Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself to the group. After a 30 year hiatus from Z ownership (family, home, etc.) I finally rejoined the "Nissan Society" a couple of years ago. And since then have owned four in addition to four S30s and a Q45 back in the day. (You can check out my .sig for specifics if you want).
This one is mine (while wife drives "Nemo" in the .sig).
Not a lot done to it. I'm old school with regards to modifications.... "
Improve the driver THEN improve the car." My theory on modifications is that you take an already decent platform then WHEN I can effectively "use" 80% of the CAR'S capabilities THEN I'll make whatever mods are needed based on enough serious seat time to determine where the changes NEED to be made to correct any "flaws". I like to think of this as "Stage zero'ng the car to my preferences." Laff...
As such, not a lot needed to be done to my Z33 for what I use it for.... Sunday morning mountain/canyon runs and general to/from stuff during the week. (My daily driver is the Volvo in the pic....heh heh.)
PCH.... Sunday mornings.... that's "quality time".
The list of mods fits on one hand:
- V.1 Track forged wheels - and in the process, dropped some 7lbs (!!) of unsprung weight off each corner and mounted with Sumitomo HTR-Z-III's (which are surprisingly good for the price!) resulting in really nice steering response, turn in and recovery.
- Hotchkis adjustable bars to tighten up front/rear steering bias for my style of driving (I don't drift.... maybe a little oversteer with controlled rear breakaway if that's the fast way through a corner).
- In the next few months likely to upgrade to NON-coilover suspension - mainly due to the original shocks having 70k on 'em. Non-coilover because I know me well enough to know that I won't ever adjust it since I don't track the car so it's a waste of money for me. If/when I decide to go racing again (yeah, been thinking about it...
) and turn the car into a T-3 car, I'll review the GCR and see what I can use. Laff....)
- Aftermarket mid-level audio system.
And that's it!
My personal history includes a few years (way back when) as a parts manager for Datsun (and regional distribution manager for Datsun Comp - and yeah, yer old like me if you remember that name, hahaha - now Nismo).
At that time I raced a D-Prod SRL-311 and time trialed (Solo 1) an SSA 280Z in SFR and CalClub. (Perspective: I raced at Sears Point and Laguna Seca BEFORE they were ever reconfigured for Indy cars and Riverside BEFORE it got turned into big box mall (or whatever it is now). And ran WIllow Springs before Thunderhill was even conceived!) Old.... hahahaha.
I recently sold a couple of my Z's - one, an RHD Fairlady shell/roller that I'd only gotten about as far as stripping to bare metal before selling it to a friend. I was going to do the whole JDM 432Z thing but lost interest. He swears it'll be back on the road by 2016 but I'm not holding my breath.
Also just sold another friend my '90 Z32 NA model which I originally bought on a whim.
Anyhow, it's really GREAT to be back in the fold and would be interested in bench racing with other local (SF Bay Area) Nissan fanatics!