If you were wondering where the 350z that you have seen lapping Thunderhill, Laguna Seca (twice), and which received a MotorDyne single exhaust has gone….. it blew up!  This car has seen HARD use at the track since the first day of his life and the engine finally let go.  It looks like the crown above the rings on cylinder five had just had enough and decided to bounce around the chamber for awhile.

A “new” VQ35DE was sourced and swapped in with all the goodies that were taken off the old engine.  We then went off to the dyno and we seemed to have found seven more horsepower and eight ft-lbs of torque at the wheels.  Unfortunately the track-day season is mostly over but keep your eyes peeled for this car in your mirrors at the first events on the calendar next year.  DOOT!!

Nissan has a history of releasing anniversary Z cars the new 370z 40th Anniversary is the most current offering.  The official 40th Anniversary in the United States is on October 22nd (which is why I waited until today to post this.)  Happy anniversary old friend!!!

From Nissan (full lengthy press release after the read more):

About the Nissan 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition The 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition starts out as a 370Z Coupe Touring model equipped with manual transmission and Sport Package (including SynchroRev Match, front chin spoiler, rear spoiler, Nissan Sport Brakes, 19-inch Rays forged aluminum-alloy wheels and viscous limited-slip differential) and adds a premium “40th Quartz” exterior color and red leather-appointed interior.

Additional exclusive equipment includes a high-luster smoke wheel finish, red brake calipers and 40th Anniversary badges on the rear hatch and front strut tower brace. Inside, along with the red leather-appointed seats are red door panel inserts, 40th Anniversary seatback and floormat embroidery, red stitching on the center stack, shift boot and kneepads, smooth leather steering wheel with red stitching and a plaque of authenticity. Every 40th Anniversary Z also comes with a commemorative premium satin car cover.

I’ll be holding my judgment on the car until I see one in person.  Sometimes these special editions are just a base model car with special badges on them and other times they are worth the $5k+ premium because they pull on your heart strings.  We’ll soon see.  Let me know what you think in the comments if you so desire, I’m always interested to hear from all of you.

…[read more]

I found this on the amazing thing we call the internet this morning, I am not impressed, sorta.  You know it can do that on pavement, right?

In this next one it turns out that an animal seemed to be storing food in the exhaust system of this early Z.  What I find disturbing is that the father(?) pays no attention to what the kid with the camera was saying.  He just kept cranking away without a care in the world.

If you have followed the blog for awhile you have certainly seen our customer’s cars receive some rare equipment.  Our latest rarity is this Power House Amuse full titanium cat-back system for the 350z, in this case a very clean NISMO edition.  This car has already been treated with a host of upgrades including a beautiful set of Volk TE37 wheels, Injen intake system, and a Tanabe coilover suspension for that perfect stance.

Along with the Amuse exhaust we installed a full complement of Defi gauges to keep track of the engine vitals.  The A-pillar now contains oil pressure and temperature gauges that are accompanied by a programmable tachometer with shift light and memory functions.  Pretty trick pieces if you are looking for a more exact reading than the stock units which are notoriously in inaccurate.

Getting back to the exhaust, the build quality is amazing.  I hope that some of the close-up pictures can show you what I’m talking about, and being made fully of Ti helps take quite a few pounds off of the car.  One part that did need quite a bit of modification was in the area of the evap. system for the fuel tank.  Custom brackets had to be made to move the system out of the way of the exhaust and then the wiring and hoses needed to be lengthened and then heat wrapped for extra insurance.  It came out really clean and stock appearing after Fred worked his magic (like he always does.)

From the dyno graph you can see that we were able to coax a bit more power out of the car which is always a plus, but this system shines in so many other areas that it would be downright wrong to judge it on numbers alone.  To our surprise, sound-wise the car isn’t much louder than the parts that we replaced although it is a bit more aggressive.

I have a good feeling that this car will be back for a few more modifications so don’t be too surprised if you see it gracing your computer screen in the future.  Until we meet again…

ZCG

See all the other photos after the ‘read more’

…[read more]

Here are a few pictures of the suspension for the Behemonth RB28 project after powder coating and anodizing.  The pictures really don’t do it justice, everything came out perfectly.

The goal is to have the car rolling around on it’s own feet wheels by the first part of next week.  Hopefully i’ll have some more pictures for you soon.