Talk to me: 350z

thefool1983

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Morning,

Having no luck finding a reasonably priced s14a that isn't rotten or abused as a weekend car.

So have decided I might take a punt on a 350z instead. Any experts? @da.murf ?

Haven't even been in one, so don't know what they are like handling/performance wise.


I have looked at this video and a quick poke about the owners club



Main questions: do they rot and where do I need to look out for that
Should I stretch the budget and look at 370s?
Will I get bored of it?

Budget around 6-7ish and it'll be a weekend toy only.
 

da.murf

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Nissan 350z
Out at shop at minute but will fire up a proper reply when I get home.
But go for it, I’d both a s14a & 180sx and whilst they are better in certain areas the zed is the best all rounder and dare I say easier to skid and have fun in.
 

Eager

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The 350’z are also getting dog rough, but yes the ship has long sailed on the 90’s Nissan’s. Was hard to find a fairly good one 10 years ago tbh
 

thefool1983

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thefool1983
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Out at shop at minute but will fire up a proper reply when I get home.
But go for it, I’d both a s14a & 180sx and whilst they are better in certain areas the zed is the best all rounder and dare I say easier to skid and have fun in.
Looking fwd to your reply.
I'm thinking a face-lift model might be the one to go for.
Something along the lines of
The 350’z are also getting dog rough, but yes the ship has long sailed on the 90’s Nissan’s. Was hard to find a fairly good one 10 years ago tbh
Yeah. Have been waiting for the needle in a haystack for a long time. No joy..
 

gary87

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Are the facelift ones not huge tax? If I remember right too, the import Fairlady's can be a bit hit and miss with spec, no Brembo's/LSD/Ray's for example
 

Chris Mac

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Had one for a year and my impression is,
Nice enough cabin, makes you feel like your in something fast
Its a lazy big v6, similar to the R32 Golf, big engine doesn't equate big power.
They make a great noise with some for of induction, kit.
Easily serviced and maintenance costs aren't massive.
You need to buy an LSD if it doesn't have one, makes a huge difference.

All round decent car, heavy on petrol for the power you get.
 

Smick

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I've had two of them, a DE and a RevUp (not the HR like the one you linked)
RevUp and HRs will be the higher tax, but end of the day you are buying a 20mpg car so if you can't stomach £50 a month tax then look elsewhere :p
It is easy to SORN / unSORN these days if you only want to use it some of the time....

I loved both! Would have another tomorrow!
By no means the quickest out there but there something about the driving experience that makes it feel special every time you head out. I think its the no frills aspect, steering and gearbox have a mechanical feel to them that you don't get it something more modern.
You are not going to lose any money in depreciation thats for sure, probably the opposite.

Main things I can think of to watch for;
- Rust. Really is the biggest problem with them now. Make sure you check round arches. W-brace and rear stays underneath are common to need replaced but simple enough. Talking £500-600 in parts for those.
- Some DE and RevUp can suffer from oil consumption problem; worth asking owner.
- Standard CD player will skip and need replaced if not already
- Boot lid will fall down if lifters haven't been replaced (especially in the cold) Easy fix but check for some negotiating chips...
- Exhaust if a standard one still likely will be rotten (esp the join between the center and backbox)
- Rad fans were prone to failure, check they come on when Air con turned on.
- Interior - the black plastic bits will be scratched, was pretty crappy quality. Easy to respray.
- When moving off in reverse you might notice a clicking from rear axles, nothing to worry about its normal.
- Check gears all go in ok, earlier DE boxes did have some synch issues.

Always liked this review, sums up that 'feel' I was talking about :grinning:

 

Coog

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Had one myself and enjoyed it. Reminded me of a big MX5 to be honest. Was an absolute curse round town but open road it was great fun. Sold it because there was definitely a chance I was going to get caught going sideways somewhere.
 

thefool1983

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Well no bad reviews in here anyway. Thanks for the info guys..
Sent the guy selling that black one above a msg..
Will do a bit more investigating into insurance etc.
@Smick thanks for detailed reply.
From what I'm reading there seems to be no scary common problems. Bar the rust.
 

Coog

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The fella that owns drift school Ireland had a pair of them and as we followed @Cooper round in the S14 beating the living tripe out of it I asked him about any issues with his. Answer was one clutch and that was it. Not bad going for something that spends its days getting absolutely beat stupid round a track all day every day.

Mine was also grand but it was a very well looked after one with low miles.
 

thefool1983

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Not look at importing a s or r body?
I've briefly looked into this... is it not crazy money now for decent s14a as well?
The fella that owns drift school Ireland had a pair of them and as we followed @Cooper round in the S14 beating the living tripe out of it I asked him about any issues with his. Answer was one clutch and that was it. Not bad going for something that spends its days getting absolutely beat stupid round a track all day every day.

Mine was also grand but it was a very well looked after one with low miles.
They seem to be mechanically reliable
 

mrloaf

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i've had one since march, bought as a weekender but enjoyed driving the car more then i thought i would so sold my sensible v70r and driving this full time now.

Mine is an 04 DE, nothing sophisticated about it at all, big motor, manual box, rwd, for what its cost me - im getting a lot of fun/value from it.

Its happy cruising at NSL and also leaving junctions with some gusto, with some breathing mods they sound great.

@thefool1983 go for it, happy hunting!
 

da.murf

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Nissan 350z
So @Smick pretty much covered everything

only thing to look at within the HR engine is the oil galleries can clog/block causing oil starvation. Relatively easy fix but as they are now all getting on if I was buying an HR it would be a must have proof it’s been done already in reciept form.

interiors are interesting although typically jap in terms of quality

don’t see many on the road which is nice.

my advice is get a uk model. Will be harder finding a rust free example but the imports generally are hit n miss in terms of spec I.e non Brembo brakes or diffs, no cruise control etc etc and also they are worth a lot less in the uk zed scene when selling on.

mechanically they are pretty bullet proof, I have the rev-up with a later HR bonnet. So in my opinion I have the best of a bunch as I have the lovely bonnet, upgraded HR interior and the must have projector headlights and led rear lights, the updated cd009 gearbox (from rev up onwards I think, some later DE models may have got the newer box) and a few engine mods to bring the power up to 300bhp-ish. My own car doesn’t have oil usage issues, but I know some rev ups can use a little oil.

You will get 20-24mpg driving sensible and they are a car that honestly love to be thrown about and hammered. The engine is a peach and loves to rev. I fired a lightweight flywheel into mine and it’s just lovely the way it revs up now.

mods wise they have a massive following in the aftermarket scene. Check out donut media high low series for inspiration and more info.

Lots of experience of them on this forum alone, but also you have 350z-uk owners club (all zed beards in there)

as I mentioned I have had a s14a and 180sx, mk1 eunos roadster and a mk2 roadster VS edition. Also had a rotary rx8 so have danced around these ‘style’ of cars for years and honestly hand on heart can say it’s the best all rounder I’ve owned.

Yup s14a maybe more of a looker, the 180sx was an animal and just wanted to slide all the time and the rx8 sounded lovely and was balanced. Everyone knows how good mx5’s are, but the zed can be thrown about, few mods and it’s just great on backroads too. It can hoop, slide but also cruise at 70mph on a motorway in pretty much silence and comfort.

so aye you can prob tell I’m a fan.

This is my one
71F0EB69-EE8C-4FA5-9B60-3378168A6491.jpeg
 

GaryC200

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My friend had an early 350z with plenum spacer and quaife diff/ full exhaust. I drove a stg3 s14a with 2way diff at the time. Two very different cars, for sliding I thought the 350 was much more controllable, even the power it lacked it was much more comfortable. As a daily I would have much preferred the 350z over the s14a. At the price of s14a's these days I think a 350z would be a much better buy, seem to be much more reliable also.
 

thefool1983

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thefool1983
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Cheers @da.murf . Signed up to that 350z-uk owners club.
Will give it a good browzing.

But like what I'm hearing anyway. Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about them.

I was worried they might seem a bit duller to drive than a turboed s-body. But not the impression I'm getting.
My friend had an early 350z with plenum spacer and quaife diff/ full exhaust. I drove a stg3 s14a with 2way diff at the time. Two very different cars, for sliding I thought the 350 was much more controllable, even the power it lacked it was much more comfortable. As a daily I would have much preferred the 350z over the s14a. At the price of s14a's these days I think a 350z would be a much better buy, seem to be much more reliable also.
Yeah. Am coming to that conclusion... the zeds are probably going to get less and less common as well, so might be getting one at the right time too.




Do the body panels arches throw up much in the way of rot? All I seem to be reading are the underbody components that suffer the worst?
 

GaryC200

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On his the rear arches where starting to let go, it seems to be a weak area if not looked after. Altho a bit of replacement metal and a repaint n the thing looked mint again.
 

da.murf

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Cheers @da.murf . Signed up to that 350z-uk owners club.
Will give it a good browzing.

But like what I'm hearing anyway. Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about them.

I was worried they might seem a bit duller to drive than a turboed s-body. But not the impression I'm getting.

Yeah. Am coming to that conclusion... the zeds are probably going to get less and less common as well, so might be getting one at the right time too.




Do the body panels arches throw up much in the way of rot? All I seem to be reading are the underbody components that suffer the worst?

Not a huge under body issue unless you pick up one by the seaside lol.
All the W braces go.... below is a snap of mine.... 62k and zero body rust

1041930C-A79E-428C-BAFD-620BC11331F8.jpeg


I replaced with an uprated white line for humble money. Kidney brackets that hold it can go too but not much cost there either.

D3711FA6-7987-4B3D-91E0-7A1B2D807039.jpeg


Front suspension arms can give bother so listen for clunks etc but aftermarket support for the banana arms is getting better.

the clutches and flywheels tend to die around 70-80k but again so so much choice for aftermarket uprated options.

don’t buy one thinking you are going to up bhp, unless your turbo or charge it you are chasing small small gains. More bang for buck to work on handling, noise, drivability etc etc
 

thefool1983

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thefool1983
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What about the roadsters? Whats the general concensus on those?
Can't say I particularly like the look of them - prefer the hard tops.
 

da.murf

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Nissan 350z
What about the roadsters? Whats the general concensus on those?
Can't say I particularly like the look of them - prefer the hard tops.

a lot heavier, looks wise they are um ‘unique’ and tend to be 1-1.5k cheaper than the hardtop equivalent

thing I would say is the zed is a heavy enough car, I’d say the vert could be very rolly polly in the bends
 
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