95 Z26

[Z26Beretta315]

I just adopted this car from my a friend of mine several months ago, finally got my hands on a digital camera.  95 Z26 with all the usual options.  I've known the car for most of its life, minus the two years it was owned by a Mohawk Indian before my good friend bought it.

My friend bought the car in 98, we were in High School.  The car always had a major stereo system in it, the kind that stops your heart and not the kind that's just all bass.  Like shoving your head up Slayers backend at a concert.  There was many stages but the final involved a car battery in the trunk and a very large and oversized alternator to power the entire car.  Unfortunatly the car was robbed while at the Chevy Dealer, my friend was having the battery replaced, few months ago he had the entire engine rebuilt and bored out .030, along with replacing the heads, flushing the tranny and raditator.

After High School (2000) my friend joined the army, drove the car when he was stationed near home, otherwise the car was sitting at his grandparents garage.  Then it ended up at his parents, outside in the weather.  He got married, bought a house in Alaska, bought a new truck.  He had planned on the car to be a stereo/show car, but since it had been gutted of its stereo, he lost interest.  He didn't want to sell the car just to anybody, so he offered it to me.  It had been offered to another friend of mine, a motorhead friend who I think was behind the engine rebuild.  But their deal fell through.

So here I am with her.  I'm a fan of muscle cars, and had a 65 Pontiac GTO, which died with a cracked frame.  The value of those cars have gone up so much in the past 6 years, I fear I will never own one, so I see this Beretta as the future classical cars.  My friend took excellent care of the car, mechanically and body wise, so the only rust I have seen is on the underbody, but no where near the actual body (that seam under the rocker panel).

And that's my story.  It also has those neon light bars underneath, but my friend put those on, before it became a trend with all the Fast and the Furious Heads attaching them to their rusted out Honda.  Oh god how many are going to die this summer after watching Toyko Drift, and then attempting to drive on their regular bald tires, not realizing you gotta have those special tires to perform those stunts.  The road is a scary place.

PS:  I'm a truck driver, so I see some SCAARRRYY stuff, including truck stop toilets.

[Asylum]

Very nice.

[wicked-irocz]

looks pretty good, doesnt even seem as if the front bumper is smiling or damaged, how many miles does it have?

[Obsessedw/Berettas]

Looks awesome!

[Z26Beretta315]

Must be the picture angle, front bumper has no damage, no damage all around, minus a screw or something missing from the rocker ground effect.  Has 104,498 miles on it now, engine has roughly 500 miles on it.  The car does have its share of age problems, I think it has the leaky windshield vent thing, still unsure on that.  But in short, needs a new exhaust, gas tank has a leak, rear brakes are shot, and I'm sure could use all new brake and gaslines, and a good undercoating job.  NY uses unbelievable amounts of salt on the road during the winter.

[trumpcard96z]

Looking good, and a good story to back up its history. You came to the right place with help on the stuff that is wrong with it, as most of us have gone through it all.

[Z26Beretta315]

She's slowly collecting a list of things that need to be fixed.  I was warned about the rear brakes, and a leaking gas tank on an 11 year old car isn't uncommon up in my area, the paint job was something my friend did, he always took good care of it, waxed it, had shops do touch up work on it (cause I remember a purple Z26 logo on the side, yet its not there).  But one time he buffed the car with an electric buffer, and swirled the paint.  He worked on it and buffed it out, but with the lack of care I think they've reappaired.  CV joint, well he did pound the car, and so did I, probably why the muffler exploded.  Coolant sensor froze from the car sitting, I pounded on the tank but the floater didn't seem to get un-stuck.

Currently working 70+ hours a week so the car hasn't gone to the shop, figure I'll fix at least the CV joints (replace both, might as well, the other is going to follow its brother), brakes and muffler.  Possible wheel cylinder leak, my brake light started to come on and go off, figured the car had a sensor to say "yo, your rear brakes are missing..." but I checked the fluid and it was actually down.  Haven't had the time to investigate.  Brake pedal holds pressure, but at least on this car the brake has always been kind of funky, like I can press it to the floor (before the rear brakes went) but it has pressure, holds pressure.

The List...

- Rear Brakes are shot
- Muffler is blown
- Gas Tank leaks over 3/4th
- Right CV Joint is clicking
- Paint job looks good from only a distance, needs wet sanding
- Dead Coolant Sensor


3 Months later I learn that the "moonroof" is really a sun-roof, I'm not even sure if my friend / previous owner knew about it, probably did but the fact you gotta remove the glass and shove it somewhere in the car is kind of a pain in the arse.  Probably why they included the spiffy plastic wind visor that pops up when you remove the glass.  That and the "automatic" belts you leave clicked in, and just pop the door.  Puts my old Dodge Shadow to shame.