gearmiester Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) Alright, while I am really new to the Z-car family I have been a mechanic most of my life. So while I may have a competent knowledge of the ins and outs of engines, I find that I am still human and sometimes my brain checks out while trying to perform simple tasks. Case in point: I recently discovered that I had a fuel leak in one of the small injector feed lines (number 6 to be exact) so I figured that it wouldn't be too hard to change it out. So I did a quick review in the FSM and looked at what I had to deal with to remove the fuel rail. During the process I found that there was only one mount bolt missing (pretty good for a 78 280Z) So tip one: when removing the big bracket mount bolt in the center of the fuel rail (mounted to the head under the valve cover)don't try to figure out how many pieces of a socket assembly you need in order to bend your way around the fuel rail cause more than likely you will find it doesn't want to bend right or stay on the head of the bolt (besides the fact that the bolt s like 1-1/4' long and works really well at trapping the socket. solution: take 5 minutes to loosen the bolt with a wrench then walk your happy ass around to the passenger side of the car where you find your hand fits nicely between the valve cover and the fuel rail and take the damn bolt out with your fingers. DOH! Time wasted before brain kicked in -- 40 min and a busted knuckle tip two: Murphy's Law - when you replace only one injector line and get everything back together two more will start leaking. Sure you could try to replace the other two 'cause now it only takes 5 minutes to remove the fuel rail (see tip one) but when you finally realize that every damn hose on the engine needs to be replaced due to age and dry rot it's so much easier to just replace all of the fuel injector lines at once. Time wasted before brain kicked in -- 4 hours over two days for what should be only about an hour job This thread is dedicated to all of us who have learned everything the hard way when it comes to working on our favorite Z-cars. Feel free to post your favorite idiocy instances to help the yung'uns not have too. (Or don't and just laugh at their stories) Edited October 27, 2011 by gearmiester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) How about spending hours figuring out and bending custom three dimensional bends in expensive 5/8" stainless fuel line, getting it bent perfect, then just after you finish the last flare you realize that you forgot to put the tube nut on one end. Edited October 27, 2011 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LineC Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Pressing wheel bearings on and forgetting to put the backing plate on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Cutting the wrong fuel hard line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 How about spending hours figuring out and bending custom three dimensional bends in expensive 5/8" stainless fuel line, getting it bent perfect, then just after you finish the last flare you realize that you forgot to put the tube nut on one end. Ouch. That is a bad one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Spending 12 years building your "dream car", only to realize that it's not the car that you actually wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Spending 12 years building your "dream car", only to realize that it's not the car that you actually wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Spending 12 years building your "dream car", only to realize that it's not the car that you actually wanted. Yup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Michael wins. My personal DOH was repeatedly telling myself "do not forget to install the rear main seal" when finalizing my old turbo engine rebuild. I must have told myself that every day for 2 weeks. Come installation day, I get the engine and trans back in the car and am about ready to fill it with fluids. I run through my checklist again and see that the rear main seal check box is not checked. I thought, no, this can't be, maybe I forgot to check it off the list......only to then see it on the work bench NEXT to the checklist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calpoly-z Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I cant count how many times I have bolted the flywheel and clutch to the engine and as I'm about to install the tranny, realize that I forgot the backing plate. Not a huge time waster as it only takes about 10 min to bolt and unbolt the flywheel and clutch PP, but I seriously have done this every time I've had the flywheel off. At what point will I learn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennesseejed Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 After many tedious hours installing Megaquirt with a meticulously rebuilt head, turning the key, and the car failing to start. Then having to walk away for fear of throwing/beating/breaking things as 15 seconds turns into 15 minutes and the battery is drained. Long, long desperate moments double and triple checking a gazillion wire connections with frequent trips to the laptop to review an already (virtually) memorized Megamanual. A beer to lessen the risk of immediate myocardial infarction. To the garage to obtain and connect the battery charger/auto start for another 15 minutes of fruitless cranking. Desperation. Denial. Onset depression. Three years of seaching and reading and on HybridZ for naught. $1000+ and countless hours down the drain. Back to the recliner for some deep breaths and another beer. How could this be? Why does this not work? What did I do wrong? How did I get here? O.k., back to the basics. Trouble shooting is sometimes like losing your keys. The first thing you do is remember where you last put them. What was the last thing I did on the car? Thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . The distributor! I was manually adjusting the timing, checking the VR sensor gap, and hooking up the plug wires. I'll start there!!! Triple check the plug wires are correct. They are. Loosen the distributor and try starting after advancing and retarding the timing to several different locations. Nothing. Stare silently into the engine bay looking for anything out of the ordinary. The wires, vaccuum lines, the coil, alternator belt, the sensor connectors . . . look at the bug trying to crawl up the firewall . . . consider buying a fifth of scotch just to make it to sunrise . . . . . . Hmmmm, what's that sitting next to the radiator cap? That doesn't look right. Oh yeah. That's the rotor. Probably would work better if that was inside the distributor. *facepalm* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akeboshi Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) putting the lowering springs in backwards, and not grounding the engine sensors to pin 19 on the ms2 harness. Edited November 7, 2011 by akeboshi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Just today, on the Hilux I put a new water pump in as the old one was leaking around the shaft. Test drive down the 3Km road from the house to the gate to pick up them mail after hooking up the alt belt but before putting on the fan and radiator shroud, just in case I had to take it off again and look for another source of the water leak... Half way back and "Oh ****, did I take the fan bolts and shroud bolts off the top of the air filter housing before I drove off? Gotta raid the bolt bucket for some that fit. Missing a bolt and a nut... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duragg Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 (edited) Pressed on a new front pulley with the keyway and key perfectly lined up (engine in car, radiator on) Torqued the bolt re-installed everything. Turned the crank to calibrate timing and heard THAT noise, That sound of a small steel part falling onto a metal plate... "tink.drop clink" WTF WAS THAT..?? Oh yes I did. and that ain't even the stupid part. Edited November 8, 2011 by duragg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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