Shop Talk for
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Our customer Randy Jaffe’s 1970 Datsun 240Z is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Rob Fuller and Larry discuss this historically significant, record-setting Z and take it for a spin. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a full zcarblog.com feature where we will take a closer look at our revival of this wild race car.
LONG LIVE THE Z!
Our ZCG Big Brakes have been winning over Z-car enthusiasts locally and globally. Jeremy G recently purchased a set for his 1973 Datsun 240Z and performed the installation himself at his shop in San Jose, CA.
Z Car Garage is proud to offer our Big-Brake Kit to Z-Car owners that want to perform the installation themselves. We can ship worldwide and each kit contains everything needed with a comprehensive (40-page) installation guide. Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE. Enjoy these pictures of Jeremy’s beautiful S30 and his ZCG Big-Brake installation:
As mentioned, our ZCG Big-Brake kit ships with everything needed to install and retains the factory parking brake:
Jeremy successfully installed the BBK on his Z, complete with functioning parking brake:
The brakes fit behind his 15×9(F) and 15×10 (R) Longchamp XR-4 wheels:
Beyond ease of installation and quality components, our Big-Brakes perform by offering superb pedal feel…everyone that drives our demo Z confirms! This is a direct result of working with Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. Jeremy was very happy as well with great feedback:
“Big thanks to Rob Fuller and the guys at Z Car Garage for working with Stoptech to make this awesome big brake kit for S30s. Installed yesterday and spent most of today running around and they feel great. Best feeling and balanced brakes I’ve ever had on any Z.”
Jeremy removed and sold his existing Wilwood setup, not uncommon once you experience just how good our Big-Brakes are!
The best part is that you can see Jeremy frequently Enjoying The Ride all over the Bay Area. This Z gets driven! Under the hood is a Rebello 3.5L soon to be fed by 50mm Mikuni carbs tuned by Kyushahousetaka. We dyno tuned the Z last year with 44s and this G-nosed beauty baselined at 238hp/229tq. With Rob’s tuning the Z produced 288hp/257tq to the wheels! We are really excited to unlock more power with a few upgrades, now that Jeremy has brakes up to the task!
Our customer Trevor M’s 1978 Datsun 280Z is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Rob Fuller and Larry discuss the 280Z platform, ZCG’s upgrades and take it for a spin. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a full zcarblog.com feature on Trevor’s 280Z, where we will take a closer look at our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, CD009 Six-speed transmission and more.
LONG LIVE THE Z!
We love to see owners installing our Z Car Garage CV Axles on their Datsuns. Chris M recently performed the installation himself on his 1970 240Z. You may have seen this Safari Gold Series 1 beauty at events in the Atlanta area or online features. We are proud to be part of it!
Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
Chris has CV axle set #0353 and we are happy to report that he installed them himself with ease:
“Install was a breeze, old axles come out, these new ones go right in in their place. Couldn’t ask for an easier installation.”
He sent us a few pictures of the unboxing and before/after replacing his old half-shafts. Nice work Chris!
Chris’ Z is not a fully-restored example. Aside from the paint he’s gone through the entire car making it an ultra-clean driver that is still show-worthy. The stance is achieved through full air-suspension. It was one of the first S30s to be on airbags, gracefully tucking those gorgeous 15×9 Work Equip 01s:
The engine remains an L-series with triple-Weber 45DCOE’s and 10:25:1 CR ported E31 head on a stock 280Z bottom end. We do love his choice of Fujitsubo Legalis exhaust.
Listen to it sing:
Chris’ Z and the great story behind it has been told many times we encourage you to read his Petrolicious and Speedhunters features.
Chris loves his Nissan/Datsuns but also enjoys other marques as an enthusiast. Check out his R32 Skyline GT-R, 280Z (bought by his uncle brand new in 1978, and has been in the family since) and R30 Skyline 4-door!
We’ve been following Chris on Instagram for years and met him at SEMA and when he visited Rob at our shop. Stoked to see a fellow Georgian and be a part of his Z car journey. Thank you Chris for your support and we are happy to see you Enjoying The Ride (and CV axles)! Enjoy the photo gallery below
“My first dream car was 350Z. I learned about Z cars in my college days and I recall a cool kid driving one while I was waiting at a bus stop in the cold rain. We had an opportunity to buy a new car and I was very fortunate that it could be a Z. After purchasing the 370Z, 6 months later went to ZCG and the journey began. No offense to stock Zs but these are meant to be modified 🙂 My wife and I both love our Z and I thank her for supporting my hobby 🙂 “
With only a few months of owner-hip of his new 370s Sport Touring Henry visited us for upgrades. The latest Z34s had ECU changes and no software support at the time. Henry knew he wanted to go forced-induction so in the interim we started bolt-on upgrades. In April of 2019 the chassis was treated to full KWV3 coil-over suspension with SPC F/R control arms and Hotchkis sway bars:
A few installation pictures, followed by a full alignment:
A cat-back exhaust system from Armytrix with Valvetronic sound adjustment:
Henry requested a new steering wheel install:
Stock (with a cover) removed and new carbon fiber + alcantara-trimmed wheel installed:
With 12k miles on the odometer Henry was ready for boost. We ordered the Stillen supercharger kit (black), CARB-legal for piece of mind. Supporting parts included a Concept Z 25-row oil cooler (thermostatically controlled), Stillen transmission cooler and fueling upgrades. Here a few pictures of the installation:
Fueling upgrades include a CJ Motorsports stage 1 fuel return system and billet fuel pump hat, 1300cc Injector Dynamics injectors, Hellcat Wallbro fuel pump, SpecialtyZ flex fuel kit:
The SpecialtyZ flex-fuel kit comes with a Zeitronix gauge that we mounted in pace of the OEM clock:
Cooling upgrades include Soho Motorsports air-to-air intercooler, Concept Z 25-row oil cooler (thermostatically controlled) and Stillen transmission cooler. Also shown is the Fast Intentions crash bar with tow-hook:
Oil and transmission coolers:
We installed a Fast Intentions billet flex-plate, much stronger than the OEM unit:
Finally, we changed the exhaust from Armytrix to an ARK Grip setup paired with ART Pipes from Motordyne:
Henry loves the current exhaust setup:
“I’ve gone through Nismo OEM, Armytrix, and eventually settled with Rob and a friend of mine’s suggestion for the forced induction route: Ark grip catback system + Motordyne art pipes = the deep growl without screaming. Sort of the centered idea of the goals of my Z project – subtle power without drawing attention.”
We wanted the most efficent blower wheel to run ethanol so the V3 SI blower wheel was installed. Ecutek software was used for tuning, MAP-based with omni sensor.
Shown below are dyno graphs from when Henry was NA to 91 octane and E75 tunes on the Vortech. NA, the Z made 316hp/252tq and a 91 octane tune supercharged yielded 501hp/370tq at the wheels:
Rob then tuned the Z on E75 for 573hp/426tq at the wheels:
Enjoy the dyno tuning video!
We are very happy with the results and even more stoked to hear Henry’s feedback on the supercharger and tuning performance:
“The supercharger is very daily usable and power whenever I want! The sc mods put together and tuned by Rob for a 7at Z is able to reach 570+ whp and 430 wtrq and still feel smooth and dramatic at the same time is absolutely beyond my expectation (I followed every ZCG 370Z blog posts and it’s a honor to be one of the highest power 370Z from ZCG, hats off to Rob) And did I mention daily-driveable? Good surprise for me. In addition, Rob has been really patient and knowledgeable for all my questions and requests and late night text regarding my Z. It really felt like we built the car together but it’s all his magic touches! I really appreciate the journey! More to come”
We have said it before: wheels make or break a car. After long discussions with Henry we decided on the Ray’s TE37 Ultra Track Edition II. Finished in Blast Black and sized 19×9.5/10.5 these wheels look perfect on the Z34.
We love the little details Ray’s applied:
“I love my Z and ZCG! Long live the Z! ZCG has been the place to go if you love Z cars, new or classic. Rob and the shop/crew exude passion for Z cars and you immediately know they will take care of your Z and your Z will be among its family. Rob has been great through the journey and worked with “our” Z. I am sure there is more to come for my Z with ZCG!”
You can follow Henry here on Instagram. What’s next for his Z? He’s playing with idea of a body kit but trying to maintain that subtle-aesthetic approach in his build. Stay tuned! Thank you Henry for letting us build your Z. It’s very cool for us as a shop trying to make 50-old cars keep with cars like this. We enjoy playing with the new stuff just as much as the classics. LONG LIVE THE Z! More pictures in the gallery below:
