Kassem L hails from San Francisco and he brought his 370z to Z Car Garage because he was having warranty issues with the dealership. After some some discussion and guidance we installed a new clutch and transmission. For piece of mind the troublesome internal slave cylinder was switched to an external unit using the CMAK upgrade from ZSpeed. We went through the car and fixed all the little things missed by the dealership when they did a warrantied replacement engine (replaced b/c of oil-burning issue). Minor items like re-learning the windows and parking adjustment were comped.
Kassem visited ZCG again for suspension upgrades. We installed HKS 4GT coil-overs, SPC F/R control arms, and a Hotchkis sway bar set:
SPC front/rear control arms. After suspension installation we aligned the car and changed the oil:
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Kassem was going for a very JDM feel/build and chose his modifications accordingly. We installed an HKS intake system and the Power House Amuse R1 Titan Extra STTI full titanium exhaust system:
Before and after:
More exhaust details:
HKS Racing Suction twin intakes replace OEM units:
After the coil- over suspension was installed Kassem came back in to have the car lowered just a bit more. We handled this for him as well and the Z looks fantastic sitting over pretty Volk Racing G25 wheels and Bridgestone RE-11 tires:
Jose B is from Antioch, CA and knows our customer Richard M (ZCG-modified 370z). After getting into an accident with his 370z, Jose went to several shops to identify a peculiar squeak coming from the front end. Unfortunately the squeak was not resolved so Jose visited ZCG to sort it out. We spent time going over the suspension and other areas to identify the source of the squeak and found that one of the motor mounts was completely broken:
In addition to replacing the driver’s side motor mount, Jose wanted us to install some parts he had purchased online. Here is a full Motordyne exhaust system including their Long Tube XYZ stepped headers with Helmholtz module:
A few shots of the exhaust installation:
We also installed Stillen Gen 3 intakes:
With the motor mount sorted and new parts installed Jose wanted to have the Z UPREV tuned. This was a wise decision, especially with the new bolt-ons. Historically we have made good power with simple bolt-ons to the VQ37 and we were surprised by Jose’s Z34. The Z baselined at 295hp/245tq to the wheels and with UPREV tuning put down 344hp/266tq to the wheels!
Peak gains of almost 50hp and 21tq at the wheels is impressive! Enjoy The Ride Jose!
We are fortunate to work with fantastic clients and as a result they are the best form of advertising. Carlos H and Scott C met at the same gym. We supercharged Scott C’s G35 several years ago, and he was kind enough to refer ZCG to Carlos for work on his 2016 Nismo 370Z. When we first met Carlos he came in for some bolt-ons: Stillen G3 intakes, Fast Intentions cat-back exhaust, and a UPREV flash:
FI cat-back exhaust:
We also installed FI long tube headers:
On the dyno immediate gains of +12hp/16tq to the wheels were seen with the intake and exhaust:
The best way to maximize gains from bolt-ons is perform an ECU tune. UPREV tuning yielded further gains for a total of 323hp/266tq to the wheels:
Carlos came back for suspension upgrades and we all know Rob loves the KW V3 coilovers:
Front/Rear:
Next, we installed our favorite sway bars from Hotchkis:
Front/Rear OEM vs Hotchkis:
Carlos is Enjoying The Ride…and we have to say the 2015+ Nismo Z34s look so good!
Bill C has been a long time customer of Z Car Garage. You might remember his 2007 350z as one of the first HR-powered cars at ZCG to receive a Bassani exhaust and minor bolt-ons resulting in over 300whp. That was in 2008! Over the years Bill has enjoyed his Z on fun runs and track days. He even wrote an Ebay article reviewing the 370z and enlisted us for dyno measurements!
The stock OEM suspension on the Z33 had always bothered Bill: the relatively spongy ride along with ride height and wheel gap over his amazing Volk LE37 wheels had to improve. We wanted to make sure that he had the ability to autocross, enjoy back roads and daily drive the Z. Bill picked up a very nice set of Ohlins DFV coil-overs for us to install:
Here is the Ohlins setup installed front and rear:
A great complement to coil-overs is our favorite sway bars from Hotchkis:
Sway bars installed front and rear:
The Z now sits with a great stance and Bill is very happy with the new suspension setup:
I love the Ohlins!!! I got EXACTLY what I was hoping for. Daily driver comfort (Wife couldn’t discern it from stock), but take it into some twisties and it’s a monster. Also, I did not expect my braking to improve so much from the coil-over install.
We love to see our customer’s cars spotlighted in the media! Last year Richard M’s ZCG-modified 370z was featured on The Smoking Tire where Matt Farah took it for a ride, check out the video:
This year Richard’s Z is featured in DSPORT magazine. Grab a copy of the Feb 2018 issue on newsstands soon!
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