At Z Car Garage we enjoy working with late-model Nissans as much as earlier Datsuns. Our customer Eric R brought his Infiniti G35 Coupe to us back in 2009 and ten years later we helped him find a 2008 Infiniti FX35.  The FX got many upgrades to make it exactly the way Eric envisioned and he’s been enjoying it with his family as well as backroads.

The first generation (S50) FX-series models have aged rather well and we dig their combination of styling, power and versatility. Eric recalls how he became an FX owner:

“I’ve always been a car enthusiast.  My mom owned a 72 240Z back in the day and in 2007 my wife and I purchased a G35 Coupe 6MT and after a disappointing experience with the local Infiniti dealer, took the car to Rob and ZCG.  Needless to say, the knowledge base and Rob’s unique brand of engagement with his customers was refreshing. It was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve had and ZCG took exceptional care of our G35.  After a couple years of ownership, we had to give up the G Coupe with the onset of…kids.

Fast forward nearly a dozen years and the kids a bit older, I started my search for a new car. It needed to be sporty but still functional as a daily driver. It needed to haul mail and still haul the kids and the bikes and the gear.  The FX covered nearly every one of my criteria in one package, but fell a little short in visual cues and base line performance.

Timing worked out as our customer Chris’2008 FX35 AWD (Sport & Tech pac) was up for sale:

“As I searched for potential candidates, I was thrilled to reconnect with Rob and ZCG.  He helped me focus my search efforts and game plan what I envisioned for the car.   After a year of searching my FX came up for sale.  As luck would have it, it was a car already under the care of ZCG and a number of mods on my want list performed. Rob confirmed the quality and condition of the FX as well as the character of the seller.  It was, as they say, meant to be.”

Eric’s first visit with his FX focused on power and chassis upgrades. The VQ35 was treated to a Motordyne plenum spacer, JWT POP Charger and Uprev street tune providing more power throughout the rev range.

 

Keeping the FX glued to the tarmac are BC Racing coilovers and Stillen strut tower brace paired with a set of Nissan/Rays Eng GT-R R35 (CBA) rear wheels:

 

The wheels were refinished and we mount/balanced Michelin Pilot AS/3+ tires (295/45zr20) with new TPMS. We love the finish on these and they look right at home on the FX:

 

The stock brakes were upgraded to Akebono units from the G37/370z with a Stoptech sport brake kit (pads, slotted rotors, braided steel lines). This required changing the rear knuckle to a FX50 part.

Eric is all smiles with the upgrades and he’s been driving the FX everywhere:

“Rob and the ZCG Team worked incredibly hard to get everything on the car set in place so that I could immediately enjoy this family battle wagon and that’s just what I’ve been doing. Couldn’t be happier.”

 

We even spotted the FX at a local DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) Cars & Coffee event in Santa Cruz, CA:

 

Eric recently came back for a Nismo exhaust.

 

You can hear it in this driving video with Rob:

Thank you Eric for letting us improve your FX we look forward to seeing you at more events and keep Enjoying The Ride! More pictures in the gallery below.

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Richard M has been our customer since he moved to California years ago and together we built his 2009 370z into a balanced sports car with power and style. We are really proud to see him enjoy his Z and be an active member of the community. Let’s take a look at the journey with a few highlights along the way…

Humble Beginnings Lead to Boost

“Then 2 months later we reached out to Stillen to bless the Z with the full Stillen Supercharger kit and oil cooler. The kit was installed and dyno’d making 433whp and 340wtq. We transformed the Z into a new car. The new driving characteristics were improved drastically and the kit, compared to the naturally aspirated setup was day and night.”

We added a Stillen 25-row oil cooler and GTR plugs:

The installation was seamlessly, before/after:

With a CAN tune out of the box we saw 376hp/284tq to the wheels. This wasn’t terribly impressive considering baseline NA numbers were 305hp/251tq, netting gains of 69hp/33tq:

Richard was happier now with over 400whp 🙂

“The performance of my Amuse 370Z from the beginning has met both my expectations and Rob’s expectations. Rob and I always talk about how this car has been a stand out in regards to reliability with added power enhancers.”

“Working with Rob was the best decision I could’ve made in allowing someone to tune my car and keep me grounded as it’s easy to get sucked into the battle of “who has the most horsepower”? Although it can always be done,  I am proud to daily drive and make repeated trips between Norcal/Socal without any issues.”

We thank Rich for the kind words, and the Z certainly has been a workhorse.  Here are some of Rich’s memorable moments with his 370z.

Highlights

• Landing the front cover of DSPORT Magazine (Feb. 2018) which was also their SEMA issue and my first car cover and centerfold.

• Being featured on Matt Farrah’s youtube channel “The Smoking Tire” which has over 500k views. We love to see our customer’s cars spotlighted in the media!   Check out the video:

• Winning 1st place Best Import at The San Jose Auto Show inside the “Spider Section” for custom cars at the Convention Center

• Being invited & featured by Super Street Magazine to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Nissan GTR & Z Heritage in Monterey California for car week

• The final and most special to Rich is being invited to be featured in the “2020 Toyo Tires X SuperStreet” calendar which has also been declared the very last Calendar that Toyo Tires and Super Street Magazine will do. SuperStreet has been such a pillar for all of us import enthusiasts so to be recognized by them has been a childhood dream come true.

Style

Rich added his own touch to the Z, including a full Powerhouse Amuse kit and custom paint job with Silver with Gold flakes:

“The PowerHouse Amuse body kit is a kit that is also functional for cooling purposes but is also one of those kits that I actually fell in love with. The sharp body lines that I think enhances the Z. I imported the kit from Japan after becoming friends with Hitoshi Matsui and becoming more confident in Amuse now known as R1 Titan.”

 

We love the Work Emotion CR KAI wheels (F: 19×9.5 +15 R: 19×11 +18) with Muteki 12×1.25 Neo Chrome Extended open lug nuts and Toyo Proxes T1 Tires 285/35/19R -255/35/19F:

Rich would like to thank his sponsors:  Toyo Tires, Stillen, ISC Suspension, Socal Z, and ZCG.

LONG LIVE THE Z!

Jaques G was referred to Z Car Garage his co-workers at Apple. Last month he visited us for suspension/wheels and came back for Stillen intakes and an UPREV tune. Handling was improved with a few common upgrades like stiffer Eibach springs, Hotchkis sway bars and SPC control arms to keep alignment in check:

A nice braking upgrade is the OEM G37 S caliper setup. We installed these Akebono units on Stoptech rotors all around:

Front OEM vs big calipers:

Absolutely beautiful 19″  WedsSport SA55M wheels encase the calipers well.

These wheels are finished in matte grey have a more concave face for the rear…very handsome additions to the G.

Jacques wanted a little more power so we installed Stillen intakes followed by UPREV tuning.

The intake alone was good for +10hp but no significant gain in peak tq. Note, however nice gains in low and high rev ranges. UPREV tuning yielded an additional 4hp/6tq for total of 298hp/240tq to the wheels. Shown below are the gains from baseline to intake to UPREV:

 
Finally, the G was up for smog and it passed with flying colors. Jaques’ G37 is now a sharp looking corner-carver!