So after weeks of patiently waiting, my new car arrived from America last week and finally saw it today...

This started in January when I sold my 750+bhp BMW 135i as I’d got used to it and wanted something faster (although it did do a 5.5-second 100-200kph in mid-boost) and a little more raw.

I came across this on Facebook for sale in America and decided to buy it on a bit of a whim.

Spec is:
- 1977 Datsun 280Z
- 6.0-litre LS V8 with new crank, Wiseco steel rods and forged pistons
- BorgWarner S480 80mm billet turbo
- Twin 50mm wastegates
- Holley high rise inlet
- 1650cc injectors
- 105mm throttle body
- T56 six-speed manual gearbox
- Uprated fuel system/clutch/diff/shafts/suspension/brakes and plenty more

It has a dyno graph for 878bhp and 873lb ft
of torque at the wheels! On 15psi of boost on E85 and the car weighs 1,200kg.

I take all American chassis dyno figures with a pinch of salt, but have seen a similar spec engine on the same turbo make similar power on an engine dyno, so fingers crossed!




Annoyingly under current circumstances I’ll have to wait to drive it but looking forward to it.

Plans are to tidy up the body and paint it, as it’s solid but a little scabby, and then use it!

 

Looks well pal will defo be 700 on that turbo got similar setup going on myself ,not ready yet so you’ll have to let me no your thoughts on the power and drive

 

Now that's looks awesome, rwd madness love it mate 👍

 

figgin awesome mate

 

Yeeeehaaaw 😎

 

Love that, the best engine and looks cool.

 

Absolutely fantastic. Best of both with old skool looks and modern power. Hopefully it is worth the wait.

 

Now that's what I call a proper car.

 

You will have a lot of fun in that car humbling drivers in modern performance cars who will wrongly assume its just an old Datsun!!!! Light weight car with that stonking great V8 should have awesome performance!!!!

 

Now that is uber cool mate.

 

That is one cool car!

 

I like that, looks like will be some great fun

 

Thanks, cannot wait to drive it. And time it! Last owner told me its a very hairy car to drive, so I'll see if it ticks the raw and fast boxes!

 

It's gonna be great fun, 100-200 kph is gonna be seriously fast pal 💪

 

Trying to get all that power down with no 4wd, traction control etc of a modern car will be pretty exciting I would think!!!!

 

Very nice but whats puzzling me is I saw this car recently I think on facebook but for the life of me cannot think where??

Whats your plans for it, just driving or doing more to it?

 

Depends how bad the grip problems are!

Here’s hoping!

The first pic of it went on Facebook a few days ago and it’s been shared a few times, could be that. No one else has seen the car as far as I know.

And going to paint it, tidy it up and fit much wider rear rubber and then see what it’s like!

 

What tyres are on the back ?
With some wide r888s it should just about clean hook at 60 mph if they've got some heat in them mate

 

255/60/15 Mickey Thompson ET Street on the back.

I’m going to fit a set of 17x10 split rims on the rear and a 275 tyre I think.

 

What's the score with making that road legal in the UK ?

 

you won’t get grip with them at 60 mph mate if your on hard throttle,the et streets maybe ,it will have a lot of torque remember in a light car

 

The supra would clean hook third onwards hot and dry, 295 r888s

 

3 litre not 6 litre big difference in torque,I’m not a fan of 888s ,there ok on say a car with sensible power but I’ve had them in the past on various rwd applications and not that impressed,maybe worked for you

 

Just going to take it for an MOT, see what it fails on and start working through the list. Some are more obviously than others.

I've seen a video of this car spinning at 60mph in the dry, so yep, would agree.

I don't think the car will take any bigger than a 275.

Totally agree with that, ran R888 and a lot of other grippy rubber on the BMW and I would say the Toyo wasn't that good compared to some. The Nankang AR1 seemed to grip better for instance.

Does anyone, or has anyone heard of people running Mickey Thompson Street (or similar) on the road without issue?

 

The only others I tried were nittos but they weren't as good as the r888s on my supra

 

So there's no actual registration and checks for a non standard imported car ?

 

i seam to remember you saying you couldn’t get grip at Santa pod in the supra ,so sort of answers the question regards 888s

 

Santa Pod needs proper tyres like the drag radials though, or soft slicks.

Road tyres, even 888's etc just dont seem to work that well

 

I had the nittos on at Santa pod not r888s, I will be trying r888s at pod for the first time with my gtr

 

I no that stevie I’m not a novice lol

 

In the April issue of Classic Ford mag there is a good feature on an Aussie V8 Ford Zephyr. He has massive Hoosier Pro Street rear tyres which I think are similar to the Mickey Thompson Street tyres. They are all about grip on the rear for the drag strip strip but I don't think they are designed for fast cornering!

 

Bet that makes some noise!

 

Small update: I haven't driven the car yet due to lockdown, but did book it in for a day at Santa Pod just so I could get behind the wheel.

I started off cautiously as I had no idea how it would drive/come on boost etc... but the first time it did - Jeeezz - never felt anyything like it. Made my old single turbo BMW feel like a Transit van.

Started getting braver with it (diff isn't rated for big power so wasn't exactly doing full bore launches, hence the 60 foot) but the terminal started creeping up with little effort, so must have some real power. I ended the day on a 10.6 at 149mph on street tyres.

It's not really a drag car so was happy with that for the day - I'll be going back to crack a 9 as the terminal is mental high - should be good for a deep 9.








Video from Mk1 Kieran:

 

I watched the vid the other day pal ,and deffo got some grunt ,with slicks on I think you will deffo go mid 9s or slightly better,it’s still spinning in second and a bit of 3rd so more to come .I wondered why you weren’t being aggressive off the line Makes sense now,well done Si

 

Tyres also looked to have a lot of pressure in them ?

I'd say the tyres that are on it look fine though, and should see 1.5s 60fts without too much trouble.

What did the car ever run in the US ? Has much changed since then ?

 

XRT_si Very impressive for a first day out !!! With better suited rear tyres it will no doubt be even quicker!! You must be well pleased!!!

 

The rear tyres already look like a drag tyre ? But given the sidewalls look fairly stuff, gonna assume it's up in the high 20's pressure wise ?

get them down to say 12psi to start with and launch it hard.

 

Thanks mate, was good to back out there. People have blown this diffs up at 400bhp/400 lb ft so didn't want to do a 7,000rpm clutch side step just yet!

For sure, a 1.5 60-foot should see a 9-second pass. It never ran at the strip in the US as far as I know, it was a roll race/street racing car.

Not sure if I want to go slicks just yet, but yeah, well happy with the car and its performance.

I ran them at 15psi - it's a MT Street SS tyre.

 

Great stuff what a beast 149 terminals are getting on with it 💪💪👌👌

 

Very nice!

What is the rear end setup on this then? I watched the roadkill episode when they recently upgraded the setup on the rotsun. The amount of hassle they had with upgrading.