Why cars are better than wives

[Caveit77777]

That's so sick that you got a huge garage now and I'm so glad that things are terrible for your ex and that you're making out like a bandit now haha. Keep up the good work

[brianb242]

I know Im more than a little late with saying this ( I don't get on much ) man that really sucks a wife could do that while your over in another country fighting for our freedom. I want to thank you for the time you spent over there. I'm also glad she didn't get a single thing. props on the house and the garage.... reminds me of a saying if your going through hell keep going..winston churchill, I laughed like crazy when I read the story about the cop, I've done that before so im right there with you. but it made me do more than giggle. more like lmfao! keep the build going car looks awsome. good luck to you in the future!

[240sxcl50]

Epic win on the garage/house combo and congratulations on leaving the ex behind. Your 240 is gona be so full of win when this is over.

[SarahLovesHer300zx]

when something breaks on this.

BLASPHEMY! ITS A HONDA!!

I laid my CBR600RR down @ 90mph, she slid over 20 feet down the road, ripped the left side fairings off.. and started right back up!

[bersh240]

congrats on the house sir!

[Fastazz240]

I can has Updates????!!!!

[Mercury_Hg]

Cool story bro.

[This Guy]

I'm glad everything worked out for you, its kind of like a blessing in disguise it seems. Anyway best of luck and keep us updated

[sandcrabsailor]

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!


It's been quite some time, and things have been busy. Between getting my back broken, physical therapy, getting back on my feet and back in the fleet, small bits of time to work on the car. I had a 130k mile car with a freshly rebuilt and VERY pretty KA24DE prepped for adding an "R" at the end of that engine code. Slowly gathering parts to make her the sleepiest of sleepers.



And then Fate steps in and decides to kick me in the balls.



Blissfully sitting at a stop sign early one sunday morning, headed to work. A young kid (20) comes bombing along from the left, admittedly doing a "little" over the 45 mph speed limit, not paying attention, and takes me out.







Look at the cross street I was sitting at and look where I ended up. I'm going to hazard a guess he was VASTLY exceeding the speed limit and not paying attention until the last second.

He was only hurt by his airbag going off. I think I might have blacked out for a split second because I hit my head pretty hard on the window and door. After hours of reports, info exchange, tow trucks, calls to work to explain to the duty officer why he has to wake up the skipper at 0645 on a Sunday, I get to the boat to resume my duties. The duty officer immediately turned me around and had me driven to the ER to get my cats scanned. My normally boisterous, verbose, and quick witted self was speaking and acting like I was *ahem* brain damaged.



Concussion, whiplash, various accident related injuries. After I was sitting for a few minutes, no longer in the "GOGOGO" status, I really started to feel it, could hear my words slurring, see my writing look like a 1st grader (as opposed to the normal 4th grade penmanship I have), and the entire world was in a mid to heavy sea state.

I've been recuperating for awhile now, still not 100% but I'm mostly functional and home, waiting for my brain to go back to it's normal supercharged self. Just as a non-egotistical statement, I've always been a really smart guy. A "go into a test, figure it out and ace it" kind of guy. Not being able to think as quickly, or being stumped by something that used to be no obstacle at all is very frustrating. But the doctors tell me it is temporary and I'll be back to myself in a few weeks to a month.


This is a self-shot directly after my hospital visit. I was told I looked handicapped and confused. They were right.



This is all that's left. I will blame manly tears and sniffling on head trauma.
She is totalled, even the frame rails are rippled. The front end is completely demolished. I am trying to salvage as many parts as I can without making it LOOK like I salvaged parts, as the adjuster was very specific about that. Any suggestions on what to take?

I will be getting another HB as soon as I can find one. This story and thread is not over.

Best of luck to you all, thank you all for your support over the years, and thank you all who got me started in here in the first place. You have been an incredible bunch of people. Much love.

[Razi]

Damn that sucks man, people need to realize how dangerous cars are.
Glad to see you're alive and kickin though.

[sandcrabsailor]

They are surprisingly tough and fragile at the same time
Same goes for people.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Wow man, I'm really sorry to hear about that and your repeated kicks to the balls.
You SHOULD be able to buy the car back from the insurance company rip your fresh KA out of there. Then source a hatch with a possibly blown engine and swap it in (on the cheap!)

If the guy really hit you that hard, and it looks like he did, then you made out fairly well. We've seen some horrific front end collisions in S13s on here over the years, and we're always amazed at how well the occupants fared. The S13 usually looks pretty bad, but that's just crumple zones doing their job. Glad you're ok (for the most part).
Let us know if you need us to do most of your thinking for you while you recover

[Hijacker]

Looks like a weekend tree pull job followed with a silvia conversion. No sweat man!

Glad you're ok though. Wonder if the government can hit the kid for keeping you from your duties.

[nissangirl74]

Sorry about the hatch but glad you are going to be OK and not a statistic. Hope your melon has no prolonged effects from this. Keep us posted and let us know what we can do to help. We have members not too far away.

[speakeasy]

Wow...

I read the first post of this thread, skipped to the last page and damn...

I'm really sorry dude. Hoping you have better luck in the future.

[dohmann777]

wow man you have come along way. kinda makes me guess check recheck and go over me thinking about getting married b4 i join the service. anyways it seems life keeps kicking the poop out of you but you seem to remain calm which is way more than a man of my short temper can endure. i hope all goes well with your wreck. gl with everything and i will be following this thread for now and time to come.

[sandcrabsailor]

Upon further inspection while salvaging little bits and pieces, discovered that the growing pool under the car was not only radiator fluid but a significant amount of oil as well. I do believe the block is well and truly cracked. Given that the mounts are sheared and everything else in there looks like a bomb went off, I can believe it.
I have been searching high and low for a manual DOHC hb in "not rusted/demolished" condition for a decent price. So far most seem to be ridiculously far gone, well beyond my price range with some truly impressive and equally unimpressive modifications, or coupes. I am considering driving down to Oregon to snag a 'vert that seems to be largely intact, but I'm still leaning towards another hatch.
As for my noggin, I'm being referred to the TBI clinic on Ft Lewis for further evaluation, and my shipmates are thoroughly enjoying my delayed reaction time and slowed wit (with love, of course). It's been kind of nice to see my division pull together and get everything accomplished without any sort of direct leadership.

[nissangirl74]

What are your requirements besides a manual hatch? What kind of mileage and money are you looking for?

Mileage isn't listed but this one is nice.

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 2633&Log=0

[sandcrabsailor]

My requirements are hatch, DOHC, no rust. transmission does not matter, as I will be swapping it out anyway.
I would prefer black, but at this point, she could be painted as an homage to and I would be ok as long as she has a solid platform and mechanicals. I am in the Seattle(ish) area, and I can only go a few hundred miles before I have to take leave. I've been checking BC too, but I would have to convince the owners to drive across the border to let me test drive.

[sandcrabsailor]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/3222623521.html

Or

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/3184881778.html


There's also http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rch/c ... 43012.html but it is going to be a pain getting a Canadian car titled and registered.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

^The first one you posted is a SOHC as far as I can tell. Second one looks good!

[sandcrabsailor]

It is a SOHC, but it looks like he's wiling to trade on my motorcycle as well, which brings the price down considerably. Which means I could have enough left over to start laying out for a DER drop in.
The second one seems reluctant to sell. She's looking to trade for a Subaru.

[Toxsyl]

Here in my city I got guys selling 240s for less than $3K all over.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I bought my 93 for $900

[sandcrabsailor]

Grrr.... We have a very steep drift tax up here. Comes with a highly transient population of young military men with reliable income, I guess.

EDIT: perhaps the nico gods are smiling on me?
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/3222998990.html

[nissangirl74]

Looks pretty sweet as long as the front end damage did not result in the onset of cancer.

[sandcrabsailor]

Going to be checking out the SOHC and the banged up dohc this weekend. Fingers crossed.

[sandcrabsailor]

Since the tow/insurance company decided to not show this weekend to pick up the remains and hand over a check, my plans got put on hold.
However, I did manage to slog through all the equations and calculations to prove WITH SCIENCE! that not only did I not "fail to yield" but that the kid was speeding and had to drift out of his lane to make impact with me.
But I suppose the LEO not showing would be easier than walking the judge through a physics lesson.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Well lets see the science! MS Paint it up man!

[sandcrabsailor]

Black 1 is me starting
Black 2 is him starting
Red 1 is me ending
Red 2 is him ending
Photo evidence collaborates. I wish I was better at drawing with a mouse.

Speed from a slide is 15.9 times the square root of D times F. This equation is used by nearly every insurance and crash-investigation agency in the country.
D is distance of skid (where I was to where I started, approximately 30 feet) The "skid" is usually skid marks as there is not normally a known point of origin. SInce I know where I was, this makes it easier.
F is the coefficient of friction. Dry concrete vs rubber has an accepted range of .5-.8, depending on individual conditions of tire and road. Again, these values are widely used and accepted. They will vary greatly for dirt, gravel, asphalt, concrete, wet, dry, snow, etc.
Using the most conservative (.5), the speed *I* was travelling at impact was 61 mph. Using .8 makes it 77 mph. The posted limit was 45.
Bear in mind this was the speed I was travelling at upon impact. If he hit me at a 90 degree angle, all his force would translate to me. Since he hit me just forward of my rotational axis, I would have spun, he would have continued going in a relatively straight line, again assuming a 90 degree impact. All angles are assumed to be in an "up" direction (relative to drawing), as for me to "fail to yield" with impact damage where it is and end positions where they are, he would have had to have been in the wrong lane and angled towards me while STILL speeding considerably. That would make this possibly intentional, which is a whole new court case. Anyhoo, back to maths.
Given that I was spun roughly 120 degrees around the rotational point and yet that point STILL ended up on the side of the road (well over the white line) while he ended up on the opposite side, this means he hit me at a slight angle to the left, leading with his right corner.
The equation to figure out speed plus the angle is the sin of the angle times (my)speed, multiplied by 100 to get a percentage. This percentage is added to the original speed, resulting in vectored speed. Assuming a conservatively small angle of 10 degrees, the sin is .17.
His minimum speed is 61 mph for a direct impact, 62 for a 10 degree angled impact.
This means that for everyone to end up where they ended up, he had to be doing at least 61 mph and have drifted off the road and in line with me, then attempted to correct at the last second.

Maybe I should bring a flip chart to the court room. Then again, I'm still a bit drain bamaged. Someone want to check my math?