Hi everyone.

 

I'm looking for a bit of advice of whether or not my cousin's car is worth buying. Here's the (rather long) description from when he originally advertised it as for sale way back in July last year:

 

 

Hi mate,

 

My car may be suitable but it is in black. I have 1990 (G) SWB Manual Twin Turbo Targa Top 300zx in black and its currently for sale.

 

I am looking for a quick sale- which means you could land on a bargain because there are a couple of faults with the car- all is detailled below. Let me know what you think :-)

 

It has totally standard engine which has been recently replaced due to the old one dying- i had a leak on the radiator and as many zed owners know they tend

 

to get hot very quickly, sadly it got too hot and warped the heads and apparantly also damaged the block so i was advised to have the engine totally replaced

 

so i did.

 

The new engine is excellent only done 60k Miles and the car has done 120,000km total or 75,000 Miles if you prefer :-)

 

When the engine was fitted i had the cambelt replaced, you can never be too carefull and since the engine install the car has done less than 1,000 miles.

 

Other things to note are that i have both the standard Nissan wheels that came with the car when new and also a set of 17" Stern Split Rims which are powder

 

coated Anthracite Grey centres with polished chrome rims, they are currently on the vehicle and to be honest look fantastic.

 

The Stern wheels are -

 

Rear - 255/40/ZR17

Front - 235/45/ZR17

 

The car had a respray just over 12 Months ago, it was originally black but it was looking a bit tired so i thought it would benefit and look a lot better if

 

it had a fresh coat of paint and it looks much fresher and brighter now :-)

 

I have also had some suspension fitted to the car which is Koni Sport, really firm and makes the car handle even better but wont break your back and you can

 

still negociate most speed humps- even those annoying traffic calming ones ;-)

 

The car also has a non standard rear spoiler which looks like an extended version of the foam standard one you got on the 300zx out of the factory. It also

 

has a non standard front bumper which looks great, i am not sure which one it is because it was fitted to the car before i brought it.

 

It has the cloth/tweed interior so unfortunately no leather there, and there is only one slight wear on the drivers side lumbar support. I also have the

 

original targa bags and the original targa blinds for the roof panels which i understand are diffcult to get hold of.... not sure?

 

The only other non standard things i need to mention are the front brakes which the discs and pads have been replaced for ferrodo premier instead of the

 

standard ones and the exhausts are also non standard. The standard exhausts have been replaced with two single pipes- sounds really nice too, but not too

 

loud when you are cruising on the motorway or whatever, and the Cats are still fitted so they could be removed to gain more performance if you wish.......

 

The car is obviously a jap import. Also forgot to mention it has remote central locking with full closure and alarm/immobiliser with original master code so

 

duplicate fobs can be ordered should you need any extra, i currently have one fob and one immobiliser key- also i am quite pleased that i still have the

 

original Titanium 300zx key ;-)

 

Down to the nitty gritty. The reason i am selling the car is because i am changing jobs and buying a house so unfortunately its not cost effective for me to

 

keep the zed and do all of these other things- i don't want to sell it but needs must and all that.

 

Faults with the car- there is a slight rust bubble over the drivers side rear wheel arch. Also there are 2 little dents on the metal panel between the rear

 

window glass and the roof top targa panels neither of these are very big, all of them about the same size as a 50p peice but if you are looking to make it

 

look perfect then they will need attention, other than that the body work is in very good condition :-) The last and final thing i need to mention is that

 

the car has recently blown a PTU and i replaced it and the car ran fine for a month, then another PTU went down- i haven't replace the PTU again and

 

personally i don't know if this is the result of a more serious problem or simply coincidence but i simply don't know and with all the stuff i have going on

 

at the moment with work and the house move i just don't have time to pursue this anymore so i have reluctantly decided the best thing to do was advertise the

 

car as is and try and sell it. I also understand that i wont get the best price for the car at the momenty as its currently not running and needs a little

 

attention, but i am open to offers and also open to advise if anyone has any idea's what the problem may be so i can advise prospective buyers :-)

 

I was originally looking for offers between £4300-£4500, obviously with the fault listed above i am now open to SENSIBLE offers lower than this.

 

I will arrange photo's of the car ASAP but i am having ome issues hosting them so the easiest way is to perhaps email me then i can email you the pictures.

 

I have been as honest as possible with the description to avoid disappointment in the long run, in my opinion there is nothing worse than being misled.

 

If you or anyone else are interested then please either :-

 

Email me on vernos@gmail.com or

 

MSN me on el_v_man@hotmail.com,

 

If you would like to call me then please email me for my mobile phone number :-)

 

Thanks for reading and please get in touch if you are interested.

 

Cheers,

 

Vern]

 

I've been to see the car a couple of times now but I'm still in two minds about whether the car is worth buying or not. At the moment the car has been standing since July last year when my cousin placed the advert above on the forum so it's not been driven or run for around 6 months so as you can imagine it doesn't look it's best at all. A couple of things that I've noticed myself in addition to the problems that my cousin has listed above are: it will probably need new tires all round (probably will end up being part-worns if I can get hold of some) because of them being low on tread anyway and they have perished from being static for so long. The front bumper is not fixed on the driver's side - it is worrying tie-wrapped to the intercooler :confused: but it's cracked anyway from when the car was put on a tow truck after a breakdown. The handbrake desperately needs adjusting as it gets to the end of the lever travel and still doesn't appear to be fully on. Also there is excessive play on some part of the steering but I can't find out at which joint(s) yet because as yet I've had no chance to have a look underneath it. I have posted on the forum in the hope that someone in the Stoke area with good mechanical knowledge of zed's and if possible a pretty much standard zed-engined that they could at least take me for a drive in so that I can at least get an idea of how well a standard zed engine should pull. Also if somebody would like to test drive my cousin's zed for me (when it's running after this ptu problem is sorted) to check it performs and drives as it should that would be great.

 

Also, any seventeen year old driver's on here got a zed? If so how much did you pay for your premium and who were you insured with? At the moment I'm looking at paying £5k for TPFT level insurance but that's in my name (as opposed to being a named driver with someone older as the main driver) so I can earn NCB :)

 

I look forward to any replies,

Cheers,

James

Forgot to mention a couple of things and unfortunately it won't let me edit my posts. Because of the wheels being bigger than standard they now rub the wheel arch lining when on full lock to this obviously needs adjusting to stop this happening. The wheel arch lining from behind the right hand intercooler is missing (this is how i noticed the bumper was tie-wrapped to the intercooler) but I'm not sure if this is a problem and one their appears to be some issues with the rear wheel steering as they just appeared not quite right - possibly need tracking. How much do you think it's worth from the description I have given? I have pestered my cousin for photos but he hasn't sent me any as yet so I can't upload photos of it for you to look at. I disagree with the value in his advert massively and upon first view I thought the car was worth around £3200 but the more I think about it the more value the car loses to me with all it's possible problems. What do you guys think?

 

Thanks again,

James

Not wanting to be a kill joy mate, but at 17 years old you should be looking a building up your driving experience in lesser power cars before jumping into a zed. The last thing me or anyone else would want to see is another lad killed or seriously injured in a powerfull car.

 

There a well known phrase that is often used in my line of work "Driving ability does not increase with wallet size".

 

Yes, you may be able to afford to buy insure and run something like a zed, but unless you have built up a some proper experience in driving performance vehicles, and i dont mean " i drove my mates skyline once", im talking advanced training, your taking a very very big risk.

 

The main point im trying to make, is think very seriously at what your contemplating, and just ask yourself are you really prepared for driving a high performance vehicle, and if you come to the answer of yes, please FFS be sensible and stay safe, because this car WILL bite.

 

Nick

Cheers for the reply, I know mate - I'm well aware that the car will bite and I'm also well aware that if I drive it with a heavy foot before gaining LOTS of experience I will not have the skills to put it right when it does bite. I have thought about it carefully but I have made the mistake of falling in love with the zed as I'm sure has happened to many people on here and the more I think about it the more I want it. Rest assured I will be taking it steady for a long while in the zed (if I end up with it) and have no intention of going around driving the zed trying to show how talented I am only to have my talent run out and to injure myself or worse somebody else. Cheers for the advice :)

Car sounds like a future headache to me. :-). And no way worth what he was asking at first.

Car sounds like a future headache to me. :-). And no way worth what he was asking at first.

Cheers for the advice - will take it on board :)

Hi,

The car sounds like typical ebay fodder!....probably worth less than £2k!

17 year old driver...part worn tyres...300bhp!...Don't even go there!

Jez.

£5k insurance is just obscene. Suprised you even managed to get a quote actually!

Oh right JEZ300Z! Less then £2k? Didn't expect that! I definately need to get someone experienced with zeds to come and look at it for me then. I don't want to spend the money and find out I've bought a wreck :) I know about the being unexperienced with high performance vehicle's but like I've zed I've fallen in love with these cars and I know I'd be gutted if I had the chance to get one and then didn't :) Like I said before - and I know probably all teenage drivers looking to buy a high performance car would say this - I'm not going to be driving it with a heavy foot at all. I will be taking it easy for a LONG while.

 

Hi FunkySi, I know it is obscene but after seeing how some people drive on the roads today - not all of them young drivers - I can see why insurance brokers have to charge high risk drivers this much. I know myself that I won't be driving it hard at all - but how do they know that. I know my limits - and I know my level of skill will be low until I've got some experience under my belt although I'm not sure that driving around in a normal car for a year would prepare me for driving a zed - I would imagine that's something you can only learn how to do well by buying one, starting off taking it easy and ONLY when you've built up experience and can feel what the car is doing and know the limits of components fitted like tires can you even think about putting your foot down a bit. Hope I'm making sense here - although I know that there are people that will say that a seventeen year old wanting a zed makes no sense at all :)

 

Any volunteers to have a look at it with me then?

 

Cheers for the replies,

James

Who's given you an insurance quote??

Specialists in Young Driver insurance: I phoned the sales team of http://www.4youngdrivers.com for my quote. That's the only place I have tried as yet - will be checking to see if they are the cheapest around/the only ones that will insure me lol. It's not looking very promising towards me having the zed with the comments about it being eBay fodder at the moment although I suppose there's always other zed's for sale :)

 

Regards,

James

Cant see where SI got 2K from. Its a SWB Manual, its dont sound too bad, their are a few little jobs there to do but it is a old heavy car. You deffo need to get it checked out by somebody that knows the cars, needs to be checked for smoking both on idle, on accelerating and on de-accelerating. Free play in suspension isnt too much of a problem, you just need to found out where it is from and replace the offending part. You said the HICAS dont work right, what kind of problems are there with it?

Cheers for the reply mrogers. That was what my cousin said - it's the one that everybody wants apparently. Yeah I am expecting there to be a few little problems with the car - but today I suppose all the electronics on cars cause small problems with even modern cars - so when something like the zed has modern electrics that are 18 years old things are bound to go wrong with the electrics which is why I wasn't to concerned with the PTU issue. I know - I've realised that there's no way that I should buy the car unless I can get someone to have a look at it for me. I've read the buyers guide but I need somebody to drive it who knows how they should drive if you know what I mean. I've arranged to have a look underneath the car while my cousin has got it in the garage to have the PTU problem looked at so I should know soon what the problem with the play in the steering is. Could only check the driver's side so it's possibly the track rod end on that side (praying) but could be something on the steering rack :) I'm not sure about the HICAS - I've not seen it running yet. It just looks as if there's something a bit suspect with the rear wheels because they don't point straight ahead - possibly needs four wheel tracking. I couldn't decide if the reason it looked out is because the car was on a slope on the nearside so again I can check that out when I go to see it again when it's running.

 

Thanks to everyone that has replied - really appreciate it,

James

The HICAS has very little turn, the wheel should deffo be pointing forward when stationary. I would say this is something deffo to get checked out. The PTU's on these car fail its not uncommon, you can get a later version for them which are a bit more reliable. If you do buy, dont skimp on tyres its the only things keeping the 300bhp on the road.

Personally i couldn't justify spending more on a years insurance than the value of the car. £5k is an unthinkable amount.

 

The problem with these cars is although relatively cheap to buy they can still cost the equivalent of a £30k to run & maintain. This particular example sounds to have had an unloved life - if you are set on a 300zx you may be better looking elsewhere.

Thanks for the replies guys. mrogers - thanks for the advice mate. I plan on checking it myself and seeing if I can get in touch with the mechanic that my cousin is having check out the PTU problem and ask if he could check it out for me. My cousin seems a bit reluctant to put it through an MOT which is a bit worrying but I've decided there's no chance I'm gonna buy it unless it gets MOTd and I've told him that. I know that PTU failures on the 300zx is not uncommon but I think there is a problem with either the PTU's that my cousin has been having put on it, the person that's fitting it is not doing it properly somehow or the is a problem with the wiring loom. I think he has gone through about 5 in not a very long period of time :) It's had series 2 PTUs fitted to it - are the series 2 PTUs what you mean by the later versions or am I missing something? Has anybody else had problems with PTUs lasting hours rather than years? I understand how important good grip is to driving these cars well which is why I plan to only insure it for summer months with the theory that warm, dry weather will be the best time to drive it and I DO NOT want to be taking it out in ice, rain, fog or generally poor conditions unless I have to :) and also 6 months insurance should bring it down to a slightly more manageable price

 

PhilP - thanks for the reply. I understand what you're saying - but I know that I'll only waste the money on something else if I don't get myself a decent car and like I said in my previous posts I've made the mistake of falling in love with the 300zx and my theory was that I know the history of this one. I know the problems he has had with it and I thought it would be better knowing about it's problems than buying a car that looks in better condition than this one and finding out after a couple of hundred miles that it's a wreck.

 

Cheers - keep posting the advice folks,

James.

I would pay the £40 and stick it in for an MOT then you can see what wrong, if your cousin refuses walk away.

I suspect it's more wiring problems than PTU - I've never heard of the later model PTU failing.

Cheers for the replies.

 

mrogers - that's what I plan to do. I've explained to my cousin that there is no chance I'm going to buy it without an MOT. Cheers for the advice :)

 

AndyP - my thoughts exactly after reading the forum and discovering that the series 2 PTUs are quite reliable. As I understand it though - the series 2 PTU connector is different to the series 1 connector and so when fitting a series 2 PTU to a series 1 car you need an adapter to allow you to connect it. My thoughts were that this adapter may be dodgey because of how the 2 series 1 PTU's that he has had fitted have lasted months and all the series 2 ones have lasted hours. I suppose the only other option after the PTU's being supplied are checked and are good is that there's a short in the wiring loom resulting in voltage where there shoudln't be voltage thus blowing the PTU. It may be a possibility I suppose that the wiring loom may have been damaged when the engine was swapped?

 

Still no volunteers from the Stoke area willing to have a look? I'll pay for fuel obviously and a bit extra for your time if necessary :)

 

Regards,

James

Honestly mate as a reasonably young driver myself, you are biting off more than you can chew. These cars whilst fantastic do have very high running costs. As I'm sure everyone here can tell you. (I'm not talking hundreds of £'s more like 1000's). I hear what your saying about taking it easy and learning the car but to be honest mate you are not going to have the experience, I'm just talking about physical control of the car its road sense. When I was 17 I had 3 crashes in a year, because I wasn't prepared for what was happening around me. And with a zed things happen a lot faster. How would you feel if because of some small mistake you wrote off your baby. I'm not trying to lecture you I'm just trying to make you understand the reality of owning one of these cars.

 

Best thing you can do is give me a call. (Alex 07737 012429)

 

With regards to the car get it taken to a specialist who understands 300zx's. Not your ordinary garage or even nissan. Theres Zed world in tamworth nr birmingham. I'm sure there are others near your neck of the woods. Personally I'm from London so I don't know your area too well.

My issue (apart from the cost of insurance) is the running cost of these cars. I am on my second one and I have spent thousands just keeping them on the road, let alone modifying.

 

I don't want to put you off but just make sure you have a slush fund in case it needs something major doing to it...

you say your not going to drive it hard? Well lets be honest whats the point in having it then...

 

Even the people on here who say they dont give them any work will still have a little squirt now and again. You would be far better looking at somthing more like a quick front wheel drive car. Nice and safe, very hard to crash. These things will try and bite you in the ass at any opportunity and unless you have serious cash i wouldnt try and run one as a daily. Most owners on here (including my self) have a cheap hack (in some cases a much more expensive hack!) to run about in to save the zed.

 

You cant just jump in these and nip to the shops a mile down the road and switch it off, it will not like you for that at all. You cant just work on them like a "normal" car, and if you intend to use it as a daily then it will need alot of work just to keep it on the road.

 

We had a guy a little while ago, cheema was it? Perhaps not i cant remember who was running one at 19 or so and had to sell up in a few months and lost a packet. I bought one at 20 and ive struggled with it a bit, and ive always had another daily...! now im 21 insurance isnt so bad and i didnt buy a lemon so ive been lucky!

 

Just think long and hard - have a look at what your mates have crashed and think what if they had 300bhp instead of 100bhp and twice the weight. However good you think you are, or how prepared you are. Your not until youve got a few years driving under your belt. Ive only been driving 4 years and ive done well over 100k in that time, which is a reasonable average. I still know there is experience to be had!

 

On a lighter note, most of us had to build up to one so sod having one as you first car, get a shitron paxo like everyone else! lol

 

Also, id hate for you to crash one, means one less 300zx around which is a real shame!

Hi,

At the end of the day it's a non-runner, without an mot, which makes it a spares or repair car!

If your cousin is reluctant to put it through an mot, then there may well be other issues with the car, which he is aware of.

As mentioned earlier, it doesn't exactly sound like a cared for example by it's recent history and could prove to be a money pit!

 

Cheerz,

Jez.

Thanks for the replies guys - really appreciate it.

 

Mowerman - I know what you're saying mate - and I do understand why people might think I've bitten off more than I can chew. I know that these cars have expensive running costs and that is no problem for me. I know what you mean about the zed experience being different to other cars because everything can happen so much faster - but I am a biker and on a motorbike everything can happen faster still and you HAVE to be aware of all of what's going on around you to keep yourself on the bike. Yeh I know about Zed World in Tamworth but like I menioned in my previous posts the car is not running at the moment and is not insured etc to be driven to Zed World for them to have a look at it and I know I said that money isn't a problem for me but I don't want to be paying someone from Zed World to come and look at the car for me throwing money at a car I'm not necessarily going to buy if you understand me. Cheers for the advice though and I'll perhaps give you a ring sometime after a little bit more advice. Out of interest - as a relatively young driver how old are you? And at what age did you get your zed? Also, I would never even consider taking the zed to a dealer to be looked at - come to think of it I'd probably never consider taking any car to a dealer to be looked at :) The garage that is looking at the PTU problem is not my choice it's my cousin's although he has worked on this zed for one before - not sure if he has any other experience with them though. My problem is finding a zed specialist nearby that will come out to the car that will come and look for the price of fuel or a very small fee because like I said - I really don't wanna be throwing money at my cousin's car if I'm not gonna end up buying it.

 

mgh297 - As I mentioned money for car repairs will not be a problem providing I can expect a good few months running without it actually breaking down lol. Which as far as I am aware I can expect providing the car is well checked out that nothing is wrong with it and well looked after?

 

Quavey - I will be driving the car hard at some point just not until I have gained some experience of the car's characteristics :) I was infact looking at buying a Clio Sport before I realised my cousins car was for sale and after researching Clio's found that they're not exactly short of problems themselves. The zed will not be my daily runner - like I said above I am a biker and will be using my Ninja as my runabout. The bike is for when I want to get to somewhere - the zed will be for when I fancy a drive. For me the most vital thing I need to ensure in thinking about buying a zed is making sure that I don't buy a lemon - which is what I was starting to wonder if my cousin's car was!! That's why I decided to seek the help of the forum :)

 

Seriously guys, I've thought about this long and hard (despite it probably appearing to you that I haven't) and have come to the conclusion that although the car is a high performance vehicle it's manageable and as I won't be experienced enough to handle the power - I won't be giving it much power for a good while. Simple as that. The main thing I need to establish is whether or not this particular zed is worth buying? If it's not I'll have to reconsider car choices unless there are zed's for sale on here for around £3k to £4k with no engine mods (I don't want more even more power) in good condition in my local area.

 

Thanks,

James

Hi Jez300Z - you must have submitted your post as I was adding a reply of my own! I see what you're saying mate. I've already explained to my cousin that no way am I even thinking about buying the car as a non-runner :) so he has having this PTU problem looked at. I see what your saying about him being reluctant to put it through an MOT possibly meaning he knows about more problems than he's letting on but I believe him when he says it's got no other problems that he knows about :) I'm sure he would tell me if he thought it was a money pit himself. As far as I know the only reason he stopped using the 300zxTT was because he bought a 200sx.

 

Cheers for the replies again everyone - really appreciating and taking on board all this advice.

 

Regards,

James

be carefull is all i can say mate, i had my first zed when i was 20, it was a handful even though i had a calibra v6 and a turbo b4.

 

Alex here so kindly even offered me to drive his zed, even though i own a gto i kindly refused as would have had 2 passengers and a driver i didnt want to mess it all up. id say wait 2 years, or drive a low powered rear wheel drive, that way our used to driving in the wet around bends

 

when did you pass your test and what cars have you actually driven?

 

if you do get one, how about an N/A.

 

whatever you choose dont forget traction control, untill you know what you are doing.