disaster strikes FrankenSpider

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@domain.elided>]

I'm hoping others here in the SF Bay Area will benefit from this 
information:

A mile or so south of the Page Mill Road southbound entrance to 
Interstate 280, there is an underpass going under the freeway. The 
structure of the underpass is concrete and the asphalt abutting it on 
the freeway has sagged dangerously, particularly in Lane #3 (counted 
from the right). Stay in the far right or the far left lane if you are 
not already aware of this problem and don't know the area well.

... I was driving to my office from a breakfast meeting in Palo Alto on 
Thursday using this route, certainly not the normal time of day or 
usual route for my commute drive. Heavy traffic locked me into the #3 
lane ... By the time I saw the condition of the roadway, there was 
nothing I could do. FrankenSpider's front suspension compressed as it 
dropped into the sagged pavement's trench across the lane, the engine 
guard and sump struck the edge of the concrete underpass structure very 
hard and broke apart. Oil flew everywhere ... it hit hard enough that 
the transmission bounced out of gear and the back of the sump is 
hanging down with a half inch gap, the *steel* engine guard is broken 
into pieces. Oil hitting the exhaust raised huge cloud of smoke. I 
turned the engine off as fast as I could reach the ignition switch, I 
don't think the oil pressure gauge had dropped yet, and coasted to the 
right shoulder as quickly as I could, leaving an 18" wide swath of oil 
on the roadway across the lanes.

This is fully the fault of negligent road maintenance ... the roadway 
is dangerously sagged at this juncture and the marks of many cars 
scraping their undercarriage on the concrete edge are easily visible. 
Owners of other cars with higher undercarriage clearance have told me 
they avoid the middle lanes because their cars bounce all over the 
roadway.  FrankenSpider's sump is at stock 1972 Spider ride height and 
can pass a 4.5" obstruction, but the combination of a high edge and the 
suspension-compressing dip in the road just before it makes it into a 
high step in the middle of a 65-75mph roadway. I'm going back with my 
digital camera to photograph the roadway and file a complaint with 
CalTrans and the local municipality, hopefully will get some 
compensation for the damage.

Larry and I evaluated the damage last evening. Upper and lower sump, 
engine guard, fan shroud and LH motor mount are all junk. There's a 
small amount of (hopefully) repairable damage to the radiator. Very 
luckily, engine and radiator did not dent the hood so there's no 
bodywork to do. Larry will inspect the oil pump and drive when he pulls 
the sump apart... Parts are on order now, will be here in a week. It's 
going to cost around $800 to fix, and FrankenSpider will miss All 
Italian Day...

Very very aggravating... :o(

Godfrey
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