Ok, so the first thing I effed up was this forum. I've posted pieces of this story in several odd places on this forum, so it's a little convoluted. This is an attempt to bring it all together, so some of this may be a repeat from other threads.
This isn't a build thread- yet. I'm not committed to building. But I would love your input to help me make decisions on which way to go, and it may become a build thread soon.
It started with my beautiful NB. I had it posted for sale here for a long time. Lots of interest, but never made a deal.
I never really tried too hard.. I loved the car, so I wasn't that anxious to sell it.
Here's a more complete description of the car:
Sadly, that ended badly.
The story of the wreck began on Page 3 of the For Sale ad
Basically, I did a lot of small things wrong.
I was doing 40 in a 30 zone. Not that fast, but too fast for the conditions. It was dusk, and I was in a powerful car I had not driven for a while. I failed to take a little time to acclimate myself to it again.
Rural road. It had a weird sharp S-turn in it through a gully, some unevenness, and some gravel on the road. The middle of the S was in the bottom of the gully. I negotiated the turn fine and was pulling up the other side and the car hit the bump stops just as I was turning and pulling up the other side. All hell broke loose. There was a deep ditch (about 5') on the side of the road, and the embankment ramped me up the other side into a tree. I tagged the tree with my front left corner, and the momentum spun the car 180*. My rear corner hit the bank again, which continued the spin. I ended in the road heading the same way I had started.
I'm 60. The reality is my reaction time is simply not what it used to be. Perfect storm of several little things I did wrong quickly escalated into something very big.
So, it has become time to make some decisions...
Option #1- Sell the car at a Challenge friendly price to a GRMer to use as a parts car for a Challenge build. Before you get too excited, I have 5 people who have made me offers for this. I am still considering it.
Option #2- Build it into my own Challenge car. This was discussed, but the general consensus seemed to be that I would not be able to FMV it to myself at a price that would enable me to do a build. Here's the thread where we discussed it: It's worth too much to FMV
Option #3- Use the remains as the basis for an Exocet, or other kit build. This is appealing to me, and still under consideration. But I have no shop, and very little time. And I'm really not sure what I would do with a wicked fast turbo Exocet when it was all finished.
Decisions, decisions...
I figured I should first figure out if the engine was hurt in the wreck.
It would crank, but wouldn't run. The front was pushed in and there was a lot of damage to the coolant system and the intercooler piping, but the engine didn't seem to have been hit. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start.
Keith Tanner offered a good clue in this thread:
The more I cut away, the more it seemed like the motor had not been hit.
The accessory belt was dislodged, and the alternator pulley had been hit. The power steering lines were pushed against the pulleys, but the engine did not seem hurt.
Sure enough! Once again, Keith Tanner for the win!
The crank position sensor was damaged. A quick trip to AutoZone, and voila!
The car runs!
I'm not a big fan of Miata carts. Seems like a really lazy way to make a fast car ugly.
But the more damage I cut off, the more I realize the core car is intact, and the beat way to begin testing it to see how much of it remains may be to temporarily make it a semi- cart. That would let me test it and put it through it's paces well before moving forward with the next phase.
Stuff happens. Good news is you didn't get hurt. I'm sure you will make something good happen. I vote for exocet. I love exo cars!
I've eliminated Option #2. This is clearly not going to become a Challenge car I build.
Option #1 is still open. I'm still not sure I want to put much effort into this car, and would love to see someone else bring it to the Challenge.
But now, I've got another option...
Option #4 is that I could consider rebuilding it. The car still has a clean title, and I have access to an excellent condition tub. It would be expensive, because this level of body work is definitely beyond me, but I could get the car back to the streets in better condition than before the accident.
Ok. That's all for now.
I wanted to get the story in one place instead of the convoluted mess I made.
I appreciate any and all feedback!!
I think sometimes we are our harshest critics. You made a mistake, wadded you a car. In the grand scheme it isn't that big of a deal. I bought a truck and got hosed on it. I have been beating myself up about it for a couple weeks. Again in the grand scheme probably a couple of thousand dollars that I am "out" but it stings.
In reply to NY Nick :
Exo is still a solid consideration. I love how they look, just not sure owning one will be a good fit in my life.
Lead time for an Exo is something like 16 weeks, so I've got some time.
First, it will become more cart-ish...
Long story short - 02 T-bird, ice patch I-75, spin, heavy contact right A-pillar- dead bird. No power to Ign switch. Hours of T-shooting, wire tracing/inspection, component testing.
Found pin in a "bloomin'"connector in loooong wiring harness in "protected" location dislodged from its place in the connector breaking continuity.
I'm a retired ex-technical writer of missile system diagnostic manuals and fault-isolation procedures - turned nearly every rock I knew over before I found it. It is not only a now re-inserted connector pin, but that bugger is jumpered and soldered.
Good luck.
Bent bird
If you re-tub, that's not really bodywork. It's like an easier version of the Exocet. If you're a member of Mazda Team Support (do two autoexes or track days in a year, and they have provisions for cars under construction), you can get killer prices on stock body panels. That's a good option.
Glad the no-run problem was so easily solved!
I was going to suggest option 4. Thanks to Mazda's commitment to supporting spec Miata and spec Miata driver's propensity for running into things front end parts are pretty cheap straight from Mazda. They're also pretty easy to fix.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I'm not opposed to re-tubbing, but I have a couple issues with it...
- The tub I can get is perfect, but it really is a tub. Every single wire, line, screw and bolt has been removed. There is a lot more work in restoring it as a street car than as a racer.
- My car has a clean title, but the tub has a salvage title. I don't want to put that kind of energy into a car I can't drive on the street.
- GA requires rebuilt cars to be rebuilt by licensed rebuilders to factory specs.
Thoughts?
Talking to myself here, as much as anyone else. If you were not able to find much time to drive it, when will you have time to build it? With reaction times decreasing with age, how much time will you have to really enjoy it after you lose the time to build it again? If it is sentimental, keep plowing through. If it was never the car you wanted and you want to make it what it could be, keep plowing through. If you liked it, and you really had no major complaints, sell it and buy another.
I pulled a lot of scope out of my build because life doesn't give me the time to work on it and every year I lose another year I could have enjoyed driving it.
Does Mazda Team Support have a program to help reassign VIN numbers?
The one part of the body I don't think I can "swap" is the tub. It's stamped with a salvage VIN number.
In reply to matthewmcl :
Those are very valid points.
I guess I was hoping retirement would bring me more time to enjoy it. That may be foolish.
You'll find that building up a tub is like Lego, everything is exactly where it's supposed to be. All the harnesses know where they're supposed to be and there were hundreds or thousands of hours devoted specifically to making it easy to build. I've done it in the past.
The GA laws are more of a challenge. I know in CO the car can be inspected after repair regardless of who did the work, and that makes it ok. You can certainly drive a salvage car on the street but it does take a value hit.
SV reX said:Does Mazda Team Support have a program to help reassign VIN numbers?
The one part of the body I don't think I can "swap" is the tub. It's stamped with a salvage VIN number.
I believe you would keep the VIN of the tub.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Yeah, that seems like a shame. The car would actually be in better condition than it was before the wreck.
It's just that stupid number stamped in the firewall!
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I agree. That's the problem.
VIN of the tub is salvage. VIN of my car is not.
I don't care what number it has. I would rather not be salvage
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