New Nissan 400Z Spied With Hood Up
In photos obtained by japanesenstalgiccar.com, the Nissan 400Z prototype is seen with its hood propped open, and there it is, a 400 horsepower, twin-IHI turbocharged, VR30DDTT V6 engine. First available in the Infiniti Q50 sedan, a year later in 2016 it was also in the Q60 coupe in 300 and 400 HP versions.
The VR30DDTT has an aluminum block and cylinder heads, direct-mount turbos with integrated exhaust manifolds to decrease weight, and an electronic wastegate actuator. There’s also a lightweight resin intake and lower oil pan, an electronically-controlled variable-displacement oil pump, and twin water-to-air intercoolers with two water pumps.
Layerworks, the owner of a NISMO GT-R that was also at the Nissan Crossing showroom in Tokyo’s Ginza district, caught the 400Z prototype while workers were changing the display after hours. It was their familiarity with Nissan and Infiniti engines that led to the identification of the engine as a Q60 400 Red Sport, due to the location of three coolant caps, the shape of a reservoir, and the position of a large coolant hose and smaller reservoir overflow hoses.
Little by little, information about the 400Z is surfacing, and the level of excitement over its debut continues to build.
[Images: Nissan]
With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.
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People who were never in the market for a sports car are lining up on teh interwebz to tell us that if only the new Z had moar of this or less of that (what the hell was Nissan thinking?!) that'd have bought one or two.
The 400Z hood-up picture showed... a big plastic engine cover!