| NOOB here and frequent lurker in the community. I should explain the title of this post first off so here it is! I LOVE this community for all it has taught me about my car and how to fix it on my own. I HATE this community for all it has taught me about my car and how to fix it on my own! I am now obsessed with the thought of owning an absurdly fast twin turbo. Being a glutton for punishment, of course I would never be satisfied owning one someone else has done tons of mods to because I want to do them myself! (Damn you TT.Net!!) Read on if you care to know a cherry Z owner's account of his new-found obsession. My name is Dan and my screen name means Texas Army Sergeant. I got out of the service in June after 13 years and returned from a tour in Iraq in March ( yes I am insane for having left the service with 7 years till retirement, I know).
I had sold my vehicle prior to my deployment, which I often do, and had no transportation after my return to the states so I was in the market for a cheap car that would not be a complete embarrassment to drive. I had all my consumer debt paid off after spending a year in the desert with no expenses and a combat-zone tax exclusion, and I did not want to open new accounts and have a car note to hassle with. Besides my plans included working for a defense contractor the following fall and going overseas to Iraq as a civilian so I just wanted something to get by for now. I spoke with friends and one of my fellow soldiers had a 1990 300zx for 3 grand. I had no idea what he was talking about as I had not heard of this car previously (can you believe it??). Whatsmore, how good can a car be maunfactured so long ago?? This thing must look ancient and be a total bucket! I went to his house after work one day and of course bought it on the spot for $2500.00. I had not read the great advice on this site about things to be aware of at this point. In fact, I knew nothing about the car and certainly nothing about it's twin turbo counter-part, but it looked damned cool and would not break the bank (such blissful ignorance). A few things were immediately needed; brakes all around, a new power steering pump, and the shifter would not go into park (it is an auto 2+2 N/A btw). I was stationed at Fort Hood Texas, so I would need a Texas safety inspection to get it registered and the tranny issue had me leary about the deal in the first place. Before I would agree to buy it I wanted to investigate the cause so we took apart the center console to get at the linkage and, low and behold, I found piles of loose change under the shifter. I gathered all the change and tossed it in the glove box (of course I was keeping it!) put things back together and into park she went. Now I am not an automotive tech by trade, (I served in the Army as an HVAC Service Tech... yeah they actually exist in the Army!) but I have always had a healthy curiosity about things mechanical and have developed a pretty good nose for vehicle maintenance over the years. So I went and got new pads and rotors all the way around, a re-manufactured power steering pump (I am not made of dough so re-man would more than satisfy my needs) and promptly fell in love with my little car. Rough around the edges and needing some TLC to make her anything near her former grandeur, but one fun little car to drive and little known to me, a head turner even with peeling clear coat and minor side swipe damage. Also the most finicky, cursed little bastard to work on in so many little ways that make you want to shoot the design engineers on some days and laud them the next! I have since come across numerous maintenance problems I have read on the pages of this board and never have I done more research on any one subject in the history of my education. (although not as complete in a traditional sense as I woud be willing to boast about anyhow). Keep in mind I have only owned the car for 5 months or so as of this posting and had no knowledge of it's existence, let alone dedicated following prior to this purchase. I have used your search function extensively, and read every article in the FAQ, and Auto-FAQ. I can whole-heartedly understand the search-function police's standpoint on this issue. I am on the fence at this point as to whether I should thank or condemn this community for having provided so much fantastic information. I can say without a doubt you have ignited a passion for all things Z32. If you read this far, you have my gratitude, and I hope my writing style is not entirely uninteresting. As the saying goes, often better to remain silent and assumed a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. Well, I am no-doubt long winded, and I will certainly ask a stupid question on more than one occasion, so in the spirit of sharing and giving back to this great site I offer the following: I have available in PDF Format, the factory service manuals for 1994, 1995, 1996, (and I downloaded the 1990 manual from the dutch website) AND all the 300zx Technical service bulletins available for download from Nissan. I downloaded everything available from the Nissan website for the 1990-1996 year range that I could find. The 1990 manual on the dutch site was just fuzzy enough to make details hard to nail down in many cases. The 1994-1996 manuals I have are crystal clear and quickly accessable throughout the documents by clicking on headings. I would be more than happy to load these on a server for anyone to download at their leisure so I ask you to help me-help you. Suggestions about a site with lots of free storage that would allow others access to PDF files for download. I will happily upload them for your viewing pleasure. Thanks for listening to a cherry Z owner's rants and if nothing else I hope this post may have reminded a few of you when your passion was first ignited. Regards, Dan!
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