Bleach

excessive valve ticking. Have the owner do a valve clearance adjustment. If the ticking remains, then the rocker arms are probably bad... or the cam.

oil pressure gauge not working right... bad sending unit usually

parking brake not working right... rear cable gets stuck or rear calipers often have problems moreso than the front calipers. Rear calipers cost more to replace and/or rebuild.

start it up COLD. many ZX's have cold start problems. Won't start very quickly, won't idle high (1000, 1100 rpm) or idle fine but too low when cold. Feel the exhaust manifold with your hand before you ever start it. If it feels warm at all, just ask the owner if he has started it today. If he lies, then the car has issues he thinks he can hide. Come back the next day and ask that he not start it so you can see if there are any cold start issues. He'll spout the truth really quickly...

engine should not backfire when revved in neutral... more noticable when cold. Should have instant throttle repsonse once warmed up. good torque usually means a good engine.

listen for pinging. If the engine is stock, it should not ping under load even on low octaine fuel. Take it for a hearty test drive. Don't just go around the block. Make sure you find some hills to see how it does under a load. These motors are pretty well bullet proof, but rare as it may seem, a head gasket problem can be a serious bummer and won't neccassarily show itself during a casual drive. This is why you want to get it on some nice steep hills and out on the open road and under a load if you can. If it knocks under load... not good. Drive it long enough to see where the operating temp settles in at. After about a ten minute drive, it should stay right about in the middle (or just below) of the guage. Any higher... not a good sign.

water leaks! T-top cars often have leaks at the outter corners. seals are very expensive and often do not correct the problem.

Check window regulators. Roll up and down all the way both door windows. power windows too. check them.

check all lights!!! don't assume the brake lights work, check them and turn signals front and rear.

rust. bottom edge of fender, lower rocker panels, up inside all four fenders, behind fender lips. run your hand in there and check. Hopefully there' sno buildup of dirt... plants growing inside the nooks of the fenders? probably rust behind it.
Joints of the body, rust creeps out round the tail lights. Lift the rear hatch. Look up at the bottom of the hatch. that's a common rust problem area. The base of the windshield around the air inlet vent by the wipers. Rust creeps in from under the windshield seal too. Bubbles in the paint anywhere mean there is more rust under there than you can see.

tranny should be quiet while driving. humming could mean low fluid or the tranny is going out. (manual) auto... if it engagues and shifts fine, then I guess its good

if it is an 82/83 model, it might have the voice warning system. Open right and left doors while moving over 10 mph. see if the lady talks. leave the headlights on and take the key out, open the door. She should yell at you!

factory radios often go out. power button problems. If its the stock radio, see if it works... there are no kits to plug in aftermarket CD players so you'll be custom wiring one if you go that route yourself.

look for evidence of a radiator leak. owners often let these go and fill it with water every week. cheap! Radiator are only $180 new.

Oil/other fluid leaks: messy, oily engine has problems. Needs all new gaskets. Lots of time doing that. Look for brake fluid leaks below the brake master cylinder.

rear end clunk when taking off and whenletting off the gas. This is very common but not a big problem. I've been driving with this issue a long time. Most common fix is new differential bushings to mount it up. Sometimes its the u-joints in the half shafts...

sagging rear? the stock springs are old and weak. could use all new springs. 1" lowering springs will tighten up the suspension a little and level the car out. those are a good purchase for around $200.

mushy suspension. push down on the four corners. If the car bounces like its on a waterbed, then the shocks are bad. You can buy new springs and shocks in a package together for less than $400. That's a good purchase.

cracked dash is common. Heat inside the car expands the foam under the outter layer. New crack free dashes are very expensive. You can get a plastic overlay for less than $100 that looks good. I'm using one on my black dash.

Black interrior pieces are hardest to find in good shape. Note every interrior panel that looks bad or is missing. If it matters to you...
lift up the floor mats to check condition of the carpet and to see how much mildew or water is in the car, look under the seats too, rear area... inside spare tire cover, in the rear storage bins just for fun

Power mirrors: if it has power mirrors, check the movement horizontal and vertical on both doors.

dents: look carefully at each panel at an angle. You want to note all body damage and be sure you're paying a fair price. Please try to not inspect a car at night or in the rain if at all possible. I actually purchased a car, brought it home and didn't notice several large dings in the passenger door untill days later!!! DOH! and I looked at it in the daylight...

Rear brake calipers 'clicking' while moving. (foot not on brakes) this is common. The design of the calipers allows the brake pads to move a little. very slightly warp in the rotors causes the pads to click. Not really and issue and doesn't nessisarily mean something is broken. They may still click with new rotors and new pads. Brake pad anti-squeal goop will stop the ticking for a couple thousand miles... but it'll come back eventually.

Check the tires for uneven wear. If the front tires are worn badly on the inner or outer edge, it probably has some worn out front end parts (Very common). Not a big deal, but an added expense you may not want to take on right after buying a car.

Steering wheel shakes: very common issue, hard to get rid of. Steering wheel shakes while you drive. Sometimes at certain speeds, sometimes only when pressing on the brakes. Sometimes when braking lightly but not hard, sometimes only braking hard, sometimes always when braking.
Many causes of this: out of balance wheels/ tires warn odd, needs new tires or maybe just a re-balance.
Bad inner and/or outer tie rod ends on the steering rack: bad steering rack mount bushings, bad lower ball joints on the struts.
Warped front brake rotors: replace rotors with new
Worn out sway bar bushings can do this slightly

Engine will not rev past 2000 rpm: Clean the throttle position sensor

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VenomousZX

Addition: From my own experience a full suspension build may be overkill, when it was all said & done I had $2700.00 into the build, sway bars, strut bars, Power Slot rotors, Eibach springs, KYB shocks, Poly bushings...

only go this route if you plan to autocross an entire season, its worth it but it will put the 280ZX into BSP class, it has the worst PAX index of all, it puts you in there with corvette & vipers... be warned!

280zx2by2

nice post...

check for and rust around the front of the windshield, its a pain in the donkey to get rid of and get looking right

Lesnocker

Ok I'm doing this since a local guy stopped by with a z fresh out of the barn. This is not for owners that just bought a clean low mile z. This is for the owners that found a restore project that's been off the road for a few years. Once you get home Jack the car up to where you can get all four tires a foot off the ground. Jack locations best for a rusty z are the engine crossmember infront and the pumpkin in the rear. Otherwise your going to put the jack through the body.

First take a wire brush and clean off all loose undercoating inspect :

Where rear subframe bolts into car behind the seats
Prone rust out

Where the steering box bolts in the frame rail and all front end bolting areas

Inner wheel wells floor supports and floor pans. Minor holes fill with bondo for now I perfer chassis saver napa 50.00 re undercoat entire car. If there is severe rust in the subframe to body consider shop work or useing the car for parts! Rarely a z is worth the expense of frame repairs if you can't do it yourself.

Start with all fuel lines if you bought this car after several years of sitting all rubber lines should be inspected. Go over fuel and vacume lines replace fuel filter and consider draining old gas. . Disconnect fuel line from hard line to intake get a gas can and turn key to on and pump it out =) some people like to drop tanks to do this however this works best. If the fuel pump fails to run give it a few raps of a wrench they tend to get stuck after sitting.

Replace all dry rotted lines and rusty clamps.

Next go over every electrical connection to the engine mind you the plastic tends to be brittle take your time disconnecting. Clean electrodes and reconnect useing die electric grease replace any obvious broken sensors and broken wires. Also consider buying new ground and positive wires for the battery saves funky problems that could come up these cars need all 12 volts to run.

Check front to rear exhaust repair as needed or go new. . . They are prone to manifold leaks if it is leaking by the loud tapping from the manifold break down and buy the gasket you can't tighten this problem away note all these bolts with the exhaust will be prone to breaking be easy on them.

Brakes honestly change the pads my past three z's seems the rusty rotors just eat them up calipers like to get stuck I bleed them and compress them a few times. Also read up on the back calipers they are a lil weird for first time owners. If you have the know how. Pull front rotors inspect wheel bearings and spindles repack with new grease.

Check all struts for rust and dry rotted mounts

Go over front end replace all dryrotted bushings check tie rods ball joints ripped boots replace

Check mount bolts on steering box snug them up a bit guy came in today with 5/8 of movement in the box bolts backed out.

Re place thremostat rad hoses and belts. . . Trust me cars that sat will need this sooner than later z's don't like heat!

Oh you say got great almost new tread? The date will be stamped in the tire over 5 years get new moron they will be cracking and untrustworthy on the highway. Once again guy came in today tire had started de lamanteing lol can't spell! Be good with tires go good brand for fronts my z threw me all over the road when my front right blew at 30 mph now 70 on the high way well could of been nasty.

So here's a few things and may save a lot of issues. Covers a lot of repeated posts I've seen. The classic asian car culture is with upgrades exhausts stereos rims turbos ect ect here is the daily nuts and bolts of getting you home with out a tow truck=) anyone like to add to my list. Be free to do so. And don't drive an unfit car take a few weeks get it up to snuff. Unlike the moron that stopped over today