reisama

iTrader: (1)

So it been less then 5 days that i owner my 83 RX-7 and i already ended up damaging my baby.

It's raining today and I was on my way home going 20km/h at a fast coner where i usualy do 35 to 45km/h I was in second gear and already cleared the conner and started accelering to 3000 rpm when the back wheels span and caused my to crash into the isle seperating the two lanes.

my right rear wheel was resting half way on isle of about 10-15 cm hight, the rim was damaged, but other then that everything else looked ok.

I drove to a small side street besides a garage and proceeded to change the tire when i found out i have no keys on the car and the imergancy jack was missing it's handle.

Luckely i was able to borrow what i needed from a nearby garage.

What was waiting for me when i removed the tire is a damage rubber break line, it got cut and was slowly driping, the mechanic in the garage who i talked to before this happened tell me i could slowly , very slowly drive it home. Hower he didn't have time to take a look as he was extremly busy and i was a none paying customer :P

so i proceeded to change the spare, and was starting to drive way home when i noticed that the loud baning sound coming from the tire was still there, the spare was doing eights.

I just got the car towed home and right now trying to warm up in a worm bath as i got socked wet and trying to figure out how extensive the job to fix this all will be.

Now i know that without taking the wheel off and having a good look it's close to imposable to diagnose exactly what is wrong, however what can i expect to see when it finaly stops raining?

reisama

iTrader: (1)

The rain got a bit liter and I decided to take look at the damage,

The good news is the break line that looked damaged is nothing seriouse, it actualy was the hand brake cable and only the cover was scratched/damaged.

The bad news is i'm still to find where the oil is leaking from, but it looks like it's leaking from the actual caliper.

I decided to call it a day when the rain returned. I'm not sure how far the damage goes yet but it does look like atlist the rear axel will need to be replaced, propably more though.

it's an 83 gse and the closest junk yard that has a rear axel assembly is 170km away in NY, so will most likely need to make a drip there SOOON.

btw are all 1st gen axel assembly's compatable? what about 2nd gen?


thanks

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

Wow, no offense dude but my brain hurts from reading those posts. I'm no english major but some correct spelling helps alot. I do though have a couple of questions of my own. How did you completely spin 180 degrees and hit a median if you were only traveling at 20-35km/h? I've never had the rear end of my SA get away from me more than I could control even in wet conditions and I have full exhaust, ignition, and an air box. What exactly is an 83 GSE?

Jobro

iTrader: (2)

Don't feel too bad, gutter dragons get everyone!

reisama

iTrader: (1)

no offance taken, FirebirdSlayer666. I try to spell as correctly as i can but it doesn't alwayse work out. Sorry for my english, it's not my first language as you could have guesed.

and about the "gse" i actualy meant gsl :P atlist that what i think it is, could be wrong. Just got the car not too long ago as firstly mentioned heh.

as for how it happaned, i'm not really sure myself, all i know is my rear locked when i started accelerating from the conner, and the fact that i'm driving on extremly old tires didn't help.(had an appointment to get them changed today)
But propably the bigest contributor to this was the every other car i had or have has been a front drive, and even while driving in snow i had no traction problems and knew what to do when the car would slid even when doing hard acceleration. so i didn't really know how to react to get my back under control on a rwd, and actualy i still don't know :P

hope that helps you to understand

BTW I'm not really feeling down or anything, just sad to see the car hurt.

It was good life leson though.

djessence

Aha a frenchie.

You said your spare was doing 8's. There is a chance if you damaged the rim you also damaged the axle or brake disc/hub or both.

Jack it up take a look see, spin the rear end by hand and observe what happens. If something is bent it should be pretty easy to see.

reisama

iTrader: (1)

heh well actualy i'm from latvia for thouse who know where it is, english is my third language and french is my fourth, learning it right now :P

the axel is bent for sure, as the break disk is stock at an angle to the mud protecter at the back sorta like this, disk-- > /| <-- mud guard or however you call it.
i didn't have time due to rain to take of the disk to see the damage clearly, as it is stock there preaty tightly, but my guese the housing should not be bent and only the axle got damaged, but thats just a guese from what i can see right now.

What i also descovered was that my front right breaks wheren't workig at all.
which i didn't even notice before considering the car was stoping fine with out swearling to a side. I was told i needed to have them replaced but never thought it was that bad.

unfortunatly my mechanic was and is extremly busy so he didn't have a chance to take a look at the car, and wont be able to for some time, so will be fixing it myself as it's almost imposable to find another mechanic who is willing to work for free :P. good news is my father who is a retired mechanic will be coming tommorow to aid me.

edit -

actualy i did try to spin it with the wheel off, car in neutral and hand brake off, and it wouldn't spin.
It wouldn't spin even after i took of the caliper. From the way it looks the caliper will need new seels as that the only reason i can think why it would leak brake fuilds.
but even with caliper off, i couldn't move the wheel.

djessence

well if you have a broken brake line then none of your brakes will work except the rear operated by hand brake cable, which you said was broken.

FBsliderseven

iTrader: (2)

time to upgrade your axles!
get some really nice moser ones heh.

reisama

iTrader: (1)

i thought that it was the brak line that was broken, but after i took of the wheel the brak fluid was leaking from within the caliper sugesting a broken seel.

the hand brake line was only scraped, so although the plastic/rubber hose that holds it is damage the line itself is not.

Luckely the leaking is not bad and has now stoped after i took of the caliper.
So doesn't look like i will need to bleed the line asi doubt any air had a chance to get in. (still planty of break oil was left)

FBsliderseven, I am actualy considering getting it upgraded(depending on a cost) however i am not that familier with car upgrades to know what improvemants that would serv.