Pay Attention to ALL of the details.....

[ronzet]

LBC Fans...

I have been paying a great deal of attention, lately, to the get up and go part of my '58 MGA restoration....

As listed in various posts...

I recored my radiator to keep it cool, added Wetter Water and a shroud... Runs right at 185 +- a few degrees....

I re-re-re-built my carbs... Idles wonderfully and runs great...

I rewired and/or rplaced my ingition system (wires, points, capacitor, Cap, timing) also running very well....

I put on wind-wings, fender mirros and polished the car to a beautiful shine along with the sparkling chrome...

All the brake slaves are new from Moss, the master completely rebuilt, new shoes, along with new tubes all around....What I did not do, however, is MAKE SURE that the brakes were absolutley perfect.

For the VERY FIRST TIME, I took the A on the Saturday run with the club, several Bs, many Ts and a Magnette... Mine is the only A on the run Saturday...
Mine was also the only car that RAN INTO a truck!!!

30 minutes and 20 miles into the run....

The brakes fadded as in 'peddle to the floor', as I came up to an intersection behind a rather large truck... Striking the trailer hitch and pushing the rechromed original bumpers into the grille and generally running havoc on the front...

Was a blessing that we were not hurt. With all of the damage to my car, all the truck had was some scratched paint on the trailer hitch...

Needless to say... Called AAA and had the car trailered home....Where it now sits, awaiting an infusion of $$$$...

PLEASE, PLEASE learn from my mistake... make sure your car goes, but please make sure it will stop!!!

 

[ddrumman]

Sorry to hear that Ron,

The good thing is that you guys are ok. The not so good thing is that your brakes were not thoroughly checked. From your description it sounds like you DID check your brakes. What went wrong?

I rear ended this Acura Legend a while back. The damage was all on the hood and the grill. I had to replace them both. The guy I rear ended turned out to be an actor. He was Farrah Fawcett's boyfriend in the Apostle.

 

[ronzet]

ddrumman,

Thanks for the condolences....

I have not yet had the time, or the heart, to check everything out yet... The master was empty after the indident but, at the accident sight, I did not see any pools of brake fluid on the ground....

I will let you know what I find....

There is a fellow who is a MASTER MG mechanic in San Diego that most of the Club members recommend... So I will probably put it on a trailer and take it to him to check it out and repair where necessary... And ask him to do some fine tuning while he is at it......

Bodywork will happen afterwards...and when the budget $$$ permit...

 

[dklawson]

Ron, that's absolutely awful! I'm glad you weren't hurt. I can only begin to imagine your frustration. Hang in there and with time and dollars you'll put it right again.

Have you determined what happened with the brakes or is it too soon to have spent any time on the car yet?

 

[ronzet]

dklawson,

Thanks for the note... I haven't had the time yet... I TRUELY HOPE that it wasn't something absolutely stoooopid....

It is embarassing enough without abmitting a really dumb oversite....

 

[Deleted member 3577]

All the brake slaves are new from Moss, the master completely rebuilt

Well that should have done the trick...

Sorry to hear about the damage....

Doesn't the MGA have tandem brake masters?
Thought I remembered 2 rods going into a big chunk of steel.

 

[Steve_S]

Ron, Words don't describe how sorry I am to hear about this. I know that telling you "at least you're ok" doesn't make things better but it's still true. Metal and paint can be repaired easily enough and these are cars after all. If you need the contact info for the best body and paint guy I've ever seen, shoot me an email. Best of luck with the repairs!

Doesn't the MGA have tandem brake masters?
Thought I remembered 2 rods going into a big chunk of steel.

It's shared, not tandem.

 

[ronzet]

Steve,

I thank you for the words of comfort. Yes, it could have been so much worse.... I have not yet installed seat belts so the blessing of this none injury incident can not be expressed too strongly....the rest of the outing was through some of the hillside roads in east San diego county that are resplendent with very high precipices....

You have offered, as well as whatsthatnoise, a thought that had, to this point, not surfaced. Although the brakes did not leak, it may be the clutch slave. I will check it this evening.

 

[merlinron]

just terrible!... as with the rest, i'm glad no-one got hurt! i know that way back when in my early 20's, when i had my "A", i was lucky, the way i ran that car around, that nothing ever happened.....(young-dumb and full of.....)...if i was lucky enough to have one now, i know something like that would make me just sick!

 

[blueA]

Gday Ron,glad to hear about no one was hurt,sorry about the damage to the car. It is sometimes frustrating owning these cars but hang in there. Bob

 

[vping]

Sorry to hear and good that you are OK. I do all of my own rebuilds too and would love to hear the answer when and if you find it.

 

[DrEntropy]

Gah. Sorry to learn of this, Ron. Pleased you're alright, saddened that the A has a new "innie".

Me grandad always said cars only do three things: Go, turn and stop. It doesn't matter how fast it goes, it's bein' able to steer and STOP wot's really important.

 

[ronzet]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the comments and condolences...

As the expression goes --

The devil is in the details.....

And as DrEntropy so eloquently stated ...We can distill it all down to GTS.... <span style="font-weight: bold">G</span>o - <span style="font-weight: bold">T</span>urn - <span style="font-weight: bold">S</span>top.. everything else is window dressing...

 

[ronzet]

Vping,

I am planning to tear the brakes apart this weekend.

I, too, prefer to do my own mechanical rebuilds and am very curious to see what went wrong and what I may have overlooked.... Although the slaves were all new, via Moss, I did rebuild both sides of the Master....

I will let you know what I find...

 

[19_again]

Ron, I'll join in with the condolences, as has been expressed at least you're ok. In my most recent accident, none of them were my fault btw, I distinctly recall that my thoughts as the metal started to crunch was not of the potential damage to the car, it was "I hope we all get out of this ok". That's just to point out what's really important. As has been said we can straighten fenders easily enough, the skin and bones not so easy. Maybe Basil can lend you the $$ for the repairs, after all it was his forum that probably contributed to the whole thing, eh?

 

[Deleted member 3577]

After all it was his forum that probably contributed to the whole thing, eh?

Yipes! :eeek: If the carb problem hadn't been sorted...

Ronzet would still be in the garage :hammer:

 

[19_again]

I should have put one of those smileys after my facetious remark about the forum being to blame.

 

[DrEntropy]

'sokay, Mike. We saw your tongue stuck firmly in yer cheek. :laugh:

 

[ronzet]

Hey guys...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Yipes! If the carb problem hadn't been sorted...
Ronzet would still be in the garage
[/QUOTE]

That's right!!! Maybe I can blame you all for guiding me through the cooling, ignition, and and carb problems.... After all, in this society where we can blame others for anything we do... That's the name of the game, ehhh ???...

You know, though, after driving the A around for a while, and certainly after the brake incident, I have been seriously thinking of upgrading the car a bit to make it more comfortable and a bit safer to drive....and since it's on the 'hard' for a little while, maybe this is an opportune time to do a few things.

Soooo... What's the word on replacing the front drums with disk brakes from a later A or an early B??? It looks like a 'no brainer' but thought I would get some advice from my friends on the forum...

 

[Deleted member 3577]

Actually...I think they look great w/o the bumper.