Hello everyone, I am a former Z owner, this time around I am purchasing a 350z for my daughter, we are looking at a few 07's,

I am under the impression that one of them was heavily modded, what should I look for in the engine bay aside from obvious things like painted bolts with stripped paint?

 

Holes, marks, wires, etc, in the interior from gauges or a controller would be easy to find.

 

if ur really concerned with that look around the wiring for the ecu, or like said places where gauges would be wired in the fuse box or where wires would be ran throught the dash or grommets..whats on the car that makes you wonder?

 

Might not find much around the ECU, most EMS nowadays use some type of splitter or "patch" harness so you don't have to hack up the factory harness. I would look around the upper oil pan for any plugs that may now be in place where an oil return may have once been.

 

^whathesaid

block plugs, or maybe the owner had a oil pan spacer so look at that and he might have left it on or of the oil pan has been redone and there is no service record of it.


just look to see if stuff like interior parts, the bumper, under tray, etc are loose or have mismatch bolts nuts popits. when someone does stuff at home they usually just make it work especially if they are selling it or trading it in.

 

Just do a compression test, and if you can also do a UOE. You'll know pretty quickly if the engine has been abused or not. Everything else is manageable.

 

New gasket material on the oil pan would be a good indicator for most kits.

 

Good point, look for the sealant to be a different color than the stuff on the timing covers.

But yea, as someone else said, if the guy will let you get a compression test done that would be awesome.