"dumb things you do" dept

[steptoe]

The idle stop adjuster on my EA82 spfi throttle body needs adjustment, is a fine thread grub screw - for fine adjustment. Has an 8mm hex lock nut. The two are bonded by junk. I removed it to clean up on the wire wheel, threads are nice, next the nut, centrally on screw thread, wire wheel spinning, fingers safely out of the way, thinking to self .... next minute that nut that was just turning enough as needed to clean it up...zips of the thread, see it drop to the impact absorbing carpet on floor of garden shed, then hear a ting of nut hitting inside of open door, where nut deflcts off at som angle only forensic science will reveal...so it drops onto/into the crushed gravel.....

I am running a cat poo sieve, doing handfuls at a time, magnets from a disc drive unit, picking out things like rusty clip springs, screws, a needle from a carby seat, magnetic bits of rock, crap from the cut off saw - a nut ! Wrong one has 8mm outside, std 1.0mm thread inside.

This thread is something like 0.7mm pitch in M6 or M5, maybe M4 and not likely an easy one to match up. And, of course EA82 mpfi use coarse thread on their adjuster screws just to cause me more tears ....meanwhile, some three bond is on the job holding, and magnet goes back to work soon ....

dumb arse thing about it is nearly did similar a few weeks back with a rae as part with obscure American devised thread - thought it dropped in same 14mm graded gravel. Being brass - no rare earth magnet was gonna find it ! Found it hidden in the shadows of the EA81's oil fill tube - safe and sound.

High time for a clinical white metal bonded styrofoam cool room workshop - white everywhere, no cracks, crevices or gravel.....

[steptoe]

Just come in to check the time ....23 mins later and that rare as rare fine thread nut is safely in an air tight container cheerin'

Not in the gravel - what an angry time that was yesterday and this morning! - then started to remove boxes of junk'n'stuff again, and there is this part shiny little nut just stuck to the ick that builds on plastic Vortex gear shift levers..

that nut had no spin on it, then it effing off, I saw it on the carpet for a split moment, heard maybe a bug hit the shed door, while nut bounced with some back spin, up and into the parts bin 18 inches away.


Now, to clean off 3 bond ..... without losing grub screw .....

[Cliff R]

I'm sorry I don't mean to smile as I read all this.
On the bright side, it does appear though that you eventually end up finding what went zinging off to the 4 corners of your shed.

[Silverbullet]

The second worst thing I ever did, when I had an intake manifold off....

Can't remember why I had it off, gasket change maybe. But I was just checking the threads for the bolts by running them in by hand with the manifold off, no tape or rags blocking the intake hole because I was hesitant from previous experiences (the absolute worst thing I did, another story ) And I never take the spring washers off the bolts in case I lose them. So as I was un-screwing the bolt it comes out of the head, as I'm lifting the bolt away the spring washer escapes my fingers, rattles down the long bolt and jumps perfectly down the inlet hole in the cylinder head :evil::evil: By the time it left the bolt it was nearly out of the engine bay...didn't even bounce into the hole just went straight in as if there was no other place it could go.

Took me hours to get the bugger out, couldn't even feel the thing and even considered I'd imagined it and nearly put it back together without getting it out. Eventually a big pile of extra strong rare earth magnets taped to a fishing line poked and prodded into the intake passage, I hard a *click* and pulled it out to claim my prize