Epic Ratsun Repairs

[MicroMachinery]

Today my bro was driving down from Portland so him and I could investigate a vibration he had in his 521. At about 1:30 he called me and left a message saying he found the cause of the vibration and that I should call him ASAP. I also heard traffic in the background.. not good. :(

 

I got on the horn and called him up, he was on the side of the 5 near Canby and had pushed his truck off the 5 to the exit. Apparently, his driveline bolts(front) had all come loose, and the last one finally gave way as he was cruising down the freeway. With a loud BANG, he coasted his powerless 521 to the side of the highway. Looking down, he saw a giant hole where his shifter tunnel used to be. It wasn't hard to figure out what had gone awry.

 

Using a section of welding rod he had handy, with a pair of vice-grips, he fastened the driveline and the output shaft of the transmission by running 4 segments of shortened rod through the bolt holes. The pivot by which the shifter moves atop the monkey-motion 4-speed had also cracked into two pieces, so he used the vice grips to hold the two pieces in place as he drove. From there, he was able to get to a parts place by limping his poor Datsun in first gear all the way from the I-5 to Canby. Once there, he was able to pick up 4 bolts and use a hiding pair(under the seat) of needle nose pliers along with the vice grips to tighten the bolts. He got to my shop at about 5'o'clock(an hour and a half drive from Canby), and here are some pics that I took. The carnage, although grizzly, wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been had that crossmember not been engineered into the design of the champion of mini-trucks.

 

 

And here's a glory shot of the wound, along with the implements of construction.

 

 

Even though he's not a part of our community, my brother is Ratsun to the core! Today, he makes me proud! :crying:

[Jayden71]

That is epic! I always wanted to know what would happen if those bolts came out. :blink:

 

Now I am going to go make sure mine are all there and tight tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder :D

[skunk]

damn, could have been worse. but fuckin A that sucks

[INDY510]

damn, could have been worse.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzpbz5aLJms

[MicroMachinery]

Nice. I wonder what it could do to a Datsun that probably weighs 1/4 as much, has very little weight in the rear, and is going 75mph ..

[INDY510]

.

It took them alot of attempts to get the driveshaft to line up perfectly with the deep pothole

 

 

%90 of the time I bet you'd stop because of the noise before your car catapults into the air....... :lol:

['70dime]

Same thing happened to me, except I caught it before all bolts came out. The one that was left though allowed the driveshaft to swing around and cut my brake line.

[datzenmike]

Assuming a 27" diameter tire, 4th gear, 4.375 diff and going 50mph, that drive shft is spinning at over 2,700 rpms!!!!!!!! That's a lot of stored energy trying to come through the floor near your ass!!!!

 

Ask Icehouse how he felt when his tranny and d/s disintegrated under him.

 

[FoxyRoadster]

Thats why I lot of race cars armor that area, same with bellhousings.

[fisch]

Holy hell man how did that not tear into his leg or something? Did just the spinning driveshaft do all that damage? Was there shrapnel?

[izzo]

Assuming a 27" diameter tire, 4th gear, 4.375 diff and going 50mph, that drive shft is spinning at over 2,700 rpms!!!!!!!! That's a lot of stored energy trying to come through the floor near your ass!!!!

 

Ask Icehouse how he felt when his tranny and d/s disintegrated under him.

 

 

 

[Jassifrass]

so why is your bro not on here??

[Guest kamakazi620]

so why is your bro not on here??

He's TOO COOL!!!!! and busy fixin' his DATTO!!!!!!!

[Icehouse]

Dude your bro is part Ratsun part Macgyver!!!!

 

 

 

Assuming a 27" diameter tire, 4th gear, 4.375 diff and going 50mph, that drive shft is spinning at over 2,700 rpms!!!!!!!! That's a lot of stored energy trying to come through the floor near your ass!!!!

 

Ask Icehouse how he felt when his tranny and d/s disintegrated under him.

 

 

 

 

Mike that was Countries DL and tranny on our trip to Shasta in 06 what ever the last year of it was.

[MicroMachinery]

Holy hell man how did that not tear into his leg or something? Did just the spinning driveshaft do all that damage? Was there shrapnel?

 

I have no idea. Someone's lookin' out for him. :) It could have easily done that same number on his leg that it did to the tranny tunnel. Somehow, there was no shrapnel.

so why is your bro not on here??

 

He loves his Datsun, but I'm not sure if he's as much of a lunatic as the rest of us :lol:

 

Dude your bro is part Ratsun part Macgyver!!!!

 

Here's what he did to fix the broken shift lever.

He drilled a hole in each of the broken pieces, and then made up a couple plates to act as a splint. One on each side, a bolt through the hole in each piece.

 

Oh, and just so no one has to ask :fu: here it is:

 

He just moved to Portland, so if you see him, hassle him about Ratsun :D

[Skib]

Assuming a 27" diameter tire, 4th gear, 4.375 diff and going 50mph, that drive shft is spinning at over 2,700 rpms!!!!!!!! That's a lot of stored energy trying to come through the floor near your ass!!!!

 

Ask Icehouse how he felt when his tranny and d/s disintegrated under him.

 

 

 

Jesus!

 

what the hell happened there Jeff!? :o

[metalmonkey47]

Jesus!

 

what the hell happened there Jeff!? :o

 

Looks like he hit VTEC yo!

 

Goddamn, thats some cereal carnage.

[fisch]

Mmmmm looks like 14X5 or 14X5.5 or 14X6 slot mags on the front! Which is it?

[Jassifrass]

He just moved to Portland, so if you see him, hassle him about Ratsun :D

 

 

if i see him i'll stick a ratsun sticker on his truck :P

 

 

maybe i'll just slip it under the wiper

[MicroMachinery]

if i see him i'll stick a ratsun sticker on his truck :P

 

Do it :)

[Jassifrass]

alrighty then i shall :sneaky:

[MicroMachinery]

Mmmmm looks like 14X5 or 14X5.5 or 14X6 slot mags on the front! Which is it?

14x6 I do believe

[68Datsun510]

Good lord, i was at SHasta 06 and didnt hear anything about this, WOW

[Skib]

 

C clip came off and the bolt came out on the freeway lolz

[ariascarlos1990]

I remember one time I was leaving PIR after one of the Ratsun meets when my throttle cable snapped. I didn't have a phone at the time and I don't know why I was the last person of the crew to leave but, I ended up using vice grips to hold the rest of the cable to the linkage. That was a sketchy 20 miles back home.