SSflyer Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Wow! Way more responses than I expected. I really do love my Z, after literally thousands of hours and big bucks put into restoring it, I'd hate to get rid of it, but I an so sick of hassling with the smog stuff. Last year was the first year it was registered and I had the car to four or five different shops trying to find out why it wouldn't pass, and I'm just not feeling it about having to do that again. The car does have cats and is otherwise AZ street legal, so there's not much to do about improving how it's running other than cleaning every sensor and cheating a little on the idle speed. I'm sure this will all get resolved, but it's so frustrating to have this same problem again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryb Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Yes I get tired of my 71...Ive been building and rebuilding for 16 years. Brakes 3 times Engine 3 times Suspension...I forget howm many changes Interior all sorts of stuff over and over One new fender One replaced front bummper countless number of parts cars and special deals etc etc etc . . . . But people keep coming out with new cool stuff and ideas and I cant help myself.....ARGH...I gotta go down to the garage and work on her! Perhaps therapy will help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_furious Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I wanted to light mine on fire and walk away this past weekend. ...but then aux and I finished the swap. Now I'm tempted to go on a drive with no destination! The exhaust itself makes me wish I was driving somewhere instead of sitting around. I've got long-term plans for the car that may never see the light of day. I'm hoping at some point I'll be able to step back and say to myself, 'Okay, NOW I'm done.' It probably won't come, though. I'm just hoping I run out of money before I run out of talent and wrap the car around something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHO-Z Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 If this is not your daily driver, get the collector car insurance and go license it, you do not need to pass the emissions test in AZ. There is a post on the Desert Z Club web site that a guy with late model 300ZX that did this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Problem is for me, realistically, if I go out and spend 25k on a supra or evo I will still funnel money into it like mad. Thats just how it goes for me. I contemplated selling my Z a lot of times before it actually got parted out. It was not a feasible car as a daily. It sat way too much. My 240sx? I could not have done better. I get frustrated sometimes, but with no car payment and big HP on tap whats NOT to like? I had a guy over the other night to help him troubleshoot his RB swap. He walked in the garage and said "This must be the cleanest S14 in WI". Stuff like that keeps things in perspective. Hang in there, your just a bit burnt out. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Zone Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Once they passed that law here I now insure a 70 Chevelle, 2- 75 280's and a 350 with collector insurance since the truck remains my daily driver. If you are questioing this route because of what you have "heard", don't. Haggerty was more than willing to work with me on value and mileage per year. The only stipulation was that I had another car insured as my daily driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 The trouble with hobby cars is that the budget has so many uncertainties! When you buy a new performance car, you take the huge hit in depreciation up front, but thereafter the costs level off, unless it is a lemon. With hobby cars, you pay for performance parts – but then the parts break, or don’t fit, or are installed incorrectly, or do not perform synergistically together. So you end up paying for the same thing over and over again. I mean, why should I spend $50 on yet another set of gaskets, when for all that I know, replacing the gaskets will only reveal another $300 problem, followed by a $800 problem, and so forth? It’s dumb to throw good money after bad, even if the amount involved is small! What keeps me glued to my Z, and avoiding purchases like a Z06 or GTR or whatnot, is the large weight and overbearing complexity of modern cars. I don’t care if the thing has 600 hp off the showroom floor; if it weighs 3800 lbs, I don’t want it! A performance car should weigh well under 3000 lbs and should have an electrical system with no more than a dozen fuses. Probably the best way to go is to buy other people’s completed projects at a discount. Right now the “fastest street car in America†(7-second Camaro) is for sale for $90K on racingjunk.com. Now that’s a deal! If I weren’t smarting from all those stock market losses in the past 6 months, I’d seriously consider spending the cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I have considered it quite a few times over the last six months as it has sat needing a new computer. I have too many other expenses at the moment to allow me to fork out for the computer, and I know it will just snowball from there. Computer will turn into gearbox, which will turn into suspension, which will turn into interior, which will turn into who knows what (seam welded, mmm). Before I know it the few thousand for the computer will be 20k for everything. And yet it still wont handle like a lotus exige. Oh well, at least it still looks incredible and when I recall driving it, I do remember a huge smile on my face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcufrogz76 Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Im only 31, and have owned 20 some odd Z cars since I was 15...not all running drivers of course, but none the less... all have been a-hole cars to deal with. The 77 turbo Im driving now is the longest time owned Z car Ive ever had.. Ive blown 3 motors, 2 5 speeds and slew of other smaller parts in it... it makes me crazy! Its unpredictable.. one day its sputtering, popping and doing dumb stuff in front of hot girls the next day its boiling the tires through 3rd gear wasting a Mustang.. and for some weird reason no other car, 16 years later, feels like a Z does.. Ive tried for 16 years to describe why Im stuck on a car that makes people think Im poor...lol Its like someone on one of these forums said "Z Cars = Crack"...lol I gave up explaining it to others, and a lot more time spent on boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 I think I know why your car sputters and runs bad when you're in front of hot girls. She's jealous of you looking at them. And why does she smoke mustangs? To show you what SHE can do hahaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogriz91 Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Every time I put some money into it to upgrade or improve the performance something else will break. It isn't a DD anymore but I do get tired of it since I've got competing interests for money. Unfortunately, I've had one for so long and I want something outside of the family experience to be my mid-life crisis lifeboat that I hang on to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryb Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 DITTO! I want something outside of the family experience to be my mid-life crisis lifeboat that I hang on to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudeboy Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 gogriz91, hit it for me as well !!!! Also, It has come down to time and some times the priorities of money. Right when I am getting ready to spend money on the big stuff (fun stuff !!! ie brakes, tires, wheels ......etc) The house will need a repair, my wife's car needs repair !!!! let me not forget !! Summer camp for kids !!. I just had minimal surgery to my foot, so now I am hobbling !!! It is not my car I get sick of, just a little aggravated with life's interruptions, but that is life and I get over it. I have to disagree in one area, if you are lucky enough and find a deal on another toy (if married, the wife allows you to do such things) you spend time with the other toy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcufrogz76 Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Every time I put some money into it to upgrade or improve the performance something else will break. gogriz91, you hit the nail right on the head there!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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