I'm sure a lot of the viewers on Zerotohundred.com would be asking the million dollar question. Why did we decided on the Nissan Fairlady Z as our project car. Here's lots of reasons as to why it was chosen. The videos below showcases all generations of the Z car line up.
YouTube - Historic NISSAN Z-Cars (S30,S130,Z31,Z32,Z33,Z34) at NISSAN HQ Gallary in Japan‏
Historic Nissan Z cars at Nissan Global Headquarters in Yokohama, Japan
YouTube - Z Car History‏
Brief history lesson on the Datsun/Nissan Z car.
Many car enthusiasts have been growing up with the letter Z. Nissan is the only company that has a car with the alphabet Z in the motoring world. Nissan started out as Datsun in those days prior to renaming the brand later. The Datsun Fairlady Z started out with the first Z series car, starting with the Nissan Fairlady 240Z (S30). The car came with an L series, 2.4 litre L 24 straight six engine. This car was instantly a hit amongst people wanting a cheap affordable sports car in those days. It had styling and cues coming from an old Jaguar E-Type, yet it has an identity of its own! In those days, fastback styled cars were pretty common and were trendy in the 60's. The 240Z spawned versions with higher engine capacity such as the 2.6 litre L26 straight six engine in the 260Z and the 2.8 litre L28 straight six engine in the 280Z. The 260Z and 280Z came with a 2+2 option to accommodate passengers at the back.
Then the Datsun Fairlady 280ZX (S130) came after the older Z has existed almost 10 years. The new 280ZX came with the 2.8 litre L28 straight six engine and came with a slightly longer body and chassis compared to its predecessors. Later on, a turbo-charged variant was offered in the USA in 1981. These cars sold by the records in the United States.
Then the 3rd generation Nissan Fairlady 300ZX (Z31) arrived in 1983. These cars were completely redesigned and featured a very boxy design, which were synonymous in the 80's. The car had sleek wedge shape front and pop up lights were nostalgic with the period. These cars were very nice to drive in those days and had many racing pedigree in it. Paul Newman of Hollywood acting fame used to own one and pilot it to win in the IMSA challenge in those days. The Z31 came with only the 3.0 litre V6 VG30 engine series either N/A or twin-turbo in the US. While the smaller 2 litre engine choices, such as the red top 2.0 litre inline 6 RB20DET and 2.0 litre V6 VG20DET was offered in Japan. These were primarily designed to take up markets where buyers are concerned with the road tax expenses. These cars came with hard top or targa top choices, which was welcomed by drivers who prefer the almost topless experience.
The 4th generation came and it was easily a winner. The Nissan Fairlady 300ZX (Z32) came with a better engine, which was the 3.0 V6 twin-turbo VG30DETT, this cars were easily a hit and its front lights had hints of the Bugatti EB110 front lamp designs. These cars were very quick in those days and the VG30 engines could achieve a very good top speed, if these cars are properly tuned and modified. Sadly the VG parts are rare and maintain one would be hard and undesirable. These cars came with hard top or targa top offering as well.
The 5th generation came after a long hiatus where the Z has dissapeared in 1999. The Nissan Fairlady 350Z (Z33) was introduced by the new CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, where the old 300ZX almost bankrupted the company where it was too expensive to sell in the USA after the appreciation of the Japanese Yen against the US Dollars. His goals was to make a profitable and enjoyable sports car. The car began selling in 2002 and the 350Z was an instant hit with the 3.5 litre V6 VG35DE found in most other Nissan cars of those times too. The round sleek shape became an instant success around the world with the 350Z outselling the old Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Z31 marginally.
The 6th generation came in after the previous model serving almost 7 years in the life. The new Nissan Fairlady 370Z (Z34) came with a larger 3.7 V6 VQ37HR engine. The six-speed manual is the first manual gearbox to feature 'synchro-rev matching,' which automatically blips the throttle to simulate heel and toe shifting. This was one of ingenuities that the Jeremy Clarkson liked about the 370Z.
YouTube - 1989' Z31 Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZR 2by2‏
Z31 review by Best Motoring
Coming from a long history of Z cars, the S30, Z32, Z33 and Z34 has always been a favorite amongst enthusiasts. Sadly, the Z31 has been overshadowed by its other siblings. The Z31 is a capable performer in its own rights. Having 50/50 weight distribution between the front and rear, equipped with independent suspensions, this car is great around corners and handles pretty well. This happens to be one of our criterias in choosing the Z31 as a project car.
Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Z31 first driven by Akio in the anime series Wangan Midnight Racing, prior to swapping to the Devil Z, a souped up Nissan Fairlady 240Z with L28 engine stroked up to 3.1 litres with twin turbo.
The Z31 has been a hero car for anime/manga/cartoon lovers in the 80's. Kids get fascinated by the Z31 as it has appeared in animations such as American cartoon M.A.S.K, Japanese animation Yoroshiku Mechadoc and the very recent Wangan Midnight racing anime. Most Malaysians are not made aware of this car, due to lack of exposure to the animation world of those days. Still, it will be a new hero in Zerotohundred.com, in days to come.
Image source : Cardomain
The Z31 is also rare on Malaysian shores. The Z31 would easily be a recognisable Zerotohundred.com car, since there's not much of these on the roads. One of the reasons would be that it carried a larger 3.0 litre engine, which has unfavourable road tax pricing for people who wanted to own the Z. However, in the modern days, the oversized 3.0 litre engine could be swapped with a more efficient 90's engine , that would put out much more horsepower than the engines in the 80's could offer.
Installed Nissan RB26DETT engine in the Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Z31
This particular Z31 was bought for RM10,000, which was a bargain. In contrast, any rear wheel drive vehicles that could accommodate the long RB inline 6 engine, would have cost at least RM30,000. Great examples include the Nissan Cefiro A31, which is popular choice amongst drifters. With the RM20,000 price difference, one could buy an awesome engine and place it into the Z and turn it into a real supercar killer. A Nissan Skyline R32, R33 could be found for RM50,000 and above, but that would truly break the bank account and it would be a thief magnet, if anything. Similarly the Z32 300ZX can be found above the RM40,000 region. However it would just defeat the ideas of having a project car to begin with. Considering the lack of safety features in the car, such as ABS and airbags in those days, the power to weight ratio could be on improved easily on the Z31. A minor tuning on the car would do wonders on a car this light and should easily achieve a good acceleration and top speed.
I hope that, with additional parts and monetary sponsors in this car project, we could make it a dream come true. Achieving a great top speed, acceleration time and handling abilities is what we would like to seek in the Zerotohundred.com project car. Let's hope the sponsors will look into this project and be able to help out in many ways possible. These would easily be the most significant project that Zerotohundred.com would do and I do hope that it will be a Speedhunters worthy feature car. Please support me in this endeavour. Cheers!
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