Datsun 280Z/Mercedes V12 engine swap update: The biscuit is in the basket

When we last left our young couple — Jordan Easter and Michael Tung of Ann Arbor, Michigan — they were finishing up the planning stages of shoehorning a Mercedes SL600 V12 into the body of a Datsun 280Z. Seems impossible, but to two kidless, carefree, 30-ish-year-old engineers, nothing is really impossible. Lucky ducks. The madness began the Friday before Easter — the holiday, not the person — and by Monday, the brute work was mostly done. Tung and Easter credit their friends with making it happen because even on an engine stand, a Mercedes V12 (with transmission attached) ain’t that easy to work with.

But the measurements were made, so the V12/T56 six-speed trans combo fit. And the shifter landed right where they wanted it to. That’s why they chose the T56, as opposed to the CTS-V manual transmission they were also considering. Easter and Tung cut the stock radiator, but the subframe worked as is. They did have to flip the engine mounts around, but as I write this, the engine and trans are locked in. Well, not locked in — there may need to be some steering/suspension adjustments, and the driveshaft needs to be custom-built, but we’re nearly there.

Of course, when I said that, Tung and Easter backpedaled a bit.

“We’re expecting something to trip us up soon,” Tung said. Spoken like a true, and realistic, customizer.

Other things on the still-need-to-be-figured-out list include the hood, as the V12 is a bit taller than the stock I6. I suggested an even bigger power bump, or, half-jokingly, just cutting a hole in it and letting the top half run free.

The next steps are getting a MegaSquirt electronic fuel-injection controller, which, like Frank’s Red Hot, can be put on anything, along with coil packs, which are coming from a Honda Odyssey. They also need to choose the fuel injectors and then get it all working together by plugging in a laptop and experimenting.

I asked them which part was harder, the mechanical or the programming/technical side — to which they replied, “Both.”

“It’s like the actual production/development process of new car,” Tung said. They have to figure out what they think they need, do it, make adjustments, reengineer what needs reengineering — and keep on going.

They also believe in the rule of Pi, which says that everything will take about 3.14 times longer than you think it will.

Easter and Tung will continue to tweak as necessary — a custom job like this is never really done — and add the things still needed above. But even considering that 3.14 rule, we will see this car at the Empire Hill Climb on Sept. 14.

And that, my friends, is what you call a ticking clock.

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