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| November 1999 300ZX with lots of show, and serious GO! There’s no denying that V8 engines are an institution Down Under, but as far as Frank was concerned, he’d already done the `V8 thing’ having fully worked a 350 LH Torana.
Time for something a little bit more modern, in Frank’s opinion. Perhaps one of those new fangled, big turbo, high revving four-pots would suffice… "Four cylinders don’t do a lot for me, which is why I never got into WRXs or things like that," admitted Frank. Instead, this Perth stonemason (we kid you not !) opted for a high-tech six, although there were a few deciding reasons why he went for a Nissan 300ZX in particular. "I love the sporty look and the twin turbo thing is a real turn on." Fair enough - on its release, the 300ZX was described by one American writer as looking like "a Porsche whose mother ran away with a Ferrari". Frank wasn’t going to do much to his 1990 model ZX when he bought it, and lifting the visual appeal of the car was the only thing he initially wanted to do; "The idea was to cruise and all I wanted at the start was a decent set of mags." But we all know that story… The transformation begins
The wheels meanwhile took some time to find, but eventually a set of 17" Tracers from Speedworks went on. Combined with the lowered stance courtesy of Koni shocks and lowered Lovells springs, the car’s aggressive look was complete. Nonetheless, having fully worked the motor in his old Torana, Frank was unlikely to be happy with a standard VG-30DETT V6 engine under the bonnet of his 300ZX. Let's get serious now… Specialists were involved in the proceedings too, such as Gary Digney from Kaben Engineering who ported and polished the heads. Although the original valves were re-used, they now work with Isky double valve springs. The single overhead camshafts on either bank of the V6 (that’s two cams in case you were wondering ...) are stockers, but re-ground to produce 250 degrees of duration and 355 thou’ lift. Further camshaft development is certainly in the pipeline however.
The original rods went back in along with the stock crank, while cleaning, shotpeening and balancing were performed as necessary. The key to extracting ridiculous power outputs from these engines is of course forced induction. Whilst many in the aftermarket scene prefer to replace the 300ZX’s twin turbo arrangement with a massive single turbo, many others, especially in the USA, prefer to keep the twin turbos because they’re fairly darn good if properly set up. Still, Frank and Joe have replaced the stock hairdryers with heavier breathing Garret T28 units, obtained from Bob Goddard. Ex factory, the 300ZX turbos produce no more than about 7psi, although some tuners have run them as high as 17psi. The Garretts on this ZX combine to pump out quite a bit more though. "Normal driving sees a maximum of 22psi," explained Frank, "but further tuning might see us go a little higher." Turbo control on this wild west Nissan comes down to an Apexi blow off valve and an AVC-D Apexi boost controller. The exhaust system meanwhile is a fully custom, mandrel bent 3" arrangement. And, ensuring that everything operates to perfection is a Nislink EFI / ignition package, which interestingly is a New Zealand product. The EFI side to the equation sees six Hi flow Bosch injectors used too. The entire engine package was only completed just prior to our photo shoot and the next step was to bring a turbo expert on board to fully sort out the induction side of things. To this end, Grant Bojanjac from Per4Manz Turbos has begun wielding his magic on the car and as Frank said, "If it doesn’t produce 400 horsepower at the rear wheels when Grant’s finished with it I’ll be really disappointed." Show and sound too
One thing that wont be updated on this car though is its automatic gearbox. Manual swap overs are common enough with the 300ZX, but Frank had Bailey Automatics completely rebuild his auto for its more performance orientated role. The diff’ on Nissan’s 300ZX is a tough LSD 3.7:1 unit to begin with and is actually larger than Ford’s legendary 9", so no changes there either. In the command centre,although it all looks fairly stock, Frank has in fact had a fair bit of retrimming done. The bolt on accessories include the steering wheel, Niken race pedals and a few extra gauges, while a decent sound system works fine in cruise mode.
Oh, and to the arseholes who pinched Frank’s CD cartridge from the car during a recent Perth show, may a thousand fleas infest your armpits. Some people really have no respect these days, eh. As mentioned above though, Frank’s now embarking on a power crusade and aiming for some big numbers. No doubt some of his V8 mates will get a rude shock when he blows ‘em away, but hopefully they too will soon be converted to Frank’s thoroughly modern methods ...
VEHICLE 1990 Nissan 300ZX ENGINE
DRIVELINE
BRAKES & SUSPENSION Brakes Stock Suspension Koni adjustable shocks all round with lowered Lovells springs WHEELS & TYRES
INTERIOR Bits N’ Pieces Sundry re-trimming, Niken pedals, extra gauges Sound Alpine CVA 1000E head unit, Alpine MRV F305 amp, Alpine MRV 1005 amp, Image Dynamics VPA 5001 12" subs X 2, Dynaudio 5" splits X two sets
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In case you
didn’t know, the Holden Torana was an Aussie 70s muscle car and, while still popular
for 350-plus horsepower street terrorist projects today, the single cam, pushrod style V8
engine is becoming somewhat dated.
Then
Al Sweeney at Precision Panel & Paint was asked to give the car a complete respray -
which he did in the original Nissan hue.
For the
guts of the motor, Special Piston Services in Melbourne came up with six lumps of 7.5 :1
forged metal.
Vinci
Chrome were responsible for much of that engine detailing, but Frank spent many hours
painting and polishing himself. Heck, you need a welding mask to see through all that
glare !
Audio
pleasure starts with an Alpine CVA 1000E TV /tuner, while two Alpine amps keep the juice
pumpin’ to a couple of Image Dynamics 12" subs and a set of Dynaudio splits on
either side up front.