Stupidest thing you have done while working on your E30

[Northern]

Lets see.....

Smacked a curb, bending a rim and asploding my IS lip.

Did that this fall, Came out of the work parking lot turning left at full throttle, got a little sideways and held it, expecting the tail to come back inline like it had the last however many times. Nope, 180 over a curb, tear off iS lip, knock out fog, bend core support, bend euroweave, and crack euro trim and bumper, collapse/bend bumper shock by coming to rest against a concrete pole which protects a fire hydrant.

I really wasn't awake after a couple 7-day work weeks in a row, could blame the bald tires or cold weather or whatever, but I was really just not paying attention to what the hell I was doing.



2: shearing off half of the exhaust manifold studs on the head of my M52 because everything on it is just that rusty. Still not really looking forward to drilling them all out.

3: Stripping the top half of the threaded section of my new billy iX HD shock, trying to thread an M12x1.50 nut on the M12x1.25 thread with an impact to pull the strut up through the tophat/washers/stutmount on my iX.

Also was beating the stock spring to get a pipe wrench through the coils to remove the old strut insert without unbolting the strut from the car. It caused the two spring compressors to rotate around to the same side and it looked like the spring was going to snap off.

It all worked out in the end though.

[Superbuick3]

Stupidest thing i've done while working on an e30 was on my 325i the day after i bought it. I wanted to take the disgraceful set of rims he had on it. So i decided to throw some bottlecaps on for the time being and call it a day, so i put it up on the lift, changed the wheels, and torqued them to spec. I drove it after that with no problems until that night. I did a pretty moderate pull on the highway and started noticing a knocking in the rear passenger side. I figured it was a wheel bearing going bad but immedietly took the car home. The next day i drove to school and contacted my buddy to meet after school to get the problem sorted out, upon arriving i pulled my car in and within just a couple minutes he walked into the lobby will a very serious face. he proceeds to tell me that if i would have driven the car much further i would have lost my back wheel, luckily i stuck to backroads and avoided the highway to get there! the lug nuts were turnable by hand, this was caused by the previous owner having aftermarket wheel spacers on the hubs which loosened up my bottlecaps even though they were torqued. Rookie mistake, needless to say, lesson learned. and i was very grateful!

[Vtec?lol]

1st
I completely rebuilt my m42 with new everything except mains.
I got it in the car and couldn't get any oil pressure. after days of trying to prime it and such I got frustrated and gave up. I came back pissed and started the car up thinking the engine will get the oil eventually. 5 minuits later I locked the rebuild engine up.

2nd, just yesterday I was working on my swap and mixed the fuel return hose with the tank vent hose. Open headers. Spewing gasoline. Inside a three story townhouse. Yeah.
Nice 7ft fire that I ended up putting out. Ordering a fire extinguisher.

[nick526]

...fire...

Holy fuck!

[Dustn525]

I used to live an apt. complex that didn't allow anyone to work on their cars, besides a designated washing area. So I always changed my oil on Sundays, when the staff wasn't around. So, I go ahead and put my drain pan under the car, and unplug the oil plug. Figured I'd give it a good 10 minutes to drain, and go back into my apt. and make a sandwich.

I walk out to my parking spot 10 minutes later to a river of oil flowing right into the storm drain O_O . Unfortunately I had forgotten to take the plug off the top of my drain pan. Good thing I had a hose and a water spicket was on the side of the building, so I could spray it away. Good thing I had cool neighbors who "didn't see a damn thing". I actually hate to think I polluted whatever river that the storm drain goes to, but, wtf are you supposed to do other than learn from your stupidity.

[AirplaneBuilder]

My buddy and I once swapped out my suspension for coilovers and went for a taco break and forgot to torque the lug nuts... After the meal we went for a road test and next thing you know there is a wobble and a thump and my powder coated driver side front wheel is then beating me down the hill as my car grinds to a stop on the skid plate.. the wheel then starts bouncing off the curb and messes up the whole lip

[brianao34]

My buddy and I once swapped out my suspension for coilovers and went for a taco break and forgot to torque the lug nuts... After the meal we went for a road test and next thing you know there is a wobble and a thump and my powder coated driver side front wheel is then beating me down the hill as my car grinds to a stop on the skid plate.. the wheel then starts bouncing off the curb and messes up the whole lip

That always sucks.

I had a buddy "torque one wheel" and I did the other. Took it out to head to the store and heard the unmistakable wobble from the car but didn't really feel anything, and just as I was about to turn around and head home to double check the wheels I look up in the sky and see a helicopter. How convenient, THAT was the sound I heard.

So I continue on my merry way, and 5 seconds later the wobble returns and wham, car is on the ground. Rear driver's wheel pops off and departs. Ended up running back home and driving my other car back for the rescue.

Leason learned: Stone Cold Steve Austin's morals apply to working on cars as well.

[trippmann]

forgot to re install the air box maf, coming from an e46 where the maf is separate from the air box. i sat in my garage for probably 45 min cranking it before i looked at the ground and realized what i forgot.

needless to say the first few times i floored it i left a three inch trail of fuel behind me till the exhaust emptied hehe.

[lambo]

Installing E36 window switches. Windows won't work. Spend FOREVER checking my wiring and fuses and shit. Turns out the window lock button was pushed in...

[e30m20TurbO7]

Rebuilt a whole m20 and didn't plasti gauge the rod bearings or replace the piston rings , compression was at 90 psi in all cylinders and I spun 3 rod bearings , ran great for the first 600 miles

[brianao34]

Rebuilt a whole m20 and didn't plasti gauge the rod bearings or replace the piston rings , compression was at 90 psi in all cylinders and I spun 3 rod bearings , ran great for the first 600 miles

Just FYI, something I learned recently

Plastigauge is okay for a crude sanity check, but when it comes to bearings the only reliable method is to measure each journal...

[JoeyZ]

Didn't zip tie down and compress the stupid spring at the bottom of the bitch tube last time I had to do a head. I dont think I've ever been so anrgy in my entire life, lol

This was after I tried to replace a broken rocker arm with the head IN the car. I mangled the rocker shaft so bad I just ended up replacing the head.

[smerfs]

Cut out the fuse box and didn't label the wires.

[The München Monster]

I havent had the chance to work on my car much (Hardly any problems) but, was changing the oil and i screwed the sump bolt in crooked. Oils been dripping slowly ever since :)

Oh and the day, no, the HOUR i bought my car, my mom drives it back home 20 miles with the handbrake up. Only when we got home and took a whiff did we realize.

[CR325IS]

I jacked my car up my its oil pan....cracked it...jb welded it as I waited for my new oil pan in the mail, I thought it would be a good idea to open it up and go 115mph down the high way....well when I jacked my oil pan up little did I know I bent the oil pump long story short it failed at 115....messed up my entire engine.