StuntMonkey

So I went to test drive this guys car today. 95 3000 GT with a seriously kick ass stereo in it. Said he had an E-bay bid at $7k for it, so I figured if I liked it I could give him the same price and save him the trouble of shipping. Anyway, I get on the interstate and I get it to about 80-85 (hey I'm on a test drive) and for the first time in my whole fucking life I MIS-SHIFT. Went for 4th, got 2nd. Needless to say the car didnt fare too well. Debris flies out behind me, the clutch goes to the floor andthe car starts smoking. I'm of course just sitting there thinking OH....MY....GOD. This cant be happening. Anyway I pop the hood, and it's totally fucked up under there. There is a chunk of the clutch sitting on top of the headlight assembly, a belt (not sure which one) has snapped taking the air intake, vaccum hose, a bunch of wire harnesses, and god knows what else with it. I call the guy and tell him what happened (more than a little akward) and he comes to pick me up. I hope and pray my insurance will cover this even though I really truely doubt it, so I get on the phone with them while he's on his way. We exchange information and I tell him that I will pay for repairs. This really sucks because I was planning on leaving for school in a month and I'm trying to save all of my money for that. I know that I could probably get off without paying a thing by taking the whole "you let people drive it you take that risk" defense, but I'm just not that kind of guy. I fucked up, I pay up.
Anyway, I guess my questions are (A. Is there any chance I didn't completely blow the tranny. (B. Is there any chance the insurance company will pay for this. I have full coverage through state farm. and (C. Anybody wanna help with repair bills?

soopa

Well, you're a good man at least. I don't know that I would have been so forthcoming

One of your insurance companies should cover it, you'll just have to eat the deductible.

Crazy Bimmer

Ouch man that does suck.

Clutch isnt that bad to replace, its the engine you should be worrying about.

Any oil on the ground?

StuntMonkey

No oil. lots of other fluids though. I think tranny fliud, and anti-freeze.
I'm thinking best case scenario: Clutch shattered instantly and snapped the belt, doing most of the damage.
Worst case: I ripped apart the tranny and the gaskets are blown.

Get this though, with all of this mechanical damage done he looks at where the stuff shattering peppered the hood and freaks cause of the cosmetic damage. We're talking a quick sand and re-spray and he's more worried about that.

KCPreki11

I'll guess you'll never miss 4th again

Zippee

I doubt your insurance will cover it as it was a mechanical failure, not a collision.

StuntMonkey

Maybe should have slammed it into a guard rail?

ViperrepiV

man, sorry to hear that, that's terrible

crazymjb

Yeah... The second that crap blew you should have gone straight towards something that was either stationary or moving towards you at a high rate of speed.

OTOH, which car is it that has a break away flywheel?

Mike

Shadzilla

You are a good man, and you did the right thing And besides, had you not owned up to your mistake, well, ya know what they say, karma is a bitch!

ghost_masterCL

talk about catastrophic failure...

Trojanman750

daaamnnnn thats fucked....i always have a small worry in the back of my head when test driving peoples cars

Edr0e

Redlining 3rd gear and then accidentally shoving the car back into 2nd gear will do some damage. Ouch thats an expensive mistake and fix. I hope you have full coverage.

astro

I'm pretty sure that even if you did blow the clutch, you likely tapped a piston or two off the valves.

FiftyFive

I've done it in the evo. Like a week after i got it. No damage, but i will never do that again, but then again its not like i did it on purpose.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

You're a good man for coming forward, most people would have lied and blamed it on the car saying that it just blew up on them, and tried to blame the guy for trying to rip them off, etc. At least you were honest, and made an honest mistake. Hope your ins covers it

GSI

I heard those cars had weak differentials to start with. I would hate to be in your position because no matter how good the repair if something else happens he will be looking for you to fix it.

Eggplant-EX

why not ask him to let have the car at his very bottom line and then get it fixed. You're gonna pay to get the car right and he can probably afford to eat a bit more on his price. And he will be glad to get rid of the car now and you are being a stand up person about it.

Marc S

^ not a bad idea

Cruz_msl

Insurance may not cover it, they will say it's a wear and tear item. Otherwise what's stopping everyone from just dumping the car into 2nd when the clutch starts going?

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Insurance typically covers the vehicle, not the driver, so it's probably gonna have to go throuhg the owner's insurance policy.

Comprehensive coverage MIGHT cover this damage, but I would doubt it. Comp usually covers events like a tree falling on the car, hitting a deer, etc.

CLPowersWife

All right, I don't drive stick so this may be a stupid question, but shouldn't a car be able to handle a mis-shift from time to time? I can't imagine that in the history of the universe, with all the shitty drivers there are, nobody EVER misses 4th gear except for StuntMonkey. Wouldn't you say that the car was in terrible shape to begin with, for such a thing to happen?

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Cali, Have you read anything about the RSX owners misshifts? It's a fairly common problem.

Whiskers

Not always (i.e. rental car)....

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Big difference between a rental car and a privately owned vehicle.

fla-tls

Yeah - I had an ex GF who misshifted my 91 eclipse back in the day. Luckily she also had a stick car and knew to get right back on the clutch. The engine flared up to 8k but there was no damage luckily.

It's easy to do if you're not familiar with the car and trying to push it.

GSI

Unfortunately, this event will not be considered an insurable loss on YOUR policy due to the wear and tear clause on the policy.

He may be able to file a claim under his policy but it will be a stretch for them to pay because he gave you permission to use the vehcile. Flip the script and say a thief had the vehicle and damaged the internals then he does have coverage.

Zippee

Not at all, that's like saying the cup must have been in terrible shape to break when it hit the floor.

crazymjb

I want to see some pics of all the broken crap they pull out.

Mike

mr.motoring

She sounded like a keeper.

StuntMonkey

Okay so...talked to the ins. co. about it. They don't want to pay *shocked* so I'm going to get on the phone with my lawyer tomorrow to see if he can squeeze something out of them.
The guy said that his mechanic told him that both the engine and the tranny are blown plus a whole other casualty list of other stuff. I'm thinkin I'm gonna have to wave the ol' flag on this one. I really trully doubt that I could have blown them both up. I'm gonna have my friends ex-husband look at it later this week. He's cool as hell and desperately wants to get back with her and thinks sucking up to her friends will help. It won't, but I won't turn down cheap/free help.
Me and the guy have been talking, and worst case scenario: He sells the audio equip. and rims, and I pay the difference and have myself one seriuosly fucked up project car.
I might have to push school back a semister, but all in all, Things are looking better today.

Crazy Bimmer

Yea getting someone else to look it over is a good idea. But both engine and the tranny can easily be damaged, you basicly over-reved the car to hell.

Which can easily throw a rod through the block and poof, new engine. I can see why the engine could have damage by the way you told the story.

buy the car and burn it, then collect insurance money

Crazy Bimmer

OK i read it over again, i dont think a rod would go through the block.

But if that belt snapped then the valves could easily be bent. Which aint TOO bad.

Anywho, i came off too harsh. You are doing the right thing though and im sorry you have to go through it. I say buy the car and make some buddies on the local mitsu forums and see if they can source everything for you. Then get some weekend warriors to help ya with the repairs.

StuntMonkey

Ok, so I heard back from my mechanic yesterday. I believe his exact words were "I've never seen anything like this before in my life"

I cant remember everything he said, but basically here's the breakdown as I know so far as I remember.

Engine: trash
Tranny: trash
ECU: trash
Radiator: trash
Fuel line: trash
Fuel rail: trash
Clutch: MIA
Flywheel: MIA
Chunk of transmission housing: MIA

My guy told me that I was extremely lucky to make it out without any of the debris causing me to wreck. Oh yeah, what I thought was a belt... steel flywheel ring. I thought it was a belt because it was so wavy it looked soft. It's snapped in half and bent to hell. Pics to come soon.

So what do y'all think about a VR-4 conversion. I figure I got myself a clean slate, I might as well do it up right. I already have plans for the looks, but I just trying to decide how far to go with the performance. Thoughts?

vishnus11

First holy smokes! You did a number on that car.

Second: Fifty Five mentioned over revving his Evo once and it being "fine" since. Just as general info, overreving the engine on your car today, doesn't mean that any symptoms will immediately show up. There are multiple, multiple S2000 guys who've overreved their car going from redlined in 3rd to 2nd instead of 4th. They end up cracking the valve retainers who fracturing them, and the damage doesn't show until one day, the valve drops and then you wallet gets a whole lot lighter. Just wanted to clear that up for everyone - if I overreved a car, my first instinct would be to have the valvetrain inspected.

Third: I like the positive attitude you've developed in response to this incident. Think of it as a blessing in disguise and the beginnnig of a great learning experience. This would be a fantastic time for you to learn more about cars in general. Buy a Helm's manual, and read up on what's involved in putting in a new engine and tranny. Be resourceful - look to junkyards, ebay, and other avenues for used/rebuilt parts that you can use.

Something I always like to tell people is that everybody makes mistakes, after all we're only human. However its how you overcome those mistakes and make things right that shows your true character.

AcuracltypeS03

Why didnt u press the clucth once u heard the motor going crazy..

I did it couple of the times in my Jetta but then i just push the clucth in again faster to not let the tac hit the red numbers..

StuntMonkey

Happened too fast. I wanted to see how tight the clutch was so I dumped the clutch with no gas to see if it had that lovely snap you love to feel on a good upshift...oh, it snapped all right...

Right now it's at the shop at my job, but we never work on our own trucks so the only tools we have is a set of socket wrenches , so I just gotta convince my dad to let me keep it at the house .

So what do y'all think... To VR-4, or not to VR-4?