That is what the license plate reads on this 240z that belongs to Mark and Michelle G. Although the Z may have ate money it has been loved and fully supported by the family for about 10years. The Z is at ZCarGarage getting a full mechanical restoration before going to Williams Auto Body for body/paint. It is being built for the street with occasional track use, so brakes and suspension had to be upgraded. ZCG installed a full Arizona Z Car suspension from front to rear including robust control arms, sway bars, and bushings.  The entire underbody was also prepped and undercoated:

The 200rwhp L31 engine features triple Mikuni 44 carbs, a rare Clifford 6-2 exhaust header, and a ZCG triple-carb heat shield. The stock transmission was replaced with a 240sx gearbox with a JWT flywheel and heavy duty clutch. In back an R200 LSD diff along with a Porsche 930 CV conversion round out the drivetrain modifications:

 

The rear portion of the exhaust was made to be removeable making adjustments/work easier:

 

The Z featured Porsche 993 Twin-Turbo calipers at all four-corners and though it is an incredible braking system it needed some work/proportioning so ZCG did some fine tuning.

 

Soon these gorgeous brakes will be encased by shiny new custom made 17″ Panasport C8 wheels!

Finally, a nice touch that is both functional and good-looking are some new pedals. Let the Heel/Toe boogie begin!

 

Stay tuned for more updates after the Z comes back from Williams with fresh body and paint!

Lots of detailed pictures of the suspension below:
…[read more]

David Swig of MotoringJStyle teamed up with the Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) to bring us “Turn Z” during the Historic Races held at Infineon Raceway last Sunday. It was a fantastic day with incredible weather and a very impressive showing of classic Datsuns and Nissans.

ZCarGarage once again was the meeting place for the morning caravan up to Sonoma. I highly recommend joining us when we caravan to an event because it is a fun experience. Motoring up the freeways with a group of fellow car nuts is not to be missed. This group included a nice mix of old/new: two 240z cars, a ’67 roadster, a twin-turbo 370z and 350z, a twin-turbo G35 coupe, and 2 more z33s.
Here we are enjoying an on-ramp to highway 80 going to Sonoma:

Morning fog burned off and gave way to a sunny sky with light breeze when we arrived at Infineon Raceway…I love the sound of engines blaring and the smell of race fuel in the air.

As we drove through the ticket gate I was joined by 3 other Datsun roadsters and we were escorted Nascar-style by an Infineon ring taxi to Turn 7, appropriately designated “Turn Z” where the Datsun/Nissan car corral was being held. To my surprise this corral was completely paved, and had a stunning view of the track. In fact, we were so close to the Turn 7 run-off that we had to re-park a few cars for safety!
Big thanks to ZONC and David Swig for giving us a great corral, it was much better than the corral we have at Laguna Seca which leaves your freshly detailed ride covered in a nice thick layer of dust with bits of hay in the interior.

There were plenty of cool old-school Japanese rides in the corral mixed with modern ones too.  At the peak there were close to 50 cars! Some notables:

Super clean period-restored 240z cars:

Datsun 510 with a turbocharged KA24DE drivetrain:

A ZG-flared SR20DET-powered 240z with a very JDM paint color:

A Toyota S800!

More Old-School Toyotas:

Lou’s RHD FairladyZ(Yes, those badges came from the factory!) with some killer 17″ Panasports(custom offset) and 255mm wide tires:

 

This fully restored 1967.5 Datsun 2000 roadster was just plain pretty:

After looking at cars in Turn Z we toured the paddock area to check out vintage race cars from all eras. Lots of high-dollar, exotic and American muscle cars that left us all drooling and dreaming. Attention to detail, craftsmanship and cleanliness were at ever corner, in addition to some serious and frantic wrenching by race crews.
We found 1 Datsun that was actually competing in the races, this 240z complete with light beer livery and  some interesting flares:

The garage area had some impressive IMSA/Can-AM cars, below is just a sample of what the paddock had to offer:

Once the paddock area was thoroughly inspected  it was time to watch some racing! Datsun/Nissan racing legend John Morton was driving in 2 races so we had to watch our hero! John was driving a Scarab and Sunbeam Tiger. Things got more interesting when we noticed that David Swig was in the same races as Morton, piloting the Monsterati and Shelby Mustang.

After watching a few races the end of the day was capped off with a parade lap around Infineon Raceway, where participants in the Turn Z corral could take their own cars out on the track! This was 3-4 laps of pure bliss for folks, and I am still hearing good things about it. What a great way to also show off our Japanese rides to the crowd too!

I really hope that this event reaches yearly status, and with more advance notice I’m positive turnout will be even greater. Thanks again to David Swig and ZONC. Turn Z was a success, here’s to the 40th Anniversary of the Z!

Click below for more pictures!
…[read more]

Cars of this caliber do not come up for sale very often.  This 1973 240z is a two-owner, original-paint beauty that was just purchased by a close friend of Z Car Garage to replace another Z he has owned for 15 years.  The new 240z has just over 87,000 original miles and it shows.  There is no rust anywhere on the shell and the interior parts that see the most use are still in great condition.

All of the original manuals and even the window sticker were included in the deal.  Make sure to see the pictures of the options sheet and the extremely cool Datsun “Dial Your Mileage” tool.  Other options include factory air conditioning, a center arm rest, and floor mats that cost a whopping $9.50.  Hahaha, those would be a $200 option today.  The total original price comes in at $5,299 which is steep for its day until you realize the performance that it delivered.

There are more detailed pictures after the “read more.”

Under the hood you will find the original L24 engine with a pair of aftermarket downdraft Weber carburetors.  I got a chance to drive it today and it cruises along like a dream.  It really drives absolutely beautifully.  The stock 14 inch wheels obviously leave room for improvement in the handling department but you can’t beat them in the looks.  This car is the real deal.

After my short test drive Rob and I decided that we should put the car on the dyno to see what power it is putting out.  All I can say is that this thing needs to ditch these carbs.  It runs out of breath as soon as you roll into the throttle.  There are already plans in the works to give it some more “Umph” using period correct modifications.  There will be more updates on this car and hopefully it will stay in the Z Car Garage family for a long, long time.

There are more pictures after the “read more.”  Enjoy this new addition to the family!

…[read more]

240Zs rule.  They are lightweight, handle amazingly well, and are easy to work on; but what do you do when the reliable L-series engine runs out of breath?   Simple, bring it to Z Car Garage and install a set of 44mm Mikuni carburetors, new header, and a slightly larger exhaust system…. and hold on!!

The amazing change in the dyno numbers only tell half the story.  The fun factor of this car is now light years ahead of where is was when the car first came to us.  The torque now stays strong through the entire rev-range and the increased breathing capacity now allows the engine to spin freely to six grand if you so desire.  There is an increase of FORTY horsepower and the same in torque through the last 1,500rpm.  This is a life changing difference.

One of the reasons this looks so drastic is the inefficiency of the semi-odd dual carb setup that this car came to us with, but the results prove that that this is one huge step in the right direction to making this car about as much fun that the owner can handle.  The car is now using three individual ITG filters to make sure that the newly found airflow is clean enough for government work so please don’t think that we sent this car on it’s way with no filtration.  Sorry that I don’t have any pictures.

On the horizon for this car is a possible camshaft change to get the last bit of power out of this engine so expect a post in the future if this comes to fruition.  The smile on the owner’s face hasn’t left since we gave the car back and it seems we have lit the fire under another early Z enthusiast, we are happy to help.  ZCG

There are a few more photos after the ‘read more.’

…[read more]

What a busy day here at ZCG.  We went to William’s Autobody around lunch today and took a few photos of the first exterior paintwork to be done to the RB28 240z.  The paint looks amazing and there are still more coats to go with tons of color sanding in between to make sure the finish is perfect.  I’ll have more photos soon!

Rob and I were also out driving the ZCG 370z and a white 240z that is here to get triple Mikunis (see above photo) and we decided to stop by the scales and weigh the newly acquired 370z.  The car tipped the scales at 3,320 lbs with no passengers and almost a full tank of gas.  Not too shabby.  (For reference the ZCG G35 Twin Turbo came in at 3,600 lbs.)

More to come tomorrow.  Long Live the Z