Miata Mailing List: March 1998, Message #158

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>> From realbig.com!miata Fri Feb 27 17:04:59 1998
>>
>> It's been a tough week.  Why don't we end it up by telling one mistake
>>we made
>> involving miatas?  We all have them...I have lots!   Being bold, old, and
>> unafraid, I'll go first:
>>
>
>    I think I can top that. But I'll have to substitute a VW Scirroco
>    and Audi Fox in place of a Miata. (Fair enough, I think, because
>    this was about 10 years before the Miatas were even sold.)

[Frightening story of automotive aerobatics]

>    Actually I kinda hope that no one can top this, as I hate to see that
>    much (potential) for death and destruction in anyone's path.

I still have a nickel-sized scar from this one.

My current MSV and then daily driver is a '75 DJ-5D, better known as a
Postal Jeep. 232ci I-6 bolted to a Torqueflite 727 automatic, with a little
sheetmetal in tight formation with the mechanicals. Basically, it's a
MIL-SPEC golf cart.

This beast sits on 235/75/15's, and the axles are about the lowest thing on
the vehicle, so I've never had to use ramps or jacks to do any work
underneath it. This is a good thing because the driveway I was working is
isn't flat.

I needed to get to the freeze plug on the back of the head (don't ask) and
there wasn't much room between the head and the firewall, a natural result
of shoving a big, long, straight-six into a short wheelbase Jeep. So I got
the bright idea that if I pulled the crossmember and dropped the back of
the tranny, I could get enough room to get in there. (Hey, it beats pulling
the head, right?)

I'm under the Jeep, and I've pulled the U-bolts that hold the front U-joint
to the yoke on the back of the tranmission. Normally, you can just compress
the driveshaft a little and drop it out of the way, but it took a little
coaxing to get it out of the yoke.

BANG!

As it turned out, the only thing keeping the Jeep on the hill was the
tranny in park. After I disconnected the driveshaft, the beast started
rolling down the driveway, with me halfway under it. Somehow, I had the
presence of mind to grab the frame and slide with it, earning the scar on
my elbow along with a lot of other road rash.

I don't remember quite how it got there, but when I asked my wife to help
me push the Jeep back into the driveway, she was rather distracted by the
tire print on my face.

As you might imagine, I'm a little over-cautious about chocking and
blocking these days. ;)

-Zandr and Starbug


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Aleksandr Milewski                                              N6MOD
n6mod@amt.org                               http://www.amt.org/n6mod/