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Biographies

Started by zelson · Jan 26, 2003 · 26postsphpBB 2002–04

zelsonJan 26, 2003, 11:26 pm · #1

I did this to learn a little more about my fellow Nissan Enthusiasts and to let you know a little more about me if you really wanted to know:

I am a Native to Denver Colorado and have lived here all my life. In high School the first wave of my Automotive bug bit me I had a 79 Ford Mustang that only survived 3 months it was taken out while parked on the side of the road by a drunk Driver. That was Replaced by a 79 VW Rabbit which all in all was not a bad car but just lacked the response I wanted that was replaced by a 71 Datsun 110 LB I fell in love with that car even though it didn't have a lot of power few cars could touch it for the nimle turn on a dime Performance it offered. I went to the VOTECH school that Jefferson County had for Auto Mechanics. Which was cool since after your first year you could bring your car in and work on it. Fuel injection was still in it's infancy at that point in time (even though Bosch had been doing it for years) most of the Major Manufacturers were just starting to offer it on their cars. But Specialized in fuel Delivery since it was a sounty run scool we had very few live exaples of this but learned what I could. Which brought me to my first 200sx it was a yellow 1979. Two years Later I enlisted in the Marine Corps. and lost most of my auto mobile enthusiam for a few years being as we could not own cars where I was stationed. A few years later out of the Corps. I was really looking for what came easy I enrolled in ITT for my EET once I graduated I bought a 1993 ford probe GT with a V6 this was a very good handling car but just lacked the feel of a true Sports Car Like the two Nissans I had. At this point I was working in computers and needed something with a little more space I purchased a 98 Ford Ranger which I still have. I wanted a project car so After some looking I purchased 2 Nissan Sentra SE-R's one with a blown Motor and one that was a theft Recovery I worked on mating the 2 to get a running car this was interesting with a one car Garage let me tell you. Once I Had it running I fell in love it was quick had a pretty good suspension for a front wheel drive and was just wicked quick. But it still lacked something like the feel of passion that my first Datsun Had the more I thought about it the more I realized it was the rear wheel drive. So I purchased a 1976 Mercury Capri and if you can Believe it drove it back to Denver the car had almost 200,000 miles on it and really did not car for the climb over the mountains but it made it home. Drove it for the next year and decided it just needed too much almost all the suspension needs to be reworked needs paint a rebuild on the engine etc... So now I am here I looked at 240sx's but just don't want to spend that much on a car that ultimately I want to put a better engine in so I have decided much to the credit of this board and it's knowledgable and helpful members to go with a 200sx.

The above bio is missing a few cars but the ones that really contributed to my love and desire for sports cars are listed.

bartc_jJan 29, 2003, 8:48 am · #2

Bart Cepek 21/m

I am a native of Boise, Idaho for the past 12 years but am originally from Katowice Poland. Since I moved here from Poland I have always been tinkering with anything mechanical and have always helped my dad fix our cars since going to a shop was way to expensive...My first car was a flat four subaru gl hatch...It was a fun little car that i had to replace the motor in since my sister ran it without oil...after this car i bought my 200....From the first time i saw it up for sale i fell in love with it...it came with the ca18et that i really didnt know alot about...especially the turbo sytem. after hours apone hours of reading info on turbochargers i began to get a really good graspe on it. It really wasnt until my piston rings gave way last april that i really got to know that engine very well. Over that following summer i replaced it with a 35000mile jap engine, but before doing so i tore every little piece off the old engine to see exactly where every thing was..then i put in my newer engine with some nice mods in it....i really cant say that i know as much as many people here who have had alot of experiance with many cars but what i bring to the table is a tanasity that what other people may not be able to fix or make i can...ever since i have had this car i have been designing parts for it, since the aftermarket world doesnt cater to us, and slowly making them into actual parts..its a slow process since getting access to certain tools isnt always easy and the fact that im going to colloge for a mechanical engineering degree and also working almost full time.

What i really want to contribute to this place the most is that oppurtunity for you guys to have access to performance parts that just arent offed to us, the knowldge i have gained on the ca18et, and my ability to take a design from paper to reality.
_________________
bart
'86 INTERCOOLED Turbo
1/4 mile: 14.964 @93.02mph
CEO of:
"Barts Parts Incorporated"
http://geocities.com/bartc_j
http://members.cardomain.com/bartc_2

DanJan 29, 2003, 9:32 am · #3

So, who's the guy that sits there for hours and does all the html and php code?

Dan Aho. Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, population 200,000 situated in some of the flattest, most boring land in the world. Most common thing heard as people drive through Saskatchewan "Dear lord, when will this road end!'. icon_wink.gif I've been a computer geek most of my life and knew absolutely nothing about cars, until I turned 16. I got my first job at the local movie theatre, but had no way of getting there. I started car hunting, researching brands, types, engine sizes, horsepower, etc. on the internet to find the best car for me. I was dead set on finding an 85 300ZX, when my dad said "Hey, there's an 87 200SX Turbo just down the street for sale." I hadn't even heard about these cars before, but I gave it a shot. The car handled way better than the 300's I test drove, felt more nible, had a higher quality interior, and the price was right. So I took all the money I had saved from my paper route and bought the little red sports car.
posted imageHad some great times in it, but the winter traction was pretty scary for someone learning how to drive, and then the turbo blew heading to a New Years Eve party.

Now, because I didn't know anything about cars, I had to take the car to the dealership to get fixed. The total bill came to $1100, which my dad had to pay for, and just seeing the look in his eyes pulling out that wallet made me realize I had to learn everything there was to learn about cars and how to fix them myself so this wouldn't happen again.

My dad said "Sell the 200 and get yourself something more reliable and with good winter traction." Did some more research, came up with a car called the Eagle Talon TSi AWD. Test drove a few, and the handling and tightness of the body was beyond any car I had ever been in. We found a one-owner car in Northern Sask, a black/silver '91 TSi AWD, and bought it immediately.
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I had done a ton of research on car repair & tuning by this point, and wanted to try them out. By upping the boost, installing a K&N, routing a boost gauge, etc. I learned a lot about the car. That year, me and a guy with a black 97 TSi AWD started SaskDSM (http://sask.dsm.org). The summer following, I visited a drag racing track for the first time ever. I actually found an old video of me racing for the very first time:
http://www.techmonkeys.org/saskdsm/previous_years/kev%20vs%20dan.avi
The car was completely stock, except for it running 14psi.

But playing with the boost controller and not having the fuel to back it up, I think I may have wrecked the compression on some of the cylinders, the tranny started grinding badly, then the transfer case blew up one winter day. It was time to dump it and run. I sold the car for what I paid for it. icon_wink.gif

To replace it, I drove to Calgary and picked up a fellow ClubDSM'ers 92 TSi AWD.
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This thing turned out to be the biggest lemon of all. I put at least $5500 of work into this car over the years, and it's still got problems. I installed a JDM engine into it all by myself, which is a pretty big accomplishment coming from someone who had never opened a hood in his life 4 years earlier.
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But it didn't matter, the car is seriously cursed. I might have to call an exorcist soon because it's definitely possessed by the devil.

My plan was to sell the Talon asap, buy a sportbike and then buy a 200SX again for my daily driver because I missed my 87 Turbo so much. I searched and searched, but CA20's were the only thing available. That's when I found the 87 200SX SE on Ebay. Two weeks later I had picked it up and had it in my driveway.
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So now, here I sit with a shitty Talon, a 200SX that only likes dry pavement, and more hands-on knowledge about cars than most Quik Lube mechanics could dream of. All things considered, I think I'm doing pretty good. 2thumbs.gif

Mr.200Jan 29, 2003, 12:35 pm · #4

Wow ...
Uhmm ... Matthew Lamperd 24.
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I live in Toronto Canada, the entertainment and crime hub of Canada. When I was 16, I started a landscaping business with a friend. We were using his Dad's Pontiac 6000 to tow our mowers. Well, I decided it was time to buy a car for the business. After searching and searching, I started noticing the older the car, the cheaper it was. I found a 1963 Pontiac Acadian (Chevy II to the American folk). It was a straight 6 with a 3 on the tree. I was way over my head, it needed body work, frame work, steering, brakes etc. A friend's Dad took me in, and helped me get the car going. Then he helped me build a 383 stroker. I got that car into the 11s before selling it to go away to school. I've owned a lot of cars since then, almost all muscle cars.
My Dad had a 95 Maxima, that was the car I learned to drive in, and I'd always said, if I had to buy something "new" it would be a Nissan. A good friend of mine, and part of Team Toad (our car club/shop and anything else we're affiliated with) bought a $300 240sx after his 69 Fury became unroadworthy. He loves it, and has since hopped it up a bit, and done all the bodywork. When winter came, I pulled my Charger off the road, and started looking for a winter beater. Team Toad is venturing into Rally racing now, so I wanted something that I could drive for the winter, and then rally in the spring time. So I needed something small, light, 5 spd and RWD. I found an 87 200sx turbo for pretty cheap and snagged it. I found this site looking for info on the car, and after driving the car, and learning about the potential of the turbo engine decided to hang onto it, and fix it up, rather than use it as a "beater".
I'm a magazine editor in my day-to-day life, for American Health & Fitness. Team Toad (Thing Of Almost Doom) has always stood for going fast for as cheap as possible through understanding what packages work best. So far our stable:
1969 Charger 440 - runs 11s
1969 Fury III 383 - runs low 14s
1969 Barracuda Notchback 318 4spd - project
1969 Dodge Monaco 360 - cruiser
1971 Plymouth Satelite 360 - mid 14s
1972 Charger 413 - high 12s
1974 Challenger 360 - runs high 13s
1974 Challenger 360 - project
1987 200sx 1.8t - project
1989 240sx - runs high 14s
we've got bikes too
1967 Triumph Tiger 500cc Chopper
1983 VFR 750

Cars I've owned
1965 Ford Falcon
1963 Pontiac Acadian
1971 Buick Skylark
1971 AMC Javelin AMX
1965 Rambler Classic
1989 Mercury Grand Marquis icon_redface.gif
1972 Dodge Charger *
1968 Mercury Cougar *
1987 Nissan 200sx *
*still own

And since everyone else is posting pics, here's my baby
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1972 Dodge Charger 400 ci B (6.6L) Bored out to 413 ci, 10.5 to 1 pop up pistons, Max Wedge Stage III 518 closed chambered big valve heads. Ported + polished. Mopar .509 Purple Shaft Cam, 727 Auto with modified valvebody, 3,200 stall, 850 cfm Competition ThermoQuad, 3.55 Sure-grip, FJ6 Green with Black interior. Ran just shy of 400 RWHP on the dyno last summer, running on only 7 cylinders (header melted a plug wire).

posted image[/img]
_________________
1987 200sx CA18ETi
1972 Dodge Charger 413ci/6.6L
1968 Mercury Cougar 289ci/4.6L
Matt Lamperd
http://www.angelfire.com/freak/brutesquad/index.html

cls12vg30Jan 29, 2003, 1:24 pm · #5

I'm 26 and a Database Administrator. I grew up in Buffalo, NY. (And took frequent trips to Toronto, Mr. 200) Before that I was a Navy brat and lived all over the place, Florida, Spain, S. Carolina, and other places.
I was born and raised in a Mopar family on my Mom's side, my grandfather had a 74 Plymouth Fury Wagon when I was little, my uncle had a 73 Charger and then a 68 Roadrunner. For most of my young life my father drove a 78 Toyota Corolla, a great little car, after that he went through a progression of Mopars, starting with an 85 Duster, then an 88 LeBaron coupe, 92 LeBaron Sedan, 95 Dodge Intrepid, and now he drives a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. My mother has been driving Chrysler minivans since 1985, her current one is a 98 Town & Country.
For as long as I remember I loved cars. I remember "helping" my father under the hood of that Toyota when I was 5, and him trying to explain the basic principles of the internal combustion engine to a kindergartener. icon_lol.gif From the time I was 11 or 12 I could identify most any car on sight, and in high school I learned everything I didn't know already about keeping a high-mileage car running into eternity.

I learned to drive on my father's 88 LeBaron (a beautiful car, unfortunately it ran like crap). I bought my first car at the age of 16, a 211,000 mile 1982 Datsun 200SX hatchback. I paid $450. I learned to drive stick on it, and also learned how to drive a lightweight RWD car in a Buffalo winter with minimal risk of death. After a year and a half with the Datsun, a deal came along through a friend of my dad to buy an 88 Honda Accord hatchback, 141K, for $1500, so I sold the Datsun for $400 (refer back to the price I paid for it icon_biggrin.gif ).

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I drove the Honda all through college at the State University of New York at Buffalo, sold it during my final year when I decided to try a truck and to return to my family's Mopar roots. For the next two years I drove a bright red 1994 Dodge Dakota Sport with a 3.9L V6 and a 5-speed (as all my vehicles have been).

During my last year of college my girlfriend Sarah's parents split up, and she moved to Western North Carolina to live with her mother. Having lived down South as a kid, and hating every minute of every Buffalo winter, I was planning to move South after college anyway. Besides, Sarah could drive stick without me teaching her, can't let a woman like that get away. icon_lol.gif She drove a Geo Storm GSi when we met, but after she moved I helped her get this 92 Sentra, which we still have:
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I discovered the fine (at the time) job market for techies in the Raleigh/Durham/Research Triangle area of North Carolina, job-hunted on the Internet while finishing my B.S. in Computer Science and moved down in July 2000, having already landed a software engineer job after driving to Toronto to interview at the company's office there.

Here's me, most of my worldly possessions in the bed of the Dakota, leaving my family's home outside Buffalo, bound for my new hometown of Raleigh:
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(I've since been laid off three times and am now on job number 4, and also have started my own e-commerce development business so I don't have to play that game for the next 40 years.)
The Dakota started to really show its age by about 97K, and had no A/C. At the same time, I got very nostalgic for my old Datsun, and since I was now in the South where older Japanese cars do not die early deaths from rust, I began hunting for an S12, since S110's were just too hard to find. As fate would have it, the same week I finally was able to unload the Dakota, I located my 88 200SX SE V6 for sale by the original owner in Cary, about 20 minutes from my place in Raleigh. I sold the truck for $3500, paid off what I owed on it, paid $2000 cash for the 200 which had 122K, and had money left over. It was May of 2001.
Sarah and I got married in July 2001:
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There, that's my story so far. I just started a new job as the database admin for an online XML-based marketplace that my company is constructing, linking several large companies with their IT vendors.
_________________
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ArroJan 29, 2003, 3:59 pm · #6
WHO I AM:
My name is Jason, and I'm 28. I manage the computer network for H&B, the company that makes the Louisville Slugger baseball bats. Here in Ontario, California we make all the aluminum Sluggers sold worldwide, and our distribution is also here in southern California (just next door, actually). I like Jazz, hip-hop, most electroniqua, funk, 80's pop and contemporary, synthpop, and classic big band. I read and write for enjoyment.

posted image

And I love cars. More specifically, turbocharged cars, or any forced induction sport compact. I can respect the old school, but I prefer something medium to small, six cyllinders or less, and preferrably running positive pressure. My special interest is 80's underdog sport compacts, which the Nissan 200SX is a part of. Starion/Conquest, Chrysler turbo, Mitsubishi Cordia, Isuzu Impulse... these are the kinds of cars I'm talking about. Neglected cars with potential. The Underdog!

THE EARLY YEARS:
I began my interest in cars back in 1994, when I spotted the first car I ever actually fell in love with. It was a 1989 Dodge Daytona ES, and it looked great. I was driving my first car at the time, an '87 Camaro RS. I knew next to nothing about cars, other than that they had pistons and that V8 was bigger than V6. When I totalled the Camaro, I went out to look for my own Dodge Daytona.

THE DAYTONAS:
I ended up with something less than I sought out for, a base model 1988 Dodge Daytona. It was only a 98hp four cylinder, red, and a base model, and a far cry from the 150hp V6 ES model with its nice drop paneling and spoiler. It died, and I ended up with another one just like it, a red '89 base model. It, too died. Both were sitting in a storage lot, as yet a third one was gained (a black '88 base model). The '88 was in an accident and the insurance repainted it, so I added a spoiler and it actually looked nice.

I bought the black Daytona in '96. Some guys at my job teased me about my "Dodge". They were the early generation of "import" tuners, when the trend was still quite new in the United States, and when southern California still truely had the corner on the market. One of the wiser tuners told me to ignore them, and that he had seen a Daytona beat a Vette. I was like WTF? HOW? So he told me about the turbo model and I had NO clue what turbo even was. I thought that superchargers used electricity in some fashion to make you go faster, and the part sat on the outside of the engine, and turbos did the same thing but were inside the engine. I knew NOTHING!

MY FIRST TURBOCAR:
So this guy introduced me to Turbo Magazine, when it was still very much a cult following, and he taught me how turbochargers and superchargers worked. Not long after, the '88 was totalled. I bought my first turbocar, a 1988 Dodge Daytona Pacifica.

With this car I began to discover the world of the turbo Chrysler and the Shelby Dodge. I had no idea what a "Shelby" was or what it meant, but from what I had been taught about turbocharging, I was able to look at diagrams, enough to see that this "Shelby" version was much much more potent than my Pacifica.

After replacing a blown timing belt, I drove the Pacifica for awhile, but it was nothing but problems and eventually the car was parked. While it was parked I dissected it (removed the head) just to see what was inside. What fun!

SHELBY DODGE DAYS:
Meanwhile, the first two Daytonas caught on fire in their storage lot (some motor home blew up), and the insurance company cut me a check for the damage. The very next day I spotted a clean, shiny Dodge Daytona Shelby Turbo II! It looks identical to the V6 ES models, but by this time I knew of its true potency! I rolled off the lot with this:
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Not long after, it blew a headgasket, and it slumbered for a couple years. Meanwhile, I became very very active in the Shelby Dodge Mailing List, learned all I could about the cars, met the great Gus Mahon, and gained a good 75% of the knowledge I have today. Eventually (in 2000) I finally rebuilt the car into a quicker, meaner menace, but a bearing failed and the mechanic wouldn't back up his work. I drove it for awhile with a little bearing slap before it infally gave way, and the poor car has been living in this or that storage space ever since.

REIGN OF THE DSM :
I bought one last Chrysler turbo, a beat-up old '86 Chrysler laser XE, the old-style draw-through turbo system. I tinkered with it and made it quick, but it was ugly and I stripped it for parts instead.

Enter the DSM. In 2000 I bought a 1990 Plymouth Laser, a manual 5-speed, FWD turbocharged car, 16v DOHC 2.0L engine. I had been researching them a bit on the internet and suddenly there was one for sale for $500:
posted image

Later that summer I got it running and drove it for a few months. Then it, too, blew a headgasket. My girlfriend at the time was hell-bent in fixing and modifying it for me. After begging and begging (she made a bit more than I back then), I finally agreed. Nine thousand smackaroos later, I had a rebuilt engine, all the crazy bolt-ons you could imagine, fuel computers, etc. etc.:
posted image

It was finished in 2001. It was bad-ass, and the discovery of ClubDSM, and then later the local Southern California chapter, introduced me to the car club world, and I was quite active locally. The car was quite fun and fast, but I wanted more. When I warped the head, this car also became parked in a storage. Enter the Honda Prelude.

HONDA INVASION:
I had always hated Hondas, mostly because I started out in the tuner world with an all-american turbocar -- all Chrysler turbocars were 100% American, save for a few that used a Mitsu turbocharger. DSM made me even more anti-Honda, as those guys love to Honda-bash, too. That, along with the preceeding years when the "import craze" took America by storm, and annoying, slow, bumble-bee exhaust Hondas with rediculous bodykits and ugly paint schemes became commonplace.

But I had no car! I bought a '92 Honda Prelude Si off my pops, the car was there, the price was right, and it ran well, looked nice, and was one of Honda's quicker four-bangers. 2.3 liters and dual overhead cams, 160hp.
posted image

I still drive it daily. Gets great gas mileage, chix like it, and I can still whup a Civic and some Integras. That plus I discovered that Prelude enthusiasts hate other Hondas, too icon_twisted.gif .

RETURN OF THE DSM:
I had met a Russian guy while I was rolling with SoCal DSM club in my Plymouth Laser, and we became good friends. He had to move on short notice to attend college back east, and I retained custodianship of his car, a 1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX (2.0L 16v DOHC Turbo, AWD).
posted image
Eventually he sold me the car in Spring of 2002, and I drove it up until late Fall, 2002 when I blew it up from too much boost (my own fault). Before it blew, I had installed 2.5" turboback exhaust and springs w/ adjustbale shocks. It rode nice, was quicker than stock, and looked slick. I added some Enkei Wun-Gun 17" rims to it, and it looked even sweeter.

The engine from the Plymouth Laser (DSM FWD) was yanked and the head rebuilt, the block bored, new pistons purchased, the rods shotpeened, and the crank polished. I have these now, and 400 bux will get this engine assembled, installed, and the GSX back on the road, this time with the big-ass T4/TD05 hybrid turbo from the Laser, and a Supra Mark IV side-mount intercooler, as well as all the engine bay accessories from the Laser as you see them above.

THE S12 REBELLION:
I quickly learned that it was a no-brainer to go fast with a DSM. As long as you had the cash, there was forumla to go however fast you wanted. As long as you had the cash. And don't even think about challenging the established ideas. No sir.

Well I got fed up with that. I figured I knew what I needed to get the GSX really fast in the future, so to hell with SoCalDSM and the DSM world. I was tired of shitty Mitsubishi trannies, tired of super-expensive electronics, tired of major "cockwaving" about who's car was better than who's. And growing tired of the Prelude world and the Honda owners that came with it.

I decided to snub them all, find and buy an old 80's hatchback, and show the elistist import scene "who's bitch they iz". After looking around, I stumbled onto the Nissan 200SX turbo, and realized it was a shoe-in.

That lead to the Yahoogroups list, which lead to my suggestion to form a "Club S12", which lead to Dan putting up our amazing forum you see today, which lead to this reality, this Club S12, which finalized my decision to seek out a turbo S12. I used my combined DSM and Shelby Dodge experience and knowledge to help promote awareness and strategies to further learn about these cars, and improve their performance. Dan also had DSM background, and had been a known figure in the earlier Club DSM days, and it was great because the two of us could draw off the same knowledge base. Together with Chris' enthusiasm for the SE V6 trim, and a continually growing contingency of real S12 enthusiasts, I was honored to be a driving force in the creation, promotion, and continued development of a car club for perhaps one of the best underdog import cars around (in my very biased opinion of course).

And on Ded 30th I did indeed find my S12, and now own a 1985 Nissan 200SX Turbo.

I want to gut it, mod it, and force lots of air into it while running Willow Springs. It'll be a great road race car. Or drift king (gotta love that RWD).

The Shelby is my baby, my first love, and she knows I'll come back to her someday. I'll never let her go, that's fo' sho'. Maybe this summer I'll spend some time with her. I have a variety of plans, and a few upgrade parts sitting on the shelf that I know she will just love to tears icon_smile.gif

The Laser, or "DSM-FWD" as I call it, has swaybars, springs, AGX adjustable shocks, and a full compliment of Energy Suspension bushings. It's wired up for the VPC and AFC fuel computers which I still have, and it has an upgraded fuel pump. A fresh stock longblock and cheapo 16G turbo is all that is needed to make this into a successful track car. And it still looks as nice as the picture above. So I'm keeping it.

The Eclipse, or "GSX" as I call it, is beautiful in its silver finish 17's. I'm very close to getting it back on the road, and it will look just as good underhood as it does on the outside (will look like the DSM FWD's engine bay pictured above). it will have all the bolt-ons from the FWD, but with better exhaust and an AWD driveline. It will make a great street warrior and daily driver. It stays.

The Chrysler Laser XE Turbo will be going bye bye as soon as I have a chance to call the wrecking yard and get my 50 bux for it.

And the Prelude? Ehhhh... still in good shape, even though I hate it. I own it outright, and it's only another 25 bux a month to store it. And store it I shall when the GSX is back in hand.

Cars to date since 1992:
1987 Chevy Camaro RS
1988 Dodge Daytona
1989 Dodge Daytona
1988 Dodge Daytona
1988 Dodge Daytona Pacifica (Turbo I)
1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby (Turbo II Intercooled)*
1986 Chrysler Laser XE (early Turbo I)*
1990 Plymouth Laser (Turbo FWD)*
1992 Honda Prelude Si*
1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX (Turbo AWD)*
1985 Nissan 200SX (Turbo)*

*cars still in my posession.
_________________
-Jason Arro -- Long Live the UNDERDOG
Club-S12 Moderator
'85 Nissan 200SX Turbo Hatch -- DEAD CA20ET icon_sad.gif
http://www.cardomain.com/id/arro200sx
'89 Dodge Daytona Shelby Turbo II
http://www.cardomain.com/id/arro89shelby
camronwareJan 29, 2003, 8:27 pm · #7

Who am I?
Camron Ware from Irving, Texas in the Dallas/Forth Worth Metroplex.
I'm one of the younger ones on this board, not yet 18. icon_smile.gif
I work at my church of 3000 people as the "light guy" but also help with audio production on the side. I've always been into that sort of thing, since I was 12. Cars were also always a passion of mine, but at that age, it was really only building models and looking at the cool Porsche posters on my wall. As I got older, car modding/repaing/restoring came into my liking.

The S12 is the first car I have owned. My dad bought this a while back, and when I became "legalized to drive" it became mine. My dad is a car enthusiast too. He is all about Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and other rarities. I think that is what drew him to my SE. I have been paying them for it through various means, because I want it to be payed for by me.
At first I knew nothing about what this car was, and honestly did not care. It was a black Nissan 200sx which no one knew what was, and it was a good vehicle. That's all it was to me. I can't remember what got me into researching about it, but soon I stumbled across Miker's SR20 swap site, and I was hooked. I then found the Yahoo group, and then this forum. All I can say is, I can't learn enough fast enough.
I've never grown up with a mechanic in the family, or even close to me for that matter. I have learned pretty much everything by doing it. But by no means am I up to par with someone who can, say, swap an engine, but I inspire to be able to do that one day. That might sound a little weird, but it's what I like to do. I like to improve things, fix things, modify things to make them better. As well as learn about them, that is half the journey.
So I havn't got much of a biography; I can't list and tell you about all the cars I've owned, because I have only owned one.
I'm glad this forum is here to help me learn all I can. Maybe in a few years I can write a longer biography about my many new adventures.
_________________
Camron Ware
1988 200sx SE V6 - S13 TB, Z31 ECU and MAF
1988 300zx Shiro Special - no stereo icon_sad.gif
Make S12 fast and hot. Use to fry rice. Repeat.
http://www.cardomain.com/id/88200sxv6

2BDFRNTJan 29, 2003, 10:16 pm · #8

My name is Angus, but people call me Gus. Im 18 and live in Melbourne, Australia in a suburb called Box Hill. Ive loved cars from an early age, I used to be able to name anything on the road. I sort of forgot about them from 12-15, as I was pursuing girls and music, usually in that order. When it was time for my L plates test, i suddenly remembered everything I loved about cars. I have a tenacious memory, and reading car magazines that my friend got from his newsagceny job, I soon came to respect technology over cubic inches. I had my heart set on a number of cars as I found out more about them, but it was almost always Nissan. First it was a Nissan Pintara U12 (FWD), then an R31 or DR30 Skyline that I wanted to stuff with an RB25DEt, after some hot (and illegal) road laps in my friends worked R33 GTS-T! In between came passing phases, many of which I still intend on pursuing down the track. But then one day I saw a harlequin painted and big rimmed S12 notchback near my school, and fell in love. After finding out about their suitability for engine upgrades, low purchase cost and the fact that chicks equate pop-up lights with sportscars, I began my search....that was Jan-Feb 2002.....I'm still looking icon_sad.gif I was recently given a $200 78 Mazda Capella, which I plan to rotarize, but I'm still working on finding a post '86, hatchback, auto Gazelle.....and one day I will!

P.S It wont stay auto for long, I just figure that an auto 'box will have absorbed any "thrashing" that would be passed to the engine in a manual car.
_________________
Gus:
S12 owner in waiting!!!
_________________

Damn, I got Hyundai Exel all over my bodykit!!!

RoAsTJan 31, 2003, 3:33 pm · #9

Hi guys, My name is Francois Leduc. I was born in quebec and always lived in the same house in laval. I'm 19 years old and can't wait to be legal in the us, for some good road trips.

I was always a car lover, since my first day on this lovely planet. And since the age of 12, I dreamed of a different car every month. At first it was the honda civic, but It didn't take me much time to realise it was not a good car for me. Then I dreamed about the miata, but being 6'4", that's a car I could forget about. When I turned 14, The DSM's seemed to be the best cars ever, and I wanted one. At 16, when I finally got my permit, I fell into the "sleeper thang". I wanted to buy my mom's tercel and make it a 12 secont turbo monster, that dream was in my head for two years. at 18 years of age, I found out about the mazda 323 gtx. I was amased, I wanted one. Being a raly fanatic, and living in a country where snow covers the tarmac almost 4months a year, I wanted a 323 gtx so badly. But there are only 100 of these left in quebec, and they are way overpriced. So at 19, when it was finally time for me to buy a car, I looked at every car made in the late 80's and went for the 200sx. Being turbo and RWD, it was the best choice for me.

I'm a sound technitian, And I love traveling, I went to japan, taiwan, paris, romania, and all over the us.
_________________
Owner of a 1988 turbo 200sx

Good DoctorFeb 19, 2003, 11:03 pm · #10

I'll try to make this short, but here goes.

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My name is Jeff Hester. (excuse the above picture...i was high on spray paint and that was alittle over a year ago finger.gif ) Anyway, I am 20 currently a 4th semester sophmore at Purdue University studying Electrical Engineering with a minor in Astro Physics. But let me start at the beginning. As this is a car forum, i am going to eat up most of my Bio room with info on my experiences with cars, and put a small paragraph at the bottom about my life, if anyone really cares at that point. but on with the important stuff...

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CAR 1
During my 8th grade year I bought a 1967 El Camino for $2500. The blue book is much higher for a big block car (as this was) so i *thought* i was getting a steal. Turns out I was wrong. My dad is an ex-ASE certified master mechanic, so with his know-how the project got on the road. The car itself was in dismal shape. The body was half primer, half burgandy, there was absolutely no chrome in place, the interior was gone, no seat, the engine did not run. Basically we had a rolling chassis. First we yanked off the front drum brakes and did a front end disc swap with 3" lowering spindles to boot. Because if your riding in the El Cam you want to look as pimp as possible, but still be able to stop. After the brakes we replaced all the suspension components, and painted the frame matte black. Next we pulled the motor and found that it had water in the #4 cylinder. We had the block honed but found that the motor itself was just not in good shape. With the only spot of luck in the entire process, a family friend happened to have an old 396 stoked to 402 sitting on the shelf in his garage. he offered it for the project. little did we know that this motor was clean enough to eat off of! With a nearly perfect motor, the car kept progressing, slowly but surely, with a rebuilt Powerglide transmission, and new brake lines plus the addition of a Master brake cylinder. At about this point my dad got remarried and the truck because incredibly hard to work on because my Step Mom absolutely hates it. Eventually my dad stopped working on it all together, and the entire load of the work fell on my shoulders. It really taught me alot to be forced into a situation like that; but back to the truck. Next came the body work, and with the trusty circular grinder we stripped the entire car and shot it with primer. After that long and arguous process, I towed the car to a body shop and had them shoot it a deep blue mettalic flake (as seen in photo). The color itself was availble on C4 corvettes and really brought the truck alive. After the paint was on, all the stock chrome was purchased, along with 4 new Crager SS wheels and BF Goodrich rubber. With the chrome and new rolling stock installed, the car started to take shape. Next my dad found a 1969 El cam with a refurbished seat in the wrecking yard, so with some trickery around my Step-Mom I had him help install the seat and the headliner (difficult to do alone icon_rolleyes.gif ). With the interior complete, I left the car for my second year at school. Hopefully this summer I intend to finally get all the electrical bugs worked out and have her 100% complete and rocking and rolling. Its been way too many years, and WAY too much money. But I will touch on these subjects later in the bio.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~fruthb/tubas/images/vanmarch22/Unveiling.mov
CAR 2
Well now that I was at school I needed something on wheels to occupy my time. I happen to be a member of the band here at purdue, and beyond popular belief the tuba section (to which I am a member) is a group of drunks and hilarious guys I am proud to call my friends. Anyway, on our quest for heavy drinking and tailgating we travelled to many Purdue Football away games. We decided this would be much more fun if we had a "Tuba Van" to drive to all these games in. And thus, the van "Moby Ditka" was born. Orginally dubbed moby dick because it was a gigantic extra-long 1975 Plymouth cargo van, the name was changed to adapt Mike Ditka's alias to bring in the football spirit. With $200 and a dream we bought the van and got to work. this project was great for me to work on, out from under my Dad's wing; 400 miles away from the el camino and still having fun with cars. The van got a custom spray-painted coat of black with gold graphics and in addition to its bitching foldger's can exhaust tip (yes its an actual coffee can) we mounted a 4-person couch between the wheel wheels, a love seat facing the doors and enough floor space to fit 9 passengers comfortably. With a computer built into the console and a 15" monitor for the viewing pleasure of all the van itself can play anything from music CDs, to Mp3s and DVDs. Its great entertainment for our long trips to far away football games. If you want more details on the van and some of the other stupid things I have done in my life, check out www.purduetubas.com.
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CAR 3
With those two cars out of the way, we get to the 1986 Nissan 200sx. The el camino being the cash dumpster it is (but i love it) I needed a daily driver I could enjoy driving and play around with occasionally. That is where the nissan came in. Owned by another tuba player, it was his farm car since about 1992. This car has been through hell and back with a total of over 176k clocked on the odometer. Unfortionatly most of my labors to date concern keeping it running rather than making it run with any kind of performance. the main draw back is I do not have it at school with me, so I can only work on it intermitantly. My main complaint with the car is it is taking me away from the El camino, a project i need to finish before MY mom gets as fed up with it as my step-mom did. (she is a muscle car girl at heart tho...so I think we will be ok) The Nissan has been a great little car so far and really captured my attention with the help of this board to try to make a car not known for its performance (not unlike the chrystler K-car) out perform common sports cars. For me, the nissan is a daily driver, but I hope to assist some of those on this board with my ideas to transform it into a sporty car that really makes the average person think twice before judging an automobile.

With all of this said, I think you get a pretty good idea of my background in cars. I hope to have a picture of the Nissan up sometime in mid-march when i go home for spring break, at which time I will post it. Ok, with all that said, here is a small paragraph about the other stuff in my life that no-one really cares about but I should probibly put in because it is a Bio.

I live in Hudson, OH with my biological mother and my twin brother name Jim. I wrestled throughout high school and then tore my ACL and could not continue sports through my senior year and into college. I enjoy playing music of all kinds, and listening to all kinds. Favorite bands include Tower of Power (greatest funk band ever), TOOL (greatest metal band of recent time), and NIN (probibly the best modern music next to TOOL). So as you can see my musical interests are pretty wide ranging. Here at school I met the girl of my dreams and have been dating her ever since (alittle over a year now). I know it sounds sappy, but hey...it happens. It sucks now because I cant go and party the way a college kid should because I always go out with my lil-lady instead. But that is beside the subject. I enjoy life on the whole, I am a pretty pessimistic person so for me to come to that conclusion something must be going right. In closing I would just say that this board really has given me a chance to design some pretty cool stuff for cars in general in my head; i just hope you all have the patience to try to let me put it on a computer screen. Thanks for reading.

Jeff Hester

Moderator Edit: I just *had* to insert some pics of the van in there for you icon_wink.gif

-Arro

_________________
Jeff Hester
1986 200sx 2.0L
1967 El Camino 402ci

trilybyteFeb 24, 2003, 11:14 am · #11

well, my name is jarod, i'm from odessa,texas and 19 years old. i got my first car at the age of 16 and it was the s12 2.0L, i loved that car. sure it was alittle old needed a new paint job and some minor fixes but other than that everything original as far as i know, the speedometer didn't work but hey like i said minor fixes, i never got around to working on it. one day i decided i needed a new car so i sold my nissan to a friend who needed a car, three days later he wrecked it. i was kinda angry but i though "it was his car". so he let it sit in his front yard for about a year, i told him one day "dude, can i have that car back." so i got it back, now i'm trying to fix the damaged area(the passanger door and rear quarter panel) i have found the parts. i'm about to buy them as soon as i get out of my car payments.i have alot of ideas for my s12 and i hope that this group will help me on my search for a bodykit,engine mods,and other mods needed to be a real s12 guy.

REV387Mar 2, 2003, 5:33 pm · #12

Who am I? Probably the tallest chink you'll ever meet next to Yao Ming. 6'3" and just about 30 yrs to get there. But you can call me Ernest or as most of my friends say "E".
I'll make this brief, as I just wanted to write something here for now. Probably end up adding to this later anyway.
Fell in love with the S-12 when I was 17. My first 200 was a '87 200SX XE Coupe with the CA20E motor. Seeing as I only knew how to steal cars back then, all I could really do to it was apply stickers and add a really obnoxious exhaust that really did nothing for horse power and announce my arrival from 3 blocks away, it was pretty pathetic. But in the end which was not to long after, I rolled it when I tried to jump an infamous hill here in the Gay Bay.
Since then, I have grown up , even tho my girlfriend begs to differ. I attended Skyline College and was sponsored by M-TEC (Mazda Technical Education Challenge). There I learned everything I know today about Mazdas, Toyotas, and G.M.s and where I became ASE certified. Here is where I met my other love, Rotary Engines. But, that's another story. So soon after a couple of summer internships at the bay area dealerships, I ventured out and worked at a mechanical and body shop for a couple of years and there I learned about Porsches, Benz , and BMWs. From there I migrated to an independant Honda/Acura Repair shop for 2 and 1/2 years where I learned all about the enemy. After that, I returned to the body shop where I managed it for almost 5 years before the owner sold it. During that time, I was driving a company car which was '98 Dodge Ram Quad Cab Long Bed Dually Turbo Diesel. Can't even explain how much fun that was. Now I am looking to open my own repair shop.........Redline Performance Motorsports or R.P.M. for short. Anyone like it?
Most of my racing education came from D. Elgin of Elgin Cams who taught a year long course on High Performance Engines, and my cuz Ed Eng who moved down south to Irvine (just south of L.A.) and attended U.C.I. (University of Civics and Integras) where he spend several thousand dollars of my Uncle and Aunt's money to achieve a degree in Street Racing. His crendentials can be seen in any Turbo or Import Turner magazine where his car is shown every third issue. But I guess that's one of the perks of being an editor. Just take a look at how familiar Racer E looks as he helps out Max and Otto in Max Boost.
Anyways, to wrap up, I just picked-up a '87 SE V6 with a small dent at the front right side for a grand. My budget is 15 grand to spank my lil bro in his sleeper Civic. With some minor modifications, I can fit the VG30DET in and do the standard bolt on upgrades to get in the 13s. Bigger Turbo 12s. and still have $10 or so to play with.

History of Cars I've owned............
1.) '78 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon (Gimme a break, It was a hand-me-down from my Grand-Aunt) *Totaled*

2.) '87 Nissan 200SX XE w/ CA20E *Totaled*

3.) '84 Dodge Aries Station Wagon (Another Hand-Me-Down) *Totaled*

4.) '82 Mazda RX-7 GSL *SFPD Confiscated*

5.) '81 Mazda RX-7 GS (Project Car turned Parts Car) *SFPD Tow-Away*

6.) '82 Mazda RX-7 (Parts Car) *SFPD Tow-Away*

7.) '85 Nissan 200SX Turbo (Very short lived. 2 weeks. Too many problems) *Solded back to prior owner*

8.) '85 Nissan Maxima *Blew the motor 2 years after I blewed the upper gears in the Auto Trans.*

9.) '79 BMW 320i *SFPD Tow-Away*

10.) '87 Nissan Maxima (Project Car turned Parts Car after motor caught on fire from those damn leaky injectors) *SFPD Tow-Away*

11.) '90 Nissan 300Z Twin Turbo (Beautiful Black on Black Project car that needed a motor. And of course, with all project cars, I kept lying to myself for 5 years that I would put it together one day, but never did. *Gave away to friend*

12.) '98 Dodge Ram Quad Cab Long Bed Dually Turbo Diesel *Company Car*

13.) '87 Nissan 200SX SE V6 *Current Project*

And in between all this chaos, fortunately were my Girlfriends' cars at the time, Much thanks to my current girl Dree for the use of her '93 MX-6 for the past 4 1/2 years. But in retrospect, that meant endless Tune-ups, Engine Mods, a plugged-up Cat., an Greddy Exhaust, 2 Timing Belts w/ Water Pumps, a Head Gasket, 1 Automatic Trans, 2 Paint Jobs including a Complete Color Change (Titanium Grey w/ Green Pearl), 3 Sets of Rims (2 15"s, 1 17"s), and fixing more dings, dents, and scratches than I could remember. In all, I think she made out pretty well.
_________________
Ernest (Just call me "E")
'87 200SX SEV6
in search of a VG30DET
and Tokico Springs

snellMar 7, 2003, 5:10 pm · #13

I guess it's time to write a little something about myself. My name is Bill and I live in Calgary, Alberta - Canada's oil capital. I am currently on a co-op work term between my third and fourth year of a mechanical engineering degree at the university of calgary.

I came into possesion of my 85 turbo 200 almost by accident. Last April I had been looking for an affordable turbo car for a few months (I was looking into the usual 80's/early90's candidates: daytonas, mazda 626, 323, and of course the 300). I went to an auction place with a friend and saw my 200. I had previously seen s12's around but didn't know they were turbo'd - turbo s12's are pretty rare around here. Anyways - I ended up winning the auction and got the car for 1200 bucks. I had been driving the car for about a week when I realized that it was burning a lot of oil. I'll spare you the boring details of my diagnosis and repairs - let's just say I now have a brand new turbo and rebuilt head.

I bought my first car when I was 16 - it was a nissan micra with a 1.2 liter engine. You americans never got them and they didn't make it past 1991 here since they couldn't pass canadian crash standards tests. I abused the shit out of that car (couple minor crashes), but the engine ran strong (t'was a nissan after all), and not very many cars could rival it for fuel economy. I did have to replace the tranny - which was a pretty big job at the time(first time I had ever pulled an engine). I ended up selling the car at an auction for $150... I realized shortly after selling it for so little that I should have drained all the oil, started it and put a brick on the gas pedal icon_twisted.gif

I rode a motorcycle for a couple of years - I still ride in the summer - but in this climate the riding season can be as short as 5 months. It's a smaller bike '83 yamaha XS400 (what a POOR POOR student could afford at the time) - but it's in pretty decent shape.

Mods on my car thus far:
boost gauge from a plymouth laser ($3)
home made AF gauge ($8 )
autometer exhaust temp gauge ($75US used on ebay)
home depot style manual boost controller (~$10)
talon intercooler ($40) + a few bucks for piping
tokico springs ($59US + 40US shipping & border fees)
kyb struts (i cant remember ~$120 for the pair?)
_________________
Black 85 CA18ETi

NismoSEApr 19, 2003, 12:03 pm · #14

Ahh...this is great..I feel like I can finally introduce myself to all of you guys. Wave2.gif

Kevin Wolcott - 22 - Oregon (Orygun icon_razz.gif)

I am another one that grew up through the ranks of being a military brat. My dad was Coast Gaurd for 27 years. I was born in Kodiak, Alaska (don't remember a thing); moved to Dothan, Alabama (a few memories); went to Honolulu, Hawaii from there (LOTS of memories...damn I miss that place icon_sad.gif ); after that beautiful place we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas (we had three addresses in the short four years that we lived there); then we picked up and ended up in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. This is where my dad retired from the military and obtained a job with the infamous Intel. Intel moved us out to Oregon for his job, so we now reside in Hillsboro, Oregon and have been here for almost ten years. Man it's weird to be in one place for so long. icon_confused.gif

I taught myself how to ride a bike (without training wheels) at the tender age of about 4. Finally, when I was about 10 my parents bought me a bike so that I could start to race BMX. My parents, mostly my mom, were kind enough to cart me all over the country to support my BMX habit. The day we bought my moms car, we got in it and drove from Corpus Christi, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!! I stuck with the BMX thing until we finally moved out to Oregon. The following just wasn't as big here and there weren't really any local tracks, so it made it hard to be competitive.

About the time I dropped that whole BMX thing I was in Middle school, and I was walking down the hall when I noticed a flyer to join the ski team!! Yep..Ski Team!! I immediately ran home to tell my parents all about it, and with a puzzled look they asked "Don't you have to know how to ski to be on that?" So, without ever having skied in my life I was now a member of ski team. I was my coaches little prodigy, he always said "You are great, cause you have no bad habits to break." Well I stuck with the Skiing thing all through high school and our team ended up making it to state my Senior year..we did very well there and it was a great way to leave high school. I also ran track and cross coutry in high school. I sucked at both, but they were just to keep me in shape for Ski Team.. icon_razz.gif

High school is also where I got my first vehicle, which is STILL my daily driver!! It's an 83 Nissan 720 4x4 (see it here: http://www.geocities.com/Nissan720_99/Nissan.html)
I bought the thing with 140,000 or so miles, and after owning it for what..six years?!?! Whoa...never thought about that before..haha Anyways, it now has 196,000 miles on it and runs great. Oh, and for any of you 4x4 guys out there...Yes!! That's a Warn 8274 on the front of my truck. Mounted on a custom front bumper made out of a full size Dodge winch bumper. I like to take it off-road when I get the chance.

After high school I thought I wanted to be a Mechanical Engineer, so I found a school that was greatly noted for it's Engineering programs. Hehe..ok, not really, but some of you may recognize it. I ended up in Flint, Michigan (automobile capital of the world icon_razz.gif) at Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute aka GMI). This school is set up with a co-op program and my co-op was back here in Oregon at Freightliner Corporation. Well after a year and a half of failing classes and hating my job, I decided I was not ready for this in my life. I ended up moving back to Oregon and working with my mom for about a year. She teaches Special ED kids, mostly behavior problems. About this time of transition is when I picked up my second car. A 66 Mustang!!! I got a good deal on it and really wanted something that I could tinker with. The truck was off limits cause I had to drive it every day icon_sad.gif So I picked up this Mustang: http://www.geocities.com/Nissan720_99/Mustang.html I've had it for about two years or so now.

I decided to go back to school...but it was for automotive technology. I basically wanted to know more so I had a little more knowledge to restore my Mustang with. Our local Community College offers a pretty good program for this. Like I said though, I already knew some stuff so it was kinda boring for me. But true begineers seemed to get a lot more out of it. The nice thing it did give me was hands on experience. We actually worked on cars that belonged to the school or actual customer cars.

Half way through this program my (now) ex-girlfriends dad had picked up a motorcycle from a family friend and had begun to ride it. After a short period of riding it he decided that he wanted something a little newer..and that had less problems. icon_razz.gif So I was the first in line when he wanted to sell. But since it did have problems and I WAS dating his daughter he ended up giving it to me. FREE!! What a great price. So I have an 81 Yamaha Virago 750. I've had this for a little over a year now.

About this same time I was desperately seeking a job. I had been to every shop in a 30 mile radius of my home and NO ONE was hiring!! And after eight or so months of looking I was about to give up. Just so happens that one day, on a whim, I walked into our local Nissan/Subaru dealership. I gave the service manager my little sales pitch of myself, and expecting to get turned down bascally was ready to go home and sulk. Well he was interested!! So I began working part time there after school. I am considered a Machanics Apprentice and my mentor is supposed to be one of the best diagnosticians in the area.

As I was nearing graduation of the Automotive program at the college they had this 200SX SE get towed into the school lot. A donated car!! Well I was kinda interested in it from that point on. So my partner and I in the program started to work on it. After LOTS of testing and fixing it was starting to run really good and appear mechanically sound. To make a long story short, I ended up buying it for $700 off of the school. It's an 87 SE with 145,000 miles. The motor is tight and the body is in pretty good shape also. I've now owned it for about 3 weeks now and I LOVE IT!!! Thing is soo much fun to drive!! icon_twisted.gif

So..as I stand now, after working at the dealership for about a year now. I was offered a full time position by my boss at Nissan to become a Nissan Certified Tech. I think I am gonna take him up on it... The discount on parts is great icon_biggrin.gif And the knowledge is indespensible.

That's me in a nut shell..ok...so a five page nutshell. As you can see I tend to be long-winded, sorry bonk.gif

By the way, Arro....nice to find someone with a junkyard biger than mine hail.gif
_________________
Kevin Wolcott
87 200SX SE-V6 (Honda Killer)
83 Nissan 720 4x4 (Mountain Rig) Piss on WEBER!!!
66 Ford Mustang (Inline Fever)
81 Yamaha Virago 750
"Happiness is a big smokey burnout!!"

http://geocities.com/Nissan720_99/

ChEsTeRApr 19, 2003, 12:39 pm · #15

Hi As any one else I shall say something about me. don't mind the mistakes I'm not to good i writing eanglish. OK . I'm from Poland, Warsaw , to people who dont know anything about poland Warsaw is the capital city. I've benn interesting in engines and mechaniks(don't know haw to speal it) since I was young( naw i'm 24) but for the last 2 years I had a real test in that part. My first car was 14 year old Fiat 126p with 650 cm engine and an astonishin power of 24 Hp. That wasn't to much so I made same upgrades myself, don't know haw to spell it so i'll skip it. Then in june las year I.ve bought nissan silvia 88 CA18ET. That time I didn't know anything about turbos and staff like this so I had to make it up. now with some knolage I've decided to tune up my beloved Nissan, so i signed u here to get some usefull information from u, the profesionals icon_smile.gif
_________________
ChEsTeR icon_biggrin.gif
Silvia 88 CA18ETi Nissan
http://members.cardomain.com/chester_000

Spencer 200SX Turbo ZXMay 21, 2003, 4:58 am · #16

Hi all, wow some great biographies guys icon_smile.gif , I will take a stab at mine.

Well who am I? My name is Spencer Lockwood, I am 29, 6ft 4in and live in the UK, I am Network Manager at a local high school and college here and in charge of all their ICT development and keeping things working.

I never had any interest in cars until I hit the roads at 16. We cannot legally drive till we are 17 here, so I started off on a moped icon_redface.gif yeah don't laugh too hard lol. At any rate, I used to whizz round on it until the engine decided to seize solid, so knowing nothing about anything mechanical, I took it to a garage and they wanted to charge me £350 to rebuild the engine! Seeing as I only paid £150 for the thing to start with, that was a no go, so I decided to pull it apart (as you do lol) and see if I could fix it. The bore was badly scored, so I went and bought 2 dead bikes for £20 and swapped bits around into another block and bolted it all back together. One of the engines had a bigger bored block and good piston, so I used this with my old head, I pulled bits off I figured the bike would work better without and bodge fitted an exhaust from a bigger bike. Well.....it started and ran great, went like hell for a 50cc bike but after about 6 miles driving it would lose power and grind to a halt, thats when I learned you need to replace gaskets and stuff when you pull engines apart icon_eek.gif

Luckilly by this time I had reached 17 and was learning to drive in a Nissan Micra. We used to have to drive 22 miles to the nearest big town to get town driving experience and on the way back we would take the back country roads, where I would wind the car up to about 75MPH while he was writing his notes about my driving and not paying attention lol. I passed first time after 4 months and got to drive my first car which was a 1977 Ford Escort popular plus which someone had put a 1600cc engine into. It was a rust bucket and drove horrid and only lasted 3 months until its first MOT, where the mechanics laughed so hard about me bringing this car as it had no chance of ever passing the test and was a death trap.

So, a trip to a local garage and I bought a Datsun Cherry N10 with the A12 engine for £35. It needed new sills and a few holes fixing, but £70 later was roadworthy again. I did 25,000 miles in under a year on this car before the engine started burning more oil than fuel, thats when I found out you need to service a car by mileage not time! It was really tired by this time, so I cleaned it up and sold it for £100 and moved to the next car.

Which was a 1982 Nissan Stanza 1.6GL, this was the car that opened my eyes and I loved this car. For a 1600 it went incredibly well and embarresed many hot hatches of the time, but it was not very reliable and things broke almost daily at times. The engine was a peach and never gave me a problem, but just about everything else broke including the suspension, brakes, steering etc. I learned to service the car myself (the engine and normal maitnenence bits) and found I could tune the engine by ear way better than any machine could and the love/hate relationship continued until the floor was so rusty it could no longer be repaired, so alas it had to go.

The next car to come along was a 1982 Vauxhall Carlton 2.0, I hated this car from day one, it would not pull well unless you revved the balls off it and handled awful. The battery kept going flat too so after 2 months I traded it in against the next car.

Which was a Peuguot 106 with a 1200cc engine. It was a small car but went surprising well if completely unrefined, this lasted nearly a year until the gearbox blew up which led me to the next car.

Which was another Datsun Cherry N10, this time an 82 with the E13 engine in the coupe body. This car was way better than the old A12 engined one I had, but after having the head crack and repaired, the brand new cambelt broke and the valves kissed the pistons at over 90MPH and was not enough left of the engine to repair, which led me to my next car.

Which was an Audi ur quattro of 1981 vintage with a broken gearbox which was hard to find one to fit in the yunkyard, but 2 weeks later and it was driveable. This car sounded awesome and had great performance from the 5 pot turboed engine. It held the road extremely well with the 4 wheel drive and looked so sweet, but this car had a checkered history, 12 prior owners and think each one had modified the car without knowledge of what else had been done. I got through 2 sets of subframe bushes and 3 gearboxes in the 3 years I had it, and a clutch burned out in less than 15,000 miles!!! But it was supreme fun until my wallet said it had to go.

This is when I found my 84 200SX, this was the most money I ever paid for a car at £950, it was not without problems but a basically a very sound car. It took me 3 years to get to the bottom of the engine management issues, I found the local garages would either not touch it or could not fix the problems, so this was when I really started to learn about EFI and eventually solved all the problems myself. Its been exceptinally reliable and is still totally rust free after my 6 years of ownership. It still stock at the moment other than a Blitz air filter, but plan on starting to modify it this year.

The Bluebird turbo also joined me 5 years ago while the 200SX was in the shop having new valve guide seals, and has also been pretty reliable other than niggling things like rear calipers seizing etc, but still very good for a 16 year old car.

Well thats the story so far, but I don't expect it to change anytime soon being as I plan to keep the 200SX forever icon_twisted.gif
_________________
Spencer
'84 White S12 200SX Turbo CA18ET Manual Hatchback (USDM)
'87 Black T72 Nissan Bluebird Turbo ZX Saloon/Sedan CA18ET
'92 Red ST185 Toyota Celica GT4 (Alltrac) Turbo AWD
"Why does that computerised woman only speak when I do things wrong?"

Steve-oJun 18, 2003, 3:23 pm · #17

This turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated. I'll be amazed if anyone is interested enough to read all of this, but here goes.

Steve, Thirtysomething, Seattle native and resident. Motorcyclist, art school graduate (UofW, photography), ex-working musician, ex-computer geek, currently laid off and trying to figure out what to do when or if I grow up.

I've been a car fan my whole life, starting from when I was a kid cutting out photos from Hot Rod magazine and taping them onto my bedroom wall. My dad owned a couple of Triumph TR2s when he was young. With the influence of him and his subscription to Road&Track, I started to gravitate towards smaller imported sports cars. I read Peter Egan's column religiously, and desperately wanted a Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite.

While I can maintain and often repair my cars, I don't do much in the way of big customization or restoration. I've found that I'm not wired with the patience to get into a project and find out that it'll take three times the money, six times the time, ten additional trips to the parts store or wrecking yard, plus seven more bruised knuckles in order to finish the job. Rebuilding carbs and brakes on a motorcycle is about as deep into it as I'm likely to get any more.

As far as cars go, while I love performance, as I get older practicality gets a bigger priority. Which is one big reason I own a VG30 S12 instead of a Miata today. I love finding bargains, sleepers, and/or doing a lot with a little. To me that describes the 200SX SE. Few people around here even know or care what it is, which makes it a bargain.

Here's a list of the cars I've owned, in sequential order. I've never had a car payment in my life, and the cars on this list are a good indication why.

1973 Capri V6. Really quick in its day, warped rotors, rusty, got nailed in a parking lot. Sold to a friend who took it apart and never put it back together.

1972 Fiat 850 Spider. A 903cc rear-engined Giugiaro-designed work of completely impractical art. I thought of it as an Italian Bugeye Sprite. Girls thought it was cute, and that's important to an 18 year old kid. I loved it, but that "completely impractical" bit caught up with me. On the freeway, with only 903cc and 4 speeds "you have the feeling that an engine is chasing you, and having to work hard to keep up" (Road and Track). It started an on-again, off-again affair with Fiats, though. I still love them and would get another if the right one crossed my path. In fact, I later bought three 850 Spiders and stripped two, hoping to restore one of them. Bad idea, money pit, etc. Almost had to pay to get someone to haul the lot away.

1979 Toyota Celica. Blah.

1980 VW Rabbit. Never again.

1988 Ford Festiva LX. Frankly, this is one of my favorite cars ever. Tossable, fun, goofy, 40mpg, park ANYWHERE, and enough cargo room in that small car to transport a washing machine home from Sears, or the band's PA system AND my bass gear. Unreal. Drove it into the ground over a period of about 8 years. Never had to fix anything except wheel bearings (twice).

1985 Bertone (FIAT) X1/9. Mid-engined, 1500cc 5 speed, targa top. I had this one for a couple of years concurrent with the Festiva. I found a one-owner with under 30k miles on it and snapped it up. So, so, so fun, mechanically the newest-feeling car I've ever owned, handled better than anything I have driven except my friend Janet's MR2. I did loop it once, harmlessly, in part because it still had the original 13-year-old tires on the rear. I put some Falkens on the stock alloys (at Les Schwab tires, who butchered the wheels and to whom I will NEVER go back) and it was rock solid. It drove like I imagine an open-wheel car would feel.
People mock these, but they are an extremely well thought-out design and package. A place for everything and everything in its place. It was the beancounters that created the FIAT reputation, skimping on rust protection, electrical components and connectors, etc, but the design is sound. When Bertone took over complete production of the car from FIAT, these issues diminished dramatically. I sold the car to help gather a down payment on a house. Sold the house after a few years because I didn't feel comfortable in it. Wish I had the car back.

1988 Mazada 323. Boring.

1987 NISSAN 200SX SE V6. My first Nissan, purchased about a month ago. I had been looking for something newer (late '90s), practical, road-trip friendly, with low miles, airbags, R134a, etc, and with a budget of up to $7k for the right car. But this one popped up when searching for the newer 200sx and had to check it out. Rear wheel drive (!), quick, smooth, quiet, well-maintained, one-owner, garaged, original paint, 116k, aftermarket keyless entry, $2000. A HUGE step up the performance/refinement ladder from the Festiva and the 323. Not exactly what I was looking for, but it was hard to say no. So I said yes. Gotta keep the eyes and mind open for opportunities, no?

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the tacked-on plastic styling, the fuel mileage, nor the attention I'm bound to get from the arrest-me-red paint, but so far I enjoy the car and always look forward to driving it. And that leftover $5000 will go a long way towards some modest upgrades, not to mention another motorcycle, a new guitar, travel, food etc. Plus fuel and speeding tickets. And perhaps my first road-course driver's school?

(From the Too Much Information department: I lost my virginity the month and year this car was built. A sign? You decide.)

For those who may care, here's a list of motorcycles I've owned over the years. Most of these I bought as non-runners and "refreshed" them to running condition, rode them for a while, and sold them. Made money on many of them when I sold them.

1974 Honda CB550K. Sunrise Flake Orange. The first is always special.
1975? Kawasaki KZ400. Sold it to a friend, a newbie, who wrecked and hurt her leg. I felt like crap about that.
1976 Honda CB400F. Damn fun, pretty, and the first Honda that handled well.
19?? Yamaha RZ350. Never got the title, sold it back to seller.
197? Yamaha RD400. Never got it running, lost interest, sold it.
1976 Honda CB400F. Another one. Still fun.
1990 Honda GB500. Rare, super-stylish single-cylinder factory Cafe racer. Impractical. The most I've ever paid for a vehicle ($3250). Sold it for down payment money. I miss this one too.
1975 Honda CB400F. Yep. I like these.
1975 Honda CB400F. By this time I was sick of 4cyl Hondas and sold it when I moved without ever getting it running.
1999 Suzuki Bandit 1200S. Almost new, starts every time, needs nothing, practical, comfortable, versatile, scary-fast. And for sale. Too big for me.

That's the thumbnail sketch of my machine fetish. If you took the time to read all that, you're weird.

Cheers,
STEVE

KenJun 18, 2003, 8:37 pm · #18

Hey, I'm from Cleveland Ohio, and have lived here for all 18 years of my life. There's not much to say about myself, so I'll just dive right into the cars.

The first car I ever owned was a 1986 Mazda RX-7. I drove the car faithfully for two years and sold it to my friend when I found my dream car at a price I could afford, a 1990 supercharged Volkswagen Corrado(I'm a big Volkswagen fan, and I'm a sportscar fan, so this was the perfect compromise). I've been working on that car with my free time over the last few months, but didn't have a running car to drive outside of the family minivan, also a Volkswagen. Then as luck would have it, I was offered a 1984 Nissan 200SX by a friend's neighbor. The car had 300,000 miles on it but ran great. He couldn't drive it because the digital gauges didn't work. He sold me the car for 25 bucks. I spent several days searching the internet trying to find replacment gauges for it, and finally found this website, the only good resoruce I can find for this great car. Jeff hooked me up with a new digital dash, and now the only difference is that the car has a turbo gauge.
_________________
1984 200sx CA20E Hatchback; Soon to Be CA20ET

djexoticaJun 20, 2003, 1:15 pm · #19

whats up my name is gage bohner i live in stuart florida but was born in grand rapids michigan , i used to live in the florida keys but there wasnt anything to do down there , so my family moved back to stuart , while i was in the keys i bought a 1986 ' mazda b2000 pickup from my uncle for 500 $ it wasnt running because the head was cracked ...the radiator was gummed up and my uncle ran it at moroso and got a 14.7 (but cracked the head also )...so after it had sat for about a year i bought it the truyck was soo cool , he used to drive me around and pick up chicks when i was like 10 , it had a 7/8's drop 7 inches up front and 8 in back , its convertible and has a fully modded engine , since i bought it i got the head rebuilt and reshaved 30 over and replaced the 2.0 liter block with a 2.2 , about 3000$ dollars later i buy a 1986 mazda rx-7 this car was pretty damn fast , but was more trouble than i needed while i hade my grocery store salary so i sold it for 750$ while i drove my truck my mom had a 1986 nissan 200 sx with the turbo , that was b4 i was into import cars so i didnt know the potential of it and she ended up selling it for 500 $ in mint conditon !! after riding around im my girlfriends avalon for about a year cause i had no job to pay for insurance i see a red nissan on the side of the road...what a suprise looks just like my moms old one , i was thinking about buying a 86' 300 zx but they were all in the 4 thousand range so i when i lloked at the back and read it had a 3.0 liter v6 i jumped on the fricken car , i wanted to hump it lol so i call the guy and he comes and says he wants 600 for it cause he bought a dodge ram , i said i felt bad for him buying a domestic and gave him 300 for the car and drove off..
he said the car needed a modulator valve but it ran fine after i replaced the sparkplugs and wires ,rotor, and cap. and now i just drop the car off at race car factory in the industrial park and it gets hooked up they say money=speed there, and its true now there custom making me an intake and exhaust system and will soon be stripping my car down to lighten it up and adding a 8 point roll cage , sparco seats and 4 point harnesses. oh by the way im 19 if i didnt say it earlier turning 20 in july 15th
_________________
" I thought there would be aftermarket parts for my car ..It's an import damnit~!"
-Gage Bohner-87' 200 sx se-Vg30e-

EuroboyJun 20, 2003, 4:27 pm · #20

HI, my name is Besian
i am originally from Albania, Europe north of greece east of italy, for those who don't know.
I was always among cousins who had cars and being older than me i really profited a lot from their experience
My frist steps of driving go back to when i was 7 and i started to learn how to drive an IFA big crappy truck.
i never drove an automatic car until i arrived in canada so manual is my life.
I have owned many cars, mostly europian.
benz 240d
200
180
500sel
a couple of AMG verisions of the 300
300
compressor
BMW
318
323
330
850
740
540
m3(96) which i used to race)
peogeout
206
renault
laguna
seat ibiza
VW golf etc passat
lancia integrale evo2 turbo(possibly one of the best i have driven)
fiat coupe, 131 supermirafiori
and a few other
Currently driving lincoln ls supercharged, and 1987 200sx ca18et

i have a lot of knowledge about the europian cars and i was more into supercharging even though the integrale were my first big steps into turbo cars.
right now i live in toronto and i go to school/work full time for intercon security(boring as hell)
my goal in life is to become a cardiovascular DOC, long way but i am still hoping
i love cars and i just love the feel on the lateral G forces, learned long ago that the way to go was RWD
all the cars that i owned i either charged them or did somthing to test the max power of the engine so i take things to the extreme
currently i was running 12psi blower on my ls for alomost a year until the charged broke.
i am concentrating on the 200 since i know it has potential and this is a site where ppl help ppl not flame each other. Don't get me wrong i love some constructive argument but i have respect for you guys and this is a good bunch of ppl.
i used to do bike racing over in europe, but here you just will end up a ton of tickets and i tend to go street racing once in a while(if you see a black LS driving nuts tinted IT IS ME)lol
as you can see this is my first japanese car so few things change, but getting there by reading and with your help.
living in europe i really got the benefit of taking cars to their max by zooming in and out of mountain roads, 1000feet above see level just hanging on by a rail on the side of the road or else was ION sea.
i guess this explain when i came here and found WIDE/straight roads in canada i was filled with a ton of tickets.
well in a nutshell that is me or my side about cars
later
Besian

btw :cls12vg30 Congrats on your marriage man. Good luck and with a son soon icon_biggrin.gif
_________________
Well i got a '87 200sx (ca18et) totally stock now and looking to move up.
I am from originally from Albania(crazy mothers i know) but i wanna a '87 car to smoke some riced up new stuff, and the good of drifting

ErikHalvorsonJul 5, 2003, 1:06 pm · #21

Name is Erik. I don't like aliases. I was born on the "eastside" of Seattle, otherwise known as Kirkland. It was small back in 1963. Not the YUPPIE-ville it is today. I was into cars at an early age. My first car was a hand-me-down 1967 Ford Bronco. Great car but damn expensive for a high school kid to upkeep. Next car was a rusty and worn out 1969 Datsun 510. I was hooked. I spent a lot of money trying to turn dog poop into ice cream. It got me hooked on auto-X and I learned how to drive really fast around corners in that car. I joined Northwest Datsun Enthusiasts (NWDE) the year I bought it (1982). Drove it for 6 years. Finally admitted defeat and stripped all the good parts off and sent the poor iron oxide encrusted shell to the recycler. Rescued a 1968 510 from the crusher. It was in sad shape and was missing a lot of stuff. I scrounged the local upick bone yards and used the parts I had gotten off the 1969 to get it running. Took it to my bro-poutlaws for a restoration process that would take 2 years while driving back and forth from WAZZU in Pullman WA. In the meantime I bought a 1600 Datsun Roadster and left it stock. I didn't give it the attention it needed to becoem anything great. Got a clapped out 2000 a few years later and then sold the pair of them for $1600. I bought a non-running 1972 2 door 510 for $100. got it running (including swapping the auto for a manual trans) for less than $100. I drove it to school for a year during the 1968 resto. I sold it for $800. I bought a 1974 260Z the last year in college. A/C worked! Fun cruiser car but handled like a pig compared to the 'Dime! Blew the engine in the 260. Built a monster engine (3.2 liter!) It was BADDDDDD! But being young and an idot, I crashed it. Pulled the engine. Block had a crack. piston was scored. Rebuilt a 280 using the badboy parts. Bought another 260 chassis. Realized I was just going to get a bunch of tickets or crash again on the street so I sold it. I used the hot street 1600 I had built for the 1969 (and won soem Auto-X) and put it in the 1968. I started racing ICSCC (anti-SCCA). It was a lot of fun but I learned that I still had a lot to learn about car tuning (engine and chassis) and a lot more $ to spend. I bought everything to build a LZ-24. Got part way and realized I was going to spend over $10k to get the car competitive. Bought a 1993 SE-R new. FUN commuter car. Sold the 1968 510. I was close to tears when it went away. A car club friend bought it. He trailered it to Auto-X events first and then went big time vintage racing with it and won the Champ a couple of years in a row. He sold it to another vintage racer a couple of years ago for over $23k!? I was glad I did have to see it roaming the streets getting abused by some punk that didn't appreciate it. I went enduro kart racing and have been doing that off and on for the last 8 years. Water pump on the SE-R puked at 180k miles and cooked the engine. I swapped in a SR-DET myself. The car might have bee yucky FWD but it was wicked fast. Over 150 mph clocked!!! Yikes! I now live in TriCities WA with my wife and three kids. I sold the SE-R. I bought a 1991 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon. Fun highway cruiser. I am contemplating building a 240RS replica though using the KA instead of the FJ. I am also contemplating doing another 510 with what I have or get another chassis. We will see. check out some of my pictures at my PBASE site:

http://www.pbase.com/erikhalvorson/
_________________
Old Time Datsun Owner that sold them all years ago, turbocharged his SE-R, married, three kids, sold the SE-R, drives a turbo Volvo wagon and now is building an 1972 PL510 2Dr.
http://www.pbase.com/erikhalvorson

PHREEK_NUTSJul 12, 2003, 9:54 am · #22

Well i dont know if anyone will read this but hey here it goes!

well..who am i... HAHAH I am Garret "mutherfuckin" Stamm thats who i am!! a youngen too! I turned 18 january 21st and i have always liked cars, ever since i was a kid i used to biuld those snap together models and hang them all over my room. Hahah and im about the biggest Army brat u will ever hear of. I have never lived in one place longer than 2 years in a row, and there was times i moved 3 times in 3 years. now i am here in good ole Europe, with euro spec cars that and lots of VW Golf Ricers...and hondas, mostly crx's...I HATE THOSE CARS! anyways i have never lived with a mechanic and my dad his own car, like spark plugs and filters, etc. When i put my intake on her was impressed. haha but being here in europe we cant drive untill we are 18 years of age..icon_sad.gif so i had to wiat and save some money, and whil i was "shopping" for cars, i asked this dealer..."Ok now i wnat something fast small and looks good" and he said "sir i have just the thing for you" and it was a Nissan silvia 1.8L Turbo. and i saw it and i fell for it...it was a little pricey, but i WANTED that car. Well turns out i payed waaaaaay too much for it because it turned out the alternator was bad, brakes were bad, and the exhaust manifold was warped and he replaced the gaskets and hoped i wouldnt notice..and i didnt so agter 800 Euros of pain any shop time i got it back, my father never really had a favorite car, he owned a nissan and it was a lemon and made my dad and angry man:( so i was becoming the same when i found out the mani was warped. well after trying to figure out what kinda of car I had and with much confusion, i found out and realized its potential. so i was looking at it and finding my new found hobby was fun!
i started out with audio sytems and lights on a cars and now, people pay me to hook up their cars, which is my only source of income. its kinda of ricey, but it puts upgrades under the hood icon_smile.gif
When i first starting exploring my car, i got confused when the word alternator so I basically started from the ground up. Now the more time i spend on here the more i know and thatys why this place is soo great! i just got a new computer so i dont have any more put if ya want to see it go to my cardomain website, you can se it there
well have fun and happy tuning!
_________________
All gauges right!....except the fuel.
http://members.cardomain.com/phreek_nuts

v6nissantexanJul 17, 2003, 9:28 pm · #23

wow lots of good bio's here from people who know how to type way lots more numbers than me *nudges dan* but I'll give it a shot!

I'm Powers Anderson, 17 (18 in september w00t!) and I'm a Texas national Guardsman, 111th combat engineers (big old HUA to ma homies in the ARMY!). All my life I've been pretty much totally NOT interested in anything automotive, hated the smell of a hot engine, thought oil was an evil thing and tools were just what u used to smash fingers. I was all about airplanes and computers all my life, well still kind of am, I can fly any small aircraft even though I'm not liscensed I know how. I allso build custom gaming computers and do the odd repair work and network installation etc. My dad's is a trucker, so having a semi parked in the yard is nothing new and I became an expert at cleaning anything that had tires. He's allso an evangelist so I've been around or somehow involved with church things all my life too, been a Christian since I was 4. About a year ago suddenly for some strange reason all at once Summit magazine became the most important reading material on earth, motor oil became honey and a wrench looked like pure gold. Got myself a subscription to road n track, baught a tool set and went out looking for cars.

Never in my life had I heard about a Nissan 200SX, for all I knew only sports car nissan/datsun made was the Z cars. Guy I know was talkin to me at the library, yacking constantly about this car down at the lot he was saving up for, and how it had some hot V6 in it and was $1200 and he was about 400 bucks short. Well he made my ear sore about it so much I decided to go look for myself at this supposed wonder of the modern world, drove by and saw it and fell in love with the little car right away. It looked pretty bad, flat tire, hood that wouldnt shut, yellow all over the plastic bumper but at that price I just had to have it and luckily I had just enlisted in the army and could make my payments so I beat the other guy out by a week and signed the papers and limped her home. Little spray on the bumper plastic, straightened out the hood prop stick so the hood would shut, got 4 new tires and its been a constant part of my life ever since.

So far I havnt put in any kind of modificatins but I plan on dropping about at least 2 grand under the hood just for fun. Of course Ive got no clue what I'm doing most of the time but I never let stpupidity stop me I just give it a shot and see what happens. So far its turned out great, got a new alternator installed with no help in only 2 hours. Was bored one day so i searched yahoo for Nissan 200SX V6 once and found christopher's site and he linked me up with club s12 and so now I've got tonz of ppl to help me not blow up my car! Neway hope yall enjoy if u actually didnt fall asleep before i finished.

Oh my other cars are:

1977 Ford LTD2 351W 'ghetto cruiser'
1978 Chevy K5 Blazer 350 big block 370 rear ends 4spd stick lift kit badass mud slinger icon_twisted.gif
_________________
Gimmie my Bible, my Nissan, and my rifle and I'll do fine.

----------------------------------
1987 200SX VG30E 90% stock 80% mint.
1977 Ford LTD 2 "ghettocruiser" 351w V8
1978 Chevy K5 4WD Blazer 350 V8

westside27375Aug 5, 2003, 12:45 am · #24

Well, I've been putting this off for a while now. But today I decided that I should write my bio.

My name is Travis Hatt. I currently reside in Abbotsford, British Columbia. I started life in Williams Lake, BC and lived there
untill the age of 17. I am 21 years old and am enrolled in a program at college called, Computer Information Systems. Once I complete my schooling, in 2 1/2 years, I will have the knowledge to enter into a entry-level postion doing network administration, or other things related to computers.

My interest in cars did not start at a young age. My dad always got me to come and help him work on his trucks, but I never enjoyed it. I started driving when I was 12. My dad tought me how to drive on the gravel roads that surounded the Williams Lake area. It was nessary for me to drive because when we would go hunting, if we spoted anything on the way to our cabin or place where we planed on walking into the forest, my dad would ride "shotgun". I drove only trucks then, and regulary drove at 80 KPH on the gravel roads. Needless to say I got good at learning how to control the truck when ever it broke loose on the gravel. Which happened quite a bit. When I turned 15 I realized that keeping your car in good shape is nessary. So, I started taking shop class in high school to learn more about engines and cars.

posted image

My dad soon realized my sudden interest in cars so he put me to work helping him work on his 1983 Nissan 280ZX. This car was nice. It was the N/A model but had every bell and whistle. Digital Dash, 5 spd, power everything, sexy female voice which kept you in line when ever you left your lights on, and it even had tiny headlight washers. My dad liked the car but wanted something newer so the car was prosimed to me once I turned 16 so that I could have it to drive. I had alot of good memories in that car. My dad and I would drive to Kelowna (a town in BC) in the summer and speed alot to get there sooner and have some fun. The car topped out at 210 KPH.

About one month before my 16th birthday, my step-mom and I were coming home from the grocery store and while waiting to turn left,
some idot ramed into the 280 at 70 KPH. Needless to say, the car was totaled. I emerged with no scratchs, although my step-mom
will have back problems now for the rest of her life. i still miss that car, and maybe one day I will have one.

I got my drivers licence soon after I turned 16 and since the 280 was busted, my dad decide to sell me his truck for cheap. It was a good idea because this particular truck I had been driving on the back road for about 2 years already. I knew how to drive the truck so it was easier to learn the rules of the road. I quickly found out how much different cruising around a corner in gravel and pavement were different....WAY DIFFERENT. The truck was a 1974 Dodge D-100 2wd auto w/318 motor.

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Meanwhile, in school, I had learned a great deal already about motors, drivetrains, chassis, etc. So I started taking metal shop. There I learned how to arc weld and a bit of tig welding. I fabed up a few things for me and my friends. The bigest project I had was redoing my exhuast on the truck. With some help from my shop teacher we put in a cherry bomb and tail pipe that exited right outside of the rear left tire. Nice look to it and nice sound too. Cost me like 30 bux for the muffler and thats it!!

I started delivery driving in the truck, which in the climate of W.L. is good idea (SNOW!!), and I made money doing somehow. Then one glorious day, I decide to show off to my dad and do a huge smoky burnout in front of our house. I had done this many times before, but this time...disaster struck. When I reved the engine and dropped the tranny from neutral into 1st the tires lit up and then KAPOW!!! The truck was still running but it would not move. Both me and my dad figured that the tranny blew up.

All of a sudden I'm looking at a 800 dollar bill that I don't have the money for. Out of the blue that same day, my mom phones me and tells me I can have her car for free if I want it!!! I'm like "HELL YA!!!" So, I sell the truck back to my dad for the 400 dollars he sold it to me for and then got a 1983 Nissan PULSAR for free!!! LOL!!! This thing was the shit!!! All I had to do was grab the e-brake and lauch it in first gear to lit up both tire and create for my friends the biggest smoke shows yet!!!! Especially out of the tail pipe!!!

posted image

Anyways, my dad got under the truck and finds out that the tranny was fine but the rear end was what blew up!! FAWk!!! 200 dollars
later and the trucks working agian!!! I loved that truck and wanted it back. I even told my dad that I would pay him an extra 200 dollars
for the thing. But he did not want an extra vechile in the yard so it got sold for a 1000 bux.

Then my nasty habit of speeding caught up to me. I got a two tickets, which carry points with them, and my licence got taken away for two months. And it had to be the summer months. July and August...I was PISSED!!! While the car was off the road, I worked at a plywood plant on the weekends and made enough money to install a sweet ass stereo. When I got my licence back, I was kickin' it with my stereo and my friends all the time. So much so, that my grades in school started to fall, all except shop and metal!! I wouldn't miss those for the world!!! I get the big bad report card and my dad take my keys away for 3 months!!! I griped about that for a long time. There were so many things wrong with that desicion but it in the past now.

So with the car off the road agian, I rebuilt the motor!! It was nice. My little 1.6 liter was pushing out a whopping 70 hp stock and with the mods I made, it might have been pushing something like 75 hp!!! LOL!!! With the car back on the road agian, after my three month wait, I broke it in. It was not long before the engine started to do bad stuff. I couldn't figure it out so I traded my pulsar, with some kid at school, for a 1984 Nissan 200sx. This is were it all started!! It was like I had just taken a huge step from the cheap and reliable into the expensive but way better looking cars!! This thing had class were my pulsar had...well...nothing!!! I mean the difference was night and day. The 200sx had power widows, fuel injection, front engine/rear wheel drive, cruise control, and even a sexy little voice like the 280zx!! The pulsar had.......a heater!!

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It had some issues, but I solved them quickly and enjoyed driving it around town...there was nothing like it!!! No one else had another one!!
I was the only one with a 200sx in town...it was great!! It had the CA20E and 100HP wich was alot better than 70hp. I moded it a bit. Cut the cat out and put a cherry bomb in place, bought some nice rims for it (which I still have), put a K&N filter in her, installed a stereo, and some fog lights. Then out of the blue, the motor blew up and I had to replace it with a junkyard unit. From here on in, my life when down hill. I got into some bad situtaions and to make a long story short, I got kicked out of my house and had to move down to Abbotsford to live with my mom.

The car sat for about a year, during which it developed gremlims. I also joined the Yahoo Group at this time. I remember you could still buy parts from SE-Nissan, Norris Designs, Tockio Springs, and such at that time. That group help me alot in working out my gremlims. Although I never did get them all out. I finnaly finished high school and decided that I should work for a bit before going to college. I worked as a delivery driver in my 200sx and put about 50,000KMs on it in two years. The car also devopled alot of rust, but I had an new exhuast fited, and tweaked the timing a bit. When the gremlims were not on the rampage, the car ran so good.

But all good things have to come to end. At the end of last year, I got into a car accident and wrote the car off. She was smucked up real good in the front and would have been put on a frame straightner to get it fixed right. For that price I decided to get a new one. I almost decided to buy a S13, but I found a nice little Turbo S-12 for the right price and picked her up early this year.



I should also mention, while I was shopping for the new S12 I drove a 1981 Pontiac Firebird. That was "interesting".

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Anyways, I've been driving the Turbo S-12 for about 6 months now and have never looked back. This car has issues too, as all cars do. The turbo has seen better days aswell as the short block, and the paint. But she is soild, no rust anywhere.
The entire car has been undercoated too. I have lots of plans for her, but untill september, she is my daily driver.

So yeah, that about sums up my car/truck history. I have alot more stories to tell, but maybe later!!

BTW, The pictures provided are not the exact cars I mention. They are other peeps' cars. But they look the same as I had. Expect the truck, my truck was not two-tone but that brown color all the way around.
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Travis Hatt
85 Nissan 200sx w/CA18ET: Stock
1/4 Mile: 16.57 @82.21 MPH
CA20E For Sale

Ron AmundsonAug 19, 2003, 1:09 am · #25

Cars
Hmm, lets see, my wife introduced me to the S12 in 1989. Been playing with them since then. Currently, I've got a 86 with a CA20, just rolled 439,000 miles, and it looks likes its time to have the radiator rebuilt. I've also got a 300Z, and another S12.

My real project car is a 73 Saab Sonett. Some compare it to a shrunken 280Z, but it has a fiberglass body with a 70HP Ford V4, and is guaranteed to create conversations at the gas pump. The big question is the 280Z an enlarged Sonett??? icon_eek.gif

Lastly, I have a 81 Mustang, and a 77 Chevy Station Wagon with a 350 V8. Now if only I could turbo the V8 and add fuel ihjection

School
I majored in physics minored in astronomy and almost chem years ago, but even at the university was doing a fair amount of electronics work. I had numerous offers for grad school, but the lure of cash kept me away. Sometimes I miss not going for the Phd and was not that far away from going after a DO, but thats another story.

Work:
Currently, I run my own turnkey product development company. I've got roughly the equivalent of 5 guys working for me. Our major client for a little over a year has been an automotive electronics firm. However we also do consumer and environmental equipment. I'm the manager and hardware guy, I've got 2 software folks, an rf expert, a gofer, a pcb layout engineer, and outsource manufacturing, tool, model building, and detailed mechanical design. Some days, it seems all I do is answer the phone. But hey, its fun and pays the bills

Previously I worked for sensor companies, automotive, and aerospace, medical and industrial. I also did a stint as chief engineer of a contract manufacturer. In the early nineties, I did some subcontract work with Minardi F1, and got to play with some pretty slick technology and really fast cars. I also worked on some Nascar designs (never made it to the circuit unlike F1), and even ended up being part of the pitcrew one night for a circle track outfit.

Many years ago I worked on airplanes. While I don't have the mechanics license now, I still keep up my commerical and flight instructor certificates.

Driving"
Never raced, never really wanted to, used to enjoy doing high speed low level flights in years past (now thats speed!). Today, if I'm running 180mph at 5000 feet I'm pretty happy. As far as driving, saftey, and speed, learn as much as you can. A young guy has the reflexes to go fast, but not the judgement, or sensory capability. An old guy has the judgement, but no longer the reflexes. The key is to learn as much as you can. Its not just pedal to the floor and go.

A friend of mine taught for Skip Barber, and I learned a great deal about safe driving from him as well as a number of OTR truckers. I also met Bob Pease of Pease Porridge fame, at a conference. He is probably the best analog engineer around. His book, "How not to Drive into Accidents" is excellent. Despite having driven over 650,000 miles with no major accidents (4 deer), I still picked up a lot.

Why an S12
Its interesting, that within my whole engineering group, my youngest employee (1icon_cool.gif has the newest car, a 98 Saturn, everyone else drives something pre 90's. I guess when you work on new cars during the day, you really see the value and engineering that went into the vehicles of old. I looked at a 98 Vette this weekend, tempting at $24K, but then on the other hand, I could really do a lot to my own car fleet for half of that. Or get myself into real trouble with a DMC-12 project. Another thought provoking question, S-12, or DMC-12, or will I eventually get a ??12 whatever that is.

I do get a fair amount of grief from the marketing guys driving an old car, as my S12 is pretty much worn body wise. On the other hand, I know the systems, have the tools, manuals, and spare parts. Whats a little sad, is that the margins on the newer vehicles are so low, that until you reach $60,000 its hard to find anything even close to my 300Z. And I still prefer my S12 as a daily driver over 99% of the new vehicles sold today.

Other stuff:
I used to be an active member of ASTM (the standards group, check out your hoses, plumbing parts, and a wealth of other items, and you will see the logo. Currenly, I'm an active member of IEEE, and SAE. I hope to join the SAE vehicle diagnostics group sometime in the future, but there are a lot of other things to do as well, so that may slide.

Comments on the site
As a newbie, I've learned a great deal. Its cool to see the activity on the board, and all the work thats put into the S12. Plus I really like Barts avatar, and who knows, after the engine rebuild, I'll probably have to order some of Barts Parts!!!
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1973 Saab Sonett V4
1984 & 1986 200SX
1985 & 1986 300ZX

aussie_gazelleAug 26, 2003, 11:04 pm · #26

Hey everybody!! My name is Brandon Clark, and I'm a "S12-a-holic".
I'm 19 and I current go to university, doing an Industrial Design and Engineering course. I love bands like Midnight Oil, The Whitlams, Something For Kate, Silverchair, Weird Al Yankovic, etc. I CAN'T STAND DOOF-DOOF!!! I couldn't list all my favourite movies, but here is a sample: Robin Hood Men in Tights, Austin Power 1, Gross Point Blanke, The Replacements, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Signs, Unbreakable, The Watcher, K-19 the Widowmaker, etc.

My S12 is a Nissan Gazelle - Built July 1985, all disc w/ IRS. White hatchback, with CSA Delta silver alloy wheels and SS exhast - she sounds a treat! Smooth but deep like a V8 I kid you not!

I am currently entering go-kart racing as a means to graduate to Aussie Legend Racing ( www.aussieracingcars.com.au/ ) in a couple of years. Those are basically my racing hopes and dreams. That and turning my current car into a part-time rally machine!!

My girl and I have had a very long history. In fact she's part of the family now! I first spotted her in a local caryard in 1995, and althoughi I was only 11, I was able to convinced my parents to buy it ( like that was hard!). Back then, she was beauty with 180,000 kms on the dial and my parents are both car nuts. From then on, she served as our faithful family car until 2001. All my friends complains about the lack of space on the back seat, but my sister and myself have travelled the round trip from Sydney to Brisbane (1,100kms) around 10 times, and Sydney to Aderlaide (1,450 kms) about 4 times. And I'm not a stuppy little fellow either! But it was all worth it, when I was able to call her my own about three years ago. This is my first car, so I hold her in great admiration (probably why I dont have a social life!)
My aim is to get her to 400,000 Kms without gearbox or engine reconditioning. And if she can hold up past Uni (5yrs) in good condition, I'll use her as my project car.

My driving life has been very good so far. Got my L's on my birthday, passed my red P's test first go, my green P's first go, and not one traffic infrigment to my name... I guess it isn't illegal if no-one sees you. icon_wink.gif Anyway, I only practise SAFE HOONAGE, and it's hard to have an accident in a car like this! As I'm sure you all know, the brakes on the car are beautiful, and IRS grips like a frighten monkey.

All mods on the car came when we first got her:
Stainless steel exhast system
Alloy wheels (being 80's style CSA Deltas, they really suit the car!)

Wanted mods:
Boot carpet replacement - I'm getting a guy to make the replacement out of plastic silver checkerplating. It will look nice!
Tint the windows - the old stuff is starting to bubble.
CA18DET - Damm I wish I had the funds! This one is currently only a dream. icon_sad.gif but you never know how life will turn out...
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'85 Gazelle CA20E w/ 367,000 Kms