Wrecked my RX-7. Won't be fixing it again..... It's over
06-06-2011, 11:29 AM
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Wrecked my RX-7. Won't be fixing it again..... It's over Before I start guys, please understand that I've had this car since I was a private in the army. Every waking moment (and many sleeping) has been devoted in thought or labor to this vehicle. It outlasted every relationship I've had with friends and girlfriends. I've allowed it to consume me and receive all the creativity and hard work that I could muster.
I would really appreciate if any derogatory comments such as " cool starry broh" or "why'd u focking turn!!" were either kept to yourself or at least held off for a few more days.
This happened on Tuesday of last week ( May 31) when I went to Durham to pick the car up from being tuned by Ira. He even told me the car was pulling pretty hard to the right when it started spinning. I jumped in the car and took it down the road. In low gear bipedal the throttle once to about 65% and it spun so I got back out of it. Turned around to head back toward the shop. In high gear about 35mph I gave it around 60-70% throttle and it was pulling reallllly hard. 15lbs. Boost. As soon as it started to spin at that speed the rear of the car immediately walked out and steered the car. I jumped on the brakes and turned to opposite lock. The front tires just slid with the momentum it had created already. The car went right into the ditch (about 4'deep) and was facing 180* from the direction of travel.
Thanks to Ira, Debo, Frankie, and a few others we were able to get the car out before the "man" got there.
The damage is pretty extensive. It destroyed everything infrint of the motor including the turbo. It broke the bellhousing and the tailshaft housing on my powerglide. The engine looks to be ok. I'm going to part the car out and hopefully find a clean roller to buy in my price range. I really thought it was cool to have something that looked really radical and had the potential to be extremely fast. I still feel like the car could have run mid to high 8s if I had the bugs worked out of it.
The plan was to leave Iras shop and drop it off to get scaled and have the suspension/alignment dialed in.
below is the culprit for why the car turned like it did. The drivers rear shock was bearing the weight of most of the rear half if the car. With traction the car would go straight but when it began to spin, the increased traction on the drivers side and minimal on the passenger side steered the car. This is the only explanation I can come up with as to why the car would turn 180* in such a short amount of time.
I would really appreciate if any derogatory comments such as " cool starry broh" or "why'd u focking turn!!" were either kept to yourself or at least held off for a few more days.
This happened on Tuesday of last week ( May 31) when I went to Durham to pick the car up from being tuned by Ira. He even told me the car was pulling pretty hard to the right when it started spinning. I jumped in the car and took it down the road. In low gear bipedal the throttle once to about 65% and it spun so I got back out of it. Turned around to head back toward the shop. In high gear about 35mph I gave it around 60-70% throttle and it was pulling reallllly hard. 15lbs. Boost. As soon as it started to spin at that speed the rear of the car immediately walked out and steered the car. I jumped on the brakes and turned to opposite lock. The front tires just slid with the momentum it had created already. The car went right into the ditch (about 4'deep) and was facing 180* from the direction of travel.
Thanks to Ira, Debo, Frankie, and a few others we were able to get the car out before the "man" got there.
The damage is pretty extensive. It destroyed everything infrint of the motor including the turbo. It broke the bellhousing and the tailshaft housing on my powerglide. The engine looks to be ok. I'm going to part the car out and hopefully find a clean roller to buy in my price range. I really thought it was cool to have something that looked really radical and had the potential to be extremely fast. I still feel like the car could have run mid to high 8s if I had the bugs worked out of it.
The plan was to leave Iras shop and drop it off to get scaled and have the suspension/alignment dialed in.
below is the culprit for why the car turned like it did. The drivers rear shock was bearing the weight of most of the rear half if the car. With traction the car would go straight but when it began to spin, the increased traction on the drivers side and minimal on the passenger side steered the car. This is the only explanation I can come up with as to why the car would turn 180* in such a short amount of time.
Last edited by Luke Skyjacker; 06-06-2011 at 12:08 PM.
06-06-2011, 12:05 PM
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I think i was pretty lucky. there was a telephone pole that i missed and i didnt have a helmet on inside a car with a full halo and no padding. i did have my harness on and that kept me in my seat. I am thankful that it didnt turn out worse than it did. i was thinking that if i were on the dragstrip the concrete retaining walls would have been alot less forgiving than the soft ditch that i ended up in. might have had alot more speed on a sticky track before it started spinning also.
I will be looking to part this car out. hopefully i will find a clean G body or mustang in my $$ range, but i will have to lay low for a while to recoup some of the funds i had in this car. seems like a big waste now, but i really did enjoy actually fabricating ALL the stuff on this car and the stress relief it offered while i did it.
the next car i build wont take nearly as long and will not deviate as far from stock as this car did. bolt in suspension for me from here out.
I will be looking to part this car out. hopefully i will find a clean G body or mustang in my $$ range, but i will have to lay low for a while to recoup some of the funds i had in this car. seems like a big waste now, but i really did enjoy actually fabricating ALL the stuff on this car and the stress relief it offered while i did it.
the next car i build wont take nearly as long and will not deviate as far from stock as this car did. bolt in suspension for me from here out.
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06-06-2011, 12:57 PM
#8
that spring being higher then the other is not what caused the issue, every car i have ever corner balanced and or scaled has at least one spring perch higher then the rest. and yours arent even that far off, i have seen some cars take much more then that to make the weight equal on the rear tires. if it was pulling to the right only when it spun then alignment was off over all between front and rear. this is unless something in the cars frame or suspension was broken. but normally your springs will never be equal.
06-06-2011, 09:12 PM
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Thanks guys. gonna be a sad day when i take this one to the yard.
Feel free to PM me about parts you see that you might be interested in. trying to scrape enough together to buy a roller of some sort.
Feel free to PM me about parts you see that you might be interested in. trying to scrape enough together to buy a roller of some sort.
06-06-2011, 09:17 PM
#13
that spring being higher then the other is not what caused the issue, every car i have ever corner balanced and or scaled has at least one spring perch higher then the rest. and yours arent even that far off, i have seen some cars take much more then that to make the weight equal on the rear tires. if it was pulling to the right only when it spun then alignment was off over all between front and rear. this is unless something in the cars frame or suspension was broken. but normally your springs will never be equal.
06-06-2011, 09:33 PM
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the lower bar is where the wheelie bars mount, the shock mounts are welded on the axle tubes. i wasnt referring to the shock heights as much as i was the ride height on the coil springs. not here to argue about why this happened, the car tracked straight with traction, as soon as it spun the tires hard the rear end came around 180*.
06-06-2011, 09:34 PM
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I am wondering if you broke an axle or something inside the pumkin.... I recall an Indy Car that turned 90* as the green flag fell and he put it straight in the wall...broken half shaft did him in.
As others have said, cars can be replaced, you cant. Best of luck!
As others have said, cars can be replaced, you cant. Best of luck!
06-06-2011, 09:49 PM
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My 69 Camaro did almost the same thing but luckly I had a lot of free space. I had 14x32's drag slicks and one slick was measuring larger in size and with a spool it made it real bad. I found out why they measure circumference and match pairs for the Pro's.
06-07-2011, 09:56 AM
#20
That does suck. I dont know why anyone would call you out for not wanting to fix it even with all the work involved. At least now you know what it took to get to that point and to add repair to that would be another headache in itself. Nice to see you are still here with us!