John Morton and the BRE Z return to track for the Monterey Pre-Reunion races at Laguna Seca! Z Car Garage will be there this weekend in Row D, Group 6 so please stop by and say hello.

 z 

LONG LIVE THE Z

 

Just 4 days after we listed this 1973 Nissan Kenmeri Skyline it found a new owner in Southern California.

  

The new owner, Joe:

“Just want to say thank to Rob and the guys at Z Car Garage.  Had a great experience purchasing my 73 Skyline Kenmeri from them. Class act all around and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a quality top notch classic JDM car!”

Here is the Kenmeri arriving:

 

The best part is that Joe is already Enjoying The Ride in his Skyline making appearances at local events!

 

Congratulations Joe!

 

Today we bring you three cars that received UPREV tuning to maximize performance gains from common bolt-on parts like intakes and exhaust systems. Enjoy!

Sean’s 370z

Sean visited us for an ART pipe install and to correct a few issues with previous intake/exhaust installation from another shop.

 

Rob UPREV tuned the Z with great results gaining 25hp/12tq for a total of 337hp/274tq to the wheels:

 

Sean also wanted to use a new feature from UPREV called 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!

Nick’s 370z

 

In 2014 we UPREV tuned Nick’s 2006 black 350z…and now he has a 2010 370z so it was time for an UPREV reunion!  Nick had Stillen Gen 3 Intakes and the Fast Intention CBE w/ 18″ resonators so it was prudent to get a proper tune and extract their full potential.  With tuning we saw peak gains of 7hp/8tq for a total of 318hp/262tq to the wheels. Note the great mid-range gains:

 

 

Karl’s 350z

Nick came in to ZCG to tune his 2005 350z with bolt-ons, and we happy obliged.

 

With UPREV tuning Rob extracted 6hp/11tq for a total of 268hp/251tq. The peak numbers may not seem impressive but look at the area under the curve after tuning. There are significant gains in hp/tq throughout the rev range:

Contact us if you are interested in UPREV or ECUTEK tuning for you Nissan or Infiniti!

 

Matt M is another member of the Inconceivable Racing group and visited ZCG to supercharge his 370z Convertible. Here are a few pictures of the Stillen kit installation:

 

Matt came back to have us install some ART pipes and a Fast Intentions catback exhaust system:

 

ART pipes in place:

 

OEM vs FI exhaust system:

   

Being base model Z, Matt wanted to put slightly wider wheels on and sticky RE-71R tires for track days:

 

We love the PLX Devices gauge that neatly replaces the clock with a multi-function display to monitor vitals:

  

Finally, also installed new end links for his sway bars:

 

On the dyno we retuned with ECUTEK to maximize gains from the bolt-ons. Final numbers are 402hp/354tq to the wheels, peak gains of 32hp/24tq. After 4000rpm gains of almost +50hp/tq are seen:

Enjoy The Boost, Matt!

 

Eric T hails from Benicia, CA and he is one of the key members of Inconceivable Racing along with our customers Matt M and Rasheed B. This is a group of enthusiasts that got into Z cars and are now obsessed with taking them to open track days and events like Shift Sector. What is really cool is that both Eric and his wife run their HR-powered 350z cars together at the track!

 

Here are the couple enjoy their Z cars at Laguna Seca. It is a small Z-car world and we have worked on Eric’s wife’s 350z Convertible because it was our man William’s!

 

Eric had been to several independent shops and wasn’t really happy.  Rasheed told him about ZCG and we met with Eric to help sort his Z.  After driving at Laguna Seca, he was frustrated with corner entry and exit speeds. This was a result of not putting power down effectively through the open differential on his Base-model Z. Our solution was to install the OS Giken limited-slip unit:

 

Here is the unit being installed with a 4.08 gear, all new bearings and seals.  We also added a NISMO Diff cover:

 

    

The diff all buttoned-up and installed on the car:

   

With the car up on the lift we noticed one of the bushings in rear subframe was leaking. The subframe was pulled and all bushings were replaced with with SPL solid bushings. The diff received Whiteline bushings:

     

The aftermarket exhaust system was rubbing on the rear chassis brace and had a rubber pad wedged in between as the solution from a previous shop. We fixed it:

 

The exhaust was also rubbing on the rear sway bar, where a heater hose complete with hose clamps was used as an isolator. We fixed this well:

 

Motordyne ART pipes were installed and the Z was retuned with UPREV:

 

On the dyno we found peak gains of 7hp/11tq for a final 303hp/265tq to the wheels. More importantly the gains can be seen throughout the rev range:

 

 

 

After we performed this work Eric attended a 2-day race event at ‘Seca for his birthday. He was super pumped with the Z and it performed well. He’s a ZCG believer. Enjoy the Ride, Eric!