Wayne A came to Z Car Garage for a full inspection on his 1971 Datsun 240Z. Rebello built him a nice engine and now he needed the right suspension and parts to enjoy that new drivetrain upgrade. Rob and Wayne developed a plan for a total suspension refresh.
The Right Z
Let’s take a look at how Wayne got his “SERIEZ 1” S30 that he’s owned for the past ten years:
“My neighbor had a slew of 240z and 510s. I stopped by and asked him about his cars. I told him I specifically wanted an orange 1972 Datsun 240z. One day on my way home I saw this car out in front of his house. I was amazed when I saw it. It had slotted wheels with BF Goodrich tires and was lowered quite a bit. I had asked him about it and he said he just got back from Oregon to purchase it with intentions to flip it for a really good price. I bought it that day from him.”
Here is Wayne’s Z as it arrived at Z Car Garage:
The Rebello 3L stroker with triple FAJS 45 induction backed by a 5-speed transmission:
Enjoy this video of the Z in action:
Suspension
Wayne’s chassis was treated to a full suspension rebuild with new parts, bushings and a full coil-over (Koni) suspension from Techno Toy Tuning. T3 finishes the suspension in our signature color and we really appreciate Gabriel and his staff. They make some of the best suspension parts out there for Z cars.
New parts included the T3 adjustable T/C rods, T3 rear control arms, T3 front/rear strut tower bars, new ball joints, new front bushings, all new bearings and seals and ST sway bars. New Macpherson bumps were trimmed for best ride quality and full travel followed by a full alignment.
Front suspension refresh with T3 coil-overs, T/C rods, ST sway bars, rack bushings and f/r wheel bearings.
We also installed a new set of Watanabe wheels (15×8) with 225/50/15 Toyo R888R tires:
Enjoying The Ride
With new suspension and wheels Wayne immediately took his Z out, sharing his joy with family. We thank his nephew for sending us photos from their drive. More pictures in the gallery below!
Wayne is really happy with the upgrades:
“It drives worlds better. Rob did an incredible job with the suspension. I couldn’t be happier! It went from scary to drive to where I can’t wait to get in and drive it now.”
Wayne and Rob met, developed a plan, made a quote, got all the parts here and his car came in on Tuesday leaving on Friday. Pretty cool for a 50yr -old car to get a major performance upgrade in short time. Thanks for letting us work on your SERIEZ 1. Next up Wayne, brakes! Long Live the Z!
Z Car Garage wishes you a Happy 5/10 Day and Happy Mother’s Day! We enjoyed driving our 1971 Datsun 510s on a beautiful day in San Jose. Turbo6, our 80’s revival, is back on the road and running great with its turbocharged 6-cylinder L-series. Look for a full report soon:
Rob was in the SR20DET-powered 510:
Enjoy The Boost in this video of the 510s in action. You can also see more on our Instagram story. We hope you can Do It In A Datsun today too!
Our customer Randy Jaffe’s 1970 Datsun 240Z is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Rob Fuller and Larry discuss this historically significant, record-setting Z and take it for a spin. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a full zcarblog.com feature where we will take a closer look at our revival of this wild race car.
On Saturday I joined six other cars for a morning cruise through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The two S30 Z cars with us were running our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles!
Glenn’s 1972 Nissan Fairlady 240z-L
Glenn Chiou drove his RHD Fairlady Z sporting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels). He is an avid vintage race car driver/restorer and found our brake kit offers incredible brake feel and performance all fitting behind his favorite 15×8 zero offset Watanabe wheel:
“The most important aspect to me when it comes to braking on a street driven car is feel. Yes, stopping power is extremely important, but also is not that difficult to achieve on an early Z car that is naturally light to begin with. Feel, however, is something that has always managed to escape me and the ZCG brakes deliver. WOW, what a difference. The feel, modulation, power, sharpness was amazing. Hands down the best brakes I had ever driven on a Z car”
This is a direct result of working with engineers at Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 15″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel (and some 14″ wheels) and retaining factory emergency brake lever! A few pictures of the Big-Brakes being installed on Glenn’s Z:
Glenn was having fun on the twistys on our cruise (see video below). Learn more about his Z in this Petrolicious video.
James’ 1972 Datsun 240z
James is running our ZCG BBK (1st gen, 328mm) and Z Car Garage CV Axles in his turbocharged L-Series beast:
You can learn more about this 560whp Z on Speedhunters and see it in action on Hoonigan Autofocus. James also had a blast on our Saturday cruise:
Saturday Cruising
We started our drive in Downtown Saratoga and made it to the coast via Bear Creek and Bonny Doon Rd. Here is a short video:
We were happy to enjoy the company of cool cars and cool folks, also joining us:
Dustin’s 510
We’ve known Dustin and Courtney for many years. Dustin’s 510 4-door runs a KA24DE and sweet Longchamp XR-4 wheels. The side exit exhaust is loud!
Tony’s Mazda RX-2
Tony has had this RX-2 for many years. In addition to the full restoration it now has a full (S5) 13B drivetrain with a Ford 9″ rear end! It is mint. I haven’t seen Tony in many years so it was a joy to have him along:
Lloyd’s AE86
Lloyd has a very cool collection of cars and this AE86 is the latest. Although it sports an F20C drivetrain (Lloyd promised me it’s not the same car as this one), it has numerous upgrades for a better drive. Gotta love TE37s:
Geoff’s BMW 2002
Geoff’s no stranger to our Bay Area cruises and also owns a Lotus 7. He was the only German this time with his BMW 2002 on rare Campagnolo wheels:
I drove my SR-powered ‘67.5 Datsun Roadster and it was a great way to spend the morning.
Yes, that’s a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso flying by on HWY 1!
We enjoy helping Z cars owners get their cars in top shape to Enjoy The Ride. David P purchased this 1975 Datsun 280z on the East Coast and the exotic shop it was at had difficulty with it. David moves between San Francisco and Massachusetts and wanted us to sort his Z out before hitting the roads here. Our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles along with tuning and aesthetic upgrades transform this Z.
Affectionately called “Triple Six”, the Z arrived at our shop from the East Coast via Masney Auto Transport (Thanks David). David had not seen the Z in person yet since purchasing and it needed some attention, Z Car Garage style.
The car was not running upon arrival and Rob had many suggestions after the initial assessment. From David:
“When Rob called to tell me that my car had made it there I said ‘Ok great. Can I tell you what I want done?’ to which Rob replied ‘Nope’. He said ‘I want you to come down here, drive my car and then say to me, OK I want you to do to my car whatever it was that you did to yours’, and after driving his car I did say those exact words.”
ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles
Indeed, we had David test drive “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car with full suspension and our ZCG Big-Brakes:
“I drove Rob’s unassuming, Safari Gold 240Z, that he appropriately named Butters, and God damn was it fun! I was surprised when he told me it had 275 horsepower, not a small number for a car that’s so small and light, its just that it felt much more powerful than I ever thought a sub 300 hp car could feel.”
After the test drive he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our customers 🙂 Read below for a brief description of these parts:
As fellow S30 owner/racer Glenn C mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with engineers at Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 15″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel (and some 14″ wheels) and retaining factory emergency brake lever! A few details below:
Calipers: Stoptech ST42 4-piston front & rear race calipers (Alum 6061 mil-spec Type III anodized)
Rotors: 280mm x 20.6 with Alum 7075 hats
Pads: Stoptech 309 sport street pads
Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.
A few closer detail shots of the calipers, rotors and hardware:
We removed David’s brakes and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit. Up front:
Our Big-Brakes utilize the OEM brake master cylinder and booster along with the factory hydraulic system. We installed a new master cylinder for David and fixed the wheel/hub area:
At the rear, the aftermarket disc setup was replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes:
Factory handbrake functionality IS retained! A few close-ups of the front and rear setup:
Panasport Wheels
Complementing the new brakes on David’s Z are Panasport wheels! We replaced the generic aftermarket wheels with 16×7 Panasports and Bridegstone S007a tires in 225/50/16.
The new brakes fit nicely behind the new Panasports: We dialed in the spring set on the coil-overs and adjusted them for the best ride quality.
Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 100 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
David received axle set #324. Stock half shafts (L) and ZCG units shown below with more pictures in the gallery:
Details
To ensure that David could pick up his Z from us and start Enjoying The Ride immediately, we performed clean-up work on the interior and sorted the turn signals and headlights. Aesthetically he wanted to change a few things like the front end. We installed a Euro front bumper with Josh fabricating some brackets to make this 280Z look great:
David was blown away by the suspension and braking upgrades:
“I was completely convinced that Rob was not only the right one, but probably the only one that could bring my 1975 280Z up to its fullest potential. I say the only one because of the custom built Z car garage suspension and brakes that Rob uses. We agreed on a comprehensive upgrade to my Z that would be completed in two stages. The first stage was completed this past March. The 45 year old suspension was, to say the least, upgraded. Because Rob believes in a holistic approach, the suspension work also included the proper brakes, wheels and tires. All of the components were specifically chosen to work together in order to produce a car that handles phenomenally and almost unbelievably well.”
Engine
The triple-Weber L28 simply received an ignition timing set, making 161hp/160tq at the wheels:
Enjoy this dyno video below with sweet L-series music:
Part Two
David reports that his Z went from junk to handling better than a 911. Here he is (above) Enjoying The Ride on Skyline near Alice’s Restaurant. What’s next for Triple Six? Full engine upgrade!
“The second stage, that we will be starting soon, will be the engine work. The goal is to get 300hp out of the old in-line six. Rob’s love the cars that he works on is evident in the quality of his builds. A true craftsman in every sense of the word.”
We look forward to working with you David, LONG LIVE THE Z!
