Hi, i'm a new weekend mechanic in training (trying to find a car i could learn how to work on the engine with) and i dont know anything about cars, but we all gotta start somewhere. When searching for a used car to play with (obviously i wanted something cheap incase i completely wrecked it trying to install something to the engine or fixing something) this deal came up. My friend's aunt is selling:

Black 1990 300 Z
Automatic
non twin turbo, a n/a (i think its called a 2 + 2? dont know the terminology ^^).
Close to 200k.

Exterior seems clean except the paint on the back bumper is fading badly, and the front lip is cracked straight down the middle (being held up by zip ties). The left turn signal is cracked. And there is a hole in the rubber railing running along the bottom of the driver's window, allowing water to enter the door? On all other parts of car the paint and exterior is clean.

The tan carpet interior also seems clean except for a driver's side door rip in the vinyl, and wear on the driver's seat.

Mechanically I have not checked out yet, but will so this weekend. But my guess is that it ranges from poor to okay. It is almost 200k miles so it cant be that great.

I will read the threads about buying a used 300 z and check the warnings, but i would still like some advice.

To me, a running 300 z, no matter how poor of a condition its in, for $600 is a bargain anywhere, but I may be wrong. Is there any reason why this could be worth less than $600? For example, if the engine is completely bad and needs raplacing along with the tranny.

Or, if it's definitely worth more than $600, can anyone give me an estimate or price range?

And finally, interms of a car to learn with, would 300 z be a good choice? Would it be any more difficult to learn with when compared to a smaller engine/car, such as a 240 sx (originally my first choice)?

Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this post. And super thanks to those who reply!

 

A good bargain? Yes. My car has 190,000 on it and it runs perfectly fine. Actually, it runs excellent. If the maint. was done on that car it should be just as good. as far as the body, well you can buy a new front facia, put another weather strip in the door and a bumper cover for the back from a junk yard or something. As far as learning to fix the engine, well it's very hard to menuever under the hood. Also, Nissan was very precise with these engines. They even went as far as having three different bearing sizes you could use on the cams depending on how the engine block came off the line. I've seen real mechanics screw up these engines. I fix the easy stuff on my car and leave the major crap for my local Z shop. But hey, for $600, do what you want.

 

one thing to consider. If you want a car to learn how to work on and don't know anything abou tcars already. The z might be a bad car for that. the motor's pretty complicated and packed in there. very hard to work on. i would suggest something american actually to learn how to work on cars. it'll be better when you screw it up too if you do. where is this car anyway?

 

Thanks for the input! I think i'll buy it, give it a nice wash, and sell it for a profit. Use that money to get me a more reasonable car to work with.

 

that's probably a great plan. you could even do little tune up things on it, to get some practice and increase the sale value due to a better running motor. basic things aren't too bad on the VG motor. plugs are more difficult than the average car, but still easy. You just have to go through each and every coil pack to get to each plug.

 

You should be able to turn it around and make a profit, especially if you do what EMO suggests. When you drive it prior to buying it, make sure the tranny feels right. 190k on an auto tranny is a lot. If the tranny slips, or makes any funky noises, then I'd walk away from it.