When Smart People Do Dumb Things

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

Dumbest car-thing I ever did: 20+ years ago I was
giving my daily-driver Toyota a tune-up.  Plugs went
in okay (down the well in the valve cover -- crossflow
hemi head with the cam down in the block) over the
weekend, but I wanted to do the points as well.  I had
done points, oh, once or twice before.

I decided to swap them on my lunch hour, in the
parking lot behind the auto parts store.  I'd brought
my tools, including the feeler gauge, and quickly
popped the distributor cap, pulled the rotor, removed
the old points, reconnected the wiring, snapped the
cap back on, and tried to start the car.

No start.  I went back.  Wires OK -- hadn't moved the
plug wires, they were connected at all the ends. 
Points OK -- gap fine, properly wired up.  Okay,
should be good to go.

I got back into the driver's seat and cranked the key.
 Still no start.

"What could be WRONG???" I asked in dismay, and held
both hands out in front of me.

In my left hand, held oh-so-carefully so I wouldn't
lose it, was the distributor rotor.

Fortunately I smacked myself on the forehead with my
RIGHT hand.  Otherwise I'd look like some sort of
Nippondenso-cursed version of Harry Potter to this
day, no doubt.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon

--- Tessie McMillan <tessmc@domain.elided> wrote:
> It *is* a treat and a rare surprise -- when you're
> idling about the house 
> -- to suddenly hear in the distance the offbeat
> rumble of a Ducati. Even 
> better to realize the bike is growling up your
> driveway and is quitting 
> at your door with a gruff grunt. It's Zach!
> 
> Took just a few minutes for him to identify what was
> wrong with Olive Oil. 
> EVEN AN ALFA ENGINE NEEDS A FEW SPARK PLUGS! (Can
> you say "d'ooooooh"?) It 
> is really helpful to have them screwed in, know what
> I mean? This he did, 
> and so now (to quote Steve Schaeffer), instead of
> sounding a "Si, si, 
> si, si, si, si, si, si...... No!" and quitting,
> Olive's engine gives a 
> "Si, si VROOM!" and is ready to R I D E....
> 
> Tess
> still on a liquid (primarily alcohol) diet -- maybe
> that's what's 
> interfering with the mental processes ...
> 
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