a longer video<\/a> posted a couple of years ago, this is actually the second M120 to go into this car. The original swap was done for a hill climb, during which the engine was terminally overheated. After a second engine was installed, the goal was to simply get the car running and driving, with other work beint gradually completed over time. The new exhaust system might not have been vital to making the Z drivable, but it\u2019s safe to say that it levels up this build.<\/p>\n\t\t![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770529091_381_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe did it! V12 m120 swapped Datsun finally sounds like an F1 car\/Ferrari\/SVJ\/Zonda\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The V12 is a tight fit in the 280Z\u2019s engine bay, but this aluminum-block engine doesn\u2019t weigh much more than the stock iron-block L-Series inline-six, helping to maintain good weight distribution while producing a healthy amount of power (it was rated at about 400 horsepower in the W140 S-Class) before modifications. It\u2019s connected to a Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed manual transmission.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to see something more creative than an LS swap. And while there\u2019s nothing like the sound of a small block V8, an uncorked M120 is something else entirely. Any car enthusiast within earshot of this Z will certainly appreciate the choice.<\/p>\n
Got a tip? Send it in: tips@thedrive.com<\/p>\n
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,176320,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-461149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-datsun","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Mercedes-Benz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-06-at-4.35.45-PM.jpeg\")
TungTied via YouTube<\/p>\n