We featured Ashley’s Z33 Roadster back in November ’10 when her Z-obssessed husband brought the car in for Tein springs and dual-JWT pop chargers. The car still sports the same tasteful drop but now sits on a mint set of 19″ Volk Progressive Spoke wheels(discontinued) in gloss black with polished lips.
ZCG also installed that neat “Z” emblem which doubles as a LED side marker, here is a short video of it in action:
Ashley’s husband is none other than Scott S, fearless driver of the GreenMachine. Scott also owns one of the baddest Twin-Turbo Z32s on the planet. I will do a feature on his car soon, but here is a teaser of his latest set of wheels on the 300:
No, this is not a Nissan. It is not even a Z. This is a 2011 Ford Mustang GT, and it’s wild with plenty of horses. How many? The 5.0L engine is rated at 412hp from the factory, but the ZCG dyno reveals it’s true output! Rob tells the story of how this GT gets a serious boost in power from an already potent powerplant:
Michael L lives in Santa Cruz, Ca. He was referred to ZCarGarage by Vortech engineering in Southern California. ZCG is a top tier installer of Vortech products and we have performed several non-Nissan installs. You might remember the 2010 Camaro from last fall. Michael and I spoke and decided to meet. I told him we would love to add boost to his new ‘Stang as long as he didn’t mind that all the other horses in this stable would be Zs. Once again Vortech delivers with an amazing product. The kit parts and installation are as if Ford designed it to be a dealer add-on. This is a limited edition kit to celebrate Vortech’s 20-year anniversary in the performance aftermarket and most of the components are finished in matte black.
Back to the car… this Mustang marks the return of the 5.0. Rated at 412 hp at the crank this pony put down some strong baseline numbers: 376hp/364tq. So the 5.0 is really making close to 440hp at the crank!
ZCG’s Josh C comes from a Ford background. Growing up his Dad’s pride and joy was a 1970 XR-7 Cougar ‘vert. Only 1700 were made in the 351 and 4 speed set up. We hope to help Josh’s father restore this car someday. During his younger days Josh owned a ’69 Mustang and a ’65 Ranchero so he was excited to add his touch to the late model Mustang. The Vortech kit is intercooled and is going to be completely smog legal delivering its 8 psi. Post-install dyno numbers are very impressive: 496hp/436tq! The car starts and drives like a stock car until you press the go pedal. Great job Vortech! Enjoy the ride Michael and may your second car be a Nissan.
-Rob
Here are a few more pics of the install, enjoy!
Intercooler, very low-key:
As if the last 2 posts about GT-Rs didn’t get your juices flowing…This silver beauty belongs to Jay E. He found out about ZCarGarage through one of the most popular GT-R forums on the web: The North American GT-R Owners Club, or “nagtroc”. This is the place to be for all things R35-related!
Jay made the trip to ZCG from SF to have some new, aggressively sized wheels/tires and springs installed. Here are a few shots with the OEM rolling stock:
Jay chose wheels from ADV.1, specifically their ADV5.1 model. This is a lightweight forged monoblock wheel with a simple, yet clean look. You can find more info on ADV.1 wheels HERE
The thin-spoke design really let’s those gigantic rotors and Brembos pop. Wheels are 20×11 up front with a 295/30 tire and 20×12 in back with a massive 335/30 tire! The rear wheel also has a subtle concave spoke design that looks killer from a rear 3/4 view. ZCG’s Fred M installed the Eibach Pro-Kit springs to complement the larger wheel/tire package.
With the 2012 GT-R just coming out we are seeing more and more R35 owners modifying and driving their cars!
Plenty more shots in the gallery, enjoy! …[read more]
Incredible. Amazing. Sensational. My limited vocabulary seems to be fading and my legs are trembling as I exit the driver’s seat after driving a 2012 Nissan GT-R. This car blows my mind, and that’s only from a brief stint driving on the street! No, it’s not my new car 🙁
This GT-R belongs to Walt P, a long time customer and friend of ZCG. He also worked at Nissan for a few years and owns a beastly 300zx Twin-Turbo with ~700hp that will be featured on the blog soon. Walt was in the market for a fast, do-it-all sportscar that could be driven on the track wet/dry and feel equally at home on the street. He drove several cars like the BMW M3(E92) and Audi R8, but the GT-R won his heart. We think he made the right choice 🙂
With only 6 miles on the clock Walt immediately set out to familiarize himself with his new acquaintance. Minding the break-in period he drove hard and fast through Bay Area back roads, racking up 150miles+ within hours of getting the keys! Unlike most GT-Rs this one is and will be DRIVEN! 12hrs after purchase check the sidewall out! Look for it at the upcoming track day at Laguna Seca in April.
Walt chose an exterior/interior combo that exudes an understated classiness. The paint color is Aurora Flare Pearl and it’s gorgeous under varying light. It’s a color that looks just right on the GT-R and is less ubiquitous than Gun Metal or Silver.
The 2012 has a host of improvements to the interior and exterior. The menacing front end is even more pronounced with LED lighting:
It’s in the details: New wheels, CF strut bar (I thought it was trim!), red accented intake and vents on the rear trim:
We took the GT-R to the weigh scale and it was 3900lbs with a full tank of gas. It is a large car that feels quite the opposite when behind the wheel. Walt was kind enough to let me take the GT-R for a spin and I was very impressed. First, the interior feels and looks much better than the previous models I’ve seen.
The dual-clutch transmission is phenomenal. Shifts that are so crisp and instant it could probably make the most diehard 3-pedal fans envious (and I’m all for saving the stick!). One’s perception of time and space gets seriously skewed behind the wheel of this car. The surge of torque and accompanying sounds of the exhaust and turbos make roll-on acceleration a “prepare for hyperdrive” experience. I did not explore the limits of the GT-R or it’s adjustable suspension, diff, and throttle settings. Walt, however showed me how incredible the GT-R is accelerating out of corners. In “Race” mode he could drift the tail out, and sure enough the car would magically hook up the front wheels and rocket out of the turn. AWD traction and RWD handling. Brilliant.
Here are few videos we took just having fun. It is truly a sight to see when a supercar owner actually drives the car instead of putting in a garage to admire(which I’m sure he will do tonight):
Check out the current issue of Motor Trend magazine for a comparo between the GT-R, Z06 ‘Vette, and Shelby Mustang: TrackRace DragRace
Congratulations Walt and thanks for making my day!
Long Live the GT-R!
You can see more photos of the GT-R in the gallery: …[read more]
In 1990 Nissan changed the Japanese sportscar world by introducing the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo. James L from San Francisco was ready to find out what all the excitement was about and purchased this gorgeous Red Zed. That’s right, he is the original owner!
Fast forward to fall of 2010…James kept this Z in amazing shape driving his machine only when the weather was right. No rain for this Z. It had been 20 years and there were 60k miles on the clock. He was reading about the new and improved Corvette and how this American sportscar was the end all be all. James even went to the extreme of renting one for a few days to see if he liked it. After 20 years could he really turn his back on the Red Zed?
No way!
After doing his homework on some Z32TT modifications, James found Z Car Garage. We met and he told me he had this Z since new and was finally ready to take it to the next level.
We performed a full inspection from top to bottom and found James’ Z suffering from common issues at his mileage. The clutch was slipping badly, as evidenced by the baseline dyno:
The transmission was removed and a JWT HD clutch with lightweight flywheel were installed:
The factory pre-catted downpipes are restrictive and large power gains can be found here so 3″ fully divorced downpipes from SpecialtyZ along with a full stainless exhaust system were installed.
Fully divorced downpipes:
The exhaust system consists of a 3″ mid-pipe with resonators ending with 2.5″ dual tip mufflers. Note the rusted factory resonators and restrictive piping:
The final before/after and how the Zed will look as it blows by those ‘Vettes 🙂
A common performance upgrade on the Z32TT is the air intake. Dual JWT POP chargers help in the breathing department, and look pretty cool too. Look how clean that factory airbox is!
The factory ECU was sent to JWT to get fuel/ignition re-mapping(Stage3) and boost raised from 7psi to 13.5psi. The revamped ECU, new exhaust/downpipes, and intake help put down an impressive 356hp/369tq to the wheels!
Whoa is just as important as go, so a full Stoptech sport/street brake package was installed. This inlcudes stainless steel braided lines, new rotors, pads and MOTUL brake fluid. The clutch hydraulics were also freshened:
Corvette Summer is on hold…its cold outside and as well all know turbos love the cold.
