Hey, my first post here. I was asked if I wanted to buy a 1990 300ZX N/A for 5k. It has 74k miles on it and it's in pretty good condition. Would there be any problems that I can expect from it? How do you guys like the car? What are the differences between the N/A and the Twin Turbo? Are there any motor (other than one has two turbos and the other doesn't) or tranny differences? Any other informations I may want or need about the car?
Hey, my first post here. I was asked if I wanted to buy a 1990 300ZX N/A for 5k. It has 74k miles on it and it's in pretty good condition. Would there be any problems that I can expect from it? How do you guys like the car? What are the differences between the N/A and the Twin Turbo? Are there any motor (other than one has two turbos and the other doesn't) or tranny differences? Any other informations I may want or need about the car?
Ask if a 60k or 70k tune up was done. Also have a compression test done. Turbo and NA engines are different animals. Swaps generally cost $6K-10K+ depending how many corners you cut.
I assume from the question, that you are not a car nut. Here are a few basics. Twin turbo=more power, more possibilities to upgrade to humongous power and as a stock, not as good gas mileage as NA. NA v6 is a nice car. It’s fast enough for a street driving, handles very well and generally is well-balanced car. Also, better gas mileage (depending on your driving habits.) I get 220 miles a tank in NYC and in my book; it’s not bad at all. You cannot get a NA v6 and upgrade to twin turbo later. All though motors look the same, the internals are different and if you are looking to make big power later on, just invest in a twin turbo from the start. There are no superchargers for NA v6 either.
The only thing you could do is add a healthy shot of nitros.
Repairing this car may get a bit more expensive then a Honda. Some mechanics will try to take an advantage and over charge you, so look out. Engine bay is very cramped, so to get to anything will take more time and you will be paying more for labor. But again, it depends on who’s doing the work. My 1990 have been very reliable and dependable. Aside from minor staff, no problem. I only use synthetic oil and 93 petrol in the car as previous owner did and then you turn the car on, you could barely hear motor humming (130 000)
Then you look at the car again, look for obvious staff, like oil and antifreeze spots under it, drive it around and listen to the motor. It should be very smooth and have no hesitation on any RPMs.
I would invest money in tune up and belt change, unless it was recently done, I would also do an all fluid flush, like coolant, brake and transmission.
Handling is great. Car is very easy to send in to power slide and very easy to control to get back out. Fastest I did on mine was close to 120 and it feels very comfortable at high speed. It’s a rear wheel drive but it does surprisingly well in the mud snow and rain (of cause you need proper tiers) Visibility is very good and breaks are sufficient.
The only thing I don’t like about 300zx is a computerized temperature control.
I would not buy a car like this equipped with an auto transmission.
Price sounds ok, all though if you could flash $4500 in front of the guy and get it for that, it would be even better.
I assume from the question, that you are not a car nut. Here are a few basics. Twin turbo=more power, more possibilities to upgrade to humongous power and as a stock, not as good gas mileage as NA. NA v6 is a nice car. It’s fast enough for a street driving, handles very well and generally is well-balanced car. Also, better gas mileage (depending on your driving habits.) I get 220 miles a tank in NYC and in my book; it’s not bad at all. You cannot get a NA v6 and upgrade to twin turbo later. All though motors look the same, the internals are different and if you are looking to make big power later on, just invest in a twin turbo from the start. There are no superchargers for NA v6 either.
The only thing you could do is add a healthy shot of nitros.
Repairing this car may get a bit more expensive then a Honda. Some mechanics will try to take an advantage and over charge you, so look out. Engine bay is very cramped, so to get to anything will take more time and you will be paying more for labor. But again, it depends on who’s doing the work. My 1990 have been very reliable and dependable. Aside from minor staff, no problem. I only use synthetic oil and 93 petrol in the car as previous owner did and then you turn the car on, you could barely hear motor humming (130 000)
Then you look at the car again, look for obvious staff, like oil and antifreeze spots under it, drive it around and listen to the motor. It should be very smooth and have no hesitation on any RPMs.
I would invest money in tune up and belt change, unless it was recently done, I would also do an all fluid flush, like coolant, brake and transmission.
Handling is great. Car is very easy to send in to power slide and very easy to control to get back out. Fastest I did on mine was close to 120 and it feels very comfortable at high speed. It’s a rear wheel drive but it does surprisingly well in the mud snow and rain (of cause you need proper tiers) Visibility is very good and breaks are sufficient.
The only thing I don’t like about 300zx is a computerized temperature control.
I would not buy a car like this equipped with an auto transmission.
Price sounds ok, all though if you could flash $4500 in front of the guy and get it for that, it would be even better.
Thanks. I wasn't sure if thier NA and TT motors had major differences in them. I know ussually when companies make a turbo version that they do change internals and the ECU, but I didn't know to what extent Nissan had done it to the 300ZX so thats why I asked.
I'm going to be bringing my mechanic with me tomorrow to look at the car and I hope that it'll be better than i expect. I don't plan on spending 5k on it. I was thinking 4500 at most. Blue book has it around that price so hopefully I can get him to go down.
The engine has many, many parts that are different i.e. the heads. The trans is different, the rear diff is different, The brakes are different, the suspension is different, the wheels are different, and most of the control systems are different. The front bumper is also different. If you want a twin turbo don't swap it just make the N/A nice and sell it.
Besides the timing belt and 60K, look for leaks and deteroirating electrical around the engine and look at all the suspension for worn parts and tire wear.
With 74k miles it is really low mileage and with a service history it would definitely be worth $5k.
Troy
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1992 S13 240SX SE Fastback KA24DE 5 spd - Type X Aero & Seibon Carbon Hood & Hatch -soon GT28RS
1993 U13 Altima SE KA24DET 5 spd w/ Nismo LSD - A high hp FWD can be fun (GT30R Turbo inside)
1990 Z32 300ZX VG30DETT 5 spd - 600HP & Very Civilized (working on twin GT28RS turbos)
Still trying to import a 1988 R31 Skyline GTS-R w/ RB20DET-R - only 800 produced (legal under show/display regs)
It's easy to tell someone to sell the NA and buy a TT, except that the TTs are getting rarer and more expensive. And now, just like the Supra, it's getting more unusual to find one that has not been tuned and abused. Things can be done to "soop" up the NA 300, but in general it costs a lot and the rewards are not great. Engine swaps can be done, even V8s, but are horribly expensive for someone that has a limited budget. My advice is to walk away from the car and even look to another manufacturer for a performance car if necessry. The TT was never a great seller, so it is even harder to find now. You could look to some slightly older generations of the Supra and the Z if you want some performance but not all out. In your price range older Porsches and Corvettes and Camaro's are available that were no slouch in their day. If you insist on a Z, be ready to pay the price. But pay for a TT if you want performance..........
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1992 Yamaha FZR 1000. 145 Hp, all stock..
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