Donna, myself and our 18 year old Shitzhu-Poodle poodle did the drive on October 12th, 2022. We were in Maggie Valley that week for the Vairs in the Valley function and decided to go see what the Tail of the Dragon was all about. Of course, a drive of only 66 miles made taking the
66 More Door a natural choice for the scenic trip. We arrived at Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort about noon. We visited the store and had a nice lunch, then took off on our trip north on the Tail of the Dragon. It was a slow 3 miles at first, until a car pulled up behind us. No way was I pulling over for a new Vette. I kept him behind me with my State of Maine country hill driving skills. He never got a chance to make a pass. But at the end, I pulled long into the large parking area, knowing he would pull in short to make his fast return back. That is when I found out I had let all the smoke out of my brake pads. I elected not to set the parking brake to prevent a lock up of the rear brakes. After the needed 45 minute wait to cool down the brakes, we headed back at a slow 15 mph (limit is 35 mph) to get back to Deals Gap for a longer stop. We finally headed back to Maggie Valley about 6 pm and was able to have good brakes all the way back and throughout the rest of the weekend and the trip home.Big hint, Vairs with drum brakes will release all their smoke from all four corners, if driven aggressively through the 11 miles. It is a slow drive back after a 45 minute cooling period and the slow drive is mandatory or risk loosing all brakes.
Knowing the excessive heat had affected the shoes and grease, bearing repack, new shoes on front brakes and bleeding was done. This did not solve the right pull I had been experiencing, new NOS drums were installed and that did not solve it either. So the Clarks front disc brake mod was done. Tear down of the wheel cylinder showed the 2 year old left cyclinder had rusted and froze in the retracted position.
Front bearings had grease that was black from heat. I had used red wheel bearing grease to pack all bearings. This necessatated rear axle bearing maintenance. I decided in interest of time to exchange the rear axle bearing assemblies with a set of built up ones I had in storage. Prior to installation, the new wheel cylinders were honed and then wiped down with NAPA Syl-Glyde grease to prevent rusting. Since the brake maintenance and modification, I have had no further brake issues. Our Vair took a 1700 mile trip to Cruisin" the Coast in Mississippi with no issues.
Fun drive on the Tail of the Dragon, but not worth all the extra work on the car.
Any one else have a Hwy 129 Tail of the Dragon Vair photos and experience they had to share?
Tail of the Dragon Route
1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible
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