when i got my second z the previous owner had used it for towing something, not really for sure what but it had a hitch on it, and i was thinking the same thing!!!! nod your head and wonder why????

 

I heard about a guy who would use his Z to haul a trailer for his Drag radials...

 

I'd consider hauling a jetski or a dirtbike with my Z, but that would be about the biggest item id consider.

 

A 280zx can tow just fine but the 300zx automatic has enough trouble towing the car itself.

I picked up a 280zx turbo that had sat in a field for 4 years, changed the oil, fuel, and anti freeze, and drove it for about two hours in the virginia winter before I figured out the thermostat was stuck open. This is why the previous owner had thrown an airflow meter, fuel pump, ecu, and crank angle sensor at the car. Anyway..............the turbo died a couple of months later but I didn't have another running car so I unhooked the oil line and screwed in the sensor directly into the block. Then I blocked the oil return and drove the now very slow Z for about 6 months until I got a job offer at a toyota dealership in orlando. During that time, a slight knocking had developed so I got rod bearings and an oil pan gasket for later use. I towed a pretty large U-haul trailer down to orlando full of half of my stuff (huge tool boxes included), back up empty the next day, and back down fully loaded the day after that. The trailer cost me 75 bucks and I got 18mpg running at 65 to 70mph.

I did shim up the rear springs with a shitload of rubber spacers.

A few weeks later at work I took down the pan to put in the rod bearings and found the driver's side of all six piston skirts in the pan with no parts smaller than the drain hole.

My guess is that the previous owner drove the car hard in the winter with it running badly because the thermostat was stuck open and probably revved it in a fit of anger..........then he found the smaller pieces of the piston skirts while changing the oil and parked it. I remember finding the side of the block as cold as the outside air which was about 40 degrees so I guess the previous owner drove it hard enough while cold to slap the skirts clean off.

Either way.......it never burned a drop of oil or missed a beat while towing a trailer with six broken pistons and a seized turbo with the wastegate disconnected.