My First Z
07-17-2013 | 07:24 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 2
My First Z
Hey everyone, So i recently bought my first Z. It's a 1988 300ZX. Overall i cannot complain, the condition of both the body and interior is in really great shape. all it needed when i bought it was tires, oil, and wipers. i know nothing about these cars. i'm a huge E30 guy and drove 2 of them until one broke due to rust and racing, and lost the other in an accident. (more details upon request) so my wife said no more bimmers. so i started looking and it so happens that she directed my attention to this beauty. so long story short i bought a Z. I've been driving it for almost 2 weeks now and i have to say its a nice drive. nothing like my 30s though. but i'm sure i'll get used to it. as far as future plans for this car goes i'm not doing anything until i know/get rid of all the little gremlins under the hood. after that phase im not really sure, when i drive this car and look at it i see more of a show car. so until i learn more about the car and its potential, i'll just stick with dressing it up and making her turn heads. well here is the pictures i know half of everyone will skip right to. any ideas/things i should know would be greatly appreciated. thanks and enjoy.
07-17-2013 | 01:33 PM
#3
Grumpy & Helpful
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,415
From: Mill Creek WA
here is my boiler plate catch all for newbies. You didn't state turbo or n/a always good to put that in. looks like turbo wheels (or maybe that was earlier years) why is the steering wheel two colors?
Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.
Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.
Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.
If you are doing a turbo car shocks (electro adjust I think may be only on the turbos) then you need the adapter plates to fit modern shocks to the car. Easiest way is find an n/a at the junkyard and take the mounting plates. They may be available thru NAPA (listed) but I had the n/a plates.
Put Redline MT in the tranny it will smooth things out quite a bit. New Plugs (blow out the holes they sit in before pulling out). New wires, dizzy cap never hurt. Check the vacuum hoses that run the climate control they are a source of never ending q&a
download the fsm from xenon z31 or something like that free. you can order a CD from courtesy Nissan $50. good parts source tho. It is actually a darn good manual once you get used to it. Some Japanes idiosyncrasies you need to get used to for finding answers you need. take a thumb drive to Kinko's or wherever and blow up the electric schematics to 11x17. much easier to read that way. Magnacore wires I find superior (or just sucked in by their website you decide)
Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.
Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.
Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.
If you are doing a turbo car shocks (electro adjust I think may be only on the turbos) then you need the adapter plates to fit modern shocks to the car. Easiest way is find an n/a at the junkyard and take the mounting plates. They may be available thru NAPA (listed) but I had the n/a plates.
Put Redline MT in the tranny it will smooth things out quite a bit. New Plugs (blow out the holes they sit in before pulling out). New wires, dizzy cap never hurt. Check the vacuum hoses that run the climate control they are a source of never ending q&a
download the fsm from xenon z31 or something like that free. you can order a CD from courtesy Nissan $50. good parts source tho. It is actually a darn good manual once you get used to it. Some Japanes idiosyncrasies you need to get used to for finding answers you need. take a thumb drive to Kinko's or wherever and blow up the electric schematics to 11x17. much easier to read that way. Magnacore wires I find superior (or just sucked in by their website you decide)
Last edited by rogerz; 07-17-2013 at 01:39 PM.
07-17-2013 | 02:12 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 2
thanks nismo pick for the warm welcome..
Huge thank you to rogerz. i will replace/check on the things you listed. also it is a n/a. and the steering wheel is 2 different colors because the original wrapping that was on it was torn off from the upper half. so i just took off the rest to make it look nicer. and again thank you for the advice.
Huge thank you to rogerz. i will replace/check on the things you listed. also it is a n/a. and the steering wheel is 2 different colors because the original wrapping that was on it was torn off from the upper half. so i just took off the rest to make it look nicer. and again thank you for the advice.
