There's a commercial that I dimly recall from the days of my youth, one in which the only visual was a closeup shot of clean, white sheet of paper with nothing at all printed on it. Then, suddenly, wham! There in the middle of the screen was a single letter, big, black and imposing. The letter was the very last letter in the alphabet; the commercial was for a Japanese car company called, then as now, Nissan. And the car model it advertised? Ah, but you've already guessed, I'm sure.
At the time this commercial aired, Z cars had been burning up American pavement for at least 15 years prior. The first Z was introduced in 1970, back when the company was still known as Datsun. The Z that a lot of you will more readily identify with (as I tip my hat respectfully to the 240Z and 280Z camps) is pictured here on these very pages: the 300ZX, big daddy of Nissan performance (well, here in America, anyway) and the Z cars' most powerful (as well as biggest and heaviest) incarnation.
The final version of the 300ZX appeared in 1990, which is when this car's owner, Hieu Nguyen of Philadelphia, Penn., bought his. Hieu isn't a stranger to import performance; his first car was a Honda CRX that he transformed into a FWD drag racing machine, and his current project is a single-turbo RX7 that aspires to take where the Nissan leaves off to explore vast new regions of forced induction ass kicking. This Z falls between those two cars, and while it remains clad in naturally-aspirated trim, as it came from the factory, Nguyen claims 400 hp at the drive wheels.
To begin, the car's powerplant has had its breathing passage opened up with an A'PEXi power intake hooked to an Iverse polished pipe. Stillen headers funnel wasted gases out of the engine bay while a GReddy SP cat-back exhaust blows them out the back. The intake manifold and cylinder heads have been fully polished and the engine pulleys have been replaced by lightened, anodized pieces. Engine air/fuel management and ignition timing are masterminded by a Jim Wolf-tuned ECU, which is what I'd assume gives Hieu his biggest gains on the dyno.
Inside the cockpit an array of system meters from GReddy and AutoMeter give vital readings on the engine's condition, including air/fuel ratio, water temperature and EGT. A 5-in. AutoMeter tach relays engine rpm, and an A'PEXi Super AFC modifies air-flow signals to allow all high-flow components to work efficiently in tandem. An Ignited push button start switch has been placed just left of the auto shifter. For audio entertainment, Hieu's stereo comprises components from Panasonic, including a 7-in. screen with navigation capabilities, a DVD player, and a Panasonic 5.8-in. monitor display. Extant amplifiers and a 140-watt power inverter supply juice to Boston Acoustics and Infinity Kappa speakers and JL Audio subs. A Sony PlayStation provides in-cockpit entertainment to Nguyen's passenger. Other interior mods include a pair of Sparco Pro-2000 racing buckets, a MOMO Apache tiller, a Levoc Ghost shift knob, Razo pedals and a carbon-fiber dash trim package.