The Crusty Impulse Buy — 1986 Nissan 300zx Z31 3.0l v6

This is a 1986 Nissan 300zx Z31. 3.0l v6 VG30 with the 5-Speed Manual.

The last owner of the vehicle was the original owner who bought the car new in 1985, he drove it until 2011 where it failed emissions and was designated a Gross Polluter.

Because of this, he parked it under a tree and there it sat for 8 years until 2019 where he probably got tired of looking at it, and donated it to Kars 4 Kids. Car in it’s resting spot pictured below.



At roughly 5 PM on Friday the 13th of December, @Speedytech7 texted me:



Along with a link to this listing:



And so, the next day I came home with a $500 Nissan.

It’s mint ain’t it?







It was well loved by the original owner at 236,000 miles.



After he donated it to Kars 4 Kids, it went to an auction house where a dealer bought it. I bought the car from the dealer, and towed it home. If you don’t count the auction house and the dealer, I’m the second owner.

Copart listing said it did not run, and had mechanical damage. The guy I bought it from said he poured 5 gallons of fresh fuel and it would turn over, but not idle.

Out of curiosity, I tried to start it while it was jumped without a battery to my E320.

To my amazement, it started on the 3rd try. And it idled. It didn’t idle well, but it idled. And it didn’t die until I turned the key to off.

So the stupid thing works. Stay tuned for more!

 

Here's his inspiration lol

 

Thanks, now I have two cars I’ll never finish!

 

Awesome find! I always liked those cars, as well as the older Supras.

Keep us posted on the progress!

 

Looking forward to the Build

 

Will post some updates in the coming weeks, yesterday I liberally applied Simple Green to the engine to try and clean the rat poop and piss to the best of my ability. Also washed the exterior for the first time in probably 10 years.

 

If you can get it in your area, I found the LA Awesome degreaser to work really well for crusty engine bays. I spray and let it soak for a few minutes then spray it again right before I hose it all off. Gets most of the nasty stuff off without scrubbing, but a little scrubbing gets the stubborn bits. They have an automotive degreaser, but even the original yellow stuff works real well. Wear a respirator or spray from downwind.

 

I’ve got most of the geese as of now, the engine wasn’t that dirty to begin with oil wise. I just wanted to clean all the rat droppings and piss off the engine before I started working on it. Who knows if there’s Hanta Virus or something in them.

The skid plate is still completely full of rat droppings. There’s at least a few inches of it.

 

I worked on draining the 8 year old fuel today, replacing the engine bay fuel lines, and the fuel filter. About ~8 Gallons of fuel was pulled from the car. I took a car battery and jumped the fuel pump connector in the trunk to drain it.



Here’s what came out. 2011 gas on the left, 2019 gas on the right.



This is how I jumped the fuel pump:



And this is the clean fuel that came out after getting rid of the old fuel, a hell of a difference.

 

No rust!? A major Bonus!

Whats the plans for it? Just a clean Daily driver?

 

I’ve been looking for a fun project car, that’s why I bought it. After it’s all sorted it’ll be a fun weekend car, maybe a daily. I daily my truck right now but having a trunk would be a nice.

There’s a little bit of rust, but it’s only surface rust in the back behind the wheel wells from the poorly sealed rear quarter windows leaking. I still have to remove the carpet and the seats to make sure water wasn’t leaking from the T-tops.

 

Very sweet buy..I had a 280ZX rustheap as a kid, always wanted a 300.

 

The 240 and 280 are very cool cars too, the z32 got a little too curvy and 90’s looking for me.

 

She runs! Will post the video in a second.

 

Even at 10 years old, mine was a rotbucket. Frame and both floors were rubbish.

 

Old Japanese cars rust slowly but surly in normal states. You live in rust world, the part of the US where you get 3-4 good years out of any car before it's a pile of rusted junk. I can't imagine an old Japanese car there, must've been perforated before it even left the lot.

 

There’s practically zero rust on this car. The first (and only) owner had it from 1985 to 2019 and parked in Sunny Northern California.

The only rust I could find was from the rear quarter windows leaking, and it’s only surface rust in the rear trunk pockets.

 

Exactly, damn New England.

Very cool..

 

I still have to pull up the carpet and check the floorpan under the t-tops. But that’s all I can think of. Underside is perfect.