6/26/00 $30 broken bolt

I'm a designer. I understand how things work, but only in a theoretical sense, which basically means my understanding has no practical value. I understand the principles behind the workings of a naturally aspirated 2-cycle engine, but my lawn mower is still a piece of crap.

This weekend was a car repair weekend, my Escort was making a "THUMP!" sound every time I was in gear, and stepped on the gas. On a couple of occasions, the car suddenly veered hard to the right, and then back again. Things in the suspension/steering  weren't right. 

Withe the e-mail help of family and friends and a $15 car rrepair manual, I set out to fix my own vehicle. Imagine my suprise, when I discovered that the problem was a worn out rubber bushing. The simple $2.50 item simply prevented the stabilizer bar and lower control arm from moving in relation to each other.

All i had to do was remove a 15/16" nut from the threaded end of the stabilizer bar. Easier said than done, years of corrosion had fused the parts together, and the location of the nut in question was behind the steering knuckle... in a spot the tools would barely reach. 

I sprayed half a can of "aerosol penetrating oil" onto the parts that had a deathgrip on each other... this oil was somehow supposed to "unfreeze locked parts". I let the concoction sit for 2 hours, so it could work it's solvent magic on the parts. Then, i got a long pole to attach to the end of my rarely used wrench (hey, I already said that I am not mechanically inclined), to help me gain a little extra leverage.

Then I pushed on my extended wrench set-up....and I yanked...and I pulled.

SNAP!
The wrench flew forward... slamming my knuckles against the frame of the car. My breaker bar/wrench extension clanked loudly on the street calling attention to my mechanical ineptitude. i regained my composure picked up the breaker bar and wrench...and lying on the ground where I was working I discovered the nut I was trying desperately to loosen ... still attached to a now broken chunk  of the stabilizer-bar.

"Git me the big hammer."