Jon 74 260Z

Just in case another 260z owner has a problem with their wipers and this thread shows up in their search, I thought I would zombie-post and pass along the following information that I found useful: The wiring diagram in the FSM is WRONG!!! Page BE-67 of the FSM shows the wiring for the windshield wipers and this diagram shows the LR wire (blue with red stripe) coming from the fuse block, connecting to a yellow wire (which connects to the intermittent amp and connector C6) -- this is incorrect! The LR wire from the fuse block actually connects to the LR wire of the intermittent amp and the LR wire of connector C7. (You don't know how many swear words it took to discover this error...) btw, the Haynes manual shows a wiring diagram of the entire car on page 170 and it shows the correct connection of this wire. (I think that the Haynes diagram was pulled from the FSM but I couldn't find exactly where it was in the FSM...

You have a flywheel that weighs the better part of 400 lbs????

A quick update: Last Thursday, I spent 43:57 on hold (according to the timer on Skype) with the Vehicle Collections Department of the Franchise Tax Board of the State of California. (Who would have ever thought such a governmental agency could actually exist?) I surprised Yolanda Agent 286 by saying I had a Report of Deposit of Fees for the vehicle in question and she got a little snippy. After refusing to let me speak to her supervisor since she didn't have the authority to refund the bank levy, she assured me her supervisor could and would make an international call to talk with me. I'm still waiting for that call.... But I was surprised on Friday! There was a mysterious deposit in my account for the exact same amount of the fees -- I truly was not expecting that... At this point, I don't know if I'm going to pursue getting the bank levy refunded. I hate having "to donate" more money because of the Franchise Tax Board, but there might be better things I can do with my time... Thanks for all of your advice and/or support.

Randy – I assume there are legal ways for someone to link a car with a matching name and address to a bank account. (btw, the car is in my wife’s name, the check I used to pay the registration was for an account in my name only and the levied account was our joint account.) I’m not bothered too much by the fact the DMV “found†my account – I’m bothered by the fact that they were able to seize assets so quickly and with so little prior notice. Ctc – the vehicle failed smog so I put it back into storage and moved back to Brasil. (Uhhh…, the link between those three events is NOT as direct as it might appear in that sentence!) Last night, the bank emailed me a copy of the levy notice, which was dated 7 weeks after the fees were paid (by which time I was in another hemisphere). Oh, the letter was sent regular US mail so apparently, it only takes one weeks to seize assets and NO “delivery confirmation†is required. Tony – the problem with the Nevada option is the insurance. Cops can and will impound a car on the spot if an out-of-state car has CA insurance. Sure, I could also get insurance in NV but I’m not comfortable going down the very easy rout of fooling the insurance company into issuing insurance in one state when a car is actually being used in another. I feel that once you lie to an insurance company, you can never complain about how much the premiums are. I’m fairly certain that the fees will be refunded – I’m slightly less confident that they will cover the bank fees involved….

Background: In March of 2011, the missus and I moved from San Jose to São Paulo and we put some vehicles into storage (including the S30). Coincidentally, the registration for “my†cars was due in March so I sent some $18 checks to the DMV for their non-op registrations. The registration for “her†car wasn’t due until October so nothing needed to be done but I did cancel the insurance during a layover on our way to Brasil. Fast forward to July of this year. We take some much needed R&R back in CA but since I’m too cheap to rent a car for a couple of weeks, the very first activity of our vacation is to visit the DMV to get the registration sorted on her car. Now, you might be expecting a horrible tale of bureaucratic incompetence BUT... the opposite happened. The clerk I dealt with was actually very helpful. I showed up with my proof of insurance, my passport proving that I was out of the country the entire time since the registration expired, my boarding passes showing that I arrived the previous night and my checkbook open, ready to pay the current year’s registration. I explained that mail forwarding to Brasil is unreliable and thus, I didn’t receive any renewal notices, etc etc. He helped me complete the appropriate form, made copies of my documentation and got approval from his supervisor to waive the penalties and fees for missing the registration for the past two years. Strange as it may seem, a DMV employee applied common sense to a situation and provided good customer service. However, I wasn’t able to leave the DMV with current tags because (a) I needed to pass smog (this was expected) and ( I had to pay a $14 fee to the “Financial Responsibility Office†because there was a period of time that the registration was valid but the vehicle did not have insurance. This was unexpected.... It is also pretty ridiculous but it isn’t worth my time to rant about it. The important thing to remember is that I left the DMV with a piece of paper saying that all the registration fees were paid. And I also left with a couple of One Day Use permits so I could get it smogged and this is where the story gets interesting! Yesterday, I viewed my checking account on-line and noticed some unusual withdrawals. I called the branch manager of my bank and after some gentle persuasion, I managed to find out how these charges came about: The DMV put a levy on my accounts to collect $177 worth of fees on my wife’s car! Furthermore, the bank charges me another $100 for this “service.†(If there are any potential deadbeats reading this, take note. It gets expensive when you don’t pay your debts and you force people to collect by attaching bank accounts.) Let me emphasize something: I received ABSOLUTELY ZERO notification about this. No process servers, no registered letters, no NOTHING! The DMV used the legal system to forcibly take money from me without my prior knowledge. You can call me a backwoods libertarian if you want to but this type of situation scares me, and I think it ought to scare others. The fact that the DMV is wrong about this (and I have the documentation to prove this) not only adds insult to injury, it makes me question why I would ever want to voluntarily live with a gubmint like that... You may be thinking, “So he’s out almost three hundred bucks. Sucks, but in the scope of a lifetime, it ain’t so much...†Well, remember this: I’m not making dollars now; my salary is in Brazilian currency. Would you write-off six weeks or two months of your salary without a second thought? Because that’s pretty close to what this amount represents to me of my US income... All good advice in life comes from car-related internet message boards. So I’m throwing my situation into hybridZ’s capable hands. What should I do? Any suggestions as to how to resolve this problem are invited and welcomed. All I know for sure right now is that the money is gone and I don’t have a clue as to what to do next....

I'll tell you my biggest pet peeve when interviewing candidates: I will review their resume, looking for the list of projects or a list of relevant coursework. And I will ask them about about the second (or third) item on this list (intentionally skipping over the first item listed). You would NOT believe how many times I've heard, "Well, I really don't remember much about that project -- it was last semester." I then respond with, "Oh, I see.... What you have just told me is that I am going to waste my time teaching and training you so that you can be productive and make money for the company and six months later, I am going to have to do it all over again because you just told me you are incapable of retaining information." I then start pimp-slapping them until they start crying for mercy and forgiveness for wasting my time with their interview. (OK, maybe I don't do all of the things in the preceding paragraph... But if I don't, it's only because I'll waste more of my time with another lecture from the HR weenies and the corporate lawyer about "appropriate interviewing techniques" and other BS.) Hearing the "it was last semester" line is something that I have heard waaaaaaay too often and if you give me more supporting evidence that I'm experiencing the worst generation to enter the workplace, well....., it doesn't bode well for your hiring prospects. Two other quick interview tips that generally aren't mentioned: First, be humble. All I know for certain about the fact that you have a degree is that you are good at taking written exams. This may or may not imply that you have the ability to truly learn a concept, and it may or may not imply that you will be able to justify your future salary. In my industry, it takes 9 to 12 months before a new college graduate begins to make a measurable contribution. By asking for a job, you are asking your employer to make a long term investment in you and every new hire can be seen as a potential wrongful termination lawsuit. Don't be so arrogant and tell me your certified book-smarts are going to straighten out all the company's problems and double the stock price in the next month... A good dose of humbleness can be seen as confidence and wisdom. Secondly, saying "I don't know the answer to that" is a correct answer and one that isn't used nearly enough during technical interviews. I had one candidate say, "I don't really know that concept very well because it was covered at the end of the semester and the professor basically 'skipped over' that topic. I know I should know more about it but when I read the textbook, the authors didn't go into enough detail." Bingo -- correct answer! (The candidate was hired and did well for the company, btw.) Engineering is as much "knowing what you don't know" as it is "what you know." The field is too vast to know everything -- there is no shame in saying "I don't know." The important thing to do when faced with an interview problem that you don't know the answer to is this: Use the fundamentals that you do know to start analyzing the problem.

When I read that, I didn't know whether to start hating you a little bit out of jealousy or to start asking you for a job. "My strengths? Well, I love working with teams of people and holding interdepartmental meetings to build synergy from our core competencies. I also love writing mission statements, Gantt charts and cross-functional, balanced-matrix org charts for dynamic-resource allocation. My biggest weakness is that I really like to do a super job so I might work overtime on occasion to see that the task gets almost completed." Oh, and I'm going to guess "Fallng Down" for the movie quote, but I'm not sure...

Good luck with the job search and keep us posted on what happens. TBone's advice about lateral moves within a company to further your career is absolutely golden. Don't be afraid to relocate too! IMO, you should be willing to live in a different part of the country (or the world, for that matter) for a while...

Disclaimer: I'm a EE, not an AE, so you can decide how much of what I say is applicable to your situation... 1) Not many mechanics are going to be willing to take you "under their wing." You are only going to be there for 2-3 months -- not much of a potential ROI for them. 2) Do not mention your parents divorce in any job interview, either with an internship or at a mechanic. That type of info might get you a sympathetic "helping hand" on an internet car forum but it will do you zero good in an interview. 3) I'm concerned about your view of the lab as punishment. As a point of reference, if you told me that during an interview, I would quickly terminate the interview and your hiring prospects just became less than epsilon. New college grads I hire are generally surprised by the amount of time they spend in the lab (especially when considering how little of their academic courses were lab related) and every good enginner that I respect is excellent in the lab. In my ever-so-humble opinion, I just don't understand how an engineer can say that they don't want to work in the lab -- to me, it's like saying you want to learn how to work on cars but you don't want to spend time in the garage... 4) While nobody wants to do boring grunt work all day, I would suggest looking at things from your (potential) employer's perspective: If you can't design the best damn bolt for a seat in a 747 that you are capable of designing, why the f__k would I ever trust you to design a plane/rocket? 5) Yes, career-related internships are always preferable but SOME type of work experience is better than nothing. (Just be prepared to tell me what you learned when you worked at Pep Boys.) 6) I have had candidates tell me that they "enjoy working with people" or that they "are good with working with people." And I have laughed at every single one of them. I'm not saying I have never hired a self-advertised "people person" but I do laugh at them. When I hear a candidate talk about their people skills, I tend to think that they are trying to compensate for a lack of their technical knowledge. I hire engineers to provide technical solutions, not to build a co-worker's self esteem. 7) And one last thing (assuming that I haven't pissed you off and you're still reading): There is a term for this situation and it is called "life."

Uh...., isn't this why physically attractive significant others are allowed into our Z cars? To be our "cupholders?"

I don't know how meaningful this will be since I haven't met you but... I hope you can remind yourself that you did give him a good life. CJ was a winner of the Canine Lottery when you entered his life.

To the OP: First you write, "In fact, I'm working with a $40k total budget." Then, in your next post, you said, "Not that I have this kind of money, but if you're spending $50k-$80k on a project 240z..." Which is it? Do you have the money or don't you?? (Or is that 10k delta a deal-breaker?) Oh wait, nevermind. You're 23 years old -- I've lost interest in any potential answer you might have to this question. To johnc: "the 550s actually don't ride that well" Uhhhh....., doesn't it matter if the "Sport Mode" is set on the suspension setting?

Disclaimer: I am necro-posting (for the 2nd time!) because I haven`t been able to find my answer in the "standard search functions." I can say without a doubt that there are many experienced people who will ***** about your placement of the seatbelts with your aftermarket harness bars. It`s not for me to validify if their comments are legit or not, but simply to say that they make every potential engineering argument in favor of you changinng the angle of your seat bets and of the the seat itself. And is the original supporting data for spinal compression injuries valid??? That is for you to decide. For myself, I will look at the potential angle between the spinal oolumn and the seat belt, including the seatbelt routing through the seat itself, before making any final descisions.... but then again, what do I know? But you know....., I was originally searching to see if the Corbeau Forza W (with its 20" waist width and 24" shoulder width would fit comfortably in an S30) car... Or should I stick with the Clubman seats???

I vote for the Golf Mk2 as well. Second choice would be from an E21 BMW (though I've never seen that upholstery before...).

I'm having a hard time visualizing your set up with jackstands, box frames and wooden platforms but in one sense, it doesn't matter: All of your data is based 100% that the car is level. IF your car was 2 degrees off from horizontal when you took your measurements, you would be saying that everything was dead-on balls accurate... In my opinion, just because it is "digital" doesn't guarantee it is accurate. If I were you, I would verify that this digital level is truly able to differentiate say, 0.5 degrees at very small angles. But that's just me...