Pagoda SL Group
Off Topic => Other cars => Topic started by: Cees Klumper on May 09, 2020, 20:32:59
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Earlier this week I bought a 1986 Nissan 300ZX 5-speed with T-tops off of Craigslist here in LA. 76,000 original miles and very clean, inside and out. It's going to be a father/son project, as our 21 year old is into this type of sporty cars from that era. No rust anywhere, looks like it was in CA all its life. There was a city streets map of San Diego in the glove box - don't see those too often anymore!
It was part of an estate sale and the guy who bought the estate said he had to pull it out of an airplane hangar. The tires are from 2016 though, so it likely did not sit too too long. He did the necessary work to get it through the California smog test, which necessitated a new catalytic converter, and replaced the clutch / bearing and rear main seal.
There was only one key with the car, which I promptly lost the day after picking up the car, but then yesterday the Nissan dealer cut me a new one using the 4-digit key code I had, for $5. Can't beat that! Got two more spares.
The car runs surprisingly strong. It's a normally aspirated 3 liter V6 that is said to generate 160 HP, but it feels a lot more than that.
We'll need to do some basic things, like replace the steering rack, shocks, service the engine including timing belt, fix the cruise control and the heater, those kinds of things. Should be fun.
I will upload fotos later today. New adventure!
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Never was much of a fan of the Nissan Z cars, but way, way back in another lifetime, when I still lived in Germany, a friend of mine who used to live in kenia years befor that had won the East African Safari in a Nissan Fairlady. his name was Edgar Herrman. I got a plastic model of the car at one time, and believe it or not, the little driver actually bore an uncanny resemblance of him.
I also remember the early 240Z engines being strangely similar to the Mercedes in-line 6. Does anybody know if that originally was a license or just a blatant attempt to copy?
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Here is one reference for the z-car engine
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=13037.msg88582#msg88582 (the wiki reference that is quoted has been updated on the wiki entry)
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I saw this a couple of years ago at Mid-Ohio. It was in a poorly executed Ferrari GTO replica. The owner told me it was a Mercedes engine. But it stumped me a little. Having the spark plugs and the inlet on the wrong sides.
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My 'Z31' model no longer has the straight six, that Joe Alexander once labelled a 'M130 copy', but a smooth V6. It sounds like a Pagoda or TR6 engine, very nice raspy sound as the revs climb.
I does spin the tires in second gear - fun car!
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To close the loop on this one: the 300ZX was my son's daily driver, until he bought a Datsun 1973 240Z. We sold the ZX two weeks ago, after not quite a year, and 7,000 miles of happy driving. We actually made an 80% profit on the sale and it is now a 19 year old's first car.