hi i wana buy a new zed has to be fast and have body kit and pod filter and turbo noise thingyyy so it can go 400km an hour!!! ... Sarcasm aside... I'm jj and I'm in the market for a nice car I can enjoy driving after having a Getz (shudders..) my dad insisted on buying me (I paid half) for my Ls and my Ps. I've had a look at a few skylines, only like the r31s and 34s, cant afford a 34 and though i like the 31s its not exactly what id like. Good mate of mine has an rx7 and **** me it goes like hell and looks awesome, but i just dont trust the rotary engines to be reliable enough for me. Cant stand wrxs they sound and look like hotted up lawn mowers to me, I looked at a few ford/holden utes xr6 turbo in particular but i dont quite have the cash for a good nick one. And so i came across the z32, really hit it with looks, i love them! And as far as price goes its good bang for ya buck. Twin turbo, cruisin tops off, like a dream for me at the moment. Anyways il get to business, I havent as of yet went and seen any with my own eyes, but ive done some research, found a few videos and a good website on things to look for to indicate bad maintenance/other issues. This is the first zed i became interested in as it fits my price range. I checked out the rego and history and according to the authorities its a green 1999 300zx, regoed for the first time in its life november last year. its advertised as a 1989, FRONT WHEEL DRIVE among other things and you can guess after a few talks with the owner hes a goose.. So i decided it was dodgy and to leave it but i put it up incase anybody more knowledgeable can make better judgment. would definantly be a good buy for the price if its in genuine condition! http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/granville/cars-vans-utes/1989-nissan-300zx-coupe/1009979289# The next zed Im quite interested in as its one of only a few in my state, is a car thats been left sitting around for a while, no rego and apparently the coil pack on the 5th cylinder isnt firing, minor rusting on the car, front panel damage from wild life (apparently) bit of surface rust in engine bay and rear panels, i plan on going to have a look at this car next week, will be taking a friend who does spraying/panel beating as well as know a little about mechanics in general. Heres the car http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/acton/cars-vans-utes/1989-nissan-300zx-coupe/1009749915 I have a few ideas for this car, if i can get it cheap enough then i find it feasible to drop a low km motor into it, i found an american website that sources motors from low km imports and then resells them, have sent emails asking details and if they can ship here to australia, motor is advertised at $1047 US and that seems damn cheap to me as long as shipping isnt too much. Either that or attempt to fix it up as it is, but im afraid im just going to run into problem after problem with it considering its been neglected for a few years. The website that sells the motors is http://www.jdmenginezone.com. Next one that falls into my desired category has an auto box thats stuck in second gear and most likely needs replacing, 1991 model with just under 100,000km in victoria for 5000, and I am thinking would it be feasible to convert it to a manual transmission? Heres the car http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars...247 1252 1282 4294963448 4294963846&silo=1011 Anyways tell me what you think guys, cheers
Hey mate, Honestly in my opinion, try looking in the for sale section in the forum, I've seen a few people luck out and get Zeds for fairly cheap and are pretty good. But I've also seen people buy for cheap and they've spent thousands (myself included, bought a TT for cheap and had so many problems so I took it back) my best advice is to look into the for sale section on the forum. Basically I've foun with Zeds the price shows te condition, I've recently purchased a 1992 pearl white twin turbo two seater and it's one of the best ones I've driven. So if I were you, buy a decent nick one for around $9000+ or just buy one that's cheap and hope it doesn't have any more problems.
a cheap zed is like unprotected activities. you will never know what your going to get, and is usually sh`t!! judging by the links you are looking for looks. just find a nice stock one that has a good mechanical history. you get what you pay for.
Greetings and salutations theres one thing to be said, and thats you won't get a decent Z for under 10k. and if you do you will be lucky. reason I say that is, the Z's you see for 5 and 6k, especially the twin turbo's, will prob be up in the k's or need some sort of major work done. major work that is going to cost at the least 1500 if you get a dodgy backyarder to do it for you. thats talking major service, 100k etc etc assuming no major other mechanical faults need to be addressed. parts are going to all need to be imported mostly. and you'd be wise to replace all the hoses if they even slightly look old as soon as you get the thing. if you lose an important hose you can cook the engine and do 5k worth of damage in seconds (i did that) then you have the issue of turbo's that are at the end of their life cycle wit the cheaper twin turbos, and if you need to rebuild or replace them, you can throw a few grand at that at the least unless you know someone to do the work cheap, or i've seen z's for sale with rebuilt turbos that cost 4k just for stocks done by lube mobile, but you'd be crazy to get them to do it. the z's you are looking at in the pics, I'd stay well away from any of them. and especialy ones with 'fully sick' body kits that have been owned by wankers, they will definately be thrashed and need work done. buy a decent looking stock as **** zx, hopefully one that the owner was unfortunate enough to rebuild only 30000ks ago, I've seen a few stockies owned by older gents with only 5000k's done since a rebuild. it will look boring and stock. but the money you don't have to spend on mechanics a few k's down the road, you can spend on some nice wheels, some coilovers or just lowered suspension if its still stock hight, and maybe a few treats for the interior. then you can go nuts spending 20k customizing it once you have a good base to work with. I bought my piece of shit na for 5.5 with a rwc, within a month needed to spend 2.5 on the engine just to keep it going. now 18,000 later (including the original money) I finally have just finished a twin turbo conversion and have replaced as much as possible short of opening up the motor and rebuilding from scratch. money will be spent. but basically, you won't get a reliable zx for 5 or 6k, it will be in a sad state of needing a shit load of stuff done to it. thats my 2 cents, some people might disagree, but i believe in all honesty in what I say. if you are buying a realllly cheap Z, the more stock, the better. it means more money has probably been spent on the actual mechanics than on fancy fender bling and other mods. just missed out, i would have given you mine for 5.5 a week ago. but i'm keeping it now
some good words of wisdom here I for one bought a Z for around the 5K mark (was actually a swap) & have ended up spending an absolute fortune keeping it on the road. The only mechanical component I haven't replaced is the diff! Previous owner was a nice guy however the workshops he took it to ripped him off big time. Believe me these cars are a lot of fun but can also leave you in a world of pain & despair. You really have to love Z's & love working on them to own one (or have a $hitload of $$$) or you may end up a very unhappy camper. Not trying to put you off purchasing a Z32, just being honest :zlove:
Just like everybody else has said, a 5 grand TT is almost certainly going to cause you nothing but troubles and probably leave you with a repair bill greater than the purchase price.
Hi, I agree with all comments so far.... things to seriously consider are: 1 - cost of parts (as has been pointed out) 2 - finding a competent mechanic to work on the Zed (few and far between) 3 - good diagnostic tools of your own ($$$$$ and learning) 4 - guaranteed spending lots of money. 5 - you will have to lean how to work on the car yourself and be prepared for lots of grazes, cuts and bruises. If it's going to be a daily drive these cars need attention, attention and attention, if you let things get away from you it will be bad and involve much hair loss.. an example is the cam belt change... I wouldn't trust just any mechanic to do it.... and they must be done as a failure will result in engine damage. Oh, and body kit or re-spray = hiding rust !!!! unless its a really good job and the car has been well looked after... and that's not in your price range. best of luck... but I'd advise against for you. take this an a little example of what could be wrong if the idle is a littler out... http://www.pexcom.com.au/z32cms/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.335
Thanks for the input guys, Im leaning more towards saving more for a genuine good nick car and il keep tabs on the forum ive learnt a fair bit just reading up on here, yes it is true you get what you pay for. But im still interested in buying a low km motor and swapping that into a cheapy such as the silver one i posted a link to before, partly because it could be cheaper, partly because id really like to do some of the work myself; ive been an apprentice mechanic and i am currently enlisting in the army to be trained as a mechanic, and i want to learn as much as i can about the z motor as well as motors in general as its what i wanna do. Il wait for some feedback as far as buying and shipping a good nick engine but im hoping it wont be too much, id even be interested in buying a tt motor without the turbos because i could do a simple turbo conversion later. Just pulling ideas On a side note, do you guys know anyone thats alright on the forum from tas?
nope havent given it a thought. dont really like the idea of spending my hard earned dollars on an entire car ive never seen before in my life :\ plus we got the pre-1989 import rule and im not interested in the z31.
Well if you are willing to get your hands dirty, have some mechanical knowledge & want to learn I say go for it then, but rest assured it will keep your bank account balance low
being a mechanic, buy a TT motor and rebuild it yourself, you can either go for big hp rebuild ($$$) or just reco the motor (new rings, bearing ect.) buy a good condition shell and drop the motor in. you wont pay much for a zed that's not running and can find one (like mine) that has immaculate interior and good paint. if I didn't end up getting a respray and other things my zed would of cost around 5k. doing all the work myself (n/a, so add a bit more for turbos). But then I know it sucks coming home from fixing someone else car and then working on yours till early hours of the morning. good luck finding one it will be fun either way you go ben
Problem with that is a 20 year old zed that is worn out and needs a new engine is probably going to need a million other things too. That said, if you're dead set on swapping an engine maybe you should look at buying an na and doing a TT swap eventually? More often than not na's have had an easier life (because nobody buys a TT to go slow) and are usually cheaper to buy in the first place. Also have a few other little advantages like no hicas and 4.1 rear end. BTW don't believe the kilometres you read on the odometer of any grey import, something like 75% of used cars imported from Japan have been wound back because it's not illegal to wind them back over there. That's why most fresh imports coincidentally have around 80-90 thou kms on the clock once they come into australia. You'll often see a clapped out bucket of shit with 90 thousand kms on it, and occasionally see one with over 200,000 that looks really clean by comparison.
Many years ago I imported a twin turbo engine to convert my NA at the time to TT. (The engine still sits in my brother in laws garage, he now owns my old NA and I bought a TT. We've both used the engine for parts). I imported the engine from Canada because it was selling for only $1600 over there. After paying shipping and after getting customs to release it to me (took three trips to customs and many hours waiting - there where about 3 or 4 different fees including to steam clean engine) I had spent closer to 4K total. As for the cheap Zs. Zs are money pits. If you buy a 5k Z and a year later the car is going well and you haven't had to spend another 5K you are very lucky. It does help a lot if you can work on the car yourself though. Much better to wait a bit longer, save up more and buy a decent Z to start with. Someone who buys a 3k or 5k Z because that is all they can afford to spend on a car, is a poor candidate for Z ownership, the experience will not end well.
hi i wana buy a new zed has to be fast and have body kit and pod filter and turbo noise thingyyy so it can go 400km an hour!!! This sounds very much like the Jun powered Z32 they ran at Bonneville!
Stick with the Getz dude... Save your money. Z32s are expensive. Save for a house or something else. LOL.
Wheres the fun in that! Im thinking just jump straight into the deep end, going to have a look at that silver zed have a damn good look at it see if i can get it cheap, fix it up so it goes reasonable and rego it. Then begin slowly rebuilding the whole car.. Now that sounds like fun
This is a much better zed for you : http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=321719 All of those zeds you linked too are buckets of crap . Buy something that has some history and has been seen around to actually work .
