N/A or wait for TT

[ferdis]

Well this is my first post and I'm 19 looking for a summer car, as well as something that's a bit more gas friendly since my jeep is far from it x.x there's a guy very close to me selling a 1990 300zx 2+0 with 156k on body and 80k on rebuilt(I'm assuming) engine. Now that's a ton of miles especially from where I live in PA, most cars tend to rot out by 100k haha but this car is somehow immaculate, my biggest fuss is should I wait for a TT? I have every intention of making this thing a very fast fun car, and no doubt will need a turbo, but should I wait? Or just do it later myself? Can N/A's put out decent power?(350-400) also id be getting it for about 2500$. Thanks
-Ryan

[simmode1]

Wait... Is the guy near you with the TT is selling it for $2500 or is that your car buying budget? Because a clean Z32TT with a fresh engine could sell for about $8 to $10 grand nowadays. Prices have been on the rise...

If you've planning on buying a project car for about $2500, don't waste your money on the N/A Z32. You won't be doing yourself any favors trying to turbo or engine swap that car.

But you may wanna take some time and look and the turbo Z31's, in my opinion. They're in the $2500 price range and seem to be experiencing a resurgence in aftermarket support as guys start moving away form the 240sx's to other old, cheap chassis with untapped potential...

[Ace2cool]

Yeah, you're probably not gonna find a good TT for $2500. If you find one, it's gonna be a headache for sure.

Hope you have a deep wallet too, because these cars are EXPENSIVE just to maintain. God forbid anything goes wrong with it.

And no, N/A's can't put out decent power. You'll be lucky to break 250RWHP without heavy modding. As far as gas friendly, these only get about 21mpg highway.

[ferdis]

No the N/A is what's 2500 lol and i might have found a nice TT by my friend, he said it hasnt been driven in a year or so and is sitting in a barn, maybe i found a farmer stuck with his sons old car he wants to let go for cheap. And that 21 mpg is far better than the 13 my Jeep gets:)

[300ZXttZMAN]

Welcome to NICO.

First you need to read this thread: everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-z32-t508376.html

Then watch these videos:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UzW6G-11c[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPw2s-R94NY[/youtube]

Also read through this: http://z32.wikispaces.com

[DankZX]

Do what you want, but ill reinforce, you need at least 1000 dollars in the bank when you own one of these cars. And if it starts at 2500, prolly gonna have to put that into maintenance or labor. You may just be better with a civic or civic type vehicle, I DD a 96 Sentra in the winter and if my work is far from home ill drive it. It was $300 and put $1000 in maintenance and no problems so far and its been three years.

[BlackWidowZ]

Well this is my first post and I'm 19 looking for a summer car, as well as something that's a bit more gas friendly since my jeep is far from it x.x there's a guy very close to me selling a 1990 300zx 2+0 with 156k on body and 80k on rebuilt(I'm assuming) engine. Now that's a ton of miles especially from where I live in PA, most cars tend to rot out by 100k haha but this car is somehow immaculate, my biggest fuss is should I wait for a TT? I have every intention of making this thing a very fast fun car, and no doubt will need a turbo, but should I wait? Or just do it later myself? Can N/A's put out decent power?(350-400) also id be getting it for about 2500$. Thanks
-Ryan

No car with 186k is immaculate. Especially one from up north. It might have a good paint job but thats lipstick on a pig trust me. Right i'm speaking in general terms here there are exceptions but I doubt this is one of them. Most people on this forum will say if you want a TT buy a TT not a NA.

My opinion is do you plan on pulling the motor out of your TT car and upgrading everything to get the most power or rebuilding it. If the answer is yes than Assuming that a NA is cheaper than a stock TT and its in excellent condition. And you are doing all the wrenching yourself, you could buy a TT motor and whatever you need to rebuild it and upgrade it and drive the NA around while doing so. VS pulling the motor out of your TT and have your car sitting while you work on the engine.

Really if your doing the wrenching yourself its going to cost less to do a swap than to pay someone else to do it. Thats if you can even find someone who isnt suicidal.. If you are not mechanically inclined I wouldn't even buy a Z32. Becasue they are expensive to have someone else work on and parts cost a lot of money.

If lets say the NA was 4-6 thousand cheaper than a TT. You could buy a TT motor and maint kit rebuild kit and upgraded turbos upgraded this that whatever you needed to do the swap and lets pretend its going to come between 12-15k total with the car included thats if you get a NA for 2-5k. And you can drive the car while you build the engine and prep for the swap.. Now lets say you buy a TT for 6-8k, pull the motor upgrade the turbos, intercoolers rebuild the motor, change all the hoses etc etc modding the TT,adding a NA subframe to add NA gears, and have the vehicle sit while you are doing this.. its going to cost you a lot more than 6-8k. Your looking at atleast as much as the swap becasue you are deeper into it, and you still need a lot of the same parts minus the stock engine. So don't let others fool you either way your looking at a lot fo work, time and money. for both cars that is if your goal is high and you want to take the car to the next level.




But like you said you intend on making this thing a very fast fun car, If all you want to do is drive around a stock TT forget everything I said and wait. Especially if you are not mechanically inclined or have deep pockets. Almost everything about making a TT 300zx fast and maintaining it revolves around pulling the motor out of the car.. If this is your 1st car I would strongly not recommend it. Even if its not your 1st car and you have never driven really fast cars before i wouldn't do it. When these cars were new in the 90s most people kept them for 50k miles or so and got rid of them. Between then and now has be 20 years, and most cars multiple owners and most tons of abuse. There are a few that pop up for sale every once in ahwile that fit into the immaculate description but they are not 2500. They are going for around 10-20k and most of them are stock. The ones that are well maintained and are heavily moded don't come up for sale that often cuz as a owner you will never get your money back that you put into the car.



tl;dr It depends on what your goals are, when you say you want to make it fast... how fast do you want to make it...and to what level you want to take the car.

[Valdis]

I would wait and get a TT when you are more established in your career.
Getting a loan for a 1990-1996 car is almost impossible, you have to go to a credit union to pull this off, or you have to pay cash for it. 7K will get you an OK-Good car to start with. It has always been my advice to save up as much as possible and buy the BEST car you can find, it will save many headaches. Back in November I bought my car for 14K (exterior 9.25 of 10, interior 9.75 of 10) Always check the carfax and stay away from salvage or rebuilt title cars.
For now you could always get a cheap N/A to practice on until you get enough $$ for your dream Z32.
As far as cars with good gas mileage... a Honda Prelude (VTEC) is zippy and gets really good gas mileage. I would stay away from Civics, unless you want something that everyone else has

[simmode1]

Man, Z31 gets no love...

Just snag a 240 and call it a day.

[Ace2cool]

Man, Z31 gets no love...

Nah, trust me, I want one, just can't afford another Z right now. I gotta focus on getting my bikes "up."

[johnshop]

Do what you want, but ill reinforce, you need at least 1000 dollars in the bank when you own one of these cars. And if it starts at 2500, prolly gonna have to put that into maintenance or labor. You may just be better with a civic or civic type vehicle, I DD a 96 Sentra in the winter and if my work is far from home ill drive it. It was $300 and put $1000 in maintenance and no problems so far and its been three years.

this guy...

i bought my 95 n/a for 2100 dollars with 180xxx miles on the engine knowing it needed repairs. so far i've put around 600-700 bucks on parts and labor, what it has so far been done:

cracked lower intake manifold replaced (150 dollar used part)
injectors

what i have to still take care of:
either bad cts or o2 sensors ( still trouble shooting this specific problem )
bad driveshaft ( mine is so bad, anything over 20mph causes a horrible shake but over 35 it calms down.)
and either a 60k or 120k service... still debating which one to do. ( assuming the 120k one was done, i think the 60k should be nessesary and enough )
rear main seal.


my point is... don't do it... it will suck all your money, and it will still have a problem here or there... get something else to dd, and when you can afford to maintain one of these... do it.

[DCaff300ZX]

^^^Total truth- unless you stumble across a well-maintained Z32 which will cost you $5K+ for an NA and $8K+ for a TT, you will not be a happy 19 year old because all of your money will be sunk into your barely-running, and getting worse Z.
As mentioned you need a repair account or the like for keeping the car maintained (120K is a $1,500 job unless you do it yourself- not easy) and your goals up upgrading far exceed those maintenance costs...bottom line is this is a car for a more established person who is ready to pay for, or do more extensive and expensive maintenance and repairs on a car not known for the ease of those repairs.
You have been warned!

[MellowZ32]

I gotta focus on getting my bikes "up."

up yer butt! >:D

[Ace2cool]

U ghey bro?

BANNED! Again. How many times does that make now? Don't make me change your username again.

[MellowZ32]

#yolo