SEMA is a hard show at which to properly appreciate cars. On one hand – it’s a show overflowing with some of the best builds you will see all year. On the other hand – it’s that same overflow that makes it almost impossible to keep your wits about you. It’s almost too much of a good thing. In a sea of thousands of cars, I feel like some inevitably get lost. The great thing is: The cars that are truly memorable, the cars you are talking about weeks and months after the show… are cars which rise above the temporary flash-in-the-pan Instagram fame. Some cars deserve to be immortalized. More than digital noise or passing fancy, they draw their inspiration from the timeless. The classic.
This 240Z certainly qualifies as one of these cars. While it has some innovations and forward thinking design elements, it also honors the tradition and legacy of Datsun’s Z car heritage. Car owner Dennis wanted a Z that could be as menacing on the street as it was on the track. In looking to manifest his dreams into reality, he was fortunate enough to meet aspiring builder Kyle Kuhnhausen. Kyle is a fresh out of business school automotive entrepreneur with a penchant for metal work. Ok, more than a penchant… he has a gift. From the paint scheme to the heavily gusseted cage, this car is well thought out & beautifully executed. How well executed? Well, when we talked he made sure I knew that the LS swap was a place holder engine until they built something truly epic for under the hood. WOW. Some place holder.
Let’s take a moment and revel in my three favorite aspects of this car.
First)
There is the paint scheme. Nimbus Grey (or battle ship grey in some parlance) has to be my personal favorite hue on show cars. It’s rich, it allows shadows to adopt a deep dark over tone, and light reflections to be silvery & pronounced. Every truly beautiful design looks amazing in this color. So… win number one? CHECK! The Peter Brock homage striping is as evocative and respectful of the Z’s motorsport heritage as it is a tasteful modern touch of racer bravado. I dig it. Those famous side stripes actually start on the hood at the vents and then cascade over the fender and down the side forming the Brock stripes we are all familiar with. A killer design cue that is at once forward thinking and period correct. Nicely done.
Second)
Let’s talk about that metal work. The Aero is mean, functional, and gives the car a seriously provocative stance. What’s more – it’s designed to just rip/break away cleanly in the case of a momentary lapse in driver skill (for example paying a visit to say, China Beach at the end of the straight at Mid Ohio). Well played Kyle, well played. However, as fantastic as that aero is, it is nothing compared to the beautifully executed roll cage. Meant to be a street car that can participate is serious track time… it had to be a car from which Dennis could easily get in and out. Kyle kept the safety high by fabricating one seriously artful, yet stout, fully gusseted integrated cage. Take a few moments and look at the cage in this car. I have severe race car envy. My race car has race car envy. Seriously. It is so good that it easily merits adjectives like superlative, excellent, exemplary. Bravo.
Third)
And this is one where so many cars sort of take a pass… the gauge cluster. When a car has track day toy duties, it’s easy to just pick up a digital display, mount it up, and just call it done. Not in this car. The cluster in this car is 13 individual pieces of aluminum lovingly hand shaped into what you see before you. It honestly called to mind some of the extreme and bespoke modern interpretations currently en vogue built around the Porsche 911. The Singer cars being the most notable, they take an air cooled 911 and massage every aspect of the car… and polish, preen, & refine it until it is absolutely jewel-like. The perfect 911. Well, that’s where this Z took me. It’s like a really nice 240Z… only polished to the highest possible degree. Everywhere you look there are tasteful touches. This instrument cluster exemplifies that. The angle at which it is canted toward the driver, the alignment of it inside the MOMO wheel. It’s absolutely glorious.
So yeah, this car is one of the highlights of last year’s SEMA show. It truly was. Bespoke modern takes on past classics are hot right now. Cars like the Singer 911s are fetching 500k and more per unit, so it makes builds like this kind of a serious proposition. Get it right and the value and classic status is legitimate. In the end, Dennis can drive this car on the road or the track, confident in the fact that he found the perfect enthusiast to execute his vision. And he can rest well in the fact that he’s now driving the Singer of Datsun 240Zs.
InZanity 240Z
CHASSIS
- 1972 Datsun 240z shell
- 10-point fully tig welded roll cage featuring flared hole body tie-in gussets
- Lower jacking & towing points welded to bottom of main cage shelfs
- Every unibody seam is fully stitch-welded inside & out, and seam sealed
- All top strut mounts replaced with camber adjustable heavy duty plates
- Pre-load adjustable tie-rod strut braces featured in engine bay
- Tig welded fuel cell cradle with integrated rear center mount tow hook
- Rear sub-mounted battery with remote charging points and kill switch
- Custom tig welded engine & transmission mounts. Optimized center of gravity
- 50/50 weight distribution
- Bolt-in aluminum transmission tunnel stiffeners / driveshaft hoops
- Integrated scraping points for oil pan protection
BODY MODS
- Trackspec Motorsports heat extracting louvers on hood & front fenders
- Front fender-exit side exhaust with custom alloy diffusing louvers
- Rear rockers clearanced for functional rear brake vents, and lowered 1.25”
- Fender & rear emblems shaved
- Antenna & side marker lamps shaved
- CNC billet aluminum laser engraved KMC tail lamp insets
- CNC billet aluminum quarter panel vent emblems featuring modernized “Z”
- Rear bumper & mounts shaved
- Symmetrical rear body pan recess, opposed to unsymmetrical stock recess
- Front bumper shaved & swissed with dimple die punched holes
- Reinforced rear hatch for functional spoiler mounts
- Rear quarter panel turbulent air extraction holes with alloy bezels added
- Wide “ZG” style flares, adding 6” of width to the rear fender wells
- All body gaps cut, welded, and staked.
- Shaved hood springs & streamlined hinges
- Show grade bodywork
- One-piece front & rear windscreen gaskets
POWER
- GM 2004 LS1 engine with T56 6-speed manual transmission
- Modified & ported 1.625” primary headers ceramic coated in gold
- Bespoke 2.5” Fully pie-cut and tig welded exhaust with front X-pipe (167 weld joints)
- Dual 8” sectioned Magnaflow Corvette style mufflers mounted in front wheel wells
- Improved Racing 180 degree oil cooler thermostat with 400hp Setrab cooler
- Holley Coil on Cover valve covers
- Radium Engineering FCST fuel cell surge tank and full fuel system
- Vibrant Performance –AN fuel lines
- Modified stock throttle body with Lokar stainless throttle cable
- Custom 4” aluminum air intake with K&N filter outside engine bay
- Aluminum crossflow radiator with 16” Flex-A-Lite electric fan and custom shroud
- Modified Hurst short shifter with KMC integrated transmission fluid top-fill
- Centerforce single disc clutch
- ACT Clutch Prolite lightweight flywheel
- Custom one-piece driveshaft
- Infinity Q45 R200 differential with VLSD limited slip unit and 3:54 final drive ratio
- Nissan Armada CV axles
BRAKES
- 6-piston Wilwood front calipers & 4-piston Wilwood rear calipers
- Fully functional ram-air 3” brake ducting to all 4 corners with custom caliper hats
- ASD Motorsports hydraulic 16” e-brake system with braided -3an lines
- Wilwood billet master cylinder with modified vacuum booster assembly
- Optimized pedal box with reduced weight and improved pedal placement
- 3/16” Stainless hardlines and -3an braided flex lines
- Wilwood proportioning valve with hidden custom mount
- Remote Wilwood proportionating valve in-cabin adjustment knob custom retrofit
- Custom aluminum master cylinder heat shield
SUSPENSION
- Full Arizona Z-Car “Track Pack” billet aluminum adjustable suspension
- Arizona Z-Car struts with coilover adjustable springs, modified for tire clearance
- Apex Engineered bump steer adjustment kit and high steer knuckles.
- Full polyurethane bushings
- Modified front crossmember for improved roll center
- ST Suspension front & rear sway bars with Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings
- 5 Lug converted hubs with front Wilwood spindles
- ARP chromoly extended wheel studs
- Stitch welded and reinforced front crossmember
AERO
- Custom HDPE adjustable front air splitter with alloy radiator and brake dams
- Custom HDPE adjustable rear diffuser with jacking point & air straighteners
- Custom HDPE 6” side splitters with exhaust vent & rear brake vents integrated
- Aluminum tunnel underbelly, mostly flat under entire car
- Pitch adjustable 3-piece rear deck spoiler with Ringbrother’s micro hinges
- ARP carbon fiber micro mirrors
- Lexan headlamp aerodynamic fillers
- 4 Piece aluminum radiator ducting with cabin air ducts integrated
ELECTRONICS
- Street and Performance engine wiring harness with reflashed stock ECU
- Braille lightweight I25X lithium battery
- Bowler Performance phantom key with Honda s2000 push button starter
- Fully custom KMC chassis wiring harness
- Fully integrated Passport 9500ci radar detector system
- Alpine double-din 6” monitor with frenched backup camera, navigation, and satellite radio
- Dakota Digital VHX-1100 competition dash with 16 digital readouts
- Dakota Digital BIM 1 OBDII gauge interface
- EPAS electronic power steering integrated into Woodward steering column with input potentiometer knob on dash
- Custom carbon aircraft-style switch panel with u-shaped toggle protectors
- Quick Latch removable main electronics panel featuring Marine resettable circuit breakers
WHEELS / TIRES
- 18” CCW 3-piece LM20 wheels with gloss black lips, satin black centers, and ARP bolts (18×10 front 18×11 rear)
- BFGoodrich Rival S 200tw extreme performance tires (275/35zr18 front 315/30zr18 rear)
- Gorilla extended race lug nuts
INTERIOR
- MOMO Super Cup FIA homologated seats and alloy brackets
- MOMO 350mm MOD. 07 suede steering wheel
- MOMO 6pt. harnesses
- MOMO quick release hub w/ bespoke manually machined adapter to race column
- Highly modified pedal box
- Longacre 17” wide rear view mirror
- Bowler performance billet shift knob and lever
- Aluminum bead-rolled hexagonal pattern fuel cell fire wall
- Custom alloy center console, and 3-piece alloy bespoke quick removable dash
- Smoothed transmission tunnel
- Bespoke flared-hole heel plates
- Flared-hole fabricated dead pedal and geometry optimized clutch and brake pedals
- Custom heater with 4 vents hidden under removable dash
- Hexagonally stitched suede door cards with carbon fiber aircraft riveted inserts
PAINT (All Axalta Refinishes Products)
- Chromax Mosaic SBBC B9*01 – Color: Ford Stealth Grey
- Imron 3.5 HG+ Polyurethane RH-3714 – Color: Gray 057
- LF Epoxy DTM Primer Gray 2540S
- Chroma Base “4 to 1” 2K Urethane Primer Filler Gray 7704S
- Chroma Priemier Premium Appearance Clearcoat 72500S
- Epoxy DTM Activator Medium Temp 2505S
- Basemaker Medium Temperature 7175S
- Activator-Reducer 60-70 Degree 7765S
- Plas-Stick Flexible Additive 2350S
- Chroma Premier Pro Normal Activator 14305S
OTHER
- Rear sub-mounted SPA Technique fire suppression tank with 6 nozzles in cabin/engine
- 2-piece removable front chassis-mount tow hook
- Proprietary differential snout oiling system with Tilton commercial pump and Setrab cooler
- Functional side hood winglet to integrated tig welded alloy coolant expansion tank
- Dual “II Much fabrication” differential and fuel system vents with custom bracketry and aluminum hard lines.
- Extensive use of ARP 12 Pt. stainless fasteners
Text by Tim Neely Photos by Dominick Barbero
