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Mikey914
Well i know better but was trying to remove a shift knob that was stubbornly resisting. 2 good yanks got a little movements one more good yank, and pow right in the eye. I see it comming in slow motion. Cant shut my eye fast enough. A 5mm scrape on my cornia.
Fortunately my ophthalmologist worked me right in. The drops were great, but they will now allow it to heal so here i sit im my 914 self inflicted pain.

I no remember tutlegirl making a note to self to "remove belly ring before sliding under car".

Share you cautionary tales.
bbrock
Must be something going around. Saturday, after a day of welding and grinding, I laid down to rest and a shower of crap fell from my eyebrows into both eyes, scratching both corneas. The right eye healed quickly, but yesterday my doctor had to remove a metal flake from the left eye, and today, a visit to the ophthalmologist to make sure that was it. After taking all the right precautions, it was not washing my face that got me.

And while we are confessing, it has been decades, but I learned about the power of the engine lid torsion bars the hard way and damn near lost a thumb.

Heal quickly!
bdstone914
Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.
Mike Bellis
I keep coming out to the garage finding more boxes piled on my car. I think I'm the one doing it... sad.gif
bdstone914
QUOTE(bdstone914 @ Jan 10 2018, 09:57 PM) *

Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.


Ok, Maybe I can top my own.
Recently I had a 1/2 gallon container with a couple inches of epoxy and paint remover with a couple of parts I was soaking to remove heavy paint. Was trying to fish out a part and it slipped off the hook and splashed the paint remover in one eye. Ouch. Was alone at the shop and had to feel my way to the bathroom to flood the eye with water. Got some sterile eye wash and irrigated it again. Went to urgent care and they flooded it again and gave me some drops to prevent infection. Did not loose any sight in the eye but got a good wake up about wearing eye protection for a lot of jobs that you do not think as risky. Did not have use of the eye for a couple days. Too painful to move.

Lesson: Don't be stupid. Wear safety glasses.

Who would ever think they could poke their own eye removing a shift knob ?
burton73
Happened in the late 70s but I was screwing with my glove box door after I put burl wood veneer on it. It looked great back then.

Anyway the glove box door was stuck and as I was trying to lift it and it opened into my thumb and I was seeing stars. Black nail. Really hurt.

Nothing like some guys that have almost got killed from a car coming off of a jack stand.

Bob B


O yea Eye injury hurts as well smash.gif .
mgphoto
Early '80's under my first 914 drilling out a broken exhaust stud. Heavy duty metal drill, bit catches the drill spins out of my hand and wacks me in the right eyebrow, bled for a while. Learned to respect power tools that day.
mihai914
This won't surprise anyone...

A couple of years ago I was putting back the torsion spring after repairing the trunk mount.

I used the socket and extension method to push it and I got too close to have a better view.

My hand had become sweaty by the effort and the whole thing slipped, springing back and hitting me straight on the lower lip and jaw.

One of the most painful moments ever and I was convinced that I lost some teeth and broke a bone.

I went to the ER and everything was fine except for a very nice bruise and swollen lip.

Moral of the story is to keep your distance and wear all the protection possible when working with those. Don't know how they did in the factory but it must of been one of the riskiest jobs on the assembly line.
74ravenna
Pulling the fuel tank.

Tugging and pulling to no avail. Stood over it to get a better grip and purchase.
When it came out it seemed to release easy.
I yanked right in to my face.
Smacked myself pretty good. No damage except a little soreness.

Steve
mepstein
I’ve never made a mistake.



av-943.gif
BeatNavy
I set my groin on fire.

Before I had a lift, I was underneath the car trying to weld in a fix for a broken clutch tube at the firewall. I was just wearing overalls. Now I own a) a lift and b) a welding jacket.

It got my attention, but no real "damage" smile.gif
barefoot
QUOTE(bdstone914 @ Jan 10 2018, 10:57 PM) *

Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.

After removing the engine/tranny, with car supported with blocking under wheels, i was un-torquing inner bolt on rear trailing arm when car rolled off blocking with me under !!
Fortunately i had some beefy foam blocking under longs so car didn't flatten me under there. (Emergency brakes non functional then)
Could have been all over for me.
tygaboy
While fabricating the front hoop for my car, I had it laying across the car with the legs resting on the longs. The corners of the hoop are just the right radius that if you aren't paying attention, you can bump the hoop, move it out of position just enough so that it drops in between the longs and the legs rotate up - quickly...
Nailed me right in the side of the head.
LowBridge
QUOTE(BeatNavy @ Jan 11 2018, 08:20 AM) *

I set my groin on fire.

Before I had a lift, I was underneath the car trying to weld in a fix for a broken clutch tube at the firewall. I was just wearing overalls. Now I own a) a lift and b) a welding jacket.

It got my attention, but no real "damage" smile.gif


Classic... done this one myself and the sad part is more than once av-943.gif
VaccaRabite
Aside from an inch of wire wheel wire getting stuck in my forehead...

I did set myself on fire using a plasma cutter on 914 parts.Had the spark shower bouncing off my jeans. Turned off the arc, and my thighs were still really warm. Looked down and noticed I had a 4 inch flame front burning up my leg.

Aside from the usual barked fingers and mashed thumbs, I have not done anything that caused more the temporary discomfort.

Zach
iankarr
Was trying to remove the anodizing on a Fuchs wheel with oven cleaner spray. I had the good sense to do it outside, but not enough to wear goggles. A gust of wind blew the lye spray into my eyes. Fortunately I was standing next to the garden hose and was able to flush quickly. Scary. Especially since I'm a commercial director and occasionally need my eyes for work wink.gif
jfort
The garage where I store the 914 has a security alarm that must been disarmed on the other side of the garage from the entry door. The light switch is over there, too, and IT IS DARK, especially having just come in from outside. In hurrying over there to turn off the alarm and trying to avoid running into the car, I ran into an open door for the bathroom. About put me down and left a week-long, very conspicuous and question initiating, shiner.

I've done worse under and around the cars I maintain there, the above was just the most recent.
jd74914
QUOTE(bbrock @ Jan 10 2018, 10:49 PM) *

Must be something going around. Saturday, after a day of welding and grinding, I laid down to rest and a shower of crap fell from my eyebrows into both eyes, scratching both corneas. The right eye healed quickly, but yesterday my doctor had to remove a metal flake from the left eye, and today, a visit to the ophthalmologist to make sure that was it. After taking all the right precautions, it was not washing my face that got me.


Hopefully everything is healing up well! BTDT before and it really sucked-especially the eye vice part. I always wear a hat now too in addition to the glasses/helmet/shield to have one less place for particles to get caught and my first stop is the sink to wash my face off well as soon as I finish.

I've also burned holes in my pants/boxers with weld spatter and once lit my shirt on fire with grinding sparks (not 914 on that one though). The worst injury was when I was using a knotted wire wheel and it caught an edge, kicked the grinder up, and caught my forearm. That scar is still there almost 15 years later. dry.gif
Mblizzard
Checking the install of alternator belt by hand. Instructed partner in car it was ok to start. Did not move had quick enough. Now missing 1/4-inch of pinky finger.
Alphaogre
I started messing around in the garage as a much dumber youth venturing into this hobby of old cars, buggies, and fabricating by myself, so I've had some that I look back and still blow my mind I got away with no permanent injury...

- I have flash burned by eyes by tack welding without my helmet...

- I was crouched down grinding the edges of some aluminum I cut and lost my balance and as I fell the running grinder ran across my thigh. Luckily it was the fat grinding blade, not the cutting blade so it just cauterized a groove 4 inches long across my leg.

- I had a few gallons of fuel pour on to me when the fuel line hose cam off with me under the car, by the time I was able to get it back on my clothes were soaked and skin was burning, luckily was not on my face.

- Dumbest one was on my 220v welder, a portion of the power chord got exposed from rubbing on things over the years, instead of fixing it correctly I just had tape on it, one day the tape came off and as I went to put more tape on I was touching the exposed portion and did not realize it was still plugged in. My thumbs started to violently move without me controlling them haha, luckily I think it just went back through the chord and just passed through me...

- When I had my Corvair, we were testing stuff while the car was running and looking under the rear of the car, the muffler was hot so when I pushed on it looking for something else, I had no fingerprints for the next few months...

I really could have used a mentor to slap me before many of these hahaha

Other than that, just typical things over the years...a few grinding blades have exploded, a couple fires, and some fumes I wasn't expecting...
Mark Henry
Too big of a list. dry.gif

One memorable one was slipping with a long very thin straight screwdriver and stabbing right through my thumb at the cuticle, I at least hit the bone. Five inch long shaft, thru and thru halfway down the shaft.

Too busy to go to emergency, I knew they couldn't do much more than pull it out and my tetanus was up to date.
So I sucked it up and yanked it out. w00t.gif

We need an ouchy smiley rolleyes.gif
bbrock
I may have the mother of all stupid moves. Thankfully, I'm still here to tell the story. I had just completed a several weekend's long project in my parent's garage welding a partial front clip into my first 914 and was in a hurry to get back home to college. I hopped in the car with my then girlfriend following. About a half mile after hitting highway speed past the I-70 on-ramp, the front left of the car dropped to the ground and a shower of sparks made an impressive rooster tail behind me into the dark night. Mind you, this project was my first introduction to welding (an idiot move in itself), so of course I assumed my car had broken in half. As I slid to the shoulder, I saw my left front wheel careen down the highway in front of me. The clip, and my welds, were fine, but I had neglected to tighten the lug bolts on the wheel in my rush to leave.

I was able to bolt the wheel back on with spare bolts and be on my way. But there is a strange twist. When I got out of my car, my girlfriend who thought she was witnessing my fiery death, pulled over too; but a stranger in a van was also pulled over. I figured my wheel must have hit his car. No, he was oblivious to the pyrotechnic show in front of him and had simply changed lanes without looking and smacked my girlfriend's car by pure coincidence.

And the most bizarre part of the story is that my girlfriend apparently thought, "This guy is a moron, I think I'll marry him." And she has witnessed countless stupid stunts for over 32 years. Ever had your scrotum bitten by a wolf? Been there done that. But that isn't 914-related.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKYTk4DMZ30
Mueller
Bad combo:

Sweat pants + angle grinder with wire brush attachment w/no guard.

Got a little too close to the wheel, it grabbed my sweat pants and got yanked out of my hands, luckily it stopped spinning before doing any damage to my frank and beans! Did leave a mark on my legs.

yeahmag
I've had more than a few:

- Regularly cut myself with the angle grinder and cut off wheel

- Set my shirt on fire welding upside down

- While laying on my back under the car, rolled my own shoulder out of socket tightening a bolt. Stuck under car on creeper...
JamesM
When I look in the mirror every morning the fat scar on my chin reminds me that the Porsche ball joint socket tool is to be used for INSTALLATION ONLY!!

Pulling a 2ft breaker bar into your face leaves a nice and very permanent reminder to not be dumb.
markhoward
During a 109 degree day last September, I figured the best way to cool off would be to crawl under the engineless teener and clean the underside. Smart and Final industrial cleaner and a hose were making short work of removing years of crud while the pool of runoff I was laying in provided a much needed cool down. I did have safety goggles on but they kept fogging up so off they went. Was feeling irritation in my eyes so I rinsed with the hose as needed and kept plugging away. The car came out great and I was off to the shower followed by a 33 degree beer. As the evening went on, my right eye got worse and I eventually ended up going to the emergency room. This was after giving up on the self medication plan that got me pretty loopy by the time I got to the hospital. Got pulled over on the way back a few houses from home for a bad headlight. Good thing I was not driving and the officer took pity on us..
signal914.jpg new_shocked.gif beer3.gif 287.gif smoke.gif busted_cop.gif
worn
QUOTE(bdstone914 @ Jan 10 2018, 07:57 PM) *

Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.

I resemble that remark.
worn
QUOTE(barefoot @ Jan 11 2018, 05:39 AM) *

QUOTE(bdstone914 @ Jan 10 2018, 10:57 PM) *

Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.

After removing the engine/tranny, with car supported with blocking under wheels, i was un-torquing inner bolt on rear trailing arm when car rolled off blocking with me u!
Fortunately i had some beefy foam blocking under longs so car didn't flatten me under there. (Emergency brakes non functional then)
Could have been all over for me.

This was funny till i realized I might have died...
worn
QUOTE(worn @ Jan 11 2018, 03:40 PM) *

QUOTE(barefoot @ Jan 11 2018, 05:39 AM) *

QUOTE(bdstone914 @ Jan 10 2018, 10:57 PM) *

Happened a long time ago.

I unbolted a muffler while lying underneath the car. I removed the last bolt and dropped it on my head.

Top that.

After removing the engine/tranny, with car supported with blocking under wheels, i was un-torquing inner bolt on rear trailing arm when car rolled off blocking with me u!
Fortunately i had some beefy foam blocking under longs so car didn't flatten me under there. (Emergency brakes non functional then)
Could have been all over for me.

This was funny till i realized I might have died...

My wife is laughing at these thinking of me. So many flaming clothes. Still, I am guessing that these are from the safety prom committee. Please be careful out there folks. Worst case scenario, you end up old with failing hearing and eyesight. Best if you can blame your genes, but not your actions.
Ever tell you about the time I let my newly restored car roll across the street and into the neighbors award winning garden?
Mikey914
Thought the insight of how easy it is to hurt yourself might get a few of us thinking. I know I will be wearing safety glasses from now on.
Darren C
Click to view attachment

Socket shattered on lower suspension nut
Hand flew backwards onto tin plate dust shield behind brake disc peeling it wide open
Quite spectacular as I was wearing a white T shirt & walked into UK A&E (ER) looking like an extra in a B rate horror movie
falcor75
I've never bothered with safety glasses but after getting some crap in my eye at one point and the cute female eye doctor got very upset at my unability to keep my eye open for her so she could get the debris out I've started using a full face visor with using the angle grinder or cutoff wheel.....
mepstein
QUOTE(falcor75 @ Jan 12 2018, 04:20 AM) *

I've never bothered with safety glasses but after getting some crap in my eye at one point and the cute female eye doctor got very upset at my unability to keep my eye open for her so she could get the debris out I've started using a full face visor with using the angle grinder or cutoff wheel.....

smilie_pokal.gif
One day the cutoff wheel will come apart and bounce harmlessly off your face shield and you will feel like a genius. BTDT.
My dad - A surgeon- had told me when I was young to always pay attention to where my fingers where. He had seen too many tradesman come into the ER with fingers missing from their hands.
An impact wrench is a great tool. Chugga chugga instead of bolt letting go followed by o-crap.
Ed_Turbo
Cool stories.

Well for this 914 project. I was checking the fuel pressure regulator to see if it was working and as soon as I gently loosened the fuel line a gush of fuel hit my face and in my eyes. That was fun and a funny garage moment.

I like funny things that happened in the garage. What happens in the gararge stays in the garage laugh.gif


Big Ed
hot_shoe914
I once sprained my thumb while writing a check for another 914. I guess that's about it except the time I changed my fuel filter in a roadside park and gas ran down my arm and into the puncture wound from having blood drawn the day before. Eventually looked like a nasty spider bite, skin was just falling off.

Shoe
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