Took a look at buying an 83 Turbo, includes pics, your thoughts on value/deal?
03-04-2012, 01:57 PM
#1
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Location: Los Angeles
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Took a look at buying an 83 Turbo, includes pics, your thoughts on value/deal?
Hi Everyone,
I took a look at an 83 Turbo the other day and wanted to see if anyone wanted to give me their input and what they think would be a good price. Thanks in advance for any input!
The car has 201k miles and only thing the owner disclosed is that the car needed new shocks (he wasn't kidding, it drove like a boat and I actually got a bit sea sick). I don't think he was exactly forthcoming about any other issues the car may have, as his information about the car was inconsistent based on the conversation over the phone and in person.
These are my observations:
1. On a cold start, the engine idles at 1500rpm and settles at around 1000rpm. The car seems to have trouble going over 5000 rpm and I can feel the turbo stuttering at that point and not giving boost. The exhaust also sounds like it is leaking. The oil was also really dirty, seems like he hasn't done an oil change in a long time.
2. The owner seems to use only water in his cooling system. I took off the radiator cap and it seemed pretty rusty. The car also overheated when I test drove it and the owner claimed that it was because there was no water in the radiator. We pulled over and he opened the radiator cap and rusty water gushed out. After he filled up the radiator with water, the car stopped overheating but the temperature gauge showed the temperature at around 15%. On my NA 83' Z, my normal operating temperature is slightly below half, so it struck me as odd for it to be so cool (maybe the temperature gauge is broken or is this the normal temp for a turbo z?).
I'm guessing the car has some sort of water leak and that is why he isn't using coolent but I couldn't really observe any leaks.
3. The car has been repainted many years ago. Seems fairly rust free with the exception of some bubbles right above the windshield and the rear passenger quarter panel has a weird repair I can't identify (picture included). Is this rust? Or just a poor repair of a dent?
4. Clock, radio, passenger power window (controlled from the driver and passenger side) all do not work. Antenna is broken. Other than some cracks on the dash, the glove box being broke, dome light cover missing, the interior looks very clean. It has gray seats, don't know if that is how it came with originally or not since the interior is black.
I took a look at an 83 Turbo the other day and wanted to see if anyone wanted to give me their input and what they think would be a good price. Thanks in advance for any input!
The car has 201k miles and only thing the owner disclosed is that the car needed new shocks (he wasn't kidding, it drove like a boat and I actually got a bit sea sick). I don't think he was exactly forthcoming about any other issues the car may have, as his information about the car was inconsistent based on the conversation over the phone and in person.
These are my observations:
1. On a cold start, the engine idles at 1500rpm and settles at around 1000rpm. The car seems to have trouble going over 5000 rpm and I can feel the turbo stuttering at that point and not giving boost. The exhaust also sounds like it is leaking. The oil was also really dirty, seems like he hasn't done an oil change in a long time.
2. The owner seems to use only water in his cooling system. I took off the radiator cap and it seemed pretty rusty. The car also overheated when I test drove it and the owner claimed that it was because there was no water in the radiator. We pulled over and he opened the radiator cap and rusty water gushed out. After he filled up the radiator with water, the car stopped overheating but the temperature gauge showed the temperature at around 15%. On my NA 83' Z, my normal operating temperature is slightly below half, so it struck me as odd for it to be so cool (maybe the temperature gauge is broken or is this the normal temp for a turbo z?).
I'm guessing the car has some sort of water leak and that is why he isn't using coolent but I couldn't really observe any leaks.
3. The car has been repainted many years ago. Seems fairly rust free with the exception of some bubbles right above the windshield and the rear passenger quarter panel has a weird repair I can't identify (picture included). Is this rust? Or just a poor repair of a dent?
4. Clock, radio, passenger power window (controlled from the driver and passenger side) all do not work. Antenna is broken. Other than some cracks on the dash, the glove box being broke, dome light cover missing, the interior looks very clean. It has gray seats, don't know if that is how it came with originally or not since the interior is black.
03-04-2012, 03:27 PM
#2
Mr Z++ Wiki
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Victoria, BC
Posts: 2,195
How handy are you. Or I guess I should say how interested in working on the car are you? There is a ton of info on these cars and they are very "workonable" and for the most part most parts are pretty reasonable for repairs.
The number one issue with these cars is rust. Check under the battery tray and the strut towers in the engine bay, the rocker panels, floor board (check from underneath if you can't pull the carpets up), pull the panel for the spare tire in the back corner near on the passenger side - pull the spare out if its in there. Check for rust behind the rear wheel where the rocker panel would continue. One tricky spot but very common is behind the rear seats just to the side of the storage bins - water runs down and pools and it rots along the seams. Problem is the seam sealer is porus so once the paint cracks water gets in follows the seam and rots the whole seam out. Not good on a unibody car. If you've got a solid car you're pretty much laughing.
Rust around the windshield is normal but a pain to deal with...
As for the rusty water my main concern would be if there was oil in it. You can get a replacement rad for a reasonable price - replace the upper and lower rad hoses while you're at it. Check out www.rockauto.com for some really reasonable prices as well now E-Bay has some nice 3 core aluminum rads for $160 shipped.
Without getting a good look at the car that's pretty cherry compared to the crap we have in the Pacific Northwet...
How much are they asking?
The number one issue with these cars is rust. Check under the battery tray and the strut towers in the engine bay, the rocker panels, floor board (check from underneath if you can't pull the carpets up), pull the panel for the spare tire in the back corner near on the passenger side - pull the spare out if its in there. Check for rust behind the rear wheel where the rocker panel would continue. One tricky spot but very common is behind the rear seats just to the side of the storage bins - water runs down and pools and it rots along the seams. Problem is the seam sealer is porus so once the paint cracks water gets in follows the seam and rots the whole seam out. Not good on a unibody car. If you've got a solid car you're pretty much laughing.
Rust around the windshield is normal but a pain to deal with...
As for the rusty water my main concern would be if there was oil in it. You can get a replacement rad for a reasonable price - replace the upper and lower rad hoses while you're at it. Check out www.rockauto.com for some really reasonable prices as well now E-Bay has some nice 3 core aluminum rads for $160 shipped.
Without getting a good look at the car that's pretty cherry compared to the crap we have in the Pacific Northwet...
How much are they asking?
03-04-2012, 08:55 PM
#4
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 19
@FricFrac I'm not that handy but I want to learn. Thanks for the advice about looking for rust, I will check it more thoroughly if I go back to check out the car again.
@NismoPick, The guy is asking $3500. It sounds really high to me...
What do you guys think? I'm not in a rush. I already have a 83 NA. I'm only really looking to add a 83 Turbo if it was a good price and/or opportunity.
@NismoPick, The guy is asking $3500. It sounds really high to me...
What do you guys think? I'm not in a rush. I already have a 83 NA. I'm only really looking to add a 83 Turbo if it was a good price and/or opportunity.
03-04-2012, 10:18 PM
#7
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 19
Also, based on my description and pictures, and taking into account the type of 280ZX Turbos still out on the road, how would you rate this one on a scale of 1 to 10? 5 being average. Anyone, feel free to chime in! 
03-05-2012, 07:58 AM
#8
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 25
Man THANK YOU for posting this! That was on the los angeles craigslist and looked really good in the ad. I asked for more pictures and some other information about the car, but he'd never reply. Did I mention I live in Austin, Tx? Yeah, I'm so desperate for an original '83 red w/black interior that I was gonna road trip over there to check it out. I'm glad he never responded, b/c $3500 is waay too much for that one.
03-05-2012, 08:01 AM
#9
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: NH, formerly CT
Posts: 172
$3500 is stupid high, maybe if it was mint but not for that car. I'd probably give him a grand for it assuming it runs decent-ish and it's not all rotted out. It looks okay from the pictures, body looks decent from what we can see. I wouldn't worry about that weird repair being rust, looks like there was a dent that scratched through the paint and he just masked off a rectangular area around it and spray painted over it.
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