Keeping the Datsun Spirit Alive — 1971 Datsun 240z | Documentary

[Music] from as long as I can remember I I don't really know if there was one moment where I felt I was into cars it was just always there I have all these early memories of doing things like sneaking out into the barn at my grandparents place to get into my uncle's uh 56 Bel Air and just sit in that vehicle and remember hearing the way that um the door handle sounded when you'd open it up in that empty Barn in the morning it would Echo across the shop looking at the enamel on the inside of that car um when you're sitting eye Lev at the steering wheel center was always kind of a thing that you wanted to experience um it was always kind of like your secret little passion that you loved about those cars those memories that you had with them early on and that just sort of grew through my entire life point where it's I almost want to say an [Music] obsession I really my my best friend going through college and even to this day when we were just kind of out of college uh his father got really sick and had passed away and he was such a major influence and car guy around us it was a really impactful moment for all of our group of friends and it definitely gave a feeling that you wanted to make sure that you didn't want to leave anything off the table one of the things I always wanted to do was build a vehicle and personalize a car and that was an experience that my wife was very instrumental and pushing me to do those things she knew that that's what I wanted to do and saw that sort of drive and the reason why and and was very supportive of sort of kicking it off or you know lighting the match in a lot of respects to make it all happen we knew we wanted to build a car we wanted to build a vehicle and and do something special and unique and didn't really know what I wanted to do what vehicle exactly I wanted to do there was a 66 Mustang that was always kind of in The Ether but it didn't tickle quite the right fancy or passion for me and the datson was just kind of always in the background the the zc cars are always really been something that I've been drawn to over the years and started looking for them and kind of had an idea of a look that ultimately led us to doing a large hunt and and found this car that was being sold in Windsor Ontario that had been imported a year prior from California and it was a 1971 datson 240s and that was a that was kind of the starting point I was figuring out a datson for the first time in my life you know you have all these ideas and plans for a car and then you actually experience the car and you understand a little bit more about it and what makes makes it [Music] special [Music] originally the idea was to put an LS or an rb26 something very high horsepower but then you drove an L Series motor for the first time and you hear it at wide open throttle you realize that's the soul of the car that that is what has made this vehicle so special for so many people and why it's had such stain power over the years Nissan zc cars they've always followed a formula that I think appeals to uh Motorsport enthusiasts or a driving enthusiasts a front engine rear wheeel drive lightweight vehicle um that is supposed to be set up to be very balanced and very responsive for the driver but also sort of looking at a car that was from the' 70s and you know we remember that cars performance with rose covet glasses on and you know does that actually reflect reality when you drive an old car and so going down the path of kind of a Resto mod and updating some of the suspension and braking and drive line to try to match what those memories would have been that was kind of the key ethos of of the process of this car we first when we first got the car it was uh a lot of little things that were not not quite the way you'd want them just sort of tweaked around with those items until you know the car was generally happy and was able to drive that and enjoy it but coming back from a Cars and Coffee and 2014 um a coil spring broke in the car and that kicked off very very healthy part of the build that started with all the suspension and brake work that was done on the vehicle because as we started working on each component we suffer a little bit from while we're outed itis and that resulted in oh while we're at it we're going to change the brakes we'll put in a different differential we'll U make sure that a lot of the little hiccups and things that don't enjoy with the car that would be considered sort of problematic with the vehicle just get its age we're going to change out and make better really early on I knew that the car was going to end up flared we were going to cut the vehicle and put a traditional zg flare on it but the wheels that I had selected for the vehicle that was purchased years before even the body work started there was a lot of decisions made very early on that were committed and there was a direction that I wanted to follow with the vehicle from an aesthetic from a performance standpoint to prevent myself from backing out the suspension on the vehicle a lot of the components were sourced through a company called techno toy tuning the whole suspension Suite the brake work hubs a lot of the things that really make the car handle or perform the way it was was purchased or sourced with these guys who were making a proprietary component for the vehicle I wanted the car to stop and turn really really well and and especially with the performance aspect of the vehicle coming down the road I didn't find that the car was over motored for the way that the car was going to behave or the chassis so using those components or putting that package all together making sure that we had enough brake force was really instrumental on sort of making a complete package that was going to be functional and usable and and enjoyable to [Music] drive the motor that was in the car when I first got it was an l28 out of a 280 Z with a 260 Z head it was a decent motor and it gave a really good feeling for what the soulle of the car needed to be and really presented me with a direction of following that l28 motor that l- series motor and as time progressed we knew ultimately we were going to put more horsepower into the vehicle and that resulted in going through um datson Spirit um gentleman in Virginia that builds L Series Motors we sourced a motor from him uh that was a very lightweight rotating assembly 3 l l series and it produces a substantial amount of power in a naturally aspirated setup there was a major decision made to go away from carburation on the vehicle to sort of give a little more livability with the vehicle take some of the bad personality traits that come with a classic car but not losing the ethos or the um the sole of the vehicle in the process so we decided to go with an individual throttle body setup that has the six open trumpets under the hood that would give us the induction noise that I think is so essential to the experience of driving the vehicle but also with that pathway we're adding Standalone fuel management and that's going to give a lot more drivability to the vehicle a lot more ease of use and enjoyment so rather than sitting on the side of the road you know waxing about how it's an awesome experience to be broken down with the classic car we could actually just get to driving the vehicle and enjoying it [Music] I think when you look around at all the friends and family members and people that have helped along the way you sit back and now you have this thing that's taken a decade to build or do and and you know it's never quite finished but now we're generating all these memories um with it along the way where you know I have great memories of sitting in the car with with my children as toddlers just having those moments with them going for those drives those calm moments where you can just have a chat with them and experience the sounds and the feelings and the emotions and hopefully something that I'm passionate about um rubs off on them somehow or allows them to remember me that way

Channel: PROJECT1

Views: 31,508

Keywords: Datsun, Nissan, 240z, Classic car, Vintage car, Datsun z, Restomod, Hotrod, Car documentary, Documentary, Larry chen, Petrolicious, Hagerty, Jason cammisa, PROJECT1, Automotive film, Free documentary, Car rebuilding, Nissan GTR, GTR, JDM, JDM cars

Id: -zfPQRPWQ_A

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 06 2024