Should I buy the 280Z?

[Guest AcidicDreams]

Well I've been looking for a fun cheap fuel effiectient car to commute to school in for awhile and I ran across this 280z in town. It's been sitting for a year or so and the guy is firmly set at $500. Now if it started, everything worked I would already own it but it's got a few issues.

 

Now i've started it twice and here's what I can tell

1) Headlights and Wipers don't work, this should be easy to fix since he said everything worked when he parked it

 

2) The clutch doesn't work, the clutch pedal moves freely and when I filled the clutch resivor and had my g/f move the clutch the extra fluid came out the top. Not sure what the problem is but I figure it wouldn't take much to fix

 

3) The engine starts and idles after a couple tries and idles away right around 1000rpm and after a couple minutes it idles fairly smooth with no smoke, but if you try to rev it it acts like it's being starved and cuts out but recovers before it dies and idles again. If you very lightly get it to bring the idle up around 2000rpm it'll hold but any more than that it'll starve again and fall to a lopey idle with some light black smoke coming out of the tailpipe. If you turn it off and back on it still idles like this but let it cool down and it'll go back to the original status.

 

4) the carpet and seats need work, no biggy, all my cars have been rather ugly

 

5) Tires have 8k miles, new front struts, and the engine looks like it had a tuneup before being parked.

 

6) floorboards have SOME rot and the passenger side fender has some advanced rust. The car has been painted yellow (eww) and if I bought it I'd sand it to metal and paint it all flat black with por-15.

 

Now what I'm wondering is whether or not these problems should make me turn tail and run or pay the $500 and start working on it. Any suggestions would be nice. I've got about a week and $1000 to put into it. Though it will need to be a reliable daily driver. I don't have a compression checker yet but I could get one if it sounds like the car has potenial or if I could get it to rev and get the clutch working without dumping money into a car I don't own yet. ohh and the guy who owns it is somewhat of a family friend with my g/f's family so I have some trust in him saying everything worked when he parked it and access to work on it pre purchase has already been granted.

[Guest AcidicDreams]

ohh a little more info

odo reads 80,000k

oil and radiator are full after sitting for a year, no leaks there

clutch fluid was full

front resivor for the breaks was empty

[savageskaterkid]

If it was me, i'd go ahead and buy it-i bought mine for $200 and it didn't run, it cost me a bit to get it started. But $500 and it runs seems like a good deal-specially if u don't mind the looking condition of it. The thing wit the clutch(if ur really lucky) could just b a disconected cable...(not likely). I have a similar problem wit my 280 wit the revving-if u rev it the engine will starve itself and die............Rev it up slow and see if that helps(take like 5 seconds to get it to like 4000 RPM)-thats wht i have to do cuz my fpr crapped out-its not an expensive fix.

 

LIKE I SAID- I'd go for it-but make sure u no wht u have on ur hands-cuz sum of it seems easy-but it can b a little work.

 

BTW-where r u located?

[Guest AcidicDreams]

I'm in oregon...and what's an FPR?

[olie05]

The thing wit the clutch(if ur really lucky) could just b a disconected cable...(not likely).

 

Actualy that is extremely unlikely because 280z's came with hydraulic clutch systems.

 

AcidicDreams: An FPR is a fuel pressure regulator. You can locate it on a stock 280z by finding the fuel rail (where the injectors connect by a ruber hose) and looking opposit of that oval loop. On the opposite side you will find the FPR, a cylindrical shaped piece with about a 1 1/2" diameter.

 

I too had a similar problem on my car. My problem did not turn out to be the FPR, and turned out to be the Throttle position sensor (TPS). Any change in throttle would make the car want to choke unless it was a very gradual change.

 

Other than the FPR and TPS I would check the fuel filter and all connections on the fuel injection harness. (everything that plugs into a sensor) the connections can play tricks with you.

 

If it were me, I would not tackle this project with $1,000 and a week's worth of time. It could take an entire week to pinpoint the engine problem!.

 

My advice is to do as much reading as you can on the car if you do plan on purchasing it. It seems that this car would be a project, and not something that would take only a week to get on the road.

 

Oh yeah, check out the fuel injection bible to help diagnose your FI problems with a voltmeter.

http://www.72hours.net/~zcar/280zfuelinjectionbook.pdf

 

Hope that helps you make a decision in your prospective purchase.

[innerware]

that is a cool bible for sure.

[Guest AcidicDreams]

Thanks for the fuel injection bible! I feel like I have a clue now, this will be my first fuel injected car. As for the hydralic clutch, pumping the clutch with extra fluid in what I would think is the clutch master cyl made it spill out.. So i figured that's where it went. It looks like tommorow is going to be nicer. I think I'll spend a few hours with it and see if the engine trouble is simple. It's been sitting for a year and they guy swears everything worked fine when he parked it so we'll see.. Thanks again!