Wocka wocka wocka!

[obsolete]

Did you put them in backwards?

The plug relief does look off center but wouldn't there have been vlave contact?

[butcher bergs]

Did you put them in backwards?

All fucking 4.

I know how it happened now that I think about it. The way the engine is designed the pistons *have to* come out of the top. What I did was set up my new slugs in a certain direction on the workbench. Thru flipping the engine every which way to gut the old stuff I ended up having the cylinders facing me...which is not how the new pistons were facing on the workbench.

The plug relief does look off center but wouldn't there have been vlave contact?

Surprisingly, there is zero damage to anything other than the plugs. Only rolled the motor by hand and didn't force it if it locked.

[obsolete]

The pistons aren't marked with an arrow? That sucks, but at least you figured it out with out too much trouble. I'd laugh, but you're Bergs and that's ill advised.

[Kurlon]

Good to hear you found it BEFORE sending the pistons out. Sounds like they're cut to allow for larger diameter valves with crazy overlap/lift?

[Paul_E_D]

Must be part of those top secret specs!

I will confess to worse errors...

[Tricky Mike]

I'd laugh, but you're Bergs and that's ill advised.

The man drinks windex and collects cleavers.

[butcher bergs]

No guys, this really is one of those times I enjoy making it easy to laugh at myself. Please enjoy it with me.

[obsolete]

No guys, this really is one of those times I enjoy making it easy to laugh at myself. Please enjoy it with me.

[butcher bergs]

The irony of it all is, as meticulous as I have been with this build, it's all for naught with such a glaring oversight....wouldn't you say?

[butcher bergs]

I will confess to worse errors...

Go on...

[Paul_E_D]

Well... where to start? I was doing a blueprinted build for my 77 mini. 13:1 comp, 1340cc, hot cam etc. I had it all together, painted beautifully in ford blue. I added a hi torque starter and a fancy electronic ignition distributor to this beauty. Well, I somehow mis-seated the distributor on the cam gear, and when I spun the hi-torque starter, it walked the gears and broke the housing in the block! Stuffed the cam bearings as well. I was gutted.

[butcher bergs]

Oh dear.

Anyone else?



I know a guy who thought he blew up his motor when really he added twice the recommended level of oil.

[obsolete]

First time I stabbed a transmission it was an auto and I brought it in with the bolts cause it seems tight so I thought the snub on the converter was just a little bound on the flex plate. WRONG. That cost a bit.

[Paul_E_D]

Then there was the time I put the piston in my 125 in backwards. It ran for 2 laps before breaking a ring and stuffing the cylinder...

[butcher bergs]

I was doing front brake pads and rotors on one of my first cars and ended up mounting one of the calipers with the brake pads both on one side of the caliper. What clued me in to the problem was the grinding I heard when I started driving.....yeah, that's right, all buttoned up and on the ground.

[Kurlon]

I was loaned a head to test from a friend after he put some serious time into reworking it, heavily reshaped ports and combustion chamber, 5 angle valve job, etc. He suggested I go up on my main a couple sizes before running it on the dyno. I was thinking a good baseline comparison with the same jetting would be a good idea, not realizing just how radical the changes were between this head and the one I had been running were. Both were ported, both 'looked' similar to my untrained eye...

The holed piston on the first warm up pull suggested otherwise.



It did that before I could shut the bike down. Pulling good, no signs of trouble, then it just lost power. By the time I realized something was wrong it was already toast. Head was just as lunched as that piston.

I still get ribbed about that every time I step near the dyno.

[Paul_E_D]

Nice one! Breaking borrowed stuff is a whole 'nother category! Speaking of which, there was the time I borrowed a 125 to run at willow springs. I was wide open in 5th gear in T8 when it seized. I must have slid a 50 yards before I realized what was happening and grabbed the clutch. That motor was 100% scrap.

[butcher bergs]

This is like comparing battle scars and crash injuries!

When I was into Mtn biking I had just finished servicing the entire bike prior to this ride I was going on. Met up with a couple of friends and proceeded to ride 10 miles from our starting point up to Mine's Falls in Nashua, NH. We'd always end up heading to this one hill where we'd rip down and catch air when leaving the valley at the bottom. Well wouldn't you know it, I ended up not tightening my front wheel enough and I ended up taking a nice dive into the dirt when one side of the quick release popped out of the forks in mid-air.

That was $350 day. My forks were dunfer.

Which brings me to my next bicycling story...

...when you're 8 years old and live on a dead end street with a long hill at the end, don't make a dare with your friend to see who can get closest to the bottom without using brakes because one of you will end up stuffing your foot in the front wheel in order to slow down and you will flip your damn self to the moon.....and it won't be your friend who does this.

[CEO]

LOL i've got a few photos for this sub-thread back in MA...