This is Ed B’s 1971 Datsun 240Z in Sunshine Yellow. No, it does not have many performance parts such as our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles or a triple-carb’d high-power engine. In fact, this Z is mostly original, just the way Ed has kept it since ordering it new 51 years ago!

 

We have known Ed for a long time, actually preceding the opening of Z Car Garage. A young 26 year-old Rob Fuller was helping maintain this “no frills” Z and that continued to present day. Simply put, Ed is a passionate owner who takes care of his Z so he can drive it regularly. When it was time, we handled his SU carbs. If a fuel pump failed we replaced it. Suspension issue? We took care of it to ensure he was always Enjoying The Ride. Let’s take a look at how Ed became a Z car enthusiast.

Time Machine

 

In 1970 just one year out of College, Ed was looking for new car. As a designer, a photographer and a race car fan he wanted a 2-seat sports car. There wasn’t much to choose from. The Triumph and the MG were too cramped. The Porsche and the Jaguar were too expensive. Then Road and Track ran a cover story on the New Datsun 240Z. It had everything, style, performance and it was affordable:

“I ordered one in late 1970 from Camino Datsun in Sunnyvale for $3500. There was a waiting list due to a dock strike in San Francisco and most of the cars were going to LA. When a truckload arrived, you could choose from 4 or 5 available. The only options were the color and I passed on several until I saw the Sunshine Yellow… the first one in San Jose. It was a one-year color and matched the cover photo on Road and Track. I took delivery in June of ’71 after just loosing my job at Ampex in the ’71 tech recession. I had little money but plenty of time to enjoy my summer in a new Z.”

 

Since purchasing new in 1970, Ed got to know his S30 and take it on many adventures.

“Learning to drive the Z in ‘71 and I found out I’m more of a cruiser than a racer. Early on I couldn’t afford expensive modifications. I added cast aluminum wheels, lowered the car with shorter springs, much stiffer anti sway bars rather than air dams, Talbot racing mirrors and custom exhaust headers. I stopped there and kept the original body profile unchanged thereafter. I kept it close to original for 50 years”

Below (L) Three  Z’s in his family at one time and (R) SAE car show at the University of Santa Clara:

 

The Z has been in several car shows over the years and was even photographed by the famed Ron Kimball for Car Calendars and print material. The Ron Kimball Studio photo shoot was on the 17-mile drive in Carmel and one of these images appeared in the Newsweek article on the introduction of the new Nissan 350Z.

 

Keeping Ed On The Road

 

“In 50 years nearly everything has had maintenance issues from interior seat covers and carpet kits to a replaced cracked dash. Rob Fuller has been my go-to Z car expert since even before he opened the Z Car Garage.”

We happily obliged to maintain the Z with Ed’s blessing. Here are a few things we’ve done over the years:

2009- replaced leaking hoses in engine bay, new battery, clutch hydraulics repaired, replaced broken broken bolts in lower timing cover, maintenance work

2012- standard ignition failed and replaced with Pertronix, upgraded coil, new T/C rod bushings, front control arm bushings, rack bushings, new tie-rods, ball joints, rebuilt suspension, major service tune, adjusted his carbs and valves for best performance and lubed his choke cables

2014- differential rebuilt, gas tank re-lined/sealed and all recovery lines replaced, new Tokico shocks

  

The engine was rebuilt at 130K miles (Techcraft) including 5 angle cut on hardened valves and 280z piston rods. It now has 250K miles. The SU carbs were recently rebuilt. On the dyno the L24 made 137hp/142tq to the wheels:

  

Enjoy the dyno video!

 

Ed’s 240Z has been hit three times in the rear end at stop lights with only minor body damage that never took out the tail lights but resulted in three full body paint jobs. For the latest incident we had our man  William re-paint the car in #919 Sunshine Yellow. He also repaired the right front fender and blended existing paint work and it turned out great.

 

On his most recent visit we repaired the transmission shift boot and performed a tune-up… and he’s off.

   

Now the car looks as good as it runs and Ed just drives while staying on top of maintenance.

 

Enjoying The Ride

 

We love when Ed sends us pictures of his drives in the Z:

“Still looks and drives good after 50 years. As Rob would say “Long live the Z”. Rob even introduced me to Peter Bock and John Morton and I now feel like I’m even more a part of the Z car family.”

 

Thanks to Ed for trusting us with your Z. We look forward to many more years of smiles behind the wheel! Your Z is a great example of how to Enjoy The Ride without all of the hot rod parts and we admire your efforts to keep it close to stock!

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At Z Car Garage we are huge fans of the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo, the underdog of 90’s Japanese supercars. Sure the RX7, Supra and NSX get all the attention – but the ’90-’96 Z32 (yes we are biased) represents the best balance of performance, reliability and comfort.  From the intimate feeling of the power leather seats and gauge cluster to the addictive power that evokes a familiar Nissan commercial…

…the Z32 is magical. It is hard to describe how rad these cars are after ZCG has gone through one. Let’s take a look at our customer Patrick’s 1994 Z32 and see of what our 20yrs+ of experience with this chassis can create.

 

Patrick’s Z has been with us for almost a decade, receiving maintenance and upgrades along the way. In 2017 he got into a fender bender and brought it in for repairs. We took this opportunity to replace the control arms, install some loaner Z33 wheels and have William install a full JDM front bumper with sided markers and Powertrix fog light ducts. He also repaired the right front fender and blended existing paint work:

 

Notice the J-spec tail lights, one of our favorite aesthetic mods and it looks so good on the black Z32s.

 

We installed them and the center panel replacing the factory units:

 

William really knocked it out of the park with the paint work.

 

Stoptech Big-Brakes

 

As every Z32 owner knows, the stock brakes just aren’t up to the task. More power exacerbates the issue and you know how we feel at ZCG:  It’s Stoptech Or Don’t Stop At All.  Patrick’s car had larger than factory wheels allowing us to install the 332mm Big-Brake Kit using red calipers and rotors.

 

Stock vs Stoptech

 

At the rear, stock Z32 calipers were paint-matched to the Stoptech red up front.  Sport kit slotted rotors with 309 pads and SS lines throughout:

  

In addition to their function, the Stoptechs look nice too! One of Patrick’s wheels was damaged in the accident we replaced them with a set of SSR GTx-01 18×8.5F and 18.×9.5F. Finished in flat black with center caps running Bridgestone 007a 245/275 tires and Volk Racing lugnuts:

Details

 

Patrick’s interior needed attention with a new passenger side window motor. We also installed new rack bushings and detailed the entire car.

 

Power Upgrades

 

With the front end off it was the perfect time for power upgrades: JWT clutch/flywheel, Ashspec Massive intercoolers,  Selin translator dual MAF and BDE Performance motor mounts to allow for Ashspec 2.5″ inlet piping.

 

Exhaust upgrades included a full SpecialtyZ 2.5″ exhaust with single outlet option:

 

On the dyno Rob tuned the Z making 349hp/375tq to the wheels on 91 octane:

 

Thanks for bringing your 300 to us Patrick and Long Live The (Twin Turbo) Z! More pictures in the gallery below:

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Tony K’s 1972 Datsun 240Z has a long history with Z Car Garage having received upgrades like a 3L with triple-Mikuni ph44s, 280Zx 5-speed transmission, suspension refresh, our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles and Z Car Garage Heat Sheild.

 

Tony’s Z has a great history that begins with our friend and fellow enthusiast Rob Julien. Let’s take a closer look.

Keeping it in the Z Family

 
This Iris Blue Metallic (Porsche 911 color) Z was Rob Julien’s car when he first met Rob Fuller in the 90’s. A few years ago Rob J had the opportunity to buy Paul Hooks’ 1971 Series 1, another really nice S30 Fuller helped build in the 90’s (Full report soon). So the Iris Blue car changed hands going to a young Datsun 510 guy, customer Scott W, and finally Tony K, who at the time lived in Canada!

 

Very shortly after purchasing the car, Tony took it on the best road trip of his life:

 

This 1971 Nissan Skyline has been in the Z Car Garage family for several years and currently resides in Georgia with owner Randy Jaffe. Randy has built a few notable cars with ZCG including the Rocketbunny Series1 240Z and #46 BRE Datsun 240Z driven by John Morton:

How did he end up with this JDM beauty? Randy has always loved the stance and looks of these early, “Hakosuka” Skylines and wanted to experience right-hand drive (RHD). Timing was perfect as our customer Alex McDowell was willing to part with his 2000 GT-X:

 

Under Alex’s ownership ZCG maintained the car for many years. It did not need much to prepare for delivery to Randy. We performed a full tune-up, sync’d the triple carbs, changed the fluids, handled minor cosmetics (like straightening the bumper) and it was shipped off to Georgia:

 

Randy’s Way

 

If there is one thing about Randy we admire, it’s his attention to detail. Ok, we like his sense of style too 🙂 Upon arrival he mounted fresh set of chunky Toyo tires on those iconic Watanabe wheels. Inside, he removed the carpet and replaced it with original style GT-R vinyl covering. The tan seats were reupholstered to red.

 

The car was originally a white GT-X and when I asked Randy of any future mods he replied:

“I am thinking about dropping one of the Parkinson race motors in it to give the car more power – the original 2.0 is sluggish compared to what I enjoy driving. If I do that I will pull all of the A/C parts off of it and clean up the engine bay. To be continued!”

Randy applied the Hakosuka racecar-inspired livery:

 

Here is a walk-around of the Hako, with more pictures in the gallery below.

 

We are happy to report that Randy is Enjoying The Ride and even won an award at the local Caffeine and Octane show:

 

More to Come

 

You may have noticed some really cool cars in the background. Randy has several Nissans/Datsuns in his collection that we are excited to share with you in upcoming blog posts! For now, LONG LIVE THE HAKOSUKA!

 

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We have several exciting projects at the shop that will get full reports on zcarblog.com. This is only a brief sample, please tune into our Instagram story for more sights and sounds.

Return of the #46 BRE Datsun 240Z!

 

The BRE #46 Z is back from paint by our man William and it is finally getting the hand-painted livery applied at the shop as I write this. You may recall that the Z was flipped on to its roof with John Morton at the wheel racing at the 2019 Classic 24hr race at Daytona International Speedway

 

The Z will be re-assembled, dyno tuned and tested in a few weeks at Sonoma with our hero John Morton and Rob Fuller! Super amped to see #46 back in fighting form and very happy for owner Randy Jaffe. Check our IG story to see the livery being applied by hand, this is a lost art and incredible to watch.

 

1970 Salt Flat Racer Datsun 240z

This historically significant 1970 Datsun 240z was built by a team of Nissan employees to compete at Bonneville in the F/GT class. In 1976 their efforts resulted in a new land speed record of 166.037 mph, which stood unbroken until 1985. This Z resided in the Nissan Museum and is now in the care of Randy Jaffe. Lots of neat details the Z 432R seats and G-nose. More to come! Big thanks to Randy and Nissan for letting us bring this Z back to life. We just finished the exhaust and dyno tuning,

 One of many Z32s we are working on, Steve’s will get a full report soon as well as the Stillen SMZ:

 

Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240z returned for a Rebello 3.2L with triple-Mikuni carbs on a Harada intake and CD009a 6-speed transmission:

     

Several S30 Z cars are getting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) like these two 280zs:

Ed B’s 240z and a pretty 280Z

 

Khang’s Z getting a 3.2L with Jenvey ITB EFI and our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) plus our Z Car Garage CV Axles.

 

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”. This one belongs to our long time customer and friend Linda. More to come!

B-Sedan Datsun 510s!

 

Larry Oka’s B-sedan is getting built and prepped with our Z Car Garage CV Axles. The Corky Bell 510 is also scheduled for a full restoration:

 

R32 Skylines!

 

Mike’s R32 GT-R is back for turbo, fueling and exhaust upgrades, full report soon! #TETUESDAY

 

We just got this really clean R32 GTS-T in:

Dyno Tuning your 350z/370z/Q/G

We have been dyno tuning your late model Nissan/Infiniti sports car daily. Bolt-ons, UPREV tuning, “popcorn” maps. Our customers leave happy with more performance. Call us to schedule an appointment! Here are just a few cars:

 

LONG LIVE THE Z! Check out our Instagram story for more updates!