Scoobs is no more...

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:14 am

As those victorian members who came away over the weekend would know, I wrote my car off last saturday. I am fine bar some cuts on my head and a new haircut, and the effects of adrenaline on the body.

So the story...

As far as I can tell my speed into the corner was the same as El_Freddo's, but with no weight in the car, particularlly in the boot, the heavy duty springs in the rear did not have enough weight to adequately preload them for this road, and I still had my tires at 36psi...

The corner was pretty downhill, left handed and sharp enough to trip me up... it looks like lots of people have entered into the corner too fast as there were pretty big breaking bumps leading into and IN the corner itself. Given the storms last week, these bumps had come up pretty deep; while the front wheels tracked through straight the back end bounced around and put me almost totally sideways at the exit of the corner. I think it was this bouncing instead of sliding that made the back end come out so unpredictably...

A smaller right hander followed immediately after and the rear swung out left with my correction as I entered a four wheel drift into the corner... I must have over corrected as I was too sideways in the drift and too close to the inside gutter... the front left wheel grabbed the inside of the corner and the back end swung the remaining distance into the gutter to have me facing the way I came... inertia did the rest as the left rear side hit the gutter, the right side came up and my world was upside down. The car settled on its roof in the gutter. As I started to flip I instrinctively put my arm onto the roof and ducked - not sure if it was the right thing to do but it meant I was supported by my arm when the car settled and that the windscreen missed my face - it scrapped the back of my head instead. I opened the passenger door and kicked it open. By the time I was out of my car Bennie (El_Freddo) was already there and helped me to the side. I am really glad I wasn't speeding or hooning, as speed may have had me off the outside of that right hander, which would have sent me rolling downhill into trees, instead of flipping uphill into the gutter/bank.

Damage was crushed a and b pillars on drivers side, no windows left except left hand passenger and back seat, snapped left tie-rod and punctured left tire (by tie rod). All panels were smashed, scrapped or dented apart from the front end which was protected by the bull bar (thank god!) so the powertrain seems to be fine (I'm about to check that now).

I cannot thank all the boys who helped me out enough, I am massively grateful for your help in winching/snatching Scoobs back upright and looking after me in the process - thanks to Rhys and co for winching and Richard (?) and his MY's efforts in pulling and snatching. Pedro and damian thanks heaps for making sure I was okay and keeping an eye on me. A final and massive thanks to Bennie for doing the first-aid (oh and to damian's laptop and digital camera), for organising a mate with a flat bed to get scoobs back to town, for taking me to the hospital to get checked out and for keeping me company all afternoon while waiting for my mate to come pick me and the subi up - I am super grateful and can't thank you enough Bennie.

From here I wait for the insurance company to send an assessor - I have full comp insurance and the car is definately a write-off. I'll keep the car as the motor only has 20,000km since I rebuilt it last july, and the interior is still mint. I'll head to the PAP joint in search of a decent shell over the next few weeks.

Once a shell is sitting next to scoobs I'll be putting a call out on here for helpers to move everything accross. I'm hoping that with enough pairs of hands we can get it done in a weekend.

There were plenty of photos taken, if those who have them would like to put them up please feel free.

Thanks agian to everyone who helped me out!

Cheers,
Owen.

Post by **TOONGA** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:02 am

Im glad you came out of it in one piece

cars are replaceable people are not

now when those injuries heal go and find a new body to fit all that good stuff into

TOONGA

Post by **Captain Obvious** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:57 pm

SHIT!! no good at all!!!!! glad to hear you came out ok and that you are going to stick with another lifted subi!!!

bryan

maxxair · Post by **maxxair** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:04 pm

no good mate, but glad youre ok. rip scoobs.

Bumpty · Post by **Bumpty** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:00 pm

Good to hear you're okay mate!
Pick up a cheap shell up, forget insurance and keep your premiums down

Goodluck..

pezimm · Post by **pezimm** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:38 pm

Some of the photos I took during the recovery operation to get Owen's car back on its feet.

The scene

Working how to finalise the turn safely

The broken tie-rod end on the LHS

And finally, Scoobs' back on its feet, now the hard yakka begins for Owen

Luckily Owen was all right and walked away from an accident that could have been a lot worse!

Cheers,
Pedro.

pimp2plz · Post by **pimp2plz** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:03 pm

WOW! Hate to imagine what could have happend.

thatsgoodsquishy · Post by **thatsgoodsquishy** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:28 pm

That is a very lucky escape, that last photo is a bit disturbing. Quite a bit of roof collapse right at the drivers seat! In my experience there is no worse feeling than that few seconds after you come to rest after a prang before you get out of the car. Take it easy for a few days, thats a fairly decent stack.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:50 pm

:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:

VERY LUCKY.. I'd buy some lotto tickets. How are you feeling now? I find most people usually start getting pains a few days after a nasty smash like that

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:41 pm

Oh shit mate... I was starting to wonder what happened because i hadn't heard any reports from the weekend trip... Main thing you're okay - human arent replaceable - car is...
I was gonna say this before gets too late - buy your car back from insurance company and take good undamaged bits (ie. lift kit etc)

Mate you gotta buy lotto ticket! All the best, get well and big congrats on Bennie and other guys who helped with the rescue..
Cheers
AP

tex · Post by **tex** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:30 pm

Lucky indeed, By the way you might be able to grab my gen 1 off me in a week or so if you want it I just discovered it runs out of rego on the 26th!

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:41 pm

Thanks for your well wishes everyone! I took monday and tuesday off work, with today being an RDO anyway. My head is healing up really quickly and one of my best mates is a (very good) chiropractor - I had adjustments all sunday and again last night, I've been pretty much pain and ache free thanks to her work. If you ever have a serious stack like that, you definately want to get into a good chiro... luckily i get it for free

. I'm just really really glad I wasn't hooning or speeding, I think the low speed and the learning to drive (drift) in a paddock as a kid is what helped me walk away from it. I'll be pinning a photo of scoobs flipped in the new car as a reminder to drive carefully.

I went the insurance route as I wanted the dosh I had access to and to keep the car. AAMI have been good to work with so I expected a pretty decent payout. They picked it up this morning and by 3pm it was already back home. The agreed value was $5500, the assessor put it at $6000 (sweet!), the excess was $550 + $450 under 25. I tried to talk the buy back price down without success, so ended up being $500 which I am still happy enough with given the amount I spent on the lift kit, struts, springs, engine rebuild etc... so value - excess - buy back left me with $4500 and possession of the vehicle. I'm pretty happy with that as I've got a $600 gen 1 with a busted auto tranny lined up to inspect on saturday that appears in good nic, just waiting for more photos from the owner.

I turned the engine over this morning - took the spark plugs out and it turned over by hand no worries - no binding or roughness at all. Moved up to using the starter and no worries there either. Filled the oil up to middle, chucked the sparkies back in and he coughed to life first time, ran a bit rough for a minute or so then settled down to a smooth idle as the computer went to town. Gave it some on the throttle and it was sounding good... I then poked my head around the bonnet and realised I'd just drowned the entire front yard in blue smoke. Turned the engine off after another minute of listening carefully and checking the dash for a low oil light which didn't light up. Let it sit for 10min, checked the oil and the level hadn't budged - phew! Started it up again and let it run up to temp, no gurgling from the cooling system and all fluid levels normal. The smoked turned from rancid smelling and blue to no smell and clear within about 10 minutes of standard idle, revved it up a bit to bring the temp up, the smoked cleared away and exhaust was nice and clean. Tried again an hour later and no smoke, oil level was sweet and engine sounded clean and nice - so stoked! The motor only has about 20,000km on it since I rebuilt it, so I think I'll do a swap with the new car.

So it looks like it'll be an auto to manual conversion and engine swap, then moving the lift kit and outback suspension accross. Hopefully the spare cash will go a long way to getting my new MIG too

I'll hang onto the busted shell for a while so I can experiment with making new bullbar mounts and rear bar set up before putting them on the new car.

That's it for now I guess, thanks again for the well wishes and I'll keep you updated as the new car arrives... now to find a tats outlet and get me some tickets!

Cheers,
Owen.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:41 pm

Owen,

Great news on the insurance! Pity you had to go through with it all in the first place, but I'm glad you came out of it ok. Sorry its taken me this long to get back to you, my phone has been playing up something chronic. And you left your "hospital package" in Ruby Scoo...

I too would like to thank everyone for their efforts! There was not one bad word or attitude about it on the day which made things a lot easier to deal with. We all had Owen's best interests at heart. I would also like to give a big shout out to my best mate (and best man) Jim, who at the drop of a hat made an awesome effort to come and pick up Scoobs! That made things work really well in the given situation.

You're a very lucky bloke with the way that car rolled! I don't think you realise how happy I was to see you kick that passenger's door open!

All good and we'll see you out there again soon. I'll be keen to come help out with the transfer of bits when the time comes

Off to post in your plans thread now...

Cheers

Bennie

subaruby · Post by **subaruby** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:02 pm

Well its good to hear everything is going ok.

It was a bit of a shock to hear over the radio " we have a car down, we have a car down" and coming around the corner to see the car rolled. I think most people were thinking a breakdown, or something less sinister.

It was however, a relief to see Owen get out of the car by himself.

After the initial shock of the situation everyone took action and made sure Owen was ok and then with team work set about bandaging Owen up and tipping the car back on its wheels. Well done to everyone.

The team gets to work...

Just a bit of blood........

Starting to right it.......

Finally back the right way......

spike · Post by **spike** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:06 pm

you can buff that out...........
whats the plan noww??

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:58 pm

Owen,
That is good news about your insurance very happy with that and I would be stoked as well, As what Bennie said - if you need a hand but I am a bit tight at the moment but if you really need a hand to do the swap etc - let me know and I'll be able to help.

Good Luck finding your next Subaru! What Subaru are you looking at the moment? (might be able to help out as well)

Cheers
AP

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:10 pm

Hey Owen, good to hear everything is going well after the accident.

It is a shame about the car, but really it was a big relief that you were OK after the shock of seeing it upside down. Everyone did well to get the car back upright, and especially Bennie who patched up Owen and organised the pickup. Everyone responded really well, keeping their cool and getting to work doing what had to be done.

If you need any help sorting out the car just let us know where and when!

Cheers,
Rhys

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:44 pm

Glad to hear your alright Owen, your bloody lucky mate, if there is anything i can do please let me know, i am free pretty much free for the next 2 weekends while i am down here in melbourne. More then willing to help in anyway mate with plenty of experience and i can get down to you if needed to.

I think i am glad i didn't come now as i could have been in the passengers seat for a ride i am sure the both of us wouldn't have liked!