What to look for?

[phleb]

I'm going to look at a 1983 280zx tomorrow. I was wondering, as I don't know much about the cars, what to look for. What kind of things go wrong? What signs should I look for to know not to buy it. The car has 340k miles on it. He says it need a new fan because eventually it overheats. And he also thinks the belts are slipping, they're starting to squeel. Does anyone else think that might be the water pump instead of the fan? He also said that there is a clicking in the rear end if you don't shift right, but he told me a friend of his with a turbo 280 told him that happens with that year. Also, how reliable are this gen 280? Any help or input is appreciated. Thanks a bunch

[evildky]

the first thing to look for is: Rustsecond thing: Rustthird thing: Rustseriousley if its not glass or rubber look for rust! the L6 engines are great long lasting motors, if it's a non turbo the only common problems would be the injector connectors and the rubber hose from the AFM to the thottle body, if it's overheating i'd suspect the thermostat/waterheater or even the radiator with high miles it could be any or all of them and the aftermarket waterpumps have an inferior impeller design so OE is your best bet

as for the rear end the 280 had a front mount issue that doesn't tend to affect the 280ZX but it can as it's the same mount, it's not captured and with a leaking seal it will fail

as for reliable the 280zx is a very reliable car, at that high of milage it might be a good idea to keep an eye out for a lower milage engine or even a turbo swap, also with such high milage the AFM and fuel pump could become problematic if they've not been replaced already

replacement parts tend to be cheap and available for these cars, the aftermarket pretty much dried up except for some dedicated sources that tend to be much less than dealing with newer cars

[phleb]

Thanks you so very much. This is just the info I was looking for. What do you mean by the seal not being captured and failing, is there any way I can check to see if that is what's happening with it? And that's good to hear about the cheap replacement parts. And he said he replaced the thermostat and the radiator doesn't leak, so do you think it mgiht be the pump? Any signs I should look out for around the pump itself?

Also What about the company Victoria British? Have you heard anything about this company? I have one of there catalogs and they have a crapton of parts for all of the Zs. But when you go to http://www.victoriabritish.com all you come up with is MG parts and stuff. Any idea on part quality or if the company is a good place to buy from or not?

Thanks again for all your help. Your post was very informative.

[nsrZ32]

In addition to what evildky posted check out http://www.zcar.com they have a what to look for section for buying old Z cars.

I've purchased from victoria brittish before, pretty decent company to deal with. For restoration parts also check out http://www.zcarparts.com that's Motorsport Auto, they have all kinds of good stuff.

[evildky]

the front diff seal can go bad like any other seal and when it does it leaks diff oil onto the pinion mount (front diff mount) the oil saturation will casue the rubber to fail, most modern mounts are "captured" meaning that if the rubber portion fails the internal metal portions interlock to limit the amount of movement, the problem is the mounts aren't "captured" so when the rubber breaks down the front of the dif raises up and bounces around and in hard launches can damage the bottom of the car or the ebrake assy on early cars

[phleb]

Thanks a whole bunch guys. I'm going to look at the car today, I'll let you know how it goes.