We love to see our products being installed and used on customer cars. Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running our latest ZCG Heat Shield in his vintage 260z race car!

A few close-ups of the ZCG Heat Shield, this piece is serial #0025:

A short background on this 1973 Datsun 260Z from Jim:

“This car was built in the winter of ’77-’78 and its first event was the Portland Rose Cup in June 1978. The Portland Rose Festival’s queen, Tina Klassy, was photographed with the car and featured in local advertising for the event. The car competed in SCCA CP class mainly in events on the west coast and ran in the SCCA National Runoffs twice with sponsorship help from Carlos Vercelli, owner of well known Datsun specialty service shop “Carlos Garage” in Fullerton, CA . It was campaigned successfully at a national level, including a 3rd place finish at the SCCA runoff’s. Survived in its original production class specification and bodywork throughout the entire time. It received a cosmetic restoration in 2015 and was put back into its original Carlos’s Garage livery and currently runs vintage events across the country today.”

At the 2018 RMMR we were happy to see Carlos Vercelli (red hat) supporting the Z with driver John Murray:

The ZCG Heat Shield is available for purchase at $169.00 with product information below.  View this product and other ZCG parts on the new “products” page of our website HERE

ZCG Heat Shield

 

We are excited to offer the Z Car Garage Heat Shield for your triple-carb’d L-series Z car. This is a one-piece 304 stainless unit with laser-etched serial number. Proven on all of our L-series engine builds and dyno testing.

This heat shield will fit Mikuni, Weber, Dellorto and Jenvey induction with several intake manifolds like the Harada:

Jim Froula also runs our Z Car Garage CV axles on several of his vintage race cars, check it out!

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Over 85 sets of ZCG CV Axles sold!

Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:

Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:

 

Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z

 

Set #248 – installed on Adam Carolla’s “Greg Sorrentino #90” Datsun 510.

We are pleased to report that Jim will also be installing a set on his “George Alderman #32” 300ZX! The ZCG CV axles are also perfect for high hp street cars which can be seen in the link above.

Z Car Garage Big-Brake Kit

Our ZCG Big-Brake kit is the last stop in braking performance for your S30.

ZCG Big-brakes and T3 coil-overs replacing stock setup on Brian’s 1973 240z:

   

View these products on the new “products” page of our website HERE, stay tuned for more innovative parts from Z Car Garage!

Richard M has been our customer since he moved to California years ago and together we built his 2009 370z into a balanced sports car with power and style. We are really proud to see him enjoy his Z and be an active member of the community. Let’s take a look at the journey with a few highlights along the way…

Humble Beginnings Lead to Boost

“Then 2 months later we reached out to Stillen to bless the Z with the full Stillen Supercharger kit and oil cooler. The kit was installed and dyno’d making 433whp and 340wtq. We transformed the Z into a new car. The new driving characteristics were improved drastically and the kit, compared to the naturally aspirated setup was day and night.”

We added a Stillen 25-row oil cooler and GTR plugs:

The installation was seamlessly, before/after:

With a CAN tune out of the box we saw 376hp/284tq to the wheels. This wasn’t terribly impressive considering baseline NA numbers were 305hp/251tq, netting gains of 69hp/33tq:

Richard was happier now with over 400whp 🙂

“The performance of my Amuse 370Z from the beginning has met both my expectations and Rob’s expectations. Rob and I always talk about how this car has been a stand out in regards to reliability with added power enhancers.”

“Working with Rob was the best decision I could’ve made in allowing someone to tune my car and keep me grounded as it’s easy to get sucked into the battle of “who has the most horsepower”? Although it can always be done,  I am proud to daily drive and make repeated trips between Norcal/Socal without any issues.”

We thank Rich for the kind words, and the Z certainly has been a workhorse.  Here are some of Rich’s memorable moments with his 370z.

Highlights

• Landing the front cover of DSPORT Magazine (Feb. 2018) which was also their SEMA issue and my first car cover and centerfold.

• Being featured on Matt Farrah’s youtube channel “The Smoking Tire” which has over 500k views. We love to see our customer’s cars spotlighted in the media!   Check out the video:

• Winning 1st place Best Import at The San Jose Auto Show inside the “Spider Section” for custom cars at the Convention Center

• Being invited & featured by Super Street Magazine to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Nissan GTR & Z Heritage in Monterey California for car week

• The final and most special to Rich is being invited to be featured in the “2020 Toyo Tires X SuperStreet” calendar which has also been declared the very last Calendar that Toyo Tires and Super Street Magazine will do. SuperStreet has been such a pillar for all of us import enthusiasts so to be recognized by them has been a childhood dream come true.

Style

Rich added his own touch to the Z, including a full Powerhouse Amuse kit and custom paint job with Silver with Gold flakes:

“The PowerHouse Amuse body kit is a kit that is also functional for cooling purposes but is also one of those kits that I actually fell in love with. The sharp body lines that I think enhances the Z. I imported the kit from Japan after becoming friends with Hitoshi Matsui and becoming more confident in Amuse now known as R1 Titan.”

 

We love the Work Emotion CR KAI wheels (F: 19×9.5 +15 R: 19×11 +18) with Muteki 12×1.25 Neo Chrome Extended open lug nuts and Toyo Proxes T1 Tires 285/35/19R -255/35/19F:

Rich would like to thank his sponsors:  Toyo Tires, Stillen, ISC Suspension, Socal Z, and ZCG.

LONG LIVE THE Z!

The Golden Week Kyusha Festival is returning to Northern California again May 9th! This will be a fantastic gathering for Japanese classic cars at the Crane Way Pavillion in Richmond, Ca. Registration will open March 1, for more information visit www.gwkfest.events.

Z Car Garage is a proud sponsor of the show, check out my report from last year’s event, and don’t miss this one!

Jay H has been our customer since the beginning. He has a Datsun 240z, Mazda (FD) RX-7 and this 1990 Aztec Red 300ZX Twin Turbo that he’s owned for many years.  Living in a rural, wooded area the Z’s wiring got chewed on by rodents. We fixed the wiring and got the car running again but more issues surfaced. Jay loves this Z so much and it had 122k miles so he decided it was time give it some serious attention.

Z Car Garage was happy to oblige as we think the Z32 is one of the best Japanese sports car of the 90’s.

Engine Bay and Drivetrain

The engine bay was in need of major cleaning and restoration. First, we performed a compression/leakdown test and the Z passed. With the engine out now we could focus on cleanup:

We installed a new engine room wiring harness. Every coolant hose, bypass hose, vacuum hose was replaced. A new underhood insulator with clips replaced the torn oem piece.

All p/s hoses were replaced and we modified the p/s steering pump to reduce clutter and eliminate the HICAS completely:

The engine was treated to full reseal and timing belt services, more pictures of the engine build in the gallery!

With a clean bill of health we installed several performance upgrades including JWT sport 500 turbos, BDE billet half moons/motor mounts, Ashpsec inlet piping, Selin dual-MAF with HR  low-profiles filters/two Z32 MAFs and Nismo 740cc injectors:

No turbo upgrade is complete without the Mike Smith turbo manifolds with EGR ( to pass emissions). Unfortunately we will install the last set of these on Felix C’s 300, and that’s it!

BDE motor mounts:

Nismo 740cc injectors:

Ashspec inlet piping:

 

Selin dual-MAF with HR low-profile filters:

Before the engine went back in we installed a new JWT HD clutch and aluminum flywheel:

The drivetrain was re-installed with numerous items like a new fan and engine cover:

 

Exhaust upgrades included a full SpecialtyZ 3″ exhaust with 3″midpipes:

Finally, a GReddy Profec boost controller was installed in the super tidy interior:

Rob dyno tuned the Z, making 384hp/348tq to the wheels:

Exterior

With the engine bay and drivetrain sorted we turned to the body and and exterior trim. Jay wanted to do a full repaint on the car so we had it had it towed engine-out to our man William. Some before shots showing the faded paint and cracked/peeling tail light panel:

At William’s the body got some choice parts to make it look like 1990 again: Wings West Pre-’94 rear wing, JDM front fascia (with shaved license plate mount) and Jspec tail lights. With the freshly painted Z back at the shop we tackled re-assembly of new cowl panels, mouldings and various trim. All of these parts really make this Z pop:

Extensive moulding/trim replacement: T-top trim before/after shown below

Door and window trim:

  

Jspec rear and front looking sharp!

Icing on the cake are Jay’s super cool set of old WORK Equip 05 wheels.  We re-finished and polished/painted them running Bridgestone S-04 tires.

Wheels make the car and this Z looks incredible standing still and on the road:

Suspension

The chassis received a few upgrades including Stillen sways and SPL titanium HICAS delete We also replaced ABS module the clutch and brake master cylinders

One Z Car…Coming Up!

Jay didn’t have a car for the duration of the revival and he was on foot running errands near his home.  We handled all of the DMV fees foe him and Rob and Alvin delivered the Z to Jay at his residence.

It was a great experience to pull up in the 510 and Z to present it to Jay, he was all smiles:

 

Thank you Jay for bringing your 300zx to Z Car Garage. We admire your love for the Z and passion to keep it on the road in top form! Z32s ROCK! Enjoy the extensive photo gallery below:

LONG LIVE THE Z!

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Last Sunday we attended the DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) Cars & Coffee event in Santa Cruz, CA. Our group of friends left from San Jose and headed up HWY 17 on a chilly morning with myself, Rob and Meghan in our Datsun Roadsters, Geoff in his BMW 2002 and Ty in the 991 Porsche:

We were stoked to see Rob’s Datsun 2000 on the road with refreshed Mikuni-Solex carbs and it sounded wonderful. Full report soon!

In Search of J-Tin

The venue has moved since we last caught the DWA gathering in Davenport.  Sunday’s event was held at the new location across from the Old Wrigley Building in Santa Cruz. By 9am the parking lot filled rapidly with a great diversity in marque and era.

Although attendance was mostly Euro/Italian, many Japanese gems showed up. Let’s start with the Nissan/Datsun showing. Ray’s Hakosuka Skyline was a pleasant surprise.

The last time we saw Ray was at the Golden Week Kyusha Festival where I learned that this Hako was from our friends at JDM Legends! We look forward to seeing Ray for some upgrades on this already stunning Skyline.

Happy to see Courtney and her 1973 240z.

VQ-powered S30, R32 Skyline, S14 240sx and Infiniti Q45:

 

More J-tin goodness! Lloyd’s Corolla was a crowd favorite (mine as well) sporting a 4AGE fed by ITBs, Levin front end and perfect Volk TE37s. This AE86 coupe complements his F20C powered AE86 Hatch.

Glenn’s sexy FD RX-7:

Two black NSXs

Making our Datsun Roadsters look big was this Honda TN7 “Kei” pickup:

  

Euro Classics

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

Two Panteras:

 

Geoff’s 2002 and an E28 M5:

Pretty Alfas:

VWs: Scirocco and a LSx-swapped Caddy!

Austin Healey:

Porsche Galore:  914s, 944s, swb 911s, 991s

American classics as well! Here is a Plymouth Belvedere and International Harvester Travelall:

DWA CnC was 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!