Bolt trolls

Putting my 951 motor back together, go to install the intake, and one of the bolts is missing from the bag I carefully labeled and placed them into. WTF?! It's not like I left them laying around or anything.

I hate it when that happens.

I have determined my shop floor has a worm hole in it. Any important bolt that touches it is immediately transported to another garage. That's why there always seems to be extra bolts when you finish a repair.

Same thing happened to me, putting the intake back on my E28. I found some spares squirreled away in the ash tray, so it was all good.

They're a close relative of the sock gremlins

And they do business with the underpants gnomes.

The easiest way to find lost bolts and hardware is to buy new, the 'lost' will then reappear like magic.

In reply to pigeon:

I have those trolls also. It's weird, but it happens.

fasted58 wrote: The easiest way to find lost bolts and hardware is to buy new, the 'lost' will then reappear like magic.

It works! They will also mozey back home the moment you no longer need them.

On a side note, I swear there's a roaming pack of feral #2 Phillips screwdrivers and 10mm sockets out there...somewhere...

Carefully wrapped in all the lost socks.

When they make 10mm sockets, little hidden feet are installed. When you put down said socket, they skitter away, giggling. Really,I've seen it happen.

And when you drop one on the floor it always rolls to the exact center of the car.

In the machine shop at school, I swear there are caliper trolls. Ever time you put down a set of calipers they disappear.

Last motor I put back tother, I had some extra bolts left over...hmmm

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: They're a close relative of the sock gremlins And they do business with the underpants gnomes.

I was thinking the same thing:

Collect underpants.

??

Profit.

?? = market them to ebay pervs as used, unwashed.

When rebuilding a reciculating ball type steering sector watch for the shop prankster to put an extra ball in your work tray. Bastard.

I need to find the screwdriver gremlins that keep moving the screwdriver I need.

if I need a straight slot.. I find phillips head.

I need a phillips.. I find straight slots.

And I NEVER find my torx

I was re-assembling my KTM 950 Supermoto, putting the airbox back on after a re-jet. The carbs live ~inside~ the airbox, which is a colossal pain in the ass when it takes 5 tries to get the jetting perfect.

Anyway. One of the little 6mmx10 bolts that holds the airbox to a tab on the frame went missing. No big deal said I, I've got plenty of extras. Then right as I was about to lower the pair of carbs on to their rubber joints that connect them to the spigots on the heads - I saw something WAY down in the port that looked funny.

I fished the missing bolt out w/ a magnet. That would have been a very, very expensive and time-consuming mistake.

So - before dismissing an absent fastener, just verify it's actually missing, not simply located the one place where it could comprehensively e36 M3 you.

The importance of the lost fastener is directly proportional to whether you dropped it on a concrete floor, gravel driveway or in the grass.

WHERE IS MY SHARPIE?!

EastCoastMojo wrote: WHERE IS MY SHARPIE?!

Is it blue? A blue one just showed up on my bench.

sharpie gnomes are the worst

I've declared a truce with the force that de-molecularizes Sharpies, tools and fasteners. I buy Sharpies by the box, and got a retractable Sharpie leash at Lowe's. Actually several. Sets of Bondhus ball-end hex keys? get 3 of the English/metric double big sets. One for the house, one for the shop, one for the garage. Every time I run across a Craftsman socket set at a yard sale or for cheap I buy it. I have a nearly inexhaustible supply of 10-12-14-17 sockets, and plenty of combination wrenches to heat and bend into "special tools".

Considered on the basis of dollars expended vs. time not spent looking for my last 3/8" drive, 12 point 10mm socket - I've been right side up on the deal for years.