Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou has been a friend and client of Z Car Garage for many years. His canyon-carving companion is this 1972 Nissan Fairlady 240Z-L featuring our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and dyno tuning. Before we get into the details behind this rare, right-hand drive survivor let’s take a look at Glenn’s Datsun story.
Racing Is Life
Glenn is passionate about vintage racing and loves re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers. Like privateers of the period, Glenn builds his Z cars, maintains and manages his racing efforts himself. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence or his Ex-Greg Sorrentino IMSA 260Z at events like the Velocity Invitational and Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Glenn restored these cars himself and the VIPS Z is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.
Glenn also races a Datsun 510, championing a vintage race group dedicated to the Historic B&C Sedan class. He is currently restoring the 1968 Ex-Finn/Harris U2.5L Trans-Am 510. You can follow his racing adventures on Instagram.
Finding a Fairlady
When he’s not working on race cars, Glenn is enjoying his 1972 Nissan 240Z-L. It’s “the dream list” car that started his Datsun passion. Glenn has owned it for several years, enjoying it as a back-road burner on the street and rallye events.
The Z has a great story behind its acquisition. Purchased from Chiyoda Nissan as a used car by US Air Force lieutenant David Zabel in ’73, it was brought back with him to the States in 1974 and driven until 1992. Glenn found the Z in 2010 sitting in a Datsun collection in Ben Lomond, Ca. Below are period photos from Japan in the 70’s at Yokota air base near Tokyo and ski-trips at Lake Tahoe:
Find out more about the story behind this right-hand-drive survivor over on Petrolicious with photography by Courtney Cutchen with a great video. To this day it still wears its original paint, interior and neat Japanese-market features like the 8-track Nissan/Hitachi radio and passenger side foot rest. Glenn also sourced the rare rallye clock that is functional, running off an oscillator box in the passenger footwell.
Drivetrain
We actually tuned Glenn’s Fairlady back in 2012. The 3.0L stroker is fed by triple-Mikuni induction backed by a Nissan 240SX 5-speed transmission and OS Giken limited-slip diff. With Rob’s tuning it produced one of the highest dyno numbers we had seen back then putting down 249hp/227tq to the wheels:
Z Car Garage Big Brakes for Glenn’s S30
The Z clearly had more than enough power, but braking was always something Glenn wanted to improve and once he heard about our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes for small wheels he became a believer after test driving them. Rather than tell you how we feel about this product, let’s hear Glenn’s experience.
“Throughout my years of Z car ownership, I have run a variety of brake setups. My Z cars have seen everything from restored OEM Sumitomos, Toyota 4×4’s, trick Wilwood setups, even frankenstein’d Baer calipers. There is no doubt that it has been one area that I have never been completely satisfied with. Over time, after many years and attempts to find the ‘perfect’ setup, I had given up and just settled for what I had.
The most important aspect to me when it comes to braking on a street driven car is feel. Yes, stopping power is extremely important, but also is not that difficult to achieve on an early Z car that is naturally light to begin with. Feel, however, is something that has always managed to escape me. On my vintage 240z race car, we use multiple master cylinders, swap them in and out, fiddle with our brake proportioning valves, fine tuning them to fit our driving style and preference. We are trying to find that ‘racer’s edge.’ In all honesty, when it comes to a street car, I want nothing to do with all that.”
“Wheel sizing and style was also extremely important to me. I love old school wheels and the sizes they came in. I needed a brake caliper that would fit under my 15” Watanabe RS wheels without having to shave or drastically modify my setup. If it was not for being in love with these wheels, I would have opted for Z Car Garage’s larger big brake kit.”
Our clients asked us to make a BBK for smaller wheels so even a guy running 14″ vintage 5-slots slots could brake like a modern sports car. Typical big-brake kits use a 4-piston setup up front and a ZX in back; Proportioning is hard to get right, varying from car to car. We wanted a brake system that suited the car and totally bolted in, no M/C change, no proportioning valve, no booster change.
Working with Stoptech again, we developed this smaller BBK as a direct bolt-in solution for the 1970 to 1978 S30 Z cars. We’ve been with Stoptech since the beginning and love their products. With over 150 brake kits sold, we are stoked with all of the positive feedback. Let’s get back to Glenn and hear his initial impressions of the big-brake kit:
“Rob informed me he was working up a solution and he wanted me to be test the brake kit. Rob promised three things – they would brake amazing, they would fit under my 15” Watanabes, and they would feel as if they belonged on the car. Did I doubt it at first? Sure, a little. However, I also knew that the fit and finish of all products that came out of ZCG were top notch, and that Rob thoroughly tested all his products against his own standards. Which I’m sure everyone knows, are extremely high.
In preparation for the Monterey Historics last year, I had brought the Z race car to the shop for dyno time. Rob gave me the keys to his Butters Z and said “Go drive it.” Under 14″ wheels sat his brand new ZCG brake kit. I gladly accepted and took the car for a ride.”
“WOW, what a difference. The feel, modulation, power, sharpness was amazing. Hands down the best brakes I had ever driven on a Z car, and these were on a car with stock suspension, tires and probably cruddy tires! I told Rob, “sign me up!”
Glenn wanted to run the brake kit on his Fairlady and we happily obliged. He had also been gearing up for a road rallye so the braking system would be throughly used. You can see his Z (top left) along with his buddy Erich C’s S30 (top right, also getting a ZCG BBK!):
“Then came the day Rob called me up and said they were ready to rock and roll. Lucky for me, I was just about to head out on the 1000-mile Coastal Range Rally! The kit came with beautifully anodized front and rear calipers, hats, rotors, brakes lines, reversible brackets (for early and later Z offsets), and a factory ⅞” master cylinder. Read that again… Yes, a proportioning valve was left out from that list! The brakes were a straight bolt on and ZCG did all the math to get both the master cylinder size and piston sizes correct. We brought the car in for install and within a day the car was ready to rock.”
Glenn’s 240z now had 4-wheel disc brakes ready to tackle the street and rallye:
And of course, the brakes fit beautifully under the 15″ Watts. Kane approved, and Glenn was stoked:
“I could hardly wait to jump in the seat of the car and take it for a spin. The brakes were now on a car with suspension, tire, power, and a proper alignment. It was everything I had remembered from driving the Butters Z and MORE. The brakes performed flawlessly on the Coastal Range Rally, taking abuse from California’s most challenging roads”
“Attention to detail goes a long way. This is exactly what these brakes delivered, and what continues to be delivered by ZCG.
LONG LIVE THE Z!”
Still Enjoying the Ride
Last weekend we caught up with Glenn and took the FairladyZ out for a spin to stretch its legs. Glenn was one of the first clients to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes back in 2018 and we are happy to report that he is still braking late and deep all while Enjoy The Ride!
Over the years we’ve been fortunate to drive our Datsuns together through the local Bay Area backroads. Glenn’s Z always looks sharp while sounding sensational. Here is a video from our recent drive, volume up and enjoy!
You can find him carving through the Santa Cruz Mountains or taking a break at Alice’s Restaurant off Skyline…
While we were catching up with Glenn he reminded me that the ZCG Big-Brakes are better than any of the other setups he’s driven, the only one that feels and behaves like a modern car. He loves them.
What’s next for the Z? Glenn says its due for a refresh..NOS door panels, some engine bay fuel plumbing updates and maybe a change from the Ground Control/Tokico coil-overs. Aside from the Z Car Garage Big-Brakes , it remains very much the same as he set it up over 10 years ago. Big thanks to Glenn for the support and feedback. We look forward to many more race events and drives with you. Enjoy the photo gallery below and LONG LIVE THE Z!
