Topic: How Not to Install an Engine--Cover of Oct. 2014 Mustang Monthly

[MattDoscher]

I have been a loyal subscriber since '98 when I first bought my '65.  It has been a great magazine.  It seems that ever since Donald Farr departed, his shoes have been hard to fill.  They really have been promoting the Mustang360 site and I hope that this magazine doesn't go down the "electronic only" road that so many magazines seem to be going.  It's nice being able to feel and read the paper vice always looking at a computer screen.

Matt

[drummingrocks]

LOL...That's funny as H*^%

    

[zray]

They are making fun of "do it yourselfers".  Those of us here take this hobby seriously and know that many guys have been seriously hurt or killed working on cars.  I know a guy that died and one that was crippled so safety is no joke......."

You just can't be too careful.  A few years ago a guy in Austin (not a beginner) was under the car with a toploader on his chest, as he lifted it into place it slipped and  the rear corner of the main case hit him on the temple. It gave him a very bad cut and knocked him out. He bled to death before anyone found him. 

Not trying to be gruesome, but safety has to be on your mind every minute. One can't get lackadaisical just because you have some years of experience under your belt.

Z

[drummingrocks]

Not trying to be gruesome, but safety has to be on your mind every minute. One can't get lackadaisical just because you have some years of experience under your belt.

I agree, you can't get too complacent in this hobby, especially doing heavy work like engine/transmission/rearend installs.  It only takes once.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Working alone is dangerous, especially with respect to cars.  I work alone all of the time. The six ton floor jacks with a safety pin are good, but here in southern California we have earthquakes.  I was tossed out of my bed in the Northridge quake of 94. Would my car come down on top of me if a quake of that intensity hit one day?  I hope I never find out. 

As a kid in the early seventies there was a story was going around about a guy that was poking around his engine when his necktie got caught in a pulley and pulled his head into the fan.

Our auto shop teacher advised us against goosing another student with a air hose. It seems that a kid was goosed and it blew out his intestines.

"Hey Hey Hey, lets be careful out there"!  Quote Sergeant Esterhaus from the TV series Hill Steet blues.

[midlife]

Our auto shop teacher advised us against goosing another student with a air hose. It seems that a kid was goosed and it blew out his intestines.

"Hey Hey Hey, lets be careful out there"!  Quote Sergeant Esterhaus from the TV series Hill Steet blues.

Goosing: most likely an urban legend.  http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/pump.asp

[J_Speegle]

Being on a truck crew (fire department) for 30 plus years have plenty of stories. Seems sometimes IMHO its just Darwin's law and other time - it was just their time.  Seen people back over their own heads, pinch themselves between cars and garages while starting or working on their cars..... on and on

Must admit I've done the one foot on the trans while installing an engine by myself. Always figured if it was my time - it was my time though I would not recommend it for others. Never been the most cautious guy in the room (other that know me will attest to that) but then couldn't be and do my job as I did successfully

[67gtasanjose]

Never can be too careful, my brother is an EMT and told me about a "simple accident" that could occur to any one of us.

The scene: Anybody's Garage
The 911 call: Sledge hammer handle stuck into abdomen.
The mistake: Leaving the sledge hammer standing on end, middle of floor, next to car hoist.
Its seems the individual jumped from the lift (which was about3 ft off the floor) adjacent to the sledge hammer, not seeing it there.
Point of entry was adjacent to the groin, point of exit, adjacent to his right nipple. He stood up with the handle fully lodged under his skin in between the two points, then passed out.

I have now always put the sledge hammer away ever since, even at times having to go back and get it again and again.

I heard the surgery took something like 12 or 14 hour, they had to open him up from the entry wound all the way up to the top, unable to simply pull it out. They needed to route veins and areries around the handle as they proceeded. Cut litterally from stem to stern.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Did the handle go up his ass? 

[J_Speegle]

Did the handle go up his ass?

Sounds like it missed. Had a similar incident. A kid swinging on a hook he had hung from a tree. Don't know where he found the large meat hook (like used in butcher shops of old) but when he slipped he impaled himself on it.  Sort of like the guys that try and jump the rod iron fences in a single bound

[69cobrajetrugae2]

My uncle's 6 year old granddaughter was on a swing attached to a tree. There was a problem so my 75 year old uncle climbed the tree to fix it. In no time he fell and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. His granddaughter ran to the house screaming and crying, " GRANDMA, GRANDMA, GRANDPA BROKE MY SWING"!

 

[67gtasanjose]

This guy wasn't a skinny person, the handle entered into the fatty area front side of his pubic area and went up on the outside of his ribcage and through whatever is in between, kinda gruesome sounding.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

He got lucky. One can only imagine the ribbing he would get at future beer parties if the handle had gone up his ass.   

[drummingrocks]

One can only imagine the ribbing he would get at future beer parties if the handle had gone up his ass.

That was probably the last of his worries at that moment...      

[somethingspecial]

In 1983, I put a new clutch in my GT/CS. When I put the tranny back in, I was alone and decided to bench press the tranny in.  I had the linkage off, but the linkage rods were still attached.  As I benched it into place, the linkage rods fell down and landed on my chest.  I was either going to line this tranny up and bolt it in, or be impaled by the rods.  As luck would have it, it slid right into place and I was able to bolt it in avoiding sure death.  Used a tranny jack ever since.