Datsun 280Z | Pistons And Pixels

1976 Datsun 280Z

This is my ongoing project car, purchased in 2022 and slowly being rebuilt and setup with fast road naturally aspirated setup, with modern reliability in mind. This is a complete overview of the spec of the car, along with its history, photos and videos.

History

This Datsun is originally from California, where it lived from 1976 to approx 2016. It was then purchased and moved over to Sweden, where it underwent a respray and had the bodywork smoothed and the spoiler fitted. Somewhere around 2018 it went over to the Netherlands and was purchased by Gallery Aaldering. It stayed part of their collection, until it went up for sale in 2022 to make space for more vehicles, I just happened to come across it on a classic car website. I flew over to the Netherlands, test drove it and bought it on the spot!

Sadly, the engine internals were in bad shape, and this didn't show itself until about a year or so after I purchased it, when the engine basically failed in spectacular fashion. Which leads to the full engine rebuild detailed below. However, engine woes aside, the bodywork and chassis is immaculate and original.

Full Specification

The car has had most of the original 280z parts removed (bumpers, AC, EFI etc) to reduce weight significantly. The car has been worked on almost exclusively at Golden Barn Garage

The engine was completely rebuilt from the ground up in 2025 by Hammer Engine Solutions. Everything was replaced with OE or better, and precision balanced. The engine was mapped by Mark @ Abbey Motorsport and made useable and reliable power. My goal was to keep it as original as possible, naturally aspirated and 200hp per ton, and we pretty much made that perfectly.

A blog post of the engine build is on Golden Barn Garage blog.

Kerb Weight: approx 1000 - 1100kg

Power: 195 whp / approx 220-230 @ crank

Torque: 192 ft/lb / 260 nm

Engine