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This is a very long post, so here are the Cliff Notes: This post is a brief (or maybe not so brief) reflection of many highs and lows of owning my 1992 NA 2+2. I am sure that some of you can identify with parts of this. The Z is my second car, and was a dream come true. It was purchased on Feb 2, 2001, to replace my aging 1985 Subaru GL 4WD wagon. To the best of my knowledge, I am the third owner of my Z. The first knew what he was doing with the car, it seems, because there were a few tell-tales of a previous aftermarket alarm install and stereo install. It also had Tokico 5 way adjustable shocks and had neatly installed pieces for access to the rear stut tops for adjustability from the hatch. The first owner probably treated it a little bit rough, because the e-brake cable seems to have been stretched (indicating that he probably pulled some e-brake turns to swing the rear end around). The second owner was a used car salesman, and treated the car more gently, but really didn't know what he was doing with it. He put aftermarket wheels on it that were polished steel and sized 16x7 with a 27 offset. He also put eibach lowering springs on it, but it would seem that he may have used the springs for a 2+0 rather than a 2+2, because the car sat much lower that it does now with my coil overs (and relatively soft spring rate). He also replaced the rear tokico adjustables with oem shocks, I think because he did not realize that the tokicos were adjustable and because he did not like the setting they were on. And there were also lots of other little minor details that I had to take care of to satisfy my anal-retentiveness once I got the car. Since owning the car, it has been in accidents three times:
The first time I curbed it at low speed, but I hit a sign and rubbed against a wooden fence, and then the tires rolled over what was left of the sign post and got shredded. The toll for that incident was 1 tension rod, 1 bumper cover, one foglight, 1 wheel, 4 tires, and a little bit of repainting.
The second time was September 27th of last year, when some girl in an audi "didn't see" me and pulled out into the side of my car. When I saw her pulling out, I pulled into the center turn lane (because it was empty) and almost slipped by her, but she apparently saw me at last moment and stomped the accelerator when she panicked. T-boned me, spinning me around. The car was in the shop until mid november, and it still was not fully repaired until a couple days before christmas. The body shop did not really seem to know or care what they were doing, and I ended up fixing a lot of the minor details (such as window alignment on the doors, and hatch release mechanism repair) myself. Pretty much everything on the passenger side was replaced except for the t-top and the roof-line around the hatch.
The third time was in mid-June when an old lady left-hand turned right in front of me, leaving me no time or room to stop. The crotchety old bitch tried to claim that I had run a redlight and was speeding, but thankfully a cop was behind her and saw the whole thing. The car needed a new bumper, bumper cover, bumper supports, foglight, headlight, nose panel, and somre repair to the hood. The shop that did the repair this summer did an excellent job though, which really took some of the stress out of my life. Since I have owned the car, I have primarily only upgraded parts when it was time to replace the parts anyhow. I always seem to have something to repair or replace on the car though. I have put the following parts or procedures (not including simple everday maintenance like oil and fuel filter changes and such and excluding non-repair based upgrades) into my car: JWT pop charger
new shift and e-brake boots
coilovers and adjustable shocks
bose speaker and amp replacement
emergency brake pad replacement
steering rack bushing and tension rod bushings
PCV valve (this job sucks hardcore if you don't have the right tools)
timing belt, idler pulleys, underdrive crank pulley, spark plugs and other 60K maintenance (immense thanks go out to Kaz and YugoBernie for their assistance and labor for that job)
upper pillar guide rods for the door windows
all tie rod ends
ball joints and kingpins for the front wheels
adjustable upper a-arms
front rotors
tension rods and steering rack bushings (a second time) and many smaller little tasks as well. It always ends up being more complicated than it should be as well. Today I was finishing up the replacement of my rotors and tension rods, but I ran into a big problem. The bolt that goes through the tension rod bushing had become oxidized to the metal sheath that runs through the bushing. I tried everything I could think of to get the bolt to slide out, but had no luck. I removed the bracket that holds the tension rod and the sway bar bushing in order to have more space to work with. I used about a fifth of a can of penetrating oil. I tried pounding the bolt from the back side with a hammer in hopes of breaking it free, but it never budged. I tried pressing it out with a clamp, and the clamp broke but the bolt never budged. So now what I have to do is have a new bolt overnighted to me on monday from Z1, and it's going to cost me $25 for the bolt alone, and probably something awful for the overnight shipping. Once I get the new bolt, I can hacksaw through the old bushing and bolt to free it from the bracket. Also, I think that I may have a small headgasket leak. Great. It always seems as the though car causes more stress and costs more money than anything else in my life, and so sometimes I just want to burn it to the ground. There are those times though when the car is running right and I am driving through the countryside along winding roads on a cool night with the windows down and t-tops out, and it really seems to make it all seem worth it. I also love the way the car looks and all of the features that it comes with standard (222 hp, 5 speed, rwd, lsd, projector headlights, leather, t-tops, sport-designed suspension, etc). And furthermore, I love the community. Twinturbo.net is by far one of the (if not the only) best forums I have ever seen. The content, layout, and the people are really incomparable. Just hanging out with other Z guys, shooting the shit and going for a drive through the country can really put a smile on my face and put me in a good mood for days to come. Ultimately though, I wonder if I will keep the Z after I graduate next year. Hopefully, I will have my 1958 Volvo PV444 running (with a 12v neg grnd electrical system and a domestic V6 w/ 5-speed) and so I will no longer need the Z as my exclusive car. I also hope that I will be making enough money to put some away for a downpayment on a house and possibly a new car (probably a WRX wagon since it is sporty but a bit more practical) after a couple years of working (and living with my parents to cut costs and since they havent really seen me for more than 2 weeks out of the last 3 years). It just seems that I will have enough new doors open that keeping the Z wont really make much sense. On the otherhand, I will be able to hang out with the Z guys in TX, and so I would probably miss actually being a Z owner in that light. Who knows though, only time will tell. For the time being, I guess I will just have to try to relax and enjoy the Z when I can, and put up with it the rest of the time.
"The two seater is being joined in a few weeks by a larger two-plus-two model with a rear seat for munchkins." ~Jim Mateja, Chicago Tribune, in regards to the Z32.
Andrew Janeshek // jnshk@aol.com // 1992 NA 2+2 [Stage 2-ish]
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