We are happy to see more Z car owners enjoying innovative products from Z Car Garage. The Bring a Trailer Datsun 240z recently visited us for a ZCG Big-Brake kit installation after an eventful driving season. We found and prepped this car for BaT Co-Founder and CEO Randy Nonnenberg just in time for an epic road trip to The Mitty. If you missed the introduction to this Z please visit our initial blog post HERE.
Keeping up with the BaT 240z
Before we get into the Big-Brake kit details, let’s catch up with the BaT 240z since it left our shop heading to Road Atlanta in April. The Z’s first duty was to serve as photo/chase car participating in the Copperstate 1000 rallye in Tempe, AZ:
The journey to The Mitty was more than a destination where Datsun was the featured marque. Along the way, the Z would visit “BaT Alumni” and fans for interviews to share their automotive stories. We were stoked to see the Z made it all the way to Road Atlanta!
BaT’s entire Mitty road trip is wonderfully documented in several installments HERE, enjoy this video too:
Rallye Prep Services
After the 4000+ mile road trip the BaT Z came back to us for sorting and a refresh. Despite losing 5th gear in Nashville, Randy was able to cross the finish line at Road Atlanta using 4th. At the shop we confirmed the mainshaft nut had backed off (very common on early 5-speeds) creating situation where all the gears become misaligned. We removed it and installed a really nice 280z 5-speed transmission.
A few more items needing attention that we sorted:
-all fluids
-fixed headlight switch
-replaced/rebuilt hatch strut
-A/C wiring and power switch corrected + system re-charged (performed in-house)
Back in April, Randy and Rob both agreed on returning the Z back to its original aesthetics before the epic road trip. We swapped out the air dam for a factory valance and installed the stock steering wheel, but we didn’t have time to replace the dated black mirrors. On this visit we tackled the installation of factory Nissan mirrors:
Removal of the black plastic mirrors and installing OEM units required minor bodywork. Our man William took care of the 112 paint. Hard to beat these beautiful mirrors on the S30, more pics in the gallery!
With the Z sorted, Randy and his father drove it on yet another rallye in July, the Faultine 500.
ZCG Big Brakes
In September we met BaT at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca. Randy and the crew discussed using ZCG products on their Z as it had an older Wilwood brake kit. The plan was to install and run our ZCG Big-Brake kit for the Targa Baja California rallye coming in October.
As fellow S30 owner/racer Glenn C mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 14″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel! A few details below:
Calipers: Stoptech ST42 4-piston front & rear race calipers (Alum 6061 mil-spec Type III anodized)
Rotors: 280mm x 20.6 with Alum 7075 hats
Pads: Stoptech 309 sport street pads
Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.
Randy brought the Z to the shop and we removed the existing Wilwood setup:
Front setup:
The proportioning valve that was required for the old Wilwood kit was removed: ZCG Brakes do NOT require a proportioning valve!
Big-Brakes at the rear as well. The Z had a weird hydraulic parking brake and this was removed so we could install the factory brake lever setup.
Before leaving the shop we replaced a failed u-joint in the driveshaft and balanced it. We were stoked to hear how well the Z and the Big-Brake kit performed on the Targa Baja California rallye in October:
“Big thanks to Rob Fuller and his team at Z Car Garage for preparing our 1972 Datsun 240Z which ran flawlessly the entire time at sustained high RPMs and in hot weather. Prior to the event he outfitted the car with his custom in-house developed Z brake kit which provided excellent stopping power and near-perfect pedal feel. After it was all over, we woke up early Sunday morning in Ensenada and drove 600 miles straight back to San Francisco!”
Thanks to Randy and the crew at Bring a Trailer for the support and sharing their Z car experience with the world. They are truly Enjoying the Ride, proving that Datsuns ARE DRIVEN!
More pictures in the gallery below
…[read more]