Had a very close shave the other day, the photo below is the bottom hose off the radiator. I missed a turning and decided to turn in the road rather than driving on to find a side road because the surface was fresh chippings. I got into a bit of a flap as there was an enormous queue of cars waiting for me and I thought I was in reverse. Nope! I lurched forward into the kerb and bashed the radiator bracket. Luckily I was about 200 yards from my destination (garage for a smoke/leak test). I could hear something rattling and scraping on the ground as I pulled into the garage.
I killed the motor quickly and hopped out and lunged straight under the car. Very athletic and impressive although I gave myself cramp in my left calf. The radiator bracket had been knocked off its mount on the drivers side. What I couldn't see at the time and only spotted when I got home (5 miles away) was the radiator bottom hose had been gouged and there was at best 1mm of silicone between happy motoring and total coolant loss!
I can't believe there wasn't more damage. The guy at the garage fished out a replacement bolt for the rad bracket, although we fitted it in the wrong hole (I had drilled a few when first fitting the rad before I was happy) so it was a bit wonky. I sorted it out when I got home and have now replaced the bottom hose. The whole rad/cradle bracket had been shoved back on the drivers side into the front chassis horns. The hose had the gouge in as above and the hose clamp was all mangled but I couldn't see this on my initial inspection at the garage. It was only later at home I realised how lucky I was.
The lesson learned: either find a good wide easy place to turn around, or if you absolutely have to turn round in the road then ignore all the disapproving and annoyed faces of the other drivers and think slowly! I drive the cobra so infrequently I really need to be careful that I don;t just bump up a kerb without thinking, but this whole episode might make me stop and think next time!
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