[Jazzbass]

A friend sent me this link to "Confessions" from the CarTalk website because he thought I might enjoy the first one:

From: Harry Rose

Several years back I was standing in my driveway admiring my brand-new 20-year-old Porsche 912.

As I looked into the engine bay, I noticed two disks the size of jar lids, on each side of the engine, with rubber donuts sandwiched in between them and a bolt running through the middle. The rubber donuts looked a bit worn and cracked.

My thought process went like this: I'll take out the bolts, take out the rubber donuts, clean them and replace the bolts. Out came the ratchet (these were big bolts). Out came the bolt.

Now - who can forsee the really, really bad thing thats about to happen here?

The other bolt came out just as easy, until the very end when it resisted. No problem. I stepped closer to the job, firmly planting my feet under the car for leverage and continued to turn. When the bolt finally gave way it stopped doing what it was supposed to do, which was to HOLD THE ENGINE IN THE CAR. The back of the engine fell on to the driveway and on my FIRMLY PLANTED FEET.

Screaming was out of the question because of my reputation. Once free I hobbled to the garage, retrieved my jack and performed the two-man job alone.

I thought that was funny. Next time you do something stupid in the garage, think of this and you'll probably feel better. If not, post what you did here so we can laugh at - I mean help you. Yeah, help.

[Mike W]

A co-worker of mine told me about this. I wish I had been able to listen to it myself. Definitely gives fire to the argument to research what you are doing before you do it, or at least have a Bently manual around.