Just Another Day in the Life of a Car Guy...

[Falcon67]

No motor story - transmission.  This is around 1975 or so.  The Falcon used to run around with a 289 and a 3 speed.  The shifter I used was a Mr. Gasket floor stick from Scotty's Auto Supply in Fort Worth.  Which I actually still have - shifter and trans both.  Had a lot of fun with that combo. 

This was a cold Sunday morning, after a long night at the Sundown Lounge on 7th street with the buds.  Room mate had to go to work downtown, "can you take me as the busses don't run on Sunday?"  This is around 6:30 AM or so.  Sure, I can do that - I'll just go back to bed later.  Damn my head hurts. I grab shorts and a t-shirt, in spite of it being like 35F outside.  I'm not really up to speed yet.  Car has a working heater, so whatever. I run him downtown and start back to the apartment.  Take the exit off 287 to Lancaster and when I downshift into 2nd at the bottom of the ramp onto Lancaster the shifter falls down through the floor.  What the hell? 

I coast over to the median - thankfully there's zero traffic at this time. The sun is just barely up.  I've only got second and just roll the left side up on the median curb.  Slide under the car and the shifter bracket bolt in the rear of the trans is gone, which is why the whole assembly dropped down.  I get up and look around - in the middle lane of this three lane road, about 100' of so from the light on Riverside is my bolt, standing straight up.  Reminder - it's about 35F, I'm in cutoffs and a raggy t-shirt.  It's cold as hell.  I go get the damn bolt, crawl under and manage after some time to get it threaded back into the bracket and the trans at least finger tight.  That got me back to the apartment anyway. 

This is my one sure cure for a hangover - because by the time I got home, I was feeling decent.  Frozen, but no hangover.  I seem to recall having several cups of coffee and standing in front of the Dearborn heater for a while.  Later I drive the few blocks to the Scottys and bought some Locktite and that bolt didn't come out again.  I think the bracket is still on the trans.  LOL,  I'll look when I get home.

[WConley]

Chris -

That reminds me of a trans issue I had on the '64 Galaxie several years ago.  At my job in L.A., we had some clients in from Samsung one day.  They really, really wanted to see Universal City in Hollywood, so I agreed to take them out.  They also wanted to go in the Galaxie.  No problem, right?

Well we went down there, had a nice dinner, and checked out Universal City.  It was 10:00 as we headed back to the parking structure.  We piled in the Gal, she fired up as always, but the shifter was loose.  No gears!  I shut the engine and crawled under the car to find that a couple of pins had fallen out of the shift linkage    The shift rods had spun around and were all out of adjustment.  All I could really do in the moment was manually put the Toploader in third and leave it there.

By pushing in the clutch, and the guys helping, we got the car out of the spot.  Then the 390's torque curve got to shine for the trip home!  Everything from stop-go city traffic to freeway cruising was no issue all the way back to their hotel.  I got home from there before midnight and gave the old girl a nice pat on the fender.

Those Samsung guys were so nice!  They called me from the airport the next morning to check if I was OK.  Lesson for me:  Don't re-use tired old Hurst shifter retaining clips when you install a transmission.

[turbohunter]

Mine was a learning experience also. First FE I built (helped build) was a 440 for my 4x short bed. At the time we couldn’t find a steel gear for the distributor so a bronze one went in and I’ll change it later.  Well I was getting great mileage out of it (many thousands) and kept telling my self that I’m going to change that gear real soon.
Real soon came.
Cruising to work nice and easy, give it a little gas and BANG,,,,,,BANG,,,,,, BANG. So loud I’m sure it woke up any boozers sleeping it off and definitely gave me a butt pucker. Key off coast to side of road. Easy diagnosis. Luckily a fellow camera guy was going to work and spotted me. He pulled over and waited with me for the tow, then we went to work.
Moral of the story, real soon does come. Get off yer ass.

[cjshaker]

Cruising to work nice and easy, give it a little gas and BANG,,,,,,BANG,,,,,, BANG. So loud I’m sure it woke up any boozers sleeping it off and definitely gave me a butt pucker. Key off coast to side of road. Easy diagnosis.

Ignition can cause all sorts of drama...lol
I had a 302 Maverick a long time ago. I was driving home one day when all of a sudden the car started losing power. Within seconds there was a loud BANG. As loud as a shotgun! Within seconds, it did it again. But the car kept running, and since I was just a few miles from home, I decided to just keep going. All the way home, about every 4-5 seconds...pop....BANG....pop..BANG....pop...BANG. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every BANG sounded like a 12 gauge shotgun going off right next to you! After scratching my head from not being able to find any mechanical problem, I changed the condensor just as a guess. That was it. Car ran fine after that. I still imagine the reaction of people as I drove by houses...blasting off shotgun rounds every few seconds.

[chilly460]

I took my '93 Lightning to the strip for the first time with drag radials on it, it launched fine on street tires and slapper bars, but with the drag radials it would axle hop pretty bad.  Ran it three times then called it a day, didn't seem any worse for the wear.  It wasn't my daily driver, but the following weekend I took it to pick up a hoard of parts I found in the Autotrader...ended up with 4 complete 460 longblocks and a complete 9" Versailles rear in the bed....WAY overloaded.  Drove it home easy until a steep hill right by my house, bang...clang clang...engine running but lost drive...then I could hear something rolling, which was my aluminum driveshaft torsionally twisted in half.  I figure the axle hopping tweaked it and the heavy load finished it off. This is on a country road with a steep drop to the right, which I didn't trust the Ebrake to hold the truck, so I just stop it in the middle of the road and hit the flashers.  Walked 2mi back home and called my old man to meet me, drug it home with my '76 F250 which didn't have fenders or hood on it at the time. 

[durkzz8]

I took my '93 Lightning to the strip for the first time with drag radials on it, it launched fine on street tires and slapper bars, but with the drag radials it would axle hop pretty bad.  Ran it three times then called it a day, didn't seem any worse for the wear.  It wasn't my daily driver, but the following weekend I took it to pick up a hoard of parts I found in the Autotrader...ended up with 4 complete 460 longblocks and a complete 9" Versailles rear in the bed....WAY overloaded.  Drove it home easy until a steep hill right by my house, bang...clang clang...engine running but lost drive...then I could hear something rolling, which was my aluminum driveshaft torsionally twisted in half.  I figure the axle hopping tweaked it and the heavy load finished it off. This is on a country road with a steep drop to the right, which I didn't trust the Ebrake to hold the truck, so I just stop it in the middle of the road and hit the flashers.  Walked 2mi back home and called my old man to meet me, drug it home with my '76 F250 which didn't have fenders or hood on it at the time.

Had a driveshaft fall out this past week. Took the wife to get a sonogram to see the baby on the way and truck started having a slight vibration about halfway there. After the appointment I told her we were going to stop by the tire shop because I had some tire noise going on for a while now. Got about a mile from the doctor and all hell breaks loose. The front ujoint broke going 45 and was beating the hell out of the underside of the truck because it was still attached to the rear end. Had to pull it and change the ujoints on the side of the road. Was a major pain and im lucky that all the damage was to the underside of the truck and not the shaft itself except a few scratches.

[CV355]

I'll consider myself lucky, I've never had a catastrophic failure with an engine.  I've had typical minor things happen, but never a "boom" except for a transmission.

I've seen some horror shows though.  I gave a friend of mine a nitrous kit back in 2008 or so, he installed it, didn't check the nozzle size, and blew his intake up into the hood.  He replaced the intake with an aluminum one, exploded that.  He tig-welded the intake back together (blew the lower plenum) and went to the track with us the next day.  His car was bone stock except for the nitrous kit and slicks on the back.  He managed to pop the front end about 3' in the air, and before he was even 60' down the track, an explosion blew the hood up, front end came slamming down.  We had to tow the car back to the pits where we checked it out.  Not only did he manage to ventilate 4 cylinders of the block, but every piston and rod was damaged to some extent (didn't know that until we were back at the shop of course), the intake mounting flanges were in place but the body of it was gone.  The nitrous plate was danging behind the engine with the throttle body and upper plenum still attached.  It had no nozzles in it whatsoever. 

[fryedaddy]

i had someone watching over me one day.near my house is a two lane road that goes by a golf course.it has a good 1/4 mile straight,low traffic.i got my comet out and ran it down the straight away about 100 mph.i forgot to mention there were 10 feet deep drainage ditches on both sides of the road at the time with no guard rails.i got slowed down to about 10 mph at the end of the road and i noticed something in my side view mirror beside my rear driver side quarter panel. it was my wheel.my bearing had come loose off the axle and the whole thing slid out about a foot or more.good thing it came out while i was putting along at 10 mph instead of a few seconds earlier when i was doing over 100 by the deep ditches.

[jwrmach1]

Years ago with my F250, I pulled out of an intersection and the 460 finally overcame the driveshaft and the it broke in two.  Both halves were clunking away underneath.  The truck is 4 wheel drive, so after I coasted past the fire station, bang bang bang, I drifted into the school parking lot.  It was Saturday so no school.  I then walked to a hardware store and bought you guessed it a 1/2" open ended wrench.  Removed both pieces of the broken driveshaft, shifted into 4 wheel drive and drove home.  The whole event took less than an hour.
JWR

[Tommy-T]

It was 1982 and I was in my early 20's.
I had a '63 Falcon Sprint with a hopped-up 289. I home ported my cylinder heads and had Chevy valves installed as was common in the day. It had the early small block heads that had the closed slotted holes for the pushrods. I installed the Mr Gasket screw in studs myself, just used a stack of washers and some adjusting nuts to pull out the studs, tapped the hole free hand, and screw the new studs in. Simple.
A pal and I decided to drive the Falcon to the Street Machine Nationals in Springfield Ill. We took off from my house in LA without a care in the world. We were young so we'd sleep 'till 10, have breakfast, and hit the road about noon, and drive 'till after midnight. If you're going east from the west coast it's a few days before you get to much civilization, with many hundreds of miles of open desert to travel.
Anyway, it was around midnight and we were about 30 miles from Albuquerque, New Mexico. My pal was driving and all of a sudden BANG...BANG...Bang. My friend shouted at me "What doI do?" I said as long as the car will go forward, keep driving. About 10 miles out of town we saw a motel sign and told my pal to head there. Off Highway 40 we passed a small junk yard on the way to the motel. When we got there we decided there was no urgency to find out what was wrong with the car because we were so far from home, so we got a room and some shut eye.
The next morning I pulled the plugs and valve covers. Sure enough, I had tapped an exhaust rocker stud a little crooked, and the slot in the rocker arm was sawing on the stud and finally broke it. We asked the motel clerk if there was an auto parts near by and he said about a half mile up the road. We walked there and as luck would have it there was a set of those same Mr Gasket studs hanging on the wall. Thank goodness they're the same part as a sbc uses.
We walked back to the motel and then over to the junk yard. There we found a '63 Fairlane wagon with a 260. Pulled all the rocker arms and pushrods from that motor and headed back. When we got to the Falcon, I vise gripped the broken stud out and screwed in a new one, put a "new" rocker arm and pushrod, and started 'er up. Ran fine. It became the new morning ritual of the trip, pull the valve cover and change out the rocker stud, rocker arm, and pushrod. After a full day of driving the rocker stud would be sawed into about a quarter way.
We never even thought of turning around and going home. We had made it this far and were going to the Nationals. The car ran fine the rest of the trip and we had more fun than mortals should be allowed to in Springfield.
When I got home I pulled the heads and had a machine shop install proper screwin studs and guide plates.

[Stangman]

I guess the first one was my Mustang when I first got it 427 stock 428 SCJ torque converter and 3.00 gears. Talk about top end. I was on Ocean parkway doing 125 and saw mist on the windshield I asked the guy in the passenger seat is it raining I see mist, he said with a smile from ear to ear dont worry keep going.  Well I never drove my car in the rain and it wasnt supposed to so I pulled over and the top radiator bracket cracked and the fan went through the first tube of the radiator. Had to have one of my buddies tow me home and boy was I nervous trying to explain what happened to my dad.

Was driving my buddies 77 t bird 302 and wasnt beating on it but all of a sudden I took off from a light and heard heavy deep banging like hitting a block with a sledge. Well the crank snapped right after the first 2 cylinders. It was funny it cranked but the front of the motor wasnt spinning.

My other buddy had a 72 pinto that was going to the junkyard someone t boned him. Well we figured we would drain the oil out of it and drive it around till it blew up. Wouldnt ya know it we drove that thing for over 2 hours and couldnt blow it up. We were driving it normal thinking it wouldnt take long well we had to drive around in 1st gear at 4000 rpm and even then it was tuff. We finally got it to go but it was a good 3 hours. Talk about Ford tough.

Boy I could probably rattle off a couple more but those stick out.

[1967 XR7 GT]

My first time was in 1975, Cleveland Ohio, $300 65 Mustang, going down the freeway at about 65, auto tans locks up, car spins sideways ,Trans unlocks then shoots into the center divider.

[Mbowling]

Late 70’s I’m driving my 69 cyclone spoiler II to Atlanta from Cincinnati for the nascar race (which was back when I could like it).  I’d transplanted the 428scj/4speed in it from the cyclone CJ I’d crashed. 
 Saturday afternoon as I’m getting closer to Atlanta I thought I could hear what I thought was wheel bearing noise.  I’m not gonna spoil my evening so I continue to the track.  Slept in the car and watched the race sunday.  Headed back home after the race and made it to downtown Atlanta before the rf wheel bearing gave up. 
On the side of the highway with minimal tools I get the wheel & rotor off and found the inner bearing junk and stuck to the spindle.  Walked a mile or 2 to a parts store a couple times to get bearings & seal and a hammer and some other things.  I worked on it a couple hours but couldn’t get the race off the spindle. So I spent the night in the car and called in sick Monday morning.
 I’d seen a Goodyear tire store while walking to get parts and figured they could help. So I walk there and explain my dilemma. They said they’d be there shortly with their wrecker.  Their guy arrived shortly in an old crappy pickup truck wrecker. He towed me in and backed it in the bay. He did an excellent job of cutting the old race of with a torch and cleaned up everything & put it back together. The total bill for the tow and repair was $44!!! I was ecstatic
The car also cracked the timing cover that trip which made a huge oil leek but that didn’t get fixed until I got home.  Still have the car today and will drive it in a week or so.

[Henrysnephew]

   My longest trip home:  Once in the mid-'80s my fancy schmancy Accel Lazer (late B.E.I.) ignition system stranded me on busy Woodward Ave late on a Saturday night with a sudden engine shut down.  The coil wire spewed a constant high voltage arc when cranked - I could have tig welded with it.  Ten minutes of cool down restored triggering function - let's head for home!  Three-four minutes later: second verse same as the first - shutoff and coast to the shoulder.  I made it home but the 45 minute trip took over 4 hours.  That damned system is still on the shelf unrepaired - I hate it as much today as I did 35 years ago.  Randy M

[fryedaddy]

When i was a boy,my dad had a collection of 56 fords,about 12 or 13.i had my eye on a vic ht.it had a 352 3 in the floor with a black diamond int. two tone pink,white.it had a big holley 4 bbl on it.previous owner swore it would do 115 across a near by 1/4 mile bridge.i took the carb off to have it gone through.i put it back on and got ready to crank it.i was only 13 or 14.i could not wait to get this thing out.i got in it and turned the key and all of the sudden BOOM! the backfire blew the valve covers loose,all but 1 or2 bolts,shot the dipstick through the tree tops like a bow and arrow,and blew the breather cap into the neighbors yard.that was the last time i touched that car