what to buy

Ok so I see this ad for a 1990 300zx auto with 69,000 miles for $5500. Sounds awesome right? Well I drove about an hour and a half to go see this car, and when I get there I find out the dumbass messed up on the ad and he actually wants $7900 for it (this is at a small dealership). Well I drove it and it was awesome. Had aftermarket exhaust that just purred like a 350. It had a few issues though: driver side mirror rattled like no other, there was a nice scratch where someone keyed it, and there was this big ol' rip on the back of the driver seat. Well at this point I can't spend anymore than $7000 so I tell the guy I'll get back to him blah blah blah.

So on the way out I notice this hot red car sitting at a lot not to far away. I drive over and look at it. It's a 95 dodge stealth r/t auto with 124,000 miles on it. So I drove it and it drives like it's brand new, and the carfax for it is awesome. The interior and exterior are both perfect, no scratches or dings at all. But it also had a few problems: Crack on windshield, driver side window doesn't work, pop out roof doesn't work, and the buttons for the horn are missing. The guy says $5500 as is or $6500 if he fixes everything.

Now my question is, should I try and work the price down on the 300zx and buy it, or save me some money and go for the stealth? Keep in mind they both have a 222 hp engine and a few non-mechanical problems. So it's pretty much a matter of mileage and price on this one. Thanks guys

yes, i'd definitely try to talk the guy from the dealership down... they ALWAYS inflate their prices to some ridiculous number to try and sucker in people who don't know what they're doing. 7500 is quite a bit for a 90, even if it's got pretty low miles on it. rips and such are easy to fix if you know how, or it's just not that big of a deal, but it's a good bargaining tool to bring down the price as it 'ruins the whole image of the car' as well as the scratch... depending on how confident you are with painting, you can always touch it up with some touchup paint and a layer or two of clearcoat. mind you this won't look anywhere near what a professional shop could do, but it beats shelling out $500 for fixing a scratch.

not too sure what the mirror could be... is it power adjust? if so, could be some pieces rattling around in there. probably an easy fix if you can pull it apart, but another good bargaining tool to bring the price down

good luck!

I guess rattling was a bad choice of words for the mirror. It doesn't make any noise it just shakes like crazy. It makes it look like I have three 15 inch subs in the back at full volume.

yeah...every 1990 300zx i have driven with exhaust does that shaking. mine does it, this guy with a TT that lives in town does it...i think it is the exhaust or maybe just the 90 mirror. it doesnt bother me but maybe yours shakes alot harder. get a car fax report and see if there were any major accidents on the 300zx...

i would never buy a auto 3000gt....i have heard nothing but problems with the auto gearbox of the 3000gt. but if you want to take a chance by all means...but it is getting up their in miles.

i wouldnt pay more than $6k for the 300zx and thats if you REALLY like it....

1990's had a few minor problems that nissan fixed in 91 and since the car has such low miles, these problems are probably yet to occur. the soft valve problem as the important one. also some of the 1990 N/A's came with a smaller less strong transmission than the rest of the Z32's...some people have problems some people dont.

if you really like the 300zx, my advice would be to be patient...there is bound to be a newer better condition one that will come along and it will be less money.

anywas good luck!!!

ive had 2 90 300s and both had that shaking mirror. tighten the bolt on the bottom of the housing closest to the door and you should be good. k3, i have a 90 tt with 94000. could you explain some of those problems that occur in 90 300s, pls?

k3, i have a 90 tt with 94000. could you explain some of those problems that occur in 90 300s, pls?

Problem #1:
it was called "soft valves" but this is ironic because the material that the 1990 valves were made out of is harder than the material that 91+ were made out of. anywho...its called "soft valves".

what happens from what i understand is that this metal that these valves are made out of starts to deterioate and a whole bunch of other stuff and eventually it causes your cylinders to have low compression.

this makes your engine not perform correctly if you have a minor case, not start in other cases...a whole bucket load of problems due to the low compression of 1 or more cylinders.

Problems #2:
Nissan specially designed a bunch of new transmissions in 89 for the Z32...they designed the N/A and TT 5-speeds and the N/A and TT Automatics.

nissan made the TT automatic transmission overwhelming strong to put up with the consistent power of the TT engine.

then for the N/A they thought they could slack a little bit and make a transmission that was more powerful than the Z31 automatic but les powerful than the TT. well, they miscalculated somewhere and they ended up rebuilding the N/A transmission in 91 with stronger parts.

Most people never experience any probelems with their transmissions.
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The rest of the Problems are not something you really need to worry about as they are not that big of a deal and are covered by a Nissan Recall. In other words, these should not detour you away from buying a 1990 Z32.

Problem #3:
Power Transistor Unit - not much to worry about as it is covered by a Recall and Nissan will replace it for free. if you want it replaced...call up your local Nissan dealership with your VIN number and they should be able to run your VIN to see if it has been replaced. there should also be a sticker on the top right of your hood that says the date that it was replaced.
Problem#4:
Miscellanous Wiring Faults:
Sensor failure, Shorted Wires...most of these problems are just due to the extreme heat in the engine bay and nothing more.

ZMassacreTT: at that mileage, i wouldnt be too concerned about the soft valve problem...it is a little rarer in TT's if it even occurs in TT's. plus it usually shows up around $80k or so...

all ive heard is bad about the stealth and 300gts both
i hear they both havbe head trauma early in there lives and the heads warp every time that you boost for more haN LIKE 20 SECONDS ON A STOCK BOOSTY???? sory for the caps

all ive heard is bad about the stealth and 300gts both
i hear they both havbe head trauma early in there lives and the heads warp every time that you boost for more haN LIKE 20 SECONDS ON A STOCK BOOSTY???? sory for the caps

for the rest of you that tend to skip over his posts...

"i have only heard bad things about the stealth and 3000gt (s?). i hear that both have problems with the head warping when driven in stock boost for more than like 20 seconds"

aigh, thax k3. yea im gettin ready to rebuild the engine in the winter with z1's rebuild kit. and when i do that i think ill go ahead and get some ti valves and retainers. and i finally got a pic of the Twinzs.