Nissan 300ZX Key Make

As a locksmith technician that offer automotive services, I find it hard to keep track on various changes that were made over the years on different makes and model vehicles that are industry related. Sure there are many books that would help a locksmith to determine what would be required to do for a certain job such as making a key or find a specific way to open a vehicle. However, not all the time the information on these books are accurate. Sometimes, a solution could be found by non traditional ways or by trial and error.

I remember a job I did few years ago making a key for a 93 Nissan 300ZX. At that time, the customer called and claimed he had lost the only key he had for the vehicle and a new one needed to be originated from scratch. Even thou I didn't recall servicing these types of vehicles at that time, I knew from an older Nissan models I serviced that getting the code to make the key would not be a problem. I decided to accept the job, got the customer information and drove to his address.

Once I got to the customer's home, I got my machine ready and went to the vehicle to look for the code that will allow me to generate the key. The first place I knew where to look was in the glove compartment where I knew early Nissan models usually would have a sticker inside it with the code. However, for some reason I couldn't  find it. I asked the customer if he knew anything about the absence of the sticker and he said that he don't recall ever seeing one and that he was the 3rd owner of the vehicle. At this point I figured previous owners must have removed it.

Since I knew the key for this vehicle was acting as a Master-Key opening the doors, trunk and turning the ignition, I figured my next best option was to take apart the door panel and get to the door lock cylinder, so I could get the code from the the tailpiece. After removing the panel, I was able to access the lock, but for some reason, I did not see any code stamped on the tailpiece.

At that point, I did not know what to do, so I called another Seattle locksmith friend of mine for a little advice. He said that my best option that will save me some time on top of the time already wasted was to remove the trunk lock, disassemble it, and decode the wafer tumblers in order to make the key. I followed his exact instruction and after about 15 minutes I had a key ready to be used.