***HAPPY HOLIDAYS From Z Car Garage***

 

One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and customers again for another exciting and productive year! Enjoy our 2021 recap and upcoming projects. Please note our holiday closure below:

 

ZCG will be closed from 12/24/21 and we will re-open for business on 1/3/22.

 

 

We had a busy year and though the shop will be closed, we won’t leave you hanging for the holidays. Many zcarblog features have yet to be published like our belated race report from the 2021 Velocity Invitational in addition to client stories.

Before we take a look back at highlights from 2021, here are several exciting projects coming along at the shop:

 

Jeff and Ryan B’s LS3-powered Z came to us for mechanical sorting. It’s now sporting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles. Ryan successfully ran the Targa California Rallye in blistering summer heat. He recently got a new set of VOLK TE37V wheels full report soon!

  

The OMS Pace Car

 

This is a 1972 Official OMS Pace Car Duplicate. It is at present one of only two known survivors . Fifty were originally produced by Nissan Motors to commemorate the DATSUN 240Z being selected by the Ontario Motor Speedway to Pace the 1972 “U.S.A.C. California 500 Championship”.  It really is a small Datsun world, as the official OMS pace car is none other than our very own Joel Anderson #49 IMSA GTU 240Z .

  

This OMS duplicate belongs to our long time customer and friend Linda. She acquired it from a family in SoCal and tasked ZCG with making it a nice driver. Full report soon but it got loaded up today for its journey to Colorado!

  

Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240z returned for a Rebello 3.2L with triple-Mikuni carbs on a Harada intake and CD009a 6-speed transmission:

    

David’s 240Z

Long-time friend and client David attended a track day at Laguna Seca. This Z was built over 15 years ago and sill running strong. We prepped his Z for the track, full report soon!

Dyno Tuning your 350z/370z/Q/G

We have been dyno tuning your late model Nissan/Infiniti sports car daily. Bolt-ons, UPREV tuning. Our customers leave happy with more performance. Call us to schedule an appointment! Here are just a few cars:

Aaron’s Q50:

   

Randy’s 1970 Safari Tribute Z lived an eventful life this year. It was in Los Angeles to be filmed for Nissan’s commercials and also served as Randy’s ride for cruising around Monterey Car Week. We installed a new engine and made some suspension changes. Though it’s back at home in Georgia it will get a full ZCG-style feature.

    

One of many Z32s we are working on, Steve’s will get a full report soon:

 

 

Highlights from 2021

 

Even though 2021 was crazy year for all of us we still managed to have fun on and off the track. The shop made some really great progress as well.

Enjoy these highlights from the year and Z you in 2022!

Datsunworks

 

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. You can read all about it HERE

  

2021 was a development year for this drivetrain setup. We continue to extract more power and run longevity testing with owner Gary who has the pleasure of living daily with this beast. More updates to come, but for now enjoy the music this KN20 head provides in the video below!

240Z

Click on each link to see the full features!

ZCG PARTS: Z Car Garage CV Axles on Brad’s IMSA 240Z race car!

Ole Orange Bang: Larry Chen’s 1970 Datsun 240Z

Stock is Good: Mike’s Series 1 Datsun 240Z

ZCG Big-Brakes, ZCG CV Axles and Panasports for Greg’s 1970 Datsun 240Z

ZCG Big-Brakes, 6-Speed and EFI for Khang’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

HISTORY: 1970 Datsun 240Z Salt Flat Racer Lives!

Panasport Wheels for Jay’s 240Z

Vince’s 1972 Datsun 240Z

TRIBUTE Z: Michael’s RB25DET-Powered 1972 Datsun 240Z

The Transcendental Racing Datsun 240Z

Friends for 50 Years: Richard’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

Kai’s 1972 Datsun 240Z

For Love of The Z Car: Vince’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

SERIEZ 1: Wayne’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

PARTS: Z Car Garage Big-Brakes for Jeremy’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

PARTS: Z Car Garage CV Axles for Chris’ 1970 Datsun 240Z

PARTS: ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles for Hazel’s 1970 Datsun 240Z

The Well-Sorted Series 1: Rob J’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

Gary’s 1971 Datsun 240Z is Alive!

One Owner Time Capsule: Ed’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

Tony’s 1972 Datsun 240Z

 

260Z

  

TUNING: Glenn’s 1974 IMSA GTU Datsun 260Z

ZCG PARTS: Z Car Garage CV Axles on Glenn’s IMSA 260Z race car!

280Z

 

ZCG Parts: ZCG CV axles-For Peters 1977 Datsu 280Z

Trevor’s 1978 Datsun 280Z

Z Car For Generations: Gilberts 1978 Datsun 280Z 2+2

 

280ZX

  

 

300zx

 

Red Devil Z: Jas’ 1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo

Patrick’s 1994 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo

Arsia’s 1994 Nissan 300ZX Convertible

 

 510 and Fairlady Roadster

 

PARTS: ZCG CV Axles for V8-Powered Datsun 510

Happy 510 Day!

Happy 311 Day!

 

350Z

 

Datsun Destiny: Christine’s 2004 Nissan 350Z Roadster

Brad’s Stillen-Supercharged Nismo 350Z

 

370z

TUNING: Gordon’s 2010 Nismo 370Z

TUNING: Gentry’s Nismo 370Z

Henry’s Stillen Supercharged 370Z

 

R32

 

TUNING: Pall’s R32 Skyline GT-R

More Upgrades For Lee’s R32 Skyline

Racing

 

RACE REPORT: B-Sedan Datsun 510 Racing at Sonoma with CSRG

EVENTS: IMSA Datsuns Racing at the Velocity Invitational November 11-14

RACE REPORT: B-Sedan Datsun Racing at Laguna Seca With SVRA 5/21

 

 

Rallyes/Events

EVENTS: The 2023 Nissan Z Viewing at Z Car Garage Was A Success!

The 2023 Nissan Z Unveiled!

Z Car Garage visits Nissan Headquarters to spend time with the Z Proto

EVENT REPORT: Z Car Garage at SEMA 2021!

EVENTS: The 2021 Japanese Classic Car Show

EVENTS: The 34th Annual Z Car Convention!

EVENTS: DWA Morning Motors Cars & Coffee 6/13

EVENTS: Breakfast Club Rally Report 6/12

EVENTS: Super Drive Sunday

 

Media

MEDIA: Larry Chen’s 1970 Datsun 240Z on Hoonigan Autofocus!

MEDIA: 1970 Datsun 240Z Salt Flat Racer Featured on Hoonigan Autofocus!

MEDIA: ZCG’s 1971 Datsun 240Z Featured in Petrolicious

DATSUNWORKS: Road & Track Features the KN20 Cylinder Head!

MEDIA: Rob Fuller’s Datsun 510 Featured on Hoonigan Autofocus!

MEDIA: ZCON With Rob and Larry Chen on Hoonigan Autofocus!

MEDIA: 1970 Datsun 240Z Safari Tribute on Hoonigan Autofocus!

MEDIA: Trevor’s 1978 Datsun 280Z Featured on Hoonigan Autofocus!

 

 

LONG LIVE THE Z! Check out our Instagram story for more updates!

 

 

On Sunday 6/13 we attended the Morning Motors Cars & Coffee event hosted by DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) in Santa Cruz, CA. The event impressed us again with a fun vibe and superb variety of cars. One of the many perks of DWA Morning Motors is its location surrounded by the best driving roads. This morning however, I ran solo in my Datsun Roadster straight to the venue in front of the Old Wrigley Building.

 

It’s smart to arrive before 8:30am to grab a shaded parking spot and coffee/donuts (thanks DWA!) before they run out. The event is so close to downtown Santa Cruz and HWY 1 I invited my family to enjoy the cars and visit our favorite beach afterwards.

 

Mandatory Nissan/Datsun

I was happy to see so many Nissans and Datsuns at Morning Motors.

 

There were a three Datsun 510 wagons and one 510 2-door! This is Mark G’s 510, a client we’ve been lucky to work with, you can see more details about his Dime HERE

 

 

Our very own Nick F. in his 1972 510 wagon on SSR wheels:

 

Ray’s Hakosuka Skyline, now sporting  our Z Car Garage CV Axles! We look forward to seeing Ray for more upgrades on this already stunning Skyline that gets driven everywhere:

 

Pall’s R32 Skyline in (AH3) Pearl Red. Pall K acquired this Pearl Red (AH3) R32 from our friend Sean and his team at Toprank International Vehicle Importers. We love the gorgeous paint color and Volk TE37SLs. He is also a ZCG client!

 

Todd’s R32 Skyline GTS-T. I just saw him on the Breakfast Club Rally yesterday!

 

Another ZCG client, Eric’s Infiniti FX35 sporting upgraded suspension and R35 GT-R wheels.

 

350Z and G37 sedan on Z34 wheels:

 

I counted five (!) Nissan 240SX in both S13 and S14 trim. This S13 was my favorite:

 

 

S14 with “Silvia” badging:

 

Lone Z32 (NA), Q45 and a bagged Q60:

   

In Search of J-Tin

Morning Motors did not disappoint if you are Japanese Classic fans. Honda S800:

  

NA Miatas!

  

 

EG Civic, EM1 Civic Si and S2000 CR:

  

90’s icons…Supra and NSX and FD RX-7 (on FIKSE wheels)!

   

So much variety! Enjoy this short video:

Euro Classics

Yearning for Porsche’s? Or something a bit less “mainstream”? DWA CnC did not disappoint. Rosso Dino 246:

 

308, 4C and Chris’ “Rat Alfa” GTV:

 

Spotted my first, local Porsche 911 by Singer. It was impressive with so many details to enjoy:

 

 

Sweet 993 C2S with sexy multi-piece Turbo Twists:

 

 

Naveed’s new 964 911 GT3 RS (991)

  

A trio of cool BMW 2002s, one powered by an M20 6-cylinder!:

  

American Muscle

From 60’s to 80’s. Mike Garret’s familiar purple Mopar with late-model drivetrain and really wild Plymouth Fury race car tribute:

 

Eclectic

  

DWA CnC is definitely my kind of cars and coffee. It’s a great venue with amazing driving roads nearby and the cars were so diverse. We highly recommend checking it out! Thanks to the DWA crew for hosting. If you haven’t already, listen to their podcast and make sure you give them a follow on Instagram.
More pictures in the gallery below!

 

…[read more]

 

We met Kenin in 2012 when he visited ZCG with his Infiniti G37 IPL. After working on the G,  years passed by and Kenin reached out to us having purchased a 2018 Infiniti Q50S sedan. He saw that we were working with other customer’s Q50s and asked if we would be down to tune his. We happily obliged, especially since Kenin’s Q50 was rear-wheel-drive.

 

Straight from the factory, the VR30DDTT is an impressive motor. The Hi-Output version is rated at 400 hp and 350 ft-lbs tq, underrated as we have seen with dyno testing. With a few bolt-ons and tuning, even more power can be unlocked from the VR30. Kenin’ Q received several parts from AMS Performance including their AMS Heat Exchanger, AMS Coolant expansion tank and AMS Air intakes. We also intalled his strut tower brace:

 

The new heat exchanger compared to the stock unit and installation:

   

AMS air intakes compared to OEM:

  

AMS expansion tanks compared to OEM:

 

Intakes and expansion tank installed:

 

Rob was eager to tune the Q using Ecutek. Baseline power was 359hp/374tq at the wheels. With the AMS parts and tuning final numbers were 400hp/449tq, gains of +41hp/75tq:

 

Enjoy the Boost Kenin!

Special thanks to Seb at SpecialtyZ for helping us!

 

 

Irl N. heard about Z Car Garage from our friends at Stillen. He purchased several parts and wanted them installed correctly on his 2017 Q50s Red Sport. We started with the Stillen cat-back exhaust system:

 

Stock Vs. Stillen:

  

Next, an AMS Heat Exchanger:

   

The suspension received SPC front/rear control arms, lowering springs and a rear sway bar:

  

Braking improvements included new rotors (from Irl) and we provided the Stoptech 309 pads that we love:

   

With just a few upgrades Irl’s Q50 really boogies now!

 

We have worked on the new Q’s before and now they are beginning to come through our doors often–look for more VR30DDTT goodness on the blog!

 

Dennis K comes from the East coast and moved to Bay Area for work. Once here he wanted to find a specialty shop to help him with his G37. He already had coil-overs and larger wheels/tires but no camber adjustment. His first visit to ZCG in October ’16 included installation of SPC F/R cambers arms and new Bridgestone S-04s tires.

 

Following a full alignment we also raised his coil-overs slightly to cope with the wonderfully smooth roads we have here in the Bay Area. Finally we added our favorite sway bars from Hotchkis, and performed some cleanup work.  As always, the performance and modifying bug kicked in. Dennis came back to us in March of this year after he had waited for his Fast Intentions cat-back exhaust to arrive:

 

A Stoptech Sport-kit rounded out the chassis upgrades. After the cat-back was installed, we change the oil, and installed several parts that Dennis had purchased online including a strut bar, grille and CF diffuser:

 

 

Stock vs new grille:

 

Stock vs CF diffuser:

 

Thank you for letting us work on your G, Dennis!