i had an interesting night,last night......
Discussion
my cortina's propshaft donut decided to fail on me whilst i was overtaking on an nsl dual carriageway,the sequence of events went something like this......
fistly the donut went,then the propshaft snapped at the coupling,luckily the rear part stayed up BUT unfortunatly the front section of the prop decided to leave the rear of the gearbox.....THIS IS WHERE IT GOT INTERESTING.....
the torque converter (no longer on its spline) rattled around the bellhousing,smashing it as it went and exiting the car from the bottom (snapping the exhaust as it went),this also sent the starter motor (along with a large piece of the bellhousing that was still attatched to it) onto the road to be dragged behind by the live feed,the engine went forward,hit the radiator (puncturing it)and both the oil breather line and the fuel line were torn out (not good).
the gearbox (usually heald by 4 bolts at the mount) has currently only got 2 on one side and the gearbox is now hanging out at a 45 degree angle.
as you can tell,it wasnt particularly a nice thing to have happen (esp. as the car filled with smoke and what looked like metal filings as soon as it happened).
on a lighter note the smokescreen i left behind me (due to the auto box fluid hitting what was left of the downpipe) was enough to make james bond proud!!
THERE IS GOOD NEWS THOUGH!!
the car is going to be collected tomorrow and taken away to have the mess cleaned up and the car is being converted from auto to a manual 5-speed plus its having all the bushes changed to deflex jobs.......hopefully (according to my mate who's offered to repair it) it should be back on the road within a week!.........cost of a new prop,5-speed type 9 box,flywheel and all the rest of the crap (apart from the clutch plate) - £70!,i cant grumble at that!!
fistly the donut went,then the propshaft snapped at the coupling,luckily the rear part stayed up BUT unfortunatly the front section of the prop decided to leave the rear of the gearbox.....THIS IS WHERE IT GOT INTERESTING.....
the torque converter (no longer on its spline) rattled around the bellhousing,smashing it as it went and exiting the car from the bottom (snapping the exhaust as it went),this also sent the starter motor (along with a large piece of the bellhousing that was still attatched to it) onto the road to be dragged behind by the live feed,the engine went forward,hit the radiator (puncturing it)and both the oil breather line and the fuel line were torn out (not good).
the gearbox (usually heald by 4 bolts at the mount) has currently only got 2 on one side and the gearbox is now hanging out at a 45 degree angle.
as you can tell,it wasnt particularly a nice thing to have happen (esp. as the car filled with smoke and what looked like metal filings as soon as it happened).
on a lighter note the smokescreen i left behind me (due to the auto box fluid hitting what was left of the downpipe) was enough to make james bond proud!!
THERE IS GOOD NEWS THOUGH!!
the car is going to be collected tomorrow and taken away to have the mess cleaned up and the car is being converted from auto to a manual 5-speed plus its having all the bushes changed to deflex jobs.......hopefully (according to my mate who's offered to repair it) it should be back on the road within a week!.........cost of a new prop,5-speed type 9 box,flywheel and all the rest of the crap (apart from the clutch plate) - £70!,i cant grumble at that!!
my mate is gonna sort it out for me,he works with cortinas all the time and he said it should be easy enough as-long as the gearbox mounting holes in the floor havnt been totalled,if they are gone then it'll need the plate cut off,new bolts welded in place and then re-fitting.
he said if the bolts are still o.k he could have the gearbox conversion done in a day (he's said a week incase deflex take their time sending the new steering/void/etc bushes,i could possibly have it back by thursday if it all goes well.
the worst bit is having to get to work,i havnt ridden a pushbike since i was 15 (im now 32) and stupidly i thought that it'd be a piece of pee to cycle to work from wickford station cos i though after-all,i used to cycle miles when i was younger.........well i got here at 1810 and my legs are still feeling like jelly,i was sweating like a pig and ive now decided to accept my mate stuarts offer of a lift home in the morning rather than putting myself through that again
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he said if the bolts are still o.k he could have the gearbox conversion done in a day (he's said a week incase deflex take their time sending the new steering/void/etc bushes,i could possibly have it back by thursday if it all goes well.
the worst bit is having to get to work,i havnt ridden a pushbike since i was 15 (im now 32) and stupidly i thought that it'd be a piece of pee to cycle to work from wickford station cos i though after-all,i used to cycle miles when i was younger.........well i got here at 1810 and my legs are still feeling like jelly,i was sweating like a pig and ive now decided to accept my mate stuarts offer of a lift home in the morning rather than putting myself through that again
.Don't cycle so fast then
(It always amazes me the way people seem to regard cycling as such an energetic activity. I can only assume that they feel under some kind of compulsion to try and go like stink. I cycle because it's both faster and less effort than walking - my pulse and respiration don't get much above resting.)
It's great that you've managed to get over such a catatrophic failure so rapidly and cheaply... about half the cost of repairing the seized big end in my MZ recently! While you're at it... are you thinking of V6es?
(It always amazes me the way people seem to regard cycling as such an energetic activity. I can only assume that they feel under some kind of compulsion to try and go like stink. I cycle because it's both faster and less effort than walking - my pulse and respiration don't get much above resting.)
It's great that you've managed to get over such a catatrophic failure so rapidly and cheaply... about half the cost of repairing the seized big end in my MZ recently! While you're at it... are you thinking of V6es?
i was contemplating having the cosworth 2.9 conversion done but i need the car back on the road quickly and i dont have time to sort a set of 4-pot princess callipers and a granada donor car out at the moment but when i do i'll be also keeping my eye open for a turbo technics sierra going cheap and have that set-up shoved in.
i am going to go for the v6 conversion at some point in the future though.....i think i'd be a fool not to do it.
i am going to go for the v6 conversion at some point in the future though.....i think i'd be a fool not to do it.
cortinaman said:www.findit.co.uk/cars/performance/saloons/24503.php
i was contemplating having the cosworth 2.9 conversion done but i need the car back on the road quickly and i dont have time to sort a set of 4-pot princess callipers and a granada donor car out at the moment but when i do i'll be also keeping my eye open for a turbo technics sierra going cheap and have that set-up shoved in.
i am going to go for the v6 conversion at some point in the future though.....i think i'd be a fool not to do it.
many years ago my Uncle (he hasn't a clue about cars) was driving his old Mk1 cortina down a country road and the car slowly came to a stop, but the engine was still running, just not going anywhere. So he called out my dad and his mechanic friend to come and see what the problem is. When they got there they were suprised to see that the reason it wasn't going anywhere was the prop shaft had completely fallen out of the car 
amazingly in once piece. They backtracked a mile or so and found it lying on the side of the road. 
amazingly in once piece. They backtracked a mile or so and found it lying on the side of the road. I had an interesting night that night too.
Was at a club with a few work mates (it was a leaving do actually) when I caught a girl I work with (and quite fancy) kissing (full on, with tongues) the girl who is quite likely to be the leaving member of staff's replacement (who, incidentally, will be working under my supervision)!
Rock on!
Was at a club with a few work mates (it was a leaving do actually) when I caught a girl I work with (and quite fancy) kissing (full on, with tongues) the girl who is quite likely to be the leaving member of staff's replacement (who, incidentally, will be working under my supervision)!
Rock on!
Pigeon said:
Don't cycle so fast then
(It always amazes me the way people seem to regard cycling as such an energetic activity. I can only assume that they feel under some kind of compulsion to try and go like stink. I cycle because it's both faster and less effort than walking - my pulse and respiration don't get much above resting.)
Huh. I'm with the C-man. Buying a mountain bike at 40 was probably one of my worse ideas.
Had to use it for work last week, 2 miles and I was fairly puffing (couple of short sharp hills first thing in the AM didn't help!).
I got into a routine where I'd do an 8-mile circuit down to the river and back, but have let it slide.
Used to do 20-30 miles in a day (teen years!) and think nothing of it...
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