KDMatt

Wow, thanks Enrique! 'lotta info to respond to in that post, but I'll do my best. ... anyway, yeah, I'm going for liability only insurance, and the insurance people tell us that the premium for that stays the same regardless of what kind of car I have, (I could have a Ferrari and it would still be the same) simply because I'm only taking care of the 'other guy,' and like you said, damages to my car are my responsibility. Anyway... it really sucks because my parents only have single garages at their respective homes, and they both have cars that are worth more (monetarily and importance-wise), so those both take precedence over the Z. ... as follows, the first things I'm going to look into buying (after the Z itself) are a car cover, and probably a decent security system/car alarm (especially after reading the story from the one guy who had his Z stolen, even though mine doesn't look quite as nice as his surely did; not as big of a bullseye painted on it). In the meantime though, I suppose I could just remove the fuse for the fuel pump while I'm not using it. I'll be damned if somebody steals it just because I can't keep it in a garage. *shakes a fist at thieves* After that the only thing anybody'd want to steal is the CD Player... and that's not as bad as losing the whole car... I'd still prefer that it doesn't get stolen, but, hey, if it does, I'll just look at that as an opportunity to replace it with one that has a removeable faceplate to deter someone from breaking into the car and stealing the stereo again! :stupid: *ahems* anyway... I'm gonna have a cashier's check made out to the seller tomorrow, so hopefully I can carry out the transaction within a few days here... Friday maybe? I can't think of a better way to kickoff a weekend!

Well... no... *guilty* :disappoin ... and yeah, I thought for sure it was a McLaren F1 LM... I remember I was playing Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 a lot at the time, and the F1 LM is one of the (many) exotics to choose from. I knew its lines quite well, and spotted it instantly. I'm 98% positive that's what it is. I also recall a shot favoring the rear end of the car where you could distinctly read the McLaren badging, if only for a split second.

Ah I see Enrique, I'm actually already covered as a driver under my mom's policy (since I've just been cruising around in her little car for a long time), we'll just be adding the Z as an additional vehicle for the household, is that what you were talking about? Right now I believe our insurance provider is American Family, and we get a pretty decent deal with them just because she's also got our homeowner's insurance with 'em.

Thanks for the heads up "Scan," I've already gotten a quote for insurance, and I'll be good to go with it real soon here. I'll probably call the insurance people right before I leave to go and get it. Ben - Thanks a bunch for that link! Ya saved me from myself there. Ironically, this is pretty much only like the 2nd or 3rd time I've been up close to a first-gen Z (ironic because I'm buying it), so I don't know by heart all of the finer details of the body juuuust yet. I'm workin' on it though. Outta curiosity, what sort of Z was the hood emblem I'd posted the link for, for? ZX? In addition to spending like an hour learning how to drive it better, I'll probably also spend an hour or two with a cold Orange Crush, sitting in my driveway just staring, wide-eyed at my new acquisition, memorizing its many, many fiiine curvey type dealies *contented sigh* :cheeky: :knockedou EDIT: Ben, forget to mention, I love the quote in your sig! I quoted it to my dad, finishing with "So there, the Z chose me." ... He only looked at me strangely... wondering if he really knows me anymore... :disappoin

Ah, good thank you. I just don't want the blind neighbors to think I've got like an Eclipse or an Integra or somethin' ... :stupid:

Thankie, That formula is my new sig. Anyway, I'm gonna pay him PDQ. I'm getting the money together tomorrow, so hopefully this transaction can be completed sometime near the end of the week. The only sucky thing is though, really, that we can't transfer the title yet, because our government up here is all shut down until a budget can be reached. Thousands of people are laid off, and that includes the people in the DMV. For now, he's just going to write up a disclaimer of liability basically, and we're both going to sign it. Should something happen between now and the time I get the title transferred in my name, we'll at least have legally binding documentation indicating that the sale took place. ... and I'm seriously gonna have to practice driving. It's flustering enough to kill it when it belongs to someone else... but it's gonna be even more embarassing when it's mine! Anyway, maybe this weekend I'll see if I can snap some pics (if this all goes through by then of course). Hey, quick question while I'm at it. Is this the right hood emblem for the '76 280Z? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=7984075801&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT My Z doesn't have one... and if this the correct one, I might as well snag it while it's cheap (and available!).

Good news folks: I GOT IT! I just got off the phone with the seller, and he's going to sell it me. I started with an offer of $2100, and he countered with $2300 ... We both thought that was a fair and reasonable price (since 2100 and 2500 average to it). Anyway, hopefully within the next week here I'll have my own, personal Z, and some pics for all you guys! Thanks again for all the help you guys have been giving me, your insight and opinions have been instrumental. I've come such a long way from that other Z I thought I wanted way back in May, and I owe it all to this fantastic community. Thank you so much!

Yeah, that was the first thing that crossed my mind too. I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I seem to remember him crashing into a pole or something with his Z. Heh, needless to say I felt a bit saddened when he traded up his Z for that McLaren F1 LM. "Whyyyy?!!"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4559597466&category=6187 Interesting eh? I thought I'd share this, even though it seems a little fishy. A positive feedback rating of '1' isn't really enough to convince me it's the real deal... but hey, ya never know...

Hey Schnike, A while back a guy posted a message on the Z Owners of Minnesota website saying he had seven 240Z's he wanted to sell. Maybe he still has a couple of good ones? I think most of them have been modified or are incomplete (I know for sure that three are just parts cars). Other than that I really don't know much about what he's selling. If you want to get in touch with him let me know.

I thought all of the 280's were fuel injected? *shrug* Anyway, yeah, it is fuel injected. When I originally found his listing about a month ago, the price was set to $3000, but he dropped it down to $2500, and when I talked to him, he said the ($2500) price was pretty firm. Hrm... you guys say 2 G's, my "used car consultant" says 2.2 G's... So I'll cut it even and go 2100. My only worry is that someone else is going to see the light that I see and try to snatch up this car before I get a chance to move on it.

Oh, good! Do you think you could do me a favor though? On a scale of one to ten, could you please rate the tone it produced? 1 being as tinny as a dirtbike, and 10 being as deep-throated as, say, The General Lee... :cheeky:

Yes, I understand that the MONZA setup is aftermarket, but I'm curious as to whether or not it's of decent quality and/or has a good sound.

Thank you guys for your replies! I'm feeling better and better about this car with each passing hour, and I'm now poised to make an offer on it. NADA Lists a low retail value 280Z as being worth about $3,375 (probably a bit inflated). The seller is asking $2500 OBO, and I'm thinking I'm going to offer him $2200 and see what he does. Reasonable? yeh or neh? Even if I get it, it's going to be a while before we can actually carry out the transaction though, simply because the gov't up here is basically 'shut down,' and that includes the DMV. So even if I bought the car tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to transfer the title until everything is back up again. Ugh... politicians...

Every time I type in a search for 280Z on Ebay, a listing for one of these invariably comes up. What I'd like to know is... are they any good? Does anybody have one, or have you heard one? I get the distinct impression that they have a sort of rice-burner sound, but I don't honesty know, so I'm asking.

Hrm... I dunno... The airdam seems... allright... It looks sort of rice-ish IMO. I think probably part of the reason that it seems like it's conflicting with the original styling of the car is just because of the texture and color differences between the car itself, and the body piece in your picture. Once you get the whole thing painted I'm sure it's gonna look pretty good. I think what matters most is if you personally like the way it looks.

Well, for those of you who have been keeping track of stuff I've been posting, I'm sure you're well aware by now that I am very much in the market for a Z. Today I paid a visit to the car I may end up buying. I've probably mentioned it at least twice on these forums, but I'll recap for those of you who missed it. '76 280Z 83k miles Listing says that there are spots on the body that "need attention" Well, I went out to go see for myself what kind of shape this beast is in, and conducted an inspection to the best of my abilities. The rust damage is, in fact, quite minimal. The seller made it sound as though rust was practically consuming an entire portion of the car, but I barely even noticed it as I walked up to the the thing. "Needs attention" probably also pertains to some paint peeling on the hood. Underneath I didn't see anything peeling or falling off and I could not see any rust behind the bumpers. I can't even remember seeing rust near the battery or inside the wheel wells. The seller says that as far as he knows, the car was never repainted, so this means that it's quite possible I'm looking at the original paint job, and if that's true... then holy crap... this car rarely ever saw extended periods under the sun, or in precipitation. The paint didn't look very faded at all, only chipped and peeling in a small, aforementioned area of the hood. The interior was equally impressive. The dash had one, maybe two cracks, and still seemed to be giving off a noticeable sheen. No noticeable blemishes anywhere really. The only 'blackballs' against it are an aftermarket steering wheel, as well as an aftermarket shift knob and boot (not properly done either I don't think, since something inside of it likes to rattle at speeds between 30-35 mph). What I did like though, and this would probably be a blackball from you original equipment/restoration purists, is the upgraded stereo system. It's got a Pioneer CD Player with four new(er) Pioneer speakers. I'm a teenager, If I can't listen to my CD's while I drive, I'm lost! Mechanically, it seems to be in pretty good shape too... the only thing that concerns me a tad bit is that it doesn't seem to like idling regularly. It seemed to bounce around a bit, and I know this isn't a problem isolated to Z's only (my dad's Mercury does this too), but I'm wondering, could that be as simple as maybe getting some new plugs and plug wires in there, or could it be related to compression variances? Even so, I don't expect this is anything I'd have to worry about too much anyway, but there's always the possibility I'm dead wrong. Hell, I suppose it could be lousy gas too, given all of the additives they're putting in these days. I can only see one thing I'd have to replace right of way, and that's the exhaust... holy crap, this car, quite literally roared to life. I'd also have to spend a lot of time practicing my manual tranny driving... The other cars I've driven (i.e. Corolla, Escort) are a lot more forgiving than this car was... I think I killed it like... 7 or 8 times, crazy clutch... ... The guy wasn't mad though, we were both laughing about it, which is good I guess. :knockedou

, yeah. My dad still detests the idea of my using his garage, but my mom is open to a deal at least. She's basically agreed to let me convert the garage into a more work-friendly area, mainly because it's a HUGE mess right now, and installing better shelving, throwing away old junk, and putting in new storage units to make it a good work space really appeals to her. So she gets a clean garage as long as I can use it to work on my car now and then. Anyway, now I've got the scoop on the '76 280Z I'm gonna go look at. The owner tells me that the body is rusting in a number of places on the driver's side, namely near the bottom of the body, and around the door lock. The owner also tells me that the driver's side door is sort of a pain to open, and won't lock (because of the rusty lock thing). I figure that can't be too big of a deal right? Surely the innards of a door like that aren't too hard to replace, right? Even so, I can live with a goofy door. That's a significant improvement over a bad seatbelt and no dash lights, right? heheh. My budget for the car maxes out at like $3500, and clearly you can see from that, that I'm hardly searching for an immaculate Z. I just want one I can kick around town in for a while, while it maybe evolves into more of a project car as the years go by. *shrug* EDIT: Forgot to mention. The seller is asking $2500 OBO for this one.

Hideous... yeah, that's a good word for it... Well... some of the lines look right for a Z ... but... it doesn't look right... guuhh... *turns head away*

Ah, cool. I got there late, pretty much as everybody else was leaving (at least the Datsun people... there seemed to be an abundance of 300ZX's there when I showed)... though it was still great to soak up the Z stuff goin' on. I was sort of surprised at how much some of those guys (and gals too!) were willing to go into the finer points about Z's with a total stranger, me, nonetheless, a young pup with long hair wearing an AC/DC shirt. That one guy with the "beater" silver and gray 280ZX (Jeremy?) was nice enough to take me for a quick cruise too. T-tops kickass!

Hey, wow man, that's a nice Z, ya don't see them like that too often in MN... I'm not usually too crazy about cars in blue, but man, that sure is a nice covering for that car. Shnazeh! Say MAX, were you at that show at Morries? I dropped by for a little bit and chatted up this guy with an '82 ZX ... 285k miles! Unbelievable!

Thanks... but... eh... I doubt a canopy is going to bode well with my 'rents either... If it alters the appearance of our house (including the driveway/front yard) in any way, shape or form, it's not going to fly. To add on top of that, my dad's driveway is on a hill, so it's all slantish... and my mom's driveway is pocked with years of no-maintenance... So even if I could set up a canopy in the driveway(s), I don't have a level surface to work with.

Hrm, yeah, I suppose. To be perfectly honest, I'm not really all that car savvy, at least working on them that is... but I guess it wouldn't be a big problem if I had a step-by-step repair guide, a whole lot of time, and the right tools... The only obstacle I see is space; I don't have any. My first major purchase, in addition to the car itself would be a car cover. We have a single garage, and my parents' car takes more precedence over mine.

Yeah, I should do that again... but in the mean time... I've looked at some stuff, and I think the cracked rubber pieces that we noticed today are, the ball joints, sway bar bushings, control arm bushings, etc. etc. Basically anything of that nature is in horrible condition right now... The positive outlook on that though is that the replacement parts are dirt cheap... but... I can't rightly say the same on the labor cost... since I haven't a freaking clue how much I'd have to pay someone to do it. The seatbelt thing could be a mixed blessing too... that'd allow an opportunity to install four-point racing belts, heheh. Anybody know how easy or hard those are to install btw? ... I'm sort of curious now... Anyway, I've got another car I could go look at now... I called the seller a few weeks back, and he told me that it's got some rust on it, so it won't be quite as 'pristine' as this one I suppose. The other one's a '76 280Z, so I suppose that'll make you die-hard first gen Z fans a bit more pleased, eh? :lick:

Well I made it a point to do a little research before hand so that I could check out the trouble spots (in terms of rust). So I made a good inspection underneath the car, then behind the door panels, under the hood, and on it. I'll admit though, I was probably not able to get an accurate measure only because the body was repainted about four years ago. I've tried to start pricing a bit, but the only variable here is labor. I play that game where I ask myself, "how much will I have to pay someone to tear into this dash to figure out why the damned lights won't come on?" ... and of course I can't really go looking into replacement parts pricing for the rubber joints under the car only because I don't know exactly what they are (if anybody's got a diagram of the underside of the front I could probably point out the parts I'm talking about). The only thing I found while searching is a brand new, never-used ignition switch made by Nissan on ebay for like $85. My challenge here is that I've got a bottom line for the money I can put into the car without screwing myself over financially. I'm looking for more of a daily-driver app for this car, and not a restoration project.