Almost bought the farm today
5th Gear Member
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,176
From: Insanity
RE: Almost bought the farm today
ORIGINAL: Soaring
Not sure I understand that statement. Please explain why an indident on your driveway has anything to do with a near miss 60 MPH accident.
Not sure I understand that statement. Please explain why an indident on your driveway has anything to do with a near miss 60 MPH accident.
I drove off the pavement and into the grass/gully sideways at 70ish MPH on my driveway (I have a big **** driveway and I was being rather silly...what with a 2500 rpm launch and shifting into 2nd at 7500 and all)
We both drove away it from seemingly unscathed. However, shortly after the incident I noticed my lower control arms had come of the bushing:
http://www.dodgestang.com/winter06/controlarm2.jpg
They tend to take the brunt when things like this happen. Just something I recommend you look at when you are inspecting for hidden damage from the incident
Thread Starter
I ♥ Acer
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 17,565
From:
RE: Almost bought the farm today
No, the upper and lower control arms are good. Nothing got bent or out of alignment. I was just lucky in a way I guess. When she locked up, I had to get off the brakes and steer her out of harm's way. The cookie jar is almost full now, so I will be getting the disc brakes soon. I wish we had a way of putting an ABS system on our old cars. Any ideas?
Thread Starter
I ♥ Acer
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 17,565
From:
RE: Almost bought the farm today
Yeah, looking back on it, I guess I was lucky. I could have had a bridge or some immovable object in the ditch. When I hit the ditch, I was probably going no faster than 20 or so. So, the brakes did slow me from 60 to 20 before I had to ditch it to avoid colliding with the SUV. It's amazing how we humans react. I don't think I had any thoughts whatsoever when it happened. Just reaction. Must be all those 50 odd years of driving experience. 
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 479
From: Western KY
RE: Almost bought the farm today
I have a drum brake story...
I was racing a Z28 with my stock 67 back in my younger days. We were on a back road. I was right on his tail when we came up on a intersection that crossed a US highway. He stopped. I was travelling over 110 mph when his brake lights came on. I managed to slow to about 90 when the drums must have got hot and glazed over. I passsed him and jumped the intersection. Luckily nothing was coming. Anyway, after changing my shorts I put a set of disk brakes on the front from a Torino. They don't have the same heat build-up. My dad still has drums on his 66 and he uses metalic shoes. He says it's good for at least one panic stop but repeated braking heats up the shoes and he has a lot of fade. Under "normal" conditions and maybe the occasional panic situation drums should be okay.
Glad your okay and the car survived! Down here in Kentucky if you go into a ditch they may not find you for a few days!
Craig
I was racing a Z28 with my stock 67 back in my younger days. We were on a back road. I was right on his tail when we came up on a intersection that crossed a US highway. He stopped. I was travelling over 110 mph when his brake lights came on. I managed to slow to about 90 when the drums must have got hot and glazed over. I passsed him and jumped the intersection. Luckily nothing was coming. Anyway, after changing my shorts I put a set of disk brakes on the front from a Torino. They don't have the same heat build-up. My dad still has drums on his 66 and he uses metalic shoes. He says it's good for at least one panic stop but repeated braking heats up the shoes and he has a lot of fade. Under "normal" conditions and maybe the occasional panic situation drums should be okay.
Glad your okay and the car survived! Down here in Kentucky if you go into a ditch they may not find you for a few days!
Craig
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 444
From:
RE: Almost bought the farm today
I locked the brakes up on my 58 Chevy truck in college once while driving north at 60 to 65 mph when a semi lost its load on the highway. Even with manual drum brakes it's surprising how much force you can transmit to the brakes in that situation. I hit a peice of metal reinforcement (he was carrying parts for a steel building) and spun 360 degrees into the grassy center median. I got out, walked around the truck, and seeing nothing run continued on my way. Though, I was quite a bit jumpier for the rest of the drive home.
