Your Biggest "Oops"

[swall]

Just wondered about fellow members having a really big "oops" on their restoration project, where you had to go back and re-do something. I just had mine on my '52 Chief. I had rebuilt the tranny and had it mated to the engine, had the clutch and primary chain on and everything tightened up when I discovered that I forgot to put in the shaft for the shift fork to slide on. To make things worse, I had used red loctite, since I didn't want any of that stuff ever coming loose. So, I spent 8 hours this weekend, wrenching,heat wrenching and making a clutch hub puller to get everything torn down. Man, when you have assembled things with new, in tolerance parts , it just doesn't come apart as easily as the old worn out "loosey -goosey" parts did.

[AdminGuy]

Don't sweat it. No parts were hurt in the aftermath.
Professional guys have done simular things. It's worse when you've done three simular engines and have multiplied an internal problem, blowing any profit margin right out the window.

These things are all custom built. A good mechanic will document his headaches and hours required to correct upon client approval. It's scary when some guys low ball and say -just slap it together. I'm selling it upon completion. What's with that? Sickening..... Like hey dude, heres your engine, you finish it, and never, EVER mention my name. Hows that sound.

I find it's good when I've only got myself to blame. Live, learn and occationally have a "senior moment". Tommorrows another day.

You really got to laugh at yourself sometimes. I sure do. I wonder how many guys will fess up to personal mistakes?

[scd]

I'll not only fess up, I'll go so far as to say mistakes are part of almost every "project" I do on my bikes. home improvement, or whatever. I have found that there seems to be a high correlation between speed of execution and foolish errors. I've always been struck by perhaps the most common advise I receive from veteran restorers, "take your time". The older I get, the more I have to be in just the right frame of mind before I tackle something on my beloved machines. And I'm getting better at quitting in the middle when frustration or fatigue sets in.
But alas, I still sit down in my easy chair at the end of the day wondering what major flub I've done this time.

[petri]

And there's the key, "take your time". I do my work myself, and doing one's work oneself is what's to be commended. How many people in this modern 21st century world do anything for themselves anymore? Most "modern people" expect to hire it done, whatever it is. What's great is that we are doing the work and trying to get the job done on our own initiative. Not always the most efficient way perhaps but the most rewarding. Yes I know, some things we need to ask for help with, but that's usually the last thing I do, not the first. If you do it yourself you can take all the time you want.

Howard

[cheifrider]

whopper oops

while restoring my 46 chief a few years ago ,i had just put all my freshly painted tins on the bike....($1500.00 paint job). while doing other work on the bike i inadvertenly(sic?)put a regular screwdriver in my back pocket.........anyone guessing what happened here?.....a nice big 6 in. scratch right through to the steel in my leftside tank............sigh...............

[HarleyCreation]

The first time I rebuilt an early Panhead engine (49FL) I put the hydraulic pushrods in upside down. That was probably because I was using a knucklehead shop book!

(Close but not quite close enough).

I think I got maybe a mile before one of the cup lifter pieces BROKE.

At that point the light-bulb went on......

[swall]

Thanks, guys. Enjoyed the responses! I should have things back to where they were this weekend (waiting on a new bend over lockwasher for the clutch hub nut). One positive aspect--I can use the now gutted primary chaincase housing as a fixture,and can Permatex silicone bond the primary cover gasket to the primary chaincase cover using cut pieces of all thread and nuts .That way, the gasket is not flopping around when assembling the cover and trying to get it lined up with the gen shaft and chain adjuster pivot and all of the bolt holes.

[Lonnie]

My favorite was back in the mid-70's when I was changing a rigid frame panhead over from ratchet-top to jockey-top, complete bike, just pulled the battery, oil tank and the top off the trans. Dropped one of the bushings off a shift fork and it went down into the innards of the trans. After a cursing fit, I decided to drain the trans - no bushing. Poured in kerosene, drained trans - no bushing. Ended up having to flip the motorcycle onto its back, sprayed in kerosene with a bug sprayer pressure tank until the bushing finally fell out. I was so peeved I forget to empty the gas tank, but not to worry, the gas tank pretty much automatically emptied itself in the process - imagine that! The trick was getting the bike onto it's back then back upright by myself without a hernia. Not a good day, but no damage done - except to my pride.
Stupidity - 1, Intelligence - 0.
Lonnie

[indianut]

25 years ago a guy walked in to the garage I worked in holding about a 3 foot length of chain. He said he couldn't find the master link so he used a die-grinder to remove his primary chain.