First post on a long time, asking advice for buying a 300zx

[tvmendoza]

Hello Everyone,

I used to visit this forum a lot when I was in College and I had a 240sx turbo. I graduated got a job, sold my 240sx got a VW GTI and now I am looking for a "fun/Project" car.
I was looking for a 350z or an s2000 in the cheaper side but I just found a 300zx TT 1.5 hours away from me and I would like your input.

1990 300zx TT for 3k OBO his ad says good engine and turbos rough body/interior. I asked for pictures and he sent the following:



As you can see yes, the body is rough but I think as long as the body is straight and the engine/transmission works well I should be good.

The questions is, every ad I see 300zx are in the 6k+ value all the way to 12k. Is 3k fair?
What is better good engine with bad body or bad engine with good body if you cant have both?

Yes I already went over
everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-z32-t508376.html

Thanks in advance
Tona

[nissanfreak12]

Can you do body work or paint? That rear quarter panel looks really rough. Think about it this way, for a really good paint job your looking easily at 3k, that is not including bumper cover and what not for the vehicle.

Can you work on an engine? Even with a bad body, you will still have to work on the engine and components, even a good rebuild will cost 2k-5k, .

Personally I would take the bad body, UNLESS, the unibody is twisted, a bunch of panels are beyond repair, or its seriously fubar'd. I bought mine for 1600, engine was strong, body needed help. I like the body work stuff, am I good, probably not, but it was a project for me. I would get it, if that was all the major damage on the car.

[fabbio25]

What you should do is estimate what its going to cost you to get this car where you want it. If the engine transmission and turbos are good then $3000 OBO seems like a very reasonable price. But of course try to negotiate this price with him.

[tvmendoza]

Yes, my biggest problem is that 1/4 panel, the other side does not look as bad:



The interior is bad too but the dash looks good.

[nissanfreak12]

Interior looks actually decent, new seat covers, ebrake and shifter boot, steering wheel, and a good cleaning of the tweed, will look a bunch better.

The quarter panel, that is the toughest part for me as well. If the motor, turbos, and trans all is good to go, wouldn't be a bad deal even if you used it for just the engine. How many miles? Any maintenance records?

[300ZXttZMAN]

Hmm do you have any more pictures? Compression numbers?

+1 for asking for maintenance history.

[Fearspect]

Just use caution. I would find it hard to believe that someone took such poor care of the body and interior, yet maintained the engine/transmission/turbos well, you know what I mean? Find someone you trust, that knows their cars, to actually check things out.

[tvmendoza]

I asked him about the miles this morning and I am waiting for the reply and I just asked him about maintenance.
Thank you guys for the input, there is quite a bit that I was not thinking about and they are important.
I will definitely do a compression check before anything and yes I am hoping that I can get it for less than 3k if I decide to get it.

[tvmendoza]

He just replied, he said he has some records(didnt specify what), he says miles are around 160k but he is not sure since the odometer doesnt really work.

bah this made me kind of sad, with that amount of miles either he had to replace the engine or to be super careful with the car and that would be really hard to assume given the status of the body.

I think is awesome to have a forum and being able to make a decision based in experience from everyone, thank you guys!

[Rager]

I would stay away...... the 60k/120k maintenance is 1200-1500 if you pay to have it done. unless there is solid proof it was done that's gonna come out of your pocket. not to mention if there are problems with the turbos that requires an engine pull to fix,

think about how much you want to invest. id keep looking for a 6k tt with proper maintenance records even if there is 130k on the clock

id also suggest doing your home work on common issues like fuel injectors and other electrical gremlins these cars have. money adds up quick

your best bet is to find the BEST z within your price range as a starting platform and save your money for other goodies

[DCaff300ZX]

I would stay away...... the 60k/120k maintenance is 1200-1500 if you pay to have it done. unless there is solid proof it was done that's gonna come out of your pocket. not to mention if there are problems with the turbos that requires an engine pull to fix,

think about how much you want to invest. id keep looking for a 6k tt with proper maintenance records even if there is 130k on the clock

id also suggest doing your home work on common issues like fuel injectors and other electrical gremlins these cars have. money adds up quick

your best bet is to find the BEST z within your price range as a starting platform and save your money for other goodies

TOTALLY agree, you avoided a serious headache to be sure and really, REALLY do not want any $3K TT's.
Any TT in this range is a serious project waiting to happen and almost surely will take you further than you'd want to go, or would have to go if you spent the extra $3-4K on a better candidate with maintenance records and that level of care.
Even then a TT Z is a wallet vacuum keeping it happy, and full of High Test

[Oh Em Zee]

Garbage. Walk away.

[nexus08]

I think it depends on how much mechanical work you would be willing to do yourself. If your going to be paying a mechanic to keep it up... run, don't walk away.

If your comfortable pulling engines, rebuilding, etc., (like some are on here... not me!) yeah, it might be a great start on a fun project. Otherwise it is a money pit waiting for a victim.

And as others have said, to make it really nice, your looking at about a 3k paint job, but that should include the body work.