"'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
- trevorhp
- Posts: 751
- Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:38 pm
- Location: Taunton Somerset UK Formerly Kingswinford
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"'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
Working away today rebuiding my 1955 Triumph TR2 after a comprehensive restoration, so need a bit of light relief following a difficult day, so far.
Please feel free to add your own versions of the following 'law' which always seem to apply to me:
'Any item dropped whilst working on any vehicle, car/van/pickup/estate/SUV etc. rolls or bounces directly under the vehicle coming to rest at a distance from the perimeter of the vehicle, exactly 1.1 x the arm length of the arms of any peson within shouting distance of the person working on the vehicle'
Please feel free to add your own versions of the following 'law' which always seem to apply to me:
'Any item dropped whilst working on any vehicle, car/van/pickup/estate/SUV etc. rolls or bounces directly under the vehicle coming to rest at a distance from the perimeter of the vehicle, exactly 1.1 x the arm length of the arms of any peson within shouting distance of the person working on the vehicle'
"Ambition: the first step on the road to disappointment" Homer. J. Simpson
"Disappointment: the first step on the road to enlightenment" Buddha
"Enlightenment: the first step on the road to ambition" Dalai Lama
KDK 320F
HDK 443E
DJJ 226H
TFD 47G
PKV 375
I x un-identified Ex-Race Cooper S Bodyshell originally Red now Blue since 1968
1 x chassis 007 1967 Cox GTM Originally from Bolton, then Swansea then, Belgium then Holland, then Somerset
"Disappointment: the first step on the road to enlightenment" Buddha
"Enlightenment: the first step on the road to ambition" Dalai Lama
KDK 320F
HDK 443E
DJJ 226H
TFD 47G
PKV 375
I x un-identified Ex-Race Cooper S Bodyshell originally Red now Blue since 1968
1 x chassis 007 1967 Cox GTM Originally from Bolton, then Swansea then, Belgium then Holland, then Somerset

-
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- Location: Essex, UK
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
There is an inverse law that relates to the criticality of any dropped piece. The more critical it is to completing a job, the more likely it will teleport to the ‘Universe Of Lost Things the vey moment it falls from grip.
- trevorhp
- Posts: 751
- Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:38 pm
- Location: Taunton Somerset UK Formerly Kingswinford
- Contact:
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
[/quote]There is an inverse law that relates to the criticality of any dropped piece. The more critical it is to completing a job, the more likely it will teleport to the ‘Universe Of Lost Things the vey moment it falls from grip.



"Ambition: the first step on the road to disappointment" Homer. J. Simpson
"Disappointment: the first step on the road to enlightenment" Buddha
"Enlightenment: the first step on the road to ambition" Dalai Lama
KDK 320F
HDK 443E
DJJ 226H
TFD 47G
PKV 375
I x un-identified Ex-Race Cooper S Bodyshell originally Red now Blue since 1968
1 x chassis 007 1967 Cox GTM Originally from Bolton, then Swansea then, Belgium then Holland, then Somerset
"Disappointment: the first step on the road to enlightenment" Buddha
"Enlightenment: the first step on the road to ambition" Dalai Lama
KDK 320F
HDK 443E
DJJ 226H
TFD 47G
PKV 375
I x un-identified Ex-Race Cooper S Bodyshell originally Red now Blue since 1968
1 x chassis 007 1967 Cox GTM Originally from Bolton, then Swansea then, Belgium then Holland, then Somerset

- Pandora
- Posts: 3066
- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:01 pm
- Location: Dunfermline, Fife
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
Newton's 42 law "Any object's weight increases proportionate to the distance it is being carried"
Al
Al
- mk1
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Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
The heavier an item, the more likely it is to land on your foot.
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Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
And don't forget 'Murphy's Law'
Also, my rebuild shop has a 'third' person.....he/she/it is lurking under the car......eats anything that falls from the nearby bench.
Also, my rebuild shop has a 'third' person.....he/she/it is lurking under the car......eats anything that falls from the nearby bench.

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- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:05 pm
- Location: Hiding From The Dog... NW Eng
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
Items will only become useful once discarded (or confirmed lost).
Timescales between item being skipped and being useful will be inversely proportional to length of time they were been stored for.
(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamt up now?!)
Timescales between item being skipped and being useful will be inversely proportional to length of time they were been stored for.
(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamt up now?!)
Last edited by GraemeC on Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- mk1
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Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamed up now?!)
I did

I did


- MiNiKiN
- Posts: 617
- Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 3:15 pm
- Location: Graz/Austria // NN1 4ST previously
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
I did

If only I knew the power of the Dark Side...I wouldn't have made contact with an Innocenti 

- tweedy998
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:55 am
- Location: Yorkshire, UK
Re: "'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!
Me too...

Back on topic though, at the weekend I decided to get one of my old Renaults out from it's winter hibernation and do some spring preparations for getting back on the road. Beavering away under the bonnet with a rag and an aerosol of ACF-50, I accidentally knock the aerosol lid down the front of the engine, it lodges itself on the oil filter. No bother I think and try and extricate it with some long nose pliers, which duly have the opposite effect, sending it tumbling underneath the engine. But, there's an under tray so it fails to tumble conveniently out onto the drive.. No bother I think and start rolling around under the car to remove the under tray. That done, I manage to retrieve the offending lid and begin refitting the tray, which brings forth some particularly choice language as it's saturated in slippery power steering fluid (don't ask...) and is a tricky combination of plastic clips into the subframe and a couple of bolts. I eventually wrestle it into place do up one of the bolts and try the other, which turns out has bizarrely stripped itself on it's way out. So, I try something stupid with a cable tie for ten minutes before deciding an actual proper nut would be the proper solution and spend a good half an hour searching for one the correct size and pitch in the jam jars... All for one dropped lid.
1965 Tweed Grey Mk1 Morris Cooper 998
2005 Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy 407/500
2010 Storm Grey Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup
2005 Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy 407/500
2010 Storm Grey Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup