We all like to get out the spanners and have a go - and there's nothing more inspirational to hard mechanical labour than wondering what the improvements will be like when you're finished the work and you take the vehicle out for the first time. But enjoying the resulting performance is helped if you've got the use of all your limbs, you can see and hear, and you're alive. And you'd better believe it - working on a car can be a matter of life or death.
The Right Support
The casualness with which many people work under a poorly-supported vehicle always staggers me. You see it all of the time. A scissors jack trying valiantly to lift a vehicle bogged in sand while the owner is half way underneath; a heavy car up on a set of light-weight ramps so flimsy that you wouldn't trust a Ford Festiva to them; or a trolley jack being used swivel around the back half of a vehicle from which the wheels have been removed... while someone is simultaneously re-fitting the exhaust!
Always have the car sitting on a firm surface before jacking it up or using ramps. Concrete, bitumen, or solid paving stones are all okay. If - in an emergency - the car must be jacked-up on surfaces other than these, then place a hefty sheet of timber under the jack. Never, ever work right underneath a car which is supported by just a jack! Axle stands are cheap and could easily save your life. Take care where you place the stands, and make sure that they can't slip from under the vehicle. The best bet after you've jacked-up the car and then let the body rest back onto the stands is to give the vehicle a good shake. If it falls off it will only land only on its wheels - not you. How well could you breathe with 750kg sitting on your chest?
When either end of the vehicle is up in the air, chock the wheels at the opposite end. If appropriate, leave the car in gear or the handbrake on - although sometimes this isn't possible if you're working on these components. If you are constantly jacking the car up and down, check the security of the chocks every now and again - the car can move back and forwards as the other end of the vehicle moves through an arc. If the vehicle needs to be positioned higher than either the jack or axle stands can move it, then bricks or wooden blocks can be used under either of these supports. However, make sure that the blocks and/or bricks are all square, positioned exactly under what they're supporting, and once again rock the car violently before getting under it.
In the next 12 months people around the world will die when their vehicle falls on them - make sure it's not you.
Breathing
Picture the scene. It's a cold night, and you're ensconced in the garage. The wind has been howling, and so the doors are shut tight. You feel a real sense of achievement - that new carb is sitting in place on the alloy inlet manifold, or the turbo conversion is all plumbed into place. Now, how well will it run? The engine turns over and then settles down to an even idle.
She smells a bit rich - adjustment of the idle mixtures is needed. You blip the throttle, and the process goes on for a while. You start feeling a bit off - the thing should be adjusted by now for Godsakes! A while later you decide to take a break by sitting down - listening all the while to the exhaust beat. Shortly after that, you lapse into unconsciousness, and just thirty minutes after starting the tune-up you're dead. Breathing just 0.3 per cent carbon monoxide means that you've left this planet after half an hour...
Before even starting a vehicle in a confined space open all the doors. If you're going to be revving the engine, take it outside. And, remember that someone suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning has a flushed, healthy-looking complexion - they aren't washed-out and looking ill.
Electrics
Despite some states in the US officially sanctioning it, dying by electrocution is no fun. The risk might seem remote, but only if you've never taken an angle grinder through the power cable, grabbed an extension cord and got a real tingle, or been at the wrong end of the latest in electronic ignitions. I thought it all pretty remote until the brother of a man I knew died by the extension cord method - then I didn't think it far-fetched.
The best protection in the home and workshop from electrocution is common sense - and the second-best protection is an earth leakage circuit breaker, sometimes called a safety switch. With prices down to about A$100 for a unit installed by an electrician, it makes sense to cover your whole house and workshop area with a switchboard unit. Drilling holes, cutting metal and leaving sharp edges, using water to rub back paintwork - they'll all potential hazards when mains voltages are also present.
But common sense is still the best bet. If a power tool card is frayed then repair it. Use an extension cord which dangles from the roof of the workshop - it saves having cords lying on the ground. Hard-wire permanently mounted tools (like grinders) rather than constantly running them from extension cords. Water and high voltage electricity are a lethal mix. If using wet-and-dry in a wet state then keep any power tools well away. If your finances don't run to a garage, then take great car when using long extension cords outside - especially if it's dewy or it rains.
The great temptation with an engine which has a miss is to pull off the plug leads one by one - attempting to isolate the problem. Touching the leads can also put you into the circuit, and high energy ignition systems are just that - h-i-g-h energy! The jolt won't kill you - unless you've got an (unknown) weak heart, or your hands and feet are wet, or... In modern vehicles use a spare spark plug sitting on the rocker cover to test for the presence or otherwise of the spark, and then you can view the results from a safe distance.
See no Evil, Hear no Evil
I once read a story about a naval ship. Apparently, no-one in the ship's workshop used to wear the safety goggles provided, and this annoyed the bloke in charge. In desperation, he stuck up a nude centrefold, featuring a lady of buxom charms. Under it he wrote in texta - 'If you're blind you won't be able to see her - wear those safety glasses!'. It's a thought which has stuck with me ever since.
I buy my safety glasses at for a A$1.30 a throw from the local discount store - last time I looked I had twenty pairs racked-up in the workshop. Every time they get scratched - or I can't find the current pair - I grab down a new set. They're so cheap that it doesn't matter if they get trodden on or placed lenses-down on the bench. And I think of what life would be like blind - even in one eye - and I wear them when I'm grinding, sanding, using a hacksaw, working under a vehicle with dirt or petrol falling down into my face, and drilling. It's a bit like wearing a seatbelt (or condom!) - after a while you feel naked without it. I wear them when hacksawing because when the blade breaks, small sharp pieces go everywhere.
I like being able to hear her voice too, and so I wear ear muffs a lot. Perhaps I'm a wimp - but who cares when you end up being able to still hear sounds lost to the rest? Any noise which is loud enough to stop normal conversation is loud enough to damage your hearing. I wear ear muffs when using an angle grinder, jigsaw - even when using a belt sander or a drill press. And they're pretty cheap too - about A$10 a pair. It's easy to tell how good ear muffs are, simply by listening to how well they reduce the sounds of the loud tools.
Hands
It's not on the same scale as the others, but look after your hands. As I type this my hands are sore with (I just counted them!) six cuts from working on cars. Most are the result of nuts suddenly giving, or spanners slipping off, or sharp metal edges they've come in contact with - and all are painful and annoying.
Look at where your fingers will go if something slips or moves suddenly - from a nut suddenly giving, to a drill grabbing the piece of work in the drill-press. Often, changing the position of your hands will reduce the risk of injury, or obviate it entirely. If you cut yourself (when you cut yourself?) take the moment to run the injury under the tap, and place a band-aid and some disinfectant cream on it. When it starts weeping painfully some days after the event it's both annoying and unnecessary...
If you injure your hands or fingers take care. There are so many nerve endings in this part of your body that even what appears to be a painful but minor injury - grinding through your finger nail, for example - can cause faintness and shock. Take the time to sit down if you injure yourself in this way.
Conclusion
Some people think that it's kinda macho to use grinders without safety glasses, to be way under vehicles supported just by skewed scissor jacks, and to listen to open exhausts without ear plugs fitted. I'd rather have the use of my limbs and be able to see and hear things clearly for the rest of my life... Wouldn't you?
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