Hey there fellow Z enthusiasts. Just a quick background on my situation. I've been in love with the Z series since i was about 8 years old, when i first saw the commercials for the TTZ32's and i was hooked. When i turned 19, i bought my first Z, it was an 93 NA, a year later i sold it, and picked up my 96 Twin Turbo that i still have today. From that time till now i have had many different Z's. Started with a 78 280Z i bought for 1800. Little did i know the car was garbage. It had sat outside in utah winters for years. The frame rails ended up buckling because they were rusted thru. I sold that one while i still could. Since then i have been on the hunt for a clean rust free S30. I then moved to a wrecked 90 TTZ32. I ended up stripping this car down and swapped a built RB25 into it, and making it into a caged track car. I then got to the point that i really wanted to get into a clean, rust free S30!
So flash forward to a few weeks ago. I had just sold my Ducati 999, and had right around 6k to put towards the new Z. I searched high and low for a decent start. I ended up finding a 1975 280Z in Tucson AZ. It has 68k original miles, and 1 owner. It has the 4spd, and has a couple aftermarket stuff on it. It also has Recaros that he had the Factory install in 75 when he bought the car. He say's it is the first 280z that was brought into AZ. The car had been sitting for about 10 or so years, and he decided he wanted to move on to something else. He had told me that the Hall Effect sensor in the distributor was bad, and the gas tank could probably be cleaned out. So i weighed my options, and decided i would bite the bullet and buy this car sight unseen, and have it shipped to SLC. We settled on a price of $4750. and then $525 to have it shipped. So all in all im into it $5275.
So the car showed up, and looked to be in pretty decent condition for its age. The paint over all isnt too bad, but does have its chips here and there. But no actually body damage, or dents. And NO RUST! So i start with the basics to test the engine out. I put new oil in it, pulled plugs and did a compression test. I unplugged the fuel relay, opened the throttle, and tried to crank it over, and i got nothing. I could hear an audible click come from the passenger side floor area, but the starter did not engage at all. Then i did some research and supplied a 12v feed to the small yellow wire on the top of the starter solenoid and got it to turn over. But it didnt go as quickly as it should have. Now keep in mind this motor hasnt turned over in many years. I put a small amount of oil in the spark hole. all of the cylinders were right around 110ish. Except for one... Cylinder #1 was at 60. and would not go any higher. It was not what i wanted to see.
Alright, so my question is what should i do with this car? Do you guys believe this car with the low miles, and one owner could increase in value over the next couple years? At least enough in value that i should try and keep everything original as far as the drive train goes? Or do you believe because of the high production numbers of the 280Z, its not going to be as sought after as the earlier models.
Im at the point of deciding to pull the L28, and have it rebuilt, paint the block and trans make it run and drive nice and keep it stock. Or, if the value wont be there keeping it original, i would like to do an NA RB25DE with ITBs.
My goal is to increase the value of this car as much as possible. Im not looking for performance, that is what the 300ZX is for. I'd just like to have a nice daily driver that will keep growing in value. What would you guys recommend doing?
Thanks! sorry its a little long.. here are a few pics