New Z Owner - First Post- Few Q's - and Pics
 

Hey,

I've been lurking on the forums for about a week. Just wanted to post and say hi and show off my new ride. It's a manual transmission 1985 300ZX N/A. It's only got 47K miles on it. All in all, it is in really good shape. I've had it about a week and have noticed a few things I want to fix....

I'm pretty sure it's the GL Trim, so it should have Bitching Betty in it, but the previous owner installed an aftermarket stereo and I'm guessing he didn't wire her back in. I'm installing a sub woofer this week and will hook her back up then since I'll be messing around with the radio anyways.

My oil pressure gauge freaked me out when I was doing some interstate driving. It was reading 0. I was going about 75 MPH and was in 5th gear when this happened. In town, in the first four gears it reads anywhere from 28-60, usually hanging right around 30. Why would it drop during highway driving? Should I replace or clean the oil sending unit?

The spare tire cavity had a decent amount of water in it after all of the rain we got this week. I got it all out of there and researched a little bit and I am pretty sure it is the quarter panel window (I can see where the seal is not tight on the top), so I will be taking that off and reapplying it. Luckily there is no rust in there. The previous owner told me he never drove it in the rain.

The power antenna is bad. I can hear the motor trying to move it, but it doesn't move. I can move it manually though. From what I've read a new antenna mast might fix the problem. This is probably the lowest on my to do list right now, because I still get decent enough reception and the problem won't get worse.

Here's some pictures of my car!

those rear triangle windows are very prone to leak. If you lift up the tire tool tray on the driver side you will probably find a lot of rust there. Get the FSM from xenon. Take the schematic from the FSM down to kinkos and have them blow it up to 11x17. Much easier to read unless you are a keen eyed twenty something. bitchin betty needs to be spliced into a pair of speaker wires. a relay changes state when inputs are there which redirects audio from Betty to the speaker.

factory gages notoriously unreliable. if you really want to know what is going on install a remote read gage. hard to tell from pics but I'm guessing you should do something about those battery cables. the ground wire should have a rectangular piece of copper crimped to it and held in place by an M8 bolt close by the M6 bolt that holds the battery clamp. VERY IMPORTANT a good ground is essential on a Z31 to keep electronics working. It is in very nice shape. Looks like Magnacore wires which is good.
here for Free is some more advice:
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. Usually on a rainy night around Oh Dark Thirty.

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. DON'T USE DIELECTRIC GREASE.

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. Get new boots for power steering. 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. You need to get the car realigned after messing with the front. Have your tires in good shape and rebalance. 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.

Welcome to ZDriver! :006: '

You made a hot find for that Z! Like rogerz says, lots of stuff to check out, upgrade or just plain MAINTAIN RIGHT to catch your Z up to where you want it.

Yes, the power antenna is easily replaceable. ($60-$80?) They are all over, mostly from China now. Order on-line (or locally if you can) from a US seller so a return isn't hard - you never know. The replacement will probably arrive with no useful printed instructions and what looks like the wrong wiring. No biggie, just cut your own wiring into it and see what arrangement works (Key on, radio on, antenna up, key off, radio off, antenna down). Just like mother Nissan wanted. Not hard to access from inside under the left rear fender. Re-use existing rubber gasket. :slywink:

Good luck and report back! :icon_super:

Thanks for the advice. Luckily, the car is rust free under the tool tray. I'll look into replacing all of the things you mentioned soon. I downloaded the FSM and I'm sure it will come in handy.

47k miles, eh? Nice find!