TwinTurbo.NET: Nissan 300ZX forum - Three whole years.
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Subject Three whole years.
     
Posted by Stadsport (PHX) on June 25, 2011 at 3:11 PM
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Three years ago today, I drove home in my very own Z32. I know a lot of you guys have had your Z almost as long as I've been alive, but for me, this is a bit of on occasion. I walked out of the credit union like a baus, hopped in my shiny red car, turned the key and--nothing happened. It was just a loose battery cable, but man, what a sign of things to come.

Since then, I've gotten to know what boost feels like, how fuel injection works, how to do a turbo swap, and so much more. This morning, I drove home from a friend's house--working on Zs, of course, in my Z. I can't even describe how much this car has grown on me. It feels less like a means of transportation and more like a companion--a good friend.

I think most of you guys will agree that this is more than a car. Sure, it provides transportation, and it can be fun to toss it around a curvy road, or race between the lights. But it's more than that, too. To us, it's our lives. Almost all of my friends are Z owners. Most of the websites I go to every day are centered around the Z32. When, on the rare occasion, I get a free weekend--I go to car shows with other Z owners. Practically all of my spending money (what little there is) goes into my car. I spend my only day off every week working on or washing my Z, almost always with other Z members.

In just three years, I went from knowing practically nothing about cars (save what I learned from my Z31) to being absolutely and completely obsessed.

The Z32 community is more than just a group of friends to me--it's my family. There's always bickering between brands, trends, styles, forums, everything. But despite that, I'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by people who share such a ferocious passion for what, to us, could never be described as "just a car." I always have friends who want to work on our cars, see a movie, have a barbecue, rescue me from the side of the road (hey, it IS a Z32), everything friends are there for, and it's all because of my little red Datsun.

For obvious reasons, I've really wanted to give something back to this community. I've done a few writeups and diagrams here and there, and I can only hope they've helped someone out there from time to time. But I don't think that's really enough. The thing is, we Z32 owners are kind of spoiled. This car is old enough to buy beer, and if you need to do something to it, someone's already done it, and probably taken some pictures along the way and posted them on the internet. If you don't know how a part works, someone has taken it apart and written a huge essay about it. There's an unquantifiable amount of information available to us about our cars.

As bad as it sounds, though, I've become kind of complacent with this. Don't get me wrong, the information out there is great, and I can't even begin to express my gratitude to the people who have spent time, energy, and money putting these kinds of things together and maintaining them. At the same time, there's over ten years of pages to sift through. And a lot of times, when you finally find it, the images are all broken.

A standalone wiki, for those who don't know, is like a mini-Wikipedia. Instead of general world information, though, it contains information specific to one topic. There are wikis for videogames, detailing all the skills and levels and tidbits of knowledge pertaining to the game. There's wikis for computers, televisions, everything--including cars. So as a bit of a hobby-project, I started the Z32 Wiki. Ultimately, I want it to be your one-stop-shop for information about the Z32. I want it to include everything from "how to pull your intake manifold" to "what year did my car get New-style injectors?" Some day, I hope it will be a place you can go to have virtually any question about the Z32 answered. All the images are stored locally, so there wil never be a broken image, and you'll never have to worry about broken links. And since it's a wiki, I can cite sources and combine information from multiple writeups to form thorough, comprehensive articles and writeups.

wikilogo.png

So far, it has over 100 pages of information. I'm quite proud of a few specific pages, like the articles on Intake Manifold Removal, Variable Timing Control, the Cooling System overview, Fuel Injectors, and of course many more. My goal is for this wiki to be one place you can search for practically ANYTHING and get a page explaining what it is, what it does, and how to replace it. I've got a lot of information, but that goal is still a long way out.

I know a few of you guys have already seen this, as I've posted little links and allusions here and there, but because today carries some relevant significance to me, I wanted to make this completely public to everyone.

Additionally, if there's an article you'd really like to see, or a suggestion you think would really help, please feel free to PM or email me and let me know.

And to those who have created original content I've used on my wiki, I can't thank you enough for your contribution to the Z32 community--I sincerely hope you find my sharing of your information acceptable (and I have made a great effort to cite sources for media wherever I can), but if you would rather your content remain excluse, I do understand, so please let me know if you'd like any of your content removed.

Hope you guys like it.. I can't wait to see what the next three years brings!

     
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