KayakTN

Black Dragon

johnc is right. I replaced the plugs on my car and the difference was night and day. They were pretty wore out.

hah. This isn't car-related, but I had a neighbor who's pet snake got loose and crawled into the house's AC ducts. It got stuck somewhere in the basement and died in the middle of summer. The smell was awful; nothing could cover it up.

I found the same problem with my car (no dead rodents, though). I don't suppose anyone sells a wheel well/firewall patch?

I have a friend in Cairns. He could give you some beer and whiskey brewing tips.

My aunt and uncle retired from the service; it's a nice bonus if you can get it. Most of the people I've met that retired after 20 years were able to move into other, successful careers. The guy I bought my Z from was a retired USAF mechanic and had run a shop for over a decade. Must have paid pretty well. The guy had a hell of a house in a sweet neighborhood. I have a cousin that's a Brigadier Gen; she's in for life.

I made the mistake of hitching my wagon to Ford Motor Company. I lasted 2 years until I was RIF'ed. I'd think twice before working for the City of Los Angeles. If you have military service, any Federal employment is included when considering your VA benefits or any kind of retirement pension. Had a friend that did 8 years as an MP in the Marine Corps... he desperately wanted to get hired by the gov't so he could get his 20 years.

CA has serious budget issues right now; you'd be lucky to get a paycheck. You'd probably get an IOU instead. The federal govt is one of the few sectors that is actually hiring. I had a co-worker get hired by the Border Patrol a couple years ago while I've bounced from one IT project to another.

The maintenance is easy; removing the power steering pump to swap the alternator was less so. I used to see these cars all over the road when I was in high school. Now, you don't see very many of them. I passed a yellow s30 near where I work the other week.

I picked up a 1982 N/A 2+2 5-speed a couple months ago. Bought it after looking at pages and pages of ads for Beemers that just looked like too much trouble. I figure if I'm going to go through the hassle of owning a car, it might as well be something with a little character. Picked it up from a retired USAF mechanic/shop owner that restores Z's as a hobby. He had the Antique tags put on it; I've registered it for daily driving since then. It needs a new transmission, but its drivable in it's current condition until I can schedule time for it to be in the shop. I think I'll wait for the weather to warm up a bit first. In the meantime, I'm reparing things as I find them... valve seals, shorted light sockets, injector gaskets. The small stuff. The clearcoat is trashed, but the paint underneath is in fair condition. The interior not in horrible shape for a car with 25-year-old leather seats. (thumbnails... click to embiggen) I'm fortunate to have a dedicated Datsun/Nissan shop in my humble city. I also own a 1981 Honda CB750 Custom with less than 20,000 miles that I picked up over the winter that has yet to be put on the road. That's an entirely different can of worms.