My Newly Acquired 86 Turbo
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Pictures on this page show state of car upon purchase (as seen on AutoTrader)

I picked up this beauty over Christmas vacation in San Diego. I was not planning a car purchase, but whenever I go to San Diego (I'm a native) I casually look through AutoTrader.com for Maximas, 300zx's, and 240z's. This time around I found this Ferrari Yellow Z. The price was high, but I was intrigued because hardly anyone does yellow paint jobs on these and I've always loved yellow. The pictures also made the car look nearly perfect. Still, I saw 200,000 miles on it and decided not to pursue anything.

86 Turbo Photo Gallery w/Updated Pictures

Then, I'm driving home from a lunch with some friends about 20 miles from my parent's house...I pull onto the freeway and LO AND BEHOLD, there it is, confirmed by the license plate it had: "CA300Z" with the CA Palm (Arts Council) license plate. I have one framed for a souvenir. So there is it, this yellow Z driving on the freeway at exactly the same time as me, in the same spot, and 50 miles from where they live, only two days after I casually looked on Autotrader with limited interest!

It was brilliant. A beautiful car. Making passes as needed : ) I called my house to get the number, called, and the owner wasn't actually driving the car (it was his son). So, I planned a time to go see it. As soon as I drove around the corner where his place was, I saw the Z and my jaw dropped again!

So, I bought it. Below are some pics and a list of what I have done thus far -- I haven't taken my own pics yet (these are the pics in the ad and others the previous owner took). The work is going fast since I've "been there done that" with my '84. It looks like a long list of stuff, but it hasn't been too bad. Just working on making it perfect instead of near perfect : ) Only some minor differences with the Turbo. I have driven this car about 5 miles since I've been back from vacation. I'm waiting for parts.

The car is in amazing shape. I have receipts from the owner showing an amazing amount of stuff done on this car. After going through all this with my '84, I'm very happy to have paid a bit more for this car to have it in an already very progressed restoration. In the last year this car has:

• New injectors (Nissan campaign)

• Alternator

• Starter (BOSCH replacement)

• Tires

• Timing Belt Service (60K, including water pump, idler pulley, etc)

• Full Tune-Up (Plugs, Wires, Cap/Rotor)

• Complete Cooling System Overhaul (brand new radiator, t-stat, hoses, etc)

There is ZERO rust on this car. The tool kit looks like it came out of shrink wrap. The dash has no cracks or separation (has a removable dash cover on it, which I hate, but hey, the dash is perfect). The seats are immaculate. I see no signs of smoking (no cigarette burns or smell). The adjustable suspension works and there is no sign of damage to the shocks/struts. That's a nice thing as OEM replacements in the neighborhood of $800 each -- that doesn't include the actuators (electronic control units) that go on top, as far as I know. The wheels look practically new and the rear camber looks to be in spec after all these years! The steering wheel has the original leather, still shiny...just lighter than normal wear and scratches from 200,000 miles of driving. The stock exhaust is still in this car and I don't see signs of corrosion -- muffler MAY have been replaced -- can't quite tell.

Other things I can tell the owner did -- he bought a center console cover from Motorsport Auto, an engine bay cover (for when you work on it), installed aftermarket speakers and a Sony Xplod MP3 player (Sirius ready), and did regular maintenance on it. He said the reason he's selling it is because he travels too much and the mileage wasn't good enough. 23.5 on the highway? That's good enough for me! Obviously he loved the car -- he put a lot into it. He was the third owner and the 2nd owner was his sister. Cool -- this thing was babied. It is in better overall condition than my '84 Z that had 150,000 on it and I put tons of money into that car. The only thing better on my car would be the transmission (newly rebuilt) and engine (newly rebuilt). The rest goes to this car and the engine and tranny are fine.

I just can't believe this car has 210,000 on it. It looks more like a car with 40K babied miles (except for some oil/dirt build up underneath and in the engine bay). Aside from some fluid creeping out of the diff somewhere and a very small amount from the rear main seal, there are no leaks. On the trip back home (700 miles) I averaged 23.5 mpg and I found out the dang thing was advanced to 50 BTDC when I got home and checked. The first couple days I was prepping it for the trip -- ECU was throwing out a CHTS and TPS code. Got the CHTS replaced along with the harness and set the adjusted the TPS and now there are no codes now.

The power is good. I did a compression test on the car and every cylinder (except #4) was at 135 (which is equivalent to 155 since I'm at 4500 feet in Utah). The #4 was at 90 and with a wet compression test (oil) it shot up to 135, so there is a ring issue there. I cleaned the cylinder out as good as I could (brake cleaner and Seafoam) and have not retested the compression yet. The boost holds steady at 6.5 psi.

The paint job is nice -- it's a clearcoat done in Ferrari Yellow -- very bright! The paint isn't perfect, but you have to be looking for things to find problems. They removed the rear tail lights, door jamb trim, hood insulator, and other stuff to do the job, so it's not your cheap-o paint job...but not your $5K job, either. Original color was red. The engine bay is still red, but doesn't look too bad. They did a good job masking the engine bay off at the weld bead (around the top edge).

By the time I'm done the car will be EVEN cleaner inside and out, all new fluids (drained and filled), all engine vacuum lines replaced (with silicone), and will have the following modifications (which will be the extent of the mods I do on this car -- Stage III).

MODIFICATIONS

• K&N Filtercharger (already installed)

• Modified/Shimmed POV

• JOE MBC Manual Boost Controller (set to around 9 psi) w/Autometer Boost Gauge in Single Pod

• Certified Muffler 3" Turbo Back in Aluminized Steel w/Flowmaster and 4" Tip

• Redline Transmission and Differential Fluids (Done)

• SS (1988 Shiro) Springs w/OEM Adjustable Shocks (Rears Installed)

• Poly Tension (Strut) Rod and Endlink Bushings

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Pictures on this page show state of car upon purchase (as seen on AutoTrader)