Friend of mine just purchased a 1999 Z-24 with the 2.4L Quad Four engine,
110,000 kms, automatic trans. Very nice car, it was freshly painted and well taken care of. The original owner bumped or had someone bump into his front bumper, not hard enough to cause any damage because my friend had a complete printout from the dealer of the alignment specs, frame tests, etc. From the before and after readings, nothing had changed and he mentioned it sounded like the young guy really cared about the car and put the paint through insurance.His only fear of the car is the engine. He has heard from a few people that the intake is not set up very well on this car. They have told him if too much air gets into the intake from overrevving the engine, it will cause major damage. Something about how the airflow directed into the intake manifold, he thinks it should be replaced or reworked somehow. Personally, I could see nothing wrong with the current setup.
My suggestion to him was drive it like a four cylinder and not a V8. The four cylinder engines they build today put out incredible amounts of power, but they will only do it for so long before they need to be overhauled (head gasket usually around 200,000 km). As long as he did not try to race with it, or overrev it all the time, as well with the normal maintenance, I think he should be fine.
Personally I haven't heard much about the intake problem he is talking about, but if someone else knows what he is talking about, I'd like to read up on it just for personal reference.
Thanks in advance, Sharky