Car guy idioms

Not running is an inconvenience. Not stopping will kill you.

There is no such thing as too much brake. Just not enough tire.

Never lift.

stan wrote:

Iusedtobefast wrote: Does" Found On the Road Dead" count? Fix Or Repair Daily"? Can you tell I grew up in a GM family? :D

...or the more correct corollary: "First On Race Day". Also, the musclecar guys favorite: There's no replacement for displacement.

You forgot berkeleying Old Rusty Dodge

If you can't fix it with a hammer, it must be an electrical problem.

I don't always cross thread a bolt but when I do, I run that e36 m3 down with the impact gun.

Just heard this one at Lime Rock a couple weeks ago from a Lotus owner:

Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious

"To go fast add lightness" is a classic.

I like the version "to go fast slow down less".

I tell that to my sailing crew every weekend. The boat can only go so fast, it's our job to let it do that well.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

"If you can't do it right...do it wrong."

"Leave well enough alone"

Both from a former boss who was largely responsible for teaching me to wrench.

If you can't find time to do it right the first time when are you going to find time to do it again.

Get on it!

Its the same as factory!

Hold my beer and watch this!

"No officer, I have no idea why you pulled me over today!"

Function over form

Fix it with brute force and ignorance

"Keep driving until you smell E36 M3 and hear glass breaking"

How about "Don't break until you see Jesus"

And then my son's version: "Don't break until you see Jesus. Then dive bomb him!!"

-Rob

What about the old machine shop adage:

Speed costs money... how fast do you wanna go?

And

Horsepower sells cars, Torque wins races.

mndsm wrote: Its supposed to sound like that.

With the diff in my Integra that makes a horrible pop and bang when its cold, I find myself saying this all the time.

Any mechanic can make the right part work. It takes a good mechanic to make the wrong part work.

"Leave me alone. I now what I'm doing."

"We can build anything, all it takes is money"

"The hurrier you go, the behinder you get"

Said many times during various projects: "It's not just good; it's good enough!"

Streetwiseguy wrote: If Mercedes built a hammer, it would have three moving parts and a maintenance schedule.

And would work safely, effectively, smoothly, and beautifully forever, unless it was built around the turn of the millennium.

Slow turn - Fast hands

Fast turn - Slow hands

Got another one for ya: balls out. Refers to the speed indicator on steam engines that consisted of hinged arms with ball weights at the end. As they would spin up centrifugal force would cause the ball weights to rise until you were at max engine speed denoted by the arms fully horizontal and balls out.

Burn rubber. Lay a patch. Get rubber. Chirp second. Burnout. Smoke show. One tire fire.

"Just checking for LSD"