Z Car Garage is proud to be a sponsor of the 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show 9/15 in Long Beach, CA. We look forward to displaying a shop car at our booth, to be highlighted in a separate post. With JCCS only a month away let’s take a look back at our favorites from last year’s event at the Queen Mary; this year the show will be held across the water in downtown!

 

We apologize for the late coverage, enjoy the pictures and video!

The 2017 Japanese Classic Car Show was held on September 23, in Long Beach, CA. This is the original vintage Japanese-car event in SoCal and in its thirteenth year, JCCS has grown incredibly–some 320+ cars covered the lawn next to the Queen Mary. The vehicles themselves remained a fantastic blend of stock and modified, as well as original and restored. This is the most important show for Japanese cars, and the Z Car Garage crew keeps coming back every year to soak up the sun, see old friends and drool over some spectacular vintage builds.

  

This year, Z Car Garage was invited to display the OS Giken TC24B1Z powered Datsun 240z, in our own booth!

The OS Giken Datsun 240z Goes to JCCS

Before road-tripping down to Socal the fun started with a shop visit from our Oregon pals Diamond Dave, Eric Straw and Michael Spreadbury. They were also heading down to JCCS to show Eric’s freshly restored 1984 “Tekkamen” DR30 Skyline and Diamond’s SR20-powered Miata. Eric kindly donated his enclosed trailer to transport the S30 while he drove the DR30 all the way down to JCCS from San Jose. Before leaving, we dyno’d the Miata and Rob found 30whp+ from the Autech SR20. Diamond was stoked.

    

TC24B1Z Development

You may have seen the TC24B1Z-powered Datsun 240z (The Behemoth) from its debut at SEMA 2015, and Speedhunters coverage:

   

The TC24 in action:

 

Since 2015 we have been updating the drivetrain and fitment of the TC in Gary’s LHD S30. Several key upgrades included a 6-speed transmission, revised exhaust header, Jenvey ITB with EFI and a OS Giken aluminum oil pan.

  

Using a custom adapter from Hoke Performance we installed a new CD009a 6-speed transmission from the 2003 -2008 Z33:

  

On the Rebello engine dyno this setup made 476hp.  Final dyno numbers will be posted shortly as we are still in the tuning phase.  Meanwhile, enjoy the sounds from the new Jenvey induction:

 

Showtime!

We arrived Friday evening to unload the Behemoth and set up our booth, a first-time experience for ZCG at JCCS:

   

The ZCG booth was a success. We met many great Datsun fans and enjoyed talking cars. Big thanks to our buddy Herbert Pang!

 

The TC24 of course was the star, garnering positive feedback and some nice media exposure:

  

We had free ZCG swag for show goers and on display was our new ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels. Here’s Glenn Chiou checking them out; after a test drive they would be installed on Glenn’s Fairlady 240Z-L.

   

Our friends from JDM Legends approached us with a film crew to discuss the TC24:

 

Little did we know that this informal chat would be part of a segment on the wildly successful JDM Legends TV show! We are so happy for Eric, Josh, Mauricio and the JDML crew. You can see their JCCS visit in Season 1 Episode 5 HERE.

 

Highlights from JCCS

Enjoy this video I made highlighting the sights and sounds of JCCS 2017:

 

Nissan’s return to JCCS

 

The OEMs participated in record numbers this year. That’s right, in addition to Mazda, Toyota and Honda our beloved Nissan participated again since debuting in 2016 with a great showing of rare and unique vehicles from their vault.

Skylines

Here are few of my favorite Nissans and Datsuns, starting with that not-so forbidden fruit commonly known as the hakosuka Skyline. There was no shortage of C10 chassis Skylines this year and my favorite was Rick Ishitani’s restored 1971 2000 GT-X.  A mint interior, correct spec badging, spot-on stance with re-barreled gunmetal Watanabe wheels stuffed under flares set this one off from the rest.

 

In the JDM Legends display, Ginash(from JDM Chicago) showed his RB-swapped 2000 GT-X. We dig the retro-treatment on the valve cover:

    

More C10s:

  

Kenmeri Skylines too!  This ’73 KGC110 owned by Patrick Soliman has an RB26DETT engine with a Precision 6262 turbocharger. This year he was running rare Riverside Super River wheels:

  

DR30 Skylines!

 

Eric’s 1984 “Tekkamen” or “Iron Mask” Skyline is a rotisserrie-restored, RB26DETT- powered, Brembo-braked masterpiece. Eric met up with the Speedhunters crew and SuperStreet for a photoshoot in Long Beach, you can see both articles below:

Congrats Eric!
Speedhunters
Super Street

  

Z Car Extravaganza

 

Z cars from all generations were in full force with cars spanning the tarmac near the Queen Mary to the bayside lawn.  I’m a big fan of subtle modified Z’s but I can also appreciate pristine, bone-stock examples and the occasional shakotan build.

Stock is good: Series 1 S30 and a fully restored RHD FairladyZ:

  

My favorite modified Z car was from JDM Legends:

   

Matt Kochaon’s 240Z on classic SSR meshies and Rick Ishitani’s Hakosuka Skyline GT-X

  

 

Familiar faces: Glenn’s Fairlady 240Z-L, Chris Forsberg’s 280z and the Bring A Trailer Series 1 240z:

Wild Z Cars

 

Saul Valencia’s 1972 Datsun 240Z was loud and brash with its boosted LS1!

 

Z31s were plentiful too! In both stock and modified examples:

  

The Wild Cards Classic Car Show (WCCCS)

The Wild Cards crew had the coolest rides at the show. You can see them all burning rubber at the Hoonigans shop HERE

 

The Nissan S12 chassis has been growing in popularity. Known as the “200sx” stateside there were some cool examples of both hatchback/coupe bodystyles. S130s were also represented:

Datsun Fairlady Roadsters

The Datsun Roadsters were down in numbers from previous years but the selection still wowed the public.

 

Kevin Desirello of KRD Roadsters built this SR20DE powered ’69:

 

   

Bart Desirello’s SR20DET-powered beast:

 
Ray Lim’s ’70 SPL was fully restored to stock spec, with perfectly fitted SSR meshies:

 

Datsun 510s

 

Matt and Maryanne G drove all the way down from San Mateo, CA in their  Turbo 510. Looking awesome now sporting 16″ Panasports! Matt won 1st place best 510, Congrats!

 

I’ve drooled over of Wild Cards member John Ross Huckins’ 1972 Datsun 510 wagon since we first saw it at JCCS many years ago. It has a 4-link rear end, built SR20DET and tons of neat touches. You can see more on Speedhunters HERE

 

EQUIP 40 wheels and Tartan fabric Recaro seats:

 

This year felt like an incredible number of Dimes were displayed!

      

And finally, Todd Kaneko’s 13B turbo powered Dime with Brembos and VOLK RE30s:

 

More Dime goodness, JDM-L’s Bluebird Coupe:

   

Not a Dime

But extremely rare, cool and placed next to the 510s was this Nissan Laurel. Only at JCCS, people!

 

 

Dogs Love Trucks!

Datsun trucks were kind of scattered about the park area. Jose Tarin’s 521 sported a Toyota BEAMS engine while Jason Taylor’s had an S14 SR20DE:

   

 

Mazda

Mazda commemorated the 50th anniversary of the rotary-engine vehicles. Racing Beat of Signal Hill, California  joined in by several of their memorable rotary powered vehicles.

 

   

Toyota

Toyota always has a huge corporate involvement and brought an assortment of race cars.  This year felt like the AE86s and Celicas were not as numerous but Celica-Supras and Cressidas were sweet!

  

Great showing of RA29 (Liftback) Celicas! The red car had perfect, meaty fitment on Epsilons meshies. Actually, all 3/4 of these Liftbacks sported some variation of mesh wheel…I dig it:

  

My favorite Celica though was his Pro-Street’d beast:

   

This AE86 Corolla had an OEM+ feel:

 

 

Honda

The Neo Classics Hondas were my favorite:

 

Wheels For Fantasy

I personally love going to JCCS because I get to see very rare Japanese/tuner wheels and parts. Preservation of authentic wheels and appreciation of the time and effort spent to find certain specimens that most folks have never heard of in this generation is what I admire most.   My favorite wheel at JCCS: SSR Casablanca 8 on Tommy D’s Starlet:

 

Variations on the mesh wheel from BBS, Epsilon, SSR, Volk, Bahn and more. You can’t go wrong! SSR EX-C below:

 

More Mesh goodness:

     

Many more pictures from JCCS in the gallery!

I was lucky to ride in Eric’s DR30 from Long Beach to San Jose with Michael Spreadbury at the wheel. It was a blast!

 

Thank You JCCS!

It is difficult to run a car show and keep up the quality and interest levels but the folks at JCCS have managed to do exactly that for 13 years! No other show gives you the chance to see obscure, pristine, modified Japanese classics…and we look forward to next year’s entrants. We hope you have enjoyed our coverage and please visit our mega-gallery for more pictures. Special thanks to the ZCG crew, Diamond Dave, Eric Straw and Michael Spreadbury for an amazing weekend. See you September 15 for the 14th Annual JCCS!

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When Lehan brought his 1991 R32 GT-R to Z Car Garage it was barely moving under its own power…the clutch failed.  We installed an OS Giken TS2CD clutch and flywheel along with an OS Giken T/O bearing.

 

   

The OS Giken clutch/flywheel combo weighed 32.8lbs compared to the old setup at 39.6lbs:

 

Clutch removal/installation:

   

We also replaced the rear main oil seal while we in there with an OEM seal. The R32 was treated to new clutch hydraulics including master and slave cylinders + hose.  It is prudent to replace these units if they haven’t been done in the last 3-5 years.

   

With a new clutch and hydraulics sorted Lee was back on the road.  He was really surprised that we could do a 2-day turn-around clutch replacement on on his 25-year old Japanese classic supercar.  Enjoy the Ride Lee and thanks for your support!

 

Frank B has been a Z Car Garage customer for many years. His stable includes an ultra low-vin Series 1 S30 (report soon) and this 1972 Datsun 240z that he acquired in 2005:

 

Affectionately named “Fuelie Z” this hot rod sports a fuel-injected Rebello 3L running Borla TWM induction.  The old-school setup utilized RC injectors, a composite intake plenum and Electromotive Tec3 engine management.

 

With powerful L-series motivation Frank wanted to improve braking and we installed one of our very first sets of Z Car Garage Big Brakes roughly 8 years ago. These large, 328mm units at all 4-corners performed admirably and fit nicely behind his vintage 17″ Chevlon Racing Mesh wheels:

 

  

Frank has enjoyed the Z for several years, attending local ZONC events and fun runs. Below left: The ZONC Blackhawk Museum Show in 2008!

 

After a recent meeting with Frank we agreed it was time to update this Z car and make it as smooth as we could. He was our first customer to run the new Z Car Garage CV axles. This upgrade really inspired him to continue improving the car:

  

Next on the update list, we were really excited to install a Nissan 350z 6-speed manual transmission behind the L-series in Frank’s Z. You read that right! S30 owners can now bolt-in this robust, 6-speed manual behind their L-series engine!  You might remember our first application of Austin Hoke’s custom 6-speed adapter kit on the OS Giken TC24B1Z-powered 240z:

  

Using the 6-speed conversion kit from Hoke Performance we installed a new CD009a transmission from the 2003 -2008 Z33 in Frank’s Z:

 

The kit necessitated exhaust header changes and after testing a variety of headers we found the Pacesetter 6-2-1 unit provided enough clearance:

 

We changed the exhaust and updated the driveshaft to an aluminum one. The old Spec clutch mated to the L-series transmission was removed and a JWT aluminum flywheel and HD clutch installed for work with the 350z transmission:

  

The 6-speed bolted in, more pictures of the install in gallery below:

 

The ZCG CV axles and 6-speed transmission transformed Frank’s Z. You can see the shifter location/operation in this video below. Enjoy!

 

Frank also asked why not update the engine management system and Rob said, “I’m in!”. Replacing the Tec3 unit we installed an Elite 750 from Haltech.  This is a wonderful stand alone ECU company with very user-friendly products we love to use on our S30 builds.

  

With dyno tuning we improved the drivability of Z in addition to significant power gains. Final numbers were 231hp/210tq to the wheels:

 

We received great feedback from Frank after 100 miles of mountain roads. His wife could even notice the difference: super smooth, seamless operation with fantastic throttle response and more power.  The Fuelie Z has been thoroughly updated, mission accomplished!  We love that Frank is Enjoying The Ride in his Z stay tuned for a full report on his Series 1 240z!

 

LONG LIVE THE Z!
More pictures in the gallery below!
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Z Car Garage is proud to offer a CV axle conversion kit for your Datsun S30 and 510. For years we have used aftermarket CV axles that utilize an aluminum adapter prone to loosening up over time. Despite efforts to keep things tight (Loctite, hardware changes) we had to keep an eye on them. We developed a better solution that eliminates the need for aluminum adapters and remains 100% bolt-in like a factory half-shaft.

  

Designed and manufactured locally with KAD Models, the ZCG CV axle kit works in both R180 and R200 configurations.

 

  

These are the beefiest CV axles on the market. They have been tested on the track by our vintage racing customers and also in high hp* street cars (powershifting, clutch dumps, etc.). Each axle has a serial # for peace of mind:

 

The CV axle kit is available now from ZCG for 1595.00 + freight and they come with everything you need to install on your car. Contact us at 408-452-0350 or send Rob an e-mail rob@zcargarage.com to purchase. Installation is just like doing a half-shaft: there is even a marking that shows you where to line up bolts and special hardware:

 

The ZCG CV Axles in action

The video below demonstrates the “looseness” associated with aftermarket CV axles that use adapters compared to the ZCG axles without adapters. Several customer race/street cars running our CV axles are also shown. Enjoy!

 

S30 and 510s running the ZCG CV axles

 

Randy Jaffe’s #46 BRE Datsun 240z received the very first set of ZCG CV axles: Serial # S30-000240!

 

The Bluebird SSS Coupe and Hakosuka Skyline are both running ZCG CV axles on the race track:

   

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 – will be 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. The following customer cars are all running our CV axles now:

Frank B’s fuel-injected, 6-speed stroker L-series:

  

Gary’s 430whp LS3-powered 280z:

  

Scott W’s EFI stroker L-series:

  

James S’ L28ET:

  

Finally, Gary’s “Behemoth”  OS Giken TC24B1Z powered S30:

Technical Information:

The Z Car Garage axles were designed to help remove much of the backlash aka clunk seen in many older vehicles. Modern technology has given us the ability to create a set of axles to exacting standards. We started with a high quality set of CV joints that were found to be the most consistent in both major and minor spline diameters. We then began to design the axle itself to share the same tight tolerances. We are holding a +/- .01mm diametric tolerance on both the inner and outer spline diameters. This gives us the feeling of direct connection between differential and wheel. The axle shaft major diameter was increased to 28MM to give owners a bit of added comfort in knowing the main shafts are stout. Once the axles are splined they are then heat treated to obtain the desired harness. After heat treat the axles are then nickel plated to add corrosion resistance. The inner and outer flanges are made from 316 stainless steel and mate to the CV joints with tapered alignment surfaces to ensure concentricity is maintained throughout the axle thus reducing vibration. The inner flange attaches to the stock R series differential utilizing the Nissan factory hardware. The outer flange attaches to the driven stub with bolts specifically designed and manufactured for the Z Car Garage axle installation kit. These bolts are manufactured to grade 8. All ZCG axles are manufactured locally which helps us maintain the fitment and quality we require.

Materials

Axles : Hardened AISI/SAE 4340 Alloy Steel, 4340 is a nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy steel

Drive flanges: 316 stainless steel, Type 316 steel is an austenitic chromium-nickel stainless steel

Outer Flange Bolts: Hardened 4140 Alloy Steel , AISI or SAE 4130 grade is a low-alloy steel containing chromium and molybdenum as strengthening agents

 

 

Z Car Garage is expanding to support our vintage, late model and motorsport work. We are seeking an experienced and skilled automotive technician to join our team.
This is not an average automotive job. The position is for a special candidate that wants to be part of a shop that is growing and always striving to set the bar a little higher. We offer competitive pay/benefits and the best working environment.
Requirements: Experienced with a good set of tools, willingness to learn, and be part of a team.

Interested or know someone who might be a good fit? Please contact rob@zcargarage.com or call us at (408)452-0350.