Crossmember mountings warning

[David Reilly]

We received the following from Register member Garrett Borque. He asked us to post it to inform all Forum members. David
Hello David,
Thanks for your note and for continuing with the newsletter that you write.
I was in a serious crash with my '65 SType. I went off the road, on a windy country road near my house in Maine. After leaving the road, I traveled down a gully and the car plowed into the ground on the uphill side of the gully before coming to a stop. The car was badly damaged.
This brings me to a warning about a troubling design feature in Jaguar's small sedans, that as a mechanic and restorer of these cars, I have often disliked. Just a few weeks before my accident, I considered doing away with the car's front suspension rubber crossmember mounts. I was considering a way of solid mounting with reinforced holes and long bolts, the front crossmember of the car to the rails at the bottom of each inner fender.
There are many other "period" rear wheel drive sedans that have their front suspension hard mounted to the unibody of the car, such as the Volvo 240 and 740 models. I read what I could find about this modification and found people had done it to the rear suspension of cars, where high horsepower engines had been fitted. At the time before my accident, I was interested in gaining more precise steering feel, by preventing the crossmember from constantly floating around on its rubber mounts. I had already fitted rack and pinion steering to my car, as well as a larger sway bar, gas shock absorbers and polyurethane suspension bushings. I did not consider possible accident damage ripping the mounts lose and making the whole front crossmember a "loose cannon" under the car.
During the accident, after my car left the roadway and traveled over the uneven ground, the front crossmember ripped off its mounts. The left side front tire pushed back into the bodywork behind the driver's side wheel opening over 2 feet, for a distance nearly that of the diameter of the wheel itself. The tire and wheel, still connected to the suspension and crossmember, compromised the firewall and the driver's inner fender, crushing the driver's side footwell and injuring both of my feet.
I was taken from the car, on a backboard, with bones broken in both of my feet, and a crushed disc in my back, as the pedals hit my feet, or my feet hit the pedals, depending on how you want to look at it. After the accident, I looked at the car. The driver's side footwell was very small and the pedals were pointed nearly straight at the front of the driver's lower front seat cushion. I have had surgery on my feet and I am expected to make a full recovery, but will not be able to put weight on either foor during the recovery time of 2 plus months. I purchased my car back from the insurance company for parts, but since I cannot walk, I have not looked at it closely yet. I have a second ‘S’-type that is very clean and rust free, but needs restoration and assembling. Parts from my accident vehicle and many others that I have stockpiled, will contribute to building another ‘S’-type for my personal use using my other car. My new car will be bigger and better than before. The first thing I will do to my new car as I rebuild it is to solid mount the front crossmember to the bottom of the car. Happy Holidays to you and the ‘S’-type community.
Garrett Bourque GB Services Auto Restoration

And he sent this note later.
Do not forget to mention the option of changing the rear mounts to make the rear subframe more secure as well. It does not seem that road noise or ride harshness would be greatly changed. That is the job of the tires and springs. The rear subframe does have more arms locating it, but it still moves on the original rubber mounts!!
My green car, pictured in the photo, is very bent. However, it will be a good donor. I know what I did to every part on that car, including a manual trans swap, suspension upgrades and installing a lot of NOS parts. A lot of the interior can be saved. Obviously not all parts have survived, but I will make something of my grey RHD 3.4 ‘S’ bodyshell.
This one was my first ‘S’-type. I had stripped it for a repaint, when my new neighbor told me about his friend who then had my green one. I purchased it instead and completed the green car. My grey car's history is not known, but I bought it in the very dry and car friendly state of Colorado, while in college there in the late 80's, so there is very little rust to fix!
Garrett

[David Reilly]

I forgot to mention that the story of Garrett and the green car is in Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 2.
Worth a read
Cheers,
David

[Jose]

I know Garrett. Purchased parts from him years ago. Very sorry about his accident. Will contact him.

I am interested in this mod. The front member of my Ford Aerostar minivan is hard bolted to the frame arms, I know exactly what he is saying.

[Orlando St.R]

Blimey. That's pretty sobering. Please do wish Garrett all the best for a speedy recovery.

[Jose]

I just spoke to Garrett, he's fine, installing a V8 in a Volvo. He cannot sit still.

[Glyn Ruck]

Wow! ~ Wish you back to full health soon!

[jonesdl]

I am pleased to hear Garrett is recovering and is keeping busy. which is a good sign. Looking at the damage I would have thought the front end was more solid than that on an S type I am surprised. Food for thought !!.

[Jose]

Garret expained to me what needs to be done, but it is serious surgery. Not a weekend job.

[cass3958]

I think the moral of the story here is that we are driving 50 plus year old cars that were designed on a drawing board not on a computer. No crash testing was available at the time and most were sold without seat belts.
With all this in mind drive at a speed which is comfortable for both the 50 year old design of the car and more so within the capabilities of the driver bearing in mind that most of us are older than our cars. So slow down.
I don't think any design alterations we make to our cars such as changing the subframe mounts from rubber to solid are going to change the safety structures of our cars to that of a modern car. Just slow down and get home without any incidents.
Garrett does not say the accident happened as a result of a fault with a rubber subframe mount and there is no proof that by changing to solid mounts the damage caused in the accident could have been avoided. There is always the possibility that at the speed he hit the bank, the bolts holding a solid mount to the subframe could easily have been ripped out and the same damage caused.
My regards to Garrett and I mourn for the loss of another S Type Jaguar.

[Glyn Ruck]

I agree Rob. While none of us wants to see any of our fellow S Type drivers suffer an accident. The sub frame mounting systems used were for good NVH reasons & work. We need to drive our old girls with due regard for their age & try to keep them in good fettle.

I have even considered mounting an impact sensor & hiding some airbags under the dash but the idea is in an embryo stage & requires some further thought & refinement.