Ever time a Ford V8 off of #5 cylinder because you had just worked on a bunch of Chevys?
The supercharged engine did not like that very much.
A project car can be a fantastic learning experience, but they can also be quite humbling when something goes wrong–especially when it comes to your wallet.
What is the most expensive mistake you’ve made so far working on a project car? (And before you say it, “buying a project car” doesn’t count.)
Ever time a Ford V8 off of #5 cylinder because you had just worked on a bunch of Chevys?
The supercharged engine did not like that very much.
Still not sure if it was not enough fuel, too much ignition advance, or an assembly error, but I had a freshly rebuilt 4AGE lunch itself one time, and not back when they were common, but into the era of 4AGE parts being hoarded collectibles.
Another time I accidentally put brake rotors onto hubs with a center bore flange diameter that I didn't realize was 1mm larger than it should've been. Felt a little snug going on but nothing major. It cracked the rotor hats wide open. They weren't super fancy racing rotors, but they were ordinary rotors sent to the Caribbean with hugely expensive shipping and massive import duties, which was almost as bad.
Ripping a CV boot because I'd forgotten one step during a LCA bushing job on a friend's car - popping the lower ball joint. It's one reason why I prefer the owner of the car not "help". They are often a distraction.
Having to have my ex's Volvo wagon towed to a shop when I simply could not figure out how to get the timing belt off the lower pulley of a Volvo T5.
Does "buying a bunch of parts that you never actually use because you change your mind by the time you get there," count? Man I have a lot of those...
God God...still waiting for it to end!
Bad AOD led to two cam shaft changes due to low vacuum that led to three gearbox changes and three fuel mixer-system changes and three manifolds before I figured out that it was the distributor and not the fuel mixers that were the issue.
Other than the fact that I am now past all that, I think Ford V8 swaps are the most horrible things in the world.That said, I would not have learned a lot had I not gone through the maze.
I was having problems with the car cutting out at a rallycross one day so I whipped out the laptop and got Tunerstudio fired up. I decided that the problem was that the overboost protection was kicking in for some reason. So I went ahead and turned that off. Problem solved! It didn't cut out anymore.
Except, of course, that the overboost protection was kicking in because the car was, you know... Overboosting. The boost control had failed in some way that was keeping the wastegate closed. The car ran absolutely amazingly until it cut out one last time due to an extra hole being placed in the block during an escape attempt by one of the rods.
I now have a strict "no laptop at the race" policy because I can't be trusted.
Destroyed the pump on a DSM 1g AWD auto trans trying to get the converter in place. The trans was specific to 91 only. I bought a 92-93 trans and the electronics were different. I wasn't smart enough and the info wasn't online at the time for me to fix it. Begged for help on DSMTuners with zero responses. Sold the whole mess for a massive waste of time and money.
In reply to wae :
I found out that Evan had the overboost protection somewhere around 20-24psi when I went to borrow it one time, stopped for fuel on the way home, and on the onramp in 2nd gear, maybe half throttle, I saw the boost gauge bend its peg as the engine cut out. Not a good thing to feel in not-your-car, at night, 20 miles from anywhere.
the fishtank boost controller had rusted shut.
Engine was fine, but yeesh, dat boost cut was the scariest thing.
matthewmcl said:Does "buying a bunch of parts that you never actually use because you change your mind by the time you get there," count? Man I have a lot of those...
Worse. Buying a boatload of parts to fix and issue and them not doing a damn thing post install. Done that for atleast 5 figures.
Next most expensive mistake on a project car was taking it to a shop.
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
Came here to confess the same mistake, on the Turbo350 in my 72 Monte Carlo.
Easily the biggest mistake was not believing the car could be made.
Our second "challenge" car was to be both an autocrosser and a vintage racer. And I was gifted with a couple of free chassis, and I literally mean free. First one was too far gone to realistically do, but my freind felt sorry that his friend gave me that, so gave me his unused bare chassis.
It needed everything, but most important was the cage. There was some other repair that I would need to do, but this was at the same time I got a welder, and I didn't know I could do it. So when I got the chance to get a IT car that was basically the same thing, I jumped at the chance thinking it would be the easy button.
In the end, it needed about the same kind of rust repair. So the lack of a cage in my original chassis cost me like $15k. Ok, maybe $8k when you factor in building a powertrain- but I had all of the parts to do that- just needed the high end parts.
Still, it took so long and burned me out that I only autocrossed that car once and sold it.
Had I used my GRM challenge momentum and was bold enough to weld, I think I would have had a really cool challenge car that would have been a blast on the track and local parking lots. Given past history and how the 05-08 challenges went, I think I could have at least gotten another vintage trophy from GRM. Oh, well.
amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) said:Biggest mistake was buying it... Sigh...
Beat me to it. This always x1000!
I bought a 70 Cadillac for $600. Drove it for a bit and a friend told me he wanted an old classic to drive. Sold it to him and later on he said he wanted to build a V8 sports car. I found a 260z on eBay for $250ish dollars. We spent several months trying to stuff that 472 into the 260z when my friend had to move across the country. He ended up trading it all to me for $100 and a pool stick. I didn't have time or room for a project much less two of them. I sold the 472 and trans for $500. Scrapped the 260z. Wish I had it all back right now.
I fired up a freshly rebuilt engine in my GN, and went to break the cam in. About 5 minutes in, it started to make noise. I ask my buddy, "do you think that's a lifter? We can't stop now, the cam will be trash..let's see if it pumps itself up."
I had forgotten to torque one of the rods. It dropped the cap off and exited stage left (or right, I can't remember). Broke the bottom of that bore off when it went. I had a local jobber machine shop (H&M, for Jax locals) sleeve that hole, bought one piston, and had it running the next weekend. With properly torqued rods.
I kept the broken rod on my bench for a long time as a conversation starter.
Does pushing the ABS into ice mode too close to the tire wall in turn 11 at Sears Point count? That involved a fair bit of bodywork. :)
Building my first "hot" ACVW engine(1641 with a mild cam) I didn't get one of the pushrod tube seals seated perfectly. After breaking it in I drove that engine 20 miles and the oil pressure light came on. I refilled the sump(2.5qts!), installed a replacement seal and drove the car another 200 miles. The engine seized the #3 main bearing on a sand road, outside cell service in the middle of the woods. At least the second rebuild was easier than the first.
Depowered a Miata steering rack and didnt put the steering input shaft back on the rack correctly. The subsequent trip into the gravel at Road Atlanta 10a is still being talked about. Thank god it didnt let loose coming down 12.
The D-sports racer ran hot because we used the stock Yamaha 1000 radiator.
A friend gave us a monstor aluminum radiator.
Two engines later we discovered that it was over cooling the car. Yamaha 1000 engines are clearanced such that if you run them hard below 140F they will loose oil pressure to the rods.
This problem was so aggravating that I ended up selling the car. It turned me dream car into a nightmare.
I drilled a hole in the wrong place on a Ferrari 275 gtb.
I broke the incorrect windshield in a 65 AC Cobra.
I've accidentally kicked a freshly painted fender for a '34 Ford coupe across the shop.
Boss and I both had a hand in exploding the fuel tank for a 1934 Packard Twelve.
I'm sure there's more I can't think of right now.
I bought a GVOD unit (bloody expensive) for a TH400 without knowing that I had a pretty rare 13" long-tail version. By the time I got around to the project I had missed the return window and GV wasn't sympathetic. I had to order another tailshaft housing and coupler for big bucks. I put the other parts on ebay and it took over a year of re-listing it before someone bit and they basically got it for half price. In hindsight it would have been cheaper to buy a short-tail TH400, but the one I had was a fresh rebuild with some pretty serious money in it.
I also lost my shirt because [insert insurance company's name] denied a claim. Many years ago, I bought a primo sweet W210 E300TD for the wife for $14k. She got caught in a wicked hail storm and it turned every panel into a golf ball and broke the windshield, rear glass, and one side window. Body shop said $10k to fix. [insurance company name] denied the claim because I said the damage happened at 6:15pm and they said that NWS reported the hail didn't happen until 6:30. I lawyered up, collected copies of all of my friends' claims that all said 6:15, and [insurance company] got a letter on Lawyer McLawyerson letterhead and their response was basically, "bring it." Unfortunately [insurance company] was one of the ones that pays multiple actors in white aprons to make commercials that play during the superbowl, so Lawyer McLawyerson advised me to not pursue, citing [insurance company's] 80% success rate at beating litigation with their panel of about 100 big legal people.
During all of this, my project car was broken into. They took the stereo and an ipod and left a broken window. They denied the claim because I was at a friend's house and they couldn't reach the friend (who was now in rehab 6 states away) to corroborate the story. Same deal. Lawyered up, they said bring it, and it went nowhere.
Long story short, [insurance company] screwed me out of about $16k. I had been with them for 6 years, insured up to 4 vehicles at a time, made two legit claims, and never got a cent. I no longer insure my vehicles with companies that drown every commercial break with high-paid actors and mascots at the superbowl. If they're that good at denying claims that they can afford that kind of marketing, they're not going to get my money.
ShawnG said:Boss and I both had a hand in exploding the fuel tank for a 1934 Packard Twelve.
Not an expensive mistake, but you reminded me.
Early 60s Chryslers sometimes had a vertical flow radiator with a giant top tank. The tank was easily twice the thickness of the radiator itself, overhanging the fan. I think it was supposed to be like a built in surge tank or something.
So there I was, working on a very clean, mostly original early 60s Chrysler product. I would like to say it was a B-body, it definitely had a 426 wedge motor of particular enthusiast value: think crossram intake, twin AFBs, exhaust manifolds that wrapped over the valve covers, much rarer than the later Hemi stuff. I was refilling the cooling system, using the airlift as per normal practice. The airlift pulls the cooling system down to within a half inch/mercury of hard vacuum, then you switch hoses and the vacuum in the cooling system sucks the coolant in. Can't have air pockets if there is no air to begin with.
About 20 inches of vacuum into this equation, the massive, overhung upper radiator tank sucks itself down with a very loud PONG!!!! sound. Just... collapsed.
After the changing of the shorts, it looked like the only part that actually deformed was the bottom plate. Top of the shell was curved, only the bottom was flat. Installed the cooling system pressure tester to see if had any leaks.
About 10psi into that equation, PONG!!! the tank straightened itself back out. Didn't even chip any paint.
Added coolant the old fashioned way, and learned a lesson...
Not me, but the buyer of my first car, Kimini. He added an electric water pump but plumbed it backwards by mistake. That had rather diabolical symptoms that masked the problem for a while. At idle or low speed, the electric pump won the "mass flow war", pushing coolant one way through the system. At freeway speeds, the mechanical pump won, pushing coolant the other way through the system. All was well... until they drove for a while at some middle speed, where the flow of one pump exactly matched the flow of the other. Net result, zero flow, and a destroyed engine.
matthewmcl said:Does "buying a bunch of parts that you never actually use because you change your mind by the time you get there," count? Man I have a lot of those...
Or sell the car before you put the parts on? Cause I've done that several times.
"Building" an engine with expensive machine shop work that wound up costing what the car was worth when I sold it. Lessons learned:
Don't bother rebuilding an engine that is known for lasting forever.
Just buy the faster car instead of trying to make a turd into something else.
Dropped a nut into a Porsche 3.6 bottom end while doing a top end. Couldn't fish it back out, ended up rebuilding the bottom end.
I didn't know about stock LS engine oiling limitations on a road course. 3 rods made made 2 holes on each side of the block heading into turn 5 at NCM. Then, luckily, the escaping oil got on the headers and caught on fire. I was able to put out the fire (s) with my on board extinguiser though.
Not necessarily expensive in money, but in the amount of time it took to scavenge things at junkyards and in online sales. Stored parts at a storage facility. Fire started in the locker next to mine, and destroyed almost everything in my locker. It may be years before I track down some pieces, as first gen S10s are thin in junkyards up here, and some of the parts I had weren't exactly overly common when they were new.
My 20+ year 1979 Trans Am project car is essentially a dark void in my driveway that money disappears into. I rebuilt the original engine, even going as far as replacing the entire crankshaft, and it still found a way to blow up again. Then, I built another completely different engine, and while that runs well, it only has break-in miles on it due to the body needing extensive work. And thanks to that body work, water started leaking into the interior and destroyed much of that. Interior stuff for these cars is available, but it's VERY pricey and takes forever to get right now.
So, I would say the mistake was not fixing the body first. When it was down for the count the 1st time, I should have saved up and had the bodywork completed, which could have saved me from doing the interior now, which will cost me more than rebuilding BOTH engines!
How about buying tires too early so they age out before it’s time or, simply, don’t fit the car’s final configuration?
Or waiting too long to buy tires and then you can’t get what you need when you need it?
Tom1200 said:The D-sports racer ran hot because we used the stock Yamaha 1000 radiator.
A friend gave us a monstor aluminum radiator.
Two engines later we discovered that it was over cooling the car. Yamaha 1000 engines are clearanced such that if you run them hard below 140F they will loose oil pressure to the rods.
This problem was so aggravating that I ended up selling the car. It turned me dream car into a nightmare.
This. We windowed two H22 blocks because we had a monster twin core radiator on our Champcar Accord. It wasn't getting hot enough and the tune we had on it would run cylinder 3 super lean to try and get the temps up, which would eventually make a rod a member of the SpaceX launch family. I hate that it took us two motors to figure it out.
I've spent a ton of money trying to fix the ABS/Brake light issue on my Sequoia to no avail. New yaw sensor, new booster, new calipers/pads/rotors, new master cylinder, new wheel speed sensors, abs module, a ton of hours running through the fault and relearn sequence, to have the same four lights on my dash. 40k miles later, I'm still fine driving around with those lights and no ABS.
With the S2000 build. I've bought aftermarket "performance" parts because the factory either doesn't make a replacement or requires the purchase of a much larger item to get the smaller thing (upper control arms and ball joints aren't separate pieces in the Honda parts catalog). Only to find out the aftermarket "performance" part is an absolute piece of poop that was likely just a resell of a RockAuto part for 10x the costs.
And like others have said. I plan out a build. Buy a lot of parts. Then decide to go another direction.
Expense in my cred as a car guy, my ego and in frustration only. But this is how we learn.
Peeled everything I needed off the donor car, running out of room in the garage so had it scrapped. Rats, there's a widget I need off the firewall (or something silly) so I run to the scrapyard and explain my plight. Yeah, they remember me, go ahead. I pull the part go back to thank the guy, "That'll be $18".
On my '71 BMW 2002 ITB race car - while re-installing a side window and chatting with folks hanging around the shop, I overtightened one of the nuts that held the window to the track and the window exploded in my hands. Then, when I finally got the thing on track 4 years after a "just over the winter" build, I stuffed the car into the wall exiting turn 10 at NHMS during my competition school, which wrote off the whole car. I had no crew that day, the car wasn't charging because in my preparation, I stripped-out most of the wiring harness (didn't read the GCR closely and relied on somebody else's bad information), had a leaking rear main seal, and a less-than-stellar cage installation (same somebody else's bad advice for a builder). Lots of time and $$ down the tubes on that one. Learned that I need to read rule books myself, and get more knowledgeable friends.
Many new, uninstalled parts went along with several other project cars that were bought high and sold low.
On the current Porsche, I've only broken one new $100 oil-pressure sender so far...
Somehow I read the title as "biggest mistake you've made on someone else's project"... Doh...
Biggest mistake - I definitely have many to choose from, but at the top is installing a 6" suspension lift on the 1978 F-150 4x4 I had 30+ years ago. That was incredibly dumb. I should have spent that money on bodywork and paint.
Most expensive mistake - from the day I bought my Cummins 4x4 until the day I sold it was pretty much a constant hemorrhage of cash. I bought that truck for ~$9K... and spent over $10K trying to keep it running... and sold it for around $2000.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Yup! Bought a couple of sets of "closeout" track tires that I was planning to use both for racing (the ITA Z3 wasn't that competitive anyway, so they wouldn't have affected my finishing position that much) and HPDEs in the street car, just in time for me to hang up the race gloves with the kid's arrival and losing my "window" for track time in the DD while it sat in the body shop after an "oops". Ended up giving the tires away to somebody who didn't seem to care about date codes...
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:I bought a GVOD unit (bloody expensive) for a TH400 without knowing that I had a pretty rare 13" long-tail version. By the time I got around to the project I had missed the return window and GV wasn't sympathetic. I had to order another tailshaft housing and coupler for big bucks. I put the other parts on ebay and it took over a year of re-listing it before someone bit and they basically got it for half price. In hindsight it would have been cheaper to buy a short-tail TH400, but the one I had was a fresh rebuild with some pretty serious money in it.
I also lost my shirt because [insert insurance company's name] denied a claim. Many years ago, I bought a primo sweet W210 E300TD for the wife for $14k. She got caught in a wicked hail storm and it turned every panel into a golf ball and broke the windshield, rear glass, and one side window. Body shop said $10k to fix. [insurance company name] denied the claim because I said the damage happened at 6:15pm and they said that NWS reported the hail didn't happen until 6:30. I lawyered up, collected copies of all of my friends' claims that all said 6:15, and [insurance company] got a letter on Lawyer McLawyerson letterhead and their response was basically, "bring it." Unfortunately [insurance company] was one of the ones that pays multiple actors in white aprons to make commercials that play during the superbowl, so Lawyer McLawyerson advised me to not pursue, citing [insurance company's] 80% success rate at beating litigation with their panel of about 100 big legal people.
During all of this, my project car was broken into. They took the stereo and an ipod and left a broken window. They denied the claim because I was at a friend's house and they couldn't reach the friend (who was now in rehab 6 states away) to corroborate the story. Same deal. Lawyered up, they said bring it, and it went nowhere.
Long story short, [insurance company] screwed me out of about $16k. I had been with them for 6 years, insured up to 4 vehicles at a time, made two legit claims, and never got a cent. I no longer insure my vehicles with companies that drown every commercial break with high-paid actors and mascots at the superbowl. If they're that good at denying claims that they can afford that kind of marketing, they're not going to get my money.
Not a project car mistake but I've also lost a lot to insurance company ratberkeleyery in an accident, highlights include my car being given a non-negotiable before-accident value of $750 by the dealership - before that accident was just weeks after a guy was chasing me down in a parking lot begging me to take his $3500 for it, and that was just before I installed a new custom roll bar; and the other party's insurance company crookedly trying to contact me directly for a settlement payout at which point I lawyered up. I'll definitely remember the "this hailstorm started 15 minutes later in our books so the damage is not covered, must've been aliens" defense...
Rebuilding the engine, twice, instead of just picking up another at the U-Pull-It! The original engine had a warped timing cover causing radiator water to leak into the oil pan, and it's surprising how similar a little plain water looks like fresh synthetic oil. The rod bearings could readily tell the difference though. I finally figured it out, had the machine shop reface the timing cover and we were good to go again. The two races we missed cost my wife her Powder Puff championship. I won't say what it cost me!?!
14 to 1 compression, pump gas and ear protection so I couldn't hear the pinging. But dang it was fast for a minute.
Not a project car but my '80 280zx daily driver. I couldn't find one of the wing nuts or the wing nut, I forget now, for the air cleaner. It made it all the way to #5- Broke the piston in half. The end.
NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:Not a project car but my '80 280zx daily driver. I couldn't find one of the wing nuts or the wing nut, I forget now, for the air cleaner. It made it all the way to #5- Broke the piston in half. The end.
LQ9 engine. Analog methanol injection system's power transistor stuck on. Low point in an LS6 intake manifold is under the #7 intake runner's inlet. Engine hydrolocked on startup.
And people say powdered metal rods are weak. This one bent in two places in this direction, and a little bit from the other angle too, but did not shatter.
This only cost one piston and rod, a head gasket and bolts, and 8 hours to R&R the rod.
I had worked on cars for nearly 30 years at the time, and after rebuilding my S2000 (F20C) with new crank and bearings as a result of hard track use without a cooler, forgot to top off the oil. But not just top it off... I out in half of a 5 quart jug I had left over, got interrupted, and failed to finish the fill or even check the oil level before running it. Hard. Ended up needing another new crank and bearings. That build at least lasted a few years before I wised up on needing a cooler (probably the most expensive mistake since I went theough a few motors on that car as a result)
Datsun310Guy said:In reply to Stampie :
Was it a custom 2-piece stick?
Yes. I seem to remember it was a McDermott factory prototype for their sneaky pete. I got it from a guy that worked for them.
These would be more humorous if they weren't so relatable to even dumber stuff I have done...
Was finishing up dropping a freshly built head on the Exocet, two days before the Memorial Day two day weekend. Just had to lower the head on the block and bolt it all together. The hex bit I was using to screw head bolts in dropped out of the screwdriver handle and I couldn't find it. Anywhere. After hours of searching that extended into the next day we decided it must have fallen down one of the little oil passage holes on top of the block. Pulled the motor and damned if we didn't find it in the pan. By the time it all was back together the weekend was lost - two days of paid for track time was most of the financial damages.
Ill skip the stories about the K20A2 with the 90 day warranty that I found had a bent rod on the 92nd day, the THM400 I bought for the Firebird and never bothered to install, etc.
Using "free" E36 M3, just because I already have it....
If I have had to buy everything, it would have already been done. Twice.
David S. Wallens said:How about buying tires too early so they age out before it’s time..."
Forgot about that. Designing and building a car from scratch means that every thing is built around the tires... so I bought tires first, then wheels, then hubs, and so on. Ten years later it was done, and yeah, rolling on 10-yr old "sticky" tires that weren't so much any more.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
It's almost like insurance companies are out to make money or something
I also lost my shirt on the only reman engine I ever bought instead of built. I had a 73 Impala wagon with a 454. The old man put 58k on it taking his two boys to and from college back in the 70s and then he parked it. When I bought it, it still had nylon bias-ply tires. I drove it 1300 miles home, and sure enough, the cam wiped a lobe. I took advantage of some credit card points and a sale and bought a fresh reman longblock from Blueprint Engines. I kinda thought it was weird that it had one 049 head and one 781, but they're close enough that I didn't stress. I got the top end finished up (they hadn't set valve lash) and did a cam break-in. After the first 13 mile trip it was misfiring and ticking. Turns out they used about 5 different part numbers of pushrod - some from a 440 mopar, some from a Ford application, but only about 5 of them were hardened and the guideplates lathed them down. The oil was full of a fine steel powder. There were other problems like mismatched valves and two different part numbers of pistons. I raised hell and Blueprint claimed that I never bought an engine from them. They couldn't find my invoice number, my phone number, and the rep I bought it from was suddenly "we've never had a Jonas working here," despite their website clearly showing a sales rep by the name of Jonas. He even had an extension (that he never answered)
Not sure what happened, because Blueprint has a stellar reputation for good builds, but they hosed me hardcore.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
We actually didn't discover the issue.I called someone who was an engineer for Yamaha's superbike effort. He knew instantly what was wrong.
And like others have said. I plan out a build. Buy a lot of parts. Then decide to go another direction.
This. I've got a garage full of assorted new parts that one day I'll find the time to put on ebay.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Call your credit card company and raise hell.
That's what those fees are for.
I had a triumph spitfire engine that I spent a bunch of time and money building only to have it immediately destroy itself because the machine shop didn't catch a massive crack in one of the water passages in the head. They covered the machine work on the replacement rebuild, but I was young and dumb and didn't make them pay for the whole darn thing. The replacement was still the best part of the car after 75K of being driven hard, before I put the car in storage because I was tired of working on it every time I drove it.
That was over 20 years ago, and there have been many projects since then... One of these days I'll pull it back out of storage and get it going again...
Thankfully, I could tell the CL seller was sketchy as hell from the jump. I paid scrap value for the entire miata despite him assuring me "the motor is in great shape!". Spoiler: the motor was not in great shape.
The most expensive would be blowing up my turbo Honda K24 at a trackday event - though I did catch up to that Porsche GT2 :)...
Now, how much of that explosion was my fault is debatable, having bought the engine from a pro shop, putting thousands of miles on it previous to the failure, running a dry sump, and still having it pop at about 7000 rpm, way below redline. Posted many pics of the destroyed parts, asking for "expert" opinions on the failure cause. Result: 12 experts replied with 12 different opinions. My complete guess was that a rod bolt broke, but who knows. The failure sucked much of the joy out of owning the car because I could never push it has hard after that. And yes, that's a shattered piston pin... don't see that often!
You'll need to log in to post. Log in