kenamond
DSM Wiseman
- 3,225
- 67
- Feb 15, 2006
-
Los Alamos,
New Mexico
So I pull into a parking spot at the local Radio Shack to go get stuff for the FP rewire.
I have the relay, fuse holder, pack of 30 amp fuses and am looking at split loom stuff when I hear someone say, "Does anyone in here have a maroon Chrysler Eagle?" Close enough to my car, so I'm like, "Eagle Talon?"
So the guy says, "You got a bit of a problem, mister. Your car is high-sided on the curb."
Oh shit.
Sure enough, for the 2nd time in 10 years, I forgot to set the parking brake. Recall how much shopping I'd done already. Guess nobody noticed that nice lookin' car hangin off a wall for about 5 minutes.
Car drifted back across the parking lot, jumped the curb (2 foot drop beyond the 4" curb on the edge of the parking lot), landed on one of the jacking points on the frame right as the rear-right corner hit a cinderblock wall of the building next door. It was at an angle, so the driver side tire was about 1" from the curb (hanging 14" above the ground) and the passenger side tire is about 3 feet from the curb (also about 14" from the ground). The pass. side is resting right on the curb on one of the jacking points. The driver side is resting on the body work at the forward wheel well. I forgot to pick up my digicam when I was gathering supplies for the rescue mission. That's probably a good thing - I don't want to remember.
Amazingly, not one structural component had a scratch. Drivetrain, exhaust, gas tank, etc. didn't have so much as a scratch. But there were some "issues" with bodywork on the pass. rear corner (duh, it hit a building).
So I call my neighbor, finished buying the 10 gauge wire, clips, etc. for the fuel pump rewire, my neighbor showed up, we come up with a plan, then set it in motion.
He took me home where I pulled good ole' "Bessy" (1974 Ford F100 POS pickup truck) out of the weeds by my house (Bessy has saved my a$$ too many times), took her to the dump to unload the crap in her bed, loaded her up with plywood and as much 2x6 and 4x4 lumber I could muster, and my rolling 2 ton floor jack. then we headed to the local harware store to pick up 8 palots from their massive stack out back (they said I could have them if I didn't burn them
).
We build cribbing out of the palots under each wheel, threw the 3/4" plywood under the middle rear of the cantilevered a$$ end on the stack of palots under the driver side wheel, threw the floor jack on the plywood, and jacked her up for round 1. Got the car high enough to get another palot under each wheel, lowered it (now resting 100% on the wheels, not the curb), put the jack's wheels up on 2 4x4s to get more height and jacked her up again enough to get another palot under the pass. side wheel and a stack of 2x6 lumber under the driver side. Then we lowered the jack and nothing snapped, cracked, etc.
And I drove her off.
The pass. side quarter panel was munched in about 1" right above the tail light next to the hatch. The corner of the hatch was barely dented on the pass. side, but it was out of alignment (3/8" gap on the left, 1/8" on the right). The rear bumper cover had white paint smeared all over that corner, and the corner was popped in, and one spot was worn through to the yellow bare plastic (from jacking and lowering it and grinding along the cinderblocks of the building). The tail light had some paint on it at the top, but that will polish off - no cracks.
We returned the palots, then returned and loaded all the rest of the lumber and jack into Bessy, and as I was walking back to my Talon to drive her home, I heard a "pop!" and noticed that the bumper cover had unpopped. Should just need sanded and painted, but I'm unhappy about the whole situation - the quarter panel and hatch need body work.
Then I drove home.
After getting the car in the garage (drove just fine, no problems), I noticed that the quarter panel metal had actually ripped. It's right where the metal is very highly formed, so I'm not sure what a body shop would do to fix it. Cut the corner off and weld a tip from a scrap fender? Don't know how big of a deal the hatch misalignment is, either. And maybe you 2gb Talon owners have noticed that the center of the rear bumper cover has an unsightly dent in the middle (there is one other '97 Tsi-AWD in town and it has the same dent), but mine's worse now
.
Moral of the story: DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR E-BRAKE!!!! You figure after 10 years it wouldn't ever happen, but I'm living, retarded proof that brain farts can happen with spectuacularly annoying results.
Still hoping to do a compression test tonight, but I'll probably just drink a lot and go to bed.
I have the relay, fuse holder, pack of 30 amp fuses and am looking at split loom stuff when I hear someone say, "Does anyone in here have a maroon Chrysler Eagle?" Close enough to my car, so I'm like, "Eagle Talon?"
So the guy says, "You got a bit of a problem, mister. Your car is high-sided on the curb."
Oh shit.
Sure enough, for the 2nd time in 10 years, I forgot to set the parking brake. Recall how much shopping I'd done already. Guess nobody noticed that nice lookin' car hangin off a wall for about 5 minutes.
Car drifted back across the parking lot, jumped the curb (2 foot drop beyond the 4" curb on the edge of the parking lot), landed on one of the jacking points on the frame right as the rear-right corner hit a cinderblock wall of the building next door. It was at an angle, so the driver side tire was about 1" from the curb (hanging 14" above the ground) and the passenger side tire is about 3 feet from the curb (also about 14" from the ground). The pass. side is resting right on the curb on one of the jacking points. The driver side is resting on the body work at the forward wheel well. I forgot to pick up my digicam when I was gathering supplies for the rescue mission. That's probably a good thing - I don't want to remember.
Amazingly, not one structural component had a scratch. Drivetrain, exhaust, gas tank, etc. didn't have so much as a scratch. But there were some "issues" with bodywork on the pass. rear corner (duh, it hit a building).
So I call my neighbor, finished buying the 10 gauge wire, clips, etc. for the fuel pump rewire, my neighbor showed up, we come up with a plan, then set it in motion.
He took me home where I pulled good ole' "Bessy" (1974 Ford F100 POS pickup truck) out of the weeds by my house (Bessy has saved my a$$ too many times), took her to the dump to unload the crap in her bed, loaded her up with plywood and as much 2x6 and 4x4 lumber I could muster, and my rolling 2 ton floor jack. then we headed to the local harware store to pick up 8 palots from their massive stack out back (they said I could have them if I didn't burn them
).We build cribbing out of the palots under each wheel, threw the 3/4" plywood under the middle rear of the cantilevered a$$ end on the stack of palots under the driver side wheel, threw the floor jack on the plywood, and jacked her up for round 1. Got the car high enough to get another palot under each wheel, lowered it (now resting 100% on the wheels, not the curb), put the jack's wheels up on 2 4x4s to get more height and jacked her up again enough to get another palot under the pass. side wheel and a stack of 2x6 lumber under the driver side. Then we lowered the jack and nothing snapped, cracked, etc.
And I drove her off.
The pass. side quarter panel was munched in about 1" right above the tail light next to the hatch. The corner of the hatch was barely dented on the pass. side, but it was out of alignment (3/8" gap on the left, 1/8" on the right). The rear bumper cover had white paint smeared all over that corner, and the corner was popped in, and one spot was worn through to the yellow bare plastic (from jacking and lowering it and grinding along the cinderblocks of the building). The tail light had some paint on it at the top, but that will polish off - no cracks.
We returned the palots, then returned and loaded all the rest of the lumber and jack into Bessy, and as I was walking back to my Talon to drive her home, I heard a "pop!" and noticed that the bumper cover had unpopped. Should just need sanded and painted, but I'm unhappy about the whole situation - the quarter panel and hatch need body work.
Then I drove home.
After getting the car in the garage (drove just fine, no problems), I noticed that the quarter panel metal had actually ripped. It's right where the metal is very highly formed, so I'm not sure what a body shop would do to fix it. Cut the corner off and weld a tip from a scrap fender? Don't know how big of a deal the hatch misalignment is, either. And maybe you 2gb Talon owners have noticed that the center of the rear bumper cover has an unsightly dent in the middle (there is one other '97 Tsi-AWD in town and it has the same dent), but mine's worse now
.Moral of the story: DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR E-BRAKE!!!! You figure after 10 years it wouldn't ever happen, but I'm living, retarded proof that brain farts can happen with spectuacularly annoying results.
Still hoping to do a compression test tonight, but I'll probably just drink a lot and go to bed.
. Either that, or she'll say, "You were the idiot who forgot to set his e-brake."
..
