VQdriver

i had to drive with a very noisy rear suspension when i first installed my eibach tokico combo last fall. the shocks and springs i bought used. little did i know the original owner sold me leaky rear shocks. also, they were missing a rubber piece on the upper shock mount. so for over a month it would make the most horrible noise even on smooth pavement. also, my friend put a small dent on the underside because he didn't place the car on the jack correctly. now i can't use the stock jack on the right front. a local shop charged me a lot of money to have it fixed, but the noise was still there! i finally bought KYBs and the same problem happened. i had to find out the hard way about that rubber piece. so i bought that and installed everything again. one rear bottom shock bolt froze. we ended up cutting the bolt off in the cold night. overall i spent a lot of money and took the front suspension apart 2 times and the rear at least 4. i seem to run into many problems doing installs. my friend's civic is cake in comparison. now, with my SR swap, i have no hesitation to have a pro work on it. i'm decent when working on cars, but now i'm a little more gunshy to actually work on it. especially when it's a major component.

turbomax97

iTrader: (6)

I had my worst o **** last night... me and thomas were loosening the pulley tensioner... and the bolt got crossthreaded somehow... SNAP.... besides this, we were done with the sc install :'(

so now I bought the actual threaded bolt that attaches to the pulley itself... and I got to take the part that you put the socket on to a machine shop to get the rest of the bolt out that was broken off

Raf2kMax

iTrader: (2)

izzy, i WOULD laugh but that sounded just too freakin sad man.

crazy4maxima

iTrader: (5)

sad and so damn true... it was a freaking nightmare

DCmax

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to bring this thread back but...

All I have to say is: Streetglow neon tube install at FFxMax's house
FFxMax: Let's just slip in the power lead behind the cig lighter fuse in the fuse panel.
Me: I don't think that will work
FFxMax: My dad thinks it will, i don't see why it wouldnt.
Me: Alrighty then, let's try it.

So we did that and the neons lit up perfectly (one tube for each front footwell). As I gazed at the beauty of my new showtime mod, I pulled out of FFxMax's garage only to have smoke pour out of the steering column so I shut everything down and ran out of the car like a scared girl. That's right, FFxMax lit my car on fire. Do a quick damage check and nothing important seems to work, namely, the car won't start. 50A fuseable link blown. We decide to pack it in for the night except guess what? tomorrow is Maxus 2001. We wake up at 7 am and go to every auto parts store in northern Virginia and finally figure out the only place that carries it is a Nissan dealer. So we wait at the parts door until it opens at 11. Of course they don't have the 50A fuseable link but they have a 60, so I get that. Get back to FFxMax's house, he puts in the fuse and I try to start the car...nothing. So, I give my Maxus ticket to a friend and send FFxMax on his way to Maxus. I'm pis*ed. I call AAA and Nissan and tell them to expect my car. As I'm picking my brain and wondering "why me" I find that FFxMax had placed the 50A fuseable link in the ABS spot. ABS? I pop the fuse into where it was supposed to go and I just fly like the wind to Maxus. It was a blast.

Install time: 50 minutes.
Oh sh*t time: 14 hours

lophix

iTrader: (3)

bas-turd!!!!!lol j/k...
the "pyo-ing" sound from the spring compressor during the front sprint install on a 3rd gen.....heavenly and enough to make you sell your car.
trying to install a y-pipe behind albertsons on a very nice day when, voila it's nice out but raining plus lack of tools to get bolts off.
replaced plugs and after putting new ones in, car starts missing...turned out i needed new wires.
drove from kansas to houston with bolts out of main pin on rear driver side brake...no difference in braking...sometimes what you honestly dont know might not kill you...
also found out i put the long washer on the driver side spring the wrong way: under the plate instead of ontop doh!

oh sh!te factor:
found out tirerack sent me the wrong strut only after i had tried using a drill to widen the hole on the mount plate and didnt succeed.

U know what? we should have a list of all .org members' numbers in different states just in case, for people like me, I get stuck halfway b/w okc and dallas on my way to kansas for school. I personally wouldn't hesitate to help out in anyway i can, anyone stranded close to me, be it houston or kansas.

Scruit

My first attempt at rebuilding an auto transmission. Bought the books and the training video, watched it over and over and decided to try it. Bought the rebuild kit and took my wife's car into the workshop.

- Pulled the tranny, put it on the rebuild support stand. 4 hours.
- Did the initial rebuild in two hour steps, stopping to order damaged hard parts and make or purchase install tools. 12 hours over about 6 weeks.
- Reinstalled the tranny and went for test drive. 4 hours.

- Car won't drive. 1 hour of screaming and anger. The feeling you get when you've just finished 6 weeks of work and you suddenly realise you have to do it again is not cool.

- Trying to diagnose the tranny without pulling it again. 4 hours.

- Pulled the tranny again and back on the stand. 3 hours (getting good at this)
- Disassembled the trsnny again, air testing all the pistons. 3 hours.
- Figured out the input clutch wasn't working when I applied shop air through IC passageway in the 4th clutch housing. Ordered the tools to install the 3 teflon oil rings on the input clutch's input shaft. Didn't have install tools 1st time, so I used a screwdriver to force them into place, obviously damaging them. 2 hours and 1 week for shipping.

- Reassembled everything. 2 hours.
- Reinstalled tranny in car. 3 hours.

- Went for test drive. Drove perfectly. (better than before, apparently the tranny had been going bad slowly for a long time) 10 mins.

First Rebuild
Time: 22 hours over 6 weeks.
Cost: $900 ($400 specalised tools, $100 rebuild kit, $400 hard parts)

Second Rebuild/diagnosis
Time: 17 hours over 2 weeks.
Cost: $150 ($50 in disturbed gasket/seals, $100 install tool for failed oil seal)

Tranny now has 8000 miles on it over the last year 6 months, and it's still driving perfectly.

(Aamco wanted $2000 for rebuilt tranny, or $1600 + hard parts to rebuild ours - would have worked out at $2000 either way).

nizmolee

iTrader: (1)

stipped lug nut I had to drill that lug nut out, took about 3 hrs.

genepool

Done that too.....Replaced battery with a die hard from sears. Original battery tie down J-bolts don't fit. Go buy new ones and install them. Go to close hood and it won't go down all the way. I figured the latch was stuck so I force it down. Opened the hood again to realize my hood now has a nipple new j-bolt...

Jr'sMaxima

Sliced my finger open.....passed out after bleeding a few minutes when I stood up.....got a concussion from gonking my head, 6 stiches later I had my finger in a soft cast for a week. Now thats an OH CRAP story, haha.

Conrad283

iTrader: (2)

i got new rims with used tires from an org member (he said the tires were very low) ... so the first time i attempt to mount them i put the front left rim on .. fine, ok .. but take the lugs off on the back left tire, jack it up, wheel doesn't come off, whats this, no lug nut, wheel is rusted on there .... ugh .... to late and cold to mess around with it .... put the lugs back on .... change the front left wheel back to the stockie ... done deal

then the second time i go to mount them i'm prepared with a hammer ... i get the front left wheel again ... no problem ... back left wheel ... coupla bangs with the hammer comes right off ... then the back right wheel, fine, no problem .... front right tire, everything goes on fine, lower the jack. It's flat!!! ugh ... jack it back up ... take the wheel off, put the stockie back on ... put the tire in my moms trunk, go to the gas station get air ... come back take the stockie off, put the rim back on .....

took me like 2 hrs in the cold, the ground was wet, and it was windy to change 4 rims . ugh

FLO_BOY

...but, almost all of them revolve around dropping something in my engine bay...

one of my faves (if that's the right word ) was dropping my new
PCV in my engine bay, and couldn't find it...walked back into the store, bought another one and dropping THAT one in too

well...after rocking and rolling the car for about 20 minutes, one
of 'em fell out, and I struggled and struggled but got it back in...

oh well, live and learn! it's still fun to work on my baby!

FLO_BOY

superloon

I was just reminded of this the other day by my bro, who was involved only in the ending of this sad tale.

Back in HS, I had a raggedy-looking '62 Mercedes 220SE that I was all set to "restore". Problem was, the Tranny started digesting itself the day after I bought it. And the owner moved to Oklahoma 6 hours after I bought it. Told me it ran *perfect*

Since I was funding this rig out of my busboy-wage-earning pocket, it took some doing to fix the tranny. The local benz dealer would have been happy to swap in a rebuilt tranny for about $2,500. Which was 2.5X more than I paid for the pig. After calling around for a bit, I found a junkyard in Sun Valley, CA (about 2 hrs away) selling rebuilt Borg-Warner trannys for a mere $800. I just had to come pick it up. Which I chose to do in the benzo, since my Mom wanted nothing to do with this, and my friends were all busy. Which was the first mistake in this tale. Two blocks from my house, I pulled a "California roll" through a stoplight, since the car made terrifying noises shifting from neutral into first, which is what a complete stop would incur. A few hundred yards after the turn, I see cherries blinking in the rearview. owned.

Made it down to the junkyard (um, I mean "German Import Salvage Specialists"), and pulled up to the loading dock to retrieve my tranny. Except they didn't have it. Couldn't blame the computers, since they didn't exist back then. They pretty much relied on handwritten ciphers smeared across surplus "guest check" order books. After screaming at them for an hour, they promised they'd have one built up by the following weekend. So after two excruciating 4-hour trips on a blown tranny, I had my Borg Warner.

Of course, I'd never even seen an automatic transmission outside of an actual car before, much less replaced one. The swap took a week with the car on jackstands, and two copies of the appropriate Haynes manual (first one got thrashed after the first few days ). After just an incredible amount of pain, frustration, anger and ultimately, exhuberance, the job was done. Solo. By a first-timer. And it worked! Beautifully! It didn't go well, mind you, but going over the details will cause everyone more useless torment, and it wasn't really the worst part of the story. But at that moment, I thought I was the coolest **** walkin the earth.

Sadly, this **** didn't appear to know how to use a torque wrench correctly, because this is what happened: Two weeks after the install, my mom and I went on a 2-week trip. My bro stayed behind because of some sporting event critical to his senior year ego. Turns out, he also made plans to give me what should have been the coolest birthday gift ever. He hadn't given me shyte for years, since we didn't have much money, but this year he had a killer gig at a local hotel, and had some cash to spend. He decided to have my skankin' ol benz painted () since I was trying to restore it. He found a place in LA the specialized in Classics, and was ready to lay down 2K for a top-notch paint job (them's were 1980's dollars, too ).

So he and a buddy jumped in my ride for it's paint rendezvous in LA, just bursting with goodwill and magnanimity, and about halfway down, they started hearing some BANGING and CLUNKING coming from the transmission tunnel. It took a while for them to find an offramp, but luckily, they found the Mercedes dealer in Calabassas. And they almost got there, but about a mile away, the drivetrain pretty much just fell to pieces.

Turns out, being the moron master of the universe I was, I didn't torque down the U-joint bolts to spec. And after it came apart, it the driveshaft pretty much whaled on everything down there. Total cost to fix, including towing bill? It's pretty easy to remember, actually: $2,000. owned. Man, that sucked. I gave up on that pile about a year afterwards, but she tormented me many many times during that year...

theLoon

MajorMax96SE

To say that I am mechanically challenged is an understatement, but I give it my best and I continue to learn.
I installed my new Frankencar Intake last night. Took me a couple hours because I'm a retard.
Everything is in place and I'm ready to take it for a test drive. I gather up all of my tools and put them back in the car. Turn the car on and no problems. Start to back out of the parking spot and my car doesn't want to move. WTF? Throw it into first and roll up a little. Back into reverse and again my car doesn't want to move. SHIITE, what the hell is wrong????
I get out and realize that the stock resonator box/accordion tube and two unused hose clamps were still on the ground...right underneath my front driver side wheel. Punctured the tire. Had to get a new one this morning. I had the road hazard warranty from Discount Tire, so it only cost me $25, but a big PITA. Oh yeah, intake works great.

ny96max

My worst oh crap story would have to be the day when i changed my rear bank of spark plugs. Well, as you all know your supposed to do this when the car is cold not hot. So after burning my forarms a couple of times on the intake manifold and trying to manuver around my FSTB, i decided to take the damn thing out. So now thats outta my way i go and start unbolting the coil packs when the unthinkable happens, i drop the ******* bolts down in a lil crevis ubder the intake manifold somewhere Now i need to find these things inorder to get my coilpacks back in, so ince i find a magnet and a light in my garage(8pm on a Sunday!!) i go diggin around and finally retrieve my lost bolts, lol.
So now i have two of the three coil packs out with no other problems. I get to the last coil pack remove the bolts fine and pull up, and what do i see! the rubber boot thats supposed to be at the end of the pack wedged at the bottom of the cylinder I try everything from a screwdriver to pliers and cannot for the life of me get this thing out. I even tried reinstalling the coil hoping it would catch and pull out, but no luck!! So now im thinking im screwed if i cannot get this thing out. And it being 8:20pm on a sunday ruled out buying long needle nose pliers.
Long story short, my friends father wound up having a set of 12" needle nose pliers in his garage and i was able to get the rubber boot out to change the last of the plugs.

I now own a magnetic tray to hold the bolts and a new pair of 12" needle nose.

Ant

davey6693

Mine usually involve trying to turn something that shouldn't be turned, resulting in pain and frustration.
1) Alternator install. I'm using a wrench and yelling obscenities trying to unscrew the bottom bolt to get the alternator out. Turns out that I'm not unscrewing an actual bolt, but a square bolt housing that is on the other side, that the bolt screws into. It's WELDED to a bracket and sits over the alternator, so it was never moving in a million years. After stripping it to a round shape for an hour and a half, I checked the other side, realised I had sh*t for brains and took the bolt out correctly. Time: 15 seconds.
2) Same day. Took idler pulley apart but dropped a piece without realising. Put everything back together, started the car and heard a feint metallic noise. Ran round to the front to see metal sparks as the pulley is slicing through the belt tensioner. Another two seconds and a new tensioner would have been needed.
3) I destroyed my first oil filter wrench without removing the filter by not looking where I was twisting. I was actually twisting the wrench into a solid metal obstruction and after 15 minutes the wrench was a useless bunch of twisted metal.

MaxedOutOfCash

I let my friend change my oil (i was clearing out my tails at that time) he said yeah let me do it...he drained the transmission oil (stupid f*ck)

bigdo26

iTrader: (3)

snapped the idler pulley tension bolt while trying to install my UDP. i didnt realize there was another bolt that had to be loosened firstt before the idler pulley bolt would actually move. this, combined with other technicalities, led to me installing the UDP 3 times in 2 days... now i'm an old pro
BTW I've been reading this whole thread for an hour here at work (very slow day) and i've just been laughing so hard. great to know i'm not the only one who screws up

Sean97SE

During a UDP install thepower steering tensioner bolt assembly fell apart right on to the garage floor.

Took us like 5 hours to get that thing back together because that space is so hard to work in.

waveridr85

iTrader: (4)

i dropped somethhing into my bay at eleast one on everyone!!! of my insatalls hahahah. yesterday itr was a socket that took me 30 min to get

PHATMAN5050

OMG I was scrolling through looking for a post from him, I'm sure his will win!!

MarcGXE95

Replacing the timing chain tensioner and guide (engine supports, cross member, A/C pump,PWR steering pump, alternator, engine sensors, engine harness access, engine upper oil pan, Y-pipe, timing chain cover, a bit of rust,...). Then reassembling everything and the car does not start!!!! That was a sunday afternoon nothing is open?!?!?! Trouble shoot like krazy, then finaly disassemble everything to find out the timing chain had skipped a tooth on the crank and the mis timing bettwen the crank and the cam sensors inhibited the starting.

97blackSE

iTrader: (1)

Ok ok, I got a body Mangling story, I'm dinking around with my fog light harness, cuz when i hit bumps, one of my foglights likes to go out, I have found that if i rap on it with a knuckle, it comes back on...
Well a rock Musta hit the lens, and it was cracked, and i rapped on it with my knuckle to get it to re-light and the FCKER BROKE, sliced my pointer finger knuckle on my right hand to the bone...I have never seen such a small cut bleed so much, prolly coulda filled a large shotglass every 5 minutes...I have scar tissue inside of the cut, and when i hit it on things now, my knuckle KILLS like its on fire and cut open again...
That cut was in such a bad place too, It took like 2 months to heal, cuz i kept re-opening it

97blackSE

iTrader: (1)

and i have yet another one...I cleared My tails solo, my first time tryin, with a tiny lil crack in the lens...so then i get bigheaded and i am talkin to a local max enthusiast (RobotMan7) who proceeds to ask if i have cleared tails, SURRRE i say, Im a pro...lol so i go to his house, and we take his taillights out, things are goin well, I'm Workin on One side of his lenses, (we did the inners and outters, only REAL way to have em match) so i have two and he has two, I'm doin fine with my two, and then he cracks his outter left lens a lil, i try to get it apart, and i crack it more, Now he takes a nice chunk out, **** IT, lets put that **** back in the oven! So his mom accidentally turns the oven up, He opens the oven door, and the friggin taillight is MANGLED, i mean rediculously twisted....He got custommaxima outers, the inners came out B-E-AUTIFUL, lol
What a friggin nitemare, i felt sooo bad for the ppoor kid