Just bought a Z31

[Quisss]

Hello all, new here! My name is Cris and I'm 22, coming from the Los Angeles area. I bought my Z31 NA 2 weeks ago after searching for some months. I got lucky and found one with almost no rust! Body is in good shape with little dings. But the only catch is that it has a blown head gasket! (No coolant in oil.) It has 170k miles.The previous owner gave me the Haynes repair manual he bought, real grateful on that. Hoping to start fixing it real soon with my uncles (theres two mechanics in the family) and get it on the road!
But yeah just saying hello. And if theres anything tips/advice you guys want to throw at me that would be cool


Before taking off the oxidation


After taking off the oxidation

[evildky]

Congrats on the Z and welcome to NICO!

If the car had a blown HG be sure to have the heads checked and a valve job is cheap while you have it apart. Do keep us updated on your progress.

[Quisss]

Thank you Evildky

Going to work on taking off the heads today. I just noticed the belts have some very small cracks on them.
I was thinking, would it be better if I pulled out the whole engine to inspect it well and put new seals, gaskets, CHTS, ext. so I won't have to come back to that?

Just to show how it looks right now. The dirtiness is bugging the hell out of me lol

And heres the little cracks I'm talking about.

Thank you, I do have mechanics in the family but I can't always have them here to help. So anything you guys can tell me is very appreciated!

[Quisss]

I spent all of yesterday unplugging and labeling wires and was finally able to take out the collector and throttle chamber! It took me forever but I'm not complaining
I did have an egr hose snap on me, a fuel pressure wire also, and a short hose broke apart in the process. So I gotta get those when I go to the Nissan dealer.



After taking off the collector. Notice the third hole from the top


After taking off one of the heads (still haven't taken off the other). So I guess some coolant did get in there. I assumed it didn't when I checked the dipstick.
I will be taking off the heads and send them out this week. Im really interested in powder coating them.
Any recommended sites to check out for the parts I will be needing? Only sites I've really checked is z31online .com and ZCarParts .com or should everything be straight from Nissan.
Thanks for looking! Really enjoying the process

[evildky]

I personally try to stick to quality name brand aftermarket parts.
I am doing Head Gaskets for a local guy and I plucked the engine, as I prefer to not work bent over the front end of the car, I also had suspected the clutch and what do you know, It was into the rivets.

[BadQ45t]

Courtesy Nissan sometimes has good prices on-line OEM, you can also sometimes get the specific OEM parts from the direct manufacturer when you know them. Some parts are much better to stick with OEM, starters, alternators for sure stick to OEM. Gaskets are cheap so no reason to cheap out on those, get OEM.

Welcome to the club, I bought my Z31 when I was 24, that was in 1984 . Maybe you will be 55 like me and still have the car.