A few weeks before my first child was born (so September 82) I fired up the Chevette HS to take swmbo to her final ante natal class.
Problem was the oil light stayed on, which caused blind panic. Ante natal class immediately cancelled, which went down well,
and thoughts turned to engine removal, strip down and rebuild.
I had never done this to any engine before, and didn't really have anywhere to do it, but when your young, minor details like this don't stop you.
I had a 6x6 garden shed with no door or glass in the window, so I decided that would do just fine.
Pulled the engine out and completely dismantled it and then began to try and find out how to rebuild it. Started ordering parts from the local Vauxhall dealer, who always ordered in parts for a single cam engine, so they were usually the wrong parts.
Meanwhile, daughter was born, so I had to get the bus to and from hospital, and she was brought home in the father in laws Capri.
My first borns first car journey was in a Ford. This would scar me forever ! And if my Dad found out, he would never forgive me.
I never found out why the oil light came on, but it had new big end and main bearings, a new oil pump and god knows what else. Nowadays I would probably replace the oil pump first, as it was a 10 minute job, before stripping the engine down.
Eventually the engine was reinstalled and it fired up and ran fine, but there was a slight leak from the rad. This was a few days before Christmas and swmbo was desperate to get some Christmas shopping in, so I took plenty of coolant to top up and took her shopping. On the way back, about 5 miles from home, the temp gauge started to rise so I puled over to top up the coolant.
I wasn't going to risk warping the alloy 16v head, as a new one was over £1000, which was easily a couple of months wages at the time.
I made the fateful decision not to switch the engine off in case it wouldn't start again, and instead wrapped a cloth around my hand and gently eased the cap off the rad. The cap shot upwards, hit the bonnet, fell back down, jammed itself between the cam pulleys and cut through the cambelt.
It was left at the side of the road over Christmas - didn't give a toss if someone nicked it - and towed back home after the holiday.
The outcome wasn't that bad. Two slightly bent inlet valves had to be replaced as well as the cambelt and various gaskets, so another few weeks dealing with VX parts dept. retards. Some things never change.
I learnt a hell of a lot (mostly the hard way) during this experience, but as I'm sure you can imagine, the car was most definitely on borrowed time after all this aggro at the worst possible time.
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Topic: Worst day in the garage for a while (Read 4855 times)