Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself here.
First, thanks Dane for getting me all setup. Much appreciated.
Little background, I come from a family of car enthusiasts. Father is an ASE master tech and owns a shop in Orlando, FL. Brother graduated from UTI and the BMW step program and then went to be a BMW tech at Braman Motorgroup down in South Florida. Me? Well (and don't laugh to much here) I'm coming into only the second vehicle in my life that isn't a Honda (15+). No, I'm not nor have ever been a ricer. No Altezza tail lights, cut springs or fart pipes for me here. The last 4 were Integra Type R's and the most recent being the coveted 97. I've learned those like the back of my hand and had a fully built PY track car that was caged, gutted and so forth.
I'm in the IT field up here in Upstate, SC. Moved from Florida about 4 years ago. Love this year and proximity to the Mountains and great roads.
My coming to a BMW and specifically a ZHP is actually interesting. I knew when I sold my last ITR I wanted more of a "grown up" car. I asked my Brother what his recommendation was (4 door, manual trans) and he immediately said ZHP. I asked what that was and then googled around. Interested in the car I started looking at AutoTrader. In my mind at the time I wanted something with 50-60k miles on it, but after seeing the prices that were being asked for ZHP's I went back to looking for a Honda (Acura TL Type S 6 speed) I looked for about 2 months and those things proved hard to find (wanted a White/Black 6 speed) Just a little over a week ago I received a text from my local buddy who has an E60 M5 6 speed. He's a member of the local BMWCCA chapter and a guy around here was selling a ZHP. I looked over the ad and made a call. Next day I was over looking at it and driving the car. Honestly, at first I wasn't all too impressed, but as the days went by I've found that I absolutely love the car.
Today, I went ahead and did an oil change and got under the car to really take a closer look. There's what looks to be an oil seep somewhere, but no drops under the car. I'll be tracking this down closer as I pull things apart more to do the cooling system in the next month or so. I've also got a random Airbag light that comes and goes and after digging today it appears it may be the passenger mat sensor. I'll likely be inquiring on how to connect to the car myself via OBDII and my laptop. But I've got other things to focus on first.
I also plan to add as much as I can with DIY's, pictures and so forth. I've got access to AllData via my father so if there's anything I can contribute with that, please don't hesitate to ask.
Lastly, everyone likes pictures, right?
PY ITR Track car:
Recent 97 ITR:
And the new Chariot:
And the first thing I did to it, replaced the worn out Alcantara wheel with a Coby re-wrap
Dave