vaprobe87

Hello all. I am new to the forums and somewhat new to Z- cars.

I owned a late 80s 300ZX Turbo for a few weeks that needed alot of work so I never got to drive it and traded it off. My brother had a 1980 280ZX for a little while that we put a lot of work in to but it met a early death at the hands of some theives.


If all goes well I be getting a 88 300zx Turbo in a few days. It appears to be in pretty good shape from the pictures I have seen of it. I will be making the couple hour drive down with my friend in a few days to check it out and if everything works out I will be driving it home.

I will post up some pictures when I get it here and get it cleaned up. I look forward to gaining some knowledge about these cars as I start to fix mine up and make it better.

Valdis

Welcome to the forum.. I'm also new to these forums. I'm also very new to the 300zx. I bought a 1996 TT about a month ago. There's going to be a huge learning curve for me in regards to learning how to work on my Z. I'm also going to be looking for a really good repair shop for when I get in over my head... which with these cars, it won't be hard.

Hope all goes well with your inspection of the '88 you're going to look at.

Flacster

Z31s are way different than Z32s. Due to age, a lot of them have electrical problems and good luck finding a mechanic that can do work on them. My Nissan dealership won't touch it and I was forced to learn on my own. Regardless, I love the car and take been a great little project. I wouldn't let my z go for almost anything. Expect a big mound of cash lol.

rogerz

valdis you need to learn the diff between z31 and z32. whole different animal.

valprobe here is general stuff you will want to do. first buy an interstate battery. change fluids. replace hoses. pay particular attentiion to the vacuum hoses that run the climate control.

Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.

Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.

Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.