Jose E hails from the SF north bay and is the owner of this Jim Cook Racing body kit-prepped Z which is affectionately named, “The Egyptian”. Check out the numerous bodywork details like the front/ rear fenders, rectangular headlights and pinstriping. The interior also sports some very old-school appointments:

 

When the Z came to ZCG it was powered by a really old draw-thru setup. Some of you ZCG blog readers might remember these types of systems from the early Rob Fuller days with his Turbo Tom’s Draw-Thru L20b( shown in a 510 on left ).

These setups can make power. The Egyptian was on its last leg(on right) with an engine that had a blown headgasket.
The setup used a holley carb with a really old Rotomaster turbo and NO wastegate!!! No boost control except the engine and your right foot. Good Stuff!

 

TIME TO MAKE THE CHANGE
We shopped around and found Jose a donor car,  a 1983 280zx turbo. The engine was in good enough shape to be our donor so we removed it and prepped it for break down.
We sent the engine long block to Rebello Racing for a full build. The engine is ready to go in the form of a built 3.0 with forged pistons, a nice set of rods and a street cam to work with our medium turbo upgrade (Specs on this to come later) . We will be using JWT engine controls with upgraded injectors. ZCG will be providing a custom intercooler and piping.
The engine is in the mock up phase outside of the Z. While the engine gets its final details the chassis will receive all new suspension to help cope with the added power and torque.
More updates to come as the Egyptian gets a new heart!

You all have seen this car here before and I’m sure you are aware of it’s on track antics, if not then see the links below for a refresh.

• Laguna Seca track time Part 1, Part 2
• Thunderhill track video
• Motordyne Exhaust install
• Engine Replacement
  

This car sees tons of track time.  In fact it pretty much only sees track time, and like most track cars, after awhile things need to be refreshed.  In this case the StopTech Big Brake Kit was in need of a few new parts to prepare it for the Norcal UFO trackday the following weekend.

As you can see from the pictures, the hats for the two-piece rotors have seen some massive heat.  Enough in fact to destroy the original black anodizing.  These parts, while discolored, are still perfectly functional.  The rotors on the other hand had seen better days and were replaced with new ones.

The other part of this rebuild comes in the form of replacing the main seals for the four pistons in each caliper.  From the pictures you can see that the old ones were covered in debris and brake dust and were starting to weep, not a good thing when a race car relies on repeatable pedal pressures for optimum performance.

The seals were replaced with the new gray pieces and the entire system was reassembled and given back to the owner just in time to thrash on it at the Thunderhill Raceway.  Pics of the track event are still to come and are well worth the wait.

See all the photos of the entire rebuild after the read more (there are 30 or so)

Merry post-Christmas

ZCG

…[read more]

This car belongs to the one and only William of William’s Autobody fame.  The 240 came into the shop with a noisy valvetrain so we (Josh) removed the front cover and discovered that the timing chain tensioner had dismantled itself over the last few hundred miles.  Uh oh.  Normally this would result in the chain jumping a tooth or more on one of the gears which would cause terminal engine damage, we happened to get lucky.  Part replaced, Long live the L-series engine!!

Turning our focus towards the rear of the car, we have a slight overhaul in order.  What you see here are a set of T3 (Techno Toy Tuning) fully adjustable rear control arms.  These new pieces are light years ahead of the stock stamped pieces in terms of stiffness and adjustablility.  The perfect alignment is now achievable.  To accompany the control arms and their new bushings are a set of 250lbs/in springs (up from 175lbs) to firm up the rear a bit.

The new rear suspension pieces and and replaced tensioner will help our faithful painter enjoy one of his Z cars to its fullest.  ZOOM ZOOM (He has a Miata as well)  Long Live the Z!!

The Nissan/Datsun community is beginning to feel the age of our much loved vehicles. Parts are becoming harder and harder to find including standard maintenance items. At Z Car Garage (ZCG) they have begun to reproduce parts that are no longer offered from Nissan.

Production has already begun on the spindle that connects the rear strut to the control arm on the 240, 260, and 280z. The stock piece is made from hardened ductile iron that has been zinc coated. These need to be replaced just about every time the rear bushings are serviced. The new ZCG design is machined from billet stainless steel to exacting specifications. They decided on stainless because the old zinc pieces were getting very corroded with age and are incredibly difficult to remove on occasion, now the problem should be solved.

Here is a photo of the factory spindle (this is the best one that I have seen after removal, usually the threads are pulled and it is covered in corrosion.)

As products disappear from Nissan parts shelves, Z Car Garage is going to step up and produce items that will improve upon the original wherever possible. This is exciting news for all Datsun/Nissan owners who keep up with their vehicle maintenance or anyone who plans on doing a full restoration in the future.

I will post again as they release more “new” products. Stay tuned!!