If you have been keeping up on our 370z exploits, good for you.  If you haven’t then HERE is some mandatory reading.

We were planning on taking the car to the Motorsport Auto Show (MSA) from the beginning and if you know us then you are aware that there was NO WAY that we were going to take a stock car.  We made a few phone calls to the people that can make things happen and the ZCG 370z turned into a monster overnight.

We decided that the first change to the car needed to be in the suspension department.  Eibach springs was a first choice because of their pedigree in the industry and we shortly had a couple of boxes at our door.  They are advertised to lower the car 0.9″ in the front and 0.8″ in the rear.  The springs are a progressive rate set-up front and rear to help with ride quality and in the handling department.  The looks are vastly improved as the photos show and I’m happy to report that there is a noticeable decrease in body roll and mid corner stability seems to be improved; it’s a nice improvement considering that the ride quality is not any more harsh than before.

The next call we made was to our friends down at StopTech Brakes, and we went for the big boy of brake kits.  You can remember that we ran into problems with the stock brake system after a few sessions on the track so we felt the need to step up here.  It was the week of the MSA show so we needed to request overnight delivery if we were to finish everything that week and when we unwrapped the boxes we were overjoyed.

Before our eyes lay the latest and largest kit that StopTech has to offer for the 370z.  It includes 6 piston front calipers with 380mm rotors in the front and 4 piston calipers and 355mm rotors in the rear.  The rotors are a slotted two piece design to aid in performance and replacement.  I don’t even know where to begin to describe the feeling these brakes give when you slam on the “stop” pedal, it’s not worth testing the limits on the street so we will be heading back to the track with haste very soon.  Bummer, I know, more track days for work.  Where will it end.  Haha

Now comes the time for improved power.  We ordered the Stillen cat-back exhaust and the new Gen-3 intake system to help our car breathe better on both sides of the engine.  Before I even get to any sort of dyno results I need to say that everyone here at Z Car Garage was let down by the fit and finish on these two products.  The exhaust rubs and hits in at least two or three places, its painfully annoying.  The intake system comes with no brackets of any sort and the front part is left to bounce around to rub on and destroy anything it pleases (see video below.)  We have made our own brackets and changes to the intake to prevent any sort of serious damage, we were even forced to wrap the air conditioning lines on the driver’s side to prevent the intake from inevitably rubbing through.  Stillen is a huge company with tons of R&D time in these products, I don’t understand how they could ship a part like this and expect owners to be satisfied.

As far as power numbers are concerned, it is an improvement.  On the graphs the blue line is the car returned to its totally stock form for a baseline.  The red line is after the intake only.  The final green line is with the intake and exhaust.  Each change gains around ten wheel horsepower and a moderate torque increase as well.  Too bad horsepower poor fit and finish.  I have heard from our sources that they have made improvements to the exhaust fitment, and not to defend Stillen, but these were some of the first parts on the market for the 370z.  We here at Z Car Garage just want our customer base to get the the best product they can, and the product that you deserve.

As far as future upgrades to the ZCG 370z are concerned, I will be posting the solution to our other track event failure sometime next week with test data to follow as soon as we get back to the track.

Here is the video of the intake that is supplied without any brackets.  We ended up making our own.  Enjoy the random music in the background.

It’s Saturday morning here in rainy northern California and I am here with Rob at the shop.  I’m tired of getting angry emails about how the blog hasn’t been touched since we got back from MSA last weekend (Just kidding, we love to hear your thoughts.)  I’ve been working out in the shop all week but have dedicated this morning to updating the blog.  The posts that I’m preparing will be spread out over the next week or so.  Here’s what I’m working on, in no particular order:

ZCG 370z: We have performed a full on assault on the shop 370z and we took home first place in the 370z Modified class.  It now has an intake, cat-back exhaust, springs, and upgraded brakes.  The post will have all the details as well as dyno run information.  This will be the first post that I put up today.

Solvang Roadster Show:   This took place last Saturday before we headed to Orange, CA for the MSA show.  This will include photos from the start of our trip and the all the Roadsters and other cool Datsuns at the show.  There were some pretty amazing cars there and ZCG’s own Alvin G. took home top honors in the Modified 1600 Fairlady class!! Congrats!

Motorsport Auto Show 2009:  The largest gathering of Zs on the West Coast!  The show was amazing and the weather was perfect.  We were surprised to see how many people showed up to display their cars with the current state of the economy and all.  I’ll have some neat background stories of some of the people we met and the cars they brought.  Good times.

GT-R:  The ZCG sponsored GT-R came back to the shop last Tuesday and it has left again.  It’s funny how the car we support spends the least time at our shop.  After a few short days of damage control and a whole lot of hustle the car is off to LA to take place in the Gumball 3000 Rally all the way to Miami.  This post will contain information on most of the upgrades that have been performed over the past week.

Laguna Seca 350z Video 2:  The second installment of some track footage of time spent at Laguna Seca.  Enjoy the Video because that will pretty much be the entire post.  On second thought I may post a list of up-coming track events on this post so that all of our readers can find out how and when to join in on the fun.

350z Borla Header Install and Dyno Results:  I will have all the dyno information as well as over-all thoughts on this header install posted.  Some nice results from a well designed product.

240z Engine Rebuild:  The engine came back from the machine shop last week and I have spent a few hours this week prepping and painting the engine as well as gathering parts for the completion of this job.  I will have photos and hopefully a dyno number for this new engine.

G35 Twin Turbo Custom Gauge Install:  This system is awesome!!  I took a video of the gauges at work and it still doesn’t do it justice.  If the ZCG G35 didn’t have navigation this would be going in our car.  We double checked the boost and AFR gauges and they are incredibly accurate.  Good stuff.

Behemoth RB28 Engine Returns!!! After waiting for parts from Japan for the past few months, the stroked RB28 destroyer has come back to the shop.  Now we will be painting the block to give it the “show” to match its “go.”  We will also be installing all of the N1 factory Nissan race parts in final assembly.

370z Intake and Exhaust Modifications:  We had another car come in this week and we were able to perform the same mods that our shop 370z currently has and then some.  I have full dyno comparisons as well as a ton of photos for this car.  Thanks Tom, blue is the best color.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!!!!

Cosworth Plenum Dyno Results!!!!! Some of you may have thought that I forgot about this post but I needed to wait for the proper time to relase the information that we have discovered on our dyno!!  This post is bound to upset a few people….