Jump ahead a few years, MSA Car Show

My car was finally able to make it to MSA's West Coast Z Nationals held near Anaheim California. I felt the car was in presentable enough condition to justify car show worthiness. I made it for the first time in 2007 with a big showing of people from SinCityZ (www.sincityz.com). As a group I believe we took home 3-4 awards or more! We were there for a few days taking in the California weather and enjoying the Z Cars. The event will be the most memorable of all my events. Just like the first time, you're not exactly sure what you're doing, but it is exciting and thrilling. In the end its all over too soon but you know you want more.

Somehow with my hideous wheels I was able to take 3rd place in the modified category. I was completely shocked I won and to this day dont quite appreciate how surreal that was. Was a great weekend that began my road to car show and (some) awards.

I went for a repeat to the 2008 MSA Z Nationals with much better wheels (Work Meisters S1's) and an overall better looking Z. But, no award this time around. Shortly after the 2008 show the economy tanked, as did our car club. Friends and fellow Z Enthusiast went there own ways and the club began  falling apart slowly. I have yet to be back to the show in Cali due to many things, mostly the car being down for 3 years.

My introduction to the Z Car (show) culture was fun. From there I spent the next 3 years scraping to get by and keeping a firm grasp on my Z as she sat and waiting for the day she would run again. My Z plans to make it back to Cali for 2013. Lets see how that pays out.

The first year: Maintenance, mods and headaches!

The first month or so really showed me what kind of pockets owning a Z would require. I should have known from there on out it wouldn't get any easier. Over the course on the next year I did the typical maintenance and modifications. Well, I did more of the latter as I didn't understand how important maintenance was to these cars. Plus I was young and quite ignorant.

First thing I did was drive! Drove the car everywhere. And why not, it was a joy! I have never had a car that handled and drove so well but was comfortable enough to make a few hour trip out of town. Since it was my daily driver, it got a lot of attention.

I changed out the headlights and foglights for some snazzy Silverstar bulbs. This is before HIDs were affordable. Put in a Sony headunit and got a awesome carbon fiber hood. HAH! It was awesome looking then. I remember how much crap I got on 300ZXClub.com for showing off the hood. I was hounded to paint it on a regular basis.

Did the typical maintenance (oil changes, differential and transmission fluid). I always ran Redline (at the time) in the engine. I thought Race Oil was the coolest thing ever until I realized I was wasting my money!

One day when making a huge ($$$) trip to Meyers Auto to buy more stuff for the car (cases of oil and filters, etc); I see a really nice, shiney all aluminum radiator from CSF. At the time, CSF made a GREAT 2-Row radiator (vs our OEM 1-Row). I knew the Z had a tough time keeping cool in the summer. So I saved up to snag this beauty.

For some reason all my heard earned money got sucked up into maintenance. Some of the maintenance is my own fault, most of it was the Z being cranky.

Countless hours days and nights were spent in my apartment complex parking lot fixing the car. As I have no formal training or knowledge on auto repair. It was a very painful learning experience. I randomly bounce between fixing runability and idling issues like a tennis match. In the process I somehow feel it would be fun to mod more.

In the midst of changing out spark plugs and wiring in new injector clips I send out an upper intake plenum to have it extrude honed. I get the nice, new smooth manifold back in my hands. Before I can even install it I get a dead injector. Being ignorant, I replace just the bad injector with a used one. I then install my upper intake plenum after fixing the injector problem.

Being the fact the plenum was extrude honed, it got a little warped in the process. I had to stand on two corners of the plenum to get it to flatten while my buddy bolts the plenum down.


All this love and attention (though some of it was used parts kind of love) and the  Z began to behave....for a while!

The first month

Got the Z home and couldn't be happier. Had to park her outside since I didn't have a garage and was living in an apartment. But it was covered parking, so better than soaking in the Vegas sun. She of course got a nice, good bath and wax job!

So...the first month! The Z chose to give me a run for my money! Within the first month; the brakes, clutch, alternator and battery chose to die. I went overboard on repairs, but it was well worth it. So the following ended up being replaced:

-Injen Cold Air Intake
-Alternator
-Reman Calipers
-Reman Brake Master Cylinder
-New Slotted/Drilled Rotors
-New Pads
-Reman Starter
-New Battery
-Reman Clutch Slave and Master Cylinder
-New ACT Heavy Duty Street Clutch
-New Fidanza Lightweight Aluminum Flywheel
-Redline Synthetic Fluids (Clutch, Brake, Oil and Transmission)

So my lovely Z chose to suck nearly $3,000 out of me within the first month! I should have known better! Not to mention I also got some what I thought were nice (at the time) 19' Dronell Chrome wheels for the Z. Now of course I look back and laugh. I later found out Dronell wheels were a VIP JDM company. The Z is not a VIP car. So I really screwed up on that purchase.

The Wheels:

So i got these 19" gaudy chrome wheels that weight like 50lbs each with tires. I get these wheels in from a seller on Ebay. Two of the tires which are supposed to be new show up damaged (SOB). So I go and get some Nitto 555's for them. I don't know a damn thing about tires (or cars for that matter). I end up getting what came on the wheels when I got them. Which were 235/35/19, which were way too skinny for the wheels. I end up getting only 2 of them at the time. A few weeks later I am on the freeway taking a new off ramp that (I thought) was open. Apparently the opening for the off ramp was actually guarded by the large round rubber base sections to the large orange road construction markers.

I hit those suckers dead on and damaged both passenger side wheels and tires. Both wheels and tires were lipped really bad. Tires got destroyed and the wheels weren't very happy. At this point I was stuck in a dilemma. I could have the car towed home and not be able to pay rent or I could put on the spare tire and drive home on one bad wheel and tire. Sadly, I had to choose the later. I limped the car home about 6 miles going no more then 15mph on a gimpy wheel.

These lovely (ugly) wheel cost me nearly $2900 after new tires that shouldn't have been needed. Not a good start to the Z car.



AND, the AC died after two weeks! Yay.....


The Z's future and mine started out with the biggest love hate relationship from the beginning! And it will continue to be that way forever!

The story of the Z Car...

The Z started out as a great purchase and I was so proud and happy to finally have one. That didnt last long as the Z-owner bug bit me hard. It couldnt have happened at a worse time either....

My buddy and I were cruising down Las Vegas Blvd when the car began running funny. Lights started to flicker and such. So I decided to shut the car off (While at a stop) and restart the car to see if it might fix any bugs that were causing the electrical issues. That was a bad idea. A dead car on the middle or LV BLVD. Yea...that was a huge mistake! Tow trucks wouldnt come and my buddy had to run into a casino and ask one of the valet attendants if they could help us with there jump box. They did thank god and I was on my way home.

So after a new alternator and battery, I figured I was set for a while with issues.WRONG!!!!

After doing a little spirited driving, I noticed my car began revving much quicker than before...I figured she was opening up and being nice to me! HAH, that was the clutch slipping slightly all the way through third gear!

Then as I am researching the clutch I want to get and spending a week or so researching all my options, I continue to drive the Z and baby the clutch. Then the brakes go out!!! Metal to metal and a caliper seal blew. Yay....

So now...clutch and brakes! But I do have a fair amount of extra money, so I decide to knock out any issues that may be associated with the clutch and brakes. So the minor build begins (and I thought THOSE mods were expensive).

I go with (all new):

-ACT Heavy Duty Street Clutch
-Fidanz 11lb Flywheel
-New OEM Master and Slave Clutch Cyl
-Reman Calipers
-Metal Master brake pads (one of the better, street pads out there. Dusty as hell)
-Cross Drilled/Slotted rotors (I later learn cross drilled is a joke)
-Stainless Steel brake lines
-New OEM Brake Master Cyl

I also opted for a new Injen intake. Big waste of money for what you get, but I was young and dumb! A JWT air filter and SS hardlines are nearly half the cost....all well, my bad!


Of course, being a less than 3 month old Z owner and new to the knowledge of fixing cars in general...I overlook some very obvious and helpful preventative maintenance or upgrades to our cars. So I didnt know I should put in a new rear main seal (and the shop never told me I should either....morons!). Or the obvious clutch pivot ball. But I digress. I also did a short shifter and nismo tranny mount about a year later...should have done that sooner. But, once again...I was a noob Z owner.



So...after another 2K into the car....I figure she is ready to behave and treat me nicely....not the case!!!

Life is a Journey....Enjoy the ride!

The Ride:

So, its around 2pm and I finally get to take the Z on the road for a real feel for her.....which lasted about the length on an on-ramp! Yay for LA traffic! What should take me about 3-4 hours takes me 5-6 hours to get back home to Las Vegas.

So now I get the joy of learning the clutch on the 5 speed in lovely stop and go traffic. Even though the AC worked, it didnt matter. T-Tops were off and windows were down to enjoy and show-off my new baby!

Somehow while in traffic I was playing with buttons and switches and anything I could play with in the car. This prompted the windshield wipers to go on. No big deal, if there were rubber on the wiper blades. Instead of a wiper blade, I had a wiper cutting tool. A nice, lovely, sharp wiper cutting tool that decided to etch two perfectly arced cuts into my otherwise perfect windshield! It was the original windshield I might add!

So yes, when red flags and sirens should have been going off in my head telling me this car is going to be a bad luck money pit....I ignored all the warnings. A new windshield was needed less than an hour after ownership! W00t!!!

The rest of the drive home was lead-footed as you can imagine. The etched window did have a lovely time screwing with my field of view, but it was a great drive none-the-less. Driving 70+, topless in Cali weather...need I say more?

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you all for looking at my blog! Please take a little while to look through my blog site. Read up on what I am doing, check out the photos and absorb all you can about my Z! Love it or hate it, my Z-Car is a build of passion. The last 5 years have been nothing but blood, sweat and tears getting her to where she is! And trust me...it is an iconic Love-Hate relationship!

First, a little about me and then I will give you the basic breakdown of my Z, its history and where its headed....

The Introduction...

My name is Steven Skwarkowski. I live in Las Vegas with my lovely girlfriend who also happens to be a Z-Car lover. I am the fanatic while she just loves them from a "I dont want to do any real work, I just like it".

So, while I have the completely modified, wild and sexy Z....she has the mild, stock, tame (and more reliable) Z. While my Z spends most of its life not running, taken apart, being upgraded or repaired, I could never do without her. I have a grand vision for her, but based on my obsession with getting it exactly how I want....it will be years from now til she is done!


The search.......

I first began looking for a Z32 in mid 2004. I knew I would have to go outside Las Vegas to find a true, decent Z car. I looked all over autotrader.com and anywhere else I could go (this was before craigslist kids). Took me about a month to find a Z I was willing to settle on. She was a 1990 Nissan 300ZX 2+2 in Super White with Charcoal Black interior. Having just over 103,xxx miles, I knew she was perfect....Now...how to get to LA from Las Vegas?


The car...

She was a 1990 Nissan 300ZX 2+2 in Super White with Charcoal Black interior. Having just over 103,xxx miles, I knew she was perfect! A guy in California (LA area) had her. He being the 2nd owner, and his father being the first I felt good. We spoke on the phone multiple times before so I could verify all the details. The car being bone stock in nearly mint condition I figured I had purchased a perfect specimen......HAH! You Z32 owners know what I am talking about. 

Now...how to get to LA from Las Vegas???


The Journey...

So in September of 2004, I took my first trip to go look at a REAL Z Car that I knew would pay off.

I plan to take a flight out of Las Vegas to LA, where the owner will pick me up at the airport in the car. From there we will look at the car and go forward.

I get up extra early to head to the back to withdraw the money I will need for the trip and the car (in case I do purchase it). I failed to remember that the banks dont open til 9am (or so) and you sure as hell cant get $7,000 out of an ATM. I happen to find a branch that opened at 8am.I get there, get the cash. Head back home and have my room mate drop me off at the airport. By this time I am already running late. The ticket line is long as hell and I am panicking...

I jump to the front of the line and ask the guy if I give him $50 if he will let me go in front of him. He did (though the other people were quite pissed off! HAHA!!).

**I must note I was quite cavalier with my money as I had just received a 50K insurance payout.**

I get my ticket, run to the gate and get on the plane! Everything is going great as I am on the flight I needed to be on and on the runway about to head to LA..............then...............we stop!!!!

Yea, the plane stops on the runway!!!! Apparently George Bush was in town to give some speech as he was campaigning for his re-election. Well, his plane was about to land, so all other air traffic must wait! Freaking 45 minute wait!!!!! The damn flight was only 55 minutes total! So as my phone wont work on the plane, I cant call and tell the owner of the Z I will be late.

I arrive late as ever. Dont know my way around the airport and I hope the owner is still there. My cell phone dies so I must use a pay phone to call him (all these signs should have warned me). He picks me up in the Z car as promised. We drive around with the A/C on but windows down (he tells me this is becuase he doesnt want the LA cops to pull him over for his window tint being too dark. To that I say "Fuck You California Laws").

We drive to a nice area so I can look over the car. She appears to be perfectly fine. Everything is as you would expect for a car that was at the time 15 years old. I give her a good 20 minutes and buy her on the spot and drive her home!

Had to fill up the tank, no big deal. Fill her up and on my way...feeling like a Million Bucks!


The Ride:

To Be Continued...