I’ve been a lurker on the forum for quite some time but finally time to join.
I love Japanese cars and my current daily is a Lexus LS400 but I’ve been looking for a second ‘fun’ car so been looking for almost a year at either getting a 3000gt/gto or a Nissan 300zx.
I haven’t really rushed it but for some reason, I put a late bid on a GTO last night on ebay without having seen it which I have won so here I am!
Just wondering if anyone knows the car at all? Link is below.
I will definitely be signing up to be a full member soon.
I did have a ask before I thought about getting it but no luck seems it’s not a club car or even known to any one…it’ll be fine just expect to do a bit of tinkering to get it how you want it, definitely join the club the knowledge here is priceless! Cheers keep us posted after you pick it up
Hi mate, welcome to the club, as I said to Stu when he asked about it keep a keen eye on the gearbox “tightness”. Good luck with it though hope it lives up to your expectations
Thank you all for the welcome messages, hope to be around for a long time!
The gearbox issue is what worries me, how much roughly would it be to replace the gearbox?
Only other worrying thing is it has had 9 owners since being imported in 2004 but that could be par for the course with these cars, I’m not sure really.
I wanted to sign up to be a full member but just wanted to check that I will get a full year? it mentioned the cost and that it would be renewed in March next year so was a little confused…
I would not worry too much right now on the gearbox, l find on my cars they can be a bit “tight” to get into gear (mainly second) when cold, they loosen as they warm up. One thing l find is that snynchro can be a bit weak on 2nd, sometimes 3rd, and l think that some drivers may not push the clutch pedal down to the floor and wear it out sooner than normal so position the seat so that you can really push that pedal down. The clutches are vac assisted and if that is below par then the pedal will be harder to push down, this is not normally an issue just push harder with that left foot just make sure you fully disengage.
I use Royal Purple transmission oil which is 75/90 in gb transfer and diff (gl4 and gl5 compatable) l find this has a really good effect on gears making them easier and smoother to change and when l bought one car, the seller gave me the third gear synchro as it crunched quite badly, now with R P l let the box warm up, miss out third until then and find it fine to go into third, no crunching etc, normal change, not doing a “racing quick shift” ( l think the getrag boxes in our cars are not great for that).
The other thing to consider is the change mechanism itself and make sure the cables are moving freely, you can change bushes and bearings in the system which are not megabucks and if they are well worn will stiffen it up.
Make sure all oil levels are right, goes without saying and check all other service items but the transfer box only holds 0.3 of a litre so not much.
I find a bit of seepage between gb and tr casings is quite common, in an ideal world replace all seals but biggish job, l have used Tiger seal around that joint after a good clean and it works for me.
Anyway thoughts of Jerry hope it helps and have fun with the car, you got it at a good price and should have a bit of leeway if you do need to do jobs, but lets hope not.
Cheers
I’ll be collecting the car on Friday so I’ll update you all over the weekend but like you say at the price I’ve got the car at I have some leeway in terms of spending some money on it.
Good luck with the purchase and you got it at good price.dont worry much as if you spend 5/6 k would still need work doing.you can throw a grand or 2 in it and still be good value as slowly the prices are creeping up.
Jerry
So… I picked up the GTO on Friday and took a couple of quick pics (apologies for the poor quality but haven’t really had a chance to take some good pics yet).
My impressions thus far are that the body of the car in general is good for the age, as expected there are some scuffs and imperfections consistent with the age but not bad overall. My observations thus far are as below:
Gearbox is definitely notchy particularly when cold but it’s manageable, the gears are also very vague in terms of selection, a bit of guesswork in terms of where 3rd and 4th are in particular. Reverse is terrible; it’s extremely difficult to engage and sometimes pops out as I’m reversing so definitely need to get this checked out.
Previous owner mentioned that he had installed a new clutch in 2018, there’s no paperwork to back this up so cant really say either way but the clutch has a fair bit of play when pressing down in terms of it being loose before there is any resistance so again will need to be checked.
Front washer jets not working and I don’t hear any whirring so I think the motor is not working, rear window washer jets work fine.
There is a very strong smell of petrol(?) when driving, I can smell it when I have the windows down so need to investigate the cause.
The oil pressure gauge (which I know can be inaccurate) sits at about halfway when driving but this drops to around 4 notches from the bottom when idling.
I’m sure there will other things as I drive the car more but this is currently what I’ve picked up on. I had always planned on getting the car checked out at Japex unless there’s another GTO specialist in the St Albans area?
Will keep you all updated on progress; I may start a build thread but it will be slow progress.
my bad lol
and welcome to the club.
