HollowPoint Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Obviously I'm going to do some of my own research, but I'm seriously considering buying a 350z as a daily drive, so that my 300 and my 280 (when it's finished) can be kept up to scratch for shows and track days etc. But I still get to drive a Z car every day. What recommendations do we have for buying one that's likely to do 90 miles per day, 5 days per week? In other words, are there reliability differences between the engine years? Not set a budget yet, but probably around £5k. I don't want to spend too much on the car itself unless it's got brand new tyres, full MOT etc. As it's a lot of mileage to put on a car and the last couple of dailies I've had, were dirt cheap to buy, but needed an awful lot of work and parts almost immediately. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajh350z Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 From my experience looking for and buying a 350z recently 5k will get you a decent 03/04 DE engine zed. As far as I've seen reliability is pretty much the same for all, make sure it's been serviced regularly and check to ensure the clutch has been replaced for higher mileage cars. They are pretty solid cars when looked after properly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
370Ad Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 For 5K your only going to have the option of the DE engine (276bhp) unfortunately. But fortunately it has the most torque out of all of them so massive pub bragging rights I wouldn't let mileage put you off either. As long as its been serviced right the engines are pretty strong. Common problems are; click rear axle (no physical damage), banana/compression arms and exhaust weak point between mid pipe and back box. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 :O Didn't realise you didn't have one! Top few tips, 1 - Orange is the fastest, most reliable, most desiarble...basically best all round car. 2 - Stick a BGW on the rear of it gives you awesome Bonus points! 3 - If it's just a daily and you'd rather put your money into your others Zeds, maybe go for an import due to them being considerably cheaper. 4 - Orange is the fastest. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
370Ad Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) :O Didn't realise you didn't have one! Top few tips, 1 - Orange is the fastest, most reliable, most desiarble...basically best all round car. 2 - Stick a BGW on the rear of it gives you awesome Bonus points! 3 - If it's just a daily and you'd rather put your money into your others Zeds, maybe go for an import due to them being considerably cheaper. 4 - Orange is the fastest. If you google image search "350z best colour" and ignore the first 2 generic pictures. You will find an Azure https://www.google.c...ih=815#imgdii=_ Orange is quite a bit further down the list unfortunately Edited May 2, 2014 by 370Ad 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonPG Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Orange with orange leather, the only sensible mans option 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollowPoint Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 Cheers for the responses guys. As it happens, I want either Burnt Orange or Azure Blue, the wife wants Brick Yard Red but would be happy with either of the other two, lol. I will initially be buying it as a daily, but considering my other two Zs, I doubt very much it'll stay standard for long lol. For those who haven't seen my other Zs. Unfortunately, as the 280 is mid-resto, it currently looks like this: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jp606 Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) That 280zx is gorgeous. Any more pics? Edited May 2, 2014 by Jp606 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollowPoint Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 I do Here's a quick mockup the wife did of how we expect the rear end to look when it's done: Anyone who's on facebook and wants to closely follow the resto, we have a page on Facebook dedicated to it, even down to acid dipping and then zinc plating the nuts and bolts If you stick a 'like' on the page, you'll get updates as and when we add stuff. https://www.facebook.com/Kamicon280ZX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Liked! Is that 280 going to be ready for trax?!?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollowPoint Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 Possible, but sadly unlikely. The floor is shot, the roof is shot on one corner, the firewall is shot, one of the suspension turrets is shot, the chassis rails are shot.......if I can engineer a week off work to go down to the unit and spend some solid time on it, then quite possibly. The interior is mostly done, bar a carpet and boot trim, the bolts are almost completely de-rusted and zinced and polished, the bodykit is all sanded, filled, primered and ready to be fitted, etc. It's really just the shell that needs sorting now, with a few things left to de-rust and shine up etc. then put it all back together. I also haven't yet built the engine, but do have everything I need to do so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 You should do a build thread HollowPoint for the 280. Now that would be something different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollowPoint Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 LOL I would, but we already put a fair bit of effort into keeping the facebook page up to date and occasionally update the much less detailed build thread on zclub.net. We decided early on, that the Facebook page was the best place for the build to go, as although I know not everyone uses it, lots of people do and it means people from all of the numerous forums we're on (We're on quite a few, lol) can simply put a like on it and follow the progress there, without having to copy and paste it across numerous sites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jp606 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Liked on Facebook. Really interesting project 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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