Rick Hoffman has some generally good suggestions on safety. It
seems I read every couple of years about some enthusiast or other
who got killed while working under a car; it's a serious place. I
must, however, take Rick to task on at least one comment:
3. Don't let kids/dogs/cats/etc hand around.
But then how will the little ones ever learn to adjust a set of SU
carburettors? :-)
No, I'm always careful about letting Torrey near the car when I'm
working on it, but on the other hand she loves to help me out. If
you use some common sense and think about safety, you can have a
lot of fun teaching your kids (if you have them) about the fun
you can have with a British sports car. Torrey, for example, loves
the little ignition wrenches (sized perfectly for a four-year-old's
hands), so when we rebuilt the distributor in the Green Car she got
to tighten the nut that holds down the points spring. Since I had
the distributor out of the car it was easy and safe to work on. I
also let her use the feeler gauge on the points, and she had a chance
to work the screwdriver as well.
I figure this will pay off real soon, because with a little luck she
will develop sufficient skill to be a real help to me while her hands
are still small enough to fit into the space behind the dashboard and
inside all those little nooks and crannies where my big mitts won't fit.
Besides, that way she'll always have an option if her boyfriend ever
claims "car trouble" on a date...
--Scott "Honey, hand me the big wrench with the yellow handle" Fisher
|