300zx Reality Check
I kind of took for granted that the Z was in fairly spotless mechanical condition. Still, for peace of mind, I decided to take it to a good specialist shop for a checkup.
These guys are Z fanatics. You are greeted with phrases like "Z you in a few days" or "long live the Z" in emails. The place is called ZCarGarage by the way. As a reference, my local Porsche shop charges me around $140 for an hour of labor. This garage charges $110. So it's pretty damn close, and that's fucking Porsche and this is "only" Nissan! The fact that the place is always full is evidence that apparently it's actually worth it. Full with Zs and Infinitis from different ages (from 240Z to 370Z and everything in between), the owner is the grand guru that breathes, eats and drinks Z. And he drives a Z32 TT (a 300zx twin turbo) like mine. He really understands Z cars. In a deep, intimate way. Almost makes you jealous, if you're into that sort of stuff.
Anyway, as is so often the case, reality slaps you in the face just when you're feeling smug. Well I may be overdramatizing this thing but still. The point is, the previous owner did invest a lot in replacing and upgrading parts (as seen in a previous post). But it turns out that, enthusiast as he may have been, apparently he decided to DIY everything and, in the words of the Z mechanic, in a "backyardish way". Lol. Parts quality and work quality was good, according to him, but there were some silly mistakes here and there. No big deals.
This resulted in some "issues" with the car's moving parts, such as: the transmission shifter linkage is mounted backwards (WTF! not that I would have mounted correctly had I tried... hell, I would have probably mounted it upside down or inside out, but still, seriously, WTF!). The control arms are bent (and I didn't do anything, I swear!) which is strange because a lot of work was done in the front suspension so how could that bit just slip by, beats me.
Then there are hairline cracks on some spark plugs, which also were of an incorrect make/model and the gap was too wide. New spark plugs then. The fuel injection hoses and clamp needed replacement. Clutch master and slave cylinders were also bad and their hoses needed to be replaced as well. Round it up with rear brake pads, an alignment (because of the new control arms I assume), and some wiggling of the exhaust that was banging against the tow hook or something, and you get to a $2,000 bill. Big freaking ouch! Upside is, I can't wait to receive it back and see how it drives. The clutch was driving me nuts and there were some hiccups at idle. I still need new tires, but with that done it should drive like a boss! I'm even thinking of a track day. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
So these suckers are indeed expensive to own. I read it in blogs before purchasing the damn thing, but I wouldn't listen, no no. Truth is, if you have the illusion that, because it's old and japanese, it's gonna be cheap to work on, I got news for ya...
Good thing that I had already ordered the interior trim kit in seriously genuine Alcantara(tm) because I may have chickened out after seeing this bill. Bad news is, the paint job and new leather seat covers are gonna have to wait a little bit.
Oh, another thing that is freaking me out is the stereo. These guys figured that the best idea in the world would be to place an amplifier next to each speaker. That's seriously fucked up. Maybe they figured, "well if we place ignition coils above each spark plug and that allows us to get rid of those pesky high-voltage cables, let's do the same with sound!" What could possibly go wrong. Well the thing is that one of them is going south and it clicks and rattles and makes loud annoying noises. So I may be working on that soon. Given that I have an extra radio (for the life of me I can't figure out why the previous owner had a spare stereo), I may try changing that to see if the problem is the stereo and not the amp.
And when the friggin' trim kit arrives (it's been like 3 weeks already, guys, WTF again), I'll be posting tons of pics of the whole process. If at some point I thought of paying some upholsterer to do it, no way now I'm going to be able to afford it.
Anyway, I'm more focused than ever in bringing this wonderful car to the best shape I can. Whenever I'm in doubt I take a look at some good looking Zs. I mean, look at these:
Drool. Especially this last one. No rear spoiler. Damn it looks good!
(take a look here for more pics)
Stay tuned.
These guys are Z fanatics. You are greeted with phrases like "Z you in a few days" or "long live the Z" in emails. The place is called ZCarGarage by the way. As a reference, my local Porsche shop charges me around $140 for an hour of labor. This garage charges $110. So it's pretty damn close, and that's fucking Porsche and this is "only" Nissan! The fact that the place is always full is evidence that apparently it's actually worth it. Full with Zs and Infinitis from different ages (from 240Z to 370Z and everything in between), the owner is the grand guru that breathes, eats and drinks Z. And he drives a Z32 TT (a 300zx twin turbo) like mine. He really understands Z cars. In a deep, intimate way. Almost makes you jealous, if you're into that sort of stuff.
Anyway, as is so often the case, reality slaps you in the face just when you're feeling smug. Well I may be overdramatizing this thing but still. The point is, the previous owner did invest a lot in replacing and upgrading parts (as seen in a previous post). But it turns out that, enthusiast as he may have been, apparently he decided to DIY everything and, in the words of the Z mechanic, in a "backyardish way". Lol. Parts quality and work quality was good, according to him, but there were some silly mistakes here and there. No big deals.
This resulted in some "issues" with the car's moving parts, such as: the transmission shifter linkage is mounted backwards (WTF! not that I would have mounted correctly had I tried... hell, I would have probably mounted it upside down or inside out, but still, seriously, WTF!). The control arms are bent (and I didn't do anything, I swear!) which is strange because a lot of work was done in the front suspension so how could that bit just slip by, beats me.
Then there are hairline cracks on some spark plugs, which also were of an incorrect make/model and the gap was too wide. New spark plugs then. The fuel injection hoses and clamp needed replacement. Clutch master and slave cylinders were also bad and their hoses needed to be replaced as well. Round it up with rear brake pads, an alignment (because of the new control arms I assume), and some wiggling of the exhaust that was banging against the tow hook or something, and you get to a $2,000 bill. Big freaking ouch! Upside is, I can't wait to receive it back and see how it drives. The clutch was driving me nuts and there were some hiccups at idle. I still need new tires, but with that done it should drive like a boss! I'm even thinking of a track day. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
So these suckers are indeed expensive to own. I read it in blogs before purchasing the damn thing, but I wouldn't listen, no no. Truth is, if you have the illusion that, because it's old and japanese, it's gonna be cheap to work on, I got news for ya...
Good thing that I had already ordered the interior trim kit in seriously genuine Alcantara(tm) because I may have chickened out after seeing this bill. Bad news is, the paint job and new leather seat covers are gonna have to wait a little bit.
Oh, another thing that is freaking me out is the stereo. These guys figured that the best idea in the world would be to place an amplifier next to each speaker. That's seriously fucked up. Maybe they figured, "well if we place ignition coils above each spark plug and that allows us to get rid of those pesky high-voltage cables, let's do the same with sound!" What could possibly go wrong. Well the thing is that one of them is going south and it clicks and rattles and makes loud annoying noises. So I may be working on that soon. Given that I have an extra radio (for the life of me I can't figure out why the previous owner had a spare stereo), I may try changing that to see if the problem is the stereo and not the amp.
And when the friggin' trim kit arrives (it's been like 3 weeks already, guys, WTF again), I'll be posting tons of pics of the whole process. If at some point I thought of paying some upholsterer to do it, no way now I'm going to be able to afford it.
Anyway, I'm more focused than ever in bringing this wonderful car to the best shape I can. Whenever I'm in doubt I take a look at some good looking Zs. I mean, look at these:
Drool. Especially this last one. No rear spoiler. Damn it looks good!
(take a look here for more pics)
Stay tuned.
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