Stupid auto tricks?

[MossRoad]

Just funnin with you. Hey I'm no English Professor, just had a good laugh. Thanks.

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[heehaw]

no problem, i do a lot of creative spelling...the interesting part i left out of the story...the guy i went with is now @64 years young..the army base near by was his first assignment after basic, so he was probably 19; that night we went to a bar that he regularly visited way back then, and they still had the same female bartender, and she remembered him, you wouldn't believe some of the stories i heard that night, and we drank free most of the night..
heehaw

 

[Jeff396]

Okay, here's one that almost killed me when I was 17. I had purchased a '70 Challenger that someone had rolled for the 440 engine and 4 spd trans. I wanted to transplant it into my '77 plymouth fury wagon which had a small block. During the fitting I had to install and remove the engine several times to get it right and fabricate a few linkages as well as modify the engine mounts to say nothing of putting a clutch in the car. Well, apparently during this process I inadvertantly pinched the gas line which I had carefully plugged with a bolt allowing the entire contents of the tank to siphon out all over the shop floor. I was doing this in my brothers motorcycle shop which was a 60' x 40' building divided down the center with a 2x4 stud wall. When he got out there in the morning he saw what had happened and opened up all of the doors. He then came and got me to clean it up. Once the floor was cleaned we noticed that gas had gotten down in the pit you drive the front of a car onto to work on. Again, this was now a motorcycle shop so it was covered with wood with a little trap door for access. I also believe they were illegal to have in NY. Well, rather than climb down in there to clean it up, we decided to just spray some water down there to dillute it. What I didn't know and he never thought about was that there was a sump pump in the pit. As soon as the water level came up, pump came on and BOOOOOOOM!!! The blast was so great that it lifted up the roof along the 60' length and moved the cinderblocks out 4" just narrowly missing collapsing the building. The blast blew the end of the hose off that I had in my hand and my brother was blown through the center 2x4 wall. Interestingly enough, if you are close enough to the blast it doesn't exert the same force on you as it does after it builds for a few feet. I only remember a hot rush of wind engulfing me. I was burned over 50% of my body with 1st, 2nd and what was thought to be 3rd degree burns. Basically everywhere but where my jeans and shoes were. I had a nylon shirt on and it only took 2 scissor snips to remove it as most of it melted. My brother, while sore from going through the wall only received a burn to the back of his hand. I spent over a month in the burn unit at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester NY and still had open wounds when they sent me home. Labor day was coming up and they usually have a big BBQ turnout. They wouldn't even tell my parents whether I would live or not for a few days. That stay in the hospital was fascinating, but is another story in itself/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff

 

[heehaw]

wow, that's the only thing i can think of to say. wow.
glad your still here..
heehaw

 

[Richard]

Wow. I ditto Hee Haw

 

[njrqs]

Oh Dear - Lucky you are still with us Jeff.

I do a lot of work on inspection stations/railways etc.

Never seen any with a pump.

Maybe that's why??????????



<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Jeff396]

I'm not sure who put the pump in there. I suppose they might have put it in when they sealed it up with plywood so they wouldn't have to give it another thought. I can't imagine having it down there when you were trying to work on a car as this is one of the smaller pits. If I remember right it was only about 9' x 6'. Fortunately I had my engine and hoist sitting on top along with about 8 bags of sand. I think the weight kept it from blowing straight up and most was vented out the trap door where I was kneeling down. I distinctly remember (in slow motion of course) the flames shooting out from around the plywood. I guess that's what got my ankles. I wish I had a scanner to post my pictures. Most who know me that I show them to cannot believe that I look so good after seeing the shots of just after arriving at the hospital. My beard and mustache was gone, my eyebrows were gone, and my hair was gone to about the top of my head. Not a pretty sight!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

I've been near a few gasoline explosions(never injured) and I too remember that sight of the explosion coming around and through the stuff. It kind of looks like the X-Ray effect from the old science fiction nuclear explosion pics. You're lucky to be alive. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[RobertN]

My mom-in-law wrecked my freshly painted Jeep when my wife went into labor with our son. I had been putting the Jeep back together, and was currently working on a tilt steering column. The column was out while I was making a few brackets and stuff. The Jeep was sitting outside, with a tarp over it. She had parked next to it. When my wife was ready to go to the hospital, we thought it would be easier for her to get in and out of Mom-in-law's Buick than it would be our Camaro.

Well, we had this curving drivway that she tried to back up. As she swung tight to make the curve, her front bumper hit the front tires of the Jeep. It caused the tires to turn downhill. It also rocked it enough, that it popped out of gear.

So, here I am in the doorway, my wife squeezing my hand as she has a contraction, watching the Jeep start rolliing forward, and turning straight down the slope of our property. It went about 100', and ran into a 24" diameter pine tree. It bent the new chrome bumper into a "u" shape, bent the front frame, dented the hood, and banged up a few other things. All I could do is watch; I was not going to leave my wifes side. I could not have stopped it anyways.

My other one was in my Road Runner. I could walk that thing sideways, fish tailing, for blocks. It was so easy to control. So, I'm going to work, and had to hang a "u" turn. I hit it a little fast, which was fine in the car. But... there was dust and sand in the road from construction... Pretty much no car handles when traction is lost on the front end. I spun out quick as could be! It musta looked funny to oncoming traffic(they were a ways away). After it slid, I finally got control and powered it back around and was off again.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif