I have done half of what has been mentioned so far..lol

Never move your trailer with the car inside and not strapped down...ask me what happens then and how I know.

If and when you are using a socket and breaker bar to turn the engine over to set your valves in the car, remove socket and breaker bar from harmonic balancer bolt BEFORE starting car after the job is finished. Don't ask me how I know.

When using an air hose and chuck to blow dust off of your car, make sure that the hose cannot get caught on anything in the garage that will rip the chuck out of your hand and allow it to bounce off of the roof of your car a few times. Don't ask me how I know.

After making a jet change, remember to hook the fuel lines back up before trying to start the car. DAMHIK

after you let the clutch fly, try and get the finger off the line lock before the front wheels touch down


a version of a chevelle park next to me years ago...don't forget to remove the rag from intake manifold when installing carb,engine runs rough and ruins the rag when it flys out the exhaust

Before going to the staging lanes be sure to disconnect the battery charger

DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW

I know how to install a sky light in my shop from that same experience---The noise alone will be something I never forget

When you have a new motor on the engine stand and have an oil filter on so you can prime the oil to see how the rockers are oiling, BE SURE you have an oil pressure sending unit or have blocked the plug at the back of the block. Oil is really hard to get off a 14 foot garage ceiling and the walls. OH and it would help to look up once in a while when you are priming with a drill to see if anything else is happening, like all of the oil going up on the ceiling.
ASK ME HOW I KNOW.. stupid happens.

IF you have your car loaded on the trailer, always strap it down even if you are only going 1 block back to the shop. It is not enough just to have it in park with the emergency brake on. AND don't pop the clutch on the toter like you are cutting a light. You will not like the ticket you get for blocking traffic with your race car sitting in the middle of a very busy intersection.
Oh yeah, I did that too... JUST ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

IF you have a nice garage with a parts cleaner installed. Make sure the parts cleaner is not located beside the vice that you will use to grind metal parts. A Parts cleaner fire does not start immediately, It has to burn slowly thru the filter first and THEN it will burn your garage down after you walk back outside to install the part you just ground down. Don't ask me how I know that one either.
WOW I have done some dumb stuff.

Dang it Fred
Apparently I like starting fires.
IF you are welding muffler hangers to the bottom of the car, be sure the back seat is out and you can remove the black tar stuff that MOPAR used for seam sealer on 72 models before you start welding. It will catch fire and then the seat and then the rest of the interior all before you can get the water hose back on and pulled to the garage.
DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

Evidently, they used the same stuff in 70. I was using a torch to notch the frame rails for inboard spring hangers. I wonder if your back seat looked like mine.

Before getting the call to go to the burn out box make sure the hood pins are in.
Don't ask me how I know

Oh I dragged mine down the driveway more than once when I had an open trailer that fit in my old garage. It was just so easy to pull the whole trailer in car and all and hook up the charger...

Welcome back Fred! Now......Don't give Fred your cell#!! DAMHIK!!!!

Never set a fresh engine on a concrete floor, even with the oil pan on. The cylinder walls will rust up much faster than you think, causing your new bullet to immediately tie up on start-up in front of all your friends.

Don't ask me how I know.

X2 on the pins. Also never trust a fart, I think everyone knows.

Related:
It's 1966. Hood is up, adding a quart of oil to a 1962 Polara 500 convertible (stock engine: 361" 4 bbl. = 305 hp) using a pointed plunger with the curved spout piercing the top of the metal can.
As the pour spout reaches the valve cover breather hole, the base of the can touches the battery positive terminal.
The spark ignites the oil vapor inside the can, which propels the can first at the underside of the hood, it bounces off, then shoots away across the parking lot, leaving 3 people (me, the owner, and the station attendant) and the car sprayed with hot oil.



Generic photo, not the actual car.

A '79 Power Wagon will roll over the top of your spare tire and winch on your open trailer and smash the tailgate on you truck. It will not easily move back either.

DAMHIK.

when leaving the track with an open trailer,make sure the ramps are in place.