The Japanese Classic Car Show(JCCS) was held on Sunday 9/12 in Long Beach, CA and it was incredible. This show started in ’06 at the Queen Mary, moved to a park venue in Irvine for a few years and returned to Long Beach where I hope it stays.

We left the Bay Area at 8am Saturday morning and spent the night aboard the Queen Mary(Hotel). This is an experience in itself and I highly recommend staying here not only for the convenience.

Sunday morning Rob and I gave the roadster a quick wipedown before driving a few hundred feet to the staging area of the show. The JCCS staff really have their act together and made parking a breeze. At first I thought it was impossible to fit all participants in as there were 200+! I parked with 18 other Datsun Roadsters under a tree lined area. We were right across from what turned out to be 61 Datsun 510s! Nissan/Datsun had a strong presence for sure.

Grabbed my goody bag from the registration booth and we started checking out all the J-tin in a semi-orderly fashion. No lawn chair lounging for us! We spoke with Ron Carter, Les Cannaday and John Morton near the MOTUL booth where the BRE 240z and BRE Roadster were being displayed. Morton treated show-goers with a long autograph session. It was great to see him in good spirits!

If there was any doubt about the growing popularity of Japanese vintage cars all you had to do was look at how many spectators lined up for the show, some waited more than 1hr! This is great for JCCS and all of us classic car owners. Having a good venue doesn’t hurt either 🙂

Make sure to check out all of the pictures below at the end. The bar is contantly being raised and the level of detaiI/restoration of the cars these days is tremendous! I can’t possibly discuss all of the awesome cars but here are a few that caught our attention:

Randy Yee’s 240z with an RB26 drivetrain. Super clean, track-day resto. Flat black wrinkle powdercoating.  Simple interior. And what made me go gaga was the BRE-style exhaust system…why don’t we see this more often? Maybe it’s too loud 🙂

Wheels, wheels and more wheels! A JDM-wheel fanatic would appreciate the variety on display. From Volk’s new TE37Vintage wheel, various WORK and SSR wheels, ultra-rare Sakuras(the pink ones), Compmotive, TRD, even CCW showed up on 510s! Lots of Rota RB-R too:

This Nissan Patrol pickup truck was imported from Saudi Arabia!

61 510s, and it seemed like over half had some kind of engine swap. In a sea of SR20s and KAs this Dime built by Mario of TSR really stood out. John Morton was enamored with the engine bay! Lots of attention to detail in this one. Check out the welding. I love 510s

The Nissan 200sx or Silvia (S12 chassis) is often overlooked stateside. These cars were modded out and looking great.Yes, One had an RB26!

The Honda N60 models are coming out of the woodwork. There were about 10, all with mild to wild mods! Lots of CVCCs too.

Toyota and Mazda had a strong showing. Several 1/2Jz-swapped cars, Rotary pickups.

From L to R: This 18RG-powered Toyota looked boosted with period parts. I always liked the lines and B-pillarless body of the Celicas(RA). Fender-flared, wide-tired and mean Starlets are always welcome

This Mazda RX-4 wagon had FD Rx-7 running gear, front suspension bits and a linked Ford rear end…wicked:

I always like to see and hear car stories from owners. Interesting stickers also catch my eye, here are some highlights 🙂

It was an awesome weekend. We traveled 860 miles to see the show, and we did it in a Datsun. The sheer number of spectators and participants at JCCS 2010 reminds us that Japanese Classic Cars are still gaining popularity and recognition. Here’s to JCCS 2011!
UPDATE: ZCarGarage built the 1st place-winning Datsun Roadster in the “Modified” category!

For more information on 2010 Winners from all categories check the JCCS website

Full photo album below so click and enjoy!
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Over the last few years ZCG has been listed as a top tier Vortech dealer. Every few weeks we get calls to install Vortech kits on non-Nissan cars but we rarely get the chance to do this since the shop is usually packed with Z projects. Once in a while though we have the opportunity to build and drive some of that V8 muscle that we all hear so much about.

A few weeks ago ZCG received a call from Jeff in Fresno. He was having trouble getting called back by his local hot rod shop. He owned a 2010 Camaro SS, which is no slouch to begin with but he wanted more power.
Rob and Jeff spoke on the phone about his power needs. We were familiar with the Vortech product and as long as he didn’t mind his American muscle being surrounded by Nissans ZCG was in to help. Jeff placed his order and a few days later his buddies towed the Camaro to ZCG. The car was very nice and we baseline dynoed it that day! It made a solid 374hp/382tq at the wheels.

The next day Fred went to work on the install. Once again Vortech has stepped up to the plate and made a Supercharger kit with great directions and seamless install parts.
One of Rob’s favorite parts of the install was when Fred used his ZCG-style to remove a bracket (as per directions) but going one step futher by finding a matching paint code for the yellow engine bay. Fred removed the bracket, sanded, and made it look like it was never there:

The intercooler looked big enough to cool down two Z engines. Once the install was complete we went back on the dyno for some really amazing results: 495hp/457tq at the wheels!

The next day ZCG and Jeff met in person for the first time. “By the way he held on to the passenger door handle as I gave him his first ride in his Boosted ‘Maro I believe he was pleased,” says Rob.

For more info on the supercharger kit click HERE

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!

Gary’s 240sx is getting a serious turbo and cam upgrade from Tomei…here is a teaser of the new turbo. Full story shortly

This event is ON! HOD is giving you a chance to run Thunderhill on September 8, for only $150.
TONS of track time with only THREE run groups….that’s 6, 20-minute sessions per group. Small groups, lots of Nissans and clear weather make an awesome track day!

To sign-up complete the entry form below, and don’t forget to bring your tech sheet!
RegistrationForm
Tech Sheet