are you crazy?!? you bought your daughter a high performance sports car for her first car, much less one that will be destroyed if she gets in an accident. Dude you need to take a second look at the situation your putting your kid in, i'm not telling you what you should or should not do, but this was a very poorly thought out idea.

 

What could happen.... though i dought a woman would speed like that.....but they defenatly are much worse at driving so you never know..........

 

It wasn't that well thought out. I stumbled across it very cheap, and had the money. Originally bought for myself (midlife crisis maybe?) but started teaching my daughter to drive in it (auto). She expressed interest in the car, and is putting in the time and effort helping me repair and bring back to usable condition. For having a car I can work on instead of a newer one I can't, and the money was right....I only have about 2500 in the car... The car is by no means a collector, it's just going to be a daily driver. It might be famous last words, but I feel she is responsible enough for the car. I drove several other cars looking for something that felt as if it would survive a a crash as well as these cars, and everything else felt as thought it would definitely collapse under even a low speed crash. Most sporty cars (looks, not necessary performance)made nowdays don't have a chance in an accident. Maybe I should have left that line off the post about it being for my daughter. I've gleened alot of info from this site, and I thank you all for it as well as the concern for my daughter and the car.



Post Edited (Apr 7, 6:32pm)

 

people just like to be assholes over the internet don't worry..she'll be fine...i guarantee a girl is not going to be more of a lead foot than notsuperbbutz when he was 16. i need to find pics of my 81zxt that was metallic bronze....new paint in the sun..stunning..that sharp edge ont he door in the sun...upper half was a nice metallic...lower portion was darker...with the same gold snowflakes wheels...man i miss that car. the only thing that scares me is how small these cars are compared to the larger rigs on the roads these days. just teach her to expect that half the drivers on the road are incompetent and are gonna come over on her, pull out in front of her, or not stop behind her when she is braking hard (cause they will) and she'll be fine.



Post Edited (Apr 8, 3:56am)

 

well im a 17 year old male (i'll be 18 April, 9) and i bought my z for my 16th birthday ive been driving it for 1.7 years now and have so far had no tickets/accidents/ect...... and i have done PLENTY of stupid things...... so your daughter lacking the testosterone should be fine......oh yea and midnight blue /w black int. sounds good!!

 

Only you know if shes ready for this type of car, if nothing else restrictions on WHO drives it, IE boyfriends, as far as paint......if its hers let her pick it out. These cars have almost no protection in a crash.

 

good point...just tell her no boyfriends are to drive it!.........mine let her boyfriend drive her buick that I spent an ENORMOUS amount of time fixing up for her...and totaled it...then I had to have to look at it for 2 months afterwards...grrrr

 

I'm an ass hole!!! ill tell ya a quick story about my experience. My sister, 19, going to a university to become an environmental scientist, ambitious, outgoing, funny, my best friend, talked my folks into buying her a 300zx turbo auto because it was "pretty." her first car was an 87 volvo box 740 auto, which she drove like an old maid, i remember because she used to drive me nuts when we would go somewhere together, she drove her zx the same way, and only drove it from work and back to her dorm. She was coming home one night and mashed the pedal to make a yellow light, the back end cut out, she lost control and dumped it into a stump on the side of the road, she was pronounced dead at the scene, and since i live the closest i had to go and identify her body, which i couldnt, the only way i knew was from the car, and her id in her wallet, the crash was under 35 mph. She underestimated the car because she didnt have enough experience behind the wheel of something like that and she was 19. What i'm trying to get to here is it's not even worth the chance, your daughter i'm sure is worth a lot to you, and it doenst have to be street racing to get you, it can be pure inexperience like it was with my sister testosterone didnt have anything to do with it. So the next time you decide to call someone an as holle bamal6 you'd better check yourself at the door first. I wouldnt wish having to go through that experience of identifying a loved ones body to even my worst enemy.

 

The best advice one father can give another father - paint it the color SHE wants. You bought it for her, remember. It's not up to someone else to decide what color to paint her car. Let her chose. And as for a girl driving a high performance sports car - remember Janet Guthrie, Danica Patrick and all of the other female race car drivers. Not all women drivers are bad drivers. And a ZXT is not so hard to handle once you get used to it.

 

NotSuperBbutZ : Sorry but you are the foolish one here.

I'm not bashing on your sister, I'm sorry for your loss....But if she was in a 300ZXT and was on dry pavement there is no way she could get the back end squirly at 35MPH.....I have owned a 300ZXT and it just won't happen under regular driving conditions......I'd rule that one out to driver error, not the car.

The ZXT was a high performance car back in its day.....Now regular Honda Civics can keep up with a stock or even mild ZXT.

Its a sporty car, but by no means a "high performance" car in stock form.

P.S. This is coming from a guy who got a pretty modded Z for his first car, and currently owns a modded 280ZXT.



Post Edited (Apr 7, 7:33pm)

 

ok then, so i guess it's foolish to be safe my bad.

 

No, it is foolish to be overly safe.

**** happens sometimes, and there aint a **** thing you can do about it.

If the car does'nt get you, the fast food, ciggarettes, or 100,000,000 other things out there will.

 

Funny how these threads go off track so quickly. No need to bash or get offended here. Everyone is just trying to garner information and learn what they don't know, unless they are trolling.

NotSuperBbutZ: I too am sorry for your loss. There is never a time when anyone should have to go through what you did. I too have lost people close to me, but not family though, to accidents. Seems it can happen no matter what you drive.

As far as other sports cars,even the Mustang with a v-6 now seems like alot of car. She wanted a car that not alot of other students have, and has fell in love with this one, and is even putting in her own sweat in equity in it.

 

My daughter is 16 she doesn't drive the ZXT because of the shifting (any auto turbo for even trade?) so she drives my loyal camaro, she knows, I told her the consequences of flooring a crude car with extra ponies, even showed to her...any person can drive any vehicle as long is teached well ..then bad decisions hard times.

 

What kind of condition is your 5 speed turbo in?

Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

I would lower the boost on your daughters car until she has a few more years experience behind the wheel. I wouldnt tell her either.

 

Boost already lowered.... 3psi max for now.

 

how can you lower boost lower than what the factory wastegate is set at?

Unless you took the wastegate apart, you cant go below 5-6.

 

Limited by fuel supply, atleast thats what my fuel injection mechanic told me. I did not take wastegate apart. The fuel injection system is the one part I'm not comfortable working on just yet.



Post Edited (Apr 7, 8:32pm)

 

Really the biggest factor in "if the car survives" is that girls tend to distract easily (and boys in same/other ways). Phones, friends in the car, the radio, and other factors can kill her, it probably will not be the power or the car itself (that and never trust other drivers to be smart).
The ZXT makes only 180 BHP on the stock 5.5psi. I don't see how the car is fuel limited as ZXT does not have that function (you need to find a real Z-car shop). The stock system will support 10psi boost level with intercooler.

The best thing is if this car is a 2-seater (less room for trouble making "friends" in the car.

I would train her well, before sending her out on her own, and by that I mean really teach her how to really drive it. Don't just act like this is a normal car, teach her how really use a sports car. I am not saying that she will drive that way, but teaching her what to do if the rear breaks loose, what “roll oversteer” is (remember the rear suspension is semi-trailing arm!), and how to drive a non-ABS car; she will be safer knowing what some say that "only street racers" know. Maybe send her to a “high performance” driving school at a race track.

Also, get some good high-end speed rated tires! I speak from experience; you will regret having low-end tires on a sports car!

Tell her you will kill her, if the car gets damaged (weekly inspections?), if anything less than premium gas is used, and if she parks next to other people (dings).

I would also give her the Nissan Factory Service Manual (FSM), some Z-car history books, Mr. K's book, and have her know as much about Nissan and the car (zhome.com has reading list). This will give her more understanding of the car and give her an appreciation of Nissan.

I don't know where you are, but I would volunteer to look at the car and do some one the road driving instruction. I have been working on these cars for many years. I also have parts for this car.



Post Edited (Apr 7, 9:26pm)

 

Rocky,
Lotsa good colors out there but only one that she wants and that's what counts. Remember, it is only a car even if it is a pedigreed ZXT.

As for kids with fast cars, my experience with a 17-year old testosterone laden son and a 17 year-old-estrogen driven daughter proved that my son's respect for the Z car we both drove and loved far outweighed my daughter's nonchalant (and fatal, for the car) attitude about her mother's Subaru.

Everybody predicted my son would find some way to wrap the car around a tree while showing off but nobody warned me that my daughter would space out and drive straight into traffic while blithely chatting with her girlfriend.

The Z lives, the Subaru is long since recycled junk and I guess the moral is that mutual respect far outweighs "common sense."
Good luck with your Z and your daughter.

 

I think your mechanic is blowing smoke up your ass.

Boost is not controlled in any way by fuel supply. You can take the stock injectors (which run lean at 10psi) and spool a turbo up to 30PSI (and blow the engine).

If he somehow managed (I don't see how he possibly could) to limit the fuel supply so that the engine could not handle anything above 3PSI, you are going to be looking at a blown motor.

The ONLY way you can reduce the amount of boost would be to jam the wastegate wide open....Which would make it run PIG RICH if she ever tried to accelerate at any reasonable speed.

 

i'm just saying...your approach of telling a grown family man "but this was a very poorly thought out idea." is not too tactful. who are you to tell him the choices he makes are not right? i'm sorry to hear of your sister...no one should have to do what you did. the way your fist post was worded was pretty jerkish....there would be other more effective ways to present your side of the story. take care man..not meanin any hard feelings here...never do...we're just typin on the internet


you can bend the wastegate bracket foward....not very technical...but this makes the amount of air that has to come in the expand the diaphram to open the wastegate a lot less. then get a MBC to control raise it (for you) from there.

EDIT: foward mens back i guess..just bend the bracket towards the hot side of the turbo a little more...not a whole lot..just a little..then test drive and see how much that lowered it..if not happy tweak it again til desired boost is reached.



Post Edited (Apr 8, 7:57am)

 

Its always best to repaint a car the origional color. As soon as you open the hood, door, or hatch you can instantly tell its been repainted. That being said, if you must change the color, and you like blue, your MUST check out Ford Sonic Blue used on Mustangs a couple of years ago. That and Corvett Admiral Blue are the two best looking blues out there. Pay extra and have the door jams, and as much of the rest of the car repainted as you can.
Now as far as what eveyone else is saying, I bought a Jaguar XKE right out of college and quickly learned it was a rich mans toy and I wasn't rich. Wish I still had it but I traded for something more managable as far as maintenance cost. While not as exotic as an XKE, an old Z will need TLC and it sounds like you're already on top if that. My 83 ZX was my daughters in highschool. She cramed into the rear of a car and had to replace the hood, fender and I dont remember what else. She only had libility insurance so she had to foot the bill for repairs. Just let your daughter know its gonna cost thousands of dollars for accident repairs if she crackes it up and to drive carefull. My other daughter fried the motor in her 88 Surburban because she "did'nt know what all those guages mean". So, along with driving lessons, vehicle operation lessons are in order.

 

I think your daughter will have more respect if she feels it is her car. At some point in time I'm sure all of us were quicker to ruin something that was not ours vs. something that was ours or had an infulence in. Letting your daughter chose the paint color may give her a greater respect for the zxt knowing she took part in it. I also think it would be a good idea to take her to an open parking lot when its a clear day and have her brake hard, turn and mash throttle, or swerve serverly, etc. Then the next time it rains let her do it all over again so she will get an understanding of what happens when performing the same actions in poor weather conditions. It may also take some of the fear and uncertinty away if she finds herself in a similar situation on the street. Although your daugther may have a respect for the car not everyone else will try and keep her from letting other people drive and if she has a cell have her call anyone before she gets on the road. Also remember that you have a huge influence on the driving while talking on the phone if she sees you do it why can't she?