Im looking to buy a Z soon and i know a fair amount about cars but not too much about Turbos which is what this Z has that Im looking at. It was a trade in and it looks to be a base Turbonetix kit does it not?




Where is the piece that goes underneath the plenum? I don't know the propper name for it. I have seen that turbonetics has their own custom CF piece. Im just curious to as why there isn't one in this car. I'm pretty sure it's the Turbonetics from not only the way the turbo is set-up but the Intercooler is a Spearco which is standard to the turbonetics.

Also i need this to be fairly reliable and it is located at a dealer who gave them of coarse a horrible trade-in value so it's a good price. The turbonetics seems to pretty reliable and the 8 pounds of boost is a good number for the stock internals. Does anyone have any questions i should ask the dealer to figure out? The exterior is very well kept which is always a good sign (going by what the dealer and pictures say)

I wasn't going for a turbo'd Z but this one is very in my price range.

 

Yeah, it does not look right...

 

I'd stay away.

 

How do you expect anyone to help you out by those pics. i would bring it to a mechanic in your area that is z or g specific. You need to get a compression test done and so on. This is not brain surgery brother. I would get a professional opinion how can any of these people tell you that it looks like their is something wrong.

 

it looks like quite a few i have seen on here

 

it doesnt have an engine cover, no big deal. strut bar is missing but easily replaceable, he probably has a spacer preventing the stock strut from installed. once again no big deal. other than that i dont see anything wrong.

 

I figured that if the dealer took the trade-in it can't be riding/running rough or anything even though it looked odd. I could care less how the engine bay looks as long as the outside looks nice and it runs like a raped ape. Why possibly would there not be a cover there?

isn't it possible that there was a plenum spacer that didn't allow the stock strut bar? or is a plenum spacer with a turbo no use or something..this is why i warned everyone with noob in the title hah.

 

Go with your first impression.
If it looks or feels wrong, then it probably is wrong.
Why would you buy a car that your not comfortable with?
Just be patient and move on to something else.

 

I don't know much about Z's really and that's why i asked. It's a really good price and it was a trade-in to a small dealership with good customer satisfaction so there is nothing in my mind that thinks it's bad i just wanted to see if it looked odd.

 

I agree with marques1....get a pro opinion!!!
There could be other problems too!

 

The car passed inspection and comes with a small limited 3 month/3000 mile warranty. However the car is too far away for me to just have it tested by a "trusted" mechanic.

 

If you have a turbo Z... why would you trade it in?

Most likely because it's running into problems.

I'd stay away.

 

or becuase you have a family....there are many reasons even i know that. I'm just saying it comes with a warranty and looks like a good deal i just wanted to know if it looked odd.

 

...or because the owner was like a lot of these cats that live beyond their means... or mommy and daddy stop funding the fun.

edit... damnit.. sora read my mind lol....

 

same reason that if you had a non turbo Z you would trade it in, sudden life style changes, could have a baby on the way, could have a death in the family and need extra money, could want to upgrade to different car, or even a newer Z

when i was buying my Z everyone was wondering why a touring model with 20" rims was going for $13,000 when every other Z in my area, even base models was going for pretty much $16,500, of course people were like wtf would he sell it for so cheap, must be something wrong, get it checked first! which is smart but its not always the case, he simply had a baby on the way and wanted to get out of his payments on the vehicle so he sold it for less than he even owed on it

the point is... yes noone is going to be able to tell from pics and you're going to have to spend extra time/effort to determine if its worth it or not, but if its that good of a price i'd check it out, or even ask the dealership its at to do a compression test and if theres any known problems, tell them you'll pay over the phone for an engine diagnostic if you wanna save yourself a trip, if and when they check it out and say that its good, buy it, take it home, have another mechanic recheck it immediately, if he finds **** different, kindly ask them to take the vehicle back, if they dont threaten lawsuit and get ahold of someone in nissan corporate and ask them why the item was not found by their certified technicians who charged you to check it out, thats the safest way i can think of if you really wanna buy it

 

that is a very good idea. I may ask to see if they will have it inspected and certified for free if they believe that it's fully in working condition. Usually they get knocked down a couple hundred bucks which for sure i would ask but if he wants to do this in compensation and if it checks out i will glady write a check

There is a carfax for the car and it says the last owner drove it only 8600 miles a year for 4 years...by his average per month it seems to have been more of a weekend car and also by the paint condition it's pretty safe to say he wasn't really an abuser of the car.

 

IF your priority is reliability, why not move on to a NA one? Although a turbo Z can be reliable, IMO you have a better shot w/a used non-FI car.

Just my .02 cents...

 

realiability is a priority but still i will sacrifice some reliability for a turbo such as this at such a good price if it is a good car...after all i'm a sucker for speed

 

sora1421: I'm telling you to get the car checked by a professional z or g specialist that is familiar with forced induction. Nissan does not know much about forced induction z's since it did not come that way from the factory. If you don't listen you are getting yourself into a heap of trouble you are not ready for. Don't be cheap pay a little bit to be assured the car is not screwed up. I heard that you said it passed inspection and all and that is great but you still need to get it checked out. You are already making a bad decision by asking people over the internet if the engine bay looks, right. Half the people commenting or more than half dont even have a turbo z or g other than a few i saw that posted. lol, your going to be a poor sucker if you don't listen.

 

I'm listening. I'm going to have a nice long chat with the owner of the dealership as it is a used car dealership. I'm going to see what it's going to take to get it inspected by someone who knows what to check out in a turbo. I have a guy here who is a big honda tuner with an integra GS-R turbo'd. He owns his own shop as well and he would be a good guy to do a double check after. Thanks for all the advice