Hi everyone,

I just got back from picking up my new ride, a red '93 300zx 2+2 T-tops. It is totally stock, 144xxx miles, flawless interior, pretty decent exterior. All for $3600.

I had just a couple issues with it. There is a decent sized dent under the left tail lamp, something I hope a good body shop can take car of. The power antenna is also broken, not a $$$ fix. I also think that it has a bad wheel bearing (anyone know of a tell-tail way to tell if thats the case? if so, does anyone sell good parts online?).

Lastly, the seller says the engine was replaced at 90k. He did not have any paperwork for it, but that it was done at a nissan dealer and cost a crap ton. The engine runs perfectly, no leaks or rod knock or anything. I suppose my question for all the gurus is; is there any way I can tell if the engine was swapped in? Maybe a build date or something? I thought I could try calling a nissan dealer to see if they could look it up off the VIN.

All in all I think I got a good car at a good price. I look forward to spending some time on here learning from everyone

 

Hi,
congrats
I have not seen it, and it is nearly impossible to do, because I am in germany. But the price is great(for germany $3600/2500eur) if the car is in that shape.
What I would do, is to make an compression test at Nissan, so you can firstly see in which condition the engine is. 2nd thing put fresh oil on it.
Greetz Carsten

 

yeah man good parts vendors are courtesyparts.com , spl parts (google that), and import performance parts. there are other good ones but these should have everything you need. wheel bearings are not really cheap though. i believe someone on tt.net has some used ones for sale. they may be sold already though.

bad wheel bearings usually squeal a bit, and the hub usually feels hot when you stop. front wheel bearings require being pressed in and out, so don't count on doing that at home.

i don't really know why you'd waste money getting a compression test done at a dealership for any reason, much less when there are no symptoms to warrant the need for the test. dealerships are very expensive.

as far as telling if it's the original engine... it's hard. the vins do not match up. i just went through all this trying to figure out if mine was original. your best bet it just to look for signs of it being out before. i was able to see that my engine mounts looked new and some bolts and needless brackets were missing, and deduced that my engine had at least been out, if not replaced.

 

A compression test is not necessary, but in my opinion it would make sense.
It is not expensive, here in germany at Nissan around 10euros.

 

yeah compression tests are always good, but since he's already bought the car, it's really not important until he needs to trouble shoot a problem.

 

good call with checking out the motor mounts; i'll do that tomorrow before I try and decipher the buzzing static noise coming from my map lights...

As for the bearings, I'm pretty sure at least the front driverside is shot. When driving straight or turning right I hear a pronounced rumble. When I turn left the rumble quiets a bit but there is still noise coming form the front end. I noticed today that the camber seems to be a little out in the front so getting a 4 wheel alignment might help out.

on a side note, how the heck do i view all active threads? When i click the z32 technical forums i only see about 8 threads. How do I see them all?

 

go to the bottom of the screen and select "show threads from the last *****". i usually do two months or so. this forum doesn't really allow you to specifically show all active threads. when i come on i just click "new posts" and see which threads have been posted in since i was last on.

anyway, that sound could be from bad alignment. what you can do right now is see if that tire is wearing oddly. if the inside is worn worse than the inside edge of the opposite tire, then you have an alignment problem. the front ends of z32s are quite the area to study. i studied on my camber problem for months before i came to a good conclusion. unfortunately, if you bring your car to an alignment shop for the four wheel alignment, all that they'll be able to do is adjust your front toe, and if they're smart, they'll see the adjustment for rear camber. most shops don't see it. understandable, as it's hard to see.

anyway, back to the front. i don't let shops touch my car usually, so i take care of front alignment myself. what i'd do if i were you is measure front camber right now. you can get a fairly close measurement with no special tools. you need a flat floor. pull your car onto the flat car and let it roll to a stop without using the brakes. put a large square on the floor and measure with a ruler with fine markings on it from the square to the top of the rim, and the square to the bottom of the rim. make sure this is the rim, not the tire. then use this calculator : http://www.csgnetwork.com/righttricalc.html to figure out what angle of caster you have. it should be somewhere close to -.5 degrees to -1.5 degrees. closer to .5 is better for a dd, as it will allow tires to last longer.

if it's out, post back and i'll tell you what you can do. too much to type for a hypothetical situation. if it's out though, you need to fix the camber right quick, and if the camber is ok, then you need to go ahead and take it for a front end alignment to get the toe right. don't bother taking it to a shop until you check this stuff out yourself though. a shop might tell you any number of things that will end up costing you a lot of money that you don't need to spend, unless it's a very good z32 specialized shop. where are you located?

 

Ahh I can see it all now

As for the wheel bearing/alignment issue, I would love to try your method above, but I'm a little confused how its done. I just find a flat piece of pavement and let the car stop without the brakes, then measure the square. By square do you mean a tool or an actual drawing on the ground?


Thanks in advance

 

Ahhhh, I can see everything now

I definitly want to try your method to check the camber on the wheels, but I'm a little confused as to how its done. As I understand it, just let the car come to a stop on some flat, level ground, then I put a large square on the floor (as in I draw a square, or is this a tool?). If it is a tool, I think I am visualizing it correctly. Is there perchance another post on here or another forum where someone put together a play by play?

Aside from that, I'm in the air force and we have a fully stocked auto shop on base here in Omaha, that we can use. They have a laser alignment machine, but I think the guys who work there have to use it. Anyway, thanks in advance for the help, I do appreciate it.

 

update to the new engine question:

I pulled the carfax for the Z and deciphered that it was most likely in Lincoln, NE during the time frame when the PO said the engine was swapped out, so I called the only Nissan dealer in Lincoln and shizzam, they did the work.

I phone call and fax later and they sent me paperwork for all the stuff they did to it. the did put a new *used* engine in, and in the process updated the wiring harness (I'm guessing the new engine had the newer style injectors and whatnot) and a whole crap ton else. All total, the poor soul paid them over 6k! Ouch!

 

well if you have free access to a pro alignment read out at the base, just let them do it! they won't be able to tell you how to fix it properly in all likelyhood though.

a square is a tool. just a large piece of metal making a right angle. or a small one... they come in many sizes.

the buzzing from your map light is the fan for the interior temperature sensor. the little vents behind the lights. i don't remember how to fix it, but that's a search topic for you.