Something not to do on Friday driving home

[Norton47]

or perils of having a daily driver.
https://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd50/Norton47/TR6%20Accident/
Hard to win a braking contest with ABS equipped vehicles. Remember to mind your following distance. Good weather day, smoothing flowing traffic, no slow downs early Friday afternoon.
Chev pickup locks up in front of me to the point of stopping. I was unable to respond quick enough. Praise the Lord I escaped with no injuries. However my daily ride did not.
Appears the frame, running gear and aft the fire wall escaped except for the cowl and the brake pedal.
Looking for parts or a whole car as this has been rebuilt from the wheel bearings up. Glad I had not done the paint.

Had not been visiting as I have been busy with setting up a Norton repair and restoration business and the 6 was running great. Guess I be around more for awhile.

I see lots of visits to my photobucket account for the photo's on window fitting the last few days. Let me know if I can provide any information if those hits are coming from folks here.

Cheers

 

[DNK]

Mark, glad to hear you are alright. Bummer about the car. Is the spit finished?
Looks like plenty to do there.

 

[Norton47]

Don
Not much progress on Spit. Pulled the front suspension off and had powdercoated. Stalled out on trying to make my mind up on redoing the fire wall and paint the frame with original color or to just leave as is and spray can or rubber undercoat the frame and get on with things. The 6 may come after the Spit now. But not having a daily driver is cramping things. I was going to try driving the shhhh MGB but the rear spring sag is bad so need to fix that. BPNW is out of stock on rear springs so delivery by this week end is now out of the question.
Sigh. My garage is absolutely stuffed as I had to move the motorcycle shop before my shed was done. So working in the drive way. Guess I will have to get the garage done then start on a car. At least the weather looks good for the week end.

 

[TR3driver]

Remember to mind your following distance.

And check how well your brakes work under panic conditions!

I make a point to check mine occasionally; few months ago I realized that the rear brakes weren't doing their part. Pedal felt fine, no noticeable difference in ordinary driving, but in a simulated panic stop (in a deserted industrial area) I simply could not get the rear wheels to lock.

Turns out the wheel bearing housing was loose (!), and allowed some differential oil out into the brake drum. Not enough to drip on the ground, just enough to ruin the brakes.

 

[Brosky]

Sorry to hear about the car, but happy that you are OK. I can only say, I've been there, so I know the pain, though I had to sit and watch someone slide into me with no where to go, rather than me hitting someone else.

 

[eejay56]

I'm glad to hear that you weren't hurt but what a shame about your 6.

 

[justin_mercier]

Glad to hear you're OK.

Yesterday I had a close call in my 6 and braking. Driving up RT1 to foxboro to get supper at Olive Garden after work, someone infront of me slammed on their brakes. Thankfully I had enough distance that I was able to stop in time, but it also showed that I've got a brake problem too. Under normal driving conditions my brakes seemed to be just fine, but when i really had to put them on hard, while going high speed, the whole car pulled hard to the left and I was afraid I was going to lose control for a minute there.

Yet another thing to look into when i start pulling this baby apart this winter to replace the frame.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

Under normal driving conditions my brakes seemed to be just fine, but when i really had to put them on hard, while going high speed, the whole car pulled hard to the left and I was afraid I was going to lose control for a minute there.

There is a good chance that this has nothing to do with your brakes. When you are hard on the brakes, problems with suspension, and tires can make themselves well known. Your symptoms could reflect a worn shock, or some worn bushings in the front suspension. There could also have been a crown in the road that caused the car to pull left.

If I were in your shoes, I would try and replicate the braking conditions (safely, of course) on different roads and see if you get the same response each time. Based on your testing, you should be able to better diagnose if you have a problem or not.

/ back on topic...

 

[TR3driver]

but when i really had to put them on hard, while going high speed, the whole car pulled hard to the left

I bought a TR3A that had a similar complaint; turned out that one of the front suspension pivots had ripped out of the frame.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Depending on conditions, one soft tire can be enough to cause that pulling. Been there, done that, etc.!

 

[NickMorgan]

Wow, sorry to see what has happened to your TR6. Glad you are OK and the car could have been worse. Certainly looks repairable, but it is amazing how many smaller components such as the windscreen wiper, carburettor and valve cover stud have suffered. I hope you made a good mess of the truck as well!!

 

[vagt6]

Great that no one was injured.

I truly hope that threads like this one serve to remind us all that our antique cars should be thoroughly inspected on a regular basis for key system safety.

Suspension; braking; electrical, fuel delivery: all major systems in good nick. It's not that hard to do, and most certainly, it's worth every penny to have a professional do it for you.

Safe, not sorry.

Be safe out there, friends . . .