V10 Charger (Update 5/25/21)

[GT]

Well a quick update is due.  Unfortunately, when i went to start welding/modifying the floor pans, i suffered a severe injury in the process.   Long story short, on May 17th, I broke my right forearm/wrist in five places.    Many months of recovery, a titanium plate, and 13 screws later, and I am almost 100% again in my right arm.  The doc was right - takes about 6 months to fully recover from such a severe accident.   

I dont recommend it to anyone - it has sucked.  Guess I've been snake bitten... heh heh

I've placed the project in hibernation until sometime next year.   It's definately going to get done.  I continue to fire up the v10 on the engine stand and enjoy the rumble.

I did buy the ISIS multiplexing system for the electronics in the car - its an awesome and fully programable system.    I have a master control unit, 3 of the power cells, remote control, in-dash system, and the programming unit.  I'll be spending the winter drawing up the diagrams and such.  I'll post some updates on that from time to time - but no physical/hard work on the car.

[PocketThunder]

Holy Crap!  thats not the kind of body work we want to see!   

Well, we all know too well that these projects take 3 times longer to finish than we originally plan.  And cost 3 times a much!

[bakerhillpins]

   Sorry to hear. Glad that recovery is moving along and that you have a way to keep active on the project while you do so. I would imagine it helps keep the spirits up.

If you don't mind me asking. Is there a story in there that might help the rest of us avoid an injury?

[moparstuart]

  sorry to here about your injury  , this is one of my favorite builds on the site .  Hope you get healed up and we see more progress next year .       

[john.v]

  Sorry to hear. Glad that recovery is moving along and that you have a way to keep active on the project while you do so. I would imagine it helps keep the spirits up.

If you don't mind me asking. Is there a story in there that might help the rest of us avoid an injury?

because the first thing that i am going to do when my order comes in is to remove and replace the floorpan so i am really  of what can go wrong. 
glad everything is going well with you now 

[sardillim]

Been looking at the Isis system myself but not quite there yet although i have been thinking about were i can engine compartment wires. 

Get well

fellow viper builder

Mike

[motorcitydak]

Agreed on the ISIS. I plan on using that setup too. It seems to eliminate a lot of wire and potention problems with wiring(fire).

Did you get the panel that you dock into the dash that is like taking all the switches with you?

[GT]

Okay, story about by accident - hopefully it'll help.    Funny how something seems safe/ok to do - then in hindsight you realize that it was really really STUPID.

Now keep in mind, I am extremely safe and cautious while working on the car.  I *never* do heavy work unless one or more people are home and i always have my cell phone on me and fire extinguisher handy.

I've learned from others when welding too.  I wear gloves, vest, auto-tinting helmet, and ear plugs (one person told of getting welding splatter in their ear).  Unfortunately, these precautions were part of my demise...

The Charger has been on the rotissere so that i could roll it around, rotate it, etc. to gain better access to welding/modifying the floor pan.  I use the Mig, dolly, hammer, wire brush, clamps, etc. when doing this work.  Because the car is on the rotissere, when level, the bottom of the car is about 3' of the ground.

Reaching inside the car to tack in the rear hump is quite a stretch due to the door jamb.   Combine this with having to hold/clamp/dolly/etc. the floor when tacking and you can see its quite a difficult and awkward reach/orientation to work from.  My goal was, tack it in place, then flip the car on its side and finish stitch welding on the bottom.

To facilitate this, i had a sturdy/wide/padded stool i would kneel on (mistake #1), and lean on the door bottom edge of the door seal/jamb/body (mistake #2).  This worked well on the passenger side.  I finished, moved/rotated the car around, and moved to the drivers side to complete.

I kneeled on the stool, pulled down the visor, and leaned on the edge and stretched to make a few tack welds.  Keep in mind I am blind and deaf at this point with limited awareness of my surroundings (diminished vision, hearing, and touch/feel).  For some reason, and the only time I have done this, I had a brain fart and neglected to lock the rotissere in place (final mistake #3).

As I leaned on the car - shifting my weight, the car began to slowly rotate - slow enough (due to momentum) that at first I could not tell it was moving - nor hear the tools sliding.  Just as I was about to make the first tack, I realized the car was rotating.  I had nothing to brace myself on - pushing on the floor of the car only rotated it more.  I mildly started to panic - then the stool tipped any my full body weight (230lbs) fell on the door edge/jamb.  So now, 230lbs of weight on basically a 3-1/2 foot lever (distance from centerline of rotissere) pushed on the already rotating car.

As you can imagine, the car rotated quickly - flipping me out of the car and on to the concrete - right arm hitting first.  All the dolly's/hammers/etc. came tumbling/crashing out on top of me.  The welder, clamped to the car with the ground strap, was pulled off the cart and up into the air - about 8-9 feet in the air... thank GOD it was heavy enough to stop the car from spinning, reverse, then land back onto the cart.  If it would have continued rotating - I would have had a 100 lb mig welder land on top of me to boot.  *That* would have really sucked.

As I lay on the floor - stunned at being flung to the concrete by my trebuche (rotissere)... I was pissed off by what happened.  No pain, just stunned.  I looked down at my arm and thought - oohhh shoot - its not suppose to be pointed back like that  

Often times the difference between disaster and incident are determined by a persons ability to either take action - or be a victim

I realized that I had a very short period of time before the pain, adrenline, etc. would kick in and I would pass out.  So i stood up, flipped off the main garage circuit breaker and walked into the house to get my daughter to drive me to the emergency room.

Took about 10min to get there - I kept telling my daughter to "Dont look at my arm", "Dont speed - drive normal".  She did a good job.   About the time we got to the hospital, I opened my eyes and litterally only say gray...really weird.  They had to help me out of the car and into a wheel chair.   Then the pain kicked in... and the dry heaves from not eating (good thing) and adreneline.  I tell you - it really sucked for the next 20min or so until they gave me some morphine.  I remember they said - it wont stop the pain, but you wont care...  They were right - kicked in in like 3 seconds...  and I'll save the rest of the gore/surgery/recover...

So, I dont recommend repeating this.  But I do recommend:

ALWAYS verify you LOCK your rotissere!  
NEVER kneel on a stool.  
NEVER lean on/place weight on the car while on the rotissere.  
ALWAYS work on the car with someone home
ALWAYS have a cell phone and fire extinguisher

Can I be elected for the 2009 Darwin award???  

[Paul G]

You are here to tell the story, that is a good thing. Thank God that it was not worse, it could have been. We learn from our mistakes, and hopefully, the mistakes of others. Good luck with the healing and a quick recovery. 

[200MPH]

  Glad to hear you are better!

[squeakfinder]

 
Don't you have to be killed or castrated to qualify for the Darwin award? 

Your still around to tell the story so I don't think so. 

Glad to hear your making a recovery.

[tan top]

   awww man !!  !! glad you have recovered !!!  , can be dangerous working on your own , for safty !!   never worried me when i was young in the garage , but now always have my phone handy .

[sardillim]

yikes  !!!!       That sort of thing can happen easy with out warning.  When I work on my car its on a lift and I can't tell you how easy it is to knock it off the lift since the shell with no drive line is so lite


take some time off to heal and re group    then get after it!!!!

[Landonsrt]

Just glad it wasnt worse than that. Im there with ya. I broke my wrist in three places about 14 years ago by jumping over a chain, snagged my feet and threw me to the ground on my left wrist. I got up, felt a weird tingling in my arm, looked down and saw my hand contorted under my arm. All i could say was: "Shit, broke my arm!" Pain and shock settled in about 10 minutes later. So I know the feeling your talking about! Had two 3 inch long pins put into my wrist.

You got it worse than I did. Bet it feels wierd to use that arm again. At least itll be stronger and harder to break next time. Just dont shoot for a next time.

[knitz01]

Any new updates?

[Brock Samson]

 GT:
So sorry. somehow i missed the "trebuche" update,..
Glad you daughter was home to help out,.. hope the worst is over and your well on the way to a full and complete recovery...

Ouch! 
i found something to help perhaps...

[knitz01]

GT... its been a while. Just wondering how your arm is? and if u got anything done lately? Im sitting on pins and needles waiting for an up date. Hope all is well.

[GT]

This project is still on... but on hold thru winter.  I've moved the car/tools/etc. to a secure storage since I'm in the process of moving.   It's killing me not working on it.  I continue to reseach and draw out electrical layout for the ISIS system.   I also found a really nice upholstery shop that is willing to work with me.  I plan to find some newer GTO seats and they will cover them in a similiar pattern... the SRT-10 front buckets are just too tall and propotionally dont work right.  I'll sell those... the search is on for the GTO seats.

[XS29L9B2]

very very nice work

[BigBlockSam]

 

[chargergirl]

Just read your story...holy moly! Lock, no stool, phone, other person that can drive...got it.

[Wicked72]

Awsome car. I am doing just about the same build on my 3rd gen.But I am building my 400 into a supercharged monster which is about the only diff besides the car its self. I wish you lived near me I would get in there and lend a hand for sure...given I had the time..which is why mine hasnt had progress in awhile. Cant wait for more pics and a some vids. 

[thrillbilly]

Any work done on this?  Definately one of my favorite threads on here!!

[IowaCharger69]

Hey, I have been away a very long time but this was one of my favorite threads to follow. So sorry to hear about the break but that is old news. Anything cool and new on this?

[rapidtransitrick]

any up dates?