Dang !..gettin old is tough
 

i am still pretty good on the phyiscal side as in the Toby KEITH song."Im not as good as i once was but im as good once as i ever was"...
With this said..i still work off the floor putting in tranmissions etc..can't get the car up but so high on the jack stands..slide the tranny under tipping it left to right etc..the i grab it by the input shaft and the tail shaft and do a modifed bench/shoulder press to get it up onto a tranny jack...i got to get it the 1st time or no- more than twice or i have to take a breather...lol....

anyhow i nailed it under 2 trys..i was excited!..i was moving quick..got the tranny jacked up..placed on the dial pins. slide the cross member under the bottom...went up to check the end play in the converter..and AWWWWW---NAWWWWW...forgot to slide the converter on the input shaft when i had her at ground level.. :twisted: :twisted: :roll:

thought i would share my BRAIN FART with you guys today... :oops:

Oh no thats sucks Brian,I'd laugh,but I could be the very next guy to do that :P

brain fart
 

hey brian been there done that one . one of those "duh" moments! but i bet youve done this one as well. i was swapping the engine on the funny carand installed the mid plate[hey no laughing!] put the engine in the frame rails,bolted the bell housing up while checking the spacing and the alignment of the convertor got it all bolted up and went to install the starter[hey i told you guys "no laughing!!!!!] and you guessed it the hole for the starter was on the other side and i used the hole to bolt the convertor up with!!!! nopw thats a 50 yr old brain fart lol.... at least no one was there to "witness" my great adventure lol anyone else????? mike in the desert

I once worked my tail off putting the motor and trany in my chevelle in one piece...got under it and discovered that I had forgotten to bolt on the flexplate... I noticed this AFTER installing the driveshaft, crossmember, cooler lines etc :x :oops:

Hey tod wait untill you complete the project, go to crank engine and it won't turn over and find out you didn't install torque convertor bolts. :oops: :oops:

brian the older you get the harder it is to kneel down on the concrete, or climb under the car, when I am working on something, I bring a hand full of tools and it never fails, you didnt bring the one wrench you need, sliding around and pulling your self up, it hurts, heck even rotating the tires sucks anymore

Yes Sir..pretty sore right now !

Prop it up like this...that way you aint gota crawl all the way under... http://www.small-block-chevy.com/dumbass.jpg

OH MY GOD what is that lunatic thinking

How did he get the truch so high is a good question?

Yep your right Brian. Getting old is Tough. How many times have you gone in to the garage and forgot what you went in there for?
I feel your pain but your a young man :)
Just wait until your mine or zips age. No disrespect Zip :)

ya think it was his wife,s idea to do that?

uuuuuuuuhh......
 

is that the GAS TANK he's welding on ?.........

Hehe, :D hey i'm just happy to wake up in the morning and to be able to maintain my advanced ET lic. that could change next yr. when i have to re-up in May, but i don't think so. i don't get as nuch done as i used too but i eventually get it done. I've got too many projects but i think they are what gets me up in the morning. (70 in a little over 3mos.)

Zip.

Zip you sound like my father...71 and still works 10 hrs a day at a machine shop and another 5 at his house of a night.

Yup gettin old sucks but it beats the hell out of the alternative.

Gettin' old?
 

Ahh, this is just something you learn to contend with. I haven't been very active mechanically, other than changing oil and other minor maintenance of cars for the last 20 years, it is harder now. I commented to a couple of my buddies just this last weekend, "this used to be more fun"! I sure don't bend like I used to and getting up off the concrete floor is alot harder than I remember it.

On the other hand, I spent the last 15-16 years involved in blackpowder shooting and historical reenacting. I've spent quite a few nites in the cold, the rain and other conditions that drive most normal people insane, if they're the least bit uncomfortable. I had a lady older than muself once ask, "why do you do that"? The only answer I could give, "I still can"! I guess I look at my old car the same way, It's still there and "I still can"!

I told my wife the other nite, when it comes to being miserable, wait until you have to load the car in the rain. It wasn't fun long ago and I'll bet it hasn't improved any with age, LOL.

I haven't done anything real dumb on this car as yet. There's still plenty to do, ample time for senior moments.

It's good to hear all these "getting old" stories... I hope that I can keep doing things when I am older. I am 38, so I some good years left because I quit drinking. I don't care how how old you are ... smacking your knuckles on flywheel gears is annoying. Or how about smashing your finger when sliding your creeper wrong.... love it. My all time favorite: working under a dash laying upside down/backwards w/ my legs falling asleep, stuck over the non-sliding diagonal door roll bar... man, that is pure joy... clastraphobia at it's best.

I hate that.(working around a cage) and once you are down there you find you have thge wrong tool. :x

Yep- it is "Murphy's Law" at it's best... always the wrong tool when you get into a impossible position working around a cage... Soooo true.

Have you ever wandered around looking for a tool, literally scour your whole place, looking for a wrench..... and it's in your back pocket. :shock:

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

I seen my dad looking for his glasses once ....while he was wearing them. :lol:

Glasses
 

But, did he find them? :oops: :oops: :roll:

You ain't kiddin' Brian! I gotta tell ya'll what my old self did today. I drove to my sons football game, forgot the folding chairs, drove back home (about 10 min one way), forgot what the hell I came back for, so I got some more coffee and returned without the damn chairs!! My two youngest boys reprimanded me for being unprepared, they also informed me that the "I forgot" excuse is now valid for them as well.
What they don't know is..............jeeeeeez, I don't remember what I was going to say.

LOL!!!
 

I do that at least once a day at work. Yeah, I've already been in the impossible situation of crawling through the roll cage and positioning myself to do something, only to discover the one tool I need is either still in the box or on the bench.

On a lighter note, hopefully tommorow, my 66 Chevy II will once again be setting on the ground.

Yes, I have done that many times too. It is about like when I get in the car, pop on the streering wheel, button up all the harness points, hit my toggles, pump the carb, & hit the ignition... and nothing.

I FORGET TO TURN ON THE BATT. CUT-OFF SWITCH TO THE "ON" POSITION ON THE BACK OF THE CAR!!! (AGAIN)!!

Man, I hate that!!

:lol: BEEN THERE.

:) :) That's why my wife goes racing with me is to make sure everything is in order so i can race, [batteries charged, batteries on, fuel in]

How about getting staged up after your burnout and then pre staged & realizing you don't have your helmet on!

Or taking the green while you're in the pole position and having the hood pop up and wrap over the top of the windshield where you can't even see turn 1 coming up :shock: :shock: :shock: :oops: :oops: :oops: Got sidetracked in my pit with a visitor and 'forgot' to put my hood pins back in......
Or having to use a floor jack to stuff a punkin or 4spd when you used to be able to toss 'em in overhead with the car on a hoist. I guess I used up all my brawn and need to use what's left of the brain :D :idea: :idea:

Yes, HOOD PINS!!! I forgot once myself on 72' Chevelle I had in high school.... forgot all 4!! I proceeded to show off w/ a buddy of mine what ol' Besse could do and about 60MPH the hood (virgin Heavy Chevy Hood) took of & sailed like a kite... let me tell you... it cleared the powerlines, came down & crashed in the front yard of a mobile home in a park!!! It was TOAST. Anyways, that had to be one of the biggest "WHITE TRASH" moments of my life... onlookers thought I was really brillant... I was so embarrased, I left the hood there & took off... I did have a full Mullet at that time as well. Good times...

should have went back and got the hood man...cause, you know...that shit will buff out.

Hood
 

I had just helped a friend get his 56 Chevy running and he wanted to see what it would do. So we drove on down the street and got on the access road to the highway and he punched it. It hooked hard and then it got dark as the hood popped open and all you could see is purple hood. This was in 1970 so there were plenty of parts available, so it wasn't too bad. Luckily it didn't break the windshield. Always checked my own hood after that, and if it is raced it going to be pinned.

Tod, come on man, you know I could not have buffed it.... everything was PRIMER GREY. Every dime went into drive-train items, no money left for paint in those days!! Ha Ha!! I just popped in a "White Snake" casette & motored on dude, care-free... with my mullet blowing in the wind... I knew I could get another cowl or heavy chevy hood another day. It was 1986....