Well, I hope I have narrowly missed experiencing sudden brake failure.
I had been at a fun back-yard autocross and noticed a "clunk" in the left
rear when braking. Since I have recently upgraded many rear suspension
elements, I figured I needed to take a look and see what bolt I had not
tightened
sufficiently. The clunk would occur with any brake application. It would
clunk
once. Braking seemed normal. I thought that the trailing arm might be
shifting,
or maybe the sliding wheel cylinder was sliding excessively.
Well, surprise, surprise. I saw wetness on the inside of the tire which seemed
to
be emanating from the brake drum. All the suspension stuff looked fine. I
pulled
the drum and could see no obvious problem with the wheel cylinder. Since I
recently bought this car, I have no idea of the age of the rubber inside, so I
decided to replace the piston seal. Through great fortune, I happened to have 2
wheel cylinder repair sets, so I did not have to wait. THe parts were bought
years ago for the service on the cylinders on my other TR4A, but were never
used.
Now it is all back together and hopefully it will no longer leak. It is almost
frightening to think of that not-so-slow leak and the 70 mph driving I have been
doing recently. I an still not positive what caused the "clunk", but I think
it was the cylinder moving as the brakes were applied....
BTW, the reason I thought my suspension may have come apart is that my local
club
had its summer party and we have a "back-yard" autocross. There is a large
field
which gets mown in a path of multiple loops and short straights. The field
surface is not otherwise prepared, and is rather bumpy. THe loops are so tight
that you would have trouble staying on the path even with full-lock turning:
you MUST kick the rear out to make the turn. When you do it just right, you can
really power through the turns with dirt and dust flying in choking clouds!
What FUN!! This was the first time I ever did this, and I had a blast, but I
was concerned for the suspension. The upgraded springs and shocks did a
wonderful
job. I rarely bottomed out the suspension.
One club member had a small encounter, unfortunately. In the center of
one of the big loops (the one where you _really_ lay on the gas and get the
rear out and make the loop without much steering wheel input), the property
owner
had a garden with a tall fence to keep the animals out. This fence was
supported
my large metal pipes driven into the ground, and further stabilized by cinder
blocks.
Needless to say, the unfortunate racer had his rear come too far around on
trying to
exit the loop and hit the fence. The fence support was bent heavily and the
cinder block bent the rocker panel heavily. THere was no obvious suspension
damage,
but it is surprising.
I did not win the race, but I came out intact, having had a great time. My
4 year old son was my co-pilot (navigators were "required"), and he was saying:
"Daddy, this is COOL!" repeatedly!
-Tony
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