Pack Your OWN ‘chute

DRD57 · September 22, 2004, 01:20:28 PM

I saw a film with this title (or reasonable facsimile thereof) about 30 years ago. It was about taking personal responsibility for your life and not blaming anyone or anything else for what happens to you. The film had a profound impact on me and has affected my approach to life in a big way.

Now to get this back on the topic of hot rods. Although the film referred to parachutes used for jumping out of perfectly functional aircraft (dumb idea), the concept could equally apply to those used for slowing dragsters or LSR cars and furthermore could apply to the function of any component of your car that your life depends on.

I pretty much make it a rule to check over everything that anyone else does to my cars to make sure that nothing was overlooked and that everything was done to my satisfaction. Last year in the mad thrash to get my coupe ready for the Ego-Rama, I neglected to follow this rule much to my peril.

Last night I went about the task of fixing the neutral safety switch on the coupe. The switch was in adjustment on the shifter but the other end of the wires weren't connected to anything. They were routed up to the ignition switch but didn't even have any connectors attached to the wires.

It must be one of those things where everyone who was working on the car thought someone else had hooked them up if they gave it any consideration at all. The blame rests entirely on me. It's my car. I should have checked. I paid the price. I won't make that mistake again.

purplepickup · September 22, 2004, 05:33:43 PM

Quote from: "DRD57"I saw a film with this title. It was about taking personal responsibility for your life and not blaming anyone or anything else for what happens to you.

That is an excellent guide to live by. It's so easy to take responsibility for your own actions...and it feels good. It's the right thing to do. I'm pretty intolerant of people that always have an excuse or finger point.

Quote from: "DRD57"Last night I went about the task of fixing the neutral safety switch on the coupe. The switch was in adjustment on the shifter but the other end of the wires weren't connected to anything.

Well, it's about time you checked that out

Glad it was easy to find and fix. If you run over yourself again this year I doubt if they will let you be in EgoRama again next year

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By the way......would you let this guy pack your 'chute.....

phat46 · September 22, 2004, 07:40:00 PM

Quote from: "DRD57"I saw a film with this title

They need to show that film to every highschool kid and their parents ....

Brootal · September 22, 2004, 11:55:07 PM

Quote from: "phat46"
Quote from: "DRD57"I saw a film with this title

They need to show that film to every highschool kid and their parents ....

I had my Rambler tuned a while back by the local Rambler expert. He races them in speedway and definitely knows his way around an AMC donk.

When I went to pick it up we had a chat and he was quite impressed with how my little "Rogue" went (Rogue was the model name for the up-spec two door coupe version of my car). I was chuffed that a guy who races 700 HP AMC powered speedway sedans thought my little heap went OK, although the throttle was a bit stiff.

I left with a smile on my face and didn't worry too much about the throttle comment as I knew it was a little stiff due to the tight routing of the throttle cable.

As soon as I started driving though, I knew what he meant. In replacing the air cleaner, he hadn't lined it up right and the PCV hose was fouling on the throttle linkage.

All it took was to rotate the air cleaner base a few degrees and it was fixed. Scary thing was, he obviously didn't give it too much curry as I'm sure the throttle would've stuck open, jammed by the rubber hose.

Luckily nothing happened, but it goes to show what could happen just because of a slight oversight.

So always check the throttle motion BEFORE you turn the engine on!

old32 · September 23, 2004, 10:03:10 PM

Similar sort of code.

Many years ago, when my father was teaching me to drive he said
"Son if you are ever in an accident its your fault!!!!" then added " but never tell the other person that."

At the time I thought that's not very fair, but it has stuck in my mind ever since. The thought that some other driver might do something stupid at any time has made me drive more defensively and I'm sure has saved me from accidents in the past.

I know that in some situations you cannot prevent an accident, but by trying to be aware what other cars could do it seems to give you better odds against an accident.

Gilles · September 24, 2004, 02:51:23 AM

In my local club we have or own rule, based on experience : "the only part that you don't put new on the car is the part that will fail"

One of the guy own a 62 impala. He rebuild the front-end entirely but -I don't now why and him too- he neglegted to buy new wheel bearings.

And we had the opportunity to verify or rule this summer, while in vacation in England, the town was Christchurch:

A front wheel bearing started to make a strange noise. And we found the bearing was blue, not only because too old but also overtighten. Fortunetly, after cleaning everything and adding new grease the car could be driving back to or town.
Since then there are brand new bearings on each side of the car!

http://youks.free.fr/england04/DSCN0738.JPG

Gilles

Charlie Chops 1940 · September 24, 2004, 09:54:29 AM

Don,

Good lesson and a great example. It's sure the simple stuff that gets in the way some times, huh?

Pack your own chute - I'll think of that often now. And, why would anyone wanna jump outa a perfectly good airplane, anyway?

George - good "action" shot of Don and Bob. Looks like they were having way too much fun....

Charlie

Carps · September 24, 2004, 07:00:00 PM

Quote from: "old32"Similar sort of code.

Many years ago, when my father was teaching me to drive he said
"Son if you are ever in an accident its your fault!!!!" then added " but never tell the other person that."

True, but did he also tell you it's not a good idea to even suggest it to a Queenslander driving a T Bucket?

Carps · September 24, 2004, 07:08:56 PM

Quote from: "purplepickup".
By the way......would you let this guy pack your 'chute.....

Sure looks like he's packin sumpin, but I think it could be illegal.

Carps · September 24, 2004, 07:22:37 PM

Quote from: "DRD57"I pretty much make it a rule to check over everything that anyone else does to my cars to make sure that nothing was overlooked and that everything was done to my satisfaction. .

Let's neither of us forget the lesson we got from 'The world's best mechanic" and his shop's fine efffort in making my Humpy perfectly roadworthy. :x

It took almost 12 months to fix some of the mess those guys made and the worst part was finding all the stuff they didn't do that could have caused evenn more grief thann a wheel with no lug nuts.

Hope your timing was a not a little 'Carps' rubbing off on you. Nobody should ever take as long as me to do or fix things.