Personal automotive injuries and stupidity

[Chris]

1) There was an instance of one of my red cars rolling down a hill (had to be the mkIII supra or a 240) that I have managed to forget about. I know there were witnesses, so I'll see if I can get details. Sorry, my memory has never been very good...

haha! I was there with you Dave... out at the guy's place with all the SHO's in H-burg. It was the red 240 and there was something you had as a wheel chuck, and I think we removed it to use on something else. The ground had a little snow and I think over the course of a few hours it warmed up and the snow melted. I guess the ground was soft and it started the wheel turning. I remember we were at the garage and saw something start moving across the yard... as we realized the car started rolling down a very slight decline and picked up speed as it crossed over the driveway and down a much steeper hill.

We ran after it (like it would have done any good) to find it stuck in a group of bushes... its pretty funny now thinking back.


Stupid things I've done:

cut the front of an 88 e30 convertible off with a sawzaw. Then lowered the engine onto a pallet and lifted the body of the car with a ratcheting strap by joists in a barn, and pulled the engine out with a truck and tractor.

Wailed away for an hour with a BFH on the rear rotors of my black e30 and wasn't able to get them off. I called Chan who reminded me of the parking brake I had probably left on... lets just say 2 seconds later the rotors fell off :oops:

I was in a rush fixing the brakes on my 4 Runner and didn't tighten one of the caliper bolts enough... this worked itself loose and the caliper was falling off inside the wheel on the drive home...

Thought it was a good idea to drain a gas tank... even outside I still had a headache for an hour afterwards, and at least 8 gallons of fuel to dispose of.

Had fuel drip in my eye while replacing a fuel filter :!:

[Ginger]

I was in a rush fixing the brakes on my 4 Runner and didn't tighten one of the caliper bolts enough... this worked itself loose and the caliper was falling off inside the wheel on the drive home...

Haha! I had something really similar happen once. Went to look for the source of vibration from the front end of the car: pulled off the left front wheel and three of the four rotor mounting bolts fell out of the wheel's dish... oops.

[ScottyB]

i'm not sure if this falls under "automotive stupidity" or "automotive triumph" but either way it was a fine moment in MM history:



coming back from VIR late on a foggy, rainy, sunday night in 2005(?) on rt. 29 Sean's driveshaft fell out of his E30 or something like that. so the whole convoy pulls over on a wet, unstable gravel shoulder and we jack the car up while Sean and Andy work on the driveshaft with cars speeding by about 5 feet away. Clearly those of us who could not help tried to pitch in to gaurantee their safety by giving them the shocker.

[Maengelito]

When installing the harnesses for the Miata I used to have, I was underneath the car cranking down on the nut and backing plate when I slipped off teh wrench and punched the heat shield. I was over at John's old place in Palmyra, so I got some paper towels, we duct taped it, and I had to finish it to get the seat back in so I could drive it to the hospital. Thats the only time I've gotten stitches.

Way back in the day, I was putting some new springs on the Integra in a friend's garage. I was trying to pull the old set up out and it was so close to coming out. I think I had pulled the wrong way or let up to get a breather when the housing snapped back into place... with my hand between the mounting point and the shock/spring assembly. My hand was stuck and it hurt pretty bad and I was starting to panic since my friend was running a couple of errands and wasnt there. I had to reach for the jack which was barely within reach with my other hand and compress the whole set up again to get my hand free.

I've done plenty of other stuff to get myself hurt, burned, etc. but those two were by far the most serious. *knock on wood*

[Sijray21]

i'm not sure if this falls under "automotive stupidity" or "automotive triumph" but either way it was a fine moment in MM history:

coming back from VIR late on a foggy, rainy, sunday night in 2005(?) on rt. 29 Sean's driveshaft fell out of his E30 or something like that. so the whole convoy pulls over on a wet, unstable gravel shoulder and we jack the car up while Sean and Andy work on the driveshaft with cars speeding by about 5 feet away. Clearly those of us who could not help tried to pitch in to gaurantee their safety by giving them the shocker.

omg...i remember that night

i'll post up another picture when i get home. Not to mention the car was lifted on an incline :eek:

[Dave]

i'm not sure if this falls under "automotive stupidity" or "automotive triumph" but either way it was a fine moment in MM history:

coming back from VIR late on a foggy, rainy, sunday night in 2005(?) on rt. 29 Sean's driveshaft fell out of his E30 or something like that. so the whole convoy pulls over on a wet, unstable gravel shoulder and we jack the car up while Sean and Andy work on the driveshaft with cars speeding by about 5 feet away. Clearly those of us who could not help tried to pitch in to gaurantee their safety by giving them the shocker.

omg...i remember that night

i'll post up another picture when i get home. Not to mention the car was lifted on an incline :eek:

+1 Good times, good times.

Thanks Boobies, I knew there was a reason I had expunged that incident from my brain :lol:

[Chris]

hahahaha good times. Back then I had no idea what could be wrong with his car... now I know oh too well.

[Dave]

I'm back at it again...
From a couple weekends ago: I essentially wanted to move a car into the parking space next to it, except the car was in my yard and I didn't want to put forth the effort of making that car run in order to re-park it.

So I used the truck and a big chain instead. Worked like a charm...

[ScottyB]

hahaha...brute force is always the answer

[Chris]

haha nice Dave. so did you pop a hole in the floor board for the chain?

[Dave]

nah, just wrapped it around the entire center section of the car.

[Steve85]

I have more than I should from my days as a mechanic. The worst was at Land Rover in Encino, CA. I was working on a 94 / 95 Range Rover, complete brake job with new rotors. After packing the bearings and all that on the left front wheel I left the axle nut loose. The truck came back to the shop on a roll back with the front wheel nearly fallen off.

Rod Stewart was not happy. I don't know who was driving it at the time but I shudder to think I could've killed Rachel Hunter.

[balactm]

didn't get hurt from this one, this is just a bonehead move on my part...

so i put some oil additive in my car before i came back to school. i smelled a little oil as i first started driving and figured it was just the additive. I get into harrisonburg and smell it again so when i get to the dorm i popped my hood and realized i had forgotten to put the oil cap back on. when i checked the level it barely hit the dipstick so i added the quart i had and went to advance to get paper towels, new oil and an oil filter. FML. oh well, no damage done. now i just have a couple hours worth of cleaning ahead of me...

[Ryan T]

I guess this counts as automotive injury and stupidity.

Last sunday I tripped on a head for DJ's car that was left laying in the living room floor which cause me to fall, jamming my knee into one of the camshafts also left laying on the floor. Fair amount of blood and one trip to the ER later I have a bruised Patella and enflamed ligaments in my left knee. Yay limping!