When buying a new car, most shoppers look for a car that's great out of the box, and with not much needed to improve on. Martin Luk however bought his Z in 2003 with plans to go all-out and to upgrade everything. "I've always built race and track cars before. This time I wanted to build an all-around car." And indeed, his Z is upgraded.
The finished product you see now wasn't as easy to come to as you might think. There have been several setups and different builds with this car. Martin started out building the motor naturally-aspirated. With cams and a fully-built head, he was making a good amount of power for a streetcar, but it wasn't nearly enough for him.
After getting used to the power, Martin decided to scrap the entire plan and build the motor for forced induction. The engine was completely reworked and a supercharger was added. Along with a few other tricks, the car layed down 416 hp to the wheels.
Beating down Ferraris and just about anything he encountered, he was feeling on top of the world. Until of course, he had an incident with a Hennessy-built Dodge Viper. Yes, just like in my favorite Japanese anime Wangan Midnight, this Z was pushed to the limits on the highway. And just like in Wangan Midnight, this Z lost. "We were even until the end of fourth gear, and then that's when the Viper started pulling away. At fifth and sixth gear, all I could see was Hennessey on the rear of the car." Competition brings out the best in people, and Martin is no exception to the rule. Determined not to let the same thing happen again, he decided to ditch the supercharger and take the VQ35 to the next level.
Wanting nothing but the best for his Z, he decided to go with APS' Extreme twin turbo system. With two massive Garrett turbos and two 3.5" downpipes, this is APS' wildest kit. Arguably the best kit made for the Z. It's just the beginning of the madness. Custom cams had to be ordered from Tomei, as well as reinforcing the block with Carrillo rods and CP pistons. After having a few unnamed sleeves drop on him, Martin had to buy a whole new short block. The old block was unsalvageable after having the two sets of sleeves drop on him. This time around he went with Darton sleeves. To top that off, custom crank work was done; The new bore and stroke net him a 4.0L VQ35.
With everything in line, the car was brought back to Mark at SGP Racing in Houston. The new setup and heart transplant of the beast yielded 602 hp to the wheels. With pump gas (93 octane) and only 12 pounds of boost he tells us "it's not even really pushing the car yet." Martin will be going back to tune the car more aggressively later on. "I don't think making over 900whp will be a problem." And I do believe it's Viper hunting season for Martin and his Z.
To show that he's not just a gearhead and all about power, Martin has dressed his 350Z in one of the very few widebody Do-Luck kits in the states. Unlike most widebody kits, this one is subtle, flows with bodylines, and is not hideous like the rest. With a sleek elegant front bumper and side skirts, the only parts that indicate a widebody, are those exaggerated steps around the rear lights and gas cap, that make them look sunken into the body. Rare on the streets, high shoulder fenders like this are usually only seen on Super GT cars. Loving the original paint color, Martin decided to paint the kit the same LeMans Sunset Orange that Nissan chose for this Z.
To transfer the power down, the 19x9.5 and 19x10.5 Volk GTS were covered in 255/35 and 285/30 wide Toyo T1-R rubber. And to bring the car back down to earth, chromed 12-piston Rotora calipers were fitted to front, while the rears were fitted with 4-piston units.
Now that the car is completely built, it is no longer his daily driver. Instead he'll be bringing it out to car shows and drift events for fun. Fortunately for him, he just picked up a Nissan R34 Skyline for his daily pleasure. Yeah, that's pretty tame.