Yesterday me and my friends went on a day trip to hurricane ridge from Tacoma wa (if you haven’t been there you need to go). About half way there my friends volvo broke 3 out of 4 front brake lines. We replaced all 3 at the cheveron it rolled to and we were off again. We ended up making it to hurricane ridge. About halfway up the ridge we wanted to take some shots of the cars driving past. My friend gets out of my car, we get the shots and as i go to make a u turn to go pick him back up the rock I thought was small got really big really fast. The rock goes under my car makes some very bad noises. I stop immediately open the door and look underneath to see what had happened; my coolant line was dangling and it was leaking water at the front. This is my nightmare scenario. Me, my friends and a guy in a truck with a lot of the tools we needed immediately go into surgery mode, cutting off the blood flow, elevating the wound and finally removing the punctured bit of coolant line. We reattached the coolant line and bled the system on the side of a mountain mind you. Anyone who owns a watercooled swap, knows its hard to bleed the air out of the system, but somehow we managed. We install the one remaining clap and tie the back end of the coolant tube up with some wire and set off. This setup made it the 100 mile trip back home snd then some. Im very happy to be able to type this story from the comfort of my home!

Photos of the chaos

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not to minimize your issues but, did your volvo friend have spare brake lines in his car?

glad y'all didn't have to spend the night up there! guess you coulda slept in the wagon...

I'm always worried about young guys pushing old cars, trying to learn things the hard way. Loosing brake lines (3) on mountain road - BAD. Twin rubber coolant hoses centered sticking down from the bottom of a lowered car - Sure, that'll never happen...

Why don't people run some hard metal lines under the pan that will be much more resistant to impacts? Stainless 1' OR 1.5" comes to mind. Just sayin...

Jeez, Mark, cut them some slack.

Pushing old cars & learning the hard way is EXACTLY how I (and likely many others here) learned.

It all worked out in the end and they made a new friend in the process. Good story, IMHO.

Hard lines would not survive speed bumps. I've needed to replace brackets from speed bumps but the rubber was fine. This is the first I've heard of rubber hoses getting punctured and I worked at RH 20 years ago.

A side of the road repair is part of the 914 experience. Cherry popped

We had to back track to oreilys and get them

Its a hard line 90% the length of the section exposed. It hit right where the coolant tube meets the line. The brake lines were an accident because the tabs where the hard and soft lines meet was slightly bent out and caught the sway bar

Just one question... what is a "coolant line"?

Glad to hear that everything worked out. This is how also learned to fix things.
Im sure we all have stories about fixing things on the side of the road. Just adds to the experience.
I am confused why you would have water in your car.

Hard lines would not survive speed bumps. I've needed to replace brackets from speed bumps but the rubber was fine. This is the first I've heard of rubber hoses getting punctured and I worked at RH 20 years ago.

A side of the road repair is part of the 914 experience. Cherry popped
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Yet another reason why I'm putting my coolant lines in the car. Glad everything worked out - it sure could've been a lot worse. Shredding brake lines count as worse!
And I don't think I've ever seen pictures of your car even though I've read your threads - it's looking good!
Again, glad you're typing from home rather that sending smoke signals from a mountaintop...

Yeah, I learned that way too! Glad I survived.
Good there was no blood, glad no one got hurt! Looked like a fun time too!

Got some great discussion too. Glad they had the guts to share the story. Perhaps I can watch for my next opportunity to stimulate discussion on how smart and wise are similar, but different...

In the 70s I worked for the park biologist. Drove my 61 falcon to obstruction pt. On the way back, I ran out of gas just after turning down towards PA on the asphalt. I think you can run about 30 Miles that way just coasting. No steering lock or power controls. What I do know is I made it from Hurricane Ridge down to the park entrance, where they gave me some gas. I was 20 years old, and invulnerable. Woulda been cooler in a 914, but then I would’ve been able to pay for gas...
If you haven’t been to Hurricane ridge, go if you have the chance.

This happened to me on Mt. Hamilton in San Jose. Almost to the top on the backside of the mountain. Coolant line blew on a left hairpin turn. Tires hit the glycol and the car spun like a top but stayed on the road. A 6" tear lengthwise on the coolant line. On New Years Day. 10 miles from civilization. All happened on the pelican run. ( I was #3 to the top of the mountain...

I had to run it without coolant. I would start the car to make it up a hill, then coast as far as I could down the hill. 30 minutes later I made it to a Carl's Jr. and called for a tow. 3 hours later the tow truck showed up. A regular truck not a flat bed. 45 minutes later the flat bed showed up and towed me the 30 miles home for $350.

I will never go up that mountain again. Last time my fuel pump gave up the ghost in the same location. But I set my tow bar in my wife's SUV before I left. 2 hours later she made it to where I was stuck on the back side of the mountain.

Never again Mt. Hamilton...

Did you guys buy some lotto tickets once you got back into town?

Lucky!

Nice 245, I have a 242 I need to put back on the road once my 914 is running.