In order to work on a vehicle, you need to know how to not hurt yourself on a vehicle. There are many, many different and interesting ways that you can injure, maim or kill yourself with that contraption that we all love and hold dear here at BangShift. And we aren’t even talking about the fun stuff, like nitrous backfires or the reasons why driveshaft loops and rollcages are great ideas you should invest in. No, look past your project car and towards that daily driver that you always dread turning wrenches on. That one is just as capable of putting you into the emergency room with a brand new story to tell. In fact, it was today’s work at BangShift Mid-West that brought this gem back into memory. I’m in the middle of stripping down a 1994 Mustang for all of the parts needed to five-lug swap the Great Pumpkin Fox-body that is my wife’s car. Key to the front suspension are the spindles, which requires several items to be moved out of the way and disconnected. One item is the MacPherson strut that holds the top part of the spindle in place. It’s a combination shock system and steering system, and on Mustangs, mercifully the strut itself doesn’t have a spring as part of the program…that fits behind the strut in to the lower control arm and a pocket in the K-frame. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t being super-cautious when I was ripping things apart. I’ve heard horror stories of what happens when a spring lets loose…everything from needing a new door on a Pontiac Firebird to a trip to the hospital with a cracked sternum after catching a coil to the chest.

In case you ever needed a visual reminder of just what happens, here you go. The footage is older and pixelated, but you’ll get the hint when things go south. What blows my mind about this whole scene is that the strut is NOT in any kind of holding device. Instead, the grease monkey is trying to hold it down with his body weight from one foot. I’m a big dude, but there is no way in hell I’m sticking my ankle anywhere near something that can go off like a gun shot. Watch the leg that he’s standing on the strut with when it all goes down. Nope, no thank you. And that’s before you check to see where the hell the spring, with all of it’s kinetic energy released, blasted off to.

The best safety advice anyone can ever give anyone: don’t be a dumbass. If you don’t know what you are doing, ask someone that does know.