1. Broke my alternator because i did not tighten down the connection, I just capped it and forgot to "get back to it."
2. Put my spark plug wires on the OPPOSITE way. Forgot that the even side was the passenger side, and the odd side was the drivers side when putting mt spark plug wires back on the distributor.
3. Ran the battery dead (refer to #1)
4. Broke my coolant temp sensor when putting the hose clamp around the heater hose that it is next to. (The ones you need some channel locks to squeeze open, not the screw type)

While working hard to make sure that I was breaking things and needing to buy more things, i managed to put on a plenum plate and 1.7RRs.

I have come to the point where my build budget is masked by many, many trips to autozone & NAPA buying odds and ends.

 

I REALLY don't like the 'squeeze me' style clamps, and replace them the first time I have to deal with 'em.

 

well today i put a set of driving lights in, that have a 7 color led built in for accent colors, and i also took my cb and antenna out

 

Ha, I did that same thing. I wrote the firing order on the back of my hand and I read the diagram upside down and had the whole drivers side backwards, 1 was connected to 7, 3 was connected to 5, 5 was connected to 3 and 7 was connected to 1. Then I couldn't figure out why it was backfiring when I revved it on the first start.

And I hate those clamps, but my Irwin channel locks made it easier. You should get a set of those at lowes if you don't have some that have the bolt shaped groove in them, they just seem to work better than regular channel locks.

 

+1 Sheriff. Those Irwins make things alot easier.

And may I recommend buying a Haynes Manual to use as refference? Helped me when I did my Plenum. And while you are changing the Temp sensor, install an electrical Temp gauge, if you do not already have one.

 

Sad thing....I had the haynes manual in front of me when i was doing it.

I did not orient myself to the arrow that said "Front of engine."

I knew something was wrong when the plug wire connections looked all jacked up! I even told myself "You are doing this wrong!"

--Dan

P.S. I am working on getting a gauge pillar to have a tranny temp sensor, AF ratio, and temp sensor. Just waiting on that one. My wife gets pissed whenever I work on my truck. I always break things. But the AF gauge would not be worth it until I get longtubes and the federal tune (I have the california tune because it is a cali truck). The difference in tunes is basically that the cali tune o2 sensor knows that there are 2 cats before the "main" cat (3 total) so it is not the same reading as a federal tune when the truck only has one cat. When i do longtubes, I will do the gauges. Probably another year or so.

 

well yesterday i picked up a flowmaster supper 44 from a friend for 30 bucks, gonna have my exhaust redone, and have it come out in front of the reartire with a single 3.5" tip.

 

I have a DIY writeup on here somewhere. But after I went through all the trouble of adding an inline T-fitting, I found out that Napa carries the complete line with a welded in bung for the temp sensor. All you would need for a mechanical gauge is the Autometer part that is listed in the DIY thread and a quick release fitting tool. It's pretty cheap to do just make sure you follow the lines before you remove anything, I made that mistake and ended up buying 2 new lines.

 

Didnt do it today but friend found a video of him and me racing at the track from a couple weekends ago, the second one is when he broke the rear end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqBjiGg9BGA

 

^^^ thats cool man,,,, i get the time i would love to go to test and tune