Steve Millen and his go-fast company Stillen might not be well known here in Australia, but in America they're synonymous with Nissan 300ZXs. There, Stillen is the place to shop for cosmetic and mechanical goodies for your beautiful Zed (amongst various other cars and sports trucks). Ultimately, buyers can specify a full Stillen kit - just like what's been thrown on this phat flyer...
Indeed, this particular vehicle has a strong international flavour. It's actually a Japanese-market 300ZX twin-turbo that's been endowed with the Stateside Stillen kit while still in its mother country. Then - like many Zeds that are now starting to get a little long in the tooth - it was shipped here to Australia. So what you're looking at is a Japanese car with American aftermarket accessories driving around in Oz! Weird, huh?
Owned by Hayden Brown, this 1989 2-seater Zed is one of the most delectable to ever roll out of a shipping container and onto Australian turf. It pales other imported 300ZX TTs with its Stillen upgrade turbochargers, dual Stillen air-to-air intercoolers (one tucked behind each side grille in the front bar), high flow intercooler piping, Japanese aftermarket chip (thought to be a HKS item) and HKS electronic boost controller giving up to 13 psi. The big DOHC VG30 blows its exhaust gasses out via a twin 3-inch mandrel stainless system, running through high-flow cats and a total of four straight-through mufflers. This set-up, too, is thought to be the work of Stillen. A little more digging around later on also revealed a Stillen engine oil cooler and an aftermarket twin plate clutch.
Not a bad streetable package....
Cosmetically, the Targa roof'd 2-seater 300ZX is a real treat. Stillen have built on Nissan's wonderful original design with their custom front and rear bumper bars, rear spoiler and fluted grille. You may also notice the aftermarket exterior mirrors in the photos, but it's unknown if they're genuine Stillen products. Either way, they look trick don't they?
Subtly lowered suspension sees the ZX body rest a little closer to the bitumen, and each of those smooth guards has eaten a PanaSport 17-inch 5-spoke rim. Behind the fronts are slotted Stillen discs working in conjunction with the standard Nissan ABS. A subtle but effective braking improvement.
The cosy cockpit-style interior had also been decked out when the vehicle arrived on the wharf. It shows off twin Recaro pews and racing harnesses, a 300 km/h speedometer (and, yes, it should be capable of winding most of the way out!), a double-DIN Alpine stereo system with the factory Bose speakers as well as centrally mounted GReddy gauges for boost, oil pressure and oil temperature. A GReddy knob has recently been fitted to the end of the cog swap lever (5-speed manual 300ZX twin-turbos, by the way, absolutely rip!).
With all of these exciting mods already arriving fitted ex-Japan, it's only reasonable that Hayden hasn't had to do much else the car. Apart from that GReddy gear knob, all he's done is replace the as-arrived K&N airbox insert with a cone element. Another K&N - of course.
Not long after having picked up the car, Hayden was blown away by its grunty, power-sliding performance. He says it's got great low-down pull and comes onto boost strongly - but get it wound up to over 4000 rpm and it's pure wickedness. Booting the tacho needle past 4000 when in a low gear, however, will result in rapid wearing of the 255/40 rear Yokohama rubbers.
Very rapid!
But this kind of behaviour takes its toll on a car - and who knows how much of a hiding the car had received back in Japan? Unfortunately, it seems the motor was about ready to cause hassles as soon as Hayden took up ownership. Cooling system problems (which are, apparently, common with twin-turbo ZXs) led to a damaged head gasket and overheating - which meant the whole engine had to come out... Grrr.
After this mammoth job had been performed, the V6 donk received replacement head gaskets and the reassembly stage was the ideal opportunity to polish the factory intake manifolding. S-w-e-e-t.
Once repaired, the car then found its way to Tony Rigoli's Sydney workshop to make sure power output wasn't down. It didn't appear to be. Running the aforementioned 13 psi boost, the ZX generated an easy 294 horsepower at the back wheels (as measured on the Rigoli Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno). And take a look at that power curve - it looks nice an' plump through the mid-range.
A large capacity engine fitted with twin turbos will do that!
Today, however, another problem has arisen with the tweaked VG30DETT motor. A light trail of smoke while under way appears fairly indicative that the cylinder rings are shot. But rather than shell out for another repair job, Hayden has decided to offering the Stillen-equipped car at a discounted price of only $19,500 (no offers, he says!). So anyone interested in a truly unique-in-Australia Stillen 300ZX TT should contact Hayden - in New South Sales - on 0416 269 835.
It's a car that's just b-e-g-g-i-n-g for a full-house engine rebuild!
Contact:
Tony Rigoli Performance
+61 2 9726 6662
AutoStyle Performance
0414 444 930
www.autostyle.com.au
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