Newbie mistakes

[jimincalif]

I'm new to Spider ownership, seems there are other newbies here as well. Maybe a good idea for a thread would be newbie mistakes that we tell on ourselves and maybe save others the trouble? Can be anything from major disaster to minor boo-boo.

Here is a minor one from me. Last week I dismantled and resuscitated my windshield washer pump. Today, to finish off the project I had to clear the nozzles which were mostly plugged up. Went to remove the passenger side nozzle, it popped right out, jumped off my pick and promptly fell into the cowl vent. I had to dismantle the cowl and was lucky it had not gone down the heater vent, so I was able to retrieve it.

Lesson learned, I suggest laying a towel over the cowl vents when you are messing with anything small anywhere near them.

Jim

[narfire]

Jim,other black holes include the cross member under the engine. The nuts from a master cylinder love to gravitate down there. The rear suspension recesses in the trunk, definately stuff a rag in there if undoing say the top hold down clips,the 8 mm wrench loves those dark places to have a nap for a while.
I have learned the hard way and the easy way(read a thred here)
Chris

[htchevyii]

Anything that I drop under the hood goes straight into the crossmember, I don't know how but it does. A few rags stuffed in the holes are a good idea.
Chris, you beat me to it!

[ventura ace]

A caution about stuffing rags in places to keep little pieces from falling in: Be sure to remove the rag before you drive the car, especially if it is near or touching the exhaust. I accidentally left a rag draped over the cross member hole on the exhaust side (which is pretty darned close to the exhaust down pipes). It caught on fire within the 1st couple of miles of a test drive. Fortunately, when I figured out what was happening, I was able to pull over, and put the fire out with my fire extenguisher, which was inconveniently stored in the trunk.

Alvon

[halg]

Just found another black hole, dropped one of the water pump bolts, couldn't find it, didn't hear it hit the floor. It went behind the aux shaft pulley, was caught in the groove on the backside. Glad the engine wasn't in the car, probably would have never found it.
Hal

[perthling]

For some reason it took me ages to figure out how to lock the car doors without getting out and using the key. When someone showed me the neat approach Fiat used to achieve this function without using a door-sill button, I was impressed.

[mbouse]

of course, everyone here knows that rear caliper pistons cannot be pressed back into place using a c-clamp, they must be screwed back into position. Only newbies make that mistake.

[Kingme2]

of course, everyone here knows that rear caliper pistons cannot be pressed back into place using a c-clamp, they must be screwed back into position. Only newbies make that mistake.

ummm... and the trick is...?

lol