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What's up? I'm Dan, I bought my first Z back in August, a 1990 Pearl White TT, 79k on the Odometer and a folder with receipts for everything that's ever been done to the car. I bought her from one of the guys on this forum, Jason(JasonMD). I am the third owner, was going to be second, but that wound up being Jason due to my previous bank being lazy. How I found her again is rather interesting, detailed later. For now though, this is Kimiko. 


Narrative follows. It's rather lengthy so grab a drink, or skip to the end of the post just before the last picture for the abridged version, your call.
Prior to the Z I had a 1988 Mustang LX Coupe, 4 banger Automatic. I knew nothing about cars when I bought it in October 2002, and only figured out that it wasn't a 6 cylinder like the guy said it was after I counted the plug wires one day. Incidentally I got my first ticket a week after buying it, the second one in January 03. The day I went to court for the second (got a reckless turned into improper; no one explained to me that drifting in an empty parking lot wasn't acceptable) I discovered that the backseat could be removed. From that point on, cars became a new world to explore. Long story short, I gutted the interior, added BrownBread sound deadening to the whole thing, new head unit and 2500 watts of Infinity Reference goodness (6 speakers + 2 10" woofers) backed by an old school Orion HCCA225. Sometime in June 2004 the drivetrain died. Apparently, it didn't like the way I constantly threw it into second gear to make the most of the whopping 88HP at my disposal. So I began in earnest the idea of an engine swap, the end goal being a 2.3 Turbo 5 speed version of my car. The first try included a shoestring budget, a garage rebuild of an engine I got off Ebay, some very horrible wiring and makeshift coolant routing, a very succesful Automatic to 5 speed conversion, ...and total engine failure followed by the betrayal of my appendix in September of 2005. I consequently gave up and moved to Georgia for 7 months, hated the job I had there moved back home where my parents where doing major remodeling and gave me a few grand to do the swap properly in exchange for several weeks of labor. Round two involved shiny new parts/hand refurbishing of old parts, a factory rebuilt shortblock, headwork, newer turbo (IHI RHB52, if you're interested), rebuilt transmission, various and sundry other goodies that ultimately resulted in a lightweight car with some good power. Ford rated the engine used at 205HP and 240 ft/lbs. With the modifications I did (Intercooler, full 3" exhaust/DP, headwork, higher boost, etc) I think I might have had around 220 at the wheels. Finished Geist exactly one year after everything went wrong the first time. This was Geist: 




It was alot of fun for 6 months, until March 16 2007, where I gained newfound hatred for Illegal Immigrants... 
There are several important things to note about this picture. 1. The driver, a Hispanic who spoke no English, had no license, and had bogus plates, ran the red light (2 seconds after it turned red, mind you). 2. I was hit from the right, I started out going straight, the pickup truck is in the same basic direction it started in. 3. The entire car was drug 15 feet from its original position in the intersection. 4. He was doing between 20 and 27 MPH when I was hit; this was not a low speed collision. To better illustrate just how badly I was hit 


Thus began Insurance claims, intensive chiropractic/accupuncture therapy, attorney hiring, and the search for a new car. The first car to really catch my attention was a 1990 Pearl White TTZ being sold by someone at Walter Reed Hospital. Turns out the guy was a high ranking general, as I found out by the warm reception given to me by security and police when it was pointed out that my rental had expired registration (Bored security guards with shotguns and itchy trigger fingers and two cruisers made my day interesting until the guy showed up and made things cool). I took it for a test drive and fell in love with it immediately after my trip up the onramp to I-495, the HICAS aided lane changes sealed the deal, he even had a folder with every receipt/service paper that car ever had sans gas receipts. I had to have it. My bank, however, had other plans, that mostly involved treating me like dirt and refusing to let me know what was going on. I subsequently had to give up on the idea in favor of a different car, since I kinda needed to get to work, and the cost of a rental exceeded my weekly paycheck. I wound up buying a 2007 Toyota Corolla, which I immediately hated, and proceeded to kick myself for several months thereafter for not having found a way to get that first Z I looked at. Many a night were spent on Ebay, Craigslist, Autotrader, and leafing through those free car classifieds, finding nothing or finding Zs in lousy condition, and kicking myself even harder. Until one night I stumbled across a Z being sold in Maryland, a white one. Click the ad, look it over, 'Hey that's pretty nice..' read the description, "..previous owner of 17 years was a retired army guy," hey wait a second, "..came with a folder containing all receipts for work done." That was it, the same one! Why or how, I don't know, that car was meant for me I imagine. I determined that I wasn't going to let her get away a second time, and with the aid of a credit union, made it happen. ****Cliff's Notes for those who skipped here**** I used to have a 2.3 Turbo Mustang, I put alot of blood, sweat and tears into it. It was fast, and alot of fun, until an illegal Hispanic ran a red light and reduced it to waste. I wanted to get nice Z, but couldn't. I got a Corolla instead. Life sucked for awhile. One night 4 months later, by chance, I found the same Z that I wanted to get before being sold by the guy who bought it instead of me. This time I got it, and life was awesome. The End! 
So Hello World! Good to be here, --Dan a.k.a. The Spectral Samurai
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