I owned several of these in various iterations, both regular and extended cab, 2wd and 4wd. All had the Z24i or the KA24E. All were absolutely phenomenal vehicles. I had one 2wd running through flood waters nearly up to the windows as a stupid kid and am still absolutely amazed that it didn't hydrolock or suffer any other ills. I will always have a special place in my heart for that platform and in my mind it is a shame it never took of like toyotas did. I hear that the frames of the last few years of the generation were really poor quality and suffered from rust issues much more than earlier models. We don't typically have rust problems in Oregon (unless you are on the coast) since we don't salt our roads so I never experienced any of those issues myself.
I remember one story from an old timer mechanic who told me about a Z24 that was ran without any oil for 30 odd minutes before it seized up solid.
They were just absolute beasts, plus I always loved the utilitarian look of them with their "hips" as accents (fender bulges). Ahh... memories! :coffeedrink: