I know that some of you are super eager to see some major progress on this huge project so here is another “carrot in front of the donkey” to keep you interested and coming back for more.  Here are the first photos of the newly powder coated and anodized suspension parts going on the car for mock-up.  We also threw one of the brakes on just to give you an idea of what they will look like, 12.9″ brakes on a Z are ridiculous, and amazing.

Two of the ZCG Big Brake Kit posts can be found HERE and HERE

I MIGHT have a couple more shots for you before the week is over of the car on the ground, that’s right, it will be a roller.  Holy Crap.  keep bringing it back here for your Z-car fix.

I’m tired.  Good night all.

That’s right friends!  The long awaited ZCG 240z Big Brake Kits have started rolling in from our manufacturer.  This kit has been over a year in the making and it is amazing to see them finally come into the shop as a finished product, we are extremely proud.

From the pictures below you can see that the black caliper kits were the first to arrive, we are expecting the rest of the black and red kits to be in house within the next couple of weeks.  What this means though is that we can finally get a couple of the RB project cars off of the dolleys and onto the ground with some sort of real suspension beneath them, exciting right?!?

The nice thing about the kits themselves, besides being the best brakes ever offered for a 240z, is that everything needed to for the complete kit comes in two boxes!  Even we don’t have to go searching for special parts, we designed it to be a one shot deal.

As soon as the kit start making their way onto customer’s cars I will have more photos as well as the reactions of the new owners, so stay tuned for that.  In the meantime if you need to catch up on the past brake kit posts just click HERE.

If you have been keeping up on our 370z exploits, good for you.  If you haven’t then HERE is some mandatory reading.

We were planning on taking the car to the Motorsport Auto Show (MSA) from the beginning and if you know us then you are aware that there was NO WAY that we were going to take a stock car.  We made a few phone calls to the people that can make things happen and the ZCG 370z turned into a monster overnight.

We decided that the first change to the car needed to be in the suspension department.  Eibach springs was a first choice because of their pedigree in the industry and we shortly had a couple of boxes at our door.  They are advertised to lower the car 0.9″ in the front and 0.8″ in the rear.  The springs are a progressive rate set-up front and rear to help with ride quality and in the handling department.  The looks are vastly improved as the photos show and I’m happy to report that there is a noticeable decrease in body roll and mid corner stability seems to be improved; it’s a nice improvement considering that the ride quality is not any more harsh than before.

The next call we made was to our friends down at StopTech Brakes, and we went for the big boy of brake kits.  You can remember that we ran into problems with the stock brake system after a few sessions on the track so we felt the need to step up here.  It was the week of the MSA show so we needed to request overnight delivery if we were to finish everything that week and when we unwrapped the boxes we were overjoyed.

Before our eyes lay the latest and largest kit that StopTech has to offer for the 370z.  It includes 6 piston front calipers with 380mm rotors in the front and 4 piston calipers and 355mm rotors in the rear.  The rotors are a slotted two piece design to aid in performance and replacement.  I don’t even know where to begin to describe the feeling these brakes give when you slam on the “stop” pedal, it’s not worth testing the limits on the street so we will be heading back to the track with haste very soon.  Bummer, I know, more track days for work.  Where will it end.  Haha

Now comes the time for improved power.  We ordered the Stillen cat-back exhaust and the new Gen-3 intake system to help our car breathe better on both sides of the engine.  Before I even get to any sort of dyno results I need to say that everyone here at Z Car Garage was let down by the fit and finish on these two products.  The exhaust rubs and hits in at least two or three places, its painfully annoying.  The intake system comes with no brackets of any sort and the front part is left to bounce around to rub on and destroy anything it pleases (see video below.)  We have made our own brackets and changes to the intake to prevent any sort of serious damage, we were even forced to wrap the air conditioning lines on the driver’s side to prevent the intake from inevitably rubbing through.  Stillen is a huge company with tons of R&D time in these products, I don’t understand how they could ship a part like this and expect owners to be satisfied.

As far as power numbers are concerned, it is an improvement.  On the graphs the blue line is the car returned to its totally stock form for a baseline.  The red line is after the intake only.  The final green line is with the intake and exhaust.  Each change gains around ten wheel horsepower and a moderate torque increase as well.  Too bad horsepower poor fit and finish.  I have heard from our sources that they have made improvements to the exhaust fitment, and not to defend Stillen, but these were some of the first parts on the market for the 370z.  We here at Z Car Garage just want our customer base to get the the best product they can, and the product that you deserve.

As far as future upgrades to the ZCG 370z are concerned, I will be posting the solution to our other track event failure sometime next week with test data to follow as soon as we get back to the track.

Here is the video of the intake that is supplied without any brackets.  We ended up making our own.  Enjoy the random music in the background.

Z Car Garage is currently building 3 RB powered Datsuns for some very lucky customers, two 240Zs and one RHD Fairlady Z.  Many of you know Rob Fuller’s “Go Green” RB25 240z from being at Z Car Garage, various car shows, and from the cover of Turbo magazine earlier this year; these customer cars are going to be all that and more!!

Here are a few pictures of Rob’s car to refresh your memory.

Parts have been coming in like crazy recently so I figured it was time to share the goodies with all of you.  First off, GReddy has sent us a few new intake manifolds to abuse in these cars (these pictures are of the stock pieces before our modifications.)

We also had CUSTOM intercoolers made just for this application.  Flow and efficiency were our main concerns in the design and they do not disappoint.   These are extremely trick and are made to the same high standards as all of our cars and will be right at home in the RB engine bay.

Tomei will be supplying the camshafts for all the engines, but they will all be a more aggressive grind than the Tomei pieces in Rob’s 240.  The turbo choice is going to be key with these builds and we will be testing a few different variations before we make a final choice.  This will be extremely critical for the car that will be getting the stroked RB28.  This engine is nearly assembled and should be a monster when completed.

The three current cars are in various stages of completion:

Kurtzee:

This beautiful car was just featured in the November issue of Sport Compact Car.  It was torn apart a few weeks ago just as the article was released.  The struts were shortened and modified to accept coilovers and then sent out to be powder coated.  It is also being prepped for the ZCG Big Brake Kit so that it will be able to stop once the car gets going with all that new found horsepower.

This car is the most complete but the engine is still in the early stages so it is expected to be finished around the same time as the black car.

The Behemoth:

This is the car that will be receiving the RB28.  The plan is for the car to be black on black with the engine bay paint matching the quality of the of all of the exterior paint.  This is a show car that will be built to take all the abuse one can throw at it.  There has been a custom roll cage installed to brace the chassis which will be painted to match the exterior.

The car is currently at paint where we are making sure that all of the body lines are perfect before the black is sprayed, it will be as smooth as glass.  The stroked 2.8L RB is assembled and waiting only on the camshafts before it is buttoned up for the final time.  As I stated earlier this engine will be getting a slightly larger turbo to take full advantage of the added displacement.  The ZCG Big Brake Kit is standard issue.

The Silver Fairlady:

This car is also set to be something really special.  It is a true JDM RHD Fairlady Z that is being restored from the ground up to be the highlight of the owners collection.  While the engine will be built to the same specs as the Kurtzee build, the rest of the car is going to be a true labor of love due to the difficulty of sourcing the rare Fairlady parts.

This car will also be receiving the ZCG brake kit as it will see regular track duty when it isn’t winning every show it enters.  The entire suspension of the car has already been modified to accept coilovers and has been powder coated in a metallic silver just like the Skyline GT-Rs of the past, truly a thing of beauty.

All of the cars will be receiving a custom designed stand-alone ECU, the Hydra Nemesis EMS 2.6.  It will be fully integrated into our custom designed harnesses with a factory fit and finish.  This system has already been installed on our green RB 240 with excellent results.

Another addition to the cars is the 3 piece, custom offset, Panasport wheel set.  These wheels are a beautiful addition to an already amazing package.  They were chosen because they have the strength to handle the power and track use that all of these cars will see.

Look for another installment in these builds with in the next week when the suspension and engine developments mature a bit further.  Long Live The RB Z!

The first track test of Z Car Garage’s own big brake kit took place last week at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. The brake kit was designed entirely in house and has gone through various stages of testing over the past few months since its creation. This initial kit was installed on a freshly restored 240z to ensure that the car would be able to handle it’s new braking capabilities.

After the owner of the car had a few sessions under his belt with the kit it was time to test the brakes under tougher race-like conditions. To do this the ZCG crew enlisted the help of professional racecar driver David Ray. David has won a San Francisco Regional championship (1994) in an ITS prepared 240z and again (2004) in a T2 class 350z.

With the Z Car team in the hot pits, Ray took to the track with instructions to make two hot laps to gauge initial feel and then return to the pits for inspection. He returned to the pits with a smile and a satisfactory report. The ZCG pit crew took temperature measurements and did a quick visiual inspection before sending Ray back onto the track. This time he was asked to stay out for the entire session or until he felt any change in the braking feel.  He stayed out for the rest of the half hour session with no issues.  Every other lap or so he would give a thumbs up to the crew as he went down the front straight.

When the session ended he pulled into the pits and the crew took their final “hot lap” readings. After all the data was logged Ray jumped out of the 240z with a huge grin on his face.  The first words out of his mouth were, “These are the best brakes I have ever felt on a 240z, including my race cars.”  He continued on, “These brakes are much better than the Brembos on my championship winning T2 350z, I even had to pump them (the Brembos) after a few hot laps.”

Now on to the specs. The rotors are 12.9 inches in diameter with custom machined billet brackets. The rotor hats were also designed from scratch in house at Z Car Garage. Other parts included with the ZCG brake kit are an upgraded master cylinder, brake booster, and braided lines. The caliper specs are under lock and key for now but rest assured that the braking bias is spot on with amazing pedal feel.

Due to the size of the rotor and caliper, wheel choice is very critical. Z Car Garage has worked extensively to get the brakes to fit under the current 16″ Panasport casting with a custom Z Car Garage offset.

More updates will be posted here as they happen.  ENJOY!!

Additional information can be had by contacting Rob@zcargarage.com