Depressing turn of events...

[mdbrandy]

The picture says it all. This is what happens when you can "almost" stop behind a 1991 Pontiac Transport Minivan.

Long story involving a cop approaching the cross street of a major, somewhat blind intersection with the red his way, turning on the siren as he approached, the van panicing and stopping dead in the middle of the intersection, and an oily approach to the intersection (major intersection with hundreds of cars a day sitting there waiting for the light...) letting me slide about 100 feet from only 30 mph. I probably hit him at less than 10 mph, but went under his bumper. Four nice tire skid marks showing my path through the oil...at least I know all four brakes work.

The hood isn't terrible, but it has several waves and dents, and the left front corner was bent down about an inch. The overall hood apparently is tweaked a bit, since the left rear corner was "up" about a quarter inch when closed (wasn't before). The bumper itself was barely touched, except for that bar on top, which was bent backward. I think it directed the Van up and over the hood. Would have been a lot worse if the nose of the hood had actually hit the bumper dead on.

So, anyone have experience with hood damage like this? I actually have a replacement hood, although it has surface rust inside that I'd have to take care of in order to use it. It is even the same color! But how hard is it to fix a hood in this condition? This one, like the rest of the car, has essentially no rust, so it's a shame to have to trash it...

I have to find my spare headlight buckets and see what shape they're in too...

[Carl Beck]

Hi Mark:

A really good body man "could" straighten that hood.. enough... then fill it with bondo... and for a couple months it might "look" fine, if the fit didn't matter too much ... But you wouldn't want to keep it... Time for a new hood...

sorry to see it happen..

Carl B....

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

[mdbrandy]

Hi Mark:

A really good body man "could" straighten that hood.. enough... then fill it with bondo... and for a couple months it might "look" fine, if the fit didn't matter too much ... But you wouldn't want to keep it... Time for a new hood...

sorry to see it happen..

Carl B....

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

Thanks Carl. I kind of thought that big, flat pieces of sheet metal might be somewhat difficult to fix. Never had the problem before. So far I see no damage other than the hood, headlight bucket, and the bumper bar. We'll see what happens when I've got it all apart...

Mark

[mdbrandy]

Well, I pulled the left bumper end/valance/headlight bucket and hood tonight. Interestingly, I find that this is not the first time this has happened to the car! The portion of the left side of the body that the hood hinges attach to and the headlight bucket fits up against/over the top of is all beat up and bondo'd. Obviously, the left front corner took a beating at some time in the past. In fact, I had never noticed it before, but the underside of the hood has no decals, emission stickers, etc of any kind. It should, right? Thus, it is probably not the original hood. I see no other damage, no evidence that the rad support has ever been repaired, etc., so hopefully that's all I'll find...

Fun with Z archeology

[EScanlon]

Mark:

A7DZ just ordered a new hood from Datsun. I ~believe~ he said it was something like $350 or so plus shipping. I may be way off.

Enrique

[Virto]

Ahh man, that totally sucks.

You had a good looking overrider too...mines all rusted and ugly.

Guess it goes to show, these weren't built to take a hit.

[a7dz]

The surprising part of the hood deal is that it was in stock at the dealership. Just have to pick it up or have it shipped. What e said for price is correct.

[mdbrandy]

The surprising part of the hood deal is that it was in stock at the dealership. Just have to pick it up or have it shipped. What e said for price is correct.

That's an amazing price for a brand-new Nissan hood. I'll have to stop into my local Nissan tomorrow...

And your's had it in stock?!? Where do you live? The Nissan here in Champaign, IL has some good parts guys, but I have yet to find anything for my Z's that was actually in stock...

Mark

[mdbrandy]

Ahh man, that totally sucks.

You had a good looking overrider too...mines all rusted and ugly.

Guess it goes to show, these weren't built to take a hit.

Yeah, the overall car is in that kind of shape. That's why I bought it . Now I just have to stop hitting things with it...

The overrider did it's job though. If that hood had hit the bumper straight on, you can see how far back it would have been pushed. That would probably have damaged fenders, cowl, stuff under the hood, etc. Things would have been much uglier I think.

[gogriz91]

Oh man, sorry to hear about your accident. You've motivated me to do the Toyota caliper swap out sooner than planned.

[mdbrandy]

Oh man, sorry to hear about your accident. You've motivated me to do the Toyota caliper swap out sooner than planned.

I have the basic Toyota 4-pistons on the front already. Just made it that much easier to lock 'em up and slide through the oil patch...

I do like my brakes now. 4-piston calipers on the front, basic drums on the back with new tokico cylinders, and steel braided lines all around. Brakes are solid as a rock.

[First Gen Z]

Mark, Sorry to hear about the crunch. I did the same thing with my 77. It got the headlight bucket and the hood on mine. I used a mid 80's Tbird to assist my crappy brakes. I PM'd you on the parts.