Color me interested.
Nissan's 350Z is an inexpensive, great-handling chassis with plenty of room under the hood for a V8.
This example may have lots of miles, but it also sports pretty good paint and no rust or signs of major accident damage.
It does have one patch of peeling clear coat, though. We'll fix that with some cleverly-positioned vinyl.
Yes, those are knife marks on the seats. Nothing a few race seats won't fix.
210,000 miles and counting!
The previous owner used the car as a delivery truck, judging from the trunk area.
The car is currently powered by a 287-horsepower aluminum V6, paired with a 5-speed automatic transmission.
Some projects are about the car, like our Z06 Corvette. Some are about a task, like our Ramp Truck. Some are about a person, like our Rotary Miata.
This one, though, is about an engine. We’ve been rebuilding a $400 LS1 ourselves, with the goal of stuffing it into a car and going very, very fast. Finally, we’ve found our victim: This 2003 Nissan 350Z. The other top candidate was an E36-chassis BMW M3, but that car turned out to be too rusty to save, never mind race.
Why choose a 350Z? We had a few reasons. First, they’re common and inexpensive: We paid just $4500 for this example, which runs, drives, and looks great. It’s even got cold A/C! And if you want one of your own, just type 350Z into craigslist and take your pick. Nissan produced the 350Z for 8 model years, selling nearly 162,000 examples of the 350Z in the U.S. alone. No, those aren’t Camry production figures, but they mean that the 350Z isn’t a rare car by any means.
Second, the 350Z gives us a great chassis as a starting point, as we proved with our last 350Z autocross car. It’s also a platform that’s already received a few well-documented LS swaps, most notably by Savanna Little Racing, a regular at our Tire Rack Ultimate Track Car Challenge. This means we won’t be doing this all alone, and can learn from others’ mistakes on our road to a fast track car.
Third, we already have an awesome partner lined up: LOJ Conversions makes exceedingly well thought-out LS swap kits for a few different cars, including the 350Z. They’ve agreed to help us with this project, donating a kit and their time to get our car running on all eight cylinders. After that, the sky’s the limit. Well, the lifters, too–but we’re pretty sure we’ll be okay there.
Color me interested.
Knifemarks on the seats... Where are you buying from?
This is gonna be fun
I'd prefer to see you do it to a RX-8, but this is a mighty nice consolation prize.
Am I starting to see that there may be a red colored car theme in the garage? Hay you do know that the red box behind the 350z would be fun with a LS in it.
Om nom LS powered 350z? I'm excited.
monknomo said:Knifemarks on the seats... Where are you buying from?
Probably craigslist from a buyer that only accepts cryptocurrencies.
I buy all my projects on Craigslist! I think the seats were the result of an angry ex, not a murderer, since there are no blood stains.
As far as the red box goes... don’t tempt me. A buddy of mind has an adapter plate that would let it bolt up to the stock 5-speed.
Are you leaving the automatic or changing it out? Great project by the way. 350's seem to be everywhere and are pretty cheap, even for nice running and looking cars that need little work.
Can't wait to see it in person!
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