Worst injury sustained?
07-09-2009, 11:53 AM
#11
Have had no major injuries working on my 67. Worst one was when I was cutting the holes for my shifter. The adapter had sharp edges and the drill bit got stuck and started spinning the adapter. It cut 2 fingers and cut my wrist to where I looked emo for a few weeks.
07-09-2009, 11:56 AM
#12
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Kirkland, WA
Posts: 934
sounds like me right now after 2bbl to 4bbl swap. god knows how many times i hit crap and kept working and then was like....."what the......oh.....dammit".
07-09-2009, 12:41 PM
#13
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 1,751
While I do have a history of injuring myself building things, I have managed to escape that fate so far with the Mustang, although I have set myself on fire a few times. Other than a melted shoe and a few shirts and pairs of pants, no permanent damage...just the usual pain.
07-09-2009, 01:36 PM
#14
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Marquette Mi
Posts: 3,566
Since I have worked in shops and I have over 50 scars on each hand, countless burns all over my arms and all sorts of injuries I dont remember most of them. Some stand out though. I have lost eyebrows eye lashes and huge patches of hair to carb backfires and other flame events.
I can remember in 1987 working on an 83 Firebird that had been wrecked. I was using an air chisel to cut the front end off the car to extract the engine. I was pushing through a tough spot in the radiator support when it cut though and I banged my hand into the metal, catching it between the heavy tool and the car. Man that hurt. Continued working and noticed this pink mist all around me, and my hand was throbbing. I looked down and it was covered in blood. I could see bone in my right hand ring finger from my nail past the top knuckle, I laid that sucker open the entire length of my finger. 16 stitches later after driving 40 miles to the hospital, I was back at work. I can still see the scar and its one in a place I can actually show someone.
Anything short of needing lots of stitches is just an annoyance.
The least stitches I got was 4 on my ring finger knuckle where my finger meets my hand. I was cleaning some head bolts for the Pontiac 400 I was building with a wire wheel, there was a grind wheel on the other side. You can see where this is going. I barely touched the grind wheel with my hand and it ground a nice flat spot on that knuckle, removed a quarter sized patch of skin and I figured I should get that looked at. You can still see the flat spot and the scar. I have lots of scars, but those two stand out.
My best bud is a heavy truck tech as well as auto tech. He tried to catch a 350 chevy as it fell off the hoist. He caught it but it sliced through his leg from mid thigh to his lower shin, that is a gnarly scar let me tell you. He had staples for that one, I dont remember how many since it was early 80s when he did it. Last year he got some welding slag in his ear, he still cant hear out of it, we dont think it will be coming back.
Its the life of working on stuff, you will get burned, cut, crushed, bashed, and lose blood. If you arent then you arent working fast enough. Having the right tool and a good set of tools limits the amount of blood you lose, that is why you wont find cheap stuff in my tool box unless I need to cut it in half or bend it for some reason.
Never under any circumstances get under a car that is not properly supported by quality jack stands. Its asking for a painful death that your family will probably witness, giving them nightmares and sad memories at the least. Safety is more than a word, its a lifestyle that will keep you alive.
I can remember in 1987 working on an 83 Firebird that had been wrecked. I was using an air chisel to cut the front end off the car to extract the engine. I was pushing through a tough spot in the radiator support when it cut though and I banged my hand into the metal, catching it between the heavy tool and the car. Man that hurt. Continued working and noticed this pink mist all around me, and my hand was throbbing. I looked down and it was covered in blood. I could see bone in my right hand ring finger from my nail past the top knuckle, I laid that sucker open the entire length of my finger. 16 stitches later after driving 40 miles to the hospital, I was back at work. I can still see the scar and its one in a place I can actually show someone.
Anything short of needing lots of stitches is just an annoyance.
The least stitches I got was 4 on my ring finger knuckle where my finger meets my hand. I was cleaning some head bolts for the Pontiac 400 I was building with a wire wheel, there was a grind wheel on the other side. You can see where this is going. I barely touched the grind wheel with my hand and it ground a nice flat spot on that knuckle, removed a quarter sized patch of skin and I figured I should get that looked at. You can still see the flat spot and the scar. I have lots of scars, but those two stand out.
My best bud is a heavy truck tech as well as auto tech. He tried to catch a 350 chevy as it fell off the hoist. He caught it but it sliced through his leg from mid thigh to his lower shin, that is a gnarly scar let me tell you. He had staples for that one, I dont remember how many since it was early 80s when he did it. Last year he got some welding slag in his ear, he still cant hear out of it, we dont think it will be coming back.
Its the life of working on stuff, you will get burned, cut, crushed, bashed, and lose blood. If you arent then you arent working fast enough. Having the right tool and a good set of tools limits the amount of blood you lose, that is why you wont find cheap stuff in my tool box unless I need to cut it in half or bend it for some reason.
Never under any circumstances get under a car that is not properly supported by quality jack stands. Its asking for a painful death that your family will probably witness, giving them nightmares and sad memories at the least. Safety is more than a word, its a lifestyle that will keep you alive.
07-09-2009, 03:25 PM
#15
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Ramona, CA
Posts: 2,682
I grounded my ignition coil a couple of times through my hand.. That zap is pretty peppy..
I also stabbed myslf in the wrist with a flat head scredriver that slipped while I was trying to take off my licence plate. It hurt for a good while and I do have a little scar from it.
I also stabbed myslf in the wrist with a flat head scredriver that slipped while I was trying to take off my licence plate. It hurt for a good while and I do have a little scar from it.
07-09-2009, 09:02 PM
#16
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: AR
Posts: 5,469
Never really hurt myself wrenching, sure there are the regular scrapes, cuts, bruises, minor burns, a metal splinter here and there....
A while back I did set my shoe on fire welding, my son and my brother in law thought I was throwing a temper tantrum when I threw my shoe across the parking lot...
Then they thought it was just some funny **** when they figured out what wes really hapening...
(You know, the kind of funny where you try not to laugh but you just can't help it... )
At the moment I can't remember anything worth mentioning... other than a sunburn caused by welder flash when I was young.... damn that did hurt... still minor though...
A while back I did set my shoe on fire welding, my son and my brother in law thought I was throwing a temper tantrum when I threw my shoe across the parking lot...
Then they thought it was just some funny **** when they figured out what wes really hapening...
(You know, the kind of funny where you try not to laugh but you just can't help it... )At the moment I can't remember anything worth mentioning... other than a sunburn caused by welder flash when I was young.... damn that did hurt... still minor though...
07-09-2009, 09:06 PM
#17
This reminds me of when I was grinding parts off of my dads 64 GMC truck. Piece was bare metal and it got so hot it turned orange then black. Came off the truck and fell in my shoe. Well I didn't have any socks on. I was digging in that shoe and kicking like crazy. Eventually took the shoe off and threw it across the garage.
07-09-2009, 09:23 PM
#18
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Kirkland, WA
Posts: 934
this one could have killed me
workin on my buddies 88 4runner and putting a inch lift on it. we were trying to fit some spacers in and couldnt jack it high enough so we put a thick piece of wood on the jack and part of the suspension that needed to be lifted. worked fine on the driver side but had a funny angle on the passenger side
piece of wood shot out...grazed my ear and lodged itself through a box into another box. sounded like a damn shotgun when it gave way. bout 3 inches to the left and i would have had a piece of wood in my skull. not one of our brighter moments *palm face*
workin on my buddies 88 4runner and putting a inch lift on it. we were trying to fit some spacers in and couldnt jack it high enough so we put a thick piece of wood on the jack and part of the suspension that needed to be lifted. worked fine on the driver side but had a funny angle on the passenger side
piece of wood shot out...grazed my ear and lodged itself through a box into another box. sounded like a damn shotgun when it gave way. bout 3 inches to the left and i would have had a piece of wood in my skull. not one of our brighter moments *palm face*
07-10-2009, 12:47 AM
#20
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 98
Was very axious when I first started my project and didn't have my big wooden blocks around so I used a couple cinder blocks to get to the height I needed to. Was working away and I guess taking the tranny out shifted the load a little and the Cinder block collapsed but I was smart enough to put a couple jacks on the front frame rail and it caught it before it went anywhere. It was a near miss at most but my life flashed before my eyes