So, I was in an accident today...by myself. Life Lessons with Mr Sony.

[MrSony]

Putting my Tbird around today, helping my grandma cut trees. I go home and little brother wants to cruise around. I think "Ok, sounds fun." I got upto my local park (playground type park) and temp gauge starts rising. I pull over into the park, lower rad hose blew off of water pump. I after 20 minutes of milling around, brother (15 years old, lanky and small hands) wriggles his noodle arms behind the PS pump and reattaches hose and hose clamp. I made sure it's tight. Will rad up with water, drive it home. Temp stays about 190. I do a burnout down the street from my house, and that is when my car decided it wanted to have POSI. So it did, and I drove away. About 10 seconds later, *insert tire chittering noises* and then CLUNK. Front driver's side lower balljoint gets RIPPED out of the lower control arm. I mean RIPPED out. Balljoint is fine, surprisingly. Here's the kicker, IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. How convenient. I never expected that to happen, but with a 650$ near 50 year old vehicle, it could've been a lot worse. I was only doing about 5mph getting ready to turn in the driveway. Now, I'm not mad, I'm still just astounded that THAT broke of al things. Who knew cheapo Chinese "steel" was stronger than good 'ol American Detroit Iron?

 

[pontiacgp]

My ball joint busted at about 50 mph. Called the race team and they showed up the generator, grinder and a welder to weld in the new ball joint. I threw that tire on the back and as long as I kept up a good speed it smoothed out..

 

[MrSony]

My ball joint busted at about 50 mph. Called the race team and they showed up the generator, grinder and a welder to weld in the new ball joint. I threw that tire on the back and as long as I kept up a good speed it smoothed out..

View attachment 48520 View attachment 48521 View attachment 48522

Ouch man.

 

[MrSony]

The last pic of the tire were/are the tires on the front. They were like that when I bought the car, but a bit more tread. New balljoints made em wear more and, there we go. Anyone got a good set/know of some aftermarket control arms that would fit a 1970 Thunderbird? Overall suspension setup I beleive was the same from 67-77.

 

[MrSony]

Also the dent in the door was from me. I had bags in my hand, and I bumped the door closed with my *ss and it made a dent. Whoops.

 

[ssn696]

Hardass!

 

[MrSony]

There's a pic of my lower control arm in those pictures. The balljoints on the lower arm sit on top of the arm, and have a bulge that goes through the big hole for access to the zerk fitting and two bolt holes on either side. Since the ONLY replacement ones I can find are from that effing "rare parts" place that charges out the a** for everything, I was thinking I could have thin (3/8"?) plate welded to the top/bottom of BOTH the lower arms to keep this from happening again. I mean, look how thin that metal is! Would it be possible? I imagine if it was just on the underside it wouldn't change the geometry of the suspension at all... what do you guys think? FYI they are bolt in type ball joints, brand new duralast. The worn tires took their toll on the car, splayed the front end and ripped the lower driver's balljoint out, bolts are still in the balljoint with the lock nuts. Should I do it and can it be done?

 

[-83MONTESS-]

Also the dent in the door was from me. I had bags in my hand, and I bumped the door closed with my *ss and it made a dent. Whoops.

I know how that feels. I was under my 83 working on the transmission. I went to slide out and using my hand along the bottom of the door to pull my way out I left a small dent in the door. Totally amazed me that that could happen. I was beyond pissed off considering I had just finished final assembly after paint and body work.

Another time my grandpa needed to slide the *ss end of his show condition 1949 Buick over to fit stuff beside it in the garage. He had the rear tires sitting on dollies. Using his hands and his side to push the car over, he caved in the rear fender beyond repair. That was also just months after my dad finished paint and body work on it.

 

[MrSony]

I know how that feels. I was under my 83 working on the transmission. I went to slide out and using my hand along the bottom of the door to pull my way out I left a small dent in the door. Totally amazed me that that could happen. I was beyond pissed off considering I had just finished final assembly after paint and body work.

Another time my grandpa needed to slide the *ss end of his show condition 1949 Buick over to fit stuff beside it in the garage. He had the rear tires sitting on dollies. Using his hands and his side to push the car over, he caved in the rear fender beyond repair. That was also just months after my dad finished paint and body work on it.

Very irritating indeed.

 

[1evilregal]

I won't be going back until next weekend, but came across this at the local junkyard... can snatch the lca if it's still there if need be. lmk