Well I think I have seen it all. Some of the issues I have dealt with were just plain dumbfounding.

1. Glued nipple on cold start valve.

2. Phone wire on fuel pump power.

3. Foam around trans because of torn boot.

4. Last but not least MAF spring was sprung Found this trying to figure out a rich condition.

So lets hear your nightmares

how 'bout some of these:

1. terrible leaky doors: door seals around windows put in backwards

2. ace hardware crimps all over the wire harness

3. kept a rock in the car to chock the wheel at stop (no e-brake cable)

4. filled egr port w/jb weld because egr base was cracked

5. block heaters put in place of freeze plugs, wired with a 220 dryer cable to a 4-gang surface mount commercial outlet box which was sheet-metal screwed to engine bay

6. broken antenna mast wrapped in duct tape (inside the interior body panel - actually replaced the body panel, rivets and all after this "repair")

My car was pretty clean, except that it came with one aftermarket mouse nest atop the intake manifold. Fortunately the little buggers didn't nibble any wiring. I think the PO's only sin -- a minor one -- was to stick a number of parts in place with silicone caulk (e.g. the chrome trim piece at the top of the interior arm rest).

My favorite, though, was on a boat of ours, not the Z. When I reworked the bilge pump system, I came upon a brick in the forward bilge (and of course removed it). It was a few years later that some guy was eying our boat in drydock. (We were scraping the bottom.) He said, "That boat sure looks familiar!) It turns out it was his late father's decades earlier. We chatted about many aspects of the boat. I mentioned the brick in the bilge, and he said, "Yeah, then that's DEFINITELY Dad's boat!" It turns out he used the brick to weight down the old bilge pump (which should have been screwed in place).

On my 260Z two of the four driveshaft bolts were missing. The third bolt was missing the nut, and the fourth bolt had a loose nut. The previous owner couldn't get it to start. I found it had a bad distributor cap.

Brake calipers on the wrong sides, bleed screw on the bottom. Now I know better. Followed by a brake fluid leak after pressure could be applied, from a scratch in the bore, probably from the dust seal wire, removed when the PO was rebuilding the calipers. Then re-installing them upside down.

Oil pump shaft & dizzy installed wrong, no cam oiler tube, valves adjusted in fractions of an inch not thousanths. I'm sure there is a lot more POs creativity that I haven't discovered yet.

Zed, how do you put calipers on the wrong side, amazing.

On mine the PO spent big $ for a nice Persimmon red paint job with purple ghost flames that covered the hood and fenders. I could have tried to match the paint and kept it red but decided to go a whole different direction. I will admit if or when I sell her, the next owner will probably say" WTF did he do this for?."

Edited May 2, 201410 yr by mjr45

Zed, how do you put calipers on the wrong side, amazing.

It's not that difficult. They easily mount to the opposite side. You don't notice it until you find the bleed screw at the bottom of the caliper.

Kind of minor, but PO replaced the bolt for the thermo housing with a honking big threaded stud and nut.

$13 for a brand new MSA housing and the correct bolt.

Can't understand why.

I've seen a few screwy things over the years from dumb previous owners but I have to say the most surprising was two years ago when I put the Z on a rotisserie

and found this to be the floor,

Those are patches on patches with roof tar in between!

There was one place in the floor that had 6 layers, 1 original pan and 5 patches on top of and beneath it.

Changed the oil and it overfilled an 8 liter(quart) pan. Not sure how much was really in there….

Not about my Z, however the PO was a governmental agency:

Years ago, my brother and I attended a county auction where there was a very nice dump truck up for auction with a "frozen engine". It went cheap, $500, and with no means to get it home, by brother started troubleshooting the problem. After removing the clutch inspection plate, and screwing back in the pressure plate bolt that had "frozen" the engine, he started it and drove it off the lot. MANY long faces from the county workers.