New member in Northern VA

[seabassx]

Hi all,

New member here up in Northern VA. I don’t own my ZHP yet, but I’m working on it. Been looking for probably about 6 weeks, mostly around here but also keeping an eye on Craigslist nationally in case anything amazing were to come up. Looked at a few cars but also just trying to get a feel for the market.

I used to drive a 1998 B5 A4, but she got wrecked one sunny day while parked in front of my house. I’d been wanting to get into something a bit newer and RWD for a while and the E46 has always been “the” 3-series for me, so I’m taking this as an opportunity. In the meantime, I’m DDing an utter beater that I got for free from a friend by getting it to start (needed new battery and junkyard ECU). It’s literally the worst car that I’ve ever driven and Edmunds thinks it is worth less than $0, but I’m willing to suck it up while looking for a great car rather than just buy the first one that comes along.

Thanks for having me here and I promise pics when I finally get a car. :)

[Oli77]

Good strategy! Wait till you find what you want.

Welcome and hope you get into this ultimate driving machine soon (its a pleasure).

Pics of the beater?

[danewilson77]

Welcome

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

[johnrando]

Welcome. GL w/search.

[Avetiso]

Welcome! Check out the classifieds on the site, lots of new and active postings there.

[ELCID86]

Welcome. Had quite a few popping up here lately. One of those Jersey boys just took one away this week. I got mine in Manassas in Apr. Good luck with yur hunt.

I'm in Stafford.


Shawn in VA.
Via thumbs and Tapatalk.

[seabassx]

Thanks all!


Pics of the beater?
I... never though of that. It would make for an amusing signature until I get my real car if nothing else, maybe I'll take one or two this weekend.

[BCS_ZHP]

Welcome! What part of NVA are you in? Post up your desired attributes in a ZHP and Elcid86 (Shawn) can add it to his daily search.

[danewilson77]

Welcome! What part of NVA are you in? Post up your desired attributes in a ZHP and Elcid86 (Shawn) can add it to his daily search.

Can throw it here as well.

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

[kayger12]

Welcome

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[BavarianZHP]

Nice. Good luck on the search! I too came from a horrid, death trap of a beater but you'll surely only appreciate the ZHP more. Trust me, make sure you find a well maintained one - you won't regret it.

[ELCID86]

... Post up your desired attributes in a ZHP and Elcid86 (Shawn) can add it to his daily search.
Who me? (Grin)

[seabassx]

Welcome! What part of NVA are you in? Post up your desired attributes in a ZHP and Elcid86 (Shawn) can add it to his daily search.

Thanks! Fairfax County, couple miles south of Tyson's Corner.

I went ahead and posted a WTB thread (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?10421-WTB-6MT-ZHP-sedan-on-East-Coast) rather than cluttering up the new members space.

[Yass_ZHP]

Welcome :)

[fredo]

Welcome, kind sir ! In the mean time, pics of such beater or it didn't happen. :biggrin

[SoarinZHP]

Trust me, make sure you find a well maintained one - you won't regret it.

And everyone said, "AMEN!"

[seabassx]

Welcome, kind sir ! In the mean time, pics of such beater or it didn't happen. :biggrin

Here she is:
9478
2001 Saturn SL1 with 170K miles. 100 horsepower when new and can't get out of her own way.

Like I said, picked it up for $parts by getting it to drive. Car wouldn't crank at all and the problem had been diagnosed as bad ECU (I think Saturn calls it a PCU) by my friend's mechanic, but the cost to replace it was prohibitive at over $1K. He had a new car already and said I could have this one.

Everything I read online told me that if you think your problem is a bad ECU, it's probably really a wiring or ground issue, but I cleaned all connections and got nowhere, so I thought I'd chance it. Picked up an ECU by mail from some Saturn junkyard down in FL for $85 and new battery for $90 (car had been sitting so long that old one was completely dead). Put it together and it fired right up after going through the procedure to sync the new ECU with the security system.

Mods:
Cruise control delete (hardware is there, just does nothing. Probably due to junkyard ECU).
Check Engine Light illumination (lets me know the bulb for the CEL display is working. Also probably from ECU mismatch).
Mirror glass reinforcement (passenger side glass is glued in place, doesn't adjust)
Master key: Sometimes security system gets confused and needs battery disconnected for a bit to start. I keep an 8mm wrench in the center console for this, although I think I managed to stop it from happening by locking with key rather than remote.

I actually looked at getting the ECU reflashed to be correct for this VIN, but the tech advised that he was pretty surprised this worked at all and there was some chance it would just kill the car.

Also has four mismatched tires. Thankfully, my drive to work is super-short and I just take the wife's car if going anywhere far.

[Stigissimo]

HOLY SHEET Those are some sweet mods! Welcome, you'll find a ZHP in no time.

[fredo]

Another proof that Saturn made really good cars ! Glad to hear you spent little money to make it run. Thanks for the pic.

[imola red zhp]

Welcome

sent from my Personal Electronic Device

[seabassx]

I did it! Missed out on a great-looking car in CA and was feeling bummed out, but then found one in my own back yard. Saw it just a couple of hours after it went up on Craigslist and went out to test drive it as soon as the owner was available. Bought on the spot.



Apologies for the one crappy cell phone picture in a garage. I need to take real photos at some point. 2004 ZHP sedan with cold weather and xenons, 84,000 miles, black on black leather with black cube. 2 owners with BMW maintenance through end of CPO and then a local BIMRS independent. Seems totally solid mechanically, but will be up for cooling system and suspension refreshes at some point (I built this into my internal “price”).

Things to do:
1) Change all fluids
2) CDV delete (during fluid flush)
3) Clutch stop
4) Look into cleaning up steering wheel. It’s not ratty like some ZHP wheels I’ve seen, but sort of the opposite – it seems like it either been worn smooth or is just totally matted down with oils. I’m going to try the Coby advice on cleaning Alcantara, then probably go for a rewrap if that fails.
5) Might replace shift knob as there seems to be a bit of a bubble between the clear part on top and the shift pattern.

Driving is such a joy now – need to find some trips to go on.

[fredo]

Congrats ! That car looks sharp. Enjoy !

[Avetiso]

Nice! Congrats, and looking forward to more pictures.

[ELCID86]

Nice. Congrats. When is the NOVA Meet-UP!?!

[WOLFN8TR]

Welcome...

[johnrando]

Awesome. And, black too! :thumbsup

[Vas]

Nice to have another member in VA.

[danewilson77]

Welcome

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

[bimmergofast]

Very nice!

I had the bubbled shift knob when I got mine, eventually the whole plastic insert popped off on a hot summer day. Replaced with one that has been modded for illumination, found on eBay from a guy in Germany. Looks sweet, and adds at least 4hp!

[330i ZHP]

welcome

[seabassx]

Very nice!

I had the bubbled shift knob when I got mine, eventually the whole plastic insert popped off on a hot summer day. Replaced with one that has been modded for illumination, found on eBay from a guy in Germany. Looks sweet, and adds at least 4hp!

Hah, maybe I'll just wait for that. I heard they can be a pain to pull off (just that you pull and pull and pull and eventually it pops off and hits you in the face).

I promised my wife I would do her car's oil and brakes before getting into work on this one and it's just killing me to not be able to start getting at this list of things to do.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Welcome.

[Damian]

I too had my bimmer run into and had to get a beater to drive as my dd. The weird part? Mine is also a Saturn...98 SL2 with 280,000 miles (no joke). It was my mom's from day one passed down to my sister. It had a faulty door lock switch that kept killing the battery so she just let it die in her driveway for the past year and a half. This required new tires, oil change, brake fluid flush, new battery, new door lock switch and windshield wipers which I am convinced are killing the HP on this beast. Glad you found a ZHP.


Here she is:
9478
2001 Saturn SL1 with 170K miles. 100 horsepower when new and can't get out of her own way.

Like I said, picked it up for $parts by getting it to drive. Car wouldn't crank at all and the problem had been diagnosed as bad ECU (I think Saturn calls it a PCU) by my friend's mechanic, but the cost to replace it was prohibitive at over $1K. He had a new car already and said I could have this one.

Everything I read online told me that if you think your problem is a bad ECU, it's probably really a wiring or ground issue, but I cleaned all connections and got nowhere, so I thought I'd chance it. Picked up an ECU by mail from some Saturn junkyard down in FL for $85 and new battery for $90 (car had been sitting so long that old one was completely dead). Put it together and it fired right up after going through the procedure to sync the new ECU with the security system.

Mods:
Cruise control delete (hardware is there, just does nothing. Probably due to junkyard ECU).
Check Engine Light illumination (lets me know the bulb for the CEL display is working. Also probably from ECU mismatch).
Mirror glass reinforcement (passenger side glass is glued in place, doesn't adjust)
Master key: Sometimes security system gets confused and needs battery disconnected for a bit to start. I keep an 8mm wrench in the center console for this, although I think I managed to stop it from happening by locking with key rather than remote.

I actually looked at getting the ECU reflashed to be correct for this VIN, but the tech advised that he was pretty surprised this worked at all and there was some chance it would just kill the car.

Also has four mismatched tires. Thankfully, my drive to work is super-short and I just take the wife's car if going anywhere far.

[BeachBody]

Welcome...:hi