1,000 BHP JDM KOs the Dyno, Builds a Tidal Wave of Tire Smoke as a Display of Power

That American blood lineage in a JDM is no common heritage. The original engine, transmission, and rear end got a retirement, and something vastly superior took the throne. Under the hood now (barely) sits a massive six-liter V8 LQ4 LS, with an even bigger turbo crammed alongside it in the engine bay. Which, to accommodate all that firepower, was fully re-engineered and resized.

But back to the engine – the LS V8 turbo is very far – horsepower-wise - from what Chevy had in mind when it put it on the market. A standards LS LQ4 would peak at around 300 bhp and 370 lb-ft (304 PS over 501 Nm). This JDM-surrounded-V8 Chevrolet is now suitable for 880 bhp (892 PS) at the tires, which means the crank score reads somewhere around one thousand.

The turbo is an 88-mm Borg Warner blower, the rear differential is an R200, and the six-speed manual gearbox is a T56. What a madding combo for a car with a roll cage inside to strengthen its intentions of street-legal racing.

And this brings us to the main event of this story - the dyno reading. In true petrolhead creed, when you have a preposterously powerful car, you must know what's it suitable for. And off they went to a car event (read "rubber devastation opportunity") and put the Datsun on the dyno.

Remember I said Japan is a country of pride in the story's opening? Well, the Datsun, despite the boisterous American upgrade, kept its calm and refused to reveal its true might. So it broke… no, not down, but the dyno. To send a clear message to everyone that such a machine does not simply give away its secrets.

So, after putting the computer out of business twice in a row, the 280Z-derived atrocity got up on the burnout pad and gunned it. Judging by the wall of smoke, the car instantly built around the stage, and spectators arrived at a unanimous conclusion about the engine's power. Usually, numbers suffice to express a value, but sometimes math fails.

Thus, the Datsun's might and power rating could best be described in plain (British) English as "a lot." However, the suspected number is somewhere in the four-digit realm. A thousand – or more! – horsepower in a car that's 2800 lb (1,270 kg) is serious track performance material!

Still, for the absolute "don't believe it 'till I see it" gearhead, the car shows very conspicuous signs of the level of business it means. A wall-sized intercooler takes up most of the front part, with only the turbine sitting next to it in between the headlights. And the truck-sized exhaust pipe protruding outside the fender is another speed-is-just-a-number hint.

The engine bay, space-framed as it was, still could not offer enough real estate for the cantankerous V8 (courtesy of General Motors), so the hood got the full blow. Hence, the blown demeanor of the otherwise-common-looking Datsun is only made more evident by the Z06 stitching on the seats, right in between the race harnesses.

Forty-six years ago, when the car emerged from the assembly line, it had a modest 2.8-liter inline six with 170 hp and 177 lb-ft (240 Nm). The transmission came in three options, three-speed auto or four- and five-speed manual. Check the gallery to see what this Datsun 280Z looked like before the upgrades.

If you want to see more details about this stunning and deceptive-looking Nissan, play the second video and watch a first-drive reaction from its owner. Be warned - explicit foul-mouthery is heavily used.