Z Car Garage is excited to collaborate with Datsunworks and develop their brilliant KN20 dual-overhead cam (DOHC) cylinder head designed for the Nissan inline-6 L-Series engine.

 

Datsunworks founder Derek Minetti is the pioneer behind the KN20 DOHC cylinder head. This is a custom (very limited production), 6-cylinder head derived from Honda’s venerable K-series 4-cylinder engine. The KN20 offers superior head flow rates combined with modern valvetrain components to effectively transform your L-series single-overhead cam into a high-revving, dual-overhead cam engine. The power potential is impressive.

Gary’s Datsun 240Z

 

There are ten KN20 heads in the wild with only three installed and currently running in cars. Z Car Garage has two KN20 cylinder heads. This KN20 is serial #SN10 and it has been installed into our long-time client Gary’s Datsun 240Z, affectionately named the “Behemoth”. ZCG is always exploring the boundaries of powertrains and Gary’s Z has seen a few engines including an RB30DET, OS Giken TC24 and now the Datsunworks.

 

Here are few details on the powertrain setup for this Z:

-Rebello 3.1L Engine

-KN20 Cylinder head SN10 (but the performance level goes to 11)

-Induction type: Jenvey ITB EFI with Injector Dynamics injectors

-Engine management: Haltech Elite 750

-Header: Equal-length, custom fabricated by RacecraftNW

-Transmission: Nissan CD009a

-Rear Diff: R180 4.11 OS Giken LSD

 

Pictures of the initial engine installation, with more in the gallery:

 

For further information on the KN20 cylinder head we urge you to visit the Datsunworks blog:
Datsunworks Blog

Performance

 

We are still in the tuning phase so Gary’s car is on a comfortable (conservative) setting. With the Datsunworks head it made 350hp/248tq at the wheels on 91 octane:

 

Even in a testing stage it is absolutely thrilling to drive. Gary’s car is a full ZCG-style restoration so it has the chassis to harness the power. The sound it makes is a sonorous tone only the K-series derived KN20 head creates…with a gnarly exhaust note to match. The ITB induction also provides a healthy wail…it’s a sensory overload and revs seem to climb endlessly.

 

To illustrate the Datsunworks experience we captured some video of what it is like to drive around town…the 6-speed and EFI really allow this car to be docile, especially when cruising on the freeway and at part throttle. Drop a gear and its becomes a wild animal. Not going to lie…it gave me goosebumps both as a passenger and spectator.

Watch the video complete with multiple dyno passes, street acceleration and fly-bys. VOLUME UP!

 

 

Potential

 

Z Car Garage is stoked to be a part of the Datsunworks KN20 development. It is a clever design that pushes the envelope for L-Series engines. Sharing this experience is also part of the fun so we anticipate having a KN20 setup in a dedicated shop 240Z for clients to test drive and further evaluate. Although each application is different, we envision offering a bolt-in setup for your six-cylinder L-Series engine. The power potential is tremendous with the KN20…both NA and forced induction. We thank Derek at Datsunworks for giving us the opportunity to work with this innovative product.

 

Stay tune for more updates and LONG LIVE THE (TWIN CAM) Z!

 

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On June 5-6, the Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the Vintage Races at Laguna Seca. Z Car Garage was fortunate to participate and support several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 9. It was a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our report with photos from photographers Raj Narayan, Nick Dockery and Jim Rose plus exclusive in-car footage!

Z Car Garage Supports Two Datsun 510s!

 

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services do include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno. Below is a video of two Datsun 510 B-Sedans (Rob and Tom) on the dyno prior to the Speedfest weekend. Enjoy the sweet L-series music!

 

 

510s Galore!

 

Plenty of Datsun 510s in Group 9, it was a Dime-lover’s dream to be in the paddock and watch the races. Although the event did not officially allow spectators, we’ve got you covered! Let’s take a look at the Datsun 510s that we supported, beginning with our clients. Both cars ran flawlessly:

#72 Tom Dockery

Tom Dockery drove his Ex-Norm Balzer/Koobation 510. This car made its debut in May 2019 and we are excited to share its full story and profile Tom’s journey into racing.

Tom had a blast here are his thoughts on the race weekend

“Overall, the weekend was great.  Smaller field but the top half of the field was equally fast. I had some good exchanges with Jon Normal, whom I never expected to be able to keep up with, so that was fun. Some dicey moments with Daniel Cagginao, thought his lines were a bit off (Sun race 2). I managed to set a new personal best lap time of 1:46:09 which was great.

My other comment would this ….Every time I watch these in car vids ….and I watch them all the time just to hear the noise/sound, I see places I gave time away and I just want to go back out again. It’s intoxicating. My car was perfect, no issues and ran in top form all weekend long thanks to Josh and Rob.”

 Enjoy this in-car video from Tom’s 510:

 

#7 Rob Fuller

With the assistance of ZCG crew Josh and Keith we also supported ZCG owner Rob Fuller in the Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute car:

  

Rob performed admirably with a fastest time of 1:41.837, here is his experience:

“CSRG is one of the oldest race groups that we run with. It’s been 20 years since they had a Laguna Seca event so we were excited to participate. They had 9 different run groups and I have been pushing to make Spec Miata part of vintage racing. We tried to get a big group out, but only two Miatas raced with Group 8 (Tim Wright and myself). Despite this, it was fun to start at the back and move through the cars”

   

“The big excitement of course was B-Sedan group. Tom Dockery was quicker than ever, and I was getting closer to Troy Ermish. We really had fun, dramatic racing. First race out (qualifying) I was close to Troy. He and I were a good 3-4 seconds ahead of the field with a nice battle. Race 2 I had a good start and took off, then about lap 4 my car’s transmission got stuck in 3rd gear. We  were so far in front that even with 5-6 laps left in race I was able to adjust my driving style and finished in 2nd place. Pretty proud of that.”

 

 

Race 3 on Sunday was dramatic. Troy and Rob were just .033s apart at the finish!

“In the 3rd and final race (afternoon feature) Troy and I battled again. He started to gap me but car issues slowed his pace. I started to reel him in. The last lap was the closest I’ve ever been to Troy (see video below), and it’s no secret that he’s a phenomenal driver. I definitely want to catch cup to him and race with him when our cars are both 100%.”

 

You can see in-car footage of Rob below:

 

 

Catch more of Rob’s sessions on his Youtube Channel. Race Results from the Group 9:

 

Datsun Car Corral!

 

CSRG is awesome. Since the general public was not allowed to spectate, they hosted a vintage Datsun Car Corral! Participants were spoiled with FREE parking in the paddock area and full access to the race for the weekend.

 

 

Willie Gutierrez brought his Datsun 510 along with a few friends. My roadster friend Raj Narayan (photo contributor) also attended in his 2000.  They got to enjoy the beautiful weather and day of racing without crowds…amazing!

 

Cool Cars

The paddock was filled with wicked metal. This special Datsun Roadster is a factory “lightweight” model, piloted by Michael Sweeney. More pictures in the gallery!

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

We hope you have enjoyed our report from the 2021 CSRG Vintage Race event! CSRG did an amazing job with the event. Rob’s parting words:

“It was fun to catch up with friends like the crew from Racecraft.  Ex-driver of Tom Dockery’s 510 John Koobation was there. I enjoyed racing Miatas and hangin out with Tim Wright, a famous musician from 3rd Eye-Blind and Primus. We hope October’s event with CSRG will be open to spectators!  Our client Kelvin missed this event but assures us he’ll be racing at Sonoma. None of this would be possible without the help of our ZCG crew Josh and Keith Corwin. If you haven’t experienced a Historic racing event I encourage you to come out, it’s a blast!”

 

*See you in October for the CSRG Charity Challenge in Sonoma!*

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Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou visited Z Car Garage today for dyno tuning on his IMSA GTU 260z race car! You might remember our previous blog post highlighting the ZCG CV Axles Glenn installed himself:

    

Glenn is preparing for the upcoming Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca and we specialize in dyno tuning vintage race cars for the event. Listen to that triple-Mikuni fed L-Series roar on the dyno…Glenn is dialed-in and ready to race!

 

 

The Different Drummer Z

 

Glenn Chiou is our client, fellow racer and friend. He was one of the first to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes on his RHD 240Z and actively vintage races both 510 and Z cars. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence. Glenn restored this race car himself and it is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas. Glenn’s got a passion for re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers and his current restoration project is the Different Drummer Racing Z raced by Greg Sorrentino. This is a really cool race car with great history and build details behind it.

 

Chassis # RLS30-000024 is a July 1973 pre-production Datsun 260Z chassis that was sold by the factory for one dollar in 1975 to Different Drummer Racing, owned by Greg Sorrentino of Troy, Michigan. It was one of the very first Datsun 260Z chassis and was built by the legendary American fabricator, Ron Fournier. This Z car has been consistently raced for the last 40+ years in IMSA GTU, SCCA Trans-Am, and C-Production/GT-2 classes. You can see more history and details of the build HERE.

 

Thanks for your support Glenn! We we will be rooting for you at the Monterey event!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love to see our parts installed and used on client’s cars. Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou is running our ZCG CV Axles in this IMSA GTU 260z race car!

 

Glenn is preparing for the upcoming Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion event at Laguna Seca. A half shaft failure is not something he wanted to worry about while racing so he replaced them with ZCG CV Axles. Glenn installed set #367 himself with ease:

 

The Different Drummer Z

 

Glenn Chiou is our client, fellow racer and friend. He was one of the first to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes on his RHD 240Z and actively vintage races both 510 and Z cars. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence. Glenn restored this race car himself and it is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.

 

Glenn’s got a passion for re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers and his current restoration project is the Different Drummer Racing Z raced by Greg Sorrentino. This is a really cool race car with great history and build details behind it.

 

Chassis # RLS30-000024 is a July 1973 pre-production Datsun 260Z chassis that was sold by the factory for one dollar in 1975 to Different Drummer Racing, owned by Greg Sorrentino of Troy, Michigan. It was one of the very first Datsun 260Z chassis and was built by the legendary American fabricator, Ron Fournier. This Z car has been consistently raced for the last 40+ years in IMSA GTU, SCCA Trans-Am, and C-Production/GT-2 classes.

  

In 1975, the Datsun Competition Department agreed to support Greg Sorrentino’s IMSA GTU racing efforts by providing him a pre-production Datsun 260Z. Once in Sorrentino’s hands, it was left to his all-star lineup of builders to help him build a frighteningly fast IMSA GTU car:

• Chassis preparation was to the skilled hands of legendary metal fabricator, Ron Fournier
• Suspension duties were left to Mac Tilton
• John Knepp of Electramotive Engineering built the motors for Different Drummer Racing

 

 

The DDR Z in action at Portland International Raceway in 1979:

 

You can read more about the official history on this Z as documented by Glenn here:

1974 IMSA GTU 260Z – Official History

 

 

As usual, Glenn’s painstaking efforts and diligence result in a faithful restoration…where parts are not available he has gone to extraordinary lengths to re-create pieces from historical photos…all from his garage at home.

 

Thanks for your support Glenn! We we will be rooting for you at the Monterey event!

 

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Over 130 sets of our ZCG CV Axles are installed in client’s cars all over the world. For more information please visit our detailed post our HERE. Below are just a few examples of race cars running out CV Axles:

Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:

Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:

  

Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z

  

Set #248 – installed on Adam Carolla’s “Greg Sorrentino #90” Datsun 510.