news 9/24

Wheels and tires all swapped out now, very nice looking.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my car has just started sounding weird.

News 9/8

Have front tires and one wheel, and I'll be ordering the other one next payday. Buying auto parts on a budget sucks. Next comes either exhaust or some suspension upgrades.

Hey look! It's a post!!

So, I took my car to the Nissan dealership out in O-Town yesterday for an inspection (just a periodic look around the car and let me know if some thing's wrong), and had planned to pick it up this morning. So, I head out there at 11 or so, and when I get there the guy tells me their chief mechanic needs to talk to me, but he's on a test drive at the moment. Slightly dreadish feeling there, but it passed.

So he gets back, and tells me that a new guy backed a truck into my left rear quarter panel. I can bring it back and they'll fix it for me over the next week. Also didn't charge for the inspection.

I was pretty calm going through all that at the dealer. Only later in the day did anger kick in. Now feeling angry and in a bit of a funk. If they try to charge me for anything, I will start to get angrier and start to hate.

Edit/update: Repairs took a long ass time, but now everythings okay, and it looks good as new.

Fun car go blah

So, the Twin Turbo 300ZXs come with a rear wheel steering system called HICAS. It kicks in at speeds over 40 mph and turns the rear wheels slightly. This is all well and good, as long as it doesn't malfunction.

Welllllllll, I was driving home tonight, and mine failed. Don't worry, there was no fiery death, nor was there a collision of any kind. Although, now I find myself looking at a kit that will eliminate the HICAS and make my car behave like a normal car.

Also, I discovered that it may be cheaper to just get a custom exhaust made rather than buy one.

Correction

Well, I just found out that in 2000 and 2001, Acura released an Integra Type-R. So, I was wrong about that. Surprise to me.

Addendum

So, whoever put the old wheels on the car last should be fired, re-hired at a lower salary, and fred again. I shouldn't have to take 10 minutes t get one lug nut off. The wheels look pretty nice though, and I have traction. There'll be a picture when I have access to a digital camera.

Hey, I'm posting stuff

Yay, new wheels arrive tomorrow! I have new corner lights that have no amber plastic. Yes, it is important. The front end looks much better without it, and the pattern of the plastic actually matches the pattern on the fog lights.

This is related to those situations I grumble about sometimes. These lights are made by Nissan for Japanese 300's from '99 until the 350 came out (we stopped getting it in the states after 1996). I think they improve the look of the car greatly, and it's only a minor change. There are also taillights without amber, and I will be getting those eventually too, but they're freaking expensive. And then there's the HID headlights from Nismo, but I'll have to sell a kidney for those (how much does a kidney go for these days? Can you install a dialysis machine in a car?).

Anyway, there have been a crapload of cars that have been produced by japanese companies that were never sold in the US. The Nissan Skyline (I really mean the GTR) is one that irritates me the most. Okay, so the most recent Skyline has been selling in this country, labeled the G35, but they didn't have a GTR of that generation. We sort of got the Silvia S14 (that's the generation of the car in the early to mid-ninties) and the 180SX, both as different years of 240SX, but the engine was not as high performing, though larger. Honda has never sent us a Type-r of any of their cars. No Civic or Integra, let alone the NSX (which would be a bit much, but the principle's the same). Toyota has done one of the best job thus far, although the AE86 Trueno is quite a popular car for tuning. It came over here a bit neutered as the Corolla. Aside from that minor note, there's nothing. The Supra was pretty much unchanged, which is a good thing. Oh wait, I fogot about Mazda. They have no major issues. Apparently, RX-8s in the US don't perform as well as the Japanese ones, but I have to look into that one.

Think that's enough of a rant for now? I guess I can stop there.