noobsauce

Hey everyone, I thought that i'd introduce myself and say hello to all the fellow owners. I just moved from Detroit to San Antonio and found a 1990 300ZX for $1400.. So naturally, I jumped on it. I'll admit that it's not much to look at.. But overall, not a bad car. To give you a basic idea of it.. It's like a fat chick with a really cute face lol. I had been into Honda's for about 4 years and thought that it was time to move on to something different. I know next to nothing about these cars, but I wanna eventually know them as well as I do Honda's. Is there anything I need to know about my 90 300ZX 2+2? Other than it has a VG30DE, and the fuel filter is abnormally easy to get to? What I do know is that it has an "APE Chip" in it.. Does anyone know anything about this and what it does for my car?

Thanks.

KasbeKZ

hmm. you sure do have a very expensive project ahead of you.

ok i guess what you want to know is that turbo swaps are not economical ideas in the vast majority of cases, your brake rotors are thinner than most (26 mm instead of 30 on the rest of the z's) so if your brakes warp you need to get thicker rotors, and the later model calipers to go with them, and also measure your hub run out while the rotors are off because bad hubs can cause pre-mature warpage all this making the front brake job cost nearly $1000 just to get the front brakes to stop shaking.

you also might like to know that a common cause of drive train vibe or what can be mistaken for "clutch jutter" is the carrier bearing holding the middle of your two piece drive shaft up, in which case your best option IMO for repair is purchasing an aftermarket 1-piece drive shaft. when anything is wrong with the car, the first thing to check is all your connections. before anything else you should find a vendor that sells new and/or upgraded electrical connector clips and replace all of them that you can because they get old and break and won't hold the connection anymore. definitely see when the timing belt was done and do it if needed. don't forget to do the tensioner while you do that. injectors are old style so if they go bad do the research needed to know how to fit the "new style injectors" in. that's very important.

since you probably don't know much about the car, check the compression to see where you need to start on this project.

i'm sure you'll be thinking about wheels pretty soon so let me throw out there that a very good and very cheap option for wheels on this car is to get used wheels from a 350Z. they probably won't cost more than what you can get for your old 300 wheels.

also, the power steering system takes automatic transmission fluid in it, not power steering fluid. do not use power steering fluid. it will not properly lubricate your pump.

another bit about the steering: if your speedometer isn't working, it's likely that your steering will also not be properly assisted. the car adjusts steering assist according to speed.

there are about 5 computers on the car and there is a diagnostic scan you can do for 3 of them that i know of. these include your main ECU, the ABS computer, and the climate control.

you're going to want to upgrade i'm sure so let it be said that there are very few options for efficiently upgrading the n/a. you can spend a whole bunch of money and get very little gain. it's not worth it. if you want to upgrade, put the money in brakes and suspension and wheels. that will make your car more fun and good for auto-x.

body kits suck and ruin the car. if you want to change the look get a jspec fascia. (lol that one was biased)

i haven't been on for a while so i'm just saying about everything i would want to know in your position since you asked a vague question.

noobsauce

Thanks! That was very informative. In regards to everything.. The timing belt was changed about 5K ago. It's currently running NGK Iridium spark plugs. K+N Intake. And the clutch was replaced roughly 10K ago. It was very well taken care of, but due to the economy and having a third child, they had to sell the car off. I'm going to focus on getting the car to look nice first before I proceed to the Ricky Bobby stuff.

Performance-wise... It's got that APE Chip.. I've never heard of it, nor can I find ANY information on it. Eventually i'm going to get my hands on a JDM VG30DETT. And probably find out where I can go from that platform.. I've read that it makes 300HP and 290FT/LBS of Torque. Crazy. And the FULL SWAP with shipping will only set me back $2,100. Also i'll do dual slanted exhaust, Texas shootout style.

EXTERIOR.. No body kits.. That much I can promise. I haven't watched Fast and Furious since I was like 13. I believe that the car is already lowered, because the fender wells are almost non-exsistant. That J-Spec facia is REALLY expensive.. Unless someone is selling it off a part out, i'll probably just keep the stock one that's on there. And thanks for the tip on the 350Z wheels.. I wasn't sure if they'd fit.. But if you say so, i'll look it up.


Thanks man.

noobsauce

Anything else??

Ck300z

welcome to the club

fdc_guy

Z's are very awesome cars to get, although they tend to be very pricey to fix and repair, but they are by far the cars with the best history as far as racing is concerned. You should go read up the time line of the Z car and get some good perspective on the type of rep the Z car actually has uilt up over time, you will be pretty impressed I think.

Welcome to the site, lots of great Z car minds on here and almost anything you want to know about your car and repairs im sure you will find on here.

The_MuffinMan25

The cost of the DETT swap comes to quite a sum (From what I've heard) I never have researched it because I have a stock TT

KasbeKZ

yeah your number for the swap is way low. you're looking at more than that number for just the front clip. then you need to have it shipped, get the other parts you need that don't come with it, fix what's broken on it, do regular maintenance because you don't know the history, and then you MIGHT end up with a good working swap. it's risky. you're pretty much driving half a car that's been shipped on a boat from japan to here. they often have problems. they got pulled out of that car for some reason.

noobsauce

I've got to ask then.. And, this is definately a noob question.. How fast is it? What can you beat as far as races?



I don't mean to argue.. Or not or sound like, "Oh, you don't know what you're talking about" Because I think I can trust your judgement. From what I know-remember I came from Honda's so I don't know if this all carries over to other makers or not-The motors only have 30,000 or less on them and more times than not, they came out of rear end totals... Here's a link to the site that I found the swap on, take a look for yourself, and tell me what you think..

http://www.jdmenginescorp.com/engine...cu-wiring-swap

Oops!! I didn't factor in Shipping.. Well, I imagine that it would be around 500 to ship it. So, that's $2600-give or take-for that.

The_MuffinMan25

Still I havn't looked into it but I've heard it's cheaper to just sell an NA and buy a TT, not easier but cheaper.....yea. Tho 2+2 TT would surprise ppl. Sorry for my lack of knowledge but do they make slicktop 2+2's? I was going to ask if your was a slicktop...if so that deffinately would be an uncommon TT swap.

Wanna know what it's quicker than http://www.albeedigital.com/supercou...0-60times.html

13.8 is the quickest listed...so search through everything else and see what it beats Trust tho they are quick try to go fro a ride in one, Jesus would cry lol!

The_MuffinMan25

Alright not stupid fast but still very respectable. I'm used to my Z's power tho. Need moar!

napoleonzheking

your figure for the swap is low... you will replace so many things from the JDM clip...

mayitin

I am no mechanic nor i claim to know that much about cars only what I have done personaly. A friend of mine bought a 93TT after few monthe the timing belt broke as he was leaving his house so we put a timing belt thinking that maybe just maybe did not ruin anything, well it did. He decided to buy a JDM motor we pull his out and put the jdm motor, I must say it was a lot of work, finally the car run my friend was happy as he could be, a month latter the car develop a knock. To me is very risky buying these motors, you are taking a persons word by e mail or phone you never see them. My friend was told the motor had only 20k miles.

noobsauce

[QUOTE=The_MuffinMan25;261715]Tho 2+2 TT would surprise ppl. Sorry for my lack of knowledge but do they make slicktop 2+2's? I was going to ask if your was a slicktop...[QUOTE]

Suprise is what i'm aiming for my friend. lol. No, I don't have a Slicktop. PS.. I used the search on that one and spared you guys a dumb question!

It's good that you told me that.. Like what would I have to replace? Other than the front bumper? Just run over the motor checking all the bolt on stuff(Water pump, timing belt, etc..)? or would I have to crack open the motor? As stated before, I've only dealt with JDM Honda motors(3 B16a's and 2 ZC's Specifically).. and I've never had any problems with them.. Except for one, but that was the guy that sold it to me.. He did some bottom end work, then a month later, POOF! *Watches cylider 4's rod skidding down the freeway*

The_MuffinMan25

Why did you waste your $ twice on a ZC motor... LOL