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Crashed my T-Bucket

7K views 53 replies 16 participants last post by  Too Many Projects 
#1 ·
Crashed my car on the way home from a show Sunday. Fastener failure let to an uncontrollable vehicle. Fortunately I was going slow and didn't get hurt. Car is fixable and will be fixed as soon as I can round up all the parts.
 
#6 ·
i still need to pull the body to get a better look but I think one of the ends snapped on the radius arm causing the rear to skew out and the car to turn hard right.
In the front it ruined a wheel ($500 Halibrand), destroyed the axle, bent the end of the spring a little, broke the headlight stanchion, broke the windshield glass and bent the windshield support rod. The rear wheel caught a poll and tore out a piece of the axle tube I have a feeling the shock mount is junk but I wont know until I get the body off. The wheel actually hit the body, doesn't look like the fiberglass broke but there is some rubber transfer. I will look at that once I get it off. I found a rear housing on Ebay and a place in CT has everything I need to rebuild the front. I am going to go with steel wheels this time, change the look and better brake options. I never liked the brakes on the spindle mounted wheels.

i was actually very lucky as i just missed a fire hydrant and hitting the poll dead center. i was able to get it to go a little left just before the poll.
Bottom line is I didn't get hurt. if all goes well and the frame is OK I should be back together in a couple weeks.
 
#4 ·
Glad you are okay. Could you tell us a little more about the problem ? I would like to know what failed and why it did. Could you show us the failed parts ?

This could help save someone else or their car. I found a loose control arm bolt after reading someones post.



454 RATTLER
 
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#15 ·
Not sure what broke to be honest. There are a lot of rod end that are broken but I am not sure if it was a cause or a result.
A couple words of advise and not really related to this incident
Lock-tite everything, try to purchase standard, no vendor specific parts. This is presenting me with small expensive issues now as the total performace spindles are proprietary so i am going to get something more standard. That translates to a different brake system which is more money and it goes on and on.

Mine was a "KIT" but a lot of stuff still required tweaking.
You don't need a lot of engine in these cars as they weigh nothing.
The car is as safe as the driver and I have pushed the limits more than once. The only danger i see is that there is no protection if you get hit. I try to be as aware as a motorcycle rider would be.
 
#14 ·
Glad you are ok and the car fixable.

A quick note - I had some 'discussions' with Total Performance when I built my 'bucket in the '90s about the quality of their hair pin clevis ends so changed them to dirt track type Heims along with conventional tie rod ends (drag link and tie rod) in the steering plus a Borgeson U-joint on the steering column after that broke while driving around a car show, not while I had my foot in it as I had a couple miles back.
 
#17 ·
2 years ago, after looking for close to a year, I had finally settled on a real nice bucket. Was there to write the check and then took a walk, thought again about exactly what I was getting ready to purchase. The wife, the dog and I walked away for exactly the same reason as the motorcycle, head on a swivel, other drivers issue plus a couple of more reasonings. Kinda regretted it for quite some time...........but I got over it!

Ironically......bought a nicer older Vette a short while after and hot rodded it somewhat. Go figure huh!!
 
#30 ·
Just a quick update. it looks like one of the rear clevis pin bolts broke allowing the rear to kick out.
The good news is it looks like i have found a complete rear end that will just need brackets welded on. Wintec has all the front end stuff and there is no significant damage to the body. Couple chips and scuffs but i was never one to be real picky about that kind of stuff. I did ruin one of the wire whells so i am changing over the front brak system to a hub mounted brake instead of a spindle mount. I wanted to keep repair cost as low as possible and a 600 wheel didn't make sense. its looking like it is going to be about 2K by the time i am done. I still need to price out windshield glass and a few other items.
The frame might be tweaked a half an inch but I am going to run with it. It is hard to tell because the frame is wider at the back than at the front and without pulling the engine and trans out it is real hard to take and significant measurements. I have also been suspicious since I built it in 2003 that the frame was not 100% to dimensions. I had a real hard time getting the transmission to line up with the rear cross member originally.
I decide to go with it as is for now. If i cant make it track down the road i will have to dig deeper. It will be a winter project. I just need to get it back on the road for the summer.

hopefully I will have most of the parts by this weekend. I would like to get the front end back together and some temporary wheels on it so i can move it in the garage. With the damage it was impossible to move it too much, my garage is very small so maneuvering a jack is difficult. If I can get 1 end rolling it will help.
 
#31 ·
It's pretty easy to check the frame for out of square . With the frame on stands on a relativley level floor drop 2 points w/a plumb bob & mark , do the same in the rear , them measure between your points ...
dave
If you still have your manual from TP , there's a pretty good way to square-up the axles ...
 
#33 ·
Go back and look at my post about the clevis rod ends that Total supplied to me for both front and rear as well as the steering connector. To add some more info, When they were machined they were left with a sharp corner instead of a radius, allowing a stress point. I had a failed clevis even on the shipping pallet when the chassis was picked up and worse, the steering connector broke. A friends steering connector also broke at 60 mph and did a $$ number on his car though no where near as bad as yours. I don't know what Wintec is using but if the same design part, is suspect and prone to possible failure based on my experience
 
#36 ·
I would make a suggestion to loosen all the bolts on the pumpkin and then see if that relieves the tension on the axle. Not knowing what you may have in the way of available tools I would suggest a cheep Harbor freight slide hammer. I have made my own crude slide hammer before by picking up a 2 ft piece of say 3/8 all thread rod. I then found a big chunk of steel and ran the rod through it. I attached one end of the all thread to the hole in the axle. Then it was slam the chunk of steel to the other end which had a nut and large washer.

I used this homemade tool for years till I bought a real heavy slide hammer. It is amazing what you can do when you just look over what you have.
:cool:
 
#37 ·
So i ended up cutting the housing to get the axle out and it was bent. The housing is being repaired as I am writing this. I found a whole rear end 30 miles from me so I grabbed it for the axles and third member, the housing is pretty rusted but the rest seems good.
I have had zero luck with Wintec.
has anyone dealt with Ron Pope Motorsports. I talked to him today and he was very helpful on the phone.
 
#39 ·
Everything is ordered for the front from Ron Pope . The rear end housing is at the shop being repaired. i still have to source some windshield glass and a few misc small parts. I am hoping to be back up and running in about 2 weeks.
 
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