Newbie here with a few Question!

[newbie05]

Hey guys!

Well guess what, ANOTHER NEWBIE!! usually run for my life when i see newbies in other car forums. Myself i am a huge muscle car fan. Even though im 15 i know all there is 2 know about Mustangs. I love Corvettes, Camaros, Novas, Firebirds, trans am and those cars. Well.... now i am the newbie with this car. I want to know all i can about this car. Im about to turn 16 and get my licence. Im looking at cars. I cannot decide. I defiently dont want a honda civic of those cars. So is this a good first car? Whats the HP and torque on the Z. I found the old 240z on ebay. They were suprisingly cheap. What should i know about this car? What you guys think. Just give me some background knowledge.

Thanks

Sean:alien:

[That Ozzy Guy]

Hi Sean and welcome.

There is alot of information on this site so stick around and use the search button. You'll be surprised at what you can find.

[dozer171]

hey! glad to have you here! i am 19, and a Z was my first car (bought her at 17). man, i couldn't be happier with her! just watch out for rust, that's pretty much all i can say! the HP and torque ratings seem kinda meeger compared to V8's, but, with a car that only weighs around 2600 lbs, it's more than enough to have fun with! my old man always busts my balls cuz his superbee was quicker, but, i turn around and ask him how fast he could take a turn .

to give you an idea as to what i spent, i'll cut and paste a post i made on aother board, cuz i don't feel like thinking about how much i spent again!

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anyways, 1000 bucks isn't bad for a 280Z. i bought my 78 for 1200, and it needed paint BAD. had some weird rust spots, but, for a NY car, not bad in my opinion. left alone, would've made a good daily driver. fairly clean and straight. but, then there was the work i sunk in..

motor- about 400 bucks with the discount from working at Advance Auto, included gaskets, bearings, rings, paint (gotta make her pretty!) a couple small parts and such. also, lap the valves when it's apart, not hard to do and worth the effort!

tranny- got many of the bearings at next to no cost.. so only 20 bucks! bwa hahahha! amazingly, the synchro's and everything looked brand new! but the nut on the counter shaft somehow spun off, burried itself into the rear of the case, which let a couple or bearings take a crap... all the internals were fine though!

body work- $100 in stripper, probably another $100-$250 in other supplies (bondo, sand paper, etc) wasn't really needed, and i took a couple of shortcuts (the rear quarters could've used replacing, which i will do!!!), but, live and learn!

paint- $600 for basecoat/clear coat. that's not including the aircompressor/hvlp gun that my dad and i bought.. another plus about restoring, excuses for more tools!!! mom didn't like it though:devious:!

suspension- around $600. that included struts (just oem replacement till i have money for tokico's), motorsport springs, and polygraphite bushings. you may not need to do this, depends on the shape of your car. but, mine REALLY needed to be done. many bushings were practically nonexistant

interior- only about 100 bucks... cheeped out on the carpet till i have the money for a real one...

body seals- i believe they were 220. if you're going to paint on a car this old, might as well do it right and replace all the old weather stripping.. makes the paint job neater too. no matter how hard you try, there's always one small spot that gets paint on the rubber... so pull the windows and such now!

so, to this point, i'll probably say all in all around 3200 or so sunk into her (ballpark, +/- couple hundred bucks for assorted parts like lines/hoses/metal etc.)... but, i've made more additions!

dellorto carbs- $179 off ebay... the italian dude is always selling 'em! 30 bucks shipping to the states though...

rebuild kits for carbs- 90 bucks

other carb parts (airhorns, flow meter, etc.)- 120 bucks

intake manifold- $315 new from JAM engineering (distributor of the cannon manifolds)

holley red fuel pump- $50 from ebay

holley fuel pressrue regulator- $30 bucks from a local speed shop

then we have gaskets, fuel lines, fittings, etc. i'll say around another 50-70 dollars there...

man, i didn't realize i was spending this much money! although, i sold all my EFI stuff, got back around 220 from all of that.. not bad, but i shoulda parted out the manifold instead of selling it all together.. oh well, live and learn! however, ebay is a great place to find good deals! also kinda cool playing with the dellorto's... i'm the kinda guy who likes to do some of the weird stuff and not do the normal things (webers and mikuni's for example). so, uncharted territory here i come! probably woulda cost about the same to do a 350 swap at this point though... i had two different tranny's (400 and 350 both with shift kits) to choose from for free! oh well, that straight six just looks way too cool with triple side draughts!!!

hmm.. after looking at the amount added up, looks like i'm forgetting a bunch of stuff probably.... but, i'm willing to spend the money, and when i get some, it burns a hole in my pocket... like the carbs! didn't need them, the EFI was fine. but, carbs are just toooooooo cool! how much you are willing to spend is up to you! the sky is literally the limit!

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another cool thing with these cars and being a teenager is many of the rice kids don't even know rice when they see it!!!

then they act like they know what you're talking about when the see nissan on the valve cover...