Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 - Page 2

bobby · 04-07-2009, 06:19 AM

Gary, do you remember that happeneing to Wayne Winfield at the old Houston International track? He was in his Hemi Cuda, the car was stopped by a tree athe end of the track. The track didn't even know he had wrecked and as he was walking back the safety people stopped him and told him he could not enter the track from down at the end. He just pointed towards his car and asked them why they wre still running when there was a wrecked car at the end of the track. This must have been around 83. I think you guys still had that Toyota station wagon,lol.

Casey Miles · 04-07-2009, 08:25 AM

First of all, I am glad to hear that you and your vehicle seem to be OK. I have a question about emergency brakes that come stock in all cars? Did you put on racing rear brakes or are they stock ones from the factory and do they work? I will bet the NHRA safety will make it manditory that the emergency brakes from the factory work in Stock and SS cars in the near future and if they don't SHAME on them. It's not right for the racers to jeoperdize their race cars and maybe their lives to safe some weight. I'm not being a smart ***, but the old drum brakes in working order are better then nothing.
Casey Miles
248H E/S ("f" the 4 HP)

buzzinhalfdozen · 04-07-2009, 09:39 AM

Casey, have you ever applied an emergency brake on a vehicle at speed? When me and my pals were young we used to do it for "fun", well I can tell you what happens but maybe you should try it and see for yourself. The problem is not with the actual braking system it's with the M/Cyl. pushrod install, I've seen it many times and I'm sure I'll see it many more. There has to be some thought involved with this as just hooking up a rod without a rear stop to prevent the rod from falling out is just looking for trouble. I'd suggest now that this topic is "hot" everyone PLEASE take an evening and crawl up under the dash and really look at what they have, most may be suprised at what they find. Joe

Darrin Christen · 04-07-2009, 09:53 AM

Gary, thanks for giving us the heads up. I had a brake issue with my super street car at Ennis Sat. night also, yet a little different. The bolts that hold the rotor to the hat on the right rear backed out and just about machined the caliber bracket in half. It was vibrating pretty bad in the shut down area and sounded like someone was under my car with a grinder. All of the bolts on both rotors were loose. They had all been lock tighted in with star washer but not safety wired. Now I know why those safety wire holes were in those bolts. I failed to realize that red lock tight will loosen up with heat. Please check your brakes guys and gals. These near miss accidents are what help others from serious accidents. Thanks for posting your experience Gary.

indychamp02 · 04-07-2009, 09:54 AM

Gary glad everything was ok!!! The way we fixed our mustangs was drill out the brake pedal rod and use a bolt and lock nut grade 8- 7/16. Then we built a positive stop to keep the brake pedal rod from coming out of the master cylinder. Hope this will help out some. Once again glad everybody was ok!!!

indychamp02 · 04-07-2009, 10:01 AM

To add more on my post we used the aerospace adjustable brake rod. Thanks Steven Hall 4782 CSA

countrypuppy4865 · 04-07-2009, 11:26 AM

Darrin,
I had a caliper bolt back out one time also. I always torque the caliper bolts and loctite periodically. Brakes are probably the most important thing on our racing equipment, but they do get over looked sometimes.

Mike Voth · 04-07-2009, 02:54 PM

We had a rotor hat bolt back out last year and about chew the caliper bracket in half! Wilwood sent a new one and said it was fairly common. Shouldn't ever happen if you ask me. Just follow ALL directions during assembly and most of these things are avoidable. We didn't use the wire through the bolts either, thinking we would just check them periodically...didn't work.

PS: The way we discovered this was during staging, dad couldn't get the car to "creep" forward consistantly. Sometimes it would take a little throttle and the car would lurch forward, staging too deep. The bolt would hang up on the rear caliper bracket, causing an inconsistant drag. He was very fortunate something bad didn't happen.

Darrin Christen · 04-07-2009, 05:55 PM

Mike, that is exactly the same thing that happened to me in Ennis. I was stagging the car in the second round and it would not roll forward into the beams until i gave it a little throttle, then it would roll and stop again. I thought for sure it was rock from that gravel we were pitted in that got hung up it the caliper, so I went ahead and stagged it anyway. It almost machined the bracket in half and slowed the car down .07. Yeah Cooter it's just one of those things that got overlooked. They will be wired soon!

Stocker 449 · 04-07-2009, 09:29 PM

A few years back at the Ennis Divisional our Station Wagon's master cylinder for some reason went out just at the finish line. Talk about scary, I can only imagine that happening in a faster stocker. Never the less we went ahead and got us a nicer one than an O'reilly rebuilt. Glad to hear everything turned out alright.

04-07-2009, 06:19 AM	#11
bobby Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: League City, Texas Posts: 243 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Gary, do you remember that happeneing to Wayne Winfield at the old Houston International track? He was in his Hemi Cuda, the car was stopped by a tree athe end of the track. The track didn't even know he had wrecked and as he was walking back the safety people stopped him and told him he could not enter the track from down at the end. He just pointed towards his car and asked them why they wre still running when there was a wrecked car at the end of the track. This must have been around 83. I think you guys still had that Toyota station wagon,lol. __________________ Next time wave all of your fingers at me.

04-07-2009, 08:25 AM	#12
Casey Miles Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 703 Likes: 127 Liked 488 Times in 90 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 First of all, I am glad to hear that you and your vehicle seem to be OK. I have a question about emergency brakes that come stock in all cars? Did you put on racing rear brakes or are they stock ones from the factory and do they work? I will bet the NHRA safety will make it manditory that the emergency brakes from the factory work in Stock and SS cars in the near future and if they don't SHAME on them. It's not right for the racers to jeoperdize their race cars and maybe their lives to safe some weight. I'm not being a smart ***, but the old drum brakes in working order are better then nothing. Casey Miles 248H E/S ("f" the 4 HP)

04-07-2009, 09:39 AM	#13
buzzinhalfdozen Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bellevue Ohio Posts: 984 Likes: 0 Liked 11 Times in 8 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Casey, have you ever applied an emergency brake on a vehicle at speed? When me and my pals were young we used to do it for "fun", well I can tell you what happens but maybe you should try it and see for yourself. The problem is not with the actual braking system it's with the M/Cyl. pushrod install, I've seen it many times and I'm sure I'll see it many more. There has to be some thought involved with this as just hooking up a rod without a rear stop to prevent the rod from falling out is just looking for trouble. I'd suggest now that this topic is "hot" everyone PLEASE take an evening and crawl up under the dash and really look at what they have, most may be suprised at what they find. Joe __________________ Joe Buchanan SS/BX 3117

04-07-2009, 09:53 AM	#14
Darrin Christen Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Des Allemands, LA Posts: 365 Likes: 8 Liked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Gary, thanks for giving us the heads up. I had a brake issue with my super street car at Ennis Sat. night also, yet a little different. The bolts that hold the rotor to the hat on the right rear backed out and just about machined the caliber bracket in half. It was vibrating pretty bad in the shut down area and sounded like someone was under my car with a grinder. All of the bolts on both rotors were loose. They had all been lock tighted in with star washer but not safety wired. Now I know why those safety wire holes were in those bolts. I failed to realize that red lock tight will loosen up with heat. Please check your brakes guys and gals. These near miss accidents are what help others from serious accidents. Thanks for posting your experience Gary. __________________ 4878 SS/GA 66CHEVY II

04-07-2009, 09:54 AM	#15
indychamp02 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 28 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Gary glad everything was ok!!! The way we fixed our mustangs was drill out the brake pedal rod and use a bolt and lock nut grade 8- 7/16. Then we built a positive stop to keep the brake pedal rod from coming out of the master cylinder. Hope this will help out some. Once again glad everybody was ok!!!

04-07-2009, 10:01 AM	#16
indychamp02 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 28 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 To add more on my post we used the aerospace adjustable brake rod. Thanks Steven Hall 4782 CSA

04-07-2009, 11:26 AM	#17
countrypuppy4865 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Donaldsonville, LA Posts: 980 Likes: 17 Liked 228 Times in 70 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Darrin, I had a caliper bolt back out one time also. I always torque the caliper bolts and loctite periodically. Brakes are probably the most important thing on our racing equipment, but they do get over looked sometimes. __________________ Jimmy "Cooter" Hidalgo, Jr. 4865 E/SA '04 GTO 4865 SS/GA '99 Firebird

04-07-2009, 02:54 PM	#18
Mike Voth Live Reporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Buhler, KS Posts: 527 Likes: 5 Liked 57 Times in 14 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 We had a rotor hat bolt back out last year and about chew the caliper bracket in half! Wilwood sent a new one and said it was fairly common. Shouldn't ever happen if you ask me. Just follow ALL directions during assembly and most of these things are avoidable. We didn't use the wire through the bolts either, thinking we would just check them periodically...didn't work. PS: The way we discovered this was during staging, dad couldn't get the car to "creep" forward consistantly. Sometimes it would take a little throttle and the car would lurch forward, staging too deep. The bolt would hang up on the rear caliper bracket, causing an inconsistant drag. He was very fortunate something bad didn't happen. __________________ Mike Voth 5189 GTN - 5188 GTO Voth Racing

04-07-2009, 05:55 PM	#19
Darrin Christen Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Des Allemands, LA Posts: 365 Likes: 8 Liked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 Mike, that is exactly the same thing that happened to me in Ennis. I was stagging the car in the second round and it would not roll forward into the beams until i gave it a little throttle, then it would roll and stop again. I thought for sure it was rock from that gravel we were pitted in that got hung up it the caliper, so I went ahead and stagged it anyway. It almost machined the bracket in half and slowed the car down .07. Yeah Cooter it's just one of those things that got overlooked. They will be wired soon! __________________ 4878 SS/GA 66CHEVY II

04-07-2009, 09:29 PM	#20
Stocker 449 Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Lancaster, Tx Posts: 37 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Another Brake Failure in Stock @ ENNIS DIV4 A few years back at the Ennis Divisional our Station Wagon's master cylinder for some reason went out just at the finish line. Talk about scary, I can only imagine that happening in a faster stocker. Never the less we went ahead and got us a nicer one than an O'reilly rebuilt. Glad to hear everything turned out alright.