Comet Crash
- Thread starter 67-Fury
- Start date
azblackhemi
Old Man with a Hat
If there's known safety issues fix before you drive! Pretty simple in my mind.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I see more money than brains.
While glad nobody got hurt, I have zero sympathy.
While glad nobody got hurt, I have zero sympathy.
Agreed. The dummy was riding the brakes because of the throttle sticking. #1 mistake, fix the sticky throttle and it may not have happened. #2 don't ride the brakes to the point the pads and shoes get glazed and the fluid boiled. Then you have no brakes especially if you don't have a brain and fix problem #1 first.
73Coupe
Senior Member
Looks like a very uncomfortable car to drive (coming from a C body owner lol).
$200k into it and no brakes along with sticking gas pedal. So there ya go. In other words what Stan said.
$200k into it and no brakes along with sticking gas pedal. So there ya go. In other words what Stan said.
73Coupe
Senior Member
I see this comet appearing in the future on the "Craigslist for dummies" thread....
"Ran when wrecked. Over $200k invested, no low bawlers, tire kickers, or offers accepted. I know what I have...."
I think the assumption that riding the brakes leading to the failure is a solid bet. Overheating brakes leads to boiling fluid and/or seals/hoses failing and fluid loss. Now....It's supposed to take a lot of heat to boil brake fluid, so either he had very wrong or old fluid in there, or these got extremely hot. I'd expect the bearings to be shot too.
Case in point, I just re-did the fronts on my 73. One side was fine, however the LH side had excessive premature wear. It was sticking and I wouldn't have known without inspection (no brake smell).
I had done a complete brake job about 6 years ago, using rebuilt calipers from Rock Auto, I forget the brand. Sticking piston caused by poor rebuilding - they didn't thoroughly remove the rust from the dust boot recess. Therefore, it contaminated the seal and kept the piston from retracting. This lead to the caliper getting hot and causing more rust (hot iron reacts with air). Even the bleeder oriface became clogged with rust. I had to soak the casting in Evapo-rust for 3 days to get it complete clean.
"Ran when wrecked. Over $200k invested, no low bawlers, tire kickers, or offers accepted. I know what I have...."
oh .. tough room. guess I have personally been the "knucklehead" in the room enough to develop a little more sympathy when I see it in others.
I need to have more "why" this happened. If its just stupidity, that's hard to treat/specifically learn what NOT do to. A "root cause" -- well thats a learning opportunity and chance to apply "training" so that dumb-a** thing doesn't happen again.
Anybody know how much design margin in our brakes: 10% more that needed, or 100% more than needed. I used to know this stuff when I was building cars .. I have forgotten those details now .. but I do know we did (used to but don't now?) put "margin" in most mechanical systems in the design process.
Example, my old '99 Police Tahoe has 3/4 ton brakes on it from the factory. GM wanted to be sure the boys/girls in blue could hang in the pursuit a good while with their brakes doing the job at ALL speeds .. so they put higher stopping power validated on higher GVW platform on the 1/2 ton police truck.
What do you guys do with your brakes when you build a more powerful version of something? Just make sure you use the best material in the existing design/maintain them/check often OR call up Mr. Baer and do 11+ inch discs all around?
I think the assumption that riding the brakes leading to the failure is a solid bet. Overheating brakes leads to boiling fluid and/or seals/hoses failing and fluid loss. Now....It's supposed to take a lot of heat to boil brake fluid, so either he had very wrong or old fluid in there, or these got extremely hot. I'd expect the bearings to be shot too.
Case in point, I just re-did the fronts on my 73. One side was fine, however the LH side had excessive premature wear. It was sticking and I wouldn't have known without inspection (no brake smell).
I had done a complete brake job about 6 years ago, using rebuilt calipers from Rock Auto, I forget the brand. Sticking piston caused by poor rebuilding - they didn't thoroughly remove the rust from the dust boot recess. Therefore, it contaminated the seal and kept the piston from retracting. This lead to the caliper getting hot and causing more rust (hot iron reacts with air). Even the bleeder oriface became clogged with rust. I had to soak the casting in Evapo-rust for 3 days to get it complete clean.
Like stan said, someone with big pockets but not enough intellect or experience of driving such a high horsepowered car. "Let's stick a Blown BB chevy in a Ford with stupid amounts of power. Spend a 1/4 of a century building the thing and lets only drive it 2 times a year" Everything about it just seems to wasteful and vacuous to me. I'm glad no one got really hurt. I don't wish I'll will on nobody. Bloated, wretched excess.
Uncle Tony's reaction:
IMHO, this was a freaking show car only driven in and out of the trailer and onto the show field. As Tony says here, the guy riding was like a bartender and should have shut it down.
One thing I have a HUGE problem with. They NEVER said if the person(s) in the SUV was OK or not. To me, that is some self involved BS. Those guys took a calculated risk being in that car.... The SUV was just sitting there... If the driver even saw them coming or not, there wasn't much that they could do. It's lucky no one was crossing the intersection, either in a car or walking. I hope the guy with the Comet never rebuilds it and it sits in his garage for the next 30 years just to remind him how ******* stupid he is.
IMHO, this was a freaking show car only driven in and out of the trailer and onto the show field. As Tony says here, the guy riding was like a bartender and should have shut it down.
One thing I have a HUGE problem with. They NEVER said if the person(s) in the SUV was OK or not. To me, that is some self involved BS. Those guys took a calculated risk being in that car.... The SUV was just sitting there... If the driver even saw them coming or not, there wasn't much that they could do. It's lucky no one was crossing the intersection, either in a car or walking. I hope the guy with the Comet never rebuilds it and it sits in his garage for the next 30 years just to remind him how ******* stupid he is.
I saw the initial video a couple days ago and watched Uncle Tony's reaction this morning. Absolutely spot on! Back in the day, the wife and I had a scare with her brakes on her 65 Belvedere. She immediately started pumping, downshifted, then used the emergency brake (release pulled out) to come to a stop. Granted, we were just cruising a country road, not riding brakes to compensate for a stuck throttle!
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
Exactly what I was thinking. No mention of the other driver. No concern about the financial losses the other driver may suffer. Thought the same thing about no minivan there stopped at the light, but with a pedestrian walking in the crosswalk. Sheer stupidity pure and simple...
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Thank you, sir.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
I noticed that, as well. No mention of the people involved at all in the SUV. My son was hit in a similar situation. He was sitting at a light when a drunk broad in a Nissan Juke hit him at roughly 50 mph. The impact sent him and his VW Passat across the intersection. That VW saved my son's life, guaranteed! Her car was smashed to the windshield, where my son's car had the trunk caved in (as designed), and the spare tire took a lot of the impact, thankfully. The rear crumple zone worked as designed. He was in a lot of pain for nearly 18 months. He lost his job because he couldn't perform the work.
So, to the guy who made the video about his little accident (like he's reading this, right?)...I guarantee the people in the SUV were hurt. What about them? I really could give a **** less about you and your car-building buddy. You survived because it wasn't your time, and sheer dumb luck. Knowingly driving a car like that with iffy brakes and a sticking throttle was beyond stupid and the height of irresponsibility. What is the status of those people? The fact you made no effort to mention them at all shows you are a 100% total self-engaged douchebag. Stay off the damn road. For everyone's sake.
People like that make me so ******* mad!
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300rag
It's Not Going to Shift Itself
Roustabout
New Member
My late uncle who grew up/drove in the muscle car era told me about a friend of his who bought a Chevy SS (don't recall model, think it was mid to late 60's) with the top engine option new and while out for a ride at high speed it barely braked in time to make a sharp curve. Turns out it had 6-cylinder or base V8 spec brakes as the better optional brakes had to be ordered separately but weren't. I do not know if this car was specially ordered or sitting on the lot.
Point here is the brakes were not matched up to the engine to provide more stopping power from high speeds. Being better brakes were a separate option not ticked off in this case made the Chevy cheaper to buy. My uncle told me this story to explain why a Mopar cost more - if you got a Hemi it also included better brakes and suspension to match the engine. That all cost extra but Mopar supplied it as a matched package, not option by option where one could get in trouble if say a Hemi could be had with 6-cylinder brakes.
If one wants to go faster the brakes and suspension should keep up well as part of the modification process.
So in the case of this Comet plenty was spent on engine upgrades but that apparently didn't extend to the braking system. I know when they realized the brakes were gone there was very little time to react but should have tried to hit something like a pole or bushes on the side of the road instead of another vehicle. They were lucky the occupant(s) of the other vehicle weren't killed but they had to be injured with the force of that crash. No mention was made of the other people other than they hit that vehicle. Hopefully no children were in the back seat.
Point here is the brakes were not matched up to the engine to provide more stopping power from high speeds. Being better brakes were a separate option not ticked off in this case made the Chevy cheaper to buy. My uncle told me this story to explain why a Mopar cost more - if you got a Hemi it also included better brakes and suspension to match the engine. That all cost extra but Mopar supplied it as a matched package, not option by option where one could get in trouble if say a Hemi could be had with 6-cylinder brakes.
If one wants to go faster the brakes and suspension should keep up well as part of the modification process.
So in the case of this Comet plenty was spent on engine upgrades but that apparently didn't extend to the braking system. I know when they realized the brakes were gone there was very little time to react but should have tried to hit something like a pole or bushes on the side of the road instead of another vehicle. They were lucky the occupant(s) of the other vehicle weren't killed but they had to be injured with the force of that crash. No mention was made of the other people other than they hit that vehicle. Hopefully no children were in the back seat.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I believe so.
I remember you telling me once, I reminded you of your long departed friend. Jay dee? I think his name was sorry if I flubbed that up.
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
Of course it has big wheels and some sort of aftermarket brakes. Throw in a little dummy behind the wheel and you have a disaster in the making.
There is a reason why production cars mostly have steel/iron calipers and heavy rotors. To absorb heat! Aluminum calipers, and thin rotors are fine on a light race car, (road course or drag strip) designed differently of course. Car is probably too heavy for the brakes, which are probably a bolt on kit that fit under a 15" wheel (not enough diameter for large wheels), and calipers that are more show than go.
Obviously U.T. is correct when he says the guy never paid his dues driving junk with little to no brakes and/or failing parts. That is the kind of stuff that gives you the knowledge to build and drive properly. I've been on the 2 feet on the pedal hauling a nine inch drum brake car from way too fast ride, respect learned.
That being said I hope the SUV driver takes the car, and a lot more out of that guys *** to insure he will not write anymore checks for a car he does not understand.
There is a reason why production cars mostly have steel/iron calipers and heavy rotors. To absorb heat! Aluminum calipers, and thin rotors are fine on a light race car, (road course or drag strip) designed differently of course. Car is probably too heavy for the brakes, which are probably a bolt on kit that fit under a 15" wheel (not enough diameter for large wheels), and calipers that are more show than go.
Obviously U.T. is correct when he says the guy never paid his dues driving junk with little to no brakes and/or failing parts. That is the kind of stuff that gives you the knowledge to build and drive properly. I've been on the 2 feet on the pedal hauling a nine inch drum brake car from way too fast ride, respect learned.
That being said I hope the SUV driver takes the car, and a lot more out of that guys *** to insure he will not write anymore checks for a car he does not understand.
Knebel
Senior Member
Yeah... first though should have been to kill the engine and throw it in 1st. Actually first thought should be 'idle stuck at 2500...pulling over'. Complete driving noob
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
Fixed.
The idiot should've cut the engine and slammed the trans into First and keep on those brakes. Instead, the clueless check-writing owner shoved it into Park, thinking that little park pawl was going to stop the car. Hell, I'd think a kid in driver training school would know that.
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