"'Laws' relating to rebuilding cars !!

[trevorhp]

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'

[gs.davies]

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]

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.

[/quote]

[Pandora]

Newton's 42 law "Any object's weight increases proportionate to the distance it is being carried"

Al

[mk1]

The heavier an item, the more likely it is to land on your foot.

[360gts]

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.

[GraemeC]

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?!)

[mk1]

(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamed up now?!)

I did

[MiNiKiN]

(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamt up now?!)

I did but hence it's way better than expected

[tweedy998]

(did anyone else open this thread with impending dread as to what the DVLA/DVLC have dreamed up now?!)

I did

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.

[mk1]

Another one that I have experienced first hand on a number of occasions is;

The performance & reliability of any engine built is inversely proportional to the amount of time, expense & care gone into the assembly of said engine.

[Polarsilver]

I also wondered what the DVLA were up to now .. After last weeks DVLA experience when my Driving Licence Renewal application was returned because some idiot Doctor did not tick one box on the D4 Form that i paid her to fill out.
However back to this subject .. current Pickup Rebuilt has been a real sod of a job as "this Pickup" has decided to "Fight me" on almost every aspect during the rebuild.. a right b......d thing but we are getting there.. I think Saloons have a much better attitude than a commercial

[trevorhp]

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?!)

I thought it might generate a few extra views if the title was open to interpretation

[robanzac]

We have had Murphy's law:
If anything can go wrong it will go wrong

The corollary to this is Sod's Law:
The going wrong always occurs at a time that causes maximum inconvenience.

[robanzac]

Probably applicable to car modifiers more so than restorers:

“Improvement” means deterioration
and
More means worse

Both of which I have been guilty (e.g unwise cams, louder exhausts, fat wheels ...)

[hanlminiman]

Never work on a gravel driveway without a sheet under the working area or ready access to a magnet!

[robanzac]

General law applicable to probably everything (though you may disagree)

For every opinion there is an equal and opposite opinion

[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

No matter how well you organize, categorize, pack, label and store all your parts for your project or restoration
....

There always will be one important bolt, that holds a highly neccessary part that the car won't work without- MISSING!

[jakethepeg]

We have had Murphy's law:
If anything can go wrong it will go wrong

The corollary to this is Sod's Law:
The going wrong always occurs at a time that causes maximum inconvenience.
[/quote

There is also Coles Law....chopped up cabbage

[Peter Laidler]

And don't forget the THREE FACTOR that states the the job will take
THREE times as long
THREE times the expected cost,
THREE times the aggro and grief and
THREE times as difficult

I conveniently - or IN-conveniently - forgot those ground rules every time