Car mods you've regretted - Page 2

Franco Cozzo · 04-06-2021, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTE217

Putting urethane on any Ford I've owned more than the areas it does the job ie link pins/pan hards.
Rotton stuff IF you put it everywhere front to back, never again.
Putting in a new stereo was a mod back in the day no

Keeping a crappy cassette deck that loved eating up the tapes, why o why did I keep persisting thinking it wouldn't happen again lol....I think it was a Clarion !
Who recalls getting a pen and rewinding the tape back to then get to the point of hoping you won't snap it where it was caught inside.

My car was recently fitted out with urethane everywhere front to back, I'm awaiting the squeaking noises to start

It does vibrate the insides a lot more on coarse chip roads though.

oldel · 04-06-2021, 08:37 PM

I'm betting 3 months tops, or the 3rd puddle you drive through.

They have their place, personally if doing a whole refresh try them on any rubber bush that's torn to shreds anyway (or that will be easy to remove later for regreasing). Anything not torn up badly - put rubber back in.

**Rallye Sport** · 05-06-2021, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumen8

Not a mod per se but since escorts have come up, was given a 76 escort 2 door (XL i think?) with a 1.3 , manual, sold it for 1300 bucks in the 90s. Was more or less mint too, really good nick.

Whats one of them worth now?

Starting at about 5k for a rusty but usable shell

marty351 · 05-06-2021, 12:19 PM

Filling the oil without the sump plug.

Metdevil · 05-06-2021, 12:57 PM

I wouldn't say I regret this, but I'm well aware of how ridiculous it looks, I put black vinyl stripes on my FG. I've always liked the look of the twin 'GT' stripes on Ford GTs, and on Gran Turismo 5 I had an '06 Ford GT with black stripes on silver which was my favourite car in the game.
Ever since I bought my FG I'd wanted black stripes on it, so I just went ahead and did it.

Who knows, I could be here next month with something a lot worse than ricer stripes

Quote:

Originally Posted by marty351

Filling the oil without the sump plug.

Nah, that was a 'cold flush'

.:4:. · 05-06-2021, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marty351

Filling the oil without the sump plug.

Could be worse. When my cousin was an apprentice mechanic, he sent a car out for a test drive. He had put the sump plug back in, oil cap back on, but forgot to put oil in it. So obviously the test driver said there was some top end noise. With oil in it it quietened down. Needless to say, the car came back a few weeks later knocking due to rod bearings.

shedcoupe · 05-06-2021, 01:15 PM

Filling a Holley with water.
Had a nice rebuilt and balanced 351W 4V and read that it was possible to decarbon an engine by dribbling water into it when running to make cleansing steam.
No idea why I thought it needed it but decided to give it a go anyway.
Air cleaner off, 2500 rpm, slopped the jug of water into it by mistake.
Stumbled and coughed, steam came out of a few gaskets, never ran quite the same afterwards.

shedcoupe · 05-06-2021, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by .:4:.

... forgot to put oil in it.

A mate did that too.
Rebuilt an Alfa engine at work when his mind was on holiday (splitting up with wife and hitting the booze hard).
No warning light, just a gauge.
Test run followed by rebuild.

.:4:. · 05-06-2021, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

A mate did that too.
Rebuilt an Alfa engine at work when his mind was on holiday (splitting up with wife and hitting the booze hard).
No warning light, just a gauge.
Test run followed by rebuild.

Difference being, my cousin worked at a holden dealership. The car, it was the complimentary 1st service. The dealer put their hind legs up and said to the customer they didnt run it in properly. The car was a v8 statesman. So my cousin never got questioned, but he knew he ****ed up. My ex wifes sisters boyfriend was (untill this) a diesel mechanic. Hand tightened a sump plug on a truck, but forgot to put a socket on it. Said truck lost the oil plug on the freeway and the motor seized. That made for a very convenient time to resign.

mondeomatureguy · 11-06-2021, 08:51 PM

Worst thing i ever did was to fit a Holley Carb to a Valiant Charger that i once had.

It was all because i wanted more power. It used 3 times more petrol, and i hated the thing couldn't wait to get the original carb back on the car.

**janddbone** · 12-06-2021, 03:44 AM

So far so good!

Trendseeker · 12-06-2021, 01:01 PM

It wasn’t really a mod, but when the muffler needed to be replaced on my Datsun 180B SSS, the mechanic asked if I wanted a stainless steel muffler instead of the standard one. He told me that they last forever, never need to replace it again, so I agreed.

It was more cylindrical in shape compared to the standard, flatter muffler and scraped on speed humps, driveways and ruts on gravel roads. The baffle fell apart in it after about 9 months and it rattled noisily all the time. I had the irreplaceable stainless steel muffler replaced with a standard one about 18 months later.

prktkljokr · 12-06-2021, 01:29 PM

4 Barrel manifold and 650 double pumper on a mild 202 (just cam and head work) in a HR

Pis-ton broke · 12-06-2021, 02:37 PM

putting a turbo tail pipe on my xe falcon, they promised a 20% extra power and 15% better fuel economy, they lied to me, bastards.
but seriously, fitting all urethane bushes into my ba xr6, it made the ride way to harsh.

lucas2 · 12-06-2021, 06:40 PM

First regret - putting my car on E85 as a daily driver. The power and torque increase was ridiculous. The fuel economy in stop start was a killer.

Second regret - Going back to 98 for better fuel economy. E85 is some addictive magic juice.

ozpacman · 13-06-2021, 01:52 PM

Many years ago I had the motor out of my '76 Corvette in order to basically re-engineer the RHD steering conversion. It was a basic L-48 350 which are a low compression and pretty much asthmatic sort of a lump, so a decision was made to 'freshen her up'.

Anyway I sourced a set of fuellie heads and a new set of higher compression pistons, as well as an Edelbrock Performer intake and a four barrel Holley to top it off. I also bought a nice mild Crane cam and a new set of lifters. Nothing radical at all, just wanted a nice tractable engine. Anyway, a mate talked me into using a cam he had. I was a bit wary as I always reckoned his cars were 'over-cammed'. He assured me this one was really mild and that's why he didn't want it.

So we fitted this lump stick and put everything back together, including a change of torque converter to help liven things up. Well, what a disappointment. The thing idled like a race car and went well in a straight line at wide open throttle, but was an absolute pig to drive on the street. I learned a very valuable lesson about the 'bigger is better' mentality!

Sprintey · 13-06-2021, 04:10 PM

I'm weird and just like keeping them original - but there is a little bit of regret swapping out the soft cheese rubber bushes in the Territorys IRS with the harder (nolathane I think?) bushes. The latter last way better, but you lose a bit of the magic ride, it gets a bit harder, you feel the bumps more... but save the coin you would pay next time.

Sprintey · 13-06-2021, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucas2

First regret - putting my car on E85 as a daily driver. The power and torque increase was ridiculous. The fuel economy in stop start was a killer.

Second regret - Going back to 98 for better fuel economy. E85 is some addictive magic juice.

lucas2 can you tell me a bit about which chip/conversion you got? I wouldn't mind doing that to our I6s.

lucas2 · 14-06-2021, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprintey

lucas2 can you tell me a bit about which chip/conversion you got? I wouldn't mind doing that to our I6s.

Sure - the car has the supporting mods to max out the stock turbo charger. Notable mods to run ethanol are the injectors, fuel pump, valve springs and head studs (head studs are not essential at lower power). It was tuned on PCMtec on a single tune. But you can run a flex fuel set up or multi tune too. E85 is usually only worth it on a turbo or supercharged engine as NA don’t pick up a whole lot in comparison.

slowsnake · 15-06-2021, 06:17 PM

Hitting a "roo" at 110k's...lol..yeh I regretted that!

Cheers King Billy

slowsnake · 15-06-2021, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

4 Barrel manifold and 650 double pumper on a mild 202 (just cam and head work) in a HR

Geez, what were you thinking??

Cheers King Billy

**GasoLane** · 15-06-2021, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsnake

Hitting a "roo" at 110k's...lol..yeh I regretted that!

Cheers King Billy

If you get hit in the right place you can drive the car home.

slowsnake · 16-06-2021, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasoLane

If you get hit in the right place you can drive the car home.

Yes i did get home, I got it on the hop, come down on front left corner of the bonnet, bonnet still bent, had to get bumper, LF headlight assembly etc, and the damn thing slid across bonnet, up the windscreen, over the roof, and just caught the boot spoiler back right, then it hopped off, lol, and it was a big boomer, just hopped off, usually if badly injured i put a bullet into them, just to stop them suffering, not this big fella, he shot thru like a Bondi tram!....Lucky roo.

Cheers King Billy