How Is It Possible To Lose A Part This Big?

Sound Classics

One of the most frustrating things about do-it-yourself auto repair is dealing with vanishing parts. The only thing worse than turning a twenty-minute job into a two-day event by dropping that special nut, bolt or spring is to break the part outright due to sheer frustration or stupidity.

I’m well experienced with all forms of parts losing, but I seem to specialize in fumbling nuts and bolts into the depths of the most inaccessible places. With this in mind, I wasn’t surprised when during the process of replacing the eight too-lean jets on the four Weber carburetors on the Infamous Craigslist 1976 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4, I bumped one of the tops of the carburetors sitting on the edge of the air cleaner housing. I heard it go falling down into the engine bay with a succession of clanks and pings.

I figured it was no problem. After all, an air horn of a Weber DCNF is too big to lose, right? Read on…

Two weeks ago it only took me thirty seconds to find a booger-sized ball bearing on my messy benchtop after it flew across the garage (under the pressure of a spring) as I disassembled the headlight stalk and knob. Thirty minutes over two occasions looking for this carb top, however, have yielded nothing–and this piece of metal is the size of my frigging fist! All I can think of is that while many Ferraris are black holes for money, my Dino is more interested in sucking up and vaporizing my parts, time, and pride.

Please tell me that I’m not the only one hapless enough to spend so much time in vain trying to find such a large piece!

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Posted at 2:26 am in Carburetors, Dino, DYI, Ferrari, Sam Barer, Sound Classics, Weber

Comments

cadillac_narc227
Jul 13, 2010 at 11:49 pm

it happens to me constantly iv done the stupidest stuff,misplaced bolts,nuts,you name it,the worst which i felt like a complete loser for is taking a power wire from the battery through the whole car for my friends speakers making everything perfect going down the car take off the backseat to run the wire through the trunks fire hole,didnt metion this is was sheet metal behind the seat with one little hole i had to go through and then another wall of sheet metal with the second hold it had to go through i got the wire stuck between both and could never get it out as much as i pulled on the damn thing,ended up cutting part of the wall out haha

4Wheelin_Forever
Jul 13, 2010 at 1:54 pm

A really fun one is having the wing nut vibrate off the air cleaner stud. drove the car home. no problem. open the hood the replace the wing nut with the air cleaner already off mind you, and the stud falls into the carb…The stud is a whole 2 inches long…needless to say, head gasket job!

WickedS13
Jul 13, 2010 at 9:29 am

I was doing motor mount/transmission mount install and had to remove the header. Header removed no issue install went fine. Later when putting the header back on I noticed somehow a header stud broke while the header was off and we were under the car! WTF?

74Furyous
Jul 12, 2010 at 5:41 pm

Bikes are the worse. You’re using two fingers (on always a pinky finger) to remove a nut and sure enough, before you can get your hand out you drop it. It rattles around like a Hang on Harvey game but does it make it’s way thru the bottom and onto the garage floor? Noooooooooooo!

FuryPaul
Jul 12, 2010 at 6:57 am

I’ve got a piece of window moulding stuck inside the quarter panel on my ’68 Fury. It fell off the quarter window while it was rolled down. I can touch it, I can move it around, but getting it out is a huge ordeal–and one I’ve already been through once recently. I can get my hand through the largest punchout in the inner quarter, but the teeth on the regulator threaten to cut the back of my hand. Didn’t break the skin last time, but I did have teeth-marks on the back of my hand the next day.

Fun!