Ugh....when You Do Something Stupid.....

Just venting on this one....Yesterday I installed a pertonix ignitor kit on my CJ, and went smooth, no issues...unitil you close the hood, and forget to latch it down and it goes flying off like a kit! Luckily no one was around to either get hit or see it! What a bonehead mistake....Hood is shot, but I do have another laying around so not all is lost...I'll post some pics later of the carnage....BTW....The jeep runs great with the Pertronix, I've used them in the past so it wasn't completely unexpected...much better throttle response.

Anyone else do something stupid with their CJ? If not just make up a story to make me feel better...lol

 

leaned in while outside to start it, forgot to take it out of gear and it drove off. Lucky no one got hurt or damaged property.

 

hahahahaha!!! SO awesome. Glad you're ok.

I just recently left my key on all night and roasted my whole ignition system. Stupid enough for you?

I actually ended up learning a lot I didn't know about how coils/points, etc work, since i was having issues with getting it to start after replacing the coil, points and condenser(I had no idea what a condenser/capacitor did until this issue). I had to check and double check my install and knowledge of what I was doing. and it runs SO much better now with all new parts!

 

Lol...I can relate to your hood story. Took me about a year to get my jeep road worthy. Numerous runs around the block to work out the kinks. First time heading down the freeway onramp.....hit 50 mph...hood flys up...smashes the windshield, and disappears onto the road behind me. A real tough lesson. The hood was salvageable...a few battle scars. Glad I'm not the only one.....

 

OOOuchh.

 

I had the same hood mistake when I was about 17. I had just swapped a better tub on the Tux, and was finishing bodywork for paint. No windshild frame, hood latches, lights, or any other trim ( but had hood hinges for alignment). I figured I drive the Jeep from the shop to the house (in the same neighborhood) to get lunch. I made it about 3/4 of the way home going pretty slow, rounded the last corner into a strong headwind, and at about 20 mph, the hood raised up, lifted out of the hinges, and flew up about 5' above and over me, and came down on the leading edge in the street behind me. It never touched anything before landing in the street. I was lucky (and stupid!). It only pushed the raised center edge in about 1/2", and left a little ripple about 6" back from the front edge. I bodyworked it back close, but that ripple always reminded me of the incident.
The school of hard knocks!
-Donny

 

I was prying leaf spring bushings out of a '69 Mustang. The crowbar slipped and popped me right in the face. I had about 3 seconds before the pain hit to think "that's not good". Broken nose. Blood everywhere. Look where your prying instrument will end up before prying things!

 

I've done the "add new oil before you replace the drain plug" trick. I figured it out after a few quarts were added. No damage but a big mess.

 

I did that once when i first got my 2a. It drove into the back of my brothers 69 nova! Very luckily the D ring smashed into the tail light so thats all that needed fixing. It did push it a few feet though. Strong tail lights. Another time lifted it in the garage with a high lift jack. It tipped over and the jeep nearly hit my dads 58 impala under restoration. I dont think iv ever used it to lift a vehicle since then

 

Was working in my CJ one morning and had the tranny in neutral. Finished up and went into the house when several hours later heard a big thud. The CJ rolled out of the garage right into the wife’s new car. That damn Jeep sat there for hours and never moved then on its own it decided to take off!
I always blamed the turning of the earth for that one.

 

Broke a drill bit while pulling the air drill towards myself.......you could almost read Jacob chuck in the gash the chick left at my hairline still right at the hair line thirty years later. No stitches they tied my hair together and it just grew out.

 

When I was living in NH, I took the girlfriend’s Honda Civic to PA for a quick trip to my parents’ house to pick up a few tools I needed for work. I stood next to that car for ten minutes while catching up with my dad. We’d just made it into the house when we heard a CRASH. Ran outside to see the car was gone. The back of the hatchback was just visible through a big new hole in the side of the barn. Luckily no animals were in the way.

That quick day-trip turned into a few days of barn rebuilding and a windshield replacement.

 

I know that millisecond of sheer panic very well!

 

Did that twice with our '67. Its amazing how well they fly

 

After 60 years of living, I often wonder why reasonably intelligent people do so many stupid things. Me most of all.

 

I guess that's where the saying comes from-- "Hind-sight is better than Fore-sight"...

 

Not exactly Jeep related but...while on an oil change binge yesterday I drained the oil in the walk behind mower. I found 1-1/2 qts of Pennzoil in the garage ,perfect! It looked a little dark going in. Straining my brain, realized it was the previous years lawnmower used oil I poured back into qt containers to recycle.

 

I did the exact opposite once... I thought I had completely unweighted the rear suspension when replacing shackles on a dodge dart in high school. Bolt came out and the spring shot up and put a fist-sized dent in the floor of the trunk. I may have pooped a little.