Buying a 300ZX (2nd series)

[LarryHickmott]

After owning a 240 and 280, time to move up and get a 300ZX and I am looking for any advice on what I should look for when purchasing a 300ZX.

I would prefer a non-turbo as its the car I am after not the power rush. Any particular year that I should look for or any specific areas to look for on the car.

Also, being as the model is getting on a bit, how realiable are they? On the 280, I had an air flow metre go and that was about as major as it got.

thanks
Larry

 

[Gio]

Hi Larry,

loads of info, buying guides and so on: http://www.300zx.org.uk

Mike Feeney also knows a lot about these.

The NA model you are after was never imported officially. This might - depending on your local Nissan dealer - affect how easy it is to get service. (Unless you already know a specialist). Insurance can be more difficult also.

I don't have a reliability problem with mine (mine's a TT not an NA) - other than what you'd expect on a 12 year old high performance car (finger & toes firmly crossed). But it was stock when I bought it and is almost stock now.

Buying modded / badly modded cars can be a nightmare.

As usual go for one from a club member or with good provenance / service history.

Good luck - Gio

 

[LarryHickmott]

Thanks Gio. What is the situation with the turbos then as far as life expenctancy and so on? I work from home and would only use the car weekends and am one of those who does not garage the car during the winter so I do around 10k a year.

As far as services go, I would do this through a specialist as I have in the past because I wouldn't trust anyone with a Z especially the garage that does my old escort now.

Larry

 

[Gio]

Turbo life is very difficult to forecast as it depends on how the car has been used / abused / maintained in the past.

IIRC, Craig's has over 120,000 miles. Mine's done 90,000 and fingers crossed no problems. I've had mine for over 3 years and it's a daily driver.

I've got some figures on my site.

Cheers - Gio

 

[davidjru]

hi guys and gals all that glitters is not gold
i just brought a 1991 300zx non turbo , it appears to be slightly tweaked i.e. do they normally spin the tyres if you stab the throttle at 50 to 70 mph in the wet , what is the ride height supposed to be ?? mine appears to be slightly lowered , my advice is if you buy an import ,  is if , as i did the car came with no service history make sure you can afford a full service , i did and it was a good idea as many things had been got at by a complete nutter , i think a gorilla did all the servicing , things like damaged oil pipes and black goo on every joint , but it's now a good car as my garage is run by an old friend that likes all high powered cars ,, if anyone needs a good garage in the reading , berks , area try b.& b motors at bolton rd reading , real petrol heads that know how to fix cars properly,,, and he went through it with a fine comb and replaced all the bits needed , the service was not cheap , £2000 but a lot of that was for the air con but i now know that i have something that will last , the insurance was ok 3000 miles and £380 from footman james , the funny thing about this car is i tried out 3 cars 2 non turbo and a very good tt and this one felt a lot quicker than the tt , but that might be an effect from the megaphone exhausts that are just loud enough to give up using the stereo ,not that they are over loud just a wonderful growl , i do have one question what the heck is the tube ? cannister that i found attached under the passanger footwell it looks like it is a standard fit and looks a bit like a flare by the writing on it , any suggestions <img src="http://www.zclub.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'>

 

[Gio]

Hi David, welcome to the wondeful world of Z ownership.

Yes the tube you found is a flare which J cars have. They're supposed to set it off in the road to warn of an accident. Apparently completely illegal in the UK!

Got an address for your good garage - or a tel no?

Cheers - Gio

 

[davidjru]

hi Gio
so it was a flare , the garage i use is B&B motor services at 6 boulton rd reading ,, 0118 9876757 they are cheaper and better than most main dealers , they get a lot of main dealers sending them cars to work on , so that says a lot , mostly air con and auto box problems

it seems i have several questions about my car about the switches and exactly what is standard like the ride height , i found one switch in a strange place that is the right hand side of the control panel , or should i say between the window and switch panel if it is standard why is it hidden on the side , it does not seem to do anything as far as i can tell
i guess i will have to join the club

thanks from david

 

[Mr.F]

Your mystery switch on the side is likely to be for a rear fog lamp (not standard on import cars). If anything like mine, the dangling rear fog is removed until time for the next MOT......

 

[datty240Z]

The dangling rear fog light is a real eye sore.

I disconnected the middle two of the four brake lights and converted them to fog lights. &nbsp;I connected them up to the front fog light switch which seems good enough to fool our ever stricter MOT testers.

Only small problem is that every time the brake is applied the brake light bulb failure warning light comes on.

PS Our new MOT test is now fully operational and is a real nightmare. &nbsp;As ever the owner is in control of the car for testing the lights, horn, washers etc but from there on he has to sit at the side of the testing station. &nbsp;The car is mounted on a test bed and the wheels clamped. &nbsp;The test bed continually pounds the wheels up and down looking for anomalies in spring and damper reactions. &nbsp;This is compared to manufacturers data. &nbsp;If you fail to tell them that you have non standard mods you are instantly failed. &nbsp;The steering is checked while the test bed automatically turns the wheels from lock to lock continually. &nbsp;Braked are tested individually and if they are not within 5% side to side you fail. &nbsp;Headlight alignment is tested by computer also. No more shining lights on the back wall. &nbsp;Apparently the tester has little input into the pass/fail outcome. &nbsp;We in N.Ireland are fast coming to the point where like Japan it just wont be worth putting a car through the MOT.