HiddenWomble Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Hi all, Been soaking up as much info from this forum as I can in preparation for buying a zed in December. The idea was to visit a few dealerships nearer the time so I can do a few test drives and get a feel for the car. That said I've been keeping an eye on the zeds for sale and one has just sprung up at a very tempting price that's within arms reach right now! It's a 2008 HR (dat engine ) GT with just over 100K on the clock, asking price is just under £7K as the guy has had some rough luck in work and a job change has meant a large pay cut. He sounds like a classic sufferer of zeditus so I'm confident it's been well loved while in his care (ie he's run it on premium petrol, got that question in perfectly as he thought I was talking about running cost but I was actually checking for piston damage!). That said he's not had it for long so the previous owners will have had more impact on the car than he has. It's got a new clutch so that's one less thing that will need replacing. I've just read about the paper oil gallery gasket that might have wrecked shire350Z's pride and joy so I'll also be looking at the oil pressure along with printing out http://www.350z-uk.c...6-buyers-guide/ to run through each step of those 2 buying guides. By the looks of things 15psi cold on tick over 3psi hot tick over, 50psi revved Is a massive red flag, though perhaps something that could be seen to right away for the replacement updated gaskets. A healthy zed should read 110psi cold tick over 28psi hot tick over 100 revved (taken from http://www.350z-uk.c...ure-the-answer/) It's all just random words and numbers to me at this point so please let me know how much I should take them for gospel or how much salt should be added. I'm a computer guy by trade and your typical tyre kicker when it comes to trying to spot a good car vs a bad car! Scares the bejeebers out of me knowing just how little knowledge I have, but at least I can swat up with this forum so I'm not as blind as I have been in the past. I am a bit unsure as to the actual feel of the car. I've just got nothing to compare it with. Only had front wheel drive cars with mediocre power so far so everything is going to feel completely different. Oh I did a cheap HPI check which came back with a big rack of green "we have no record of..." for all categories on www.mycarcheck.com. Did that before I picked up the phone just to check it wasn't a write off. Think I'll do an RAC or AA one with all the options. There are a few oddities, advert says 3 owners HPI says 4. He said it had been on autotrader all week but it only popped up for me over the weekend (been checking every day bar Saturday!). I think I might be able to squeeze one dealer test drive in today so I have 1 other zed to compare it to. This week is going to be manic with work, I'm based in Kent, will be hitting head office in Hampshire, then it's off up to West Yorkshire and there is a 3rd place to hit that is as yet undefined and the car is in Wales! So my cunning plan which is so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a fox, is to try and fit a test drive in between head office and Yorkshire. Seems to make sense when I'll already be half way across the country at that point. The only issue is it will give me about 30 mins of daylight left unless I can wangle and early home time. If it all goes well I could in theory buy it as early as Saturday! The pics aren't too hot, but that makes me think more newbie with a phone cam than deliberately trying to take poor pics. Seen enough pics taken from mobile phones that are not rotated properly on dating sites for that not to worry me too much. Anyway, that's a holy-wall-of-text-batman so I'll try to wrap up. I'm quite nervous about it all, not entirely sure if I'm thinking with my head. My plan of getting into a position where I have several zeds to pick from to get the best specimen seems to have gone up in smoke and I guess I'd just like some feedback from people who live and breathe zeds. http://www.autotrade...s_old&logcode=p That's the ad, the front tyres are new so no chance to check for feathering, but that sounds simple enough to fix. It's only got one key, I need to check if that is 1 key + the master, can anything be done without a master? As mentioned the clutch is new and the guy was over the moon with how much better she felt after that. What else am I missing before I see it in the flesh? If your eyes haven't glazed over by now, thanks for reading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 My 350 was, 90psi on start up and up to 120 when driving from cold for a very short while. Once warm it was around 60 to 70 when driving and around 40 on idle. That was an 04 with under 50K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
370Ad Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Seems very cheap! So could be a bargain. Hope it all goes well for you on Saturday. With my old 50 it was always 60PSI in 6th at 60mph, very easy to remember! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimboy2 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Yeah 60psi in 6th at 60 is what I work with. That's really cheap for a HR. Hope it all works out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenWomble Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 Did my first test drive yesterday, she pushed me back in my seat as expected, but I did feel like a complete newbie again. Still, I've had a fair few cars and know it wont take me long to learn where the clutch bites, then she'll start to dance for me. I'm so used to blipping the throttle on my little 1.8 V6 when down shifting, the zed however made my blip look like more of a hoof. Another thing I'll adapt to after some hours behind the wheel, but that's the same with any new car and I'm quite looking forward to having something new to master. Thanks for the tips on oil pressure. Would the DE and the HR both behave the same with oil pressure, or might they run at different pressures? I know the HR had a lot of the internals reworked but don't know enough about engines in general to know if something like that would have changed. The DE I looked at yesterday was idling at 30PSI with the engine warmed up (cheeky beggers had got it warmed up before I arrived so I couldn't test a cold start). Didn't really get much chance to check her at 60 in 6th though as it was all winding country lanes round there. Will be seeing the zed I linked above tomorrow, also been working on a plan to pick her up on Saturday if the viewing and test drive goes OK. Had another chat with the guy and while he only has 1 normal key he wasn't sure if there was a master key, had to explain it would be a regular key with no buttons, probably with the paper work so we'll be looking for that when we go through the services etc. Not sure what the implications are if there is no master key, all I know is you need the master to program a new key. Is there any way to get round that if the master key is missing? There is also a crack in the front bumper, its fibreglass so probably a dealer fitted Nismo kit but I'm not confident I'll have the skills to patch it and paint it, so might have to look about for a bodywork shop to get some quotes. Does anyone know how prone to faceplanting into a speed bumps the Nismo V2 would be? From what I can tell it's the same height, but just sticks out a little further than stock. I'm mostly interested in just how slow I'd have to crawl over the speed bumps, not planning to use any to get air time! Feeling a bit calmer about it all now I've seen one, still going to screw myself over financially so the rest of this month will be tight, but cash flow is good right now and it is 1.2K below the budget I was aiming for so well worth the extra strain. That almost sounds sensible, the main advantage is I get a zed 4 months early, and who doesn't like beans on toast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimboy2 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 You will be having just toast once zeditus bites you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouthwash Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Remember that oil pressure is related to RPM rather than speed/gear. 2500rpm in any gear should be about 60psi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenWomble Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 You will be having just toast once zeditus bites you! Hehe, the funny thing is I might actually be better off on a monthly basis with a massive drop in insurance (yay for a clean licence!) and a very similar mpg for the vast amount of motorway miles I chew up. I'm expecting 30mpg out of her compared to the 9mpg the car I test drove was showing, wonder if the dealership knew the zed kept track of the average mpg? Nahh, the only real problem is the zed I'm gunning for is more than my savings, by about how much space in my overdraft I will have by the end of the month, so yeah, gonna be a tight one! Just the one paycheck to hit though then it will be back to piling the money away, only this time for any breakdowns or maintenance. Remember that oil pressure is related to RPM rather than speed/gear. 2500rpm in any gear should be about 60psi. Thanks, I've already seen the needle move about with revs but now I know it's 60mph in 6th or just 2.5K RPM and to check for a reading of 60 PSI. Makes things a lot more flexible though I assume in both cases that's while cruising, so take the reading on the flat not on a hill when the engine is doing more work. Would anyone care to hazard a "do not go below" line on the pressure? Maybe take a 10% variation as being fine, so 54-66 psi would be ok, but if it's outside of that then it's a just walk away car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenWomble Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 It shall be mine, oh yes, it shall be mine! deposit is down, picking her up on saturday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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