RPMS

Oh, come on! It's not THAT bad. If no lights at all are working, you might start by looking at what's common to everything. The dimmer switch, the headlight switch itself, fuse, etc. Take your multimeter and a copy of the wiring diagram and work your way backwards until you find where the interruption is. It's not THAT complicated a circuit, and it would look 10x better than cobbling something together. The first thing I'd look at, if I were you, would be the headlight switch. They're known to break the solder on the joints after 30+ years. Mine did. Good luck!

Wow, I like those! They look a lot more elegant than Sanderson's cast headers. Can't wait until someone gives them a try!

If you need another one, mine was working when I pulled it. You're welcome to it.

Phantom, Did you ever find out what caused this?

Sounds nice - can I trouble you for a picture? Please?

For some reason I got the impression you wanted to keep the quilted vinyl on the rest of the interior. The only part that's really tough to carpet yourself is the shock towers. I'll eventually get a molded carpet set from Victoria British or Motorsport, but until then I've got tacky black vinyl hanging onto my shock towers. For the time being, the rest of the tacky interior vinyl in my car was replaced by equally tacky generic automotive carpet.

Rick, I sure wish you lived close enough for me to drop by and hear your system! It sounds like it would be nice.

Why must we use bigotry? Don't get too worked up. I'm sure he just used it as dictated by his cultural development, much as someone my age might have said that it was retarded without intending prejudice against mentally deficient people. I thought about blasting him for it, but decided it wasn't worth it. Besides, it's obviously NOT gay. What self respecting gay man would have a bathroom so devoid of decoration?

I *might* be wrong, but I think the interior color choices for the 240 Z were black, red, and tan. I'm not sure I've ever seen a 240 with a grey/blue interior... Anyway, that doesn't really matter. I would suggest using all weather carpeting from a boating shop for the rear/floor mats. It's durable, relatively inexpensive, comes in many colors, and you can cut it to fit. Just a suggestion...

I think it would be more interesting if the glass were reversed. Actually, that's an interactive art project that's going to make the rounds to major cities. I hear it's going to be at the MOMA sometime soon. I guess someone who'd been in prison wouldn't find it all that unusual a feeling to poop in plain view of others, but I don't have much desire to do so. Heck, I don't like it when my dog watches me! Scott

You must be joking. PETA would be all over them like a duck on a junebug if it were real. Advertising agencies aren't THAT stupid. It's CGI. And before you ask, yes, the Ka commercial where the hood whacks a bird isn't real, either. And there is no trunk monkey.

Simon, I used to think like you do. Over the past five or six years, I have modified my position after considerable thought. Ask yourself this: There are hundreds of thousands of guns out there right now. If we remove them from the hands of citizen owners, what would lead us to think that criminals would give them up as well, leaving them only in the hands of the police? "Well, if the penalties for committing a crime using a gun were stiff enough, criminals wouldn't use them." It sounds good, but it doesn't work that way. Criminals aren't usually all that rational, believing that they won't get caught when they commit a crime. Expecting an irrational person to behave in a rational manner simply isn't logical. If we take guns away from the citizens, only criminals (and the police, obviously) will have the guns. Gun control doesn't prevent gun crime, it only takes the guns away from enthusiasts, most of which use them in a safe and responsible manner. If we'd started with handgun control 100 years ago, it might have had the effect you desire. As it is, there are just too many guns out there to think we can remove them from the streets. There is no turning back at this point. Keep guns in the hands of the population.

Road rage? What road rage? The only thing that really gets under my skin is when someone speeds by me and cuts in front of my car with inches to spare, and that only earns them a 3 second burst of high beams, but then I let it go. I've discovered that the greater my reaction is, the more anxious I feel. If I just let it go, I feel MUCH better. The jerks in the offending cars don't give a rip how I feel anyway, so why should I get all worked up? Screaming and yelling and shooting the finger will only hurt your voice and make you look like an out-of-control idiot, so why bother? I've also devised several strategies that irritate the offenders without costing me anything. Letting my foot off the accelerator and gradually slowing down to get a tailgaiter off my bumper is particularly satisfying, as is not letting someone cut in front of me after I let someone else in who waited their turn. Little things, but they keep me unstressed. I have too much stress in my life already without creating more for myself. Scott

Hey, Mike. Losing someone you love just plain sucks, and I'm sorry you have to go through this. All I can suggest is that you cry your eyes out a couple of times, then go give your mom a big hug and be there if she needs to cry her eyes out for a while. I have found for myself that God answers prayers for strength and peace at times like these, but nothing except time will make the pain fade. Even though we're all separated by great geographic distances, we're all there with you. Scott

Phantom, I can't legitimately disagree with anything Jeff said, which is REALLY unusual for me! Two things I might add: The amps built into the vast majority of head units is simply inadequate to power an entire car's worth of speakers. An external amp will give you worlds better performance. The good news is, the interior volume of these cars is small enough that you don't need mega-wattage to make them loud and accurate. I'm only running about 200 watts, but I've got fairly efficient speakers (Infinity). Buy higher quality small amps with at least 3db of headroom rather than a low-quality megawatt amp for the same money. Secondly, use bass-blocking capacitors for the front speakers and you'll be very glad you did. Your music will be MUCH clearer when you're not trying to push low frequencies through small front speakers. Thirdly (yeah, I know I said "two things", but i lied. ) the best advice I ever got in car stereo was to buy simple equipment from a high end company rather than complicated stereos from second-line manufacturers. You will have fewer bells and whistles to impress the geeks, but it will be sturdier and sound much better. I may get tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but avoid Pioneer, Aiwa, Rockford, JVC etc. in favor of a more basic Alpine, Eclipse, and (IMHO) Kenwood's Excelon line. I'm glad you're reconsidering the subwoofer. Mine is strapped down in the back and wired in with quick-disconnects so it's easily removed when cargo space is needed. It's small enough to fit comfortably and not be boomy, but big enough to get the job done. It's being driven by a small 80 watt Alpine amp under the passenger seat. Just my .02... I could be wrong.

Close, but no bananna! The Maxima went to FWD in 84, not 94. Only the first generation (the 810) was RWD, according to Nissan.

Shame on me - Even though my mother drove one for ten years, I didn't know it was front wheel drive! I guess the suspension guys at Nissan really got it right, if the car's FWD nature wasn't immediately apparent! I'd still consider the car as a daily driver though, since it was never intended to be a hot-blooded sports car in the first place. It's power level is probably adequate as-is without the transplant. It was fun to think about, though. Thanks for joining me in the fun!

I was stuck in traffic behind a mid-90's Maxima the other day, and I started thinking about what great cars they were. My mom had one, and although it wasn't perfect, it was damned close. As I recall, it was a quiet, solid, and reliable chassis. It was even pretty peppy. 190 hp was nice, but 300 would be better. Has anyone heard about someone putting a twin turbo engine in one? Just curious...

Believe it or not, I've seen that monkey in real life at a rodeo. I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to crap my pants.

John, I was about to dispute your claim that the second car is a "true" Scarab but I thought better of it. Instead, would you please educate me? I thought all the turnkey Scarabs had a dash plaque and the scarab emblems on the side panels? Since you could buy everything from just the engine mounts to an entire car from Scarab, what level of completeness qualifies you to call your car a "Scarab"? Is just purchasing the mounts from them enough? Or if they just do a part of the conversion? Or if they supply just the cosmetic pieces like the louvered hood? Personally, I hesitate to call anything a Scarab that wasn't either a complete, turnkey car or a car whose entire drivetrain was replaced by the Scarab company in their factory. IMHO, no dash plaque + no emblems = not a scarab. If Scarab afficianados disagree with me, I'm open to be educated!

Where did the 2+2 comment come from? His ain't one, yours ain't one, nobody posting so far has one or has commented on one... Not that I like them, but I'm just curious why you mentioned it? Perhaps you hate them so much that it just pops up in idle conversation? If yours is genuine Scarab, I'd stick with yours. His body and paint are in fantastic condition, but it's not a "Scarab" car. He's got scarab PARTS (louvered hood, conversion kit, etc.) but it isn't a factory conversion car. Scott (Yes, I dislike 2+2 S30's, too!)

I always liked the late 70's Saab 99. It was just so cute. Kinda looked like a cartoon car. I wonder if you could stuff a modern engine into one of 'em...