DatsunZsRule

Aww Man sorry to hear the bad news. I know it's easier said than done, but like others have said, be patient and don't rush things or you'll make it worse. Take care man

Come on =Enigma= fess up. It's you isn't it ROFLROFL

I'm the same way I think the reason why my ball joints & tie rod ends went south is due to lack of greasing from the previous owner bringing it to Jiffy Lube for it's oil change. Back when I bought mine I found a Jiffy Lube tag in the center console showing the Next Oil change due so that kinda answers that

I was on 95 today with my truck and went to get on hwy 94 east to go to Fleet Farm in Hudson and as I was on the on ramp to get on the highway I saw a very nice looking 280Z like mine except brown off to the side trying to back up :eek::eek::eek: scared the sh!t out of me. Not something you want to see on an on ramp doing about 50-55MPH. I felt so bad for the guy I wanted so bad to stop and help the poor Z and owner but I had other people on my arse and I just couldn't do it. He must have made it OK because on my way back he was gone. Thought I'd share that with you. Not something you see here everyday in MN. or WI.

You have every right to ask for opinions on a Z you are seeking. It's easy sometimes to let your emotions get in the way when you find one you really like and miss important things that could end up being a pain to you and your pocket book later on. Thats why I gave my thoughts and concearns TO YOU however the problem I've found doing that on here is certain people (and I won't list names) get awefully offensive on opinions that they don't personally agree with and feel the need to start an attack. Like the old saying goes "Lets just agree to disagree" Thats why from now on to avoid getting cought up in a pissing match whenever I see a thread posted like this one where someone is asking for personal opinions and thoughts about a Z or anything else, I'm only going to respond through private messaging from now on so only YOU see it. Just my ending response to this thread. Best of luck to you oskidunker1 in your search for another solid mint condition classic Z car. As Carl pointed out, just don't wait too long man.

It's one of those types of things again that comes down to personal preference. What you say is probably true but I just personally feel better about being able to physically maintain it myself. Thats just me

That is odd. No castle nut??? I'd rather be able to grease them myself through a zerk but thats just me. I don't know man. I put all factory Nissan ones in mine. I've heard too many horror stories of fitting issues on aftermarket ball joints on these cars. Looks like they may work ok. I guess all you can do is try them. Hopefully someone here has tried them and can tell you for sure before you tear everything apart.

You mean to tell me you don't see rust under this car in this photo???? :laugh: Yeah, I've seen a lot worse but it's not "Rust Free" from what I see. I guess I'm just fussy. I store mine during the winter months and you could eat off the bottom of mine.

"It is original. NO RUST as you can see from the pictures." LOLLOL I'm to critical I guess so I'll shut up now

hhmm OK then maybe I'm wrong but thats what it sure looks like to me when I see the photo. looks like the underside of a vehicle that has seen salt. :paranoid: who knows

After seeing that photo of the underside, I can tell you guys that it has seen salt. I know from living in MN. not only I see rust but I can also see a white residue in certain spots from road salt :sick: Not trying to bash the car but buyer beware of rust.

Yeah makes ya wonder what year it really is. If the tag is still in drivers side door jam with the build date on it, that will tell you. Seeing the fuel rail it has we can rule out a 1978.

yep, you thought right. 77-78 only had the hood vents.

Not that it matters being it's just a parts zcar but that first photo just goes to show the damage those front leather bra's can do when not removed to air dry whenever they get damp or wet :hurt: and those half dash caps :sick::sick::sick: Someone already sure went to town on it removing parts. From what I can see, Looks like you should come out good on it.

Sorry to hear that man. Yeah, this economy is just something else. I've been fortunate where I work because they had lots of lay offs and even shut down the service dept. at our sister dealership. A select number of us got called into a meating and they told us that we were the fortunate ones due to our knowledge/skill level and seniority our jobs were safe however we still had to take a slight pay decrease, lose an hr. a day (Leave at 4:00PM instead of 5:00PM) Now last week they announced to all of us that are health insurance cost is going up :mad: I don't want to jump the gun yet and do something I know I'll regret because I'm not sure how things will play out but I may be possibly having to part with my baby too if business doesn't pick up where I work. Taking cuts at work sure hurts the Classic Z hobby (ANY hobby) however I can't complain because at least I'm still working. My thoughts & prayers go out to every hard working person out there like yourself that have completely lost there jobs due to this damn economy. Hopefully when you find something else you can get back into it again and find another nice Z in need of a good home. Take care and good luck with your sale

OK, I'll stop skimming starting NOW ROFLROFL Sorry again I was busy watching the Nascar race Yeah, I was surprised to find one like that in SD. of all places. Talked to the guy later on and he said some guy down in OK bought it. Maybe it was a friend of carguyinok

Well WAS in south dakota No, didn't get both. wish I could have. Haven't seen another one in SD since. I havent been looking either

"Along comes a guy selling three Z cars. One a perfect 50K mile Zap. One a perfect 50K mile Black Pearl. One a perfect 50K mile blue 280Z. All at the same price which you can afford. Which do you buy?" can I come and visit you in your dream world For me personally I wouldn't be able to decide to be real honest with you. This does take me back though when I was looking at 280Z's I did run into a tough choice. After carefully looking at many and being patient for a year I narrowed it down to 2. I was deciding between a real nice Zap Z in South Dakota with 50,000 miles and a beautiful mint royal blue '77 in AZ with only 40,000. My avatar and photo in my signature shows which one I went with and I have NO regrets. I love my blue baby "I will have my brother the hit man from Champlin stand down" Ok man sounds good :paranoid::paranoid::paranoid: :laugh:

Oh hell what a mess up :stupid: Ok I'll man up to messing up on defending carguyinok and being harsh towards you. I was on my way out the door in a rush and didn't read the responses thoroughly and thats my screw up. My appologies to you conedodger on that. I only saw you saying "He is selling a used car. If his lips are moving, he is lying" I took it like you were trying to say "everyone who sells a used car lies so what??" Then I breezed through carguyinok's response and saw "from a person who has an item listed for sale in their sig........ I just dont think thats true. Plus have a feeling most of us here have sold a used car once or twice... Not wanting a fight here. I am just saying I feel thats alittle harsh" I took his reply like he was telling you not everyone is a lying S.O.B. who sells a used car and it's harsh to to call everyone a lier who has sold a used car here and elsewhere. Now that I have had the time to read each response completely and thoroughly I can see now that I'm the one who got it wrong. I now see the little laughy guy smiley right in front of your statement and see that your comment was just a joke written in response to me. My fault. I do stand by my comment though that the zap z or black pearl is nothing more special than any other 280Z. besides their paint and decal package & side view mirrors, they are the same as any other 280Z on the road. You'll get no argument from me though that if you have either one in mint shape untouched and 100% stock that yes you have a pretty sweet 280Z. That being said there are alot of beautiful 280Z's out there like mine for example that I wouldn't trade for any zap or black pearl. Just my opinion I guess. Honestly If you find ANY classic 1st gen. Z Car in mint tip top shape, untouched, and 100% stock those will all be "sought out" anywhere and will seem pretty special compared to most other Z cars out on the road. As for the so called zap Z listed for sale above, I'm sorry but that "Zap Z" is no longer anything special. The paint is faded and I'm sure the decals are shot on it as well, the interior is faded and in poor shape (Not "in very good condition") Like the seller says it is. You say above "This car clearly has some sun rot as evidenced by the dashcap and the taped up seats. The seller isn't trying to hide that. He shows the pictures, he calls attention to the dashcap in his description." thats where I get confused because he's telling people in his ad that "The body and original interior are in very good condition too, and it has a brand new full-dash cover" aahh No dude look at your own damn pictures, It's NOT in "Very good condition" and a full dash cap isn't something to brag about either regardless of where it's from. thats my reason for "heating up the tar, plucking the chickens and firing up the troops for a tar and feathering." I don't care what car culture your from. How nice a Z or any vehicle stays depends on how well the owner maintains it and takes care of it. Not what area it's from. some areas just require the owner to work harder on keeping it up What is it you think he is hiding? God only knows. This guy tells people that his Z is in very good condition inside and out and his photos say otherwise so I'm just going by that. If you went out to actually look at it in person, I'm sure you would find other surprises like rust is the biggest thing. You even said that in post #5 "Be advised though, rust is an issue close to the coast in California." then you said in #11 that "In California they sun rot before they rust out.???? Anyway again my appologies to you for any misunderstanding. From now on no more skimming through stuff then posting a response without knowing what is all being truely said and I agree, enough is enough. Let's move on to some meaningful discussion. Also lets blame WingZr0 for creating this damn thread ROFLROFLROFL Just kidding

Thank you carguyinok. Nice to see someone else thinks the same way conedodger- Not trying to start a flame war here either but come on "let's face it. He isn't declaring the car as a rare Limited Edition and for a 30+ year old car it probably is in very good condition." Anyone here that knows classic Z cars knows that there is nothing special about them other than the fact they have a fancy paint & decal package. Like you stated in post #5 "It's not officially a limited edition but it was featured in ads saying Zap! It had a companion in that regard called the Black Pearl." so of course like you said in post #6 "He isn't declaring the car as a rare Limited Edition" at least the seller got that much right. As far as people lying about used cars they are selling, thats why I b!tched about it in my first response. I can't stand a$$holes that try to take other people for a ride. Yeah, there will always be some people that will be that way no matter what and there isn't a whole hell of alot anyone can do about it but it still doesn't make it right. About all you can do is be wise to there games by both looking at the photos carefully and most importantly checking the car over yourself in person and seeing how the actual condition of the car doesn't match up to how wonderful the seller says it is and if you can save some poor sucker some grief who doesn't know much about these cars by speaking your thoughts on it like I was doing here in my 1st response, then whats wrong with that? Also I'm sorry but I've seen many 1st generation 280Z's in much nicer shape in that same price range. It just takes time and patients when looking for one. Again not trying to raise hell here and if your response was meant as a joke like you said, then sorry but I just had to voice my opinion on the subject.

The guy says "The body and original interior are in very good condition too" I think the guy needs his eyes checked. That drivers seat looks like crap and he says it's got a new full dash cover so kinda makes ya wonder what all else he's not being truthful about :paranoid:

Well I guess the main thing is you got it done and it's working ok for you. I'm personally against using long extensions on a torque wrench and the reason why is it can throw off the ft.lbs. setting. sorry to sound critical here but after personally doing a few of them, I prefere doing things properly and doing it the easier way IF possible (Not always the case on some things however.) Anyway good to hear you got her done and don't take my critisism personally. I mean well and just want you and your Z to be safe.

Cottage Grove, MN here Welcome.

I did all my ball joints and tie rod ends on my Z about a couple yrs. ago with all factory parts. It's not that bad of a job if you know what your doing and have all the proper equipment and tools. Putting 2 people in the car before you do the final torquing for the transverse link??? Like said earlier "making this much harder then it really is." You can if it makes you feel better but I didn't go to that extream when I did mine. I tightened them down just snug enough, then lowered the front down onto the ramps so the full weight of the car was on then I torqued them to factory specs. Been running mine for 2 yrs. and counting with no issues what so ever. Nothing has came loose and she still rides like a new Z If you still insist of having it level on the ground plus two people in the car before you torque them to factory specs. then I hope your a super skinny person Like mentioned earlier by =Enigma= your luck if you can get a standard floor jack to fit under the Z much less fit your body under the front with the full weight of the car on the ground and 2 passengers sitting in your Z then find room to move your torque wrench, good luck Not a snowballs chance in hell with my Z anyways

Looking at the few things you listed as far as what to look into I think your off to the right start. Does it just take lots of cranking to get it going? If so could be a bad check valve in the pump. Or if it doesn't do anything the entire pump could have just gone out for good. Either way your going to need a new pump IF due to the above. You can't get just the check valve as far as I'm aware of. best of luck with your testing and yes Gary, the pump should turn on with the key in the "On" position.