Welcome To The Internet: Datsun 280ZX
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
Ahh the internet, home of all things wonderful, weird, horrifying and amazing. It’s also where Ian Perri’s 280ZX has found recognition, and dare I say fame. We first met Ian and his shakotan S130 last year at the In N Out Subie Invasion meet. The car was a lot like it sits before you, but it’s also undergone some changes. Changes we’ve been able to see through Facebook and Instagram posts.
It’s also on Facebook and Instagram that we stumbled across other things that Ian likes. He’s a big Nicolas Cage fan, and also enjoys King Of The Hill. He runs around with the Slamburglars and Outsid3rs guys, and he got his hands on a Toyota Cressida. He leads a well rounded life, or so says the internet. Enough about him, let’s talk about the S130.
First thing you notice about the car is how you almost trip over it. (Well, that and what’s left of the Kaminari body kit) This thing is insanely low. On the drive over to the shoot we saw it shooting sparks while driving over a flat road! The stance is achieved with custom coilovers with sectioned struts up front and S13 240sx coilovers in the rear with shortened struts.
Ian drifts this car. Not “occasionally spin donuts in a parking lot” drifting, he goes out to Vegas ProAM events, pays his entry fee and gets loose. He even drove this car, as it sits, to California to drift. To help with that, drifting not driving to California, he’s modified the steering knuckles and inner tie rods. Tein tension rods for an S13 have been adapted for use as front lower control arms, and they’ve also been clearanced to clear the steering knuckles. While he was in there, he added some negative camber roll center adjusters.
There are no sway bars at either end, this S130 is a sway bar free zone. There is 5-6 degrees of camber correction in the rear using heim ends in the rear lower control arms, and a slotted rear crossmember. Between the rear wheels is a differential out of an S12 200SX. The R180 diff has a 4.11 gear and the carrier has been swapped to accept stock axles. It’s also been welded.
While we’re at the back, let’s check out the JDM 280ZX-R hatch and spoiler. That’s some sweet, sweet JDM goodness. There’s also the twin tail pipes sticking out from the bumper. Those are the end of a custom exhaust featuring MSA twice pipe muffler.
That exhaust starts here, under the hood. It come off of a MSA header that’s been modified for better ground clearance. The header hangs off of the L28, which is topped off with a shaved and polished valve cover. Bringing the spark to the party is an MSD Ignition, and keeping everything cool is a Koyo radiator with the OEM shroud modified to fit the new radiator. The big things here are the triple 45mm OER carburetors. And the custom fuel rail with AN fittings, but mostly the carbs. Carburetors are black magic and voodoo to get working right, getting three to work right AND together means Ian is some kind of wizard. Backing the magical OHC mill is a transmission out of a kouki 280ZX.
The interior is a show quality, concourse perfect… No, no it isn’t It’s a well worn interior, one you’d expect in a car built and used like this. A Sparco Sprint bucket seat is showing it’s age, but still holds Ian securely in place. The red button on the Nardi Gara wheel doesn’t do anything except honk the horn. And the shifter is something I know very well. It’s out of an old Celica Supra, which is the same place the shifter in my Supra came from.
When we were first introduced to this car it was on a set of Centerlines. He still has those, and a set of Enkei 92s, but the red slippers this thing wears will make any fanboi jealous. Starting life as 14×6 all around, the Advan A3As have been widened by Wheelflip. The custom made lips have been polished and bring the specs to 14×9.5 -35 in the front and 14×10 -41 in the rear. The barrels and faces were refinished by Ian himself, and he took it upon himself to reassemble the wheels.
The internet loves this car. Maybe because it stands in contrast to the uber-clean, yet hardly driven Stance and “race” cars we see. Perhaps deep down inside we all want a shakotan car. Or maybe because it’s a really honest example of something built by a guy who wants to build something for himself to go do stupid things with his friends in. Whatever the reason, it’s getting some of that sweet internet fame. Sweet, delicious internet fame it deserves
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