It is always great to see friends over the holidays. Gary Savage stopped by Z Car Garage from Florida and shared these photos from his visit, enjoy!
(above) Randy Jaffe’s BRE Datsun 240Z.
Kevin M visited Z Car Garage for Stillen intakes, test pipes and dyno tuning on his 2013 Nismo 370Z.
He found this V1 Nismo Z34 in September 2020 at a Nissan dealership that was not yet advertised. Being a rare Magma Red model he jumped on it quickly.
A common issue on the 370Z is the internal slave failing due to heat. Thankfully Z Speed Performance makes a kit to convert the internal slave to external (CMAK Upgrade). In January 2021 on his first to ZCG we performed the CMAK upgrade. Since the transmission was removed Kevin opted for a Z Speed Stage 1 Quiet clutch with steel flywheel:
“When I first got the Nismo I was worried about the infamous csc going out. So I looked up for any shops that dealt strictly with Nissan and I was lucky enough to come across Z Car Garage. Transmission work included the Zspeed Performance Stage one quiet clutch kit with C MAK. My Nismo felt almost brand new compared to when I drove it off the dealership.”
We also installed Whiteline diff bushings on that first visit and discussed doing a tune and some hot rod stuff in the future.
In October 2021 Kevin returned to ZCG. We installed CWorks Test Pipes and Stillen GEN 3 intakes:
Dyno Tuning
We specialize in UPREV and EcuTek Tuning to maximize power gains from individual modifications like intake and exhaust upgrades. Rob UPREV flashed Kevin’s Z with the additional ARC license. Baseline power was 296hp/256tq and after tuning it made 338hp/275tq at the wheels, gains of 42hp/19tq. Kevin was happy with the power improvements.
Enjoy this video with dyno runs and exhaust system sounds!
Thanks for your support Kevin, Long Live The Z!
Contact us for tuning!
Z Car Garage offers the ARC (Advanced Racing Controls) license. This add-on service to the existing UPREV Flash allows you to have adjustable launch control, burnout mode, and flat-foot shifting. This is for cars with manual transmission, VDC/cruise control. Call Rob for more details and to schedule your Z/G tuning appointment.
One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and customers again for another exciting and productive year! Enjoy our 2021 recap and upcoming projects. Please note our holiday closure below:
ZCG will be closed from 12/24/21 and we will re-open for business on 1/3/22.
We had a busy year and though the shop will be closed, we won’t leave you hanging for the holidays. Many zcarblog features have yet to be published like our belated race report from the 2021 Velocity Invitational in addition to client stories.
Before we take a look back at highlights from 2021, here are several exciting projects coming along at the shop:
Jeff and Ryan B’s LS3-powered Z came to us for mechanical sorting. It’s now sporting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles. Ryan successfully ran the Targa California Rallye in blistering summer heat. He recently got a new set of VOLK TE37V wheels full report soon!
The OMS Pace Car
This is a 1972 Official OMS Pace Car Duplicate. It is at present one of only two known survivors . Fifty were originally produced by Nissan Motors to commemorate the DATSUN 240Z being selected by the Ontario Motor Speedway to Pace the 1972 “U.S.A.C. California 500 Championship”. It really is a small Datsun world, as the official OMS pace car is none other than our very own Joel Anderson #49 IMSA GTU 240Z .
This OMS duplicate belongs to our long time customer and friend Linda. She acquired it from a family in SoCal and tasked ZCG with making it a nice driver. Full report soon but it got loaded up today for its journey to Colorado!
Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240z returned for a Rebello 3.2L with triple-Mikuni carbs on a Harada intake and CD009a 6-speed transmission:
David’s 240Z
Long-time friend and client David attended a track day at Laguna Seca. This Z was built over 15 years ago and sill running strong. We prepped his Z for the track, full report soon!
Dyno Tuning your 350z/370z/Q/G
We have been dyno tuning your late model Nissan/Infiniti sports car daily. Bolt-ons, UPREV tuning. Our customers leave happy with more performance. Call us to schedule an appointment! Here are just a few cars:
Aaron’s Q50:
Randy’s 1970 Safari Tribute Z lived an eventful life this year. It was in Los Angeles to be filmed for Nissan’s commercials and also served as Randy’s ride for cruising around Monterey Car Week. We installed a new engine and made some suspension changes. Though it’s back at home in Georgia it will get a full ZCG-style feature.
One of many Z32s we are working on, Steve’s will get a full report soon:
Highlights from 2021
Even though 2021 was crazy year for all of us we still managed to have fun on and off the track. The shop made some really great progress as well.
Enjoy these highlights from the year and Z you in 2022!
Datsunworks
Z Car Garage is excited to collaborate with Datsunworks and develop their brilliant KN20 dual-overhead cam (DOHC) cylinder head designed for the Nissan inline-6 L-Series engine. You can read all about it HERE
2021 was a development year for this drivetrain setup. We continue to extract more power and run longevity testing with owner Gary who has the pleasure of living daily with this beast. More updates to come, but for now enjoy the music this KN20 head provides in the video below!
Pall K acquired this Pearl Red (AH3) R32 from our friend Sean and his team at Toprank International Vehicle Importers. It goes without saying, if you are in the market for a vintage Skyline (or any JDM car) IVI is the place to go. We love the gorgeous paint color and Volk TE37SLs:
Pall brought the R32 to ZCG for a full inspection in 2019 and we have serviced it since. On that visit we found one of the CV boots torn and he had some Nismo stainless lines for us to install. We checked the timing, changed the engine oil, transmission fluid, installed the new brake lines front/rear and performed a full alignment. He visited us again for a new clutch:
Pall has driven the Skyline frequently since we met in 2019, and he does most of the work on his cars himself. We spotted him last summer at the 6/13 Morning Motors Cars & Coffee event hosted by DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) in Santa Cruz, CA:
I had fun chasing Pall in our shop Datsun 240Z (Mrs. Butters) on this earlier 2020 Drive:
Pall was experiencing some intermittent issues with car, so he purchased a Haltech Platinum Pro ECU from our client Kurt W since he’s going to an Haltech Elite box for his own R32 GT-R build.
“My car was pinging on 91 octane trying to run on the stock ECU at higher load / RPM. I purchased a Haltech Planimum Pro plug-in ECU to resolve the pinging issue and make the most of my modifications. Rob installed the Haltech with a wideband O2 controller and dyno tuned the whole setup. The pinging issue is gone and the car feels incredible. Smoother initial throttle tip-in and lower end, pulls hard all the way out redline. Extremely pleased!”
As Pall mentioned above, his R32 came in to Z Car Garage in Novemeber and Rob dyno tuned it using Haltech. It put down a very strong 381hp/320tq to the wheels on 91 octane:
This Skyline does have basic performance upgrades including: Apex’i intakes, boost restrictor removed (~14psi), Fujitsubo equal-length downpipe, HKS high-flow cat, Fujitsubo Legalis R-Type Evo exhaust, divided intake pipe, PRP R35 coil conversion kit. Despite the modifications, a subtle chop at idle and the dyno results may indicate aftermarket cams from Japan. Nevertheless it has great power, enjoy the dyno video!
Enjoying The Ride
Photo by Pall Kornmayer
We are happy to report that Pall is already back on the road in his R32, post ZCG-tuning. Just yesterday he attended the final Morning Motors in Santa Cruz:
Pall attended the 2021 Skyline Matsuri hosted by the Norcal Skyline Owners group, you can see Pall’s own photography from the event by clicking on the photos below:
Can’t get enough of this beautiful Skyline. It doesn’t get any better than driving a Skyline on Skyline!
Pall is a wonderful client and enthusiast with a pretty serious E30 M3 in addition to the R32. The 90’s were good for iconic sports cars!
Thanks to Norcal Skyline Owners group we get to work with many cool cars like Kurt W and Mike R (here for timing belt, tuning and clutch job, report soon). Thanks for your support Pall and for trusting us with your R32!
Filed under: 240z,Parts,Racing
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on December 17, 2021
We love to see our parts installed and used on client’s cars. Race car driver and Datsun enthusiast Brad H is running our ZCG CV Axles in this IMSA GTU 240z race car!
Brad is preparing his Z for the next race season and a half shaft failure is not something he wanted to worry about while racing so he replaced them with ZCG CV Axles. He installed set #312 with ease, stock half shafts (left) and ZCG CV Axles (right):
“The rear end is a LSD R200 with a 3.70 gear. I’m not really sensitive to the rear gear ratio because of all of the variability I have in the gear box. It’s connected to the rear hubs by Z Car Garage CV axles. I had been looking for options on axles simply because the thought of going into Nascar 4 at Daytona with 50 year old U-Joint technology made me nervous. I heard about Z Car Garage from Randy Jaffe. We are both in Atlanta and I was at his shop one day because he was kind enough to let me borrow a rear diff to carry as a backup to Daytona. While there, he showed me the CV axles and I reached out to Rob to order a set the next day. We have kept a great relationship ever since.”
Check out Brad’s installation of the ZCG CV Axles and see the Z in action in the video below!
Brad’s IMSA 240Z Build
Let’s hear how Brad found and built his 240Z race car:
“The story of my car starts with a poster I had on my wall as a kid of the Bob Sharp Racing GTU Z that was campaigned in 1976. We raced ITS Z cars back in the late 80’s, but I had always said that if the situation presented itself, I would build a tribute to that car. The original was destroyed in ’76 at the Camel GT at Road Atlanta when Sharp blew a tire coming up to the bridge and hit the embankment hard on drivers left. That left a tribute as the only option.”
Brad found a solid chassis that was running as a track day car in Ontario Canada. Peter Skillins had built the car (www.datsunzcars.com) and had done a fantastic job. The cage was done by Blaise Csida (www.bcracecars.com) who is a well respected Trans Am driver/car builder. In addition to a very robust cage, several additional reinforcements were installed like additional shock tower structures and additional stiffening structures on the front frame rails.
“The car was then sent to Burtin Racing (www.burtinracing.com) here in Atlanta for final assembly and installation of the IMSA GTU body kit that John Washington at ZTrix puts together. It’s a great kit that requires minimal modification to the body panels themselves, but the fabricators at Burtin when a bit further by putting together some additional components to support the kit under my application. Specifically was a new nose frame and airbox set up as well as new customer rear fender inner liners. All body panels are removable with 1/4 turn fasteners and the car can be stripped in less than 3 minutes. The Burtin fabricators (Terry and Damon) work daily preparing/maintaining a top tier Trans Am team (Tomy Drissi and Simon Gregg), the work they do is top notch and highly recommended. All along the way the fabricators at Burtin Racing made small suggestions on performance and safety ideas.”
The motor was built by Steve Nelson at Top End Performance in CA (www.racetep.com). It’s an L28 with a 2MM stroke add that runs at 13.1:1 compression.
“It has a race cam and is fed by 3 Mikuni 44PHHs. Steve and team do a great job on the bottom end, but the reason I went with TEP was that they use Slover head porting. Slover has long been one of the best head preparers in the L series motors going back to the origins of L series racing engines. If you’ve ever seen the work they do you would quickly understand why. Steve also recommended running the Electromotive crankfire ignition system. I was hesitant at first, but was sold very quickly when you get to see ease of timing adjustments and the complete elimination of timing slop you get at over 6-7,000 RPM. That was a great call.”
“The gearbox is a Hewland STA wide the came out of one of Burtin Racing’s TA cars. They upgraded to sequential, so Claudio (the team owner and good friend) recommended we install the Hewland behind the L28 because of its reliability and optionality with gear sets. To do so required a custom adapter that the Burtin guys made on the CAD and removal of the existing tunnel. We went with a Quartermaster dual clutch set up that connected to the 28 spline shaft of the Hewland. With this box installed, I have access to no less than 50 gear sets which lets us gear the car for each track we go to. For Road Atlanta, which is my local track, we run a 2.20/1.88/1.44/1.23/1.09 configuration with a 1:1 spur gear.”
Brad enlisted Andrew at Wheelflip (www.wheelflip.com) who was able to find him 2 matching sets of late 70’s BBS centers with the stock 4X114 bolt patter. After taking many measurements they ended up with 2 sets of gold 16X11 fronts (5.5 outers/5.5 inners) and 16X12 rears (6.5 outers/5.5 inners). Brad runs Goodyear Eagle slicks with the 430 compound:
“The car was fully wrapped in the Bob Sharp Racing livery from 1976 by the same folks that wrap the Burtin Racing TA cars, AAA SignCrafters (www.aaasigncrafters.com). Huge thanks to the folks at Harris Decal (www.harrisdecals.com) for putting together all the special decals that were required to get the look correct”
In mid 2021, Brad moved to his own shop in Buford, GA under the operation of BPH Motorcars, LLC. The car is currently maintained by Jason Howe of Howe Custom Fabrication. Jason was a former fabricator at Burtin Racing as well as for the Panoz racing operation and does fantastic custom work. You can follow Brad’s racing efforts on Instagram. More pictures in the gallery below!
Thanks for your support Brad! We look forward to seeing you on the track for the 2022 race season, LONG LIVE THE Z!
Z Car Garage CV Axles
Over 140 sets of our ZCG CV Axles are installed in client’s cars all over the world. For more information please visit our detailed post our HERE. Below are just a few examples of race cars running out CV Axles:
Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou is running our ZCG CV Axles in this IMSA GTU 260z race car!
Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:
Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:
Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z
Set #248 – installed on Adam Carolla’s “Greg Sorrentino #90” Datsun 510.
