Damn. This weekend the time finally came, and RZ2 kicked RZ1 out of the driveway, and on to her new home. Here she is, loaded up, and ready to go .... So my future plans for her are now nothing but dreams, and I have 10 years of mostly great memories. - April 2000 - RZ1 was purchased, before the forum was born. - May 2000 - PTU died, of course I didn't know what the reason was; no forum to draw on! - June 2000 - PTU fixed (thank you Z Shop), and a new problem - in trying to get her registered for the first time, I found that the scumbag importer had not complied the car properly. Hassles, arguments, and threats! - July 2000 - Compliance paperwork gets completed, car regoed for the first time, and the fun begins. - August 2000 - first dyno run ... 159rwkw. - September 2000 - FORUM DISCOVERED!!! Joined as member #74. - November 2000 - first drag strip runs - best of 14.23 @ 98mph. First forum dyno day, 161rwkw. - February 2001 - first advanced driving day at Calder Raceway. - Easter 2001 - first Z Nationals, but as a spectator only due to knee operation 2 days before. - July 2001 - first full on track day at Sandown Raceway. - December 2001 - drove Melbourne - Perth - Melbourne, with plenty of side trips. Totalled about 9000km in 4 weeks. Heater core died on the Nullarbor, bypass done in Perth. - November 2002 - Noltec front upper camber arm failed at 100kmh - spin - ripped front left hub off. All fixed, and reverted to stock uppers. - Easter 2003 - Z Nationals in Brisbane. Didn't compete, but drove up and back. On the way back a truck reversed into the bonnet, leaving no details. Bugger. She was only insured for fire/theft/third party at the time - bugger again. However, the end result was the Border bonnet heading my way. - November 2003 - created the "Z Camp" at Bathurst - attending the second 24 hour Bathurst race. Some good memories there ..... - Easter 2004 - First Zedfest in Gilgandra. - November 2004 - First trip to Berri for the SMASA show and shine. Zed developed a water leak on the run home. - December 2005 - Engine out for the first and only time in my ownership. Water leak fixed (metal pipe at rear of engine), saw that the turbos were not in a good state, but no budget to fix. - March 2005 - Broke 1st gear coming home from the drags. - Easter 2005 - Z Nationals in Goulburn. Competed in sprints only, but not hillclimb as 1st gear was still broken. - October 2005 - First day+night track day, Calder Raceway. Something different! - March 2006 - Calder Rally Masters event. 3rd in class, great event. Pity it wasn't carried on given the number of tarmac rally events happening now. - Easter 2006 - Second Zedfest in Coonabarabran. - November 2006 - 2nd in class at NDSOC concourse. the Z was starting to look good! - February 2007 - GOR run .............. uh-oh. Bang, smoke and unfortunately, that was that. I decided that the time was right for a full on rebuild - motor, respray, etc etc. Made a BIG mistake though - RZ2 was advertised for sale with all the motor mods I wanted, and a car with a lot less k's. RZ2 was purchased for less than the cost of the motor rebuild, and RZ1 was consigned to occupying space on my driveway, to be recalled if I gave RZ2 a serious bump during a track day. However, RZ2 turned out to be a lemon. The motor, although looking and behaving extremely well in the pre-sale inspection, had either cracked head/s or block, plus a front end hit that needed some straightening. To this day I regret not spending all the RZ2 money on RZ1, as I'm sure I would have had less heartbreak, more satisfaction, and in the end, more money in the bank. However, decisions were made, and we have to move forward .... So RZ1 continued to sit silently, faithfully, in my driveway. A failed deal with ZX2NV came and went, and all the $$$ went on getting RZ2 mobile - twice - and now a third time to come! Unemployment then happened this year, and some rational, rather than emotional, decisions were required. And recently the ideal opportunity presented itself. I'm sure I would be better off financially if RZ1 had been scrapped and I sold all the bits off, but there are plans afoot with her new owner to see her running the streets again. I'll be pleased to see that happen instead! So from 2000 to 2007, I travelled over 170,000km in RZ1. We drove to Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Zedfests and Z Nationals, whale watching trips to Eden, plane spotting at Temora, hot air ballooning at Canowindra and Mildura, Clipsals in Adelaide. Quite a few track days, drag days, and I was introduced to hillclimbs and motorkhanas. Although I broke first gear twice - perhaps drag strip caused, there were very few down days due to mechanical mayhem. the motor never let me down until that GOR run. The only mods to the motor were boost jets taking her from 9psi to 12psi. We saw the power improve from 159rwkw to 207rwkw over the years, and drag times went from 14.23 @ 98 down to a best of 13.66 @ 106. Her last act of defiance, and an attempt to stay with me, was to ensure the winch strap broke getting her on to the trailer!!! Quite a few parts from RZ1 have been swapped onto RZ2 so the "look" will continue. The Stillen front bar, Border bonnet, Recaro seats, Momo steering wheel, Navan shifter and other bits and pieces have moved to RZ2 already. RZ2 carries on the ZZZZX rego plate. Many other bits will be kept as spares or sold off to help RZ2 reach the goals I am seeking for her. You'll see some of them coming up in ZRFS. The pics below are from my archives, and represent various good times and changes over the years ...... RZ1 sitting on the wharf in Japan, late 1999. At this stage I didn't know about RZ1, or even that I would be getting a Z, I was trying to do deals on E34 BMW 535's at the time. Glad I ended up here! One from the early days - my first track day at Calder, in 2001. So who here remembers the Gaffa Tape Front Bar?????? Back before "hooning" was the political animal it is today, I lent my Z to Santa to make some Xmas cards. Guess this sort of thing is not politically correct nowadays, so Santa drives a red Hyundai and is usually late every year now .... On the way to Perth, December 2001. Scenic shot by the Swan River with the Perth skyline as a backdrop, January 2002. We did have a winter cruise in Victoria one year! Lake Mountain, 2003. Longer term forumites will remember Lou - here she is lined up with me for a "start" in the 24hr race. OK, OK, so it was the morning after! First Zedfest - Gilgandra, 2004. RZ1 is 3rd row from back, 3rd from right. Dyno Day at Berri in 2004 - 207rwkw. Nothing more done to the motor after this. A bit of photo fun with Ben's sunnies and my Z on the way to the 2005 Z Nats at Goulburn. See you there again next year! Dragday at Heathcote - running high 13's. My fastest times were run at Calder about 3 months later. 2005 NDSOC Concourse. Paint looks more orange here - different settings, maybe different camera??? Lining up for a run round the Calder Thunderdome as part of the 2006 Rally Masters. I see red, I see red, I see re-ed (apologies to Split Enz). Red corner down at Eden for some whale spotting organised by IB. Cruising back from that Eden weekend. Probably as good as she ever looked, at the 2006 NDSOC concourse. Needed some touch up on that front bar though. The Modenas went to partly fund the Racing harts on RZ2, and here RZ1 is sitting low on her Racing gear coilovers, now back with me. So, RZ1, goodbye and good luck. I hope your new owner gives you a better life than I have over the past 3 years. Cheers, Mikey.
Memories, bring a tear to my eyes Memories, bring a tear to my eyes Just wonder how many of these zeds are still with their owners. I remember the very first NSW cruise when my zed was OEM standard. Hay idea, those forum members who have had their zed for many years each 7 year should post a history of their single zed car's life of ownership. You know like the seven-up series. Please see my post Seven-Up ... Seven plus years of zed ownership ... the story of my zed
Ahh the old girl mikey... I still remember the front bar of RZ1 being held together with ocky straps in the early days when I joined the forum Its hard to let a car that you have had for so long move onto another owner.... Can you tell us who the new owner is?? May he / she revive old RZ1 to former glory... Cheers
I attended that Zedfest with my Dad, back then I didn't even have my l's... he sold his about 2-3 years ago, and i purchased mine one year back... guess i got bitten by the bug :zlove:
I'm amazed you're letting her go mate. I thought it might get fixed up eventually. Now what about that Starion
Starion? You mean the Cordia. That went about 2 months ago. Unfortunately unemployment brings about hard decisions. Next one to be up for sale is the Magna Sports, but there is some fun to be had at the Nissan vs Ford DECA day first . The Magna will be an honorary Nissan for the day, and the handrake and traction control will be tested!
very nice write up mikey, was a nice zed you had there. i love the santa card thats awsome haha. some great events uve had with it too, may rz2 bring u more happiness
yes cordia, that's what i meant! hahaha oh man the smoke pouring off the tyres of that magna. can't wait to see pics of it back in action.
Aah Mikey. Sorry to hear RZ1 has gone. I actually thought that during this time off that you might have considered moving all the parts back to RZ1 to restore her to #1 zed, and then have RZ2 as the backup shell. But looks like this isn't going to be the case. Keep your chin up. You never know when RZ3 might pop up!
it's like a part of the family, hopefully th new owner brings it back upto scratch and keeps you in the loop. nice write up
Hey Col, if a third Z does pop up in the future, it's more likely to be Z3S or Z3G, rather than RZ3. I have a personal preference for Z32 verts to be silver or gunmetal rather than red ... I think!! I will be waiting to see what the govt does with the proposed 90 day club rego rule, although its still 4 years until RZ2 becomes applicable. That club rego for enthusiasts will make owning multiple cars of a certain age more affordable, and much more practical than the current system. I thought long and hard about reviving RZ1 and losing RZ2 instead. However, both cars had their issues, and in the end the fact that RZ2 probably has 150,000 fewer k's on her was the clincher. That, plus the work already to RZ2 that was not yet done to old faithful. The other alternative of the L98 V8 conversion to RZ1 fell off the perch a couple of months ago, but I won't rule that out as a possibility for RZ2 in the future. I think RZ2 will be a better proposition once some decent suspension underpins everything. I would have loved having a 6 litre Z and a TT Z to choose from!
They're all targa's. Good write up. Some fantastic photos and events being covered. Have to love the taped up front end, first time seeing that heh.
What a great love story! It's this sort of thing that sets us zed owners apart. Thanks for that mike. Now you have me thinking of getting another one now that mines nearly finished!
Yes I must admit it did look a little sad sitting there in Geelong with a lot of bits missing. But life goes on etc etc. HOWEVER I will never forgive you for making me unbolt ALL the calipers and THEN selling them ON the car. My aching back. :mad2: :mad2: :bash: :bash: Not really, wasn't a bad day but.
I'm betting it was Ashhh. Between the Geelong reference and this thread (http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302710) all the pieces are seeming to come together... Regardless, looking forward to seeing RZ1 alive again whoever owns it!
