In reply to Opti :
It's not hard finding a 3kgt but it's hard finding one that was well maintained. They all look like E36 M3. z32 I almost the same as far as finding a really nice one.
In reply to Opti :
It's not hard finding a 3kgt but it's hard finding one that was well maintained. They all look like E36 M3. z32 I almost the same as far as finding a really nice one.
chandler said:yupididit said:I think the z32 was one of if not the best looking car from the 90s (1999 3000gt vr4 and fd rx are close). I'd love a slicktop with an LS swap. I would be less excited for a TT version, I've seen people working on them...
All the hate for the 3KGT kills me, they were fast cruisers. I loved mine for looks and performance. It was only 8 years old and had tons of deferred maintenance that cost me a fortune but it's a pretty car to me to this day.
TB has the version of the z32 I'd want and I lusted after it extensively while standing in his garage shooting the E36 M3.
The 3000GT was all the size and weight of a Diamante, with all the interior room and sight lines of an Eclipse.
I met someone who swapped a 4G63 into one. Lots of engine bay room for turbo fun.
I loved these as a kid, and love them just as much now. I always preferred these to the Supra in the looks department, and I prefer Nissans of that era (you know, when they were still good) over the other Japanese brands. It's one of the few cars from back then they could throw in a showroom now and it would fit in style-wise; they are timeless.
That said, if I were to buy one, I'd likely get a N/A model with the manual to avoid the complexity of the twin turbo setup. It would make a great cruiser.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
That's one of the funnier things to me in hindsight. The Supra was the also ran to me when I was younger. I liked the 3000GT the Nissan and the RX7 more than the Supra. Even now it's last on my list that I'd buy for myself, just didn't connect with me back in the day.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:chandler said:yupididit said:I think the z32 was one of if not the best looking car from the 90s (1999 3000gt vr4 and fd rx are close). I'd love a slicktop with an LS swap. I would be less excited for a TT version, I've seen people working on them...
All the hate for the 3KGT kills me, they were fast cruisers. I loved mine for looks and performance. It was only 8 years old and had tons of deferred maintenance that cost me a fortune but it's a pretty car to me to this day.
TB has the version of the z32 I'd want and I lusted after it extensively while standing in his garage shooting the E36 M3.
The 3000GT was all the size and weight of a Diamante, with all the interior room and sight lines of an Eclipse.
I met someone who swapped a 4G63 into one. Lots of engine bay room for turbo fun.
Mine was a VR4 so it had a bit of turbo anyway....
In reply to chandler :
His was a VR4, too. Mah00sive turbo on that four cylinder, and you could practically climb in and walk around underhood.
I was selling him an Evo VIII turbo/manifold that he was going to adapt to his autocrosser Sentra SE-R, apparently the 4G63 and SR20DE have the same exhaust port spacing.
I've always loved these. One of the most beautiful cars Japan ever spat out by a long shot. The Supra to me was always the overrated crapcan favoured by hard parkers.
I entered my career as a car guy with a fiero, so engine swaps to me have always been appropriate, but I do kind of hate LS swaps. Not because they aren't good. Mostly because they aren't interesting.
I love Volvo 240s. About once a month someone will show me a video or article titled "Watch this old volvo wagon run an 8 second quarter." or "sleeper volvo gaps ferrari" and I get excited. Yes. Yes I want to see that. but it always turns out to be an LS swap with a big E-bay turbo.
Whoo, but that's not a volvo is it? That is a square camaro.
This car is the exception to that rule. I would 100% LS swap one of these.
Give me a blue 2+2 slicktop on bronze Lace wheels, slap an LS in it and let me drive it to work. I'm on board.
In reply to AClockworkGarage :
Just because you swap an engine doesn't mean the car stops being that car. A Volvo 240 with an LS3 is still a Volvo 240 just with a much better engine. It's not an original swap, but pretty much every RWD chassis with a subpar engine could benefit from an LS or K20 depending on space and power goals.
So I am a big Nissan guy, have owned all the big names of the brand aside the modern GTR, but i've also owned the Skyline GTS-T and Skyline GTR.
IMO the Toyota Supra is overrated, and this car is like a lesser Supra. The 350Z is actually an improvement aside looks and power if you want a car for like any track duty or anything like that. You can also get a supercharger or twin turbo setup if you want power. The Nismo is especially fantastic having been built up by Autech, it is indeed a special car and not mayn people know how special it is. There is no special 300zx like that. The support for the 350Z is actually way out there, there is still a ton of aftermarket for it and it's still a popular platform. Like you can still get very niche things like the Amuse Superleggera dry carbon body kit for example. The same is true of the Skylines. I owned a R32 and R33, aftermarket is HUGE for those cars and Nissan built so many R32s of GTR and non-GTR type that they are plentiful. 300zx doesn't have near the support of other Nissans in that way.
It is still the car that got me into Nissans and it looks fantastic.
I think 90s design aged very well in a lot of cases. This and the 3000GT are among the best looking but these two cars are best for like cruiser builds or show cars. If you want a Nissan for sport you need to go S or R chassis. Or Pulsar GTIR lol.
Some people are mentioning LS swaps. If I wanted one i'd keep it 3.0 and get a RB30 built for this car. I think it's overkill for a Skyline but would be perfect for a 300zx.
I think it's one of the best looking bodies on any car in the past 50 years. Interior, now, is dated, though.
Engine bay is scary to look at, so cramped.
But, man, they look amazing.
Ya the interior on this car vs sitting in a RX7 or R33 GTR looks almost 80s in comparison. The switches and all that are similar to what you see on a R32.
kanaric said:Ya the interior on this car vs sitting in a RX7 or R33 GTR looks almost 80s in comparison. The switches and all that are similar to what you see on a R32.
Standing around a certain GRM'ers place looking at his RB26 powered Skyline, and the twin turbo VG30 in his Z32, I was kind of amazed at how similar they looked. Like, they seemed to use the same cam angle sensor, etc. Let alone the chassis similarities.
I didn't get to sit in the 300ZX. I did get to ride in the Skyline, which was majorly grin inducing. I will allow that my main mental focus was on how "wrong" it felt to be sitting in the left side but all of the mirrors were aimed for the right side occupant. That and the lack of steering wheel and pedals.
Come to think of it, I'd driven quite a few RHD cars (yay Saturn) but never actually rode in one.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Come to think of it, I'd driven quite a few RHD cars (yay Saturn) but never actually rode in one.
My one time riding in a RHD car was also a Skyline (R33). The owner had only recently acquired it and hadn't quite figured out his lane positioning yet, so it was kind of unnerving because I felt like I was almost in the oncoming lane without any controls...
yupididit said:In reply to Opti :
It's not hard finding a 3kgt but it's hard finding one that was well maintained. They all look like E36 M3. z32 I almost the same as far as finding a really nice one.
I actually see a clean 3000 GT often. There are lots of strange super clean cars you'd never expect around here.
In reply to hunter47 :
I, as well, had a '90 slicktop, had to look long and hard to actually find one, as it seemed to be the sleeper combo, and it was. Mileage, meh, but I didn't buy it to be frugal. Power, well with the reduced weight of the slicktop, it was adequate, and didn't take much to bump it up a bit. Handling, only took a good set of shocks to cure most of the ills. Engine bay, daunting, but manageable. I kept that car for over 12 years before selling it to get "practical", which I immediately regretted. I now have a '90 TT, and I won't make the same mistake twice.
I worked at a Nissan dealership as a lot attendant when these were still new enough to be brought into a dealership for service. I absolutely LOVED driving these. Good grunt, telepathic feel, and yes the transmission was wonderful.
But as much as I loved the above, I remember these were an absolute BEAR to work on (mostly accessibility issues. Gotta take of this big part to get to that "should be simple" part...). IIRC the injectors were prone to leak (and if they didn't then a fuel line in the area would), and you have to pull the upper intake manifold plenum to get to them, and that means dealing with all the plumbing and twin throttle bodies, and you don't just do one injector when you have to do all of this so you end up buying all 6, so by the time you're done paying shop labor and parts for the job, you'd be out about $1200.
But on man... I remember this one time this guy came in complaining of a sticking throttle. He had installed a turbo timer on his car (as was the style at the time) and when you combined it with a sticking throttle, what you got was a car that was pinned nearly wide open and the complete inability to shut it down for about 60-seconds.
You ever turn a key off on a twin-turbo V6 with a stuck throttle and then count backwards from 60 while MOVING nearly uncontrolled through a tight parking lot while the engine raced towards its redline? Maaaaan, It takes you a split second before your brain tells your left foot it needs to be stomping on that clutch I tell you what... That was some good times.
I owned a t-top twin turbo one of these when it was new and it felt futuristic. It was years ahead of everything else on the road save a contemporary Supra, which were harder to buy even when they were new.
it's odd to hear the comments about the interior as it had a wrap around dash unlike just about anything then or now. Most similar modern car would be a c8 corvette in interior feel. the gauges, the angle of the center console all of it were stunning. The backlit gauges and the brightness from the t tops were amazing.
Everyone asked about it and it caused a stir at the gas station. They were thin on the ground in my neck of the woods at least.
the death knell for me was maintenance for sure. Even the Nissan dealer didn't want to work on it, I felt like they kept giving me the " don't want to do this job" price.
I would say LS swap all the NAs while leaving the Turbos alone for people who don't mind fooling with rubber and paper. And taking off all the stuff to get to the rubber and paper.
Z32s are excellent looking cars. The Millen IMSA GTO car is one of the sexiest race cars ever but, phuck working on those engines in that engine bay. LS or Turbo K-swap it for less headaches and you've still got a rad car with less headaches.
This happened today
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