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  #46  
Old 08-10-2012, 11:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foolio View Post
Underneath a car at a PnP removing pistons and springs from a transmission when the yard guy drives by in one of those giant front loader forklift thingy's carrying a car to put in the yard. I swear he missed clipping the bumper of the car I was under by 6". As usual, the car i was under was precariously balanced on those welded "rim stands" they make that seem dangerous enough without 10 tons of front loader on gravel just inches away.
Every time I go to PNP, I see a car or two or three that has fallen off the stands. I'm waiting to find a dead body under one.

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1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
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Last edited by eatont9999; 08-10-2012 at 04:18 PM.
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  #47  
Old 11-10-2013, 06:09 AM
vstech's Avatar
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Good time to reassess TERRIFYING work!
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
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  #48  
Old 11-10-2013, 07:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by torsionbar View Post
606 head gasket job is fairly involved. easier the second time, lol. having the correct tools makes all the difference in the world.
if I ever need it done on sherley, I'll let you know

My most terrifying repair so far is the one I'm in the middle of now. the 606 glow plugs. One false move and I'll be calling @torsionbar alot sooner than I'd hoped. 2 more to go...

Oh yeah, I was changing the tranny fluid on my 04 suburban. It was on ramps. I undid the shifter cable forgetting what it was...the sky began to move. Luckily the truck was just reseating itself in the bowl of the ramps...but I got out from under there and left it for another day...wait a second...I really need to do the tranny fluid on my suburban.
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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg
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  #49  
Old 11-10-2013, 07:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vstech View Post
Good time to reassess TERRIFYING work!
Indeed I wondered where it had gone - those springs are bloody scary
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
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1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
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Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #50  
Old 11-10-2013, 11:31 AM
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Location: Lakes Region, NH
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A few scary ones...

Cleaning the rear of an intake manifold in a V8 Dodge van so I could fill it with silicone sealer. This works if you get all the oil out and give the silicone plenty of time to cure. So I plugged the crankcase vent and left the PCV valve installed to create negative pressure in the crankcase. Then I started the engine and proceeded to spray brakecleaner at the back of the manifold. I was cereful not to spray too much cleaner because it's highly flammable and composed of about 70% acetone which is a very scary chemical to play with. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought it through completely to realize the distributor, right above where I was spraying, was also "connected" to the crankcase and was drawing fresh air and brakecleaner into the cap. The mixture ignited and lit whatever vaporized cleaner was in the air at the engine sending the distributor out of the engine, just past my face along with a ball of flame that burned my beard and burnt part of the headliner. Literally could have lost my head over that.

At one point years ago I worked in a flat rate shop where the owner believed his techs were only productive if they competed. The end result was that everyone tended to be out for themselves. I was told to weld subframe connectors onto a Fox body Mustang for another tech. No pay in it for me, and I was upset because I'd been working to get the job (it was part of a bigger package) but he managed to "steal" it. I told him to remove all interior panels but didn't check thoroughly as it "wasn't my job." I raised the car on the lift and started welding from underneath. As I was welding, a seat belt left attached to the floor started on fire. The other tech tried to get my attention but I was so upset at having to give up my paying work to do his job, that I refused to stop welding until he pulled the plug on the welder. By then there was a good fire going. We could have lost the shop over that. I spent many hours fixing the car, also for free.

In a performance shop, a Corvette came in that had been highly modified with many homebrew solutions. I'd been at the shop for a very short time. I connected the shop's fuel pressure gauge but hadn't been told the gauge was never used by the techs because the seals were faulty. Started the car, the gauge sprayed fuel on the roof, windshield, engine, and distributor. The car owner's homemade distributor cap adapter arced to ground and Poof! Fire from front of car to rear. We got the fire out without any permanent damage but the entire car scared me every time I worked on it. I'm now good friends with the owner but to this day his car scares me. I also reassesed the value of owning and caring for all your own tools.

Quote:
Then for the first time you do a timing chain / timing belt there's that "did I really do it right?" feeling as you imagine you can't turn the crank anymore!
Every time I do a timing belt I worry it's installed incorrectly. Every one. The marks never seem to line up perfectly to me and I'm always worried that I'm off by a tooth. It stresses me for days after the car leaves the shop. I hate doing timing belts.
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  #51  
Old 11-10-2013, 11:49 AM
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350 motor mounts.
Why ?
Had the hydraulic jack seal pop while my hand was in there pulling the loosened
mount. Did you know a 2x4 WILL save your hand if a jack seal pops ??

Most amazing was that I was helping 2 teenagers learn and when I came out from under I do believe their faces were whiter than mine.
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  #52  
Old 11-10-2013, 01:16 PM
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Scary after the fact

I spend 4hrs at the junkyard under an old Chevy removing the exhaust
manifolds. The car was balanced on 4 upright rims. Mind you the rims
were vertical under the corners of the car not bolted to the hubs. I could
have easily pushed the whole thing over. Well I got my manifolds and was
on the way home, the Loma Prieta earth quake happened, with the epicenter quite close to where I had been under that car. I never went back to look, but no doubt it fell off those rims on first shake.
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  #53  
Old 11-10-2013, 03:51 PM
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Its car related ,helped 2 brothers and one owner move out of an auto shop ,4 lifts had to be removed,a forklift ,wooden pallet ,and 5 pound hammer makes for an intersting day .Before the 2 brothers got their it was pretty non - eventful ,once their though it was beware of driver and the high wire act to follow,.Twice his brother nearly fell off the pallet raised forklift death duo,one saved him be grabbing electric wires from the lighting . Crashing into lighting with his head was the main event ,followed by falling lift beams.I missed the forklift towing drama ,a forklift was dead so forklift #2 was put into action towing forklift 1 via a cable to a neighboring bldg ,across the rd they go were the towing forklift driving brother decides to do the cut across from a center turning lane ,brother 2 stays in the centerlane ,car coming and ,well it wasnt good but no one was hurt except the on coming suv that was stripped of it frt skirt.
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  #54  
Old 02-12-2014, 01:52 PM
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Forklift stories could be their own thread, I'm sure.

At a previous job I once saw a shipping container being unloaded using two forklifts, neither of which was up to the job. The lighter of the two kept trying to tip forward so the boss told some of the shop guys to sit on top of the counterweight. At that point I found somewhere else to be.
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  #55  
Old 02-12-2014, 02:59 PM
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Scariest in terms of lost money: The time I set my 59 Ferrari carburators on fire in my garage.

Scariest in physical safety: The time I almost let my 52 Pontiac Hearse crush me against my workbench!

Another physical one was last summer when I set my carburator afire in my Formula Ford when it sits 16" from the fuel tank and I didn't have my fire extinguisher at hand!

Yikes!
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..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
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  #56  
Old 02-12-2014, 08:59 PM
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This isn't a repair job, but I thought I'd share it since it still scares the living hell out of every day.

I live in northern Indiana where it snows a lot. My grandma had recently passed and I had to get my dad's 1978 Corvette Pace Car home before the new owners moved in. The car has 20,000 miles on it and at the time had been sitting for quite a while. The brakes were shot and I had to put the pedal way into the floor to brake. It was scary enough trying to drive it when there wasn't any snow. Anyway, I decided to take it out and drive it around it see how it handled in the snow. It seemed to be okay, so I decided to drive it home, which was only about 2 miles away (dumbass). The main thing that really scared me was the hills that I had to face.

I had to go down two VERY STEEP hills to get her home. Literally one of the scariest moments of my life! Midway through the trip with stock brakes and tires, I thought for sure I was a goner! Someone had to be watching over me, because I ended up making it home safely. The next thing was to drive it up my steep driveway... my foot was literally shaking uncontrollably when I started sliding back down the hill with a brick mailbox behind me! Luckily I had about five people guiding the car, which they could push with a finger on that snow. We ended up getting the Vette into the garage without any harm done, except I didn't get any sleep that night.

In hindsight, I should've just called a damn tow truck to get the car out! I feel like such an idiot for driving the car that is priceless to me on those treacherous roads, but thankfully no harm was done. I finally fixed the brakes and a few other things and the car runs great now! Never will I do that again!
Attached Thumbnails
The most terrifying repair you've ever done?-img_2984.jpg  

Last edited by 300SD90; 02-12-2014 at 09:17 PM.
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  #57  
Old 02-12-2014, 09:21 PM
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Closest to death? A friend's car I was laying under rolled down the ramps and would have crushed me if I hadn't somehow miraculously wedged my flashlight under the body, keeping it off of my chest.

Scariest I have done? Drilling, removing the glow plug on the OM606 and tapping and reinstalling a timesert for the new plug.

Scariest I will face? Having to tear the entire dash apart on the 300 to replace the AC evaporator.
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  #58  
Old 02-12-2014, 11:09 PM
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I hate doing any mk1 rabbits or jettas with those c clamps thingamajigs that hold the exhaust onto the manifold. watched one put a hole in the drywall one time.....slippery little bastards

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