240Z carbon fibre panels

[slaphead]

Oh and to comment again how much force went into my car to make that little dent, it completely pulled the cage out of several reinforced sections of the floor pans around the car... literally tore the car apart but kept what was inside it straight (ish)

Dan, did you remove the std seat mounts/lateral floor bracing?
Just wondering if it would've helped at all.
I'm considering doing the same to one of mine (deleting seat mounts) having seen the photos I will definitely be adding low level cross bracing to my planned cage!

 

[Woody928]

Sorry,

Yes the cage definitely saved my life, it took all the impact force and folded up, up over my seat (which were also in my eyes a very good factor in me still being here) the high seat sides took a lot of impact.

The f/g door did absolutely nothing other than cover me in splintered shards of fibreglass from the inner panel splitting apart.

All factory steel doors have a reinforcement brace going across inside on the 240Z from what I’ve seen and whilst not up to the standards of a modern car it’s better than nothing! I think they just bulked it up in the later S30’s.

Totally agree with what Ian said above. You won’t catch me using any fibreglass parts on my cars again, especially without a cage...

Dan

What on earth happened, if you don't mind me asking? (Looks like quite a sobering expirience to say the least) I dread to think of the result with no roll cage fitted....

 

[IbanezDan51]

Dan, did you remove the std seat mounts/lateral floor bracing?
Just wondering if it would've helped at all.
I'm considering doing the same to one of mine (deleting seat mounts) having seen the photos I will definitely be adding low level cross bracing to my planned cage!

Yes they were removed for seat height and some extra bracing was added under the floors - again not something I'd recommend cutting out to fit bucket seats on a road car without any further bracing.

The low level bar across the door helped significantly in my accident as the car was actually flipped up at I would guess around an angle of 20-30° before hitting the lamppost.

 

[IbanezDan51]

What on earth happened, if you don't mind me asking? (Looks like quite a sobering expirience to say the least) I dread to think of the result with no roll cage fitted....

I only recall leaving the house that day, ~50mph road shortly followed with an impact with a lamppost directly into the drivers door. Id imagine the car was doing less than this when impacted. Cars were following me behind and in front who said the car first veered towards the other side but over corrected and went the other way (the other side had plenty of run off and would have been a better route to take though!). There was an accident in EXACTLY the same spot 5 days later where I BMW ended up on its roof just before the freshly replaced lamppost.

Anyway, was my first go in an air ambulance - anyone who wants to donate to the midlands air ambulance service feel free..!

 

[Woody928]

Bloody hell, someone was looking out for you that day in the end! Doesn't bear thinking about what it could have been like without the cage. I had a friend have a very similar incident in his MR2, fortunately it was the pasenger side though and there was no passenger at the time becuase the car folded in half. Scary if you stop and think what could actually happen to you in these old cars....

 

[Ian]

Obviously in a crash like that a steel door won't be the saving factor, but its a lot better than a fibreglass type. The later S30's seem to have increased strength door bars compared to earlier 240's. I think they would also keep the structure stronger as it will be a lot harder for the shell to crush around a steel door compared to a frp door that will just splinter or split.


Its this that make me think I should have at least a half cage in my car, I realise even a half cage with a door bar would have not saved me in the same situation but at least it would help a lot in other situations. I'm thinking I should at least remove the stock seats mounts and add in a reinforced area here.

At least on track or drag strip there shouldn't be anything to nasty to hit, but even a 60mph crash on the road would be bad in an S30, especially when it can get to 60mph in 4 seconds.

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

I only recall leaving the house that day, ~50mph road shortly followed with an impact with a lamppost directly into the drivers door. Id imagine the car was doing less than this when impacted. Cars were following me behind and in front who said the car first veered towards the other side but over corrected and went the other way (the other side had plenty of run off and would have been a better route to take though!). There was an accident in EXACTLY the same spot 5 days later where I BMW ended up on its roof just before the freshly replaced lamppost.

Anyway, was my first go in an air ambulance - anyone who wants to donate to the midlands air ambulance service feel free..!

Just think Dan, a LHD car is so much safer looking at those pics

 

[IbanezDan51]

Just think Dan, a LHD car is so much safer looking at those pics

That’s what everyone tells me at the garage