Garage incidents...

[Mr. Pockets]

Now that the swelling has gone down, I'm going to tell you about my latest self-inflicted, car-related injury.

I've been autocrossing my RX-8 in STU this season, and I recently installed a set of coilovers. The springs the manufacturer sent me for the rear were too short, so I wasn't able to get the ride height adjustment I needed out of them. The manufacturer sent me a longer set of springs, and I got them the day before the next event.

Now, I have a rule about working on the car the night before an event, and for good reason. I'm used to old cars that have rusty parts. But I really needed to get these springs on, so I risked it.

The right-side lower link can be stubborn, but it has to be disconnected at the body end to get the coilover out. The bolt head is awfully close to the exhaust. I was tugging on the link with one hand and the bolt with the other. The instant the bolt came out of its hole, the link slammed down into my face, hitting me right on the end of my nose. In the shiny GReddy muffler above me, I could see a trickle of blood come out my right nostril.

It really hurt, for weeks, to blow my nose or even scratch it. My face didn't bruise, but when the swelling went down I found that my nose was crunchy, a sure sign it was broken.

Well, that's my tale of woe. I'm really lucky I didn't blind myself or knock my teeth out.

Let's hear your story, as long as you're willing to laugh about it a little.