Oooops

[jasongibson]

Now I know that I like to drive my spider fairly hard.
It has been around the Snowdonia mountain passes and many a spirited run around the British countryside lots of very tight twisty and bumpy roads
It is an absolute joy to drive around these roads and I guess this is what European sports cars were made for.

Well after just such a run yesterday I was heading back to my hotel (was staying there as I was supposed to be doing some "Hill Climb" runs today) , when the back started to feel, well soft and bouncy i suppose.
At first I thought i'd check out my new tyres as my friend that fitted them said he'd run out of bead sealer and it was possible they'd loose a bit of pressure but no, they were fine.
So i pushed down on the rear corner and it was like the car was on a bouncy castle .
On further inspection I found that, on both sides, the bracket the the rear shocks attach to the axle had been ripped out





Well as you can see there is some rust around there and I suppose the metal is now 35 years old

Has anyone else had this happen or should i stop pretending to be Markku Alén

[jasongibson]

BTW

These were the new tyres for the Hill Climb

[So Cal Mark]

I've never seen the shock brackets tear off the rear axle

[jasongibson]

I've never seen the shock brackets tear off the rear axle

No, neither have I

[Curly]

BTW
These were the new tyres for the Hill Climb

You'll love those Toyos, I've been using them on my Coupe for 12 months. Lots of grip and good wear characteristics for a race tyre too, although after 18 months of competition, mine are ready to be replaced again. $$$$$$



I too haven't ever seen a shocker mount part company like that before - Is it possible that that axle housing had been in accident at some time which may have fractured the mount?

[jasongibson]

I too haven't ever seen a shocker mount part company like that before - Is it possible that that axle housing had been in accident at some time which may have fractured the mount?

Unlikely to be a problem, i've had it for 10 years and 70,000 and apart from a very low speed rear shunt that put that small dent in my rear bumper

[jasongibson]

Well this problem isn't as unusual as we thought.
One of the specialists over here has seen it a few times, basically there wasn't much metal left due to corrosion over the last 35 years
However they've never had a car with both go at the same time

Sadly you can't just buy the bracket that the spring sits in and shock bolts to and weld it in, so you need to have new ones fabricated

Luckily for me, they had a good condition axle casing in their store
This was painted up and my internals fitted. They also took one coil off of my springs as they were higher at the back (common with uprated springs)

Oh and they also fitted a set of Wilwood calipers that i've has sitting around for 6 months, so I guess they'll probably rip out the front wishbones now

[stupidsongs2]

If it's rusted that much, it might be unsafe to drive. Check out your front suspension for rust.