Is your vintage Japanese car ready for the big show in sunny Socal? We are absolutely stoked to be at the Japanese Classic Car Show this Saturday. Count on Z Car Garage to provide coverage on zcarblog.com and get real-time updates on our Facebook page!

Enjoy our past coverage of this incredible show:
JCCS 2012
JCCS 2011
JCCS 2010

We’ve known Patrick for a long time and when he is not running City Tech Auto Body he is out on the track his Time-Attack prepped Porsche orange 350z. Patrick was running an NA motor then made the jump to forced induction via the Vortech supercharger. He installed the kit himself and visited ZCG for tuning and advice on how to keep the VQ cool during blazingly hot track days ie. Buttonwillow Raceway. Here is an update from Patrick from Round #5 of the Redline Time Attack:

As some of you might know, our Z Car Garage and CityTech Auto Body Sponsored 350z has been through a lot of struggling with overheating problems after we installed the a Vortech Supercharged Kit. We have spent tons of time and testing to make it cool down. Our goal is to make it last through the whole 20mins session without worrying about overheating with full power.

07/20/2013 Saturday: The first practice day of the Redline Time Attack event was at 102F, a perfect day to put a ultimate heat test to our new setup. Compared to our last event which the Z lasted only 2 laps before overheating, we installed a 2nd oil cooler, running 50/50 Methanol water injection and de-tuned. Also, Rob suggested that to remove the aftermarket electric fans and put back the stock fan with shrouds. With all the help from our crew and Z Car Garage, we double checked all the fluid levels are full, adjusted tire pressure and started our first 20mins session. The Z felt great with the supercharged power on the first lap, pulling on every gears to the redline. But will it last full 20 mins without a drop of power? 4th lap passed by, our Nitto NT-01 tires started to get greasy due to the heat, but Oil temperature still stayed at 230F, intake and water temp stay cool without a sign of overheating, no power dropped. We are so amazed because our last event only last 1 ½ lap before oil temp reached 290F. We managed finished with the best lap time of 1’58.8 running CW13 configuration.

07/21/2013 Sunday: This was a much hotter day at 107F. In our first qualify session, everyone was running slower time than yesterday. We managed to qualify at the lap time of 1’59.5 which placed us third in our class. All other vehicles in our class were full race gutted car and our Z still have the full dash, door and windows in place. During the race session, temperature got worse which rose up to 108F. Despite the burning sun and air, the Z’s water and oil temp were both stayed cool and no overheating throughout the entire race session, however, the tires were giving up after the 2nd lap from the heat. We couldn’t get any better time than the qualifying session due to the hot temperature and traffic on the track and ended up the time 2’00.391. We ended up third place in modified RWD Class.

Special shout out to Z Car garage crews for their awesome work keeping the Z at operating temperature while making great power in this extreme operating environment.

The next event will be at AutoClub Speedway, Fontana on Sep 15, 2013. We will be doing some more modifications and possibly installing a full roll cage on the Z. We will keep you guys updated.

 

Stunato Racing Machines is breaking speed records again! Z Car Garage helped tune their #477 Sprint car and recently dyno’d their Studebaker to go after a record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. While on the dyno the Studebaker blew a tire! This was a first and fortunately nobody was injured.

 

275hp/416tq to the wheels! We love helping this great group of racers and look forward to more record breaking passes!

Mark your calendars for October 26, 2013!  ZCarGarage and Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) have arranged for a full tour of the amazing Canepa Design Museum and Showroom facility along with a beautiful drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The tour is impressive with a full look at how restorations are done on Porsche 959s to vintage race cars that you see at the major Historic Racing events. It is truly a candy store for automotive fans!

Details below:

Never been to Canepa? Check out our reports from past Canepa Tours below!

2012 Canepa Cars & Coffee

2011 Canepa Tour

2010 Canepa Tour

 

A fellow Datsun Roadster owner has embarked on a very ambitious road trip in his ’67 1600. Along the way he has captured some incredible scenery that I feel everyone should experience!

Scott is still on the road and currently returning back to the US from Canada. Follow his blog chronicling his travels at http://www.roadsterroadtrip.com/

Enjoy The Ride Scott, and thank you for the inspiring journey!