Hey everyone,

I was hoping you could help me out with some questions which I had no luck searching for. I also hope I am posting this in the appropriate forum.

I am searching for a 350z to purchase in the next week or two, and after searching for almost two months I have basically come up empty in my area. However I did stumble across one 04 listed for a reasonable price and mileage (107k kms, ~66500mi) at a dealer not too far from me. Upon further inspection it appears the car is turbocharged as I can make out the inlet housing of a turbo in the corner of the pic of the engine bay, as well as some additional piping not found on an NA Z.

I was hoping that someone could provide some advice for what I can look for to tell what kit was installed when I go look at the car and besides reading the boost gauge what to look for in the way of issues. The picture of the engine bay shows no identifying marks on what little bit of the turbo you can see or the couplers on the piping. The car also has a front mount if that helps.

I know it's generally not a good idea to buy a used car that has an aftermarket turbo installed but it is possible that this is a professional install and that this dealer doesn't know what he has on his lot.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

 

Um the pulley makes me think supercharged but in all honesty I can't tell from the pic .

 

thats 100% supercharged!
vortech to be exact... if theres a wideband gauge in the car do a pull and see what the WOT afr is at make sure theres no weird noises... but be very careful makes me nervous that someone traded in there boosted z to a dealership or maybe the dealership got the car at an auction

 

It's Vortech Supercharged for sure. Thats it in the bottom right corner. And it has the normal bracket & cog pulley setup that goes along with it.

 

Inheriting somebody elses headaches

 

^ exactly it was trading in or sent to the auction for a reason....

 

Most dealers wouldn't have touched that car with a 10' pole. Make of that what you will.

 

engine bay is dusty though, which is better. means the dealership didnt powerwash the fawk out of it to clean any leaks. look for leaks

 

Ahh a supercharger... yes now I see the pulley. I do imagine it was traded in for a reason and I am wary of that. As for a wideband it doesn't appear to have anything but a boost gauge in the interior. Would there be a piggyback ECU or aftermarket timing control included with that kit? It is doubtful that I am going to purchase this car just based on the horror stories I've heard about second hand boosted cars being around hondas and Rx7s. I'm just going to take a look since I will be near that dealership anyways.

 

I would have no problem buying it as a play toy for the right price. To buy as a DD, of hell no.

 

Any car that's been Modified with a SC or Turbo's is going to need some work from time to time. If you did not know that was a Supercharger from the pic I don't think you know enough about cars in general to Own one like this. In less you have an unlimited amount of money to spend every time it needs a little work. I do all my own work, if I did'nt I could have spent an easy $20,000 just in Labor in the past 8 years. Just letting you know what your getting into with a modified car.

TimRod

 

Weekend car if it sounds good and runs smooth buy it.
Daily driver. RUN

 

Looks like the 3.33 pulley so at least it might not of been boosted too badly.

 

 

Yeah +1

I'd say take it for a test drive and pay attention to how the clutch feels. If it is slipping, run away... etc
IMO if a dealer took in a modded car like this, it's probably a good sign. At least the dealers I know in town (HAH SOUNDS LIKE IM TALKING ABOUT DROOGS) are pretty hesitant to do something like this unless the car is in real good condition etc. But the dealers in your town could be crooks.

Ask for compression test results, spark plug condition, who installed the kit, tuned it, what gas it ran, DD or weekend car...
Ask about how much they back up the car for issues, inspect the belts, ask how old the belts are, how many miles the car has been boosted...
If they can't tell you some of this kind of info I'd just say fock it and look for a NA Z.

Those aren't things you would normally ask about/get info on a used car from a dealer, but this isn't your average used car.



EDIT

this actually.

 

Maybe it would be smart to know the difference between power adders before shopping.

 

Have a compression and leak down test done before buying.To all the guys saying run away for a DD...hell i drove my G with twins for 4 years as a DD and only a leaky oil feed line was a problem..................................shut the *** up Bert ahead of time.

 

set money aside for a new engine and SC kit should it all be bad. if they got a 30 day return policy, put a plan together to test it out and read.the.fine.print. of.the.contract. Unless they are idiots, they know that type of set-up is a time bomb.

On second thought, if you are going to set aside contingency money...might as well have bought a low mile Z and done it yourself with people you know and trust..

 

Unless you are looking to buy a boosted 350z why would you even consider this car for a DD.

 

Fixed