Nagging worries.....
Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 5:02 am
From time to time, when I have completed a project, or at least moved far along towards finishing some sort of project, I will get this nagging feeling that I have missed a step, or failed to go back and tighten something, or failed to re-check this or that, before moving on. Not always something mechanical, can be even something like "did I turn off the water when we left our beach cottage, turn the hot water heater off, or did I remember to put a new gasket on a drain plug on something, tighten down the brake master cylinder cap, and on and on. I am not an excessive worrier, and by profession (physician) I have always paid attention to detail. In short, I am not a haphazard personality.
A few years ago, decided to have an independent BMW garage put all new water lines on my nifty classic '90 325. Drove home, and the head mechanic had failed to "pay attention to detail" and left a small water hose unclamped, causing my motor to promptly overheat, warping the cylinder head. I took the car back, and told him I would pay for parts cost (replacement head and the special bolts) if he would handle the labor costs. I did so because otherwise he would have perhaps saved money by reusing parts, and send me out the door. A $300 dollar cost to me. Then too, when I had an engine out service and modification to my Porsche GT3's motor several years ago, the mechanic failed to "pay attention to detail" and left out one of the fuel pump fuses, causing me a burnt piston a thousand miles away from home. My repair costs for that was over $7000, and a flight back to KC to retrieve my car, and also causing me to miss an important track event. So I went to talk with the Porsche mechanic (another independent garage), and told him I would take the labor costs of the race garage a thousand miles from home if he would cover the $2500 the parts cost. He refused, and told me I must have pulled the second fuel pump fuse, and said he does not make mistakes. Again, a failure to pay attention to detail, and check, check and recheck.... My wife then so hated the GT3, and refused to ride in it, (it was loud and brutal), so I finally just sold it, moving to my present M37/M42.
So when I told my wife my newly purchased M37 needed a full engine rebuild, and the cost for that was another $7,000, her reply was "not again!" I returned to work part time in the past few months to pay for it all over again, the same thing I had done for the GT3 costs.
Well, last night, was studying the exploded parts diagram of my motor, as I am putting it all back together, and then realized I did not have the spacer/hub the big fan pulley bolts to, attaching both to the front end of the crank. So went out at sunrise this am, and sure enough, I just don't have that part. My machine shop has returned to me every last tiny removed part of my motor (and took lots of pictures which he is putting on a flash drive for me), so how in the world did that essential part go missing. To my great relief I then test fit my four groove pulley, and realized that the parts diagram shows the single groove pulley, and my motor just doesn't have that part! Like the Rolaids commercial "oh what a relief it is...)
But now I have a nagging fear I did not put the main rod bearings in properly, ensuring the halves with the oil holes are in the upper block half. I was so careful with cleaning with lint free rags, carefully lubing and fitting the caps, and snugging them down precisely. But I am going to pull them off, just because of this nagging feeling ....did I do it right?
So from now on, when I come to some task in my paper TM's, and complete it, I am going to pencil in a check mark when that task is properly done. I'll sleep better.
Task for today is to set the ring gaps, mount them on the pistons, and cook up some burgers and brats later.
Attention to detail, be precise in everything we do, check, and recheck, and ponder "does it make sense it would fit and function in this way?
And pencil in a check list task completion. Which is why pilots have a checklist for things like landing. Long years ago, watched a T38 flying Navy ROTC cadets around in college at Nebraska (I was taking then an Army funded civilian pilot training). Saw him come in for a perfect landing, except he forgot to put his gear down, and he flared that T38 perfectly to a sliding grounding down the length of the runway. So much for being an instructor pilot...
Have a great weekend, guys. And speaking of aircraft, here is a picture of an armed up AD Skyraider at Tan San Nhut, Vietnam, one of my dad's favorite planes to fly. AD's where the first plane capable of carrying more weight in ordinance than the plane weighed.
NV
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
A few years ago, decided to have an independent BMW garage put all new water lines on my nifty classic '90 325. Drove home, and the head mechanic had failed to "pay attention to detail" and left a small water hose unclamped, causing my motor to promptly overheat, warping the cylinder head. I took the car back, and told him I would pay for parts cost (replacement head and the special bolts) if he would handle the labor costs. I did so because otherwise he would have perhaps saved money by reusing parts, and send me out the door. A $300 dollar cost to me. Then too, when I had an engine out service and modification to my Porsche GT3's motor several years ago, the mechanic failed to "pay attention to detail" and left out one of the fuel pump fuses, causing me a burnt piston a thousand miles away from home. My repair costs for that was over $7000, and a flight back to KC to retrieve my car, and also causing me to miss an important track event. So I went to talk with the Porsche mechanic (another independent garage), and told him I would take the labor costs of the race garage a thousand miles from home if he would cover the $2500 the parts cost. He refused, and told me I must have pulled the second fuel pump fuse, and said he does not make mistakes. Again, a failure to pay attention to detail, and check, check and recheck.... My wife then so hated the GT3, and refused to ride in it, (it was loud and brutal), so I finally just sold it, moving to my present M37/M42.
So when I told my wife my newly purchased M37 needed a full engine rebuild, and the cost for that was another $7,000, her reply was "not again!" I returned to work part time in the past few months to pay for it all over again, the same thing I had done for the GT3 costs.
Well, last night, was studying the exploded parts diagram of my motor, as I am putting it all back together, and then realized I did not have the spacer/hub the big fan pulley bolts to, attaching both to the front end of the crank. So went out at sunrise this am, and sure enough, I just don't have that part. My machine shop has returned to me every last tiny removed part of my motor (and took lots of pictures which he is putting on a flash drive for me), so how in the world did that essential part go missing. To my great relief I then test fit my four groove pulley, and realized that the parts diagram shows the single groove pulley, and my motor just doesn't have that part! Like the Rolaids commercial "oh what a relief it is...)
But now I have a nagging fear I did not put the main rod bearings in properly, ensuring the halves with the oil holes are in the upper block half. I was so careful with cleaning with lint free rags, carefully lubing and fitting the caps, and snugging them down precisely. But I am going to pull them off, just because of this nagging feeling ....did I do it right?
So from now on, when I come to some task in my paper TM's, and complete it, I am going to pencil in a check mark when that task is properly done. I'll sleep better.
Task for today is to set the ring gaps, mount them on the pistons, and cook up some burgers and brats later.
Attention to detail, be precise in everything we do, check, and recheck, and ponder "does it make sense it would fit and function in this way?
And pencil in a check list task completion. Which is why pilots have a checklist for things like landing. Long years ago, watched a T38 flying Navy ROTC cadets around in college at Nebraska (I was taking then an Army funded civilian pilot training). Saw him come in for a perfect landing, except he forgot to put his gear down, and he flared that T38 perfectly to a sliding grounding down the length of the runway. So much for being an instructor pilot...
Have a great weekend, guys. And speaking of aircraft, here is a picture of an armed up AD Skyraider at Tan San Nhut, Vietnam, one of my dad's favorite planes to fly. AD's where the first plane capable of carrying more weight in ordinance than the plane weighed.
NV
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]