Interested in a fun cruise through beautiful backroads in March? ZONC fun runs are great and we have enjoyed running them many times. You can find more details on the official CruiseFlyer and also on the ZONC homepage.

SpeedSF/City Tech is hosting another great track day event at Buttonwillow March 15-16. They’re running the course counter-clockwise on Saturday and clockwise  on Sunday! The early bird rate is $225 for both days or $125 for one day. Register ASAP at SpeedSF.com.

This 1973 Datsun 240z has a colorful history. Despite being in the hands of several owners it always finds its way back to Z Car Garage. Rob has worked on this Z since moving here to California from Georgia in 1998. Bought new in Buffalo, New York, this Z was originally owned by a doctor named Bill L. Bill had to leave the country abruptly and wanted Rob to sell it for him. Christian C. was looking for a project 240z and purchased the car, bringing it back to ZCG for a bunch of work. We removed the 32/36 downdraft webers and added triple Mikuni’s and exhaust with nice results. Christian was then called to duty and moved to Korea. Current owner Paul G bought the Z and brought it back to us for more upgrades and maintenance, again!

 

Paul’s Z needed new clutch hydraulics and tranny fluid. A common wear item on these cars is the hole for the clevis pin to operate the clutch master cylinder. Over time the pin enlarges the hole making shifting difficult. We welded up the holes and re-drilled so the clutch pedal feels just the way it should. In the engine bay things keep getting better for this sweet inline-6. The standard Mikuni manifold wasn’t the ideal setup for flow when running the triple Mikunis so in anticipation for more power we installed a TWM manifold:

 

Here is the old Mikuni setup compared to the TWM:

 

With the new manifold in place we were ready to extract more power on the dyno, however there was a problem with Paul’s carb linkage making synchronization difficult. The traditional solution is to fix the rather intricate linkage system and move on but we thought why not simplify it? The Z’s carb linkage, like many old cars consists of several plastic pieces, caps, levers, arms and bell crank…all parts that fail or gain excess slop from repeated adjustment and years of abuse. Linkages do look cool (or complex) but a much more straightforward solution is to use a throttle cable.

 

We are stoked with this setup because it clears up the engine bay, makes throttle response more direct and tuning easier. We are especially proud of this mod because of its total reversibility…one can go back to the OEM linkage setup say for that concours restoration or car show.  No holes are drilled. Win-win! More pics of the single throttle setup:

 

With the carbs sync’d we dyno tuned with excellent mid-range gains and peak numbers of 152hp/172tq to the wheels!

Paul we hope you like your new go-pedal and rest assured if you need more upgrades ZCG will be here to help!

 

At Z Car Garage we love to help people find the right Z. When our friend and fellow Datsun nut Eric G asked if we could help advertise his Z and find a good home for it, naturally we obliged! Eric owns several Japanese sports cars including a nice Datsun Roadster and this 1973 S30 was his autocross/drift daily driver:

 

This isn’t an ordinary Z though as it hides a complete 280ZX Turbo drivetrain swap including the L28ET, BW T5 tranny, R200 rear end and full disc brakes!

 

Old school Recaros inside the clean interior and a straight, metallic blue body make it a great driver. Rob thought this was a great fit for his friend in Georgia,  James A.

 

Before shipping the car across the country Rob modified the old-school wastegate acuator to allow a modest increase in boost. This resulted in +20hp/19tq to the wheels:

 

Loaded up…Georgia bound and ready to stay in the Datsun family!

 

We are happy to report the Z successfully made it to Georgia and James is already Enjoying The Ride!

 

 

Alan E is a long time customer of Z Car Garage and started his boost habit in 2009 by Vortech supercharging his G35. It wasn’t long though before he realized that stopping this relatively heavy, 500hp beast with tired stock brakes may not be the best idea.  As you readers may notice, we have installed several  OEM 370z/G37 Akebono-based brake kits on older chassis Z/G cars. This setup is a great alternative to the existing BBK players out there like Stoptech/Brembo/AP, etc.

 

Larger than stock, vented Stoptech rotors help shed heat for repeated fade-free braking. Stoptech vs OEM G35 rotors (rear) shown:

 

The calipers look great behind Volk SF Challenge wheels:

Better braking capacity to reign in that grin-inducing power plus good looks!