Is a 300zx a whole lotta car for not alot of money ?

[Sempiternal]

I think we all wonder over to Ebay from time to time i like to keep an eye on prices on s15's skylines etc

 

and i come across this! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1994-NISSAN-300-ZX-TWIN-TURBO-/231060188314?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item35cc42ac9a

 

thats alot of car for what i think isnt a large amount of money! s15's are double that!!

 

how do people feel about the 300zx is it a capable car, or would a Supra be a better purchase as i would consider that to be its alternative ??

 

i do like classics specially JDM etc!

 

above example is 6k

 

this example is just under 4k!!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-300ZX-Z32-TWIN-TURBO-MANUAL-LOW-MILES-63k-MOT-TAX-LATE-1994-MODEL-200sx-/190919845498?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2c73b5a67a

 

are these potential bargains, or are they a maintenance headache etc

 

Rob

[Dblock]

I think if you buy a good one your laughing and if not then too bad. I think if you know what your looking for you will be ok.

 

TT manual supras are crazy money usually.

[rtbiscuit]

Yes its a lot of car for your money, speak to lexx I think he just bought one. Also hollow point knows them well. As do a few others, I think you just have to be aware that with old cars can come big problems that need a lot of cash spent on them. I can vouch for that.

[Sempiternal]

Yes its a lot of car for your money, speak to lexx I think he just bought one. Also hollow point knows them well. As do a few others, I think you just have to be aware that with old cars can come big problems that need a lot of cash spent on them. I can vouch for that.

 

i totally agree, i just cant get my head around that for £4K you can buy a looked after a v6 turbo!

 

Also my eye has just spotted this Supra for 9k http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3f29f4d7b0

 

but like i say you can buy two 300zx's for that,,

Edited October 8, 2013 by Sempiternal

[HollowPoint]

DONT BUY ONE! Sorry, just kidding. lol

 

The expensive one is a known car, very very tidy (At least it was originally, but I recognise some of those photos, so don't think they're all new/recent) Could put you in touch very easily with it's previous, previous owner, who I believe paid for all the work that's been done on it if you wanted.

 

Typical problems:

 

RUST: UK Cars worse than JDMs usually, but any JDM that's been in this country a while will have started to rot too unless it's looked after.

Engines: The engine was epic and in true Japanese fashion, runs until it's DEAD! The problem is, that makes it VERY hard to tell whether the car has engine problems or not on a simple test drive. Also, with the plenum (The big rib cage looking thing on top of the engine) being very easy to powder-coat/polish and put back on the car (I say it's easy, it's not really, lol) you can be fooled into thinking the engine has had lots of work, when in fact it hasn't.

Working on them: If you do lots of your own mechanics, you'll probably curse at the 300zx more than any car you've ever owned, it will slice you, dice you, bite you and bruise you, but for some stupid reason, you just keep going back for more.

Insurance: Depending on your age, not too bad to be fair.

Getting others to work on them: You have to travel for those who know what they're doing, no doubt similar to the 350 in that respect, you just DON'T let a numpty normal mechanic loose on them, they WILL break it!

Community: Sadly a little divided and can be a little clicky. But I reckon that's true for all cars. There are plenty of people in the 300zx community who will travel to from Yorkshire to Wales (If you happen to be in Wales) to help you do your manual conversion, on the promise of nothing more than a steak dinner (I did this with another member in the community).

 

Advice: Buy one that HAS been looked after, unless you fancy spending thousands and going through lots of heartache. If you don't want turbo troubles, buy an NA, but you may be disappointed with the power? The noise from the exhaust will make up for that though. Get another 300zx enthusiast to look at and test drive the car with you, they can take a proper look in all the areas they need to and tell you whether to buy it, take a punt, or walk the hell away.

 

EDIT: Also, if you're looking to buy one, do it NOW! Prices are finally starting to climb again. My car cost me £1300 3 years ago and although it had lots of hidden issues I was unaware of which cost me a LOT of money, it was sold to me as perfectly running, with no issues and new uprated turbos, which it didn't have.

Edited October 8, 2013 by HollowPoint

[rtbiscuit]

5k can get you a supercharged V8s, but you'll most likely spend double or even triple that restoring it properly.

[Dblock]

 

Community: Sadly a little divided and can be a little clicky.

 

Not at all like here. :lol:

[Ian]

Get the Supra

[Sempiternal]

That post by hollow point sure put things into perspective.. im about to strip my Kawasaki Ninja and thats going to take up the garage/space... so i wouldnt need two projects on the go!

maybe i was getting carried away.. but i still cant get my head around the price,, when alt's like Supra's are double n more!

 

But if anyone has ever felt that bug to buy, its going to keep sending me back to ebay.. even though i know i need to watch how much i spend as im having to buy a new engine for the bike!

 

damn ebay.. maybe i should of titled the thread Ebay temptations! which is what they are!

 

Rob

[Sempiternal]

Get the Supra

 

haha, actually i had thought if i sold the Zed then id probably be able to purchase one of those cars under 10k.. on ebay but id have to sell the Zed,, and i still think im not in that frame of mind yet! still getting the enjoyment

[HollowPoint]

Don't get me wrong, if that expensive blue one has been looked after since Chris owned it, it's a steal! But if you're ever tempted by a 300zx, make sure you do your research fully and get someone like me to come along and tell you what's going to cost you what, where, when and why, lol. We've had 2 300zxs now, one we broke for parts and merged into the one we still have.

[Dblock]

That post by hollow point sure put things into perspective.. im about to strip my Kawasaki Ninja and thats going to take up the garage/space... so i wouldnt need two projects on the go!

maybe i was getting carried away.. but i still cant get my head around the price,, when alt's like Supra's are double n more!

 

But if anyone has ever felt that bug to buy, its going to keep sending me back to ebay.. even though i know i need to watch how much i spend as im having to buy a new engine for the bike!

 

damn ebay.. maybe i should of titled the thread Ebay temptations! which is what they are!

 

Rob

 

I'm happy with the zed but have been checking out prices on s2k's, and z3m and z4m's.

 

Can't afford anything lol.

[HollowPoint]

I test drove a z4 mSpec a few months back and was given a ride in a z3 mSpec just after. The z4 mSpec was AWESOME, but not very fast (At least not compared to my other cars) and that was disappointing as it was the 3.0 I drove The z3 mSpec I didn't get to actually drive it, the owner was too protective even though I was a prospective buyer and turned up in my much newer 323 CI Convertible at the time. I can safely say I have never felt less safe, than in that car, lol. I think my mates VX220 Turbo came close, but not quite.

[14N]

Best get yerself to a 350Z meet soon then mate before you sell up!

[Sempiternal]

Best get yerself to a 350Z meet soon then mate before you sell up!

Dw im not selling the 350 .. I want to get that ready to tour across the borders france maybe netherlands etc..

Its just i still cant get head around a V6 turbo.. for 4k..

[HollowPoint]

Just older cars Sempiternal. I made a post in a thread the other day where everyone was bashing an ebay ad for a 350 where everyone thought it was far too expensive, same thing used to happen with 300s, til one day they dropped through the floor price-wise and it's taken a LONG time for the number of cars to deplete, for them to become a more appreciated 'classic' and start to appreciate in value. The blue one is probably slightly over-priced now to be fair, but a couple of years ago he'd have had a similar thread posted about his advert being FAR too much money for a 300zx.

[Sempiternal]

Yes I remember when Clarkson did a Top Gear years ago.. these cars were some of the first to be tuned to big hp for the time.. I remember mostly done by guys who owned Curry houses.. the car back then second hand wasnt cheap todays gtr supra tt money if not more...

I wonder how many people can remember that episode

Edited October 8, 2013 by Sempiternal

[brillomaster]

hmmmm, problem is its an unknown. i bought one two years back for £3000, after i realised that the insurance for me at the time (i was 23) was ridiculously cheap.

 

And to be fair, while it was working, it was an awesome, awesome car. However, in the 6 months that i owned it, it cost me a lot of money - first were steering bushes issues (£200) then the clutch went (£600) then the turbo oil return pipe replacing, then the new clutch started slipping, then just about my 24th birthday it failed on mot for rust which i thought i checked (£600). Also at some point while it was in a garage they noticed the previous owner had stuck a nail through an intercooler when fitting a front bumper, so needed a new intercooler. Oh also the electric fans stopped working, so had huge overheating problems, so the original viscous ones went back in (£250)

 

Then once id got all this working and the car was how i wanted it, i had the boost turned up from 9 to 13psi (previous owner had already fitted decat exhaust, induction kit, and larger intercoolers) but then after two months with approx 330bhp, a conrod snapped, and flooded the engine with coolant. Had the option of either source a replacement engine (£1500) or scrap the car and get some money back (got £1200 back from parts) in the end i was getting tired and skint, so saved up for a 350z instead.

 

When it was working properly, it was an epic, awesome, awesome, epic, awesome car! When you put your foot down and the roar of the engine and watching the boost gauge spin round to 13psi and all hell breaks loose... amazing! and when you catch the reflection of yourself in a shop window, driving arguably one of the best looking cars, you will be a happy man!

 

but definitely know what you're getting into - after all, its a 20 year old car now, and it was technically very advanced when it came out - twin turbo, twin intercooled, rear wheel steering, cruise control, aircon, the works. all of which can go wrong. if you do take the risk, check everything very very carefully, go through the service history with a fine toothcombe and dont accept any absences. personally i wouldnt risk it, a newer 350z is just as quick and considerably less to go wrong - admittedly it doesnt have the kick of twin turbos though

 

if you do go for it, best of luck to you!

[Dblock]

I also think 90's turbo cars are cool/hipster atm.

[HollowPoint]

I'm sure I remember that username (brillomaster?) lol

 

Whilst you're quite right in what you've said about them being a mechanical nightmare, especially if you buy one that hasn't been looked after, I'm a little concerned at some of the prices you seem to have been charged. Putting a viscous fan in should be a £50 job, as I doubt anyone would remove the pulley for the fan, as that drives the water pump, so it should just be a case of buy a £50 fan, put it on, do up the 4 bolts and of course remove the electric one first. Good point btw, don't EVER put an electric fan on a z32! lol

 

Also you pointed out the con-rod snapped and flooded your engine with coolant, that should not have happened at all, as the conrod doesn't go anywhere near the coolant, unless when it snapped, it went through something, like your block or your head, lol, so I'd guess the coolant thing happened first, which then somehow caused extra stress on the conrod (Probably from massively increased crank case pressure, or simply the coolant removing the lubricating properties of the oil, causing the conrod to seize and then snap). Also, £1500 for an engine? Who the hell quoted you that!? You can buy a running engine with turbos for £500 or less and putting it in should only be a couple of hundred quid...... Either way, there is some first hand experience for you right there folks.

 

I personally bought one that had buggered sills, but I didn't know about it (Nearly £1000), buggered suspension, but I didn't know about it (£700 for Meister R Coilovers), my bushes were all near enough shot, my HICAS had been locked out the 'cheap' way and cost me another £200 to do it properly, my engine needed a top-end rebuild, which thankfully me and a friend did, the cars can cost you a LOT of money. lol

[docwra]

I love Z32's, but 200SX's are cheaper, handle better, more reliable, easier to modify .......... if the Zed is good value a 200 is bargainous.

[brillomaster]

i might be wrong with some of the prices, but the £1500 was definitely the price fro zedworld for supply and fit a replacment engine, with a warranty. the replacement fan was also a supply and fit job, but may not have been as much as £250 - there might have been a new radiator in there as well lol.

 

and yeah, the conrod was a weird one... just went to pull onto a roundabout, loud bang and then no power - in the 20 minutes the car was by the side of the road it had generated a puddle of murky brown liquid the size of the car.

 

My claimed mileage at this point was i think around 70,000 - although when the garage did the gearbox work, they noticed that someone had swapped the original engine out for one from an automatic, so that mileage meant nothing

 

i should have checked my sills more carefully also - i got under there and they all looked good, but when it came to MOT time, the garage showed me the dates from the newspaper that had been usd to stuff the sills, and it was only 2 months before i bought it

 

 

If you're gonna buy one, be prepared to invest in it!

[HollowPoint]

I love Z32's, but 200SX's are cheaper, handle better, more reliable, easier to modify .......... if the Zed is good value a 200 is bargainous.

 

They drift better, or rather easier, but they're certainly no better handling, at least not in my experience. But then its been a very long time since I drove a standard z lol.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Sempiternal]

Good discussion going on in here!.. some of the posts are breaking my own personal beliefs towards JDM build quality which i think is the best in the world (imho)

i personally owned a

94 silvia - engine bullet proof started like a new car and only had the clutch go

98 spec Type R Integra - i used n abused the living nuts of that machine and it didnt even seem bothered 100% bullet proof

 

but there you go my current 350z makes it only my 3rd Jap car! so maybe i got lucky with previous cars, or i just havent sampled enough 90's cars to have met the costly ones?

 

that said touch wood ** for what paid for my current 350 would of bought me the 300zx in the first link, but so far my 9 year old Zed drives like its brand new! so touch wood 6 months of ownership and just got servicing costs coming up with it

 

this thread should be good for anyone thinking they may just go buy a winter bargain,, it pays to ask about first !

 

also i noticed no one has said anything about Top Gear!!,, is there no one here that remembers such an episode done by Clarkson where he does a programme about the 300zx and meets people who were modding them i believe figures like 600 bhp etc were stated and back then (just like now) doubling the power of a 300zx is a massive increase

 

nobody remember this episode... im only 32 i cant be that old - also i cant find it on youtube either i looked

 

Rob

[HollowPoint]

I remember it well.

 

In regards to bullet proof. Most of the cars thatbhave not been looked after are over 20 years old now. They've managed 20 years and over 100,000 miles with no/bad servicing habits and being generally abused. I'd say that's pretty bulletproof lol.

 

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