New guy looking for a Z. Opinions on this one?

[Medic!]

^ I am In Ontario. Across the lake from Rochester NY. I could do BC, because there is no border clearance times. I'd love a southern car, but I have to give them 72 hours notice to process it at the border. I wouldn't be able to make that turnaround. Plus my passport expired 17 years ago lol.


I went to go see another Z today. I was really excited about this one because it ticks most of my boxes. It was listed in December, but the guy didn't reply to me (seems like a common thing on kijiji these days). It popped up again the other day and I fired off another email.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/city ... nFlag=true

"Hello I am selling an immaculate Only summer driven 300ZX.

I had this car for 4 years and never had any issue with it. Its time to let this beauty go as I am looking to get something more practical due to getting married.

- KROWN rust proofed every year
- new stainless steel CAT BAC exhause (Magnaflow) done last year
- Engine is bone stock, never been pampered with
- Solid engine and Transmission
- Mint interior and exterior 8/10 condition.
- simply drive off

Will be flexible with resaonable offers. Test drive it and give me your best offer...this car wont last long. selling AS IS.

email me directly...

thanks for looking"

Sounds okay, looks good in the pics. Not in love with the tan interior, but I can live with it for a while.


We we arrange to meet up today at 2:00PM. The car is about 20 miles from me. I only had a main intersection to navigate to. At 1:56PM I call the guy from that intersection to let him know I'm there.

"uhh hey me and my buddy went to walmart.. we should be back in 20 minutes."

Hm.. makes an appointment with someone, then goes shopping?? Now I'm really annoyed.

Half an hour later, I get a text, with the address. I plug it into the GPS and off I go. 90 seconds later, I get a call...

"hey today isnt a good day to see the car.. its covered with snow and you can't drive it... so you should come another day.."

COME?? I AM ALREADY HERE!!

I pull up to the house. The punk doesn't even have the gumption to be outside. The car is completely snowed in up to the door handles, under a tarp, with 3 feet of snow on top.

What boggles my mind is that HE advertised the car, HE told me to come on Sunday at 2PM to see it. Yet, he goes shopping at the arranged time, instead of preparing the car to be shown to a guy who is interested in buying it. Sometimes I think these people are lonely, and want the attention of people contacting them. No one who is serious about selling a car, and who claims wants it gone ASAP, would be so cavalier about a five thousand dollar appointment.

If I go back another day to see this car, his jerk around session today is going to cost him a few hundred off of what I was going to offer him today.

[Medic!]

Update...

I have run into some real clowns in my time, but this crew I dealt with today takes the biscuit.


The guy, "Amir" (the owner of the car) that I spoke with on the phone... turns out wasn't "Amir" at all. According to the "real" Amir who emailed me later to say he was only showing me the car (as opposed to selling it to me), the person calling himself Amir was really his "brother". According to him, his brother was not allowed to sell the car (no s*** eh?) instead I was only allowed to look at the car, because the real Amir wasnt sure if he wanted to sell it, after listing it for sale "ASAP". He then agreed to sell it to his "buddy".

This is the first time in my life I have arranged to go see a car that was listed for sale, to be scolded by the real owner for having the audacity to bring money to buy the damn thing. And to be told that the appointment I made was just to look at it...like its a car show.

I thanked them for allowing me to take part in their Marx Brothers reenactment, and told them to go f*** themselves. I received an email back, obviously written by some body else, agreeing to sell me the car tomorrow...lol.

[DCaff300ZX]

Holy crap, your experiences trying to buy a Z boggle the mind!
I've NEVER even come close to experiencing the things you've mentioned in the perhaps 20-25 cars I've been involved in buying, the "worst" offenders have simply glorified a POS with pretty pictures and no actual proof of claims- not no-shows, jerk-arounds, and 3 (or more?)-way selling parties.
I sure hope you find a legit car AND owner soon!

[Ace2cool]

Note to self: don't buy a car in Canadaland. Holy crap.

[Medic!]

Hey guys.. I'm still in the game... well.. on the sidelines, watching the game. I'm in the stadium... lets leave it at that.

I found a Z that looks interesting.


Details:

- 1990 (apparently Canada didn't do business with Nissan after 1990)
- 2+2 (meh)
- manual (yay)
- black
- cloth interior (meh)
- swapped TT from a '97. (I'm gonna go out on a limb and put that in the "yay" column)
- 150000kms (93000 miles)
- $6400CDN ($5100US)

Ad: "300zx 4 seater , with Swap Twin Turbo newer 1997 engine with 90.000km that runs perfect , Full exhaust from turbos to the back , SKS Bov's , stage 4 clutch , light flywheel , chipped and tuned computer so it's ready to install Boost controller , 3" high flow rad , 17" light wheels ,boost gauge reading stock 10psi boost , new rear tires , needs front tires.
Clean title , Quebec plated and mechanical I don't think it needs anything , no leaks or smoke, it pulls very hard "

Pics!








I was thinking about going to see it next weekend. It's about 4 hours from were I live. The only thing that sticks out at me is that stage 4 clutch. What is that going to be like to live with on a daily basis?

[Ace2cool]

Very clean looking. And honestly, I would prefer a 2+2 TT. That's one cool thing you guys got that we didn't.

First "solid" car you've really posted in here. Makes me nervous to see the BOV's that close to the throttle bodies though. Not the proper location for them, and makes me wonder what other "mods" have been added.

[Medic!]

I found something a little off about the ad after you mentioned that. I googled those BOVs and in the results came up the picture of the engine bay. Turns out it's a screen grab from a video. The video is of a black Z, but it isn't a 2+2, nor is it in Canada. I am a little put off by the use of someone else's engine bay in their ad. What else has he borrowed from other people? I'm back on the fence about this one now.

You can see it at 0:22 in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCHzBdo-hqo


Side note: Aren't BOVs a no-no with these cars?

[alanqning]

Man, I just landed on a 300ZX, I can't imagine going through so much trouble...

[DCaff300ZX]

Wow, another POS!
Keep on moving...I mean, can you really can even consider a car when they use other pics of the engine and...what else is made up, shined up, or a downright lie ???
'97 motor is semi-plausible as an import only, but then again imported jdm is a no-no anyway so that's no good either! Modded up, and surely ridden hard as a result and from the price, put away wet...
Holy crap, keep on looking...wow.

[Ace2cool]

Lol, I should change the title to "The neverending saga of trying to find a Z in Canada"

This is bordering on ridiculous at this point.

[wisniaPl]

Lol, I should change the title to "The neverending saga of trying to find a Z in Canada"

This is bordering on ridiculous at this point.

Haha you want mint example you need to increase your budget...well by a lot
Also if you dont wana drive to see the car....he is not going to come to you...Ive made many trips to see cars far away...some were disapointing but some had better outcome than I expected

[Ace2cool]

http://nashville.craigslist.org/ctd/4914962561.html

90K miles, and the only thing wrong is that front bumper, lol. But 6k for a 90k TT is pretty awesome... I'm telling you, the market is about to rise. Spring is coming, and they're gonna shoot up a couple hundred in price. Seems the market is fairing better down here though, lol.

[Medic!]

Haha you want mint example you need to increase your budget...well by a lot
Also if you dont wana drive to see the car....he is not going to come to you...Ive made many trips to see cars far away...some were disapointing but some had better outcome than I expected

Where in this thread did I say that I wanted or expected mint? If I was set on something in mint condition, I wouldn't be looking at cars that have spent a quarter of a century in Canada.

I also dont recall saying that I wasn't willing to drive to go see a car, or that I expected it to be brought to me for inspection. I have been all over southern Ontario looking at these cars. What I did say was the car is 4 hours away, and I wasn't super elated that after driving 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, I was facing another 8 hour round trip on my day off. I didn't say anywhere that I wasn't willing to do it.

I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't misquote me.






ACE!! How are ya? I was looking at that red TT A few days ago. It looks kinda tasty!! And it is near where you are isn't it? I'm wondering though, can a dealer sell it directly to a non US resident? If they could I'd definitely be interested in it. I might give them a call later on and see what they say.


Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with a jdm engine with these cars? I know the history of jdm engines are a mystery, but is there something else that is specific to these cars that causes a problem?

[Ace2cool]

Just that in and of itself. We don't know what's happened that the car got cut in half and shipped to the US.

I called that dealer and asked, and he said no problem in selling to out-of-country buyers. He did seem a bit unprofessional, though. I don't like a business answering the phone "Hello?"

That's jsut a pet peeve, though.

However, the place does look kinda iffy. https://www.google.com/maps/@36.133437, ... 3COByw!2e0

Literally a singewide trailer with a fenced in gravel lot.

That being said, if you're financing somewhere else and the service records are good, then I wouldn't worry. I can check it out if you're serious about it.

[wisniaPl]

Haha you want mint example you need to increase your budget...well by a lot
Also if you dont wana drive to see the car....he is not going to come to you...Ive made many trips to see cars far away...some were disapointing but some had better outcome than I expected

Where in this thread did I say that I wanted or expected mint? If I was set on something in mint condition, I wouldn't be looking at cars that have spent a quarter of a century in Canada.

I also dont recall saying that I wasn't willing to drive to go see a car, or that I expected it to be brought to me for inspection. I have been all over southern Ontario looking at these cars. What I did say was the car is 4 hours away, and I wasn't super elated that after driving 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, I was facing another 8 hour round trip on my day off. I didn't say anywhere that I wasn't willing to do it.

I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't misquote me.

You sure "acted" like it was a huge deal...judging by one picture of engine bay...basically stated that the car is not worth seing...engine is not 97 spec etc.etc....basically calling owner a liar
Hey more power to You good.luck.with your search

[Medic!]

You sure "acted" like it was a huge deal...judging by one picture of engine bay...basically stated that the car is not worth seing...engine is not 97 spec etc.etc....basically calling owner a liar

You can include some of the other people in this thread in that indictment then, because I am not the only one who expressed doubts about the car after the fake picture revelation.

I don't much care about the picture per se, it is the principle behind it. We all know what the engine in these cars looks like. However, if he used a fake picture, and is passing it off as his car, what else has be passed off as his? Is the underside really that clean? Or is that a southern car on a hoist? Is it really just a Canadian rust bucket like all the others I have gone to see? Was the work done professionally? Or by some hack? I did some googling around to see if I could find any of the other pictures from the ad elsewhere, with no luck. Maybe he flubbed that one pic (why, I don't know, because surely it is easier to open the hood and snap a pic than to hoist the car up), but if he lied about that, what else can he be hiding?

I don't know what else you could call a person who is representing something they have for sale, with someone elses picture? A liar? A fake? Too lazy to take a picture of the real engine while they were out snapping pics of the rest of the car? None of those bring me much comfort, or take the edge off when $6000, an 8 hour drive, and the future reliability of a mode of transport are hanging in the balance.

Also, I don't recall anyone saying the engine isn't a '97 spec.



I haven't decided if I am going to go see it or not. I have my eye on another TT for roughly the same price, a bit farther away. If the story on that one, or the red one in TN, check out, I'll probably just skip this one, and go with one of those instead. At the end of the day, trust is paramount. Without it, doubt grows like a cancer.

[NolimitZ32]

I'm with you, fake pics=fishy

[Medic!]

Curiosity got the best of me and I went to go see that TT yesterday.

The outside:

- Looked decent. The paint was nice.
- The underside was in pretty good shape. Only rust on the improper jacking points.

- The drivers side fender was out of alignment and as it got closer to the a-pillar there was a noticeable gap. The passenger side was even.

- The drivers door was causing me some concern also. The gap from the back of the fender to the front of the door was a bit wider than the passenger side, but, the joint from the back of the door to the quarter panel was almost non-existent. So something is awry with that area of the car.

- The trunk hatch won't stay up on its own. The lever to open it and the gas door is also ruined.

- The splash guards on the front are missing completely.

The engine:

- Started right up. No smoke, no smells. Idled beautifully. The picture in the ad is fake, and the bay isn't nearly as clean. BOVs are in roughly the same location, and, I couldn't even hear them.

- Looking around for areas of structural repair but everything looked factory.

The interior:

- Smelled like gasoline.

- Trunk and gas door release were just sort of hanging there.

- Seat adjustment knobs were snapped off.

- Climate control pod was missing a button and was loose.

- Door panels were worn pretty badly.

- Sun shades and steering wheel emblem were missing.

- Drivers door window switch panel was broken in two and taped together.

- Speedometer was reading 300 while parked. According to him a wire came loose and made the speedo go out. Possible? I thought cars of this vintage had cable driven speedos and odometers.

- Mileage is way off. Carfax shows two mileage rollbacks as soon as it entered Quebec. Apparently Quebec is notorious for doing this. It went from 200000kms to 180, to 169999kms, to 159000 when I was there yesterday.

Overall the interior is "tired", and shows that this car has a lot more than 150k on it.

I didnt drive it.

[DCaff300ZX]

Speedo is voltage driven as are all gauges, something's wrong with the wiring there as he probably had it apart for his annual mileage windback and didn't reconnect everything, or correctly.
The rest sounds about as I'd expect from the pic fakery, thanks for confirming all of that with your visit, as painful as it had to be again.
Good decision with the no-drive and bolt outta there, keep at it as SOMETHING'S gotta break for you after all of this effort!

[Medic!]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

1990 2+0. NA. Manual. Red, black leather interior.

All documents from new. The car was brought up from Las Vegas. Zero rust! Drives like a dream.

107000 miles. $5400CAN.

[DCaff300ZX]

Perseverance pays off it seems, congratulations.
Looks pretty nice for the price, get her cleaned up and start showing us her stuff!

[NolimitZ32]

Congrats man, looks like a clean car, please for the love of god tell me that new wheels are in her future.

[Ace2cool]

SWEET! Glad to see this story end happy!

Yeah, those wheels are

Car as a whole looks clean, though. And for reference, don't just call it "red" around here. People tend to get touchy, as there are people on both sides of the Cherry Red Pearl and Aztec Red camps, hahaha.

[Medic!]

Thanks guys.

This was the car that I saw on kijiji back in December. I wrote to the seller, but I didn't a reply. I tried again and again, with no luck. Then the ad disappeared. I figured that was it. A couple of days later, it popped up again. I really pissed off. I tried again. No reply. So I figured it was a scam, so I had my girlfriend send an e-mail, consisting of her name and something along the lines of "hey I want a lil red sports car! Can I come see this one?" I figured, scam, they want a deposit, and they knew they wouldn't get anything from me. She got a reply. Not the one I expected though.

"The car is in storage until April, I'll contact you then."

I was really annoyed. They post the car for sale in December, but won;t show it until April? WTF.


As you know, I went out and looked at a bunch of real dogs. I even found myself browsing for a mk3 or 4 Supra.

Out of the blue, I get an email from the seller. "You can come see it this weekend."

I head down to Mississauga and there she was, in the driveway. Stunning.


I looked it all over and aside from a few door dings, and a small hole in the drivers side seat bolster, this car is pretty much mint. I was surprised that the seats were still soft an not all cracked, having spent 25 years in Nevada. The car runs so smooth, no funny noises, and handles really well, in spite of needing an alignment.

Four hours after test driving it, I went back and picked it up. The lady selling the car gave me a file folder about an inch thick with receipts from the original owner who was a friend of hers. Oil changes, tires, belts, timing belt, water pump, AC compressor, injectors, you name it and they have it.

The car I first spotted, contacted someone about, and gave up on ever seeing, turns out to be the one I ended up buying. Fate?


The wheels are...meh... They're "okay" in the sense that they aren't 24's with spinners...but they're not my style at all. They're 18s, and a bit of a b**** to get tires for. Plus the chrome is too blingy for me, as well as high maintenance. I just get the feeling they scream to every hoodrat "hey! come steal me!" I'd love a set of the stock wheels, or something aftermarket that is tasteful. No chrome!


My only gripe with the car is the shifter. Its like a broom stick, which makes the long throws even more agonizing. The height is okay I guess, but it needs to be tightened up for sure. I feel as though I'm rowing a boat when I shift. It needs bushings badly too, because when in gear the shifter flops around.

I think the first thing I do will be a short shifter + bushings. I am open to recommendations on which one to get.


Now, it was -20 degrees yesterday and blowing like a hurricane, but I braved the elements to get some pics, and do a little bit of cleaning on the car. My interior stuff went missing, and the vacuum wouldn't reach, so I did some cleaning on the paint and started buffing the tail lights.

Pics!









The bumper was faded badly. So in the freezing cold, I buffed it out by hand with some compound.








To do list:

- Short shifter w/ bushings.
- ALARM. I know nothing about them, so recommendations are welcome.
- Drivers side windows switches are loose.
- Clock is loose.
- New antenna (its bent and won't retract, but oh how it tries).

[Ace2cool]

May also be the shifter bracket, FYI.

The switches are supposed to be held in with metal clips. They probably fell off and are floating in the door panel somewhere.

Clock, I can't remember, but I believe it's got a screw on the back to hold it to the trim piece. May be a plastic clip though. (Actually, now that I'm thinking about it more, it may very well be a plastic clip. It's only been 6 years since I've been into my dash) The interior is well put together, so the radio swaps and all can be annoying, but I'll take quality over ease of repair any day. This one walks a good line (for me, anyways)

Get a generic antenna from an auto parts store that fits the car. Works just as well, and hundreds of dollars cheaper.

As far as alarms, Viper is what I've always used, though my 2+2 came with a Clifford brand, and it worked very well. With car alarms nowadays, it's all about what you wanna spend and how much you want it to do.

[NolimitZ32]

^Clock is held in with screws

[DCaff300ZX]

BTW, you can disconnect the antenna connector so it stops trying to retract and gently lower it into the opening and leave it alone- it will work just as well lowered as up and this way leaves things sealed up. I've done this with both of my Z's (completely removed from my NA), no issues and radio is clear as ever.

[NolimitZ32]

There is also a built in antenna in the windshield IIRC, this is the second antenna plug behind your radio. If you live in a remote region or waaaaay in the burbs and have issues rolling with your antenna down all the time then plug this other antenna connector into your radio and voila.

[Ace2cool]

^Rear glass has the antenna. And you are correct. The stock radio used both antennae.