Hey everyone, just like to say it's nice to be part of the forum and the reason I have signed up is because I am hoping to own a ZX within the next 3-5 weeks!

 

Previously owned a e46 330ci, was a decent car but just wasn't doing it for me anymore. Always had my eye on the Z, it is a handsome brute with fantastic performance.

 

I would just like your opinions on a few things. I plan to spend about £3000 for a Z, I've looked around autotrader and have managed to find some fairly decent looking ones. However, most of the cars I have found had a vicious amount of mileage on the clock and I am not convinced that it is the original mileage. Of course, I asked for FSH but none of the owners could provide me with any.

 

I had found a few cars with genuine miles, but with 90k+ on the clock, how do you think these cars will fair out? Do any of you have a Z with that kind of mileage and if so how does it drive?

 

I am desperate for a Z and will not be satisfied until I have one, any advice would be appreciated!

welcome to the club mate. good on you for doing some scouting around.

check out the for sale section on here as you may find the average price to be lower (and the average quality may be higher :x: )

 

my Z has done 90k and is still going strong.....ok she's had a full engine and turbo rebuild but hey.

 

for £3k you should be able to get hold of a good example in good running order,

Thank you so much for your reponse man! So £3k may be more then average? That is good to know man, if I manage to get one for £2k maybe I can enhance the cars performance or spend £1k on restoring it a bit so mileage won't be such a problem.

 

Would you mind if I asked how much the rebuild cost? Also, how was the car before the rebuild? Again man, I would like to thank you for your reply, it makes me that much more anxious to get the car lol!

Welcome mate 90K is nothing if its looked after I have 92k and feels like new still , Mine is a non turbo which is a fair bit different than the Turbo's But all are truely a great cars

But whatever you choose , choose carefully as there were alot of boy racers who abused them then tried to sell them on . Try to stay away from Ebay as I have looked at many and most were dogs , Try looking on the Forums First

Good luck anyway and welcome :hyper:

welcome buddy!

 

generally speaking, the uk models are the ones which would tend to have service history and with the average mileage in the uk alongside the age of the car, they are generally gonna be enterprise mileage. the imports would be the lower mileage examples but unfortunately the service history system in japanland is not the same as here so cars very rarely come with any, if they do... 読みやすくない (which means.. 'its not easy to read' according to babelfish :D)

 

my advice would be to chose very carefully with some1 who knows the car well and maybe has diagnostic software to help thoroughly check the cars you view. a good higher mileage example could still end up costing you alot less than a shed low mileage chancer!

 

either way, if your looking to spend 3k, be prepared to spend the same again very easily if things go wrong! it is far from the easiest car to work on so its not just the prices of spares that are high its also the labour costs involved.

 

all imo

Hey guys, extremely grateful for the replies. I've yet to be on such a friendly, welcoming forum.

 

Gurteen: Cheers mate, I hope I can find one that is well looked after. And I agree, they are all great cars!

 

Joely: Thanks bro, thanks for all the info it's really helpful. I saw a few Jap models on the web and didn't bother to contact the owners. Would rather deal with a UK model car.

 

I wish I had a friend that could help with the diagnostics, I may have to ask around to find one of those haha. Also, I truly hope that I find a car that doesn't cause me problems in the near future, maybe half way through next year I'll be able to deal with such problems or even do up the car to prevent such problems.

Firstly welcome to the club bud :D

 

Regarding zeds with service history you stand a better chance of finding a UK one with S/H however they tend to of done miles and also they have not suffered our climate too well :(

 

It is possible to find imports with S/H - mine has a full service history both in Japan and this country. They do exist but are few and far between.

 

IMHO spend a bit more on the car itself rather than going for a cheaper one, as it will work out better in the long run. :)

 

You stand a good chance of getting a nice example for £3k :)

 

HTH

Isaac :)

Hello and welcome!

 

Buyers guide might help a bit if you havent seen it already :)

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=97871

 

Good luck with the Z hunt

Thank you so much for your reponse man! So £3k may be more then average? That is good to know man, if I manage to get one for £2k maybe I can enhance the cars performance or spend £1k on restoring it a bit so mileage won't be such a problem.

 

Would you mind if I asked how much the rebuild cost? Also, how was the car before the rebuild? Again man, I would like to thank you for your reply, it makes me that much more anxious to get the car lol!

 

before the rebuild it still drove fine, but i had the DBS (dreaded blue smoke) from the zorsts, meaning either a simple fix (replace PCV hoses/valves at about £70) - which it wasnt. turned out my rear turbo seals had gone since after decatting, and oil was leaking in. also water coolant feed to one turbo had long gone, and the turbo had seized! and low compression in cylinder one. and hairline fracture in block.

 

but after forged pistons, a new block (thanks Duffers - telepathically :x: ), bigger injectors, rebuilt 360 degree thrust bearing turbos, Z1 intercoolers, Koyo radiator, (thanks Danny and Smithy :bow: ) and a long, long time running in she drives like a phantom. until i meddled with it again, ahem! costwise, well you can add up the cost for the parts yourself, labour-wise it was kind of mate-rate, but comfortably over £2k :hurl:

 

youve got the right idea with keeping some cash aside, as you WILL need to fix something, be it large or small. good luck!

Welcome:D! Enough of the boy racer stuff.lol im only 20 so i now im classed as a boy racer in my twin turbo manual but i can hostly say it doesnt get booted around.lol:D!

mine has 144000 on it and its still going fine (touch wood)

 

oh and welcome

Thank you very much guys for the welcomes, I swear I've never had so many welcomes on any forum before lol! Everyones advice has been much appreciated and thanks Skyline for sharing such information with me mate.

 

So all in all, 2k+ for a new engine and turbo? If I'm honest, that doesn't seem to bad at all, afterall I am going to be keeping the car for a long time so that seems worth it.

 

Lol, you know the bad thing about purchasing a Z though? All the sellers live so bloody far. I know it's nice that there isn't much Z's about, but it seems like a bit of a curse too.

where your from Ilkanzx?

East London mate!

Welcome m8 a good UK spec it may take you a long time to find.

I should no took me quite a while also mine i bought on the condition of a re-built engine being trasplanted into her plus in the time of owning her i have spent 700 odd quid on a new water pump new pipes and the fitting of another rad as original was leaking.

 

Found this one on Piston Heads an import but might be worth a look also in london.

An Auto but can always do a conversion on the car later in life.

Also this car has done 55k miles will need a cambelt change at 60k make sure it has been done if you decide to enquire.

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/818237.htm

Edited December 10, 200817 yr by Phantom2080

So all in all, 2k+ for a new engine and turbo? If I'm honest, that doesn't seem to bad at all, afterall I am going to be keeping the car for a long time so that seems worth it.

 

 

err thats just for the labour and some basic parts only tho mate dont forget :smash:

It was'nt that long ago that £3k would only get you a complete dog, but these days £3k is a decent enough figure to get a good example. Thats not to say there still are'nt plenty of people passing of bad examples for that price though. Check out the Cars for sale here, its much better to buy from an Enthusiast and you can use the search tool to check on its history.

 

Rear through the buyers guide (its in the FAQ section) and test a few before buying. I've driven many examples that would of put me of them for life if I hadn't had experience of good examples too.

 

If your set on a UK car then they are harder to find as about 80% of Zed's in this country are Imports.

 

UK cars were available as 2+2 Twin Turbo's only. You do have a better chance of full service history, but be warned the vast majority of UK cars are suffering very badly with Corrosion unless garaged all their life or have had recent extensive repairs. You will want to carefully inspect the underside of the vehicle, especially the sills towards the rear arch, beneath the rear bumper and around the strut mounts in engine bay.

 

Imports were available as 2+2 and SWB(2 seater). Twin Turbo & Non-turbo, and the rarer slicktop and Convertible models. They tend to be a lot lower mileage and those that have not been in the country long are like brand new underneath. Its likely that the examples you've seen with lower mileage would of been Imports.

Edited December 11, 200817 yr by Yowser

welcome to the club and good luck in finding your zed its a buyers market at the moment so go for the best your money will buy. I personaly would go for the imports because of the low milage and rust free body work but watch out for cracked dash, brittel plastic and cracked rear spoiler which can act like a sponge, all of which can easily be fixed or replaced. Also there is some excellent uk models but will probely be slightley dearer so good hunting and any questions just ask the fourm.

err thats just for the labour and some basic parts only tho mate dont forget :smash:

 

i was gonna say you lucky bastad lol... the shopping list itself looks over 2k's worth

firstly welcome to the club , and im running a n/a with 114,000 mls and engine runs great and have heard that some cars in the (us) have over 200,000 mls on and still going strong!

 

As regards a rebuild i recently priced the labour at 1,500 approx and around 1,750 for the kit

 

hth

Welcome to the club :) , mines one of the lowest mileage zeds for a uk car, with only 53K on the clock with FSH :) , but i wont be getting rid of mine unless college in america works out, but if it does mine will be for sale soon :'(

murt hasnt yet noticed the tippex over the 2 on the first digit of his mileage!

murt hasnt yet noticed the tippex over the 2 on the first digit of his mileage!

 

:O omfg i just noticed it!!

 

Lol joke, nah it has full service history :)

:O omfg i just noticed it!!

 

Lol joke, nah it has full service history :)

 

Hand written on a piece of A4:D

Welcome mate, and there aint nothing wrong with Jap spec, mines jap and I love it, less rust etc... :D good luck with the z hunt:)

Honestly guys I am truly grateful for all the replies! I hope I didn't offend anyone with my opinion on the Jap spec cars! It's just I have never dealt with an import car before!

 

There are some FANTASTIC cars for sale on the board, things are going swimmingly and I expect to have a Z very soon! What can you guys tell me about Z meetings? I know there are probably a topic regarding that topic already and I hope I don't seem lazy lol.