AUTO BODY REPAIR TIPS

One summer, some friends and I spent a subjectively inordinate number of evenings trying to swap out the engine in a somewhat elderly passenger car one of us had obtained for cheap (largely because it had thrown a rod through the side). Our qualifications for this task involved the use of a garage and a Chilton's manual. Our available resources consisted of a used-but-not-obviously-broken engine, a not entirely adequate selection of tools, and a degree of good humor about the whole situation. It was the sort of project that never really had an end to it, but seemed worth doing at the time. I'm told that after the summer was over, the car actually started and ran for a few seconds on its own power by the clever technique of pouring gasoline directly into the carb to bypass the nonfunctioning fuel pump. At any rate, at some stage we had to remove the brake cylinders; lacking any real expertise at draining brake lines, brake fluid naturally spilled. This particularly gory-looking puddle was dubbed "Devin's accident," I think because as the thinnest member of the repair crew I spent the most time underneath the car. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure the garage ever did get cleaned up after this.

Main Slide graphic for On The Line series.