DISCLAIMER: Not good reading for the squeamish ones out there!

I am in the process of putting new door glass in my Fiero, and the regulators / tracks are really rusted and in bad shape. I decided to take it all out, grind, sand and give a fresh coat of paint and clean & grease everything up. I have never done this before, so live and learn!

I drilled out the rivets holding the pancake motor onto the regulator. As I picked up the regulator, and began to pry off the motor, that's when W H A M ! ! The large spring on the back of the regulator swung the regulator closed like a guillotine!

I stood there and thought interesting, and then tried to move my hand and instantly realized that my thumb was caught, and the pain started to set in. It was like slamming my finger in a car door. I tried to turn the mechanism to release my thumb, and the spring just clamped down tighter! Luckily my roommate was home, and I decided to run inside and ask for help.

Needless to say I was hollering when I came in the door, with my hand stuck in a large rusty metal contraption, I don't know who was freaked out more, him or me! I was trying to explain to try to push the mechanism in opposite directions, and again it clamped down tighter. At this point there was a LOT of pain, I mean a L O T ! I may have even let out a small scream LOL! I had the pain from it slamming shut on my thumb, on top of the metal cutting into my thumb real good and blood starting to run down the whole contraption and my arm.

I could see a round hole in the half gear shaped thing and yelled at him to get something, anything to pry it open! He ran for the kitchen and grabbed a butter knife of all things hahah! He managed to get it in the hole, and was able to pry it back just enough for me to rip my thumb out of it, and I do mean rip! When I first saw it, I thought it was a lot worse than it was, a large flap of skin was sticking up out of my blood covered thumb, and had no idea what it looked like under it!

I washed it up real good, and was close to going to get stitches in it. It is a cut going about half way around my thumb, with the ripped part where the triangular metal went in pretty deep. I was able to get the bleeding stopped, and get it nice and closed up tight with a bandage, and decided it would be ok without the need of going to the hospital.

Here is a photo of the regulator. The red arrow is the direction it slammed down on my thumb, and the green area is where my thumb was stuck. The yellow area is that nice triangular point. The closest thing I can associate it with is one of those cutters to remove the end of a cigar!



So, work of warning to those that did not know, be VERY careful when messing with these things, there is a lot of tension on that spring! Trust me, I learned the hard way!

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 01-30-2012).]

Ouch! Thanks for passing on the word to others. Shouldn't have read that right after I ate though...

And here I was thinking I'd scroll down and see pics of your bloody half cut off thumb. Lame.


, tell me you took a pic of it!!

I'm glad it wasn't worse and it took the whole finger off, I've had sticky situations like that and it was pretty unpleasant. 3 finger tips cut down to the bone

Be sure your last tetanus vaccine is in date.

That'll make you say "darn".

quote Originally posted by L67: Be sure your last tetanus vaccine is in date.

Excellent advice. Take care.

That's one of "bonding" yourself to your car. Good thing you had a friend who helped you.

Yea, tetnis is in order thank goodness. No, I am not taking a photo of a cut up thumb and posting it, sorry! All ya would see anyways is a bandage, as at the time, taking photo's for some reason did not cross my mind

Yea, VERY good thing someone else was home! After a short time in the shed, panic mode set in a bit, when I realized I was not just gonna simply take my thumb out of it. I can just imagine what I looked like with this whole metal scissor apparatus stuck on my hand when I bust through the front door yelling for some assistance LOL! ! ! !

I am a pretty tough guy, broken many bones and had stitches at least 10 times in the past. I will say though, the excruciating pain was really more than I thought you could get from just a thumb!

When it clamped down tighter the second time, I honestly thought I was gonna lose the end of the thumb. It's funny how your brain goes into over drive, as I was thinking about having to put the end of my thumb on ice, how long it would last that way, what it would take to put it back on, if the nerves and such would still work... crazy....

Ouch i will make note of this and remember your pain.

I found that out long ago. I never take one apart now, lol. If I need to install a used window motor, I replace the whole thing as a unit and dont mess with it. I did replace just a motor in the Astro and I used lots of vise grips and heavy gloves.

Hey John,
Nice to see your making progress on the Fiero. Two thumbs up!

[This message has been edited by CaptDean (edited 01-30-2012).]

You didn't name your Fiero "Christine" did you? Heal fast.

You're lucky man....if it was in some other places it could have basically guillotine'd your finger off. I HATE window mechanisms... they just suck to work on and they are never easy to get to. I replaced the power window motor in my chevy astro van recently and it was tight, sharp, and just about inaccessible for most tools. I was lucky enough to have some 1/4 inch air ratchets here and that made things considerably easier. It is never simple or easy tho. Never been inside a fiero door yet so thanks for the tips....get it.....TIPS!! haha peace

Pete

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: I did replace just a motor in the Astro and I used lots of vise grips and heavy gloves.

Well trust me! That is going to be the procedure and attire when I do the other side! I may try to find some of those Chain Mail shark suit gloves LOL !

Not being mean just asking for when you do the other side. Isnt there a procedure where you run a bolt through the whole to lock the mechanism down? i know on my camaro you had to bolt the mechanism before your drilled to hold everything in place.

quote Originally posted by Tstang429: Not being mean just asking for when you do the other side. Isnt there a procedure where you run a bolt through the whole to lock the mechanism down? i know on my camaro you had to bolt the mechanism before your drilled to hold everything in place.

You can see the two holes are almost lined up in your picture. Safety 1st!!!!!

Guys, I am not a mechanic! This is the first time I have done anything with doors, tracks, regulators, lock cylinders, window motors, glass replacement.... you get the idea. TRUST ME.... If I HAD known of the hazard, I would not have cut t̶h̶u̶m̶b̶s̶... corners safety wise!

Trust me when I say, on the other regulator, I will use all 6 pair of my of vice grips, and every clamp that I can dig out of the tool chest in various locations on the regulator,. Then, I will put a 1/2 carbide, tempered, titanium plated bolt wrapped in thread stopper and a tungsten lock nut through the "safety hole".... and then weld it all in place before I even go near it. All while wearing a pair of industrial work gloves! ! !

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 01-31-2012).]

Ok, I was not gonna post a picture of a bloody thumb (Not British slang in this case ).... so I waited a few days for it to start to heal up:



The flap of skin ya see at the top, was ripped down the back side that you can not see, and that cut line goes right across the wrinkle over the knuckle on the back of the thumb as well, and there is where the deepest part of the cut was, I think it came pretty close to going down to the bone on the side where the deeper cut is. That is probably from the impact of it slamming on my thumb I would think. Was like slamming it in a car door!.

So again, CAUTION when messing with window regulators! ! !

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 02-02-2012).]

y worst was trying to undo a T15 screw on the top of the gauges.. the widshield was broken and my hand clipped cutting my finger really deep.. still have a scar from it