[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Taking a finger off isn't even the worst thing that can happen to you...

Here's a few examples of things not to do:

1) Always make sure someone knows you are working on the car, and have them check in on you every once in a while if you're working solo.

2) Do not use box-end wrenches to pry down on the rear deck lid torsion springs.

3) If you ignore that, do whatever you can to keep the wrench from twisting off of the torsion spring.

4) If you are doing that, and you have taken the rear lid off, never EVER lay on top of the area where the hinges come up. (Can you guess where this is going?)

So, picture the car, with the rear decklid removed, with a big guy laying across the area where the hinges come up, with one hand on a box-end wrench trying to pry that torsion spring downward. Whoops! The wrench slips, the torsion spring jumps up and catches on the hinge, the hinge rockets up and hits our less-than-intelligent friend right in the middle of the chest.

I don't think my heart beat once for about 15 seconds. I do know that the only thing I could do was lie there on the ground, trying to figure out how to start breathing again. And it was a good 15 minutes before I could do anything more than sit there, muttering "ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch"...

LilMur9, congrats on your triumph! And congrats on showing more intelligence than myse... I mean, than our friend above. ;^)

--DD