Rotaryrockstar

Hey all! I was just posting this story and I thought this would be fun thread if everyone shared thier crazy bits of poor luck with these fabulous cars!
Anyway I am going to bed and I expect to read some funny things that'll make me wince in inner pain when I
get up. Here is my little jump start for this thread...


I was in line for my third run down the dragstrip at KansasCity International Raceway and flames and smoke started pouring out of my engine bay! Yikes! I signaled the Mustang behind me to let me get out (as if I needed to!) and I drove quickly to the parking area with my other RX buds... It turned out my radiator cap on top of the thermostat was leaking coolant (very slowly) and it had dripped onto my air pump wiring harness which had some (obviously) messed up wires in it....Cats were already old and clogged.... So the straight pipe and emissions removal was the next obvious step!
This was my first time that I had been racing... I was doing basically just a test run on it, I had had it for only a week at this point and it was my first car!
Definatly a big scare thats for sure!
Very happy it wasn't the PD! That probably would have been a quick end to my career as a RX-7 enthusiast!

Madrx7racer

damn........just my car accidents.......long stories but interesting.....
The foirst one was in my brand new GXL(89000 miles) I had if for a bout a week. One day I am drivinf back from city hall and when I am 1/4 mile from the house......the road dips under some railroad track and 50-60 feet after you return to normal street level there is a streetlight which is green......there are 2 cars waiting to make a left....the first car goes because I was not close enough...I see the second car pull up and slow down.....I have the right of way so I keep going as I reach the middle of the intersection the other guy decided to keep on going....I see him turn and I swerve but i could not avoid him....the car slides a bit to the right and i was hit head on........since the car was slightly going to the right it bouncd off to the right upon impact......I blacked out and when I came to I had flown into a construction zone......there were some wood palettes which broke in such a way that I used them as ramps.....I landed on an unfinished water main block with a 5 foot deep trench.....My car had one wheel on the block, and the rest in the air.......the first thing I saw was a chain link fence that kept me from going farther into the construction zone. The dumbass came up to my car and started shaking me asking if I was ok....my first instinct was to punch and I socked him in the face.....when I got out of my car I lost my balance(from when I musta hit my head) and I almost fell right backbut I held onto the door.....I walked up to him in his car as asked him for his cell phone and I called my mom.....when she showed up she kept bugging me to ask for a sobriety test and she pissed me off and I asked for it......he failed it miserably.......that is by far the worst experience......

Squints338

Um, I've owned my FC for like a week, but anyway, I did a nice braking drift around a corner in it so far.

So I'm coming up to the corner and as I start to turn into the corner and I do heel toe, downshift, and feather the gas. I rip around the corner and i get some smoke coming from the rear tires while the drift is all happening. All in good fun, by the way, these cars have good suspension setups stock.

Project84

I got a strange feeling this will be visiting the lounge.

rowtareh?

iTrader: (1)

Blown oil cooler line that has lead to my rebuild.

Oh, and I want to know why the **** you were drag racing your car after having it for only a week?

Zer0 Cylinder

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=326740

Madrx7racer

I lost my last FC 7 m onths ago almost. I was driving on HWY 9....I am driving at a nice speed when I see a car driving towards me and we were gonna hit head on....I swerved and missed him but I could not control it.....I was sliding and unable to control anything........I see the side of the mountain with my headlights then it all turns black.........then I see white and BAM! I hit a tree.....when I get out I see that the black part was a 40 foot drop off into a ravine......the tree saved my life.........that sucked....here is a pic...
Before:




Makes me sad and mad to this day......

Syonyk

Does rebuilding the engine in a friend's garage while pushing the car from side to side of the street every night because of parking regulations count?

Oh, and yes, we pulled & installed the engine while it was on the side of the street. Culminated with me finishing up during 6 hours of downpour.

Not fun. But it's running again. Though I don't think my el-cheapo brake pads are going to last long... put them on today, took it out to bed them, and got severe brake fade after 3-4 60->10 stops...

-=Russ=-

JKM

These are not my personal experiences, but the experiences of a friend who had a few RX-7's when we were younger...

At age 16, he got his license, daddy bought him a beautiful red 85 RX-7. This was in about 95 or so, the car was far from new but it was NICE. It was great all around, but after driving it a while as crazy 16 year olds will, it needed some new tires. So, friend tells Dad he needs to get some new tires, dad nods and says he'll get some later. Big mistake. The tire actually POPPED off the wheel around a tight corner, and a he slid into a dump truck that was going the other way. Oddly, this was one of the few times he wasn't driving erratically... but alas, that car was DESTROYED.

He would then pick up an 84. This thing was in terrible shape, he hadn't gotten the money from the insurance company yet so this was the best he could get with limited fundage. The idea was to restore it to glory, but after only a few days of ownership, it broke down on the side of the road. On Halloween.

Needless to say, the thing was totally wasted by the next morning.

Fast forward a few years... he's got a fat 5k check from an insurance settlement from when some dumbass hydroplaned into his previous car. He wants another Seven. This time, he's equipped with enough cash to go up to the FC! Finds a beautiful 86 base, looks and runs like brand new. Buys it for $4000. Sweet.

This car lasted quite a while. I didn't know much about the cars back in my teenage years, but knowing the cars as I do now that was one admirable machine to put up with the abuse he put it through. I don't recall him ever changing the oil, if that tells you anything. Anyway, it lasted for a good 3 or 4 years until piece by piece it started falling apart under neglect. The clutch started slipping, it would stall out, the fuel injectors were in desperate need of replacement. In the end, he junked it because it needed $4000 in repairs. He said I could have it if I wanted, but I sure as hell didn't have that kind of cash.

This is really a tragedy when you consider if I had that car NOW, I would probably be able to fix it very easily and cheaply.

BlackR1

Driving back to Los Angeles from San Francisco at 10:00pm, 300 miles away from home on the I5 south, car starts vibrating...decelerate and assume that its a flat. I hear a snap, the car shudders and I start losing speed. Input shaft failure...limp back home in 4th gear. When I had to stop to get gas I had to burn the clutch by driving in 4th (all others are gone.) Get back into the city at 4:30am and roll through every stoplight and stop sign-- if the car stops, i would not be able to get it rolling again as the clutch is thoroughly toasted.

Didn't think I would make it back home. Damn NA trannies are garbage.

Slammedblk7

iTrader: (7)

mine was pretty bad, my S5 NA caught fire after an engine swap, though ive gotten back on my feet, have an 87T2 that had NOTHING, just body, that now sports a new tranny rebuilt fresh jspec Half bridgeported, E6K'd
the whole nine yards, heres my old car after the fire

allforjesus06

dude that's crazy... sorry to hear that.

wow, now i have the creeps about my rebuild. im now thinking about getting a fire extinguisher....

oh, and how much you want for those sweet s5 tail lights? lol...

Madrx7racer

damn! sorry to hear man......that sux......what kind of exhaust is that?

scheistermeister

when i got my car i got it from NY well driving it back it was vibrating a lot so i was on the phone with my buddy at home trying to find a place to have it aligned... well about 75 miles on the highway BOOM! the left side of my car hits the ground and i see my drivers side wheel rolling next to me at 70mph... so i just sorta casually pull over wait for traffic to pass then run across the highway to get my wheel. after waiting to cross again i run back over with my wheel. fortunately the stock jack was still in place so i jack it up, call to police to get a ride to a parts store, but new lugnuts and a tire iron, get back to my car, put my wheel back on and continue on my 24 hour drive back to ft lauderdale FL... nothing strange after that!

scheistermeister

i like Slammedblk7's custom white and black license plate!

KingCobraV9

iTrader: (2)

hummm mine worst experience started about 2 hours after i got my car lol. i was driving it arround happy as can be cuz i was surprised with it after school one day. any way i was driving and i picked up my gf to show her the new ride. we leave her house and i decide to show it off a lil. we get going down the highway by her house i OPEN IT UP get going 90mph ide say and then i slow down for a light comming up soon. at the light i notice smoke comming from all arround and i decide its the car in front of me. so we continue our adventure in the new ride and then we get to another light... i notice it is MY NEW CAR smoking. well **** i pull into an autozone that was down the streetand look at it. new rigth away i blew a coolent line. (didnt find out till later that the car had been sitting for 3 years only driven occasionaly.) so i called a tow and got it home. the add coolent buzzer scared the **** out of me right as we pulled into autozone.
a few days later after i got it fixed i was driving by myself and some guy on the interstate FLYS past me. so i couldnt stand for that in my new car! so i run him down and pass him. only seconds later i look at the temp gauge and see its hotter than normal. then the add coolant buzzer.. well ****.. pull over.. get laughed at by the guy i passed as he goes bye. my thermo had gone bad and my water pump was not working correctly turned out. took about a week to change all the hozes, waterpump, and thermo. but has ran like a CHAMP ever sence....... fun stuff

Slammedblk7

iTrader: (7)

heh, no need to feel sorry, my new car is something to be proud of...it has everything i wanted on my old car, i even have the SAME exhaust on my new one, Apexi N1....anyone interested ill drop some pix

Sean_O

Driving home from the girlfriend's, on the 210 down in LA sometime after midnight. About halfway home (~25 minutes) I noticed that whenever I put on my turn blinkers my radio would start to cut out. Continued driving, and my headlights started getting dimmer as I noticed my voltometer dropping.

Turned off the radio and the headlights (had to drive behind other cars just so I could see the freeway). As soon as it got off the freeway, it died and I got it towed to my shop and left it there for the night. Turned out the alternator was toast.

Talking to the guy at my shop the next day, he said how worried he was when he came in that morning and saw my car, since I had just had a new transmission put in a week before.

OverDriven

Well I probably have the stupidest story. A good friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a long time was in town and wanted to go have a few drinks. You probably all know where this is heading. I had much more than I should have, and didn't have enough sense in me to not drive. It was raining that night, and I came to a right turn in second gear. As I went into the turn, I hit the gas hard, not even thinking about the slick road. Wheels spun hard and the back end flipped around so fast I could barely even react. The drivers side of the car went into the curb hard and nailed a sign post. There was only one car around about 200 feet away, and I freaked out that they would approach and get my plates and report the accident. All I knew was I didn't want to go to jail. So I gunned it and spun my wheels in this person's front yard until I broke free...only to have the tires instantly hit the pavement and break free again. This time the car whipped around again and the front got a tree. I was in pure panic mode, got the car out, and limped it home 30 minutes. Absolutely morinc of me. When I would hit the brakes, the car would pull HARD to the right. Luckily there weren't many cars on the road that night. I got it back by the grace of god, and when I checked it out the next morning, the impact had sheared some of the parts off. The only thing holding my front passenger side wheel on was a single bolt...and it was a small one. Still scares the hell out of me to think what could have happened that night. In some way though, I'm glad that I was taught a lesson without killing myself of someone else.

-Joe

beefhole

iTrader: (29)

Let's just say I followed my friend into a golf course with my FC. I went to turn around and the car ended up on a hill I had to call my friends at 1am and they came and helped us push it up a hill. The story is much longer than this but I don't feel like typing it all. Here's a pic...

Rotaryrockstar

This one is pretty dumb too..
I was talking with a buddy of mine and I was telling him that oddly enough I thought my acceleration in 4th was better than in 3rd... He said I was crazy... I was of course. But the next day on my way to work I decided to see how fast I could go in 3rd! I floor it and I am doing up close to 90 when I then look in my rearview and see a cop about 3 feet off my bumper! He didn't have his lights on... So I just gradually slowed down. (I had also entered a speed trap! It went from 55 to 40!= 50mph over limit!) He still doesn't light me up... I get to my exit. He follows... I exit and make the first turn... He still follows... At this point I was thinking maybe he didn't clock me or something and was trying to scare me into breaking a lil law. I get to my last turn right in front of my work and THEN he light me up! I pull over and he asks me "how fast do you think you were going?" Trick question I knew that much... I answered 85 hoping my speedo was off! Meanwhile right behind me, all the people at my job who said I was gonna get a lot of speeding tix with my RX were pulling into work! The cop took my ID and stuff and goes back to his car... I sweat and feel like throwing up a little bit. Then he comes back and asks me about my record, and tells me to be honest! I said I had no tix or accidents which was true...
He pondered for a bit and then let me go with a
(Very Serious) warning!
My god, was I in the best mood at work! The funny thing is is no one saw me right there! I couldn't believe that! I thought for sure I was gonna face a firing squad when I went in!
So I definatly learned my lesson that morning!
50 mph over the limit in the city! Isn't that like where they take you out of your car and beat you, then impound your car while revoking your licsence?
Sigh... If anyone ever deserved a speeding ticket, it was me on that day.

("I wonder how fast I can go in 3rd?")

Dumb ***... Save it for the Track....

BDoty311

When was this? I live like 15 minutes from KCIR, and I know most all of the rotorheads in KC.

Rotaryrockstar

Mid March 2001
Do you know of the Black 91 W/the Bomex kit Running 11.6s last year?

WAYNE88N/A

Some of these guys are lucky to be alive to write this stuff, me among them...I totalled my beloved first gen back in '93 or so, because of high speed and a big-*** water puddle I didn't see until the last minute. Long story short, she hit a couple of trees doing about 60, one of them crushing in the driver's door all the way to the seat & beyond. If the first tree wouldn't have hit the front left quarter first to absorb some of the impact, that second tree would have likely scrunched my ***.

I still drive too fast (proof of that is my "75 in a 65" ticket last week), but I don't drive drive crazy fast anymore. You younger guys gotta remember, even though these cars handle great, once you're doing high speed & lose it, you've lost it...

With age comes wisdom...Be careful guys, don't let your hormones kill ya...

Gotenks

I pulled into my school parking lot, and popped the hatch to get my back pack and books.

I see smoke coming from the front.... so I pop the hood.... and its on fire. Luckily I got it out quickly, it could of been much worse.

*shakes fist* DAMN PULSATION DAMPENER!!!