What are some opportunities missed, wrenching fuckups, or any other "that's a shame" moments?

What are some opportunities missed, wrenching fuckups, or any other "that's a shame" moments?

>sister offers to get me a '91 Toyota Celica GT through another distant relative
>cool price of $1000
>con: no pink slip
>pros: manual, totally clean interior, AC and heater and all other electronics still working, 100k-some miles, no accidents, all it needed was brake adjustment
>car sits in my driveway for four months because I can't legally drive it on roads
>end up falling for the BMW meme and buy a '81 E21 for $1300, spend at least the same amount on repairs and it still has problems to this day
>AC, heater, and defrosters don't work, have had to replace: ignition lock cylinder, control arm bushings, water pump, starter relay kit, muffler tail end
>one notable incident included the sunroof ripping off on freeway, drove it with a gaping hole on top for about 3 months before finally getting the thing welded on
>still think about Celica to this day

>replacing head gasket
>put new gasket in, spray with copper spray to make sure it sticks and torque head down
>forgot timing cover that needs to go on before the head
>have to buy another head gasket and put another hour of my time into sanding the copper coat off the head

fuck it ill bite

>working on pic related
>doing valve cover gaskets
>pain in the ass to get the valve cover on and off because the back of it is under a lip above the firewall
>also removing the "eccentric shaft sensor", which is accessible once the valve cover is off.
>its held in by three screws, guide i'm reading says the screws are set such a way that they cant fall into the engine during removal
>during removal, one of them falls into the timing chain valley at the front
"FUCK OH FUCK FUCK ME FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK"
>freak the fuck out, thinking it's lodged somewhere in the chain guides and if i ever start the engine again it'll rip itself apart.
>break every speed limit going to lowes to get one of those grabby claw things for picking up screws
>VERY carefully extract screw (it was perched perfectly where two of the chains crossed)

funny part was that i could have just shaken the chains to make the screw fall down, then taken the oil pan off to get the screw out. i wasn't thinking of that at the time amid the PANIC

>not getting my license until i was 21

honestly I've gotten laid a good amount in life but I've missed out on a lot of pussy for having a license or car. same with job opportunities

'salright, didn't get mine until 23 after i had a proper job post college

>not getting into diesel trucks earlier
Bought a 10mpg gas truck at 18... could have saved alot of $$

same man, had to wait and now I'm about to turn 23 and my insurance is still raping my shit.

You'd never get that oil pan off with the subframe in the vehicle. Ask me how I know.

>changing oil on mom's car
>dont check block for oil filter gasket coming off with filter because I was tired/ forgot
>install new filter
>install plug
>lower it off hoist
>fill with oil
>start up
>dont look under
>reverse
>see oil puddle
>shut off
>check oil filter in bucket
>realize what I did
>fix mistake
>top up oil
>shamefully clean floor

>mom still thanks me for doing her oil change

>live in salt belt
>lug nuts rusted on
>trying to break them lose with breaker bar
>not budging at all
>put all my weight on it
>finally comes loose
>smack into the side of the car and scratch it with my glasses

w-woops

>removing engine in Miata
>undoing accessories
>get to a/c compressor
>unbolting things
>absentmindedly unbolt one of the hard lines 99% of the way
>lift compressor out of the w-KABOOM
>fucking jesus
>Usain Bolt halfway across the neighborhood at incredible hihg speed
>don't touch car for 3 days afterwards

Thankfully i was not in the blast radius of the freon.

lol

I'm a mechanic.
I did this once, thankfully realised before it left work.
Just had to engine wash it and it was all good.
Now check every filter for a gasket and every housing for one too no matter what.

>install new fuel pump
>overfill tank by quite a bit
>o-ring bursts and causes the fuel pump to unseat itself

>change oil
>dont prefill the filter because it sounds like a pain in the ass
>start engine and watch the oil light stay on for 15~ seconds
>cringe

Wrenching with friend, he was supposed to tighten the inlet manifold bolts up, he only put them in, not even finger tight.

When I finally saw they weren't in right and I tightened them up properly I had constant stalling problems on idle because the the air / fuel ratio must have been changed by the ECU to match the shitty vacuum pressure or some shit, had to disconnect the battery for a while to get it working again.

Do everything yourself.

You didn't overfill, you just installed the pump wrong

>Buy MX83 Cressida
>Thought it would be hellatyte JDM luxobarge snowflake
>Turns out it's a car with no parts or manuals in this dimension
>Powered by a hand grenade

If my friends weren't all JDM I'd be buying American like a sane human being.

>could have bought my friend's 360 Modena for £20k 10 years ago
>did just 5k miles, no previous owners
>priced cheap because divorce settlement and he didn't want to get too much money for the car because he didn't want his wife Mel to get a single penny from the sale
>tempted but refused because maintenance costs
>car is now worth £100k
>could have stored it in a council garage for £10 a week, totalling just £5.2k in those 10 years and driven it every so often and paid just 500 a year for a Ferrari oil change for muh Full Ferrari Service History
>would be sitting on a cool 100k right now, probably more because of the low miles
Fuck

my friend bought a Tesla

>tfw got my P's at 25
You're not alone mate. Least I didn't have to do the 100 hours bullshit.

Tried to unscrew an oil filter the wrong way, had to call breakdown recovery to fix my fuckup.

I work on scooters and once ran one without oil for a minute on accident