faster u fool

Hi everyone I'm the newbie. lol. Anyway looks like I will be pretty busy on the boards pretty soon. My son has aquired this z car. I am told that it is a 78 280zx. I know from some research that the zx was not made till 79. the car was running needs some new fuel lines and altenator. It has had only two owners, not sure on miles ect. It is my brother in law moms, and she need to liquidate. he is getting it for $400. Or actually doing some yard work for it. We have not seen the car yet cuz we need to make a trip north a bit. I'm told its good just needs some tlc. As you would expect my son is super excited and spending money he doesn't have..I gues my question is what can all of you pros tell us about it frm the poor pic I have. Maybe the right year and model. are they anygood? ect. the car has been in so cal its whole life. Thanks in advance........

Chris... OOPs forgot the pic

BlueKitsune

Its an early Z more then likely a 79. Also looks like a 2+2 (that means it has 4 seats) and is in amazing shape!

These cars are extremely reliable so long as their maintained properly, most 280ZXs live upwards to 300K+ miles. The major issue in all of them is rust but seeing as the Z is from so cal it should be really clean!

Oh and Welcome to ZDriver!

EDIT: Almost forgot, this might help quite a bit! http://xenons130.com/index.html This site has the Factory Service Manuals for nearly every Z car every made which is extremely helpful if you need to know just about anything about the Z.

faster u fool

Thanks for the info. Why do yo think its a 2+2? I asked my brother in law he thought it was a two seater unless the rear seats fold down or have a cover. we were hoping for the two seater. anyway excited to go and look at her.

BlueKitsune

I could be wrong, the angle of the pic makes it kinda hard to tell so I was going by the chrome strip over the door and following it back. The rear seats to fold down tho in a 2+2 lol

Good find tho Can't wait to see it cleaned up and running!

WildmaN

It looks like a 2 seater to me. I can tell with the roofline. And it looks in pretty good shape. Good deal for $400. Just go through everything, and dump all the fluids, check your sensors. And it would also good to do a compression test. Good luck, and welcome to Zdriver.

thxone

I had a '79... it was a good car... GREAT CAR! Even when mine was having issues it still made a trip from central Florida to Ga and back to the Tampa Bay area and got great gas mileage. When you get a chance to see it in person, check the power window switch, if so equipped with power windows, on the drivers door... if there is a three button switch then the drivers window will go down automatically with a quick push of the button all on it's own. I liked that and did not have that on either of my '82's.

Flush out the fuel system completely... do a FULL tune-up if it has been sitting for a while... also oil and any other fluids. Tell him to enjoy the car... he will love and hate it... mostly love it.

faster u fool

Thanks everyone for all the info and tips. My buddy had one when we were in high school and we loved running around in it. I'm sure he will too. I know he wants to do alot of work to it. What is the best place to find parts interior, body kits, ect. I think he is wanting a body kit pretty bad to make it a bit newer looking. Any thoughts on that.

thxone

http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc

http://www.blackdragonauto.com/

mrprofile

It's easy to tell if its a 2+2 on the outside, if its back quarter windows are triangular then its a 2+2, if the back quarter windows have four angles, then there a 2 seater coupe.
Looks like you have a coupe sadly, although some may think of it as an advantage lol
also you probably wont get anything from the VIN if its a 79 sadly, I have one and the only thing possible to decode from the vin is the engine, which were all the same that year!

SHADY280

i like the 79's. maybe im biased. good platform, and you dont have to worry about autoclimate and the digidash messing up. its nice and simple. the ecu doesnt have an o2 sensor, but you could swap over the 82 gear to have a bit better ecu and o2 sensor.