It pains me to be using the 951 as a daily driver. Now that the weather is getting colder I am considering a beater for a daily driver. My criteria are pretty basic: reliability, easy to work on, cheap parts, relatively fun to drive etc. I am considering 1st or 2nd Gen RX-7's and Datsun 240 or 280Z's (not ZX's) but not these cars exlusively. I have owned a 2nd gen RX-7 and it got expensive to maintain before I sold it. 1st Gen's are nice, but I've only heard good things about the '85 GSL's. My budget is no more than $1500.

I have found a 1978 280Z for sale in my area.

Here are the details:

Exterior is a 8.5, straight body, minor rust in the driver's fender well, paint is very good with some overspray, (i'd give it a 9.5 if there was no overspray) no dents or dings.

Interior needs a headliner, rear passenger door panel, door lock buttons and exterior driver's door lock. I'd give it a 5.0

Motor is clean and runs good, no visible oil leaks. Clutch engages smooth and transmission shifts smooth too. Brakes are good and suspension is relatively new. Turn signals and water temp gauge do not work. No exhaust leaks that I can tell and pipes look good. Needs new tires as the old ones are cracked (good tread though).

The car has 78k miles on it with no maintenance records whatsoever so I cannot verify originality. Supposedly it is a one-owner car although I cannot tell. The guy selling it knows nothing about cars. I don't know how he got the car, but his name is on the paperwork.

Guy is asking $1500, I talked him down to $1200.
I know this is not a Z board, but the knowledge on this board is immense. Does this seem like a deal?

Thanks!

 

My 280 Z was a great car, parts were fairly cheap and easy to come by. Working in the engine bay was a cake walk because there is just so much room in there.

You mentioned rust though, and that is a Z's worst nightmare. Get underneath the car and have a good look, better yet get underneath and poke around. Lots of them look solid but had a problem with rusting frame rails (worst spot is up near towards the front of the passenger footwell). It can be fixed, but it is pricy.

If the body is in good shape then I would not worry about the rest of the car. In mine I did a carpet kit, and touched up the rest of the interior and it was not too hard.

The motors are very strong, there are some great performance things you can do to them, I think the cars look great, and if given the opportunity I would buy a Z again.

 

Check out <a href="http://www.zcar.com" target="_blank">http://www.zcar.com</a>

Couple of notes on the car. I actually owned a ZX but their pretty similar except that the 280Z is better looking IMHO.

1) They are great cars. Mine lasted 200,000 miles before the oil pump blew and wasted the engine. I used it throughout college b/c it was economical but not an econobox. Don't expect good gas mileage though.
2) Working on them is very simple. I could replace the front brake pads in less than 30 minutes with my eyes closed.
3)Exhaust downpipe is crap! I blew 2 or 3 of them. The metal must be very thin in the bend because it always blew a hole in that spot.
4)Parts and knowledge about Zcars is very accessible. Look in the back of Road & Track magazines and you'll find a few catalog vendors. Also, ask the ZCAR.com people and they will show you many online dismantling yards.
5)Engines for Z cars are cheap. When I thought about putting mine back together I found a company called Rising Sun Engines, they're on the web somewhere, that would sell you a engine for soemthing like $400.
.6)Check the battery tray for rust. If it's rusted then more than likely the firewall or even worse the floor will be rusted. Also, check the frame rails, behind the rear tires and around the gas filler neck. All of these spots are very suceptible to rust. I suggest bringing a magnet and an ice pick.
7)Their reletively spirited cars. Not in a 951 way but somewhat comparable to a older 944.

Hope this helps.

 

Damn this board is good. Thanks for the very informative responses. I will be sure to check those areas of the car for rust. The fact that the car has been repainted and is very straight makes me wonder how much bondo is underneath, but then again the seller states that the first owner was in the process of a restoration so you never know. That Z site is very informative and i've received some good responses from the folks over there.

Thanks again!

 

You probably know, but check for bondo with a magnet and your knuckles. A look from underneath with the car on a hoist will reveal a lot too.

What the hell, get a PPI done. It may be a cheap car, but it's the repairs that will cost you big.

 

I also used a ZX during college and put 220k on it and the only repair item was a damaged transmission gear when pounding second gear racing a Mustang SVO at the time. They are reliable and so easy to work on. You do need to look for rust. The frame rails in the front under the floor pan are very thin and rust, the inner wheelwells in the rear rust and if it has any, the car will be junk in a few years.

Over the 5 years I had the car I put on 160k of those miles and replaced the oil, brake pads, 1 starter, 1 alternater...that is it.

 

Possibly by the 280 they had corrected this problem, but the basic shape of the early Zs caused a vaccum to form at the rear of the car at speed, and if there was a way for air to get in you would have a problem with exhaust fumes in the cabin.

Go for a ride with one window up and one window down, this would cause the effect most of all. Possible causes are bad rear hatch seal, tailight gaskets, and other various holes like I think there are some vents around the gas cap, etc.

A big reason the floor pans rusted out was that many of them developed leaks around the windshield. Take it through a car wash and check. Sometimes this can be caused by drains at the base of the windshield being clogged up.

I had a Series 1 240 that was set up with 5 speed close ratio, bilstien racing shocks/struts, forged pistons, cam, aluminum flywheel, incredible sounding huge diameter exhaust, electric fans, stainless brake lines, Brembo rotors, carl shelby mini-lights, assorted super stiff bushings, swaybars, recaros, momo wheel/shifter, etc. etc. That car was awesome at autocross but was extremely stiff and would literally jar you to death and sound like you hit a brick wall at the slightest road imperfection. I just sold it to the president of the Tarheel Z club for $5000 and it took me almost a year to get what I was asking for it. If you mod it you won't get your money back because there are so many out there for so little.