Hi, I’m considering buying a 300zx, the car looks good in pictures however the owner sent me some pictures of the underneath and something on the frame rail didn’t look right. Please see attached pictures, it’s a one owner car and as I said looks pretty good otherwise. Had 120,000 miles ish. I can’t even tell where this would be on the car as I am not familiar enough with these cars……yet. It’s a long drive to see and pickup. Please help.

That is the reinforced front left chassis rail, jacking point. It looks like it has been grounded and split a bit also having rusted. Would need to be fixed.

This is view from the front.

That’s the frame rail. Positioned about a foot in from the edge. The front third is a piece of sheet steel. It gets used as the jack point often. Looks like the rail has been nicked by a jack at some stage. Would not worry me at all tbh. Apart from I’d want to check that corrosion hadn’t occurred because of the steel being exposed.

Hmm, ok to me it looked like it was v cut with a cut off wheel. I see the rust behind the cut … so this is not structural? Just cut out the rust and weld in some steel? I thought it was part of the sub frame.

The front has a cross member, style arrangement that boots across the bottom between strut towers. The back is an actual sub frame. The body, those rails are structural but complex. It’s multiple layers of sheet material. I did have a google but couldn’t see what I was looking for, a cross sectional view of the body.

Hey Stephen, are you saying it is structural? You say it’s multiple layers of material? Does that mean it would need to be repaired in layers? Do you think I could just find a donor car and cut and section in a patch in this area? I doubt repair panels are available. Out of ten, what would you rate this repair? If done to look like it was never there? I’m not planning to tackle it, I just want to make sure it can be repaired properly .

Hi Dennis, sorry if this reads a little blunt. Go and google it and you’ll find lots of photos of how the body is constructed. It’s pretty much the same as any other Nissan model of that era. There’s plenty of videos of people cutting them open, apart, off etc especially on similar models like the S Chassis. At the end of the day you are the one spending the money and the one who has to sleep at night, so it’s best to do that research yourself rather than listen to one person on the internet.

Have you asked the owner for better photos? The one shown is a big blurry and doesn’t focus on the area that concerns you. If I was worried about that that’s exactly what I’d do, ask for more information. Maybe take those pictures to a body shop local to you and ask.

I have no idea about the car you are looking at, its price or anything the seller has to say about it. It is however a car that likely over 35 years old and has been half way to the moon. It’s incredible it’s still rolling let alone in good shape. It wouldn’t concern me but that’s me.