Speedy88's rather unfortunate Green 360 GLS

[frazeb]

i used to run 55 but my tyre exploded after a week

[jon-ovlov]

a week of drifting? not surprised!! tires do that if theyre at 30 or 50+ PSI when drifting.

[foggyjames]

Just a thought, re: comments about how weak the wishbone is. There's an argument that says that it wasn't weak enough in this instance, hence the body damage. They're undoubtedly made to be sacrificial to protect the shell from minor impacts. A cast wishbone would almost certainly have snapped following a similar impact.

cheers

James

[Speedy88]

Good news re: this.

I'm keeping the wheels as a full set and she's on the mend. Mojo is boosted and she doesn't look half bad to be honest. My plans have changed a little for her but we might be looking at a more serious racing setup. Maybe even a snail engine. Deffinatly more track use.

When I'm back from a month in Canada she'll be thrown back into daily use as she was very reliable before I stuffed it.

Some things are more, some things less bent than I once thought but generally it's going to be fine. I've also found quite a lot of filler, rust and interesting paint coverups since getting up close to this thing. I think it's been in an accident or 2 before...

[Ride_on]

Just a thought, re: comments about how weak the wishbone is. There's an argument that says that it wasn't weak enough in this instance, hence the body damage. They're undoubtedly made to be sacrificial to protect the shell from minor impacts. A cast wishbone would almost certainly have snapped following a similar impact.

cheers

James

I've always thought the radius arm is too strong, most other cars it would bend but this one pushes the force back into the chassis if you drive directly at a big kerd. Seen a couple a car written off that way (joy riders).

[Speedy88]

You say that, but mine bent 90 degrees

[Speedy88]

I was going to wait until my MOT retest Friday but I'm a little bit too happy to keep it a secret...

It's back. Full update and pictures soon

[Hell Driver]

if you drive directly at a big kerd.

Must be hard to hit a kerd, I would expect they run out of the way if they see you coming

Good news on the car front, good luck with the M.O.T.

[Speedy88]

It's certainly time for an update - Much has happened.

Most of June and July were spent sulking whilst driving around in a Rover 414 that I'd picked up for £200. July and August I went over to Canada for a month to get the rest and reflection that I needed.

I'm sure we've all been there... we work flat out on our cars, break them and try to carry on. But energy requires time off, especially with a deflated mojo.



Whilst snapping lots of old tin over in Canadia (See topic here: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... =1#1631809) I came to the realization that yes, I did like the old green thing and yes, I should fix her up.

I returned halfway through August and decided to carry on before the autumn rains started. Have more pictures of bent stuff:



Kev, Ryan and myself also had a bit of fun with a 740 Turbo we picked up at the gathering:


But I decided enough was enough. I gave Bruce a ring and plans were hatched to get the 360 down Area52 and back into daily service. In order to afford the rent that month I had to sell the Rover the same weekend - completely relying on those precious days to get the Volvo back in one piece and a reliable daily again.

But as you know, most plans never go quite how you want them to...

[Speedy88]

Thanks in advance to my friends for these pictures and the help involved.

More messages were sent, one important one to RobinJI who had a certain piece of equipment which would help me out enormously.

I decided that the best plan of action was to stick the new radius arm and wishbone on the car and drive it around the block to see how it would go. It seemed ok, albeit a little low on one side. Something wasn't quite right and it kept on grinding out on the yard surface... it had got lower

The decision was made that if I couldn't drive it to A52 then it really wasn't worth the work saving. I knew it was banana'd but I figured if it would drive in a straight line, it would be saveable.

I set off from my storage unit to the other side of Bristol purposely choosing 4pm on a Friday afternoon in order to avoid exceeding 40mph. I simply didn't feel right doing this however once I started rolling I realized that perhaps I'd made a bad choice. There was MASSIVE play in the steering. Not to mention it was wandering all over the place. I could feel chassis flex everywhere And it felt like every time I went over a bump in the road, it was pivoting diagonally across the car.

Not good.

[Speedy88]

It made it. If you look very closely you can maybe see my slight wheel alignment issue? The castor and camber are way out.





"I think it's f*cked!"




Not much could be done until the next morning. So I did what any man would do. Took abuse from his friends and drank beer. Lots and lots of beer.

In the morning, Robin arrived. With an amazing piece of kit! The Portapower






I learned much about how castor can effect the handling (who knew?). The radius arm has absorbed much of the impact but had transferred much of the energy into the chassis, which was now a little bit rippled. The Portapower undid a lot of the damage, bracing the radius arm cup like so.

A lot of hammering was done to push the end of the subframe back to the correct position on the front-rear axis. Unfortunately the chassis legs had moved a bit more over to the right than they should be, almost an inch infact which of course had taken the subframe with it. The chassis really is f*cked. Well and truely.

[Speedy88]

Castor was sorted. I was happier but I'd spotted a problem.

As I was driving over to the unit I noticed a LOT of exhaust vibration. The conclusion I drew from from was 2 things:
1. My exhaust manifold was making contact with either the subframe or the shell.
2. I am damn lucky not to have shattered it.

Sure enough, when I got under there the down pipe was jammed right up against the bent subframe. The only solution was to bring the subframe down. But how? We can't brace the portapower against the ceiling...

Robin: Slide hammer.
Me: A whatnow?
Robin: A hammer... that slides.
Me: Bruce do you have...
Bruce: Nope.
Robin: We could... make one...

I'd never heard of the concept. But it made sense in my head. Following Robin's instructions I had a couple of beers and cracked out the welder:




WUHBANG!!!








That smile at the end was the sudden realisation that this was working. The exhaust had clearance!

I was aware that the rack needed replacing. But quite how bad it was I really didn't know.

"Slight play felt at wheel"

[Speedy88]

Rack in.






Shattered.


That was Saturday. Onto Sunday, with only a few bolts to do up we had an early morning cuppa:


Test drive time. The verdict?...



.





.








.












IT WORKS!!! It feels brilliant to drive. No more of the issues that I had before and even better - it feels 95% of the car before the crash. Awesome.

Bit of underseal to cover up those pesky stretch marks:


1 week later and BOOM it has MOT and Tax.

[Speedy88]

What's happened since? Well, i've been dailying it. It's been 100% for the past couple of months. It's almost there. Camber is positive 1 on the crashed side which means I have to be a bit careful with self centering but other than that, she's really fun to drive!







Aaaand... then yesterday some drink driver or someone took the front bumper off while it was parked Well, I don't know if I care really. It's never going to be concourse... After getting up close with the car I feel less guilty for bending it. There's pog and bodges everywhere. Being the 11th owner, I'm not surprised tbh. Some zipties on the bumper and it'll be good again.

It's got a massive oil leak and the carb gaskets are going.

But I have a plan... You'll have to wait for this one.

[SteveP]

Good effort, shame the bump had done so much damage On the plus side it looks awesome on them rims lowered