Rites of Passage for Every DIY Mechanic

I saw this article and thought of y'all. I think I've been there, done that on every one of the 11. Let me enumerate:

1. Roadside repair with makeshift parts: Well, maybe the most memorable is the coil that failed on I-10 in AZ. We stopped late one night at a rest stop in the '72 F250 and the truck wouldn't start when we were ready to go. Just climbed in the camper and went to sleep, but the next morning I traced it to a bad coil. Split the coil with a chisel and found the primary wire had broken right off of the terminal. Repaired it with a piece of stranded wire, wrapped the coil in paper towels, and away we went. Bought a new coil at the next part store and used the old one all the way back to Kansas.
2. Busted knuckles: Too many to list. But it was the busted lip that I remember best. The 15/16" breakover slipped and hit me in the mouth. Split the lip but didn't lose any teeth.
3. Trapped tools: One of my favorite memories of working with Dad. We were replacing the ball joints in my '58 Impala and needed to compress the spring. We had some of the early ratcheting wrenches and made a spring compressor using them on all-thread. Worked perfectly compressing the spring, but when it was time to release it we discovered that turning the wrench over to go the other way with it trapped in a spring on an all-thread wasn't easy. We both realized it at the same time, slowly looked up at the other, and
4. Broken hardware: Too many to list. Always on removing the waterpump on a small-block Ford. Sometimes on removing an alternator. But Jim's PST has solved that problem - for my vehicles. Not for my friends who don't know - yet.
5. Buying the shop manual: I have the shop manual for my first new car - a '69 Super Bee (not Beetle). Bought it as soon as I bought the car, and used it frequently. And now I have more shop manuals, EVTMs, brochures, etc than I know what to do with!
6. Disappearing parts: I have a list of parts I got when I acquired Big Blue. But finding the one I need is sometimes quite difficult. In fact, I recently purchased one that I know I have but couldn't find - until the day after I installed the new one.
7. Endless parts search: Try finding the bedside trim for Dad's truck. It is NLA and if you find it there will be problems with it, which explains why it hasn't been snapped up.
8. First rebuilt engine start-up: This has gotten even more concerning as the problems with cams have gotten worse. Back in the 60's we didn't have those problems, so my rebuild of a 216.5 while in HS was w/o drama. But the rebuilt 350 in the 80's was a bit concerning when the radiator hose blew off as soon as the pressure built up in the system.
9. Ruined clothes: Janey claims that I clean trucks by rubbing my clothes on them. And while there is some truth to that I've learned to segregate my clothes into those for public display and those which only go to the shop - or maybe the parts store. I even have shop shoes, which don't get worn into the house where the carpet is.
10. Inclement weather moving in: Yes, I have the garagemahal. But that wasn't always the case. Dad converted the garage for our house into my bedroom and a utility room. So all work was done outside, and I very well remember bringing that 58 home from college on a Friday night and on Saturday morning finding a puddle of antifreeze - in the snow. So I replaced freeze plugs, on the back of the block, in the snow that afternoon.
11. Fixing what is not broken: Somehow Dad didn't teach me where to stop. He and my brother could go in and replace what was broken and move on. But I can't do that because I have a bad case of "while I'm in there" disease. So when replacing freeze plugs why not do them all? They are all the same age and you have the coolant out. And in the case of the rear ones you have the tranny out. (Luckily that time the snow tended to speed things up, plus the fact I had to drive back to school the next afternoon.)

So, what stories do y'all have?

Many of the same, but I will add one:

Finding extra parts after the job is finished Helped the neighbors in Norfolk do an in frame rebuild on their 1954 Chevy 235 engine after we were done with the rod bearings and rings we had a couple of extra jam nuts left over.

Getting a series of pieces installed and find the one item that should have been first I'm sure we've all done this, like forgetting to put the fuel pump eccentric on the cam and realizing it's sitting there as you are tightening the last bolt on the front dress.

Yikes!  Extra jam nuts!

And on the order of assembly, how 'bout getting the tranny & t-case on and finding the spacer plate?  

Nice article! Thanks for sharing. Love Hagerty insurance. Been with them for a while.

Roadside repair with makeshift parts:
Not exactly makeshift part, but similar.
Maybe more Fixing what is not broken, or a mix of the two?

Before going to a 8500 miles road trip, asked my garage to replace the +\- 15 years old (but still working) mechanical fuel pump with a new unit.  I kept the old one as an emergency part, who knows.
The new pump died in the middle of the trip (road side repair in Yellowstone Ntl Park).
I reinstalled the ol’ one, and bought a new unit at Salt Lake City.

Nearly 6 months later, this new pump is still in its box, the ol’ one is still running very well.

Yes to nearly all of them:

1. Shoestring holding a washer jig (1987 Chevy C10). Transformer (magnet wire) on a heat shield (1997 Nissan Quest). Bobby pin on wheel bearing castle nut (My bullnose, while 900 miles from home no less!)

2. Yes, but no good stories. But I did set my hair on fire with a filler rod while Oxy-acetylene welding in HS shop class...

3. Found a lost spark plug and a lost wrench when I removed the A/C brackets from my 300 when I pulled it for a rebuild!

4. Too many to list

5. Nope (OEM at least), but I was reading Haynes manuals when most kiddos my age were on Sesame Street.

6. Yes, but I can't remember what the parts were.

7. 1995 Ranger Radio Bezels that aren't busted up. Doesn't exist!

8. Was successful, but if we're only counting things with 4 wheels (no mopeds), I had a misfire because I didn't have one of the plug wires on all the way. Idiot!

9. Most of my casual clothes have grease/oil stains

10. Working in the cold/snow is awful. Have had to work in 30 minute stints to avoid frostbite...

10A (Edit). Forgot about the time I had to change the starter in my first 1995 Ranger while getting soaked with rain... and my wife totaled the truck the very next day.

11. Do I need to elaborate??? That's my entire existance!

Roadside repair with makeshift parts: Surprisingly few.  Most memorable is on a hot, humid day driving home from my folk's cabin.  One of the power windows suddenly went down and wouldn't come back up.  Rather than lose all of our AC for the next hour and a half I dug out my laptop where I have the wiring diagram for my truck, pulled the switch assembly out of the driver's door, used jumper wires I had in my tool box and ran the window up (after disconnecting the switch which was stuck in the "down" position)

Busted knuckles: None that ever REQUIRED stitches (there were a few where I'd probably been given stitches had I sought medical attention)

Trapped tools: Most memorable was I had lost a screwdriver a long time before, and found it down in the front fender during another project.

Broken hardware: Pretty much every project.

Buying the shop manual: I used to do that all the time.  Now I count on Google more.

Disappearing parts: Why would anyone put this on a list?  It just goes without saying!

Endless parts search: I can't say "endless."  I eventually either find it or give up.  Either way there's an end!

First rebuilt engine start-up: That happened while I was still in Junior High, A Briggs and Stratton 2.5 horse off my go-kart.

Ruined clothes: I prefer to describe them as "repurposed"!

Inclement weather moving in: This is why my "winter projects" never get any traction until about April!

Fixing what is not broken: I don't do this quite as much as I used to.  I'm getting more fond of the KISS principal.  But then again I did put a high-pinion Dana 44 in Pluto a couple years ago...

#11 is my namesake! People think my handle means "don't fix it" but it actually means "fix it till it is".