Over your head? How about this for over your head. I was about 16, it was December, and the family '59 Chevy with 283 engine had a leaking fuel pump. Replacing it should be easy. It hangs right off the front right of the engine - two bolts and a hose clamp R and R. No point even putting it in the garage for a quick job like that. Dad said go ahead and do it.
It came off just like you would think. Then I put the new one on. When I hand screwed the bolts into their holes, the pump wouldn't seat all the way, no matter how I wiggled it. I thought maybe it was just spring tension, but it wasn't. Anyone know what's wrong yet? I didn't, because - why??? I was over my head! So what shouldn't you do when a part won't seat properly? Yup, I put a socket on the bolts and started tightening them. The pump drew in closer to the block, but not all the way, even though, like a idiot, I tightened them right down.
As some will already know, there's a push rod between the pump and the cam shaft on this engine. When I took the pump off, the push rod slid down toward the pump opening an inch or two, but it was all oily in there and I didn't notice. When I tightened the pump, I was pushing it right into the side of the rod and bent it. Once we figured this out and tried to correct the situation the rod wouldn't go back into the block. We had to pull the pushrod out and try to straighten it out with a hammer, like you would a bent nail. Hours later, after a lot of tapping, filing, and sanding, the push rod was straight enough to go back in and so did the fuel pump.
Of course, it had started snowing almost the instant I got the old pump off, so I got to get snowed on the whole time.
I was definitely over my head.
Then there was the time... - wait. Enough humiliation for one day.
Tom