Anthony's 4 Step Diet Program ║[=86=]║

[BirdTRD]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

prob due to steering wheel and other components weighting down front left.

^^probably a little of that and after a bit of edumacation from @Ultramaroon about corner balancing, I believe I understand now. That front left wheel/spring is just "taking" more of the weight than the rest. I'm really not as dumb as I look!

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Talking that shit again?

You know it.

...That and how DeeKay is thinking of following your trail. We were talking about the limit of weight reduction and squeezing out max NA pwr/weight.

[Anthony]

I don't drive my car on the street very often, especially far from home. But I finally got it weighed last week (see 8 posts up) then proceeded to drive it into a pole on the way home. You can't make this up.

I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want to take away from the excitement of finally getting the true weight taken and I didn't know if it was totalled or not, so I didn't want to keep telling everyone, "I don't know," for a week.

But it turns out, it's not totalled, and it will be going into the shop on Monday; insurance has already deposited the check into my account.

And now for the interesting part. Whuh ha happen wuz... I go through a roundabout on my way home from work every day, and when it's clear (about 75% of the time) I give it the business every single time, no matter which of my three cars I'm in. Rarely the FR-S.

So there I was... happy about having finally weighed the car, and extremely happy about it being 70 pounds less than I'd estimated, just roasting the absolute shit out of this roundabout on a beautiful day, as I have for years, when, to my surprise and alarm, my steering wheel just came the fuck off. Instantly. As a whole. No looseness as a warning, no bolt-by-bolt gradual separation, no. Just a nice digital on/off situation.



As you would expect, the car immediately straightened out, and my butthole assumed the density of a black hole. Before my brain had even registered that the wheel was off, I'd already monster trucked over the curb and grass that divide the lanes coming into the roundabout. I managed to grab the naked hub, where the steering wheel once was, with one hand, just in time to meet the sidewalk, which immediately proceeded to obliterate my front wheels.






I got partially airborn a second time, and was immediately greeted by a telephone pole. I finalized the spectacle with a sweet 90° rebound off the pole.











I was amazed at how little evidence there was that anything had happened. There were 0 marks in the street. Just a little scuff on the curb, and a faint mark all the way across the sidewalk. I'm sure the pole was very happy about all the weight reduction.






And now the ultimate question: how the hell did the steering wheel, that does not have a quick release and has been bolted on for over 4 years, suddenly come off?

Answer: too short of screws.



The metal disc you see there is one I had a local guy fab up for me. It's an OEM Lotus wheel, attached to the custom piece, which attaches to an aftermarket wheel adapter for Toyotas. The screws that attach the custom piece to the adapter were just too short. I had no idea, but as soon as I picked up the loose wheel after my initial 3 or 4 "holy shit is this real" laps around the car, I immediately realized what the problem was.

As much as I, and random people who see the interior, love the novelty of the Exige wheel, I'm just going to get an aftermarket wheel like normal people. Which will actually save some weight, so I guess it was all for the best.

[bcj]

Owie.

Kinda the same boat here. I got rear ended last July (Co Sheriff witness
Didn't want to write up anything mostly for the uncertainty too. "Dunno... Dunno"
Couple weeks before I could get into the shop, then the day before, the painter messes up his arm.
Couple more weeks for healing and pretty soon it's the end of August.
By then it's not current and mostly irrelevant.

Got it back very shiny, but two months of missing out summer drives for a minor shunt was the worst part.

[Anthony]

Daaaaaamn. What a chain of bad luck.

[VoltsFRS2013]

good luck with repair That's so unfortunate. I'd cry for days

[Anthony]

I was extremely upset for about 30 seconds. Then I thought of how it could've potentially ended, and that pretty much put a stop to that. I just started walking around the car, picking up the pieces.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Anthony

[IMG]................I don't drive my car on the street very often, especially far from home. But I finally got it weighed last week (see 8 posts up) then proceeded to drive it into a pole on the way home. You can't make this up.

Well, that's too bad .......

You get an A+ for your photography.

Your fab guy gets an F for fabbing.


humfrz

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by bcj

Owie.

Kinda the same boat here. I got rear ended last July ...........

Well, that sucked ........

I got rear ended (in my wife's Saturn) last summer.

Yep, I was in this parking garage picking up @Tcoat ,to meet with you and Ultramaroon, when a parking garage pillar jumped up behind me and slammed into the Saturn ......


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Well, that sucked ........

I got rear ended (in my wife's Saturn) last summer.

Yep, I was in this parking garage picking up @Tcoat ,to meet with you and Ultramaroon, when a parking garage pillar jumped up behind me and slammed into the Saturn ......


humfrz

[Tcoat]

On the bright side that looks like an easy 6 to 10 pounds off the total car weight. Being in front of the wheels gives it even more of a positve effect.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Being in front of the wheels gives it even more of a positve effect.

True, but as we've learned since I got the corner weights of the car, my front left side needs the most weight reduction. (Reference.) Why couldn't the pole have been five feet further south?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Anthony

True, but as we've learned since I got the corner weights of the car, my front left side needs the most weight reduction. (Reference.) Why couldn't the pole have been five feet further south?

[Anthony]

Hahahaha! Y'aint wrong.