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Hey folks, well the Asheville vintage was going pretty well for me (for the most part, another story another time about crankshaft position sensors!) and the E9 guys with me until the day afterwards. I was on my way to @Ohmess and Tom Baruch's place in Aiken SC afterwards and my alternator bearings started going out noticeably a few miles before the destination. No worries, Chris and Tom have multiple alternators between the two of them and we picked one out and installed, along with some other punch list items... I was super happy that night after all the work was done and I would be heading home the next day after a nice dinner in downtown Aiken.
200 miles into my drive home the alternator dies and there was no warning light (I'm super sensitive to this after my experience at Monterey in 2016 with a failed voltage regulator and dash light that was telling me I was draining the battery was ignored by yours truly).* Macha rescued me back then. But I was around Statesville NC this time on my own this time in the boonies so I pulled over and waited almost two hours for AAA. Tow truck guy loads the car efficiently and I didn't worry too much about how he secured my E9 to this tow hooks.
We drive 4 hours together (over some bad roads along the way) back to Aiken to Tom/Chris' garage and arrive around 10 pm. While the tow truck guy is raising the bed to angle the car for releasing from the chains, the rear tow hook breaks off completely and the car sways to the left and somehow gets away from the front left chain anchor bending the front bumper and rolling back on the bed of the truck finally grounding itself a few feet before tipping completely over into Tom's driveway. Picture attached shows how center resonator and bottom of chassis prevented a full rear dive off the truck and hitting the driveway!
Clearly the old rear tow hook was partially at fault but also the tow truck driver who was probably in too much of a hurry to offload my car...and the next morning we noticed a crushed center resonator against the driveshaft and dislocated driver side front bumper. Ok, these will be straightforward fixes after American Classic Insurance gets involved...
But the bigger topic here is where to attach the three hook anchors on most tow trucks to our E9s. After the fact it seems, for the front, that the factory tow hooks at the front of the subframe are best because that's what they were designed for, but I just had some subframe cracks welded at the tow hook juncture and the tow hooks were now both nice and straight. So when the guy attached those front hooks to the lower control arms on the inner side, I was not as worried even though I just had new arms installed and a full front alignment. That was probably a mistake too.
But the rear tow hook under the wheel well is another matter. That piece is super flimsy and broke right off at the puny spot welds that were done 52 years ago. I will have that rear tow hook reinstalled but both welded and bolted in for greater strength when I get around to repairs -- at the advice of Tom Baruch.
If this is not the best way to secure our coupes when a tow truck is needed, what are the better solutions?
Thanks all!
* replacement alternator was fine but not the voltage regulator that came with it and a new voltage regulator installed the next day cured the problem. I guess I really do have some bad luck with voltage regulators.
200 miles into my drive home the alternator dies and there was no warning light (I'm super sensitive to this after my experience at Monterey in 2016 with a failed voltage regulator and dash light that was telling me I was draining the battery was ignored by yours truly).* Macha rescued me back then. But I was around Statesville NC this time on my own this time in the boonies so I pulled over and waited almost two hours for AAA. Tow truck guy loads the car efficiently and I didn't worry too much about how he secured my E9 to this tow hooks.
We drive 4 hours together (over some bad roads along the way) back to Aiken to Tom/Chris' garage and arrive around 10 pm. While the tow truck guy is raising the bed to angle the car for releasing from the chains, the rear tow hook breaks off completely and the car sways to the left and somehow gets away from the front left chain anchor bending the front bumper and rolling back on the bed of the truck finally grounding itself a few feet before tipping completely over into Tom's driveway. Picture attached shows how center resonator and bottom of chassis prevented a full rear dive off the truck and hitting the driveway!
Clearly the old rear tow hook was partially at fault but also the tow truck driver who was probably in too much of a hurry to offload my car...and the next morning we noticed a crushed center resonator against the driveshaft and dislocated driver side front bumper. Ok, these will be straightforward fixes after American Classic Insurance gets involved...
But the bigger topic here is where to attach the three hook anchors on most tow trucks to our E9s. After the fact it seems, for the front, that the factory tow hooks at the front of the subframe are best because that's what they were designed for, but I just had some subframe cracks welded at the tow hook juncture and the tow hooks were now both nice and straight. So when the guy attached those front hooks to the lower control arms on the inner side, I was not as worried even though I just had new arms installed and a full front alignment. That was probably a mistake too.
But the rear tow hook under the wheel well is another matter. That piece is super flimsy and broke right off at the puny spot welds that were done 52 years ago. I will have that rear tow hook reinstalled but both welded and bolted in for greater strength when I get around to repairs -- at the advice of Tom Baruch.
If this is not the best way to secure our coupes when a tow truck is needed, what are the better solutions?
Thanks all!
* replacement alternator was fine but not the voltage regulator that came with it and a new voltage regulator installed the next day cured the problem. I guess I really do have some bad luck with voltage regulators.
