The Nissan 350Z has a hardcore following even long after its left production. A few of those fans have dropped a Tesla motor in one and after two years of work, it’s finally ready for its first drive. One thing is very clear; it’s a lot faster than the original 350Z ever was.
The team over at Throtl has chronicled the entire build process on their YouTube channel but this video is special since it’s the first time the 350Z moves under its own power down the road in years. The Tesla motor drives the rear wheels only and in the last video was powered up for the first time. That’s a far cry from being road-ready though.
The beginning of this video features some important welding, trim work, and making the brake booster functional. They also add some safety parameters to the battery and motor programming. Once that’s complete it’s time to go see what a Tesla-powered Nissan 350Z feels like.
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The excitement on the faces of the guys as they roll down the road would make you think that they’re doing 200 mph (321 kph) not 20. Of course, that’s not where these hot rodders stop. Next, they crank up the power, for testing purposes of course. Let’s take a moment to highlight how cool it is that total power output is something that can be adjusted with a slider.
In the past, imagine how long it would take to go from 89-horsepower (65 kW) to 550 (404 kW). In this 350Z it takes the swipe of a finger. They don’t go all out right away though. Ramping up to 150 first and then onto the full-fat experience. Remember, the original 350Z made less than 300-horsepower (220 kW) when it first came out.
At full power, this Tesla-swapped Nissan breaks tires loose with ease. In fact, it does that a little too easily which the team points out because it makes drifting harder. What a delightful problem to have. Sure, we might not have as many burbly V8s (or in this case, V6s) in the future but at least we won’t be missing out on speed.