Drtran1983 Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Hi guys, new to the forum. I've been on the lookout for a s30 for some time now. I recently found a 78 280z that hasn't ran in about 10 years. I'm hoping to buy the car and turn it into a project / daily driver. One main concern than my fiancé and I have is the safety of the vehicle once we're able to get it on the road. So my question to you guys is in the event of an accident how likely are we to survive in these cars? I'm mainly looking for personal experiences from owners. Any information would help! Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Our team rear-ended a coasting Dodge Neon at 70+ mph. We didn't lose a lap (because the race was red-flagged, so we repaired it overnight...) That is a defective reasoning, actually. The key is accident avoidance FIRST. Survivability second. I wouldn't recommend rear-ending a Neon at 70mph. DEFINITELY not in anything without those huge bumpers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLATA Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Early Z's are very thin skin, with tiny bumpers, not much safety when built back in the early days, later Z's had larger bumpers and thicker skin , just be aware that there some real @$$'s out on the road, drive on the look out/in safety mode and " ENJOY THE RIDE " . FWIW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) It's all relative, really. For the time, they were probably about average in terms of safety. Compared to the cars of today, they seem like death traps. No electronic driving assists, no airbags, very little impact absorption, and they're pretty small. As for personal experience... I must have been going somewhere between 35-45 mph and went into a hard right turn (it ends up being a 90 degree change in direction, I don't know if there's a technical way to describe that). Back end slid out to the left, I over-corrected to the right, and it fishtailed until I ended up with the ass of the car in a hill on the right side of the freeway, suspending itself above the small ditch. Luckily the car ended up with only a busted RLCA/spindle pin, a fair sized dent in the driver quarter panel, and the driver side wheels got scratched up. I was completely unharmed. Shaken, of course, but I didn't even really feel sore after. Edited July 15, 2013 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 "Suddenly ahead of me, across the mountainside, a gleaming alloy air car shoots towards me two lanes wide." You all realize the impetus for Neal Peart's lyrics were from a November 1973 R&T Short "A Nice Morning Drive"? It spoke of the motor law where the government mandated more and more safety equipment until cars could withstand 50mph head on collisions with 'usually' no occupant injury? These MSV's (one letter away from "SUV") lulled drivers into a trancelike state, unaware of their surroundings and blithely bumping off one another. And then sinisterly coming up with the idea of "hunting" older non MSV vehicles. (Much like SUV's in Michigan were bumping and running imports off the road as sport....oh how prescient the story was!) The more safety we build into our vehicles, the more incompetent the operators become... Stats are starting to bear that old thought out. Sadly, but they are. "Accident avoidance through superior maneuverability and acceleration away from a potential threat" was the original design philosophy of Nissan when designing the Z. It's the government that mandates Anti-Darwinist devices to perpetuate their voting constituencies... The original short story can be read here, and was the inspiration for the Rush song (written by Peart) "Red Barchetta" that made it's debut on their album "Moving Pictures" : http://www.mgexp.com/article/nice-drive.html If you don't know "Red Barchetta" a link to the Lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rush/red+barchetta_20119966.html Keep in mind the last line of the short story, and it's ominous portentions for us all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 A bad day at Black Rock.....but no injuries (5-point harness and Cobra racing seats) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Somebody told me to lean my body on the side of the car in case of front collision to let the engine going between me and the passenger The Z isn't very stiff either if it rolls. A roll bar could be a nice addition to protect people inside. It happenned to someone in France: First 10 mi with the car after full restoration, some oil in a curve on pavement, the car ended up on the roof. Roll bar saved the people inside. If you think about daily driving the car & safety, my advice is you might try to get a more modern car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I had a friend that got hit by a fullsize truck on the front corner from someone that was running a red light through the intersection. He spun twice and had a pretty much stock 240z. He had had a broken collar bone and wrist but was pretty much ok. Tony D knows the full story better than I and I think has pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xnke Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Get T-boned in an older Z and don't expect to live. You might come out with some broken bones, but a direct door hit is pretty much the end. From most other angles you've got a decent amount of crumple-up metal...it's not a crumple zone as it wasn't designed to do that...but it tends to wrinkle up pretty good. A door-hit will push the rocker over, moving the whole seat up and over the transmission tunnel, IF modern cars had bumpers in the same place they were 40 years ago. Today, go park next to an SUV and notice that the bumper is right about shoulder height when you're sitting in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I think we had a good discussion on this topic some time back. ahh here is is: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/96403-make-a-240z-safer/?hl=safety Please read through that, we went pretty deep into the why and how of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 You all realize the impetus for Neal Peart's lyrics were from a November 1973 R&T Short "A Nice Morning Drive"? It spoke of the motor law where the government mandated more and more safety equipment until cars could withstand 50mph head on collisions with 'usually' no occupant injury? These MSV's (one letter away from "SUV") lulled drivers into a trancelike state, unaware of their surroundings and blithely bumping off one another. The more safety we build into our vehicles, the more incompetent the operators become... Stats are starting to bear that old thought out. Sadly, but they are. "Accident avoidance through superior maneuverability and acceleration away from a potential threat" was the original design philosophy of Nissan when designing the Z. It's the government that mandates Anti-Darwinist devices to perpetuate their voting constituencies... I can believe this to a point. Who was it that said, "This is what you get when you have a incentive to build cars that can crash at higher and higher speeds without injury" or something like that? Thing is, the people who want to do anything but drive while driving are going to be replaced by autonomous cars very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9rider Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 A bad day at Black Rock.....but no injuries (5-point harness and Cobra racing seats) 324.jpg325.jpg Should have run that damn dog over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 As Post #10 pointed out, this has been covered before, I was being tangentially-polite in my prior contributions. Having your head on a swivel, and learning to DRIVE your car is the BEST safety YOU can provide for yourself. If you depend on a mechanical device to provide your safety, it will fail, and you WILL be disappointed. To a man, almost everybody I have talked to after an accident can review something in their driving they could have done leading up to the accident, to have avoided or lessened it's impact to a great degree. EVERYBODY needs to learn to drive in a 1960's VW Microbus. You learn patience. You learn NOT to tailgate. You realize it's YOUR legs hanging out there between nothing, and the most substantial axle beam on the planet, and you rearend someone....you better reach enlightenment and levitate in the Lotus Position BUT QUICK if you want to keep your legs attached. Everybody thought hippies were into Eastern Religion for esoteric reasons, I can attest, you did it as 'accident mitigation' training driving to and from The Dead concerts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 (edited) Having your head on a swivel, and learning to DRIVE your car is the BEST safety YOU can provide for yourself. If you depend on a mechanical device to provide your safety, it will fail, and you WILL be disappointed. To a man, almost everybody I have talked to after an accident can review something in their driving they could have done leading up to the accident, to have avoided or lessened it's impact to a great degree. There's a couple signs at Fort AP Hill: "Accidents don't just happen, they are caused" "The 3 causes of an accident: I didn't see, I didn't know, I didn't think" Edited July 19, 2013 by BLOZ UP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drtran1983 Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Thank you everyone for your posts, I understand that an older vehicle may not have the certain aspects that new vehicles have acquired over time. I appreciate everyone who has shared their stories with me and has give me a firmer understanding of the Z. I actually have a daily driver G35 coupe that I've done some mods on, which may remain a DD until the Z is up to par. I've driven sports cars all of my life and understand the dangers, so the Z doesn't scare me. It mostly scares the fiance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 as it should being the other woman and all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 For this reason among many others I cant recommend driving an S30 on the street daily. Mine is resigned to to and from AX events once or twice a week. It handles that great, even comfortably, but any traffic and it becomes horrible. Besides the start/stop agony of a [probably] sloppy manual drivetrain, nobody can see you in their "blind spot" (now anything aft of 2:00 and 10:00) and even if they do they have no consideration that you [probably] have only one or no bumper. I'd say the safety-nany prophecy has been self-fulfiled and it really might bee too unsafe to drive our cars with all these zombies driving around. gnosez sorry about the car, good to hear you're OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 nobody can see you in their "blind spot" (now anything aft of 2:00 and 10:00) and even if they do they have no consideration that you [probably] have only one or no bumper... And this is probably one of the biggest reasons im so "aware" of driving in someones blind spot. Im pretty anal about never tail gating, and driving in someones rear 1/4 to their sides. It makes me feel pretty damn uncomfortable :\ As for the OP- Theres some pretty wicked examples of how the Zs do in collisions around here. The general consensus I've taken from it all is if youre hit from the front or rear (within reason) youll be "relatively" ok. But if you take a hit from the side? In soviet s30, crumple zone is you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Don't get me started on "blind spots" which are basically mirrors set incorrectly. Few cars actually have blind spots if you set the mirrors correctly... but that would require looking at them in the first place... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Don't get me started on "blind spots" which are basically mirrors set incorrectly. Few cars actually have blind spots if you set the mirrors correctly... but that would require looking at them in the first place... Tell me about it. Almost everyone Ive known throughout my life feels the need to set their side mirrors up so they can see "down the side of the car". You shouldnt/dont need to see -any- of your car in your side mirror. If you can see your car at all from your natural sitting position in your side mirrors, youre missing out on visibility. Side mirrors should be set up so that by the time a car is disappearing out of your side mirror, you can already see them with your peripheral vision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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