[Mgs] [Fwd: Re: Horror stories (was Piston Broke)]

Phil Bates jello at ida.net
Thu Feb 14 15:57:06 MST 2008


Again somewhat off topic - but related

In automotive horror story breakdowns:

I once had a rear suspension torsion tube on my Porsche 911t break in a
hard turn.  No rear suspension, and the trans mounts were there too.  It
pulled on the throttle rods, and put the car at full throttle (7500rpm). 
I drove home at 2AM in -20 degree weather by popping the clutch in third
gear, and shutting down at 90mph to coast.  Scarey.

Same car - missed a turn in a dirt road rallye - drove off the mountain
just enough that I couldn't get traction to come back up.  A large 4 wheel
drive deisel truck had a hard time pulling us back up.  We finished the
rallye.

Same car - broke a timing chain tensioner - which in turn broke all the
exhaust rockers on that side of the engine.  Oddly enough, no internal
damage.  Good design, break the rockers...they're external, more or less.

In my MGB - missed sealing up the oil canister o-ring once.  Drove 1 mile,
and did irreprairable damage.
In the MGB - didn't re-connect the driveshaft properly after having the
engine and trans out - luckily, it came loose trying to leave a stoplight
- no serious damage.

In my MGA - lost a water pump seal in New Mexico in June.  All was well
while moving, but not when the car stopped.  Still working on repairs from
this - it was a long drive.

In my 1991 lotus elan - oil drain plug fell out during a rallye.  Luckily
it was caught early.  Some damage, but not enough to stop driving in the
rallye or driving the car.

And by far my worst - I've caught two kit cars on fire (one of them 2
times).  One was electrical on my 1952 MG-TD/VW replicar, once a gas fire
in the same car.  The other was much worse - stuck throttle in a corvair
engined sportscar kitcar (sebring - much like a sterling).  The belt
snapped, and the engine had no cooling.  Burned down the engine.

Luckily, I never got hurt in any of those.

Phil


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