So much for that...
Well, it was an interesting weekend.

A friend of mine, K, has a 1984 Nissan 300ZX that she's been trying to sell. It's on its second engine, so despite its advanced age the engine doesn't have a lot of miles on it. Twin turbo, T tops, black with a tan interior- well, let's just say it's quite a hot ride.

So she and I took a trip out of state to go get the thing. She had left it with her old mechanic, a good ol' boy who's done a lot of NASCAR work and who's taken care of that car for years, but as she was now living up here she wanted to move it anyway- she was considering doing some body work to it to restore it and driving it herself, whether I bought it or not. I agreed to go get it with her, so I took the plates off of my car (yeah, I know it's illegal) and packed a bag and we went after it.

Sunday morning we got up, got breakfast and went over to the mechanic's place. He got it up and running, put his temporary plates on it and took it out for a run with me. The body was pretty rough, but the engine growled like an angry minotaur and when he jammed on the gas it took off at about a half gee acceleration.

Nice.

We got back to his shop and I spent some time with him looking over the engine and talking about it and what it really needed, versus what would be nice to do- which really wasn't much. I put my plates on it and we went to get some new gas in the tank, and off we went.

I was very pleased as we went along the expressway- it handled like a cat, lots of power and agility, and I was having a blast with it. We conferred by phone and decided to drop it off at my house, then go back to hers to get my car and get some dinner. We were less than ten miles from my house when I told her I would take the lead and get us there.

"Ummmm... there's a lot of smoke coming out the back," she said nervously as I passed. I looked, and sure enough there was a pretty big cloud coming out.

Feck.

"Okay, maybe it's just crud coming through and burning up," I said. "Let me try something here." I dropped into fourth gear and floored it. Instead of roaring and going at Mach 1 it started sputtering- and slowing down.

"This isn't good- it's skipping-" and then there was a soft WHOOMP and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and a huge cloud came from under the hood.

FECK!

I pulled over onto the shoulder as K was yelling "Get out of there! It might be on fire!" I took just enough time to pull the hood release and hit the emergency flashers before I jumped out and ran around the car, looking for flames. As I didn't see any I opened the hood and was greeted by a cloud, but no flame. I pulled my jacket out of the car and fumbled through the pockets and found my screwdriver, and by the time K got there I was already taking off the front license plate. "What are you doing?"

"There'll probably be a cop along in a minute. We're running it illegally. If he asks we're just moving it across town." And I ran to the back and started on that one.

By the time the cop arrived I was on the phone with a towing company, the plates were stashed in K's car and I had all of my stuff out of the 300ZX. He put out some flares for us, but didn't ask many questions and left us alone- he probably figured we were already having a bad enough night.

The tow truck arrived and I had him take it to my house- less than five miles away- and drop it off on the street in front of my house. He gave K the number of a salvage yard and left, and in the quiet we looked at each other for a moment. Finally she said, "Well, at least you hadn't paid for it yet."

"Yeah, I know. And your mechanic checked it out before we left, so there was no way we could have known... but still, DAMMIT!"

She smiled. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't worth much anyway, and it's better that it happened now than in two weeks. I would have felt terrible and had to give you back your money."

She has a point, of course, but still...

FECK.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 29 Dec 2008, 13:43, 15 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

there's just no way I can be arsed reading all that shit
five word summary anyone?
( Gilgamesh gazed in wonder as Frampton came alive, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 13:44, Reply)

Werdz

(PsychoChomp, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 13:51, Reply)

Bought car, it blew up
Or the slightly longer:

I bought my friend's car
I toasted it down the road
My friend is now sad
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 13:55, Reply)

Can't be arsed to read it?
Really? Then why are you hanging out on a board where we communicate in writing, and often tell each other stories?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:02, Reply)

I'm providing a public service

( Gilgamesh gazed in wonder as Frampton came alive, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:22, Reply)

you can use this sub-thread to thank me

( Gilgamesh gazed in wonder as Frampton came alive, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:23, Reply)

it's fucking 800 words man

(PsychoChomp, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:31, Reply)

that's OUTRAGEOUS, no one in the UNIVERSE has that kind of attention span!

( Gilgamesh gazed in wonder as Frampton came alive, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:40, Reply)

big fucking deal^
800 words? You read more than that in a shite story in the Daily Mail.


Unlucky on the car though
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:40, Reply)

@Psychochomp.
You really don't get it do you.

Go back to /talk where they communicate in words of one syllable.

Usually consisting of YOUR and MUM.
( girlinthehole, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:40, Reply)

Can we just shut down QOTW?

( Jam Master Geordie Hero of B3ta., Mon 29 Dec 2008, 14:54, Reply)

Memory lane
I used to have a 300ZX

Lovely chunk of metal, goes like a cat on fire and handles like a dream.

Cost a bastard fortune to maintain properly though.

Sounds like yours had exactly what mine had ... big power loss and clouds of white smoke.

Loon, almost certainly the oil seals in one (or most likely both) of your turbos have perished and have failed on your drive home as it has been left standing with no maintenance for a long time. Not fatal by a long shot, but you won't get much change out of $3000 to get them replaced.

Before you put money into it, make sure the exhaust is sound (rear silencer box is the worse)... these will cost you up to $1500 if it has rusted while standing

If its a stick shift get the clutch checked out ... you really don't wanna know how much that will cost you if its worn and close to needing a replacement!

The seals will almost certaily be gone on the targa roof (get a hose on it to check for leaks)

And if it has been standing for a while, all 4 disks are probably shot and will need grinding, if not replacing .... again, $1000 if your lucky!.

Its worth it though ..... One hell of a car.

If it is screwed though, go out and buy yourself a nice Nissan Skyline. Cheaper, more reliable and you can tune the bastards so high it will take you to the moon and have you back home in time for tea!
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 19:34, Reply)

It's on its second engine.
I don't know just how badly borked it is at this point, to be honest- but I suspect that it was terminal for that engine.

But I can get a rebuilt one for $1350, and my garage says they can install it for $1100. That would get me an engine with a three year full warranty and a sound transmission- though I might have them check out the clutch at the same time to be sure. Do that and the drive train will definitely be good.

And yes, the thing was one fucking scary-ass ride with power enough to compete with a Corvette.

On the other hand, the body has some Bondo on it and a lousy paint job and the interior has aged hard, and I'd need to tear apart the dah to get the backlighting on the digital display going again...

...but if I invest a few thousand I'll have a car worth about five times that.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 29 Dec 2008, 19:48, Reply)

^^
Good price on the recon engine, but make sure that it includes the turbos (and if it does that the turbos have been reconditioned as well, those oil seals are crucial!).

Before you get carried away, survey the car, total up what you think it will need, add 50% to give you a total and then go check out the price of a good used Skyline GT-R.
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Mon 29 Dec 2008, 20:23, Reply)

Yup, turbos included.
www.everdrive.com/partdetails.aspx?sku=3113896

Might be able to get a friend to help install it. I dunno.

The other thing that makes me hesitate is that the body needs work, and that the digital dash needs to be taken out and the backlighting repaired. The digital dash I can probably do myself, though...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 29 Dec 2008, 20:31, Reply)