I've done it again!

In, I think, 1964, I was at our company's yard in Roma. We had an above ground 500 gallon tank of petrol. This enabled you to fill up by gravity.

One of the blokes was filling a drum in the back of the Holden ute. So he did not have to hold the hose, he jammed the handpiece on with the lid of the drum.

I was in the office about 50m away, when the mechanic, who was in the workshop, a lot closer, had his attention drawn to the trickling sound that became apparent. It seems that an EK Holden ute does not hold 500 gallons of petrol, without it flowing over the tailgate........(but is sealed remarkably well).

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

In, I think, 1964, I was at our company's yard in Roma. We had an above ground 500 gallon tank of petrol. This enabled you to fill up by gravity.

One of the blokes was filling a drum in the back of the Holden ute. So he did not have to hold the hose, he jammed the handpiece on with the lid of the drum.

I was in the office about 50m away, when the mechanic, who was in the workshop, a lot closer, had his attention drawn to the trickling sound that became apparent. It seems that an EK Holden ute does not hold 500 gallons of petrol, without it flowing over the tailgate........(but is sealed remarkably well).

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Must have been a fridgie in an earlier life…..[bigsad]

Bit of a different story.
My brother worked at Comalco,Weipa for many years.The bean counters worked out some diesel from the underground tanks was going missing,thinking it was being stolen,started investigating.

After a huge investigation one of the scientists noticed all the trees around the tanks were dying off.
Eventually they worked out the tanks were leaking.[bighmmm]

I doubt there's anyone here who hasn't done it.

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Originally Posted by scarry

After a huge investigation one of the scientists noticed all the trees around the tanks were dying off.
Eventually they worked out the tanks were leaking.[bighmmm]

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Remember, always trust the science[bigwhistle]

One morning at Burrill Lake, I was riding up the road on my Moto Guzzi, its first trip after a complete engine rebuild and modification. The back wheel locked up as the engine seized. It was then I realised what the black line down the other side of the road was for.

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Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

I doubt there's anyone here who hasn't done it.

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I honestly recon i have never done that.Done quite a few other silly things though.[bigsad][biggrin]

One of the mechanics when i was an apprentice didn't have very good hearing,industrial deafness being the culprit.

More than once or twice i can remember him filling a system with refrigerant,while it was coming out somewhere as quickly as it was going in,luckily i was there and could hear it leaking out.

On a similar vein... back in around 1970 the 4th year apprentice at work was putting a new short motor in an Austin 1800 Mk1 (same engine as MGB).

Upon start up couldn't get oil pressure up. Then the foreman noticed the new oil pump sitting on the bench.

Big job to remove the engine and drop gearbox off engine (sits underneath it a la Mini) and fit oil pump.

Foreman was not amused.

Hello All,

Just after I left Year 10 and was doing a free one-week trial at the local Holden dealership I was given a cautionary tale that involved a new apprentice from a couple of years beforehand. They had taken the sump plug out. Poured in the recommended volume of engine oil. Made sure the container was empty. Then took the car for a test drive. This was the car's first service after it had been sold. The apprentice walked back into the workshop sometime later. The sump plug had not been refitted. The car required a new motor and the owner was not a happy chap either.

The same workshop featured some apprentices who had the same smile. Broken front teeth from where they had been working in the pit while tightening exhaust bracket bolts. The spanner had slipped off the nut and the momentum continued its arc and hit the very same front teeth on more than two of the respective current apprentices. The lesson being visualise where the spanner will travel if it slips off and make sure that your head is not at the end of it.

As it turns out there was a big racket going on back then with them having a series of Year 10 hopefuls having to do free trial work-weeks at that workshop. As far as I was aware no one was put on that year.

Kind regards
Lionel

Something in a similar vein. I washed the work van. Hosed it down thoroughly to moisten the grim when I realised that the driver's side window was down.....

Must have been in the early fifties, a cousin of mine and her husband had bought a new Austin A30 in Sydney (having both just graduated as doctors). They drove in the new car to visit her parents near Leeton. The car was towed in to the Austin agent in Wagga after the gearbox failed, for warranty repairs, after less than 1000km.

When the gearbox was removed to investigate, it was found that it was not even oily inside. It had never had any oil in it.