Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I have had a few dicky moments so to speak, in my garage, and in the workshops I have worked in. Tell us about yours......

I will start by a former boss jacking up a self propelled crop sprayer, bottle jack ontop of large axle stand and onot axle. Took the wheel off, and left to finish on monday. I go in on monday, and find the oil from the suspension has gone back to tank, and he hadn't supported the sprayer on any other stands, so it was teeting right on the corner of the jack. The jack was at 45 degrees, very precarious, took some nerve to go and re jack it to make it safe!

So your stories.....

Cheers

Dave

[Dirty Habit]

I put some shells in the wrong way when rebuilding a Ford Corsair engine. When we started it up, the pressure blew the oil filter to bits. Thinking it was faulty I told my mate to take it back to Halfords. They replaced the first twofilters, but we guessed something was not right

I was know as "Mainbearing" for years
_________________
1964 International Harvester

[buzzy bee]

he he, I like the idea of taking it back!! he he

[Peter_L]

Back in the 70's I heard an explosion and a lot of noise from my neighbours house. The guy and his friend were returning with a Rover 90 that they raced at dirt ovals. The car had no glass and the doors were welded shut. They had it off the trailer and partway up the drive when it ran out of petrol. The bonnet was off the car and the guy jumped onto the top of the engine with a gallon can of petrol and had poured some of into the air intake of the carburettor. The fuel ignited and the flaming can flew into the air, covering the car and them in fuel which also caught fire.

Both men were badly burnt.

I guess it was the first incident where I would hear people say "what the hell were they thinking of"

It was the first time I had seen what damage about 3/4 gallon of petrol can do and have treated the stuff with more respect ever since.

[pigtin]

A couple of years ago I was doing the last bit of welding on the Sprite. It was two inches I had missed and I was told it would not get through the mot without it being done.
The weld was just in front of the petrol tank and everything in the area had been undersealed. I jacked the vehicle up, got a bucket of wet rags, a hosepipe and a fire extinguisher. Positioned myself under the car with the welder poised a fraction off the work when suddenly a voice shouted ‘ere you are mate’ and one of the free newspapers landed alongside my ear. I jumped, the welding wire touched the work and stuck, I dropped the shield bumped my head and shot out from under the car with murder in my thoughts.

[P3steve]

Hi Guys, many years ago in my motor trade days me and my forman were working on a Rover P6, It was on a ramp and we were draining the petrol tank before removing it (for what reasion I cant recall now) There was a mains power lead light clipped onto the underside of the car and my forman caught it with his head, it fell from the car and dropped straight into the container we were draining (which by this point must have had about three gallons in it the fuel) it sank to the bottem still working. It took me less than a second to yank the lead and the light flew out the container and across the garage floor to land about ten feet from the car out of harms way. now that was a close one.

[Scotty]

Recovering the bodies of men on three separate occasions who worked under their cars without ensuring they were stable - that's my worst story.

If nothing else, can I say here guys - if working underneath CHOCK & BLOCK every time!

Please don't rely on the jack holding the vehicle up safely if you're going to work underneath it. I jack & axle-stand my car and block the wheels even if its just to tighten a loose bolt underneath.

[Rick]

A few years back I fitted a full exhaust system to a 535i BM I had. I was underneath, car on stands, with the complete & assembled exhaust (pipes, silencers, the works) balanced on my knees while I was attempting to line up a mounting strap. Needless to say the full system slipped off my knee at an inopportune moment, and it fell down, bounced off my front teeth and fell to the ground alongside me. Somehow my front teeth didn't shatter

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[peter scott]

I have a very similar story to Rick's.

I was under a scrap Carlton trying to remove the exhaust system for an old guy who wanted to put it on his car. The system was in good condition but I really struggled to get the joints separated and whilst trying to persuade them by forcing the system to one side it sprang from my grip and bashed me on the face. This was very painful and I emerged from under the car reeling. When I came to my senses I discovered that vision in one eye was blanked out in the upper half. Thinking of detached retinas I asked my friend to drive me to the eye hospital but fortunately before he did so I touched my
face and found that the shaddow moved. The shaddow turned out to be just my swollen eye brow. Phew!

Peter

[JR FLYWHEEL]

Hi guys,

I used to work in a bus garage as a bus mechanic. The worst thing i can remember was;

A work mate of mine working on a double decker bus in the pit area. This chap was standing a couple of steps down the pit facing away from the bus he had been working on. Another fitter started the engine of the bus, to adjust the gearbox bands, and because my pal had forgotton to apply the handbrake of the bus, the gears engauged and the 12 ton bus ran him over, and then crashed into the rear of the workshop. This man was very lucky not to be killed.
It made us all check and re-check our actions after this, and think hard about our safety, and the safety of our mates too.
JRF

[Norfolkandchance]

Now lets see, over 20 years in the Motor Trade there have been a few.

Rover P6 on MOT ramp and the boys go off and have a tea break. But the mechanic who had put it up there had not put the handbrake on and whilst he was away from the vehicle somehow it rolled forward. All you can hear from the workshop is the foreman screaming incoherent words and there he is under the P6 trying to hold up its nose so it does not come crashing down on the floor. We are all stood there thinking do we run clear or help him before he is crushed. Needless to say he was pulled rearwards of the car which crashed down. That left a touch of explaining to do to the cars owner…

Another one was the Automatic Mini Metro which was left running outside the workshop door, the cleaner leant into the car for some reason knocking the car into gear somehow. To this day the sight of a driverless Metro head down the centre of the workshop parking itself into the rear of a camper van is very funny and one which will never be forgotten.

Then there is the day when I was a novice driver and had swapped a car with another dealer. Their car was parked first in the cleaning bay with a customer’s car behind. It was a tight fit to get the cars out so when the owner of the other garage concerned who had come himself to get the car offered to move both cars for me I gratefully accepted it. To my horror as he moved the first car (owned by a customer) I watched him totally remove the OSF mirror and scrape along the OSF wing. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Okay no big deal in itself but the owner of the garage is the father of a certain British Touring Car driver who drove for Vauxhall…

And lastly and not that big a deal was the mechanic who took a car off the ramp before he remembered to close the NSF door of the Capri he was driving…

[Roverron]

Two spring to mind:
Firstly, I was taking the engine out of my B.S.A. threewheeler. This involved taking off the front wheels, removing the drive shafts and practically everything else. Foolishly I had only used one axle stand under the front. (Yes, I know) Consequently when I picked up the engine, it wasn't too heavy, the whole heap of junk was then balanced on the single rear wheel and an axle stand at the front. If this stand had been exactly in the middle I might have been OK. It wasn't and as I lifted the engine the whole thing started to fall over. Luckily I managed to put the engine down after resting one foot on the chassis rail.
Secondly, and this was potentially much more serious, I had once heated up some steel in my forge, I needed it cooling so I used a jug which I thought had water in. It was actually parrafin. Oh how I laughed. It certainly cured my piles though.
_________________
To Hell with ambition, it drives a man mad, I can scarcely wake up to be fed.

[pigtin]

Bought an old buffer(less motor) at an autojumble, screwed it to a plank and attached a 1hp motor I had laying around. Seemed to run fine until I applied a motorcycle timing cover to polish it... It flew out of my hands, breaking my glasses and gashing my nose.
The motor was running in the wrong direction.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

A friend of mine once had a car on a ramp, that he was letting down, when he heard a creaking noise, he thought this isn't right, so stopped walked around the other side, someone had opened the door, and what was under the door, being compressed by the cars weight, only a porsche!

He leaped round to let the ramp go back up, and some how there wasn't a mark on the Porsche!

Now I mention no mames, and hope my friend doesn't read this!

Cheers

Dave

[Dirty Habit]

Some years ago when I was a shop steward I had to go to disciplinary meeting with the boss after one of our drivers had smashed up tractor unit. He had some difficulty coupling to a trailer that was parked awkwardly and exhausted all the air in the braking system shunting back and forth, causing them to lock on.
He then got out of the cab to check something leaving the engine running....and of course when the air built up off came the brakes and the truck started to roll across the yard and into a concrete pillar. It totally wrecked the cab on a unit that was only weeks old.

The boss told him that he was considering sacking him until I asked the question....
"If he had tried to get back into the cab of the moving truck and slipped under the wheels severely injuring himself.....what would you have said to him then? ". He pondered for a moment, smiled and said "You bloody fool, you should have let it go". The driver kept his job.
_________________
1964 International Harvester