We enjoy helping Z cars owners get their cars in top shape to Enjoy The Ride. David P purchased this 1975 Datsun 280z on the East Coast and the exotic shop it was at had difficulty with it. David moves between San Francisco and Massachusetts and wanted us to sort his Z out before hitting the roads here. Our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles along with tuning and aesthetic upgrades transform this Z.

 

Affectionately called “Triple Six”, the Z arrived at our shop from the East Coast via Masney Auto Transport (Thanks David). David had not seen the Z in person yet since purchasing and it needed some attention, Z Car Garage style.

 

The car was not running upon arrival and Rob had many suggestions after the initial assessment. From David:

“When Rob called to tell me that my car had made it there I said ‘Ok great. Can I tell you what I want done?’ to which Rob replied ‘Nope’. He said ‘I want you to come down here, drive my car and then say to me, OK I want you to do to my car whatever it was that you did to yours’, and after driving his car I did say those exact words.”

ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles

 

Indeed, we had David test drive “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car with full suspension and our ZCG Big-Brakes:

“I drove Rob’s unassuming, Safari Gold 240Z, that he appropriately named Butters, and God damn was it fun! I was surprised when he told me it had 275 horsepower, not a small number for a car that’s so small and light, its just that it felt much more powerful than I ever thought a sub 300 hp car could feel.”

 
After the test drive he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our customers 🙂 Read below for a brief description of these parts:

     

As fellow S30 owner/racer Glenn C mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with engineers at Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 15″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel (and some 14″ wheels) and retaining factory emergency brake lever! A few details below:

Calipers: Stoptech ST42 4-piston front & rear race calipers (Alum 6061 mil-spec Type III anodized)

Rotors: 280mm x 20.6 with Alum 7075 hats

Pads: Stoptech 309 sport street pads

Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.

A few closer detail shots of the calipers, rotors and hardware:

 

We removed David’s brakes and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit. Up front:

    

 

The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) is one of the oldest Z car clubs in the nation. We are proud to be a part of this group and support its members, like former ZONC president Ken C. Ken brought his 1970 S30 to Z Car Garage for a dyno tune and minor sorting. In true do-it-yourself fashion Ken performs most of the work himself, even installing a set of our Z Car Garage CV Axles in his garage.

 

“When I was 19 and in the Air Force I saved up for a Pinto, saved more for a Maverick…then I saw a 240z. I always wanted a 1970 and got this one in 1985. I drove it everywhere including Maine. I do 99% of the work myself with lots of details/upgrades like a huge cooling system (custom shroud) to support the A/C, rebuilt steering rack and all lightning.”

We recall seeing Ken’s Series 1 240z at the ZONC Annual Car Show in Brisbane, CA where he picked up an award for his efforts:

 

You can imagine how honored we were to have Ken let us work on his Z that only he’s allowed to work on. He had built a Rebello 3L with 5-speed/stock clutch and wanted us to do final sorting:

“Rob has always supported ZONC, done good work for its members so I trusted him to help get my Z in shape.  It was running too rich, stumbling and it would die when A/C  was turned on.”

 

Rob dyno tuned the L-series with SUs gaining more hp/tq and eliminating the hesitation Ken reported. The dyno plot shows his old L24 from a ZONC dyno day at the shop vs the current Rebello 3L now making a stout 183hp/191tq at the wheels. Enjoy this dyno video with sweet L-series music:

 

ZCG CV Axles

Z Car Garage is proud to offer a CV axle conversion kit for your Datsun S30 and 510. We have sold over 100 sets of axles, with customers installing and enjoying them on everything from street cars to full-blown IMSA racers. These CV axles will help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. Full details can be found HERE

 

Ken had purchased a set of our ZCG CV Axles and installed them himself.We love to hear from customers that are using our products and he reports that the axles were easy to install and well-engineered. Thanks Ken, and nice work:

“The ZCG CV axles—much smoother happy with less vibrations, best CV axles I’ve ever seen. It took me about 90 minutes to install. Super simple and easy and Rob is of course always supporting his own products with great service.”

 

Please contact the shop or visit our website to order your CV Axles!

 

Time To Enjoy The Ride

 

Ken continues to enjoy driving his Z, to shows or cruises and around town:

 

More inspiration for the Do-it-yourself’er…Ken is also restoring this ’72 S30 back to its stock blue/white in his garage (and kitchen)!

 

Thank you Ken for entrusting your Z to us. Ken is an avid baker and makes his own jerky, we also thank him for the cookies (which he’s known for) and snacks he provided to the ZCG crew. LONG LIVE THE Z!

 

More pictures in the gallery below: …[read more]

 

We love to install bolt-on parts that add power to your Z/G car. At Z Car Garage UPREV or EcuTek dyno tuning can maximize power gains from individual modifications like intake/exhaust upgrades. Today we bring you three cars that received dyno tuning to maximize performance gains from common bolt-on parts. Enjoy!

Salvador’s 370z

Salvador visited us for a dyno tune with EcuTek on his 2018 370z.

 

The dyno shows significant gains in power/tq making 314hp/264tq to the wheels:

 

James’ 350z

James visited ZCG for an UPREV tune on his 2003 350z.

 

The Z responded really well to the dyno tuning session, making 256hp/257tq at the wheels. We also re-located James’ steering-mounted controls to allow map switching.

 

Z Car Garage offers the ARC(Advanced Racing Controls) license. This add-on service to the existing UPREV Flash allows you to have adjustable launch control, burnout mode, and flat-foot shifting for $150. This is for cars with manual transmission, VDC/cruise control. Call Rob for more details!

 

Malcolm’s 350z

Malcolm’s Z came to us with a tune by another shop. It was E-tuned and Malcolm reported that it just didn’t feel right.

 

After UPREV tuning he picked up 13hp/10tq making 309hp/272tq to the wheels:

 

Enjoy this video showing all three Z’s on the dyno and contact us if you are interested in UPREV or ECUTEK tuning for you Nissan or Infiniti!

 

 

 

More often than not, it’s our parents who are responsible for our unrelenting passion for cars. For Geoff G, his automotive love was gifted to him by his Dad as a child. We love sharing our passion with family and friends so when Geoff and his father visited us with their 1972 Datsun 240z we happily obliged to help. Our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles along with tuning really made it come alive.

 

Z Car Beginnings

 

The Z was acquired from a family friend in 2015. Geoff worked on it with his Dad (Edgar) to make it a decent runner:

“When we took ownership of the car it had been sitting in a garage for several years, only being fired up occasionally. It’s originally painted 112 yellow, but a couple resale-red resprays along the way is where she sits. Drive train is all original. SU’s and 4 speed all there. And most importantly, no rust, or any signs of accidents. This is me and my dad’s first Z car. Always been a fan.”  

 

Fast forward, the father-son duo felt confident enough to enter the Z on a couple of rallye events in 2019. These Targa events are familiar to us, having prepared the Bring a Trailer Datsun 240z for the Targa Baja California rallye in October ’18:

“In 2014 we successfully piloted his 1973 Opel GT on the Snowball Rally event.  So when we picked up our Z, we knew we would get it out on the rally events. You can see our Z in the videos below”

Targa California 2019 Z shows up at 7:00 min mark: YouTube

Targa Baja California 2019 – Z shows up at 0:52 mark sporting rally Z inspired decals: YouTube

Pictures from the two rallye events:

 

Yoni has been our customer since 2014 and after having a taste of vintage Z cars at the shop he finally found one to call his own. This green S30 has had a long history with ZCG and before Yoni picked it up he requested intallation of our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles to make it perfect.

 

This Z was previously owned by our customer Alan L who purchased it in Idaho in 1995. We worked on this car since the late 90’s and it has many neat parts suiting his taste like a nasty 3L mated to a 4-speed transmission, stock brakes with race pads, Panasports and roll bar. He drove the wheels off this thing not only on the street but at the track too. In 2013 Alan retired to Palm springs and decided it was time to sell, sending it to us to find the Z a new home.

 

We got it here and installed a Rebello 2.9 with SUs, early 5-speed trans and some cleanup work.

 

Timing worked out wonderfully as Yoni was jonesing for an S30:

“I got my G37 in 2013 as a gift to myself for graduating college and landing my first “big boy” job. I researched the best garages in the Bay Area and only one stood out: Z Car Garage. I sent my first email to Rob in 2014, and my journey with ZCG has continued since then. Over the years I’ve only brought my G to Rob and his amazing team. They’ve performed all my routine maintenance and a couple major repairs and realized I appreciated the car as it is. It fulfilled it’s purpose for me – a fun, fast, reliable daily driver…

 

… Around 2019 I considered selling my G. There was nothing wrong with it, but I felt like something was missing for me. At this point I had spent the majority of my career developing electric vehicle technology (and even an electric flying taxi!). Spending so much time thinking about what was coming next made me, ironically, want to drive something more physical. I wanted to be able to experience driving something with personality, something that required actual skill and gave real feedback. I wanted something more rewarding…”

  

The Butters Effect

 

After a routine visit to ZCG and seeing all the vintage Z cars, Yoni took our shop demo car “Mrs. Butters” for a spin. It solidified his need for a Z:

“Rob eventually he let me drive one of his personal cars, Butters. The thing about driving Butters for the first time, especially if you’ve never driven a Z car, is that it’s totally unfair. Butters is kind of like the best version of what a Z car should be. It’s not another LS swap, not a restored garage queen, just a solid Z with a big engine and killer brakes. Butters is like the gateway drug of Z cars – you leave expecting all Z cars to be like that.”

Fast forward a few months and Yoni was ready to purchase the green Z. The 3.1L was already transplanted into customer Jason’s ProjectZ and the freshly built 2.9L with SUs and early 5-speed took its place:

 

Rob dyno tuned the L-series, now making 175hp/190tq at the wheels:

 

Enjoy the video with sweet L-series music!

 

 

The Z was good, but not “ZCG-good”, so we fixed that. Before it went home he had us install our ZCG Big-Brakes,  ZCG CV Axles, new Bridgestone S007a tires and more:

“When Rob showed me the car for the first time, I was mostly sold. The car was great, but the stock brakes needed to go (thanks to Butters). The car had a huge binder of records and history that went along with it. The price was right and we agreed that Rob would install ZCG big brakes, CV axles, and some sticky tires before I took delivery. He also took care of a few small items I wanted.”

“I’m really happy with the car. It’s the perfect compliment to my G, which I am definitely keeping now. It’s also really the best mix of things I wanted in a first Z. A good engine, moderate suspension upgrades, awesome brakes, and nice but not perfect paint. It’s something I can really enjoy driving and sharing with people without being paranoid about keeping it perfect. At some point I’ll be back to have Rob work on the interior with me. Who knows, maybe there’s a set of triple Mikuni carbs in my future. For now though, I’m enjoying the ride.”

 

Thank you for your continued support an we love working with you Yoni. We are glad that you are now a 240z owner,  welcome to the family and LONG LIVE THE Z!

 

More pictures in the gallery below: …[read more]