SuperPickle

Me: "Jim!" Jim: "What?" Me: "We're going to Japan" Jim: "What!? Why?" *shows him the clip* Jim: "Alright, let's go"

Vid 1: That Camaro looked like it was set loose, which means slower going into corners, but accelerating out of them sooner. Either that or that damnable Datsun that wouldn't leave his reaview mirror! Vid 2: Behold, the even longer-term effects of marijuana!

Heya, Let me say first-off that Hybridz has become something of a second home for me. The members here are very informative, and always go that extra mile as far as being helpful. I consider myself very fortunate to have come across HybridZ before encountering the howling brutes of zcar.com. That said, on to the point of this thread. I've read the site rules, and then read them a again, and although I don't believe this thread is in direct violation of said rules, I admit I may be toeing the line, so-to-speak. The reason I'm writing this is to see if any member's company is looking for an IT professional. Waiting for a computer program to pluck my resume, have someone give it a cursory glance, feign interest in me, drag me along, only to drop me is beginning to be very tiresome. Add to this that I've been living in my mother's basement since December, which exacerbates things a bit. I got the idea from Airjockie's thread (which is an awesome thing to do, BTW) and thought I might try my (dwindling) luck here. Here there are people, sharing knowledge and helping others across many generational and financial barriers, all because of at least one common hobby. It is with these people that I would be proud to have as associates. If I have'nt overstepped my bounds, you can either PM me, or email me at ryan_picklesimer@hotmail.com Thank you all, -Ryan

That's okay. If you want something really messed up in google earth, zoom in on the NE corner of the middle lake in Iraq. Only in the past few months have you not been able to view it in such detail as to see me smoking outside of my "shop" hangar. I'm sorry if I stole the topic. Mods, feel free to delete!

aw maaan... I haven't even started mine, yet...

BOO Colts! BOO!!

It's almost 7 now...

And some people call us wierd...

Hey, man! I just wanted you to know that your videoes are what finall convinced me to spend my travel claim on a 280z! Darius' videos got my attention, but your's are what decided it. Now, all I need are sponsors

I paid $3,200 for a 77 280z last August. It was running well enough, but with the prices you guys are throwing out there, I'm guessing I got hosed.

I was just putting that out there. My sense of humor's a bit dry, and my writing tends to be rushed. Believe me, I am a far cry from perfection. Hell, stability's above my head right now! BTW, has anyone thought of inviting him over here? I didn't read the entire thread over there.

Is how we're putting them down to seperate ourselves from them to stand as their superior. But yeah, they're jerks.

Sorry I haven't replied recently. I Just got in to Boston early yesterday morning, and have been busy setting up shop, so-to-speak. I changed out the fuel filter right before I left, and I plan on changing out the fuel pump once I've had a job for a bit. So far I think I've only treated the symptoms, but I'm probably going to end up doing an overhaul next spring. Until then, I'll probably just drive it until it doesn't wanna drive anymore...

When I took out the spark plugs earlier, five of them looked like the one I posted before. The one in the attached pictures below is the plug closest to the front of the car. My question is what signifigance that may have. The pictures were taken after my uncle chipped at it for a bit. It was completely "clogged", and looked like a burnt lump. I printed out this thread so I can go looking for the water temp sender/sensor in the morning (when it stops raining).

Would ya look at this thing!? I've never had a car do this before, but considering all of the circumstances, it makes perfect sense.

Would ya look at this thing!?

I'll go check it now.

Well, now it's not saying that I put up a post, maybe this'll fix it.

[Edit] Sorry but I jump around a lot and the writing looks a bit rushed. Please bear with me.[/Edit] Well, here's the whole story. If you smoke, now's the time. About a month ago, I was on my way to work in a cabinet shop in Fort Worth, Texas. I was running a bit late, so I was laying on her a bit. I passed a bank with a clock on it, and realized I had plenty of time, so I slowed down. Well, this Civic comes up and does the whole "Race-me" bit, and after a while I give in and leave his sorry @$$ behind. Well, after I calmed down again with the speeding I noticed that the car had an entirely new sound. The same sound that my old Buick had when the exhaust cracked in half. I checked the exhaust, and at the flange gasket between the header and the front exhaust tube I felt air coming out. *Whew* I thought, and bought the gasket. Now, you should know that after I got out of the Marines, all of the jobs I had lined up dried up. So I left California for Texas to pursue a career with Lockheed Martin. Once I got there, however, they didn't even want to return my calls anymore. Thanks. Now I'm in Texas, don't know anyone, and had no job prospects (I'm an IT guy). So basically I was flat broke. Eight bucks an hour was barely enough to pay rent, let alone food and smokes. I actually had to go a few days with no food. So, a car problem is not what I needed at the time. But I digress. I had the gasket, but I didn't have the tools or the time to change it out. The engine backfired now and then, and there was a general loss of power. Fairly consistent with an exhaust leak, I thought. Well, My roomate decided he wasn't going to be able to cover his half of the rent. Just like that, I'm homeless. So I packed up my stuff and drove off to Boston by way of Virginia, where I have cousins. 200 bucks should've been more than enough to get me all of the way, but when I showed up at my Uncle's house, I had 20 bucks left. Not good. I stayed for two weeks to help build his new shed, and in turn he paid me decent wages (say, 13-15 dollars an hour). Also, he let me use his tools. Now we're in business. I fixed the leak, but still had a lot of issues. So, I looked under the hood again (not sure what I was looking for, truth-be-told) and noticed a vacuum tube that got disconnected somehow. Score, I thought, maybe this was the problem the whole time. The Battery must've pulled it out when it was loose. I found where it went to and plugged it back in and drove it around. There was a slight improvement (possibly only imagined). So I packed my stuff up, said my goodbyes and thank-you's and headed out. I made it five blocks. When I hit the gas, the car hesitates. I press it more, the car damn near stalls. It backfires like crazy. Absolutely no power. Now, some other stuff that may have caused this is that the car burns oil. A lot of it. I'm thinking worn piston rings. I put in thick oil 20w-50, and added some Lucas to it for good measure. Someone stole my gas cap at a club on Halloween. More than one person (some mechanics) told me that a bad o2 sensor would account for a lot of my car problems, so I got one. Then I read my Chilton's to make sure I knew how to put it in. I looked for hours. My nucle looked. The dog even gave it a once-over. I couldn't find where I was supposed to put the damned thing. That's why I started this thread. I'm poor, homeless, unemployed, and now my car's all messed up. The first three things are ones I can take care of on my own, but the fourth I need help with. The car has trouble starting up, which could be because of the thick oil and colder weather. It hesitates pretty bad at both cold and normal operating temperatures. It backfires like crazy and has almost no power. Also, it does this when in neutral as well as when it's under load.

could someone please take a picture and point to the thing? I'm sorry if I sound frustrated, it's just that my car insurance runs out at midnight, and I'm literally just waiting to get on the road to Boston. I looked again, sweetleaf, I even felt around, but I don't know what the hell I'm looking at with this car yet.

...and a not-so-close-up

here's a close-up

That's really wierd, because I've been staring at it for helf of the day, and I can't see it. I'll go look again right after I post this, and I'll try to get a picture of the area too, just in case it's like looking for the 'remote control'.

It's a 1977 280z california model (basically, just more emissions stuff)

Yes, I've searched, but I guess the knowledge is so well known that it's just assumed everyone knows where it is. I know that it's on the exhaust manifold, but where? There are a few 'doo-hickies' that it could be hidden inside, but I need it for a trip tonight, so I can't just start ripping things apart. PLEASE spell it out for me, as I'm a n00b.