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'54 New owners tale-may be useful if you're buying


ianboom

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I looked at a few 350z's last year, but all were (in my opinion) overpriced as all had body damage from peeling laquer to rusty bonnets and car prk

scars.

 

Roll on this year and i took the plunge-my budget was £6500ish, i didn't want to pay more for a 'mint' car as it spends all day on a Tesco car park.

 

About a month ago, i picked up a non GT off a trader who works from home, (i'll happily name them if wanted) for £5400. I really wanted a GT for the sub

woofer, but the non GT had leather and was in really good condition. When i viewed it, i had my 9 year old with me-piece if advise, leave the kids at home. My son's pretty good, but becomes a pain when he's bored and was a real distraction. It had 1 months mot, but i took it to a friend's garage on the way home and it passed no problem-advice, sell your car with a full mot!

 

First week of ownership, i treated the leather to a good clean and had a good look round the car, expecting to find loads of issues. To date i've found a few chips which i've touched up, one car park door ding and have noticed the front bumper has been poorly resprayed. Also think the axles are clicking. Service book says service due in a couple of weeks. Heated door mirrors don't! Rear tyres are budget (were on every car i viewed!) but new and grip quite well, fronts are mismatched and getting low. Fixed mirrors, was fuse in engine bay.

 

Week 2, did the rear axle mod and cured the clicking. Found car crunches from first to second when very cold. Oil level is hard to read on the daft dipstick, (have learnt to remove it, wipe it and leave it 5 mins before dipping it to check the oil) Aux belts are cracked and have chunks missing out of them.

 

Week 3, replace oil (only 1.5 litres came out-no wonder i couldn't read the dipstick), changed the oil filter (pattern part was fitted, why? Genuine filter and washer cost me £6), has a pop charger so no air filter needed. Changed trans oil and added molyslip (car is slightly better, but haven't done many miles), replaced belts, changed brake and clutch fluid.

 

Week 4, 2 new Falken tyres on the front. Ordered ZE914's instead of 453's, but they wanted £50 to return them, so stuck them on (they've got to be better than the old tyres and if it snows i have loads more tread).

 

So, to sum up, i think i got a car that suits what I want at a price I'm happy with, although I should've haggled a couple of hundred more off the price. All the things I meant to check went out of the window as it was raining, my son was playing up and i was too taken in by the car to check it over fully-all circumstances when not to view a car!

I don't think there are any cheap Zeds without faults, but the majority of problems can be sorted cheaply by searching this and the US forum.

 

Ian.

Edited by ianboom
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Cheers, couldn't finish the write up as my tablet wouldn't let me edit the bottom of the post, so on my laptop now!

 

Afraid it won't be modded as i keep buying a car, spending loads on it and selling it 12 months later at a loss! I keep changing my car too as i can't settle on a car i really like.

 

The Zed's growing on me and it'll be nice to spend driving it instead of working on it!

 

Problem now is, I want to go to Japfest at Donnington, but the wife and son both want to go, but i only have one spare seat lol!

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