A trip down Memory lane

Tue Feb 2 12:43:39 EST 2016

Since there has been a lot of sadness on this list lately, I figured I would reminice about my SE-R story.  I might have shared this once before, but here it goes.  Long read I guess.

Back in Sept / Oct of 1990 I was desiring a new car at the ripe age of 17.  I had been driving my parents clean 1985 Nissan Sentra XE 4 door.  It was a comfortable car, but hardly fun.  Powered by a carburated 1.6L SOHC, 2v 69HP beast paired with a 3 speed automatic.  0-60 yes.  That, engine did not like to rev.  I doubt it ever saw over 4k RPM.

I was working, going to school part time, and could afford something modest.  I wasnt interested in a new car for the sake of a new car, I wanted something fun, sporty.  What I really wanted was a Mustang LX 5.0 or a Camaro IROC Z, but neither of those cars I could afford.

I had narrowed my choices down to the Honda Civic Si, which with 109HP would have been a nice upgrade.   My second choice was the Ford Escort GT, which was just redone, barrowing chassis development with Mazda, and the GT was powered by a Mazda sourced DOHC 1.8L with 127hp and all the tacky body add ons to give it a sportier appearance than the base escort.  Years later my father would actually buy a 93 Escort GT off a friend and I can attest that was one of the smoothest 4 cly I have ever driven.  But then, Nissan unveiled the 1991 line of Sentra's.   They had rounded all the edges, given it an attractive interior with big modern guages, and at a performance model the SE-R!

The SE-R would have the expensive 2.0 SR20DE borrowed from the Infinity G20, with 140hp and a 7500RPM redline.  Sport seats, 14" allow wheels, rear spoiler, fog lights, 4w disc brakes, sport tuned suspension, and almost unheard of then, and still rare today a limited slip differential in a FWD car.   I WANTED IT!!!!    Preliminary pre production photos also showed a chin spoiler, but that did not make it into production.

Sometime in demember I went to a local Nissan dealer and test drove the car, despite never having driven a manual transmission before.   My mind was made up.   It took 3 months, but I finally convinced my mom to assist me in buying the car.  In March of 1991, I went home with a White SE-R, with the options of Sunroof, air conditioning, leather steering wheel and shift knob, and dealer installed 2 speaker FM stereo cassette.   Well actually my dad drove the car home from the dealership, I taught myself how to drive it the next day.

Over the next 10 years, this car took me to work, out on the town, taught me car control and how to autocross, basic maintenance and repairs, took me to college and back and gave me over 100k miles of happy driving.  I upgraded the exhaust axle back, tinted the windows, upgraded the stereo and ultimately installed Tokico struts.

In 2000 I started working in management for Budget Rent a Car and got a company car to use.   I left my SE-R to sadly rot in the driveway.  I drove it occasionally to keep it running, but the sun and climate took its toll.  It sat outside for years, paint faded, rubber seals cracked...until I finally put it under a car cover, and then later cleaned out my garage and moved it in there to stop the aging.

At some point in or around the late 2000's I had to make a decision what to do with the car.  I needed to attend to some of the mechanical issues or sell it.  I decided to get it squared away, so I bought it to a friend who was a mechanic and he worked on the car for me.  He rebuilt the drive axles, replaced ALL the rubber hoses under the hood, replaced teh clutch, and changed all the fluids.  The car was now at least safe to drive again.  However, due to sitting so long, the AC was dead (Ive never gotten that fixed).

One week I was driving the car when the weather was cool and left it parked outside on my swale in front of my house 2010 ish maybe?  Our next door neighbor had just gotten a JDM Skyline GTR and came around the corner to fast and rear ended my SE-R.  Bent up the bumper and did a little minor body damage.  Practically totalled the Skyline.  I had another choice, take his money to get the car fixed, or put that money towards getting the car fixed and painted.  I chose the latter.

While the car was in the body shop, I had it completely repainted, all the lettering replaced, damage fixed of course, and went ahead and had the headlights and foglights replaced (they had gotten all corroded and cloudy on the inside.  Also had the headliner replaced.  The body shop also repainted the wheels.   Once home, it has remained covered and under a car port, so the aging process has been minimized.  

Recently about a month ago, I went to take her for a drive and the brake pedal went to the floor.  Master Cylinder crapped out.  Had that replaced and the rear calipers and rotors (which had frozen years ago).

She still fires up on the first crank no matter how long it has been sitting.  I drive her to work when the weather is cool and occasionally to car shows where only a small handful of people even know the significance of the car.  There are not many SE-R's that are essentially un molested and all original still around today.

I was fortunate, my car never suffered from 5th gear pop out.  The fuel pump failed BEFORE the recall when the car was relatively new.  The engine has never burned oil.   I changed the oil every 3k miles religiously with synthetic and when we did remove the valve cover at 120k or so, it looked like new inside.

Compared to just about everything else I own and have driver, she is no longer quick, handles kinda sloppy, she creaks and rattles (bushing are toast), but those super supportive seats still hug me everytime I get in.  The SR20 is always willing and eager to rev.  I can shift this car smoother than any other manual I have ever driven.  And she still brings a smile to my face.  She's a keeper.   I am 43 now and the car is 25 years old with 126k miles.

The nicest part I have on the car is courtesy of the late Wayne Cox.  When my exhaust pipe sprouted a leak, I posted to this here mailing list, and he offered up a stainless steel courtesy B pipe he had no use for, for the price of shipping.  A little of Wayne lives on in my SE-R.

Hopefully this link will work, these are photos I took of the car shortly after it was repainted.

https://www.facebook.com/jaretr1/media_set?set=a.101817785261.187871.782015261&type=3

Jaret

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