Yes, unfortunately IT has happened again .

On the bright side, I am sure that many of you are reminded that the value of your FD may go up!!
Oh.. and that part about my passenger and myself still being alive, that is a good thing too (in our humble opinions)..
Better start at the beginning...

We left the video store (rented Spaceballs on DVD). On a part of the road that has 3 twisties, and heads uphill (at least in the direction we were going), is where it happened. It had just started raining out, and my passenger had a hot cup of coffee in her lap, so I was driving conservatively. There was a Ford Escort riding my tail, but I took no notice, better safe than sorry I said. As we rounded the second corner and the hill got really steep, we started decelerating, so I gave it a *little* gas just to maintain a constant speed.

that was my mistake.

The rear end broke loose, and before we could even remark, we were headed towards a ditch on the right side of the road.. then we were in a ditch.. but we were still moving sideways. As we were perpendicular to the road, the front driver's side of the rex hit a culvert (a guy's driveway). According to the guy 2 cars behind us (the woman riding our tail in the escort didn't stay after she saw us getting out of the car) we rolled twice sideways. We ended up right side up, in the ditch on the other side of the drive way.
My passenger asked me if I was okay.. I asked her the same. We were both able to get out of the car and were later treated for minor facial abrasions, and my passenger had a cut in the back of her head that needed a staple.

We were told by everyone (EMT, police, nurse, doctor) that had we not been wearing our seatbelts (a requirement whenever anyone rides in one of my cars) then we probably would not have made it out of the hospital alive.

I got a ticket for violation of the "Michigan Basic Speed Law" which basically means driving fast enough to loose control of your vehicle, and I am told that it is a required ticket whenever there is property damage (we took out someone's mailbox).
I got my -7- in late Aug. early Sept. and these last few months were some of the funnest of my life. And yes, I was going to put the -7- into storage on Thanksgiving day, the accident was Sunday the 23rd.

Pics of the car in the next post because cause I had too many images...

These next pics illustrate what happened (from actual road)
Wide shot showing approach to ditch:


Where the mailbox used to be, far side of driveway:


Closer shot of the driveway, X is where we hit the driveway and started to roll:


Reverse shot of where the "action" happened:



YES.. I miss my -7- already.. soooooo much..
YES.. to reiterate.. we are both okay, no broke bones, etc..
YES.. I am counting my blessings
YES.. I had full coverage
YES.. The ticket handed to me while I lay bleeding in the ambulance was for like $90 (but the officer was a really nice guy and sympathetic, too.. he was just doing his job)
and ABSOLUTELY YES.. I will have another -7- no matter what it takes.

My insurance company is Progressive, and like my father said "well, now we will get to see how good your 'online' insurance company really is"...

I am open to any advice anyone may have about dealing with insurance companies.. this is my first accident ever and so far Progressive has been very courteous, professional, and prompt as far as communication goes, we will see how the follow through is.
I am NOT out to cheat the insurance company, I just want to make sure that I don't get screwed... not that I think they will do that to me but I have to be on the safe side (save the risks for the track ).
When I bought this car (for 19k, a few months ago) it had 18k miles on the ORIGINAL motor, it is a white 94 base..

So anyways, I will post when I get more info on the insurance & stiff, and in the meantime I will still be here, as usual, gleaming useful information form the boards and storing it away in my rx7 memory bank .

That is basically the "WONT give up" part. This was a really scary experience for me, but it was also a learning experience. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, I will have another -7- and hopefully be able to get the salvage rights to my current -7- to incorporate a little of this and a little of that into the my new labor of love.

Thanks all, for your patience, and for reading this (and yes its ok if you just looked at the photos, I usually only do that too )

Oh.. and
YES.. THE MOTOR WAS STILL RUNNING FINE AFTER WE STOPPED SPINNING!!
(hehe thos rot0rs neva' stopp spinnin no matta what!)
I must have popped it in to neutral at some point, and I had to shut it off as I got of the car !

Peace,
Daniel

Please, if anyone wants to contribute any advice, like I stated, I just want to make sure whatever happens with the insurance company happens fairly... Thanks
-DV

 

The Pics I promised:
(click on the thumbnails for larger images)

 

Here is a rather ironic pic.. my friend discovered it while we were turning around in the drivewat that I had rolled over the day before... the sign is a normal address sign hanging over the driveway that we rolled right underneath.. but from the house, this is the text visible on the back of the sign:


A closer shot:


Yep, I would say that I am "religeous" and I am not saying that I am right or that anyone else is wrong about that.. that is more of a lounge-type topic.. I am just saying that that is rather ironic...

 

aww damn a WHITE one. what a loss. please learn to drive before you get another 7.

 

I expected that.. and I suppose I may deserve it... but I remind you that at least I wasn't trying to pull something that the -7- could not handle.. I save all of that kind of "competitive energy" for the track.

 

thats kind of my point. you couldnt even handle it when you were taking it easy. but in your defense uphill in the rain with turbos is a bad one. but why did it have to be white.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO a white FD but on a lighter note glad you made it out with no major injuries. my dad totaled a white FD as well so thoes pictures almost bring a tear to my eye

 

I am sorry to hear that but at least your ok oh and to the poor white fd i just had a moment of silence for it.

 

rockshox,

Have you ever felt any form of ice/sleet/snow in a RWD car?

You'll see. Besides, get off this dude's ***, atleast he didn't rear end his OWN FRIEND's FD (while you on the other hand...)

CWB: I imagine it was possibily freezing rain, hail, or something of that sort?

I had my roomate's S2K do a 360 on me while doing 20 mph during a freak hail storm (and I live right next to the Pacific ocean). I was well aware of the adverse conditions, etc., and driving under the limit as a result - but no matter, physics had other ideas. Luckily it just held the line it was on and didn't hit anything.

Even looking at your rear tires, they appear to have noticable tread left, so I can only assume the weather was extremely cold, as I doubt you punched the gas while cogniscent of the conditions.

This could be a blessing in some form or fashion.

 

Really sorry...at least you are both OK and insured...only advice is to stay on the insurance back all the time
Hope your next FD is even better

 

ouch!

 

Here's someone selling a white one --->

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=241210

 

I'll play taps for your fallen 7.

 

You killed a white FD you dick!

 

whew. at least it wasn't a Montego Blue.

 

There needs to be a disclaimer or warning with these cars: BE CAREFUL IN WET CONDITIONS!"
I have to drive my FD SO conservatively in the wet. The worst in when the streets are JUST getting wet, and have all the slippery oils and stuff not yet washed off.
We all know that there is only a slight difference in tapping the gas between spinning the tires or maintaining traction.
I took a co-worker to a convention once, it was kind of wet and misty, and as we drove around town, he finally asked, "Are you tires spinning EVERY time we leave a stop sign?" and I said, "yeah...pretty much." And he was like, "But you aren't even getting on it!"

 

In low traction conditions I think it may be better to keep the rpms over 3k. The idea being that the throttle response is so much more predictable and controllable, even though there is much more power if you put your foot the whole way down. From 2k-3k you have the turbo engagement up high, the engine can be boggy down low, and you might have hesistation at 3k.

Dave

 

Hm. I lost control of my FD only once, but not in such risky circumstances (I just mowed a little grass). Even though it was at low speed, for weeks I couldn't shake the thought of how disastrous it could have been in a different situation.

It would seem you overcompensated for the slide. In a high-powered RWD car I tend to react for lots of oversteer (go-carting and NFS Porsche influences, maybe?), where on an FD all you usually need is to hold things and let the car find its line when the back end gets loose. In reality this car can slide a corner quite smoothly. Too much countersteer, and let go of the throttle and you'll be heading the opposite way in a big hurry with little chance of stopping it.

I'm now more comfortable with this car as it gets past the 7/10s of its traction, but it took practice to stop overreacting.

Dave

 

On the insurance issue: check your policy and see if you're covered up to Fair Market Value. If not, you're screwed because blue book on FDs is way weird. (A virgin 5pd like yours only gets like $17k, while an auto of all things rates higher). If it's FMV, you're in good shape - just check on Autotrader, etc and find a few FDs with super-low mileage and that's your proof.

Otherwise, I'd try to buy another with a blown motor and your wreck and put the good motor in the good frame. You could also swap in all the really nice interior parts. It would be a lot of work, but it would result in a good car.

Dave

 

sorry to hear about your car, but glad you and your passenger are ok.

whereabouts did this happen? there really aren't too many 'twisties' around here....

 

dude dont worry this sort of **** happens i hit the side of a bus once ....guess what at the end i have another fd and now i am putting a 3 rotor in it with more or less 800 rwhp never give up buddy .....rotors never give up (although it was a tremendous loss ) get back on the horse man ....quick!!!!!

 

The FD is actually very benign compared to alot of other cars: see for example, late 90s MR2, NSX, 80s porsche 911. Usually what happened is overreacting and freezing up (i.e., keeping the throttle to the floor etc..)

The stock tires/wheels don't help. The car is neutral but what is neutral for most people is actually mild oversteer on the street.

What you need are bigger rear wheels and tires with bigger front sway bars. This puts the car into a mild understeer at which you can switch to controllable oversteer with the throttle.

If you think the FD is responsive and a hair trigger away from spinning, wait till you put Jim Lab bushing in.

In my car, it's so responsive that I actually have to slow down my steering inputs.

 

Yeah, you are basically right.
This is what makes an automatic car like mine be worse to drive, the 'doggyness' off the line naturally makes you want to push the gas a bit harder, and then the turbos hit and......spppppiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnn goes the tires.
Of course, there is a built in solution that I end up using, and that is to turn 'hold' on in Drive. It is a very effective traction control as it keeps the tranny from ever shifting into 1st gear.

 

In my experience with Progressive they are extremely quick to write you out a check and have you sign on the dotted line, that way you have no time to think about how badly they are screwing you until it is too late. Just make sure you know what your car is worth before you let them cut you the check.

That is a very bad idea. Not only do you have alot more power when you hit the accelerator but you also have alot more engine braking when you let off. That can be just as bad or even worse than breaking the rear end loose under power because it is alot less predictable. On slick surfaces just keep the revs down under 3k and keep the throttle light.

 

Reality Check:

The car is totaled-which means your insurance company only has to give you book value (not what the car is actually worth)-probably around $15K. If you paid $19K you are out some jack.

You mentioned "Yes, unfortunately IT has happened again". I hope this doesn't mean that this is the second (or more) accident. That combined with your ticket may mean you will have trouble getting insurance at all-much less get insured on another "sports" car.

You may be able to "buy back" your car from the insurance company. There are several people here on the forum that can "fix" it. Try doing a search. Of course it will have a salvage title.

Glad you weren't hurt. Probably the load from going uphill, combined with opening the throttle kicked in the turbo and WHOOP, there it is. Happened to me going around a corner once-180 spin-thankfully didn't hit anything.

Best wishes-hope things work out for ya.