Once again I’m here to proclaim how a few small changes will increase your affection for your Z ten-fold.  This formula of parts has been proven time and time again on the Zs that we have worked on.  Here’s the rundown:

• Bassani true dual cat-back exhaust with X-pipe
• Jim Wolf Technology (JWT) POP charger
• Eibach Pro Kit springs
• Hotchkis adjustable swaybars front and rear (4-way adj. in the front, 3 in the rear!)
• VOLK Racing GTS wheels
• Toyo Proxes tires
• LED tailight swap
• SPC adjustable front upper control arms
• SPC adjustable rear lower control arms

Having done all of these changes in a short time frame this car has transformed drastically from it’s former stock self.  It now has the looks, performance, and handling that the Z deserves from the start.  This car is ready to be the partner in crime the owner has always wanted, until he catches the “boost” bug…

See more photos after the jump

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Not everything we do at Z Car Garage is a ground-up restoration or a hardcore twin turbo build.  In fact most of our customers come to us just looking for just a little more of what they already love about their cars.  In this case we will be taking a daily-driven G35 and adding a little bit of sport to it’s luxury coupe status.  Nothing too crazy, just improving on an already astounding car.

One of the many great things about the VQ35 engine series is it distinct exhaust note.  I can be in my house, out of sight of the road, and be 100% certain when one goes by, be it in a G35, 350z, FX35… whatever.  After searching long and hard for an aftermarket cat-back exhaust system to compliment the factory sound without too much rasp we came to Bassani.  We have been using the Bassani systems for quite some time now and have been more than happy.  They improve upon the already sporty exhaust note and they seem to be one of the top performing kits on the market today.  This was a must for this car.

Not wanting to leave the intake side of the engine jealous, we opted for a simple but effective Jim Wolf Technologies (JWT) POP charger setup.  This air filter is much more free flowing than the factory panel filter set-up and it allows for your ears to enjoy just enough of that beautiful intake sounds that we all love.  JWT is a great operation and their parts are top notch which makes this part another must.

Now on to the handling side of the equation.  A simple and proven set of Eibach springs will do the trick here by giving us the stance we want and a higher spring rate for the cornering that we deserve.  The other part of the equation here is the set of red Hotchkis swaybars which are meant to keep body roll in check during any high G events.  Simplicity at is finest.

From the chart below you can see that there are certainly a few more horsepower in the mix after the intake and exhaust modifications, but with this being an automatic transmission car the gains tend to be a bit masked by the slush box.  Another upgraded daily driver in the hands of a satisfied customer, job well done.  Until next time…

There is a full gallery of photos after the “read more” below.  They are in order from when the car came in to the shop until the time it was delivered.  A few of the before/after shots are almost shocking.  New parts rule.  ENJOY

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The problem with hanging around all of us at ZCG is that you get the urge to modify your car whenever you see something else cool in the shop.  I’ve probably heard it a hundred times, “Yeah I think I’m just going to put a pop-charger on it for a few extra horsepower and then I’ll be happy.”  This sentence is usually followed by a chuckle from everyone within an ear shot.

Inevitably it begins to snowball.  “Hey Rob I bought some wheels (VOLK SF Challenge in gold), can you guys install them?”  Followed by, “Wow the wheels look great but what can we do about the stance now?” (Tein FLEX coil-overs with Hotchkis swaybars) Everyone continues to chuckle because we know where this is heading… FORCED INDUCTION.

That is exactly how this build went, well in a little different order but you get the gist of it.  This Rev-Up Equipped (2nd gen VQ35 engine with dual variable camshafts) G35 has come back to us one more time to receive the final phase of its build, maybe.

The owner of this beauty has chosen to do one HUGE final step, everyone gets a little impatient when they can see the end in sight.  Here is the rundown on what we have just completed:

Jim Wolf Technologies Camshafts

Stillen Headers

Bassani cat-back exhaust system

ZCG Custom Oil Cooler

ZCG Custom Cold Air Intake

Defi Gauges and custom mounting for the controller

Tein EDFC (Electronic Damping Force Controller) with custom mounting, the car already has full Tein Flex coil-overs and Hotchkis sway bars

Sillen Series Two Front Bumper with splitter

Oh yeah…

and a Vortech Engineering Polished Supercharger kit

Even after all these years of installing Vortech supercharger kits we can still be caught off guard by the power they produce and the high quality of their product.  The fit and finish of the product is top notch witch goes a long way in a highly involved build such as this one.

From the dyno graph here you can see the tremendous jump in both horsepower and torque thanks to the exhaust, camshafts, and supercharger upgrades.  417 horsepower at the wheels is nothing to joke about, in fact we ended up pulling a couple degrees of timing after the 417 run in the best interest of reliability.  The car was delivered to the customer making just over 400 when all was said and done.  High numbers are great, but making them last for years to come is better.

Oh one more thing, It made this power through the stock cats!!!  So there is more power to be had if we switch to high-flow cats or test pipes, if he decides it is necessary.

You may have also noticed our new mounting locations for both the Tein EDFC controller and the DEFI gauge controller.  This new install is super clean and has almost a factory feel to it.  Pretty sweet.  We also decided to change the mounting of our ZCG oil cooler on this build to maximize airflow from the new Stillen bumper and to improve the overall aesthetics of the front end, this too turned out really well.

Other than that there isn’t really much to report, that is if you think that tire shredding power isn’t news worthy.  My prediction for this customer’s next upgrade is a new set of rear tires in a month.  See you soon friend (chuckle).

ZCG

More photos after the ‘read more’.

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We make Zs better.  It’s what we do.  In this case the customer brought us a fairly low mileage Z32 300ZX Twin Turbo that was in need of some more power.  At first we were headed down the normal road of simple exhaust mods consisting of new downpipes and mid pipes with high-flow cats when things got a little hairy.

We also had plans to place all four shocks, switch to braided steel brake lines for improved pedal feel, and install a set of Stillen sway bars for more stability in the corners.

As you can see from the baseline dyno (bottom of post) this car had serious issues when it came in.  The owner had reported hesitation and overall poor driveability and it was up to us to figure it out.  After the suspension and brakes were handled we dove head first into the quest for power.

The computer was shipped out to Jim Wolf Technologies for a reflash to accept the bigger NISMO 550cc injectors and added boost, we also picked up  a new clutch from JWT to handle the new power.  After all the modifications we completed the car was reassembled and test driven to make sure everything was copacetic.  Unfortunately it wasn’t.  All we could get out of it was seven pounds of boost.  Not good.

We suspected a turbo issue so the car was taken back apart for inspection.  The turbo had failed and was grinding the compressor wheel into the housing.  (see above photo, and for comparison see the other good stock turbo above)  There were metal shavings everywhere, really not good.  Now we had to get new turbos as well, and we were going to go bigger.

Jim Wolf once again came to the rescue with a set of their Sport 500 turbos.  They are the perfect combination for the power levels that we were looking for.  Now with no further complications everything was re-assembled and we proceeded to cycle countless quarts of oil through the engine to make sure we had all of the debris cleaned out.  Then it was back to the streets to do some test driving.  After another oil change we loaded the car onto the dyno to see what it could do.

You see from the graph above that the car has made a complete u-turn in both driveability and performance.  I’m happy to report that the customer was overjoyed when he drove the car for the first time after the upgrades.  That’s just the way we like it.

Long Live the Z