Modernizing a Vintage Car

This car is 50 years old. But what if it wasn't ? Two years ago, I brought this classic car back to life after it had sat for 20 [music] years. After a lot of work, it's back on the road , but I found myself thinking, "That's not enough." Vintage cars are super cool, but modern cars are generally more efficient , powerful, and reliable than cars of yesterday. I want those things for this. One thing I could do is swap out the old engine for a modern one, getting the best of both worlds. But actually, no, I can't . So, what if instead there's a way to bring this old engine into the modern era and maybe make even more [music] power in the process? Today, I'm going to show you what I spent the past 8 months of my life working on. Starting with what exactly is wron g with the car in the first place. So, let me get you up to speed. This is my Datson 280Z from 1978. And it's uh kind of a piece of . A lot of that is due to time being unkind to it , but also a lot is due to just how it is . Now, the car does run and the fuel injection system on it technically works , but that's about where any positives stop . According to the original owner's log book, this thing gets around 15 to 17 m per gallon. . That's not great, though. Old marketing materials say it should produce around 170 horsepower at the engine . Power is always lost as it moves through the drivetrain . So, there's probably a lot less than that actually hitting the road . But how much less? ? [bell] Not far from me is a performance shop called Stupid Fast , and I brought them a car that's stupid slow . We did a few runs in the dynamometer here , and the best we could get was 125 horsepower . For reference, that is less than a 2012 Chevrolet Cruise Eco . And that car is a I would know. I own one. So, here it is. the Nissan L28 engine . Now, before I go fully tearing apart this engine