It’s not every day that we run across a Datsun 240z at a car show, and they rarely bring the kind of attention that this one does. This car belongs to Mike Carroll of Sequim, Washington, and it’s hiding a little surprise under its hood. This Datsun is powered by small-block Chevrolet ZZ4 350 cubic-inch engine. Yep, you read that right, a small-block Chevy in a Datsun 240z.

The engine compartment is a little tight as you can imagine, so the entire radiator and front support section is custom fabricated to fit this car. Everything is stainless, and to save even more space, they relocated the battery to the trunk. The engine is mated to a turbo-400 transmission and a beefed up Datsun 280 rearend. The system is fueled by a single, four-barrel Holley Demon carburetor.

Mike has always loved Datsuns, and that actually plays a part in his favorite aspect of this car. “My favorite thing about it is that it’s a 240,” he explained. “I like the shape, I like the style, and I like the history.” Mike bought this car when it was already in mid-project and at that time the engine had already been installed.

“I really liked what he was doing,” Mike told us a little about the previous owner, “he had the big picture in mind, but couldn’t get all the little details right.” That is where Mike came in, he bought the car with the engine and transmission in it, but it was rough around the edges. At that point, it was up to Mike to smooth it out, and get the details right. We think he did a pretty good job.

We love Mike’s car, and we’d love to see what you guys are driving out there. If you love it, odds are good that we will too, so shoot us an email with a couple pictures and a little information on your ride, you might just see it here as one of our Street Features. Still a work in progress? No worries, we’d always like to see a project for our What Are You Working On series.