Phantom Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Evidently I-20 in Arlington does not like my car. It has gone after me twice now. The first time was many years ago when the 280Z was completely stock. Changed lanes to pass a car only to plow stright through a 4'x4' wooden pallet. Sent wood everywhere but somehow the Zed survived essentially unscathed. Big sigh of relief. Years later now and a few bucks into the car including the MSA Aero II body kit only to find myself facing down one of those 30" tall plastic construction cones in the center of my lane. 2 seconds to react and traffic on both sides of me - just enough time to get a solid grip on the wheel and pray. Plowed it square on and a quick glance in the rear view mirror revealed multiple pieces of something fly out the back. CRAP! Got home and a quick inspection showed a 5" crack in the lower part of the air dam, several small pieces missing along the lower edge and a significant amount of scruff. I'm not sure how, but the fiberglass rear valance survived unscathed and the underside of the car looks fine. A bit of touch-up paint and some polish on the scruff marks and the damage looks a lot less severe but now I've either got some significant repair work or a replacement air dam in the future. Oh yeah - this happened the night before I was entering the car in a local car show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I hit a tire once. it was 8 inches wide laying down and my car (rx7) only had 4 inches of clearance. You can imagine what that did to my all fiberglass front end:cry2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandonsZ Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Oh yeah - this happened the night before I was entering the car in a local car show. But you don't know, you may have totaled it on the way to the show, maybe the road actually SAVED you're a**. Personally I'm waiting for a ladder or other big object to rip the transmission bracket out of my car. That'll be really fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 10, 2006 Author Share Posted April 10, 2006 Actually I did a little touch-up paint work and polished out the rash on the paint and went to the show. Car took first place in "ultra-modified" in the S30 class as well as my wife's 300ZX convertible winning it's class. Came home with two big trophies. Anybody want a trophy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Anybody want a trophy? No Thanks, I have one. LOL check my sig. I didn't even notice the damage to your Z at the show. Guess the judges didn't either. This just gives you an excuse to finally paint it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some-Guy Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 wow that sucks man atleast it didnt total you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speeder Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Seems like these things always happen to fresh bodywork. I was taking my '78 280Z home from the bodyshop with a brand new paint job (with my new MSA type 2 body kit ) when a semi ahead of me lost a big chunk of tire. At 70mph in busy 3-lane raffic the tire remains, the complete tread looking to be about 5-6 feet long, tumbled and slithered along the road toward me like some kind of demonic snake. A quick yank on the steering wheel enabled me to dodge it on the first pass, but the damn thing bounced off a car just ahead of me and to the right. It then went under the right side of my air dam, causing no damage there, but the my front tire picked it up and threw it out the side of the newly shiny, straight fender, ripping metal as it passed. Oh the humanity! I can still see that tire monster coming for me in my nightmares, with nowhere to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
materchan Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 i hit a flying wheel ( THE WHOLE DAMN WHEEL) in my truck on the freeway a couple months ago. thank god it wasnt in the z, but my truck. i hit it with my A-pillar and if it was a split second faster it woulda taken out my winsheild and if it was slow it would have killed my pass. side window. the damn thing just bounced off and i pulled over and other then some scuff marks there was no damage, talk about luckey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 11, 2006 Author Share Posted April 11, 2006 Rick, I can really feel for you. You can imagine the relief I felt when I looked at the back of my car, where I have the fiberglass rear valance from the Aero 2 kit, and saw no damage at all. I just knew that cone had gotten it too. Yesterday I hit a tire sidewall ring on the road and, fortunately, just rolled over it with no disruption. BTW - whose fender flares are you using? Was there any problem integrating them into the Aero 2 components? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I once ran into/over a (get this) 5 gallon bucket on the interstate. It got lodged under the Pilot, no damage, I thought it was kinda funny, Lisa on the other hand.....snicker, snicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 11, 2006 Author Share Posted April 11, 2006 Yeah - I imagine your shoulder is still sore from the pounding it took! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speeder Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 BTW - whose fender flares are you using? Was there any problem integrating them into the Aero 2 components? Those in my sig are MSA IMSA Flares with modified MSA sideskirt "kickouts" to join them. Modified sideskirts could be used with the MSA II Kit and flares. This one' date=' my '78 daily beater, is the one in the reverse roadkill incident. It really was really sharp looking when the paint was new 8 years ago.... [img']http://rick.thebowersplace.com/pix/BlueZ.jpg[/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 11, 2006 Author Share Posted April 11, 2006 Amen on the 8 year old paint job. Mine turned 8 last month and is really starting to show it's age. Paint has held up very well but the rock chips, door dings, highway cones - and my wifes Suburban leaping out behind me one morning backing out of the garage:redface: - have all taken their toll. Your '78 "beater" is a beautiful car. I know you must get the regular "thumbs up" from other dirvers a lot. I see you went the three-piece rear spoiler route. I went with the one-piece to avoid some of the mounting hassle. My MSA kit is basically just riveted & screwed on. When I get the new paint job I'm going to have it fully integrated into the body and also armor it in those spots behind the tires to reduce the paint chips some. I may also go with that clear polymer sheathing on a few pots on the front too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 one night while driving my beater Honda I squarly hit a 6x6 chunk of lumber going around 80MPH....Launched my car into the air and destroyed both front wheels. scared the poo out of me....needless to say. I have yet to hit anything in the Z though thankfully...I've been lucky enough to be able to avoid all the road swarf I've encountered in her. so nimble! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.