Chevy V8 Swapped Datsun 240Z - Jay Leno's Garage

Real nice guy. He bought it with the v8 so i wont hold it against him lol😂

Those wheels just about fit within the wheel arches yet re,ain within the sides of the bodywork, overall the body shell and mechanics are beautifully finished. A car than any owner would be proud of.

Yikes. The paint is horrible.

I'd hunt down a good roof in a junkyard and weld it back on.

Why does the the hood not fit fush at the front with the fenders.

I absolutely love that car. These cars are amazing with v8 power Miss one I had

What a nice guy with talent.🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁

..a great program with good story.. Thank you!🇺🇸

A lot different than my ‘72 Z car !

So clean.

Jay, you should contact Darius Khashabi. He is a Motorcycle Stunter from the Bay Area. He has a 240Z with a Blown 350. It is really Sick! Video's are on YT. He would be an interesting interview. He has several 'Toys' that you could talk about, but have him bring the Datsun.

Nicely done conversion to a convertible, but installing a duff american V8 and auto transmission into a 240Z. Nah wrong move, imho. If the owner wanted more power plus reliability and decent fuel consumption he would have been way better advised to go down the Japanese route with a modern skyline 6cyl turbo unit and a bloody manual. What a missed opportunity

cool! But needs a manual trans

"College student" that explains the automatic dog o matic

Has that classic Ferrari Daytona look

What's the color/

Don't attack me but it kinda has a Cobra vibe to it.

Mericans...... we do car stuff just the way we want to do it.......😂haaaaaaaaaaa.

Awesome....

Nice job, & an interestingly well done conversion.
I did think the spoiler was well done.
Really love the look it has as a convertable.
Cheers

Thank you jay

What will car resto hacks do when the market runs out of chevy V8's. I'm not knocking Leno because 90% of what he does is awesome but the rest of the resto mod world is just rehashed cliche BS. LS swaps and 22" wheels on everything... Boring.

The diff is a 3.36, so a pretty good setup, considering the light weight.

First creation is the purest Jay. Others are altered from the creation; that's the problem.

My brother and i bought the Scarab Kit. Corvette engine and a vette 4 speed. That puppy would really scream.

The addition of the rear roll bar adds substantial chassis torsional stiffness

nice that James gave hes brother a shout out ,beautiful car love the wheels and the color is spot on

Wish I could see the underneath of the car to see the exhaust pipes, the chassis reinforcing, and to see if they used a TH700R4.

Super cool and very tastefully done. Great restomod 😎

Love this. What a sports car!!

Sounds kinda rickety

Oh this is a beauty!

Better to take a 280z a 240
Is too pure to destroy. No one cares about a 280

That’s a great build! Thanks for sharing.

Back in 1979 or so my friend Tom Farrell at 18 years old put a 350 auto trans and a Datsun 2 +2 rear end in a 240 Z ! What a sleeper , great job and car!
No Tom owns Farrell’s Restorations on the East Coast!

That's a great build!

I was anticipating Jay making him an offer

Looks fantastic!! Nice work.

By far the most beautiful Z ever!! Makes me wonder why Datsun didn’t offer a convertible from the beginning. I bought a 71 and wish I still had it.

Saw a 240Z today; hadn't seen one in years! Didn't look anything like this beauty; strong work!

Another great video, beautiful car, loved seeing and listening to knowledgeable car guys especially jay as always!

He sure has a lot of cars I'd like to have his Ford festiva

Years back a friend of mine flipped cars for a hobby and small profit, and one of his favorite flips was dropping a Chevy 350 into a Datsun 280z. He did 3 of them if i remember correctly.

its almost looks like a sunbeam

That car is very well done. Understated with lots of care with the details. I love the rear spoiler and the color, it fits the character of the car. I'm a big fan of a manual. That is the only thing I would change on the car. Truly beautiful!

FOR ME THIS WOULD BE FINAL ONE

240-280 just fantastic designs and performance

Amazed at how great the audio is while Jay drives the car.

I had an RX7 that I bought with a 350 Chevy already installed. Seems like a great idea until you try to work out all the little stuff that goes with a swap like this. Reason I sold it, the car was so hot to drive (convertible) it was useless in the summer in my area. The engine generated a ton of heat and sent it to you in the passenger compartment, and of course, had no air conditioning.

The car is absolutely gorgeous ! Looks very well done. (I hate to be that guy but the shape of that rollbar is just not right for the car tho)

Great car. Beautiful job