Fun With Comets

[lavron]

OK we were talking about Comet stories in the other post so I thought it would be a good idea to tell one myself

I have had my Comet since I was in high school and it has always had brake issues from the day I brought it home till now. I know you early Comet guys can relate to the dangers of the mason jar ( jelly jar or just jar ) master cylinder, one day when when cruising along I stepped on the brake and the petal went to the floor, and stayed there needless to say when you need brakes and don't have any it can lead to some exciting moments ( OK seconds ) I discovered the beauty of the emergency/parking brake and discovered why your front wheels do the majority of the braking.

I had blown my right front wheel cylinder, of course leaving my hydraulic braking system useless, I did drive the car home, some 15 odd miles using the hand brake as my only means of stopping combined with down shifting.

The next time it happened to me it wasn't so exciting

Brakes are overrated

See Ya,
Mike

[Hillbilly Comet Man]

Mike,I have a similar story with the fruit jar master cylinder.I was on my way home from work in my 64 Galaxie when passenger rear axle retainer failed and the axle slid out.Luckily the Galaxie had low wheelwells and the axle didn't slide completely out.All of this happened just as I was starting across Greers Ferry Dam.There was nothing I could do as I coasted to the middle of the Dam with a cloud of smoke behind me.No power ,no brakes.Positrac would have come in handy.After I directed traffic for 5 or 10 minutesa good samaritan pushed me off with his truck.I had 3 white lettered tires and one wide whitewall.I was quite embarrassed at the time due to a few Chevy guys I know seeing me stranded.I did learn a good lesson,Just because the factory axle retainer is pressed on from the factory doesn't mean that you just press it back on like it was.I put a couple of spot welds on it and was back in business .Loooking back now was quite funny.Anyone else have any fruit jar stories?Later,Heath

[cyclone67]

a particularly memorable experience . after a hard run at the track and having the left lane which ment i had the first turn off for the return road which is hard to make even with good breaks .. i stepped on the whoa pedal and felt it slide to the floor , i vigirously proceeded to pump all my brak fluid down the firewall and then nailed the ebrake to the floor which held for about 2 seconds before the cable snapped . things got kinda exciteng after that the track saftey guys said that was the only time theyd seen a car on drag slicks try for drifting points .but i finaly got stopped about half way to the timing tower . i got a tow from 1 of the funny car guys pit crew where we promtly rebuilt my master cylinder before the next round

[lavron]

That will give you good pucker power as they say Wade

See Ya,
Mike