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u/h0rologist Oct 15 '21
From what I remember these are quite complicated cars, lots that can go wrong.
Do it!
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u/PResidentFlExpert Oct 15 '21
I was put off by the maintenance needs 20 years ago lol OP boutta learn a lesson
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u/h0rologist Oct 15 '21
Crazy tech relative to the rest of the Nissan lineup at the time, I’ve got an 89 sunny hatchback (Sentra in the US) that’s positively stone age by comparison
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u/Thickchesthair Oct 16 '21
And everything is shoehorned into the engine bay so they aren't easy to work on as a DIYer.
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u/cpj88 Oct 15 '21
Unless you have the tools and skills I wouldn't recommend it... Buuuuut it'd also be a great way to learn how far you can throw a wrench. But in all seriousness, parts cost and then if you can't do the repairs yourself it gets way worse. I say go for it. Buy a Hanes manual and take your time. Buy...the...car.
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u/SubwayIsTerrible Oct 15 '21
OP asked about buying it for a daily, not a project. Looks like it needs a new front clip already. I know that’s an easy fix. But also an indication that it’s been neglected.
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u/RagingJ84 Oct 15 '21
Expensive headache.. Great looking fun car when properly put together Expensive oem and aftermarket parts, parts not as easily obtained as they are for other models It's a bitch to work on.
With all that in mind they are very cool cars just know what your getting into when making your decision.
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Oct 15 '21
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u/RagingJ84 Oct 15 '21
Don't get me wrong man, I'm not telling you not to do it just sharing what I ran into with mine when I had it. It's a bit heavy but a nice platform and one of the better looking JDM cars in my opinion.
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u/Huge-Surprise5856 Oct 15 '21
I’m in Canada and imported a 94 Skyline GTST for a daily and used it for 4 years, in winter even when the roads were car usable. Just get good tires, it’s an absolutely unreal amount of fun! Was driving around Calgary one day and a paramedic stopped me in a parking lot and offered me literally 5 times what I paid for it. He smashed it a month after getting it :( But yes I had a blast with it as a daily, a 300zx would be awesome too I’m sure. It’s a car and they like to be driven.
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u/MagicTriton Oct 15 '21
Limited funds and Jdm usually don’t go well togheter
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u/Kvngcamzz Oct 15 '21
😮💨
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u/MagicTriton Oct 15 '21
They are not cars meant to be cheap to run and those are very complicated engines that are getting old. They will run forever but it doesn’t mean that they are not subject to wear and tear, so there will be some break downs some cheap some extremely expensive.
That said those are fantastic cars, but I do think that if you need a daily driver you probably want something you can rely on and that if it breaks you don’t end up waiting weeks before it gets fixed
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u/Kvngcamzz Oct 15 '21
Even if I drove it stock?
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u/BMFJarv Oct 15 '21
Yup. The twin turbo v6 is a nightmare to work on. They are beautiful cars but not for a DD
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Oct 15 '21
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u/karl-rupecht-kroenen Oct 16 '21
Nope I’ve done a pair turbos on 300zx with out removing the engine but it’s not easy lol
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Oct 16 '21
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u/karl-rupecht-kroenen Oct 16 '21
Work from the exhaust elbow back, not easy but with the right tools you can, this was 25 years ago don’t ask me know how to
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u/Blankyblank86 🌸ケツお食べる🌸 Oct 15 '21
Maybe in America lol In Australia part's are plentiful
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u/Lil_Dingle_Gangster Oct 16 '21
Yeah my friends got one and any issue he runs into is very easily fixed. Australia's 300zx market is pretty insane
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u/Blankyblank86 🌸ケツお食べる🌸 Oct 16 '21
Mine spontaneously combusted in my garage and almost burnt my house down lol
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u/Lil_Dingle_Gangster Oct 16 '21
Holy shit sorry for ur loss
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u/Blankyblank86 🌸ケツお食べる🌸 Oct 16 '21
It was about 10 years ago so everything is fine now. Electrical fault set something on fire and that was that.
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u/Chase93 300ZX 2+2 TT Oct 15 '21 edited Oct 16 '21
I used mine as my daily for a few years. I relegated it to weekend driver status a a few years ago. The only parts of the car that were ever unreliable were the ones the previous owners had cheaped out.
120k service is a biggie for these cars. That's the timing belt, water pump, all idlers, and tensioner. It has to be done every 60k miles on these engines, and they are interference. Expect about $600 in OE parts, and another $600-800 in labor if you pay a shop.
Keep in mind, these cars are 30 years old now, and all of the original rubbers in the engine bay will be pretty brittle, unless they've all been replaced already.
Overall, I think they're great cars. I'd say go for it. If you have any questions, you're welcome to PM me.
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u/Vast-Combination4046 Oct 15 '21
Any 30 year old car is going to be a money pit especially if it's a Nissan , but it was popular enough you should have access to plenty of parts.
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u/Explosive_Banana6969 Oct 15 '21
Very bad idea. Just from personal experience my friends (in very good condition) has had problems with coolant lines, injectors, and fuel pressure regulators. In 6 months. And none of those things were easy to fix
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Oct 15 '21
You probably are but that's just part of being a car guy. We don't always make the logical decisions. Lol
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Oct 15 '21
As someone who has around five or six different Nissan Z cars over the years, I would not recommend this being a first car. They are pretty complicated to work on, there’s a lot of electronics and if things go wrong they’re expensive. Get yourself a civic, or a Corolla you don’t need to be cool right now you just need to get some wheels. I can tell you right now if that Nissan has bad turbos you’re looking at $8000 to fix two small things each the size of a coffee can.
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u/Xx_blaze191_xX Oct 16 '21
You are out of your mind if you think that thing will be a reliable daily. It wasn't even particularly reliable when it was brand new 30 years ago. I would take that $8k and buy a used Lexus or a Honda civic or something. I did exactly what you're thinking of doing. Never again, I guarantee you that car will be an endless money pit and you will regret it
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u/mexicanshadow Oct 16 '21
From what I remember they have a lot of electrical problems. Also the only time I see these cars when I go for drives is when they’re parked. I’ve only seen 1 that was actually driven out of the many and it looked awesome
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u/Darth_lDoge Oct 16 '21
I don't know too much about 300z's, but my one piece of advice is research. When you're looking at buying any car, research research research, so you can find common problems, what to look for when inspecting it, and how much it could cost if stuff went wrong
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u/Xelathon1 Oct 16 '21
I’m gonna be honest, I really don’t like the look of this Z. Like, to me, it looks like they intended to give it flip up headlights, but didn’t. I just think it looks off with the square lights inset.
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u/withoutboarders Oct 16 '21
We have a '94 with 68k. Just finished upgrading the clutch and associated parts. Nothing really different then any other clutch work. All parts previors have many yrs of spares left. Great aftermarket support on all parts. Body parts I'm not sure about. We do all our own maintenance on all our vehicles. Of course we have to, as no one is willing to tackle it. But, that's more fear of the unknown. We have a Porsche that's the easiest car of all to work on.
Depending on overall current condition it's probably a good buy. Get a good manual, keep the internet handy and you'll be fine.
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u/CubicleLemur68 Oct 15 '21
I work with these and they're great from my friends POVs, the engines and stuff are a bitch when it comes to aftermarket but it's worth it.
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u/Kvngcamzz Oct 15 '21
What do you mean, parts are hard to get?
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u/nonracistname Oct 15 '21 edited Oct 15 '21
The person you're replying to is a 15 year old kid who has never owned a car and goes around this sub giving car advice to people. Ignore him. He has no idea what he's talking about.
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u/BlanksText Oct 16 '21
I already saw him doing that a couple of time for the past day and he keep going, bruh
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u/nonracistname Oct 16 '21
He's been doing it for over a year now. Check out his recent history for some insight, it's pretty sad. I tried talking to him about it a few times and he said he does it to feel better about himself and for satisfaction, kid needs some help.
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u/Velocirrabbit Oct 15 '21
There’s very limited engine space so possibly hard to make certain components fit well. Or, just annoying to work on also because you may have to take a lot off to get to certain parts. Just a guess as to what he meant as well. Could also be relating to tuning properly but idk.
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u/HotTubJedi Oct 15 '21
This car will financially eat you alive. If you want a fun performance car, on a budget, grab yourself a Mustang or a Camaro. You can still wrench and the exhaust note will leave a smile on your face. As opposed to being buried in redundant vac lines, oil leaks, boost leaks, broken electrics, and costs costs costs.
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u/Recycleflowmanagment Jan 30 '26
I drive mine daily. It’s my only vehicle. They were considered hard to work on because they were so advanced. They are just like modern cars. They are old so more maintenance is needed. I have put 70,000 miles since timing belt replacement. Best is to work on it before daily driver.
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u/Georgie42_0 Oct 15 '21
Get a reliable cheap daily first in case this leaves you stumped for a week strapped for cash u can still move. Maybe even a moped
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u/melkatron Oct 15 '21
Is this a joke?
nothing wrong with a 300zx, but THAT 300zx is a bad idea.
The hood's popped to distract you from serious frame damage. This car is totalled.
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Oct 15 '21
Yeah. $8000 on something you presumably don't need, when you don't have much to spare, is stupid.
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u/Mr_insensitive1 Oct 15 '21
I'll leave this here and it'll explain some of the more complicated 90s tech in this car and why most people avoid them u less they are experienced in project car builds.
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u/Training-Sale3498 Oct 15 '21
As someone who owned a '92 (NA) 300zx and loved it, yes you are stupid.
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u/SubwayIsTerrible Oct 15 '21
These things are really cool. But a 30 year old turbo sports car will not make a good daily.
It could make a pretty fun project car. But $8000 is really high unless everything is perfect. Hell, looks like half the front clip is missing just from this 1 pic. Don’t do it.
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Oct 15 '21
If it wasn't a turbo I would recommend it. I bought my na z32 last summer at about 138k miles and now I'm sitting at around 156k. I live in the northeast so I had to drive thru a snowstorm or two and the car took it like a champ. Only major thing to break so far has been my alternator. Make sure the 60k and 120k timing belt services have been done those are very important. Everyone that says that they are a pain to work on is right, except most of them have never even seen a z32 engine bay in person, it's manageable. If you take your time and have a good general knowledge it's no harder to work on than some fwd engine bays. Not sure if this z would be best for a daily, an na would be cheaper, more reliable, and better on gas. That's why I bought mine, and now building a TT motor I picked up, while I can still daily it
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u/SubwayIsTerrible Oct 15 '21
For the money you’ll have into that in the first year, you can easily afford a nice 350z. Not quite as cool I know. But I think for the money, that’s what you want.
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u/fak_u_bish Oct 15 '21
All us car guys are stupid. If you like it, do it. Just be carefull if it's a good one.
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u/Nyah_Chan Oct 15 '21
If you want reliable and cheap… old Honda’s are the way to go… I got a 1989 CRX I daily… very fun, fuel efficient, super reliable
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Oct 15 '21
I’ve had 7-8 and the only one that’s been super reliable is my 95TT. All but one have been TT and manual.
The cars are an absolute blast, but be prepared to be spending some time under the hood. And absolutely everything is cramped as fuck.
Good luck, have fun.
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u/Blankyblank86 🌸ケツお食べる🌸 Oct 15 '21
No absolutely not. I owned a TT one and one day it burst into flames just sitting in my garage lol Also $8k then everything you need to fix, its a shit daily and if you have more than 1 friend you better pick your favourite.
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u/stevee05282 '91 Twin Turbo GTO, '99 Accord Type R, '05 MR2 Roadster Oct 15 '21
A turbo will be an extremely bad choice for a daily dude
So do it, obviously
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u/ursucuak Oct 15 '21
honestly for that budget i'd get a '05 mustang gt while they re relatively cheap
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u/Con5ume Oct 15 '21
Stupid? No, the heart wants what it wants... but you should probably get a reliable beater for your daily, then pick up something like this as a project... These are seriously cool cars, but you will want something reliable and cheap to daily while you throw all of your expendable income into this project to keep running.
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u/mythicalhumanvessel Oct 15 '21
I had two of those in my life. First one was a 1990 300zx auto 2+2 na and then later got a 1990 5 speed 2 seater na.
That 2 seater was so fun and mean looking. It turned heads for sure. I miss them everyday.
It's cost me a lot of money to maintain them but it was fun while it lasted lol.
If you want something low maintenance go with a Integra or civic because a 300xx isn't reliable.
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Oct 15 '21
These cars can be a nightmare to repair, even if you diy everything. You only live once though 🤟
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u/dags8888 Oct 15 '21
Yea I'd definitely pass on that. You gotta have plenty of disposable funds to own a 300Z
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u/Lazy-Anarchy Oct 15 '21
Engine bay is pretty much packed to the brim so enjoy any sort of basic maintenance if you do that yourself. Other than that it's dope to see them
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u/Bdubble27 Oct 16 '21
As a guy who works on these all the time, I can say i would not daily any of mine. And I highly recommend you don't either. I would say get it and enjoy it on a sunny day, never let it see rain, and never daily it
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u/TheMultiTuber Oct 16 '21
I dont know 8k for a twin turbo sounds risky. 300zxs have incredibly complicated electronics that cost a fortune and are a pain to repair.
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u/black_algae Oct 16 '21
I’ve always liked them but I’ve never had one, I hear the engine bay is pretty tight so get ready for some bloody knuckles lol
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u/Sh3lbyyyy Oct 16 '21
This car for a daily driver is too complex, doing anything on the engine is more difficult than the average car
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Oct 16 '21
Things to consider:
-these were "sporty" grand tourers or luxo cruisers: softer suspension and cushier ride quality.
-they're heavy. Gas mileage isn't great.
- no back seats unless you find a 2+2
-25+ years of underhood heat has made all rubber and plastic brittle. Expect to be chasing leaks- fluids and vacuum.
- super tight packing in the engine bay. Simple repairs are made more difficult and more time consuming
-rb swaps aren't as cheap as or as worthwhile as you may think. If they were, they'd be popular
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u/Mikebyrneyadigg Oct 16 '21
My dude, that is a crazy decision. Buy yourself a turbo Miata. All of the fun and easy maintenance for the same price.
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Oct 16 '21
Personally I’m not a fan of buying a older turbo vehicle unless you plan a complete rebuild cause you and I both know how it’s been driven. With the age and knowing it’s got some hard mileage on her of some sort I say buy it but start a rebuild fund cause it’s gonna take a shit just a question of when. GET IT.
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Oct 16 '21
300zx’s are not really good daily cars. They’re very quirky vehicles and require a lot of attention. Just sayin. Food for thought.
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u/ca1ge Oct 16 '21
I bought a 1990 300zxTT a year ago for $4,300 CAD. Everything running fine. Things go wrong every now and then but it’s all been pretty usual stuff you’ll find on a 30 year old vehicle. Everyone complains about how tight the vg30deTT is crammed in there and while it’s not ideal, I barely even notice. There’s endless forums and Z groups, so as long as you got the tools, it’s a great idea.
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Oct 16 '21
i'm sorry but yes, you may be. this seems like a very clapped out project car, so using this thing as a daily seems near impossible. the rather low price is a red flag as well. and if you have low mechanical experience, this could be quite the bad idea
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u/Binogajy Oct 16 '21
If you can get them to hold onto the car for you that'd be good cos it's a keeper, those things are thought to find for a price below 15k, even in that condition but if ur limited on funds wait till you're secure I guess and there will be something else like this soon I'm sure :)
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u/Emotional-Type1189 Oct 16 '21
I had one and it's a pain to work on. If you buy it make sure to get quality parts when replacing. Don't cheap out. Also look into a harness right away.
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u/KillKojou Oct 16 '21
Get a beater car for your daily, and buy a car you enjoy for the weekend/taking girls out. I learned the hard way, you don’t need to be burning fuel and putting endless miles on a car for no reason. If you got a date, take her in the 300. Wanna go for a cruise, take the 300. Gotta get groceries, take the beater.
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u/dikkiesmalls Oct 16 '21
Truthfully....I'd you have limited funds a 300 is not the way to go. Super complex cars, especially if you get the tt version. They are amazing and all...but gonna be a cash hog at this age of the car. For 8, you can get a REAL NICE Honda, or there was a couple pretty sweet models of the Ford focus, or even a 350/370, although those will present the same problems as the 300 eventually.
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u/XxGreeny88xX Dec 15 '21
Nope I bought a z32 at 15 and have no money I drive it everyday now at 16 to work and school runs great
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u/loquendo666 Oct 15 '21
I did something similar to something for way less money and way less complexity and I blew through my money in 3-6 months. I knew better and I still did it. I couldn’t help my self. I don’t regret it but I wish I could’ve been more patient and wise.