For those who don’t have the reasoned forethought or bulging bank account to solve some major automotive issue, the only option left is to do it yourself. However, if your ambition outweighs your experience and budget, that situations turns sour real quick, so I ask my audience - at what point have you realized that you’ve had enough during a repair, modification, or build?

My Damascus Road O’Shit moment happened when I was 19 and attempting my very first intensive modification on my first and only car at the time. I was converting the automatic transmission in my 1998 Nissan Maxima GLE to a manual one, with a cheap set of hand tools I bought at Pep Boys and used borrowed jacks and stands. There was a point when it was 4:00 AM, I was exhausted and laying underneath the car, had my tools strewn across my driveway, and came to the realization that if I screwed up, I would cease to have a car. I had no freaking idea what I was doing.

I eventually finished the mod but spent the better part of a few months troubleshooting. Now I turn the question to you - what were your make-it-or-break-it moments when working on a car, where you realized you bit off a little more than you could chew?