Shop cars often almost always take a back seat to customer cars in the automotive performance world, and after buying this 1978 Datsun 280z in 2013, Stephen Eades found it difficult to dedicate the time to it after opening his shop, Rock Solid Motorsports, in 2015. He eventually did build and race, but working on customer cars convinced him that he needed to take it to a higher level, and after a prolonged build time, the car’s second iteration finally made its debut this past week.
From the get go, the 280z known as Du Hast was LS-swapped and backed with a T56 six-speed transmission. Eades is good friends with Jonathan Atkins, who has piloted his Grubbworm Camaro to numerous stick-shift records and event wins.
“We went through several engines, and in 2018, I got burned out,” Eades recalled of the car’s early days. It was frustrating. The car was decently fast and we won Street Car Takeover in Atlanta in 2017, but we had a rookie knowledge of car setup then.”
Eades was inspired by Radial vs. the World class car builds that came in and out of his shop to go through his car and rebuild it from the ground up.
“Our knowledge has increased over the years, especially managing a stick-shift car, so we tore it down to the shell again in 2018.”
The Datsun received new replacement body panels made from fiberglass —,as if the little import wasn’t already light as it is — and Jimmy Grooms at Dark City Customs took care of the rust repair that also lightened the car, but structurally wasn’t helping. Then, the coupe was vinyl wrapped, as Eades knows that race cars get abused, and the wrap is perhaps a little more durable, and easier to replace.
Powering Du hast 2.0 is a tall-deck, LSR block packing 401 cubic inches. It’s topped with Mast Motorsports 295cc LS3 cylinder heads and a Plazmaman LS3 billet intake. Fueling comes by way of FuelTech injectors to flow the M1 alcohol, and a FuelTech FT600 handles engine management. Boost, and there’s plenty of it, is provided by a Bullseye NLX 104mm turbocharger, and the wastegates and blow-off valves are from Turbosmart.
Eades installed is AFCO Terminator struts up front, and JRi Sportsman coilovers in the four-link rear suspension, which holds a Hammer Concepts Ford 9-inch rearend. Eades also added TBM disc brakes at all four corners, and between the engine and the rearend you’ll find the all-important Tick Performance Outlaw/Race T56 manual transmission, which is coupled with an Advanced…
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