Well, I picked up my 1986 300ZX in NJ this weekend. It's got headers and Dynomax catback, some suspension upgrades and a decent stereo and almost 240,000 miles. It's got some hesitation at low revs but then kicks in big time when you step on it. It's got plenty of power! It was quite impressive on the highway in passing, etc... with plenty of pedal to spare. One of the plug wires is duct-taped so that might account for the hesitation. I'm going parts shopping tomorrow. It needs major tuneup including ignition wires, etc..., shocks & struts, speedo cable, oil change, an exhaust gasket and a MAJOR cleaning. The interior is pretty good except pretty filthy with bugles and whatnot ground into the carpet but otherwise good. Under the hood looks pretty clean - almost no oil in evidence, I topped off the low clutch fluid to make it stop grinding into reverse. The exterior has a dime-sized surface rust spot on the side and a palm-sized section behind the driver's rear wheel that's penetrated a bit, otherwise no rust. There's black tape on the passenger mirror housing - I'll have to investigate that. Undercarriage was Ziebarted (or whatever) - very clean. It's due for the timing belt which I'll do next month. Anyway, I gave it a quick wash and took some pics. It should look pretty good with a detailed wash and wax - not bad for $500!

500 bucks...good buy.

nice! is it all origional?

It's original except for the tranny (swapped from a donor with fewer miles), headers & exhaust and stuff like cd instead of the cassette, poly stabilizer bars, coil and ignition wires. I need to get ignition stuff tomorrow but, man! it's fun to drive even with the beat shocks.

would be even more fun with a big fat turbo charger under the hood!

turbo, yes

But 87 octane would be just fine for right now with the crazy gas prices.

thats why i am glad i didnt sell my frontier. it gets about 22-25 mpg. my HB gets about 14mpg. cant really afford to drive that around much.
whats the gas mileage with a 3.0 in a little car versus a truck/pathy? i'm guessing it's gotta be pretty decent, maybe 25 or so?

Yeah, the speedo doesn't work now but I'd say I got at least 25 on the trip back. I don't really need turbo - I'm not looking to race and it has plenty of power for me. It's fun just seeing how quickly I can get up to speed. I sometimes do 85 or so on the highway but that's about it. Once it's all together I'll probably open it up now and then but I'm mostly just into having a fun car for a DD that allows me to pass the idiots with ease.

The Z31s get great gas mileage.. the guys i know with them get around 25-29mpg.

i would love to have once around 1989 or so. when they got kinda rounded off a bit but were still kinda boxy. and turbo of course
that or a 95+ 240sx.

Yeah, I like the roundedness of the 89's, too but I also like the flares and skirts of the '86 and AE. Well, I got plugs, K&N recharger, goop for the little exhaust pipe gasket leak, tracked down some wires for tomorrow and am going to do those plus the cap, rotor & oil change tomorrow. My daughter and I were cruising around with the T-tops off today and feeling pretty happenin'. It was 90 and sunny, which is pretty nice for Vermont in April.

Man, you can't beat that price, I don't care about the mileage!

maybe you said it earlier and i didnt catch it, but is it a 5 speed or auto?

5 speed, of course.