Dans 240Z

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
Yes much better just not back to the football yet but working hard in the gym to get my 6 pack back after a few months of being lazy honest...

Thank you for the tshirt made my day!

Still have my head, shoulders, knees and toes ;-)
 

johnymd

Club Member
Glad to hear your well on the road to recovery which is the most important thing. That car has taken some knock and I'm pretty surprised at the damage dispite the cage.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
.......... I'm pretty surprised at the damage dispite the cage..

I was too John.

When I was doing track-days with the lads I wasn't too worried about the car because the body had seen better days (perhaps they were the best days?). Anyway I always thought that it was a reasonably strong car (Zs in general) , full cage, decent seats, harnesses, plumbed in extinguisher, crash helmets etc and that if any of us had a serious crash we would be ok. However it just shows that if you hit something that you can't glance off you are in the lap of the gods.

Moral - you are far less likely to hit a lampost or tree on a race circuit.
 

astroboy

Well-Known Forum User
Makes me think I should consider a cage even.

Should be we getting them as standard since they have 0 safety technology?
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
People following me couldn't understand what went wrong. The rear diff locked up and set my drivers side door perfectly in to a lamppost.

In all my years of dealing with these cars, I've never heard of an R180 or R200 differential 'locking up' to the extent that it causes a car to leave the road uncontrollably and at speed. It seems all the more unlikely with an 'open' (non-LSD) diff too.

Breaking a driveshaft with an 'open' diff wouldn't usually pitch a car into the scenery either.

Has the cause of the accident definitely been attributed to a mechanical failure?
 

zNathan

Well-Known Forum User
Wow, the space left inside the cabin is scary.. Lucky man Dan, good to hear you're alright and getting back to normal!
 

Dale

Club Member
Wow. I was expecting it to look bad, but actually seeing it in pictures...well..., just wow.

The thing that amazes me about the car is how the door looks intact. :confused:

That is amazing. I can only imaging one of two thing has happened. Either the door has flung itself open before impact, or more likey the car has jumped up before impact (off the curb?) and the sill has hit the lamppost first with the post bending over as the car has hit it at a slightly upward angle, avoiding the door?
 

astroboy

Well-Known Forum User
It's good to hear that Dan is alive and well though.

What the situation with the car? Broken down and put into another shell or something else? ....
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
....That is amazing. I can only imaging one of two thing has happened. Either the door has flung itself open before impact, or more likey the car has jumped up before impact (off the curb?) and the sill has hit the lamppost first with the post bending over as the car has hit it at a slightly upward angle, avoiding the door?

Dale, from memory I think Dan said that the door was FG and the outer skin almost separated from the inner shell and sprung back flat. The inner shell is trashed.
 

morbias

Well-Known Forum User
In all my years of dealing with these cars, I've never heard of an R180 or R200 differential 'locking up' to the extent that it causes a car to leave the road uncontrollably and at speed. It seems all the more unlikely with an 'open' (non-LSD) diff too.

Breaking a driveshaft with an 'open' diff wouldn't usually pitch a car into the scenery either.

Has the cause of the accident definitely been attributed to a mechanical failure?

I think it was a Quaife LSD, maybe a couple of the tolerances were a tad too tight in the rebuild? It'll be interesting to find out what the cause was, if it is ever determined that is.

I find it hard to look at those pictures, and it's not even my car! I'm amazed the injuries weren't more serious after seeing the extent of the incursion into the cabin, scary stuff.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
I think it was a Quaife LSD, maybe a couple of the tolerances were a tad too tight in the rebuild? It'll be interesting to find out what the cause was, if it is ever determined that is.

He posted 4th May and mentioned he was looking for another R200 to put an LSD into. 26th May he was on the forum talking about the mishap, which presumably happened a few days before that.

As far as I understood it, he was still running an open R200. Hence my surprise at hearing that the diff "locked up".

In my experience these diffs rarely - if ever - lock up solid (ie - stopping the rear wheels and/or propshaft from rotating) due to a fault/failure. Leverage from a road wheel being 'driven' by the road surface is usually enough to smash an R180 or R200 to smithereens internally (especially the pinion gear) and easily overcome any momentarily 'locked up' state between the crownwheel and pinion.
 
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