I got a Z32!!!!!!!
 

Well guys, I finally got me a Z32 to add to my Z car line-up. Another fellow ZDriver (Lost Vegaz) made me the proud owner of a 1990 N/A 2 Seater. It's not quite the 96 triple black TT I was hoping for ;) but it's going to be a fun project and will help me get my feet wet with the Z32 subtleties before I jump in with both feet on a TT. It's white and has the TT rear hatch and spoiler on it (so it almost looks like a turbo car). It's a little rough around the edges, but it's in mint condition compared to what my shiny black 280ZX looked like when I got it... I can't get the pics to load right now, but I'll put some up when the site get's fixed. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Rod.

awesome! i think im keeping my 86 and dropping in a 96 TT when i graduate. *crosses fingers*

Right on dude !!!!!!!! i have a 1990 300zx n/a automatic thats going to me my twin turbo swap so dude when u get ready to do your swap let me know what all u do so i can help learn from u thanks , nismo619

Congratulations and welcome to the Z32 community. :)

Thanks man, now I spend equal time in two different parts of the forum! I can't beleive it took me this long to actually get a Z32. I've been wanting one for 16 years. I am shocked at just how little I knew about these things. I can take apert my 280ZX and put it back together blindfolded. I have spent the last couple of day's just familiarizing myself with the underhood portion of the Z32. I will say that from checking in here periodically over the last year and your links page I have learned a great deal. I got an FSM for it and will study up. I've had plenty of them in my shop over the years, but never really took the time to study them. What an amazing piece of machinery it is. This weekend I'll be replacing the water pump and timing belt. It hsould be fun for a first timer. That was an easy job (relatively speaking) on the L28 motor, but it looks a little intimidating on this one. I'll be reading up on it all weak. Any helpful hints or tips aside from what I've already found would be greatly appreciated. Rod.

congrats!! now if i could only find one. i've got the cash and i'm ready to go, but every one i have looked at so far had issues. one guy wanted $9800 for a slicktop that's body was more dents than straight metal. looked at a 2+2 that had been a theft recovery, leather was pretty shot, fascia was cracked pretty bad, and some trim pieces were missing, guy wanted 10k. no thanks, i'll keep looking. but damn its frustrating. everything i have looked at has been under 100k miles, but they sure dont look like it. jaffi has a '92 with around 190k and its in far better shape than all these cars with a third of the mileage. just makes me sick.... ok, thats it for this rant.

welcom to the dark side.

FWIW: you'll want to spend some time here:

http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnettech/tech.aspx

Very good write-ups.

Well, Like I mentioned... This one is no show car... The price was way too good to pass up though ;) I look at this one as a learning tool. I don't think I'll drop a lot of money in to it mainly for the fact that it has a salvage title. It's all there, and it's plenty straight. I'm not real sure as to the reason it was salvaged. you can see where the hood doesn't quite line up and a few similar little body quirks, but nothing that can't be easily remedied. It looks like whoever put it back together was just in too much of a hurry to line everything up. Out on the road it didn't exhibit any of the symptoms usually associated with a "totalled" car. It drove nice and straight. handled well, didn't shake or wander around, didn't squeek and rattle, stops and turns just fine. It has at the very least, a wasted water pump. I barely got it the 17 miles home without it melting down. From what I know of its recent history, there was some speculation that the head gasket may be gonzo, but from the short period I drove it, I don't think it is. It is certainly a possibility though. If that turns out to be the case, I'll probably just drop a Watanabe motor in it. The interior is all there, but it started life red and was in the process of being turned black. A weekend worth of my "special interior talents" will make that situation over with. It will be all black and beautiful inside. There's one pretty good sized dent in the right rear quarter panel just below the antenna, but it's fairly shallow and looks like it might come out 90% with a plunger. I have a body shop hook up that can make this car look show room new for less than a grand. I'll probably keep it white. I have no plans to go crazy on it though. At some point I'll still buy a TT. I just want to do what I can with this one so I can familiarize myself better with the platform. I look forward to having some fun with it. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Rod.

soon as kyle is done with the site upgrades, i'm soo looking forward to pics from everyone. :D

Actually, my '92 n/a just rolled 199,000. But, I really lucked out with that car. But, Rod, it's great to see you seeing the light. The n/a is a very sturdy car. Like I said, mine has a ton of miles on it and it hasn't had any major problems other than valve cover gaskets. But, the key is to do preventive maintenance. My shop see these cars all the time and they know what things go wrong at certain points in the cars life. Things like ignition harness (wires, etc) is always a good bet if the car is over 100,000-150,000 miles. Also, if you do have to do the valve cover gaskets make sure you take care of all of the manifold hoses. New upper fuel lines are also in order, they usually will be cracking. But, beware of injectors. I haven't had to replace any yet, but I have 3 that are out of resistance tolerance. I can be pricy, but it is pretty common to have to replace at least one by 150,000. Yeah, most of these things can be held off until they actually go (injectors, most definately), but if you take care of most of them early you will have a pretty hassle-free ride.

glad you got your z
 

and welcome aboard

OK, So I spent a little time going over the car yesterday. I can't bitch much because the price was really really really good but... Here's what I see so far. It's going to need a lot of body work. I can see now how it aqcuired its salvage title. Hood doesn't line up. The two diagonal cross members under the hood at the front of the car... Drivers side has obviously been buckled and "mostly" straightened. Passenger door used to be red and doesn't line up well. It looks like they hit something head on and spun it into something with the passenger side. There's a shallow but large dent in right rear just below the antenna. All the rubber seals are wasted and falling apart (Door, windows and t-tops). Paint is terrible... No other way to put it. It's just terrible. Somebody took a couple of cans of Crylon to it. Interior is actually in pretty good shape except for the fact that it was red originally and someone did a half ass job of trying to black it out. Only the front passenger compartment has been "painted" the hatch area is all red still. I can fix that pretty easily and have the interior looking sweet in no time. My body shop hook up can make the body look new for about a grand. I will keep it white in color. The hatch spoiler is pulling away from the hatch and is starting to crack. As I mentioned before, the hatch is from a twin turbo car and proudly proclaims itself as such :) . The motor is dirty, but looks ok. Like I mentioned previously, I only drove it a short distance due to its massive overheating problem caused by the water pump faliure. It ran fine under load when it was cold. It drove nice and straight and felt solid. No signs of a typically "totalled" car. I have driven plenty of salvage title cars including a Z32TT that drove very poorly. Aside from being ugly, this one drives well. The tires are all smoked. Somebody ran the rears over inflated and probably did their fair share of burnouts, because especially the right rear is totally gone in the center of the tread. The other three are jsut plain done. The transmission grinds third gear on quick shifts. Feels like a synchro problem although, the clutchh also feels like it's getting soft. I know that no matter how much or how little money I put into it, it won't ever be worth a lot and I'll lose my investment, but that's OK. This car is going to be my Z32 learning platform and an invaluable experience. It will also be the second Z car I have saved from the jaws of death (AKA The Junkyard!). Because of this fact I have decided to name this car "Lazurus" and it will be known to my friends as "Project Lazurus". I'll be doing the water pump and timing belt this weekend. I'll replace the T-Stat and other little incidentals while I'm at it. After that, I plan on putting some miles on it before I make the final decision to go forward. Hopefully , the head gasket is not smoked. If it continues to do OK after the water pump/t-belt job then the project will go into full swing. Those of you that don't follow the 280Zx section don't know how much determination I bring to a project like this. That dead sexy 280ZX in my sig was an ugly rotted out gold POS bound for the junkyard when I got it. Hopefully after a bit of time, this Z32 will be just as impressive. There's that slight chance that I may decide it's just too far gone to save, but I doubt it so far. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Rod.

$1K and the body will be like new? Man, I am only a half hour away from you. You need to tell me where this "hookup" is. Both of my Zs need a little work. Get in touch with me and lets see if we can work something out. Entropy knows about one of my body problems, but the other is nothing more than paint. They are both pretty minor, but most of the shops down here are trying to rape me.

Wow, I had no idea it was that bad. From the little time I saw it, I thought it looked pretty damn good. Maybe I was just too damn tired to properly check it out. Even the new pictures you have on your car domain site, make it look nice. Page 3 if anyone is interested. He just added em. And I am so glad you were the one to get her. She does need a little love, and like you said for the price you paid, she is worth the $ to fix her. If you put a grand in her, you could easily get that grand back, plus a little more. Easily, Salvage title be damned. Now that you brought up all that is wrong with her, I think I may have over charged you. Please forgive me. LOL LOL LOL

You're too funny Lost Vegaz... Trust me, I'm quite happy with "the Price" of the car :) . I was just letting everyone know what I was in for as far as the project goes. What's really funny is how good it looks in those pictures. I was shocked at how nice it looks. I didn't even wash it. I jsut cleaned the windows and ran a duster and a wet sponge over it to get all the bird crap and tree droppings off of it. I'm not at all concerened about what it will cost me to make it the way I want it. Like I said, it'll be a lot of fun and I'll learn a great deal from this one. I can't wait to get into it. I was planning on doing the water pump/t-belt job tomorrow, but I'm still missing a few parts that will hopefully show up early next week ;) . There must have been a delay in the shipping process. Anyway, don't sweat it man. I love the price and the car and you are the man for making this project a reality for me. I owe you big time. Rod.