Happy New Year! Today we kicked off 2022 the right way with a New Year’s drive on a beautiful California day. Our friend Geoff assembled a group of cars and we were pleasantly surprised to see several Z Car Garage clients and friends in attendance! Thank you to everyone that braved the chilly morning temperatures and truly showed that Datsuns Are Driven! Enjoy photos and video from the cruise below.
I drove my 1967.5 Datsun Roadster and it was a cool 36F at 8:30am as I hit the freeway for the meeting point in San Jose. It was so good to see familiar faces and cool cars. Geoff briefed the group and we rolled out 16 cars strong heading up HWY 17 to Bear Creek Rd. Let’s take a look at the group:
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:
Jose M was happy to join us in his Z. After 8 years, Rob and Jose re-connected at our 2023 Nissan Z Viewing.
Felix’ 1996 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo
Felix joined is in his 1996 Z32TT. This 300 will also get an updated feature on zcarblog.com.
Pall’s Nissan Skyline GT-R
Pall’s R32 recently visited ZCG for Haltech ECU and dyno tuning.
Datsun 510s
We had three Datsun 510s in Wagon, 2-door and 4-door models!
Mark’s 1972 Datsun 510
We upgraded Mark’s 510 with our Z Car Garage CV Axles. These CV axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to standard half shafts, while eliminating the need for aluminum adapters. Mark got ZCG VV Axle set #320 and he loves them:
Nick’s Datsun 510 Wagon
Z Car Garage’s very own Nick F drove his L-Series powered 510 wagon with SSR mesh wheels.
Dustin’s Datsun 510 4-door
We’ve known Dustin and Courtney for many years. Dustin’s 510 4-door runs a KA24DE and sweet Longchamp XR-4 wheels. Hagerty produced a video featuring the local Bay Area Datsun couple you can see it HERE. Dustin also installed our Z Car Garage CV Axles himself on his 510!
Our fearless leader Geoff in his Lotus 7 and my Datsun Roadster. Also joing us was William in his (964) 911:
Enjoying The Ride
Bear Creek Rd. up to HWY 9 to the look out was surprisingly traffic-free. At the lookout we could see clear across the Santa Cruz mountains to the coast. A few late-model Porsche’s stopped by.
Enjoy this video of the drive and all cars particiapting:
From the lookout we drove up Skyline (35) and down Alpine Rd. Recent rains have made lush forests:
After a short re-group we took 84 up to Alice’s Restaurant and chatted for a bit. It is always busy here and the eye-candy endless. My J-Tin radar was treated to Mark 3 and 4 Supras, S14 240SX, R35 GT-R, MR2 and DC2 Integra:
This Model A had a hot-rodded 4-cylinder Flathead. It’s a small world and through Geoff we were introduced to the owner, John B. John races a Jaguar Special with CSRG!
Thanks to everyone that came out. We hope you get to the Enjoy The Ride this year, let’s make 2021 amazing. DO IT IN A DATSUN!
It is always great to see friends over the holidays. Gary Savage stopped by Z Car Garage from Florida and shared these photos from his visit, enjoy!
(above) Randy Jaffe’s BRE Datsun 240Z.
“Performance With Passion”. These are words that describe our work at Z Car Garage and we are passionate about making your Z perform as good as it looks. Photographer Larry Chen commissioned ZCG to transform his beloved SR20DET-powered 1970 Datsun 240Z from an “ok driver” to a no-excuses, multi-dimensional sports car with power, handling, braking, comfort, reliability and performance to match its eye-catching beauty.
Join Rob and Larry as they share the story of Larry’s Z, affectionately called “Ole Orange Bang”, featuring our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, chassis preparation, dyno tuning and more. Enjoy the videos with behind the scenes footage and photo gallery below!
Build History
Car enthusiasts and motorsport fans recognize the name Larry Chen as the greatest automotive photographer. Larry has made a career out of his passion for capturing the right moments in racing. We are huge fans of his work since the days of covering Formula Drift, time at Speedhunters, and recent work with Hoonigan Autofocus. Our favorite Larry Chen moment is his photography of Ken Block’s 1400hp Hoonicorn at Pike’s Peak for the filming of Climbkhana.
Larry Chen is regularly exposed to some of the coolest builds across the globe, so you can imagine our joy hearing that Larry’s personal car is a Datsun 240Z. Larry’s Z is a Series 1 (VIN# 2868) that he purchased on his 21st birthday for $3000. He started autocrossing immediately with his buddies circa 2006, and it became an integral part of his life:
“It’s been such a big part of my adult life, and it will continue to be a part of it for the rest. The name actually came from a Mexican drink that we love in SoCal. My car is Orange and it backfired a lot when I got it especially when I was low on gas. So it was only appropriate to call it Orange Bang. On my wedding night instead of being ferried away in a fancy limousine, I drove my beautiful wife home in the Z, after some wedding burnouts.”
Following years of autocross and track use, in 2013 the tired L28 was replaced with an SR20DET straight out of a former Formula Drift car.
Like many enthusiasts, Larry continued to modify and upgrade the Z to fit his needs…adding A/C, coil-over suspension and creature comforts along the way. We spotted a freshly painted Ole Orange Bang at the 2019 Japanese Classic Car Show:
“In 2019 my friends at Bells and Vaughn in Pasadena, California did a full ground up restoration. It has all new paint and it was taken all the way down to the metal. Just this month I picked it up from Z Car Garage in San Jose California. ZCG pretty much went through the entire car and they fixed everything that was mechanically wrong with it.”
When Larry Met Rob: A ZCG Story
We first met Larry when he visited us at the 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach, CA. We talked about Z cars, and how he really wanted to get our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and ZCG treatment on his personal Z. In 2020 he trailered his Z up from LA to ZCG in February, literally a few weeks before the pandemic.
“I actually found out about ZCG on Instagram and met Rob for the first time in SoCal at JCCS. I inquired about getting brakes for my car since it couldn’t stop even with a Toyota 4×4 conversion and Nissan Maxima rear disk brakes. They were absolutely horrible. There is a reason why people ship their Z cars across the country to ZCG. The passion is there and you can see it on everything they touch.”
While visiting Z Car Garage Larry featured a few of our client cars and did a shop tour for his YouTube channel Hoonigan AutoFocus. You can click on the thumbnails below to watch the videos:
We couldn’t leave our readers hanging without our own ZCG-style feature complete with dyno videos and behind the scenes footage, so if you can’t wait any longer here it is below. Turn those speakers up and enjoy, read on for an in-depth look at our work.
The ZCG Touch
Larry and Rob developed a plan for Ole Orange Bang. The Z had past work performed by many folks including Larry’s buddies. We simply wanted his Z to be a multi-dimensional sports car with power, brakes, handling and comfort. Cosmetics were already handled, it just needed some mechanical love with ZCG-products that you will find on many of our ZCG builds. Let’s begin with the chassis upgrades, then go into dyno tuning/engine bay work and final details like the interior and weatherstripping.
ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles
We handed Larry the keys to “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car and he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our clients 🙂 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 Larry’s existing Toyota 4×4 front calipers and rear Maxima setup and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit front and rear:
He got a new, OEM brake master cylinder as well:
At the rear, the Maxima setup was replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes. Factory handbrake functionality IS retained!
Larry was impressed with the braking performance:
“The ZCG brakes and axles really give the 240z an update with modern top of the line performance where the Z badly needs it. These cars are lightweight and easy to make fast, but everything else that goes along with it is very lacking. While the 240z is a great car to drive in stock form, there is nothing like having a lightweight turbo rear wheel drive sports car.”
Z Car Garage CV Axles
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 140 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
Larry has CV Axle set #328. Stock half shafts (L) and ZCG units bolted in to the Subaru STi LSD diff. The stock suspension parts had been long replaced with Techno Toy Tuning parts. Larry does not have to live with those loose CV axles anymore!
More pictures of the ZCG axles installed, we will discuss the KW coil-overs below:
Wheels By Love20bee
Complementing the new Big-Brakes and suspension on Larry’s Z are a fresh set of Southern Ways Epsilon mesh wheels from Love20bee. It was an absolute pleasure working with owner, Matt K. to adjust the offset on the wheels just before Larry picked his Z up from ZCG.
We wanted Larry to be able to use the KW Suspension and ZCG Big-Brakes to their full potential and put all the power down effectively without clearance issues. The offset was a bit too aggressive causing fender rubbing and excessive camber reducing the contact patch of the sticky Yokohama tires.
Larry’s Z already had a set of KW Coil-overs. Not to be confused with our ZCG-labeled KW Suspension with adjustable rebound and dampening that we’ve developed over several years (releasing soon). We adjusted Larry’s KW’s for best ride and corner-balanced the car using his weight. With the wheel barrels adjusted and suspension aligned Larry can now throw this Z into any corner with confidence. No rubbing, no excuses.
Engine
Larry had a long list of problems he needed resolved with the drivetrain. The SR was running an older AEM standalone setup for racing duty so it would drive roughly on the street: poor cold/hot starting, erratic idling, stalling on deceleration, overheating and the A/C wouldn’t blow cold under hot conditions. Before sorting these issues we cleaned up wiring and hoses in the engine bay. Here is what the cooling setup looked like before:
The oil cooler was mounted in front of the intercooler and there was a small deflector plate placed across all heat exchangers. We re-designed the ductwork with help from TCDesignFab to seal the intercooler/AC condenser/radiator to direct air flow and eliminate heat soak. Serious SPAL fans were added to a new Mishimoto rad:
The oil cooler was relocated below the FMIC:
With air now directed through the heat exchangers the SR operates well under heat soak conditions, even with the A/C on and blowing cold. Even though the SR20 isn’t Rob’s first choice of engine swap it works really well, looks awesome and makes great power. Speaking of looks, we couldn’t resist adding our body-color matching valve cover (like Rob’s 510 and Rb-powered Z cars):
Hardware was removed and re-plated throughout, more pics in the gallery!
Dyno Tuning
We are huge fans of Haltech engine management. We use their Elite line of ECUs exclusively on our EFI engine builds and Larry’s SR received an Elite 1000 unit, mounted on the passenger foot well. Rob dyno tuned the SR20DET using Haltech. Baseline was 245hp/223tq and with Rob’s tuning it made 295hp/277tq at the wheels:
Larry was absolutely blown away by the performance, response and night/day improvement in drivability. Beyond peak gains of 50hp/54tq at the wheels, much of the increased response can be seen in the huge area under the curve from proper wastegate operation. Haltech is so user friendly and the benefits are priceless. You can see the dyno runs and road testing with Larry and Rob in this this video.
Interior
After driving our client James Stephens’ turbocharged 1972 Datsun 240z for an episode of Hoonigan Autofocus, Larry knew right then he had to have a set of Recaro seats for Ole Orange Bang. We removed his old seats and installed a new set of Recaro Pole-Position seats. He loves them:
Any bodyshop can install weatherstripping but Larry really wanted ZCG do tackle it and we happily obliged. One of our favorite upgrades to the interior of an S30 is our ZCG sound deadening package. Usually found in our full-blown ZCG restorations, the result is a less tinny sound and almost Germanic-like “clunk” when you shut the doors. We also refurbished his window tracks to ensure smooth operation:
We are really proud of the HVAC system in this Z. Larry mentioned the A/C wouldn’t blow cold..we tested Larry’s A/C after our ducting upgrades and it blows cold even after full throttle applications and heat soak.
Details
The little things are what we excel at. A common problem with Series 1 cars is exhaust fumes entering the car through the hatch vents and tail lights. We replaced the hatch and tail light seals and sealed the hatch vents. No exhaust smell in the cabin. (below) It made us happy when Larry called out these little details while filming…an OEM Nissan oil filter and re-plated hood latch hardware:
Please check the gallery below for more detail shots, there are too many to list in this blog post!
Enjoying The Ride
Larry picked his Z up from Z Car Garage in February of 2021. He immediately started enjoying Ole Orange Bang by driving to various events and gatherings in SoCal. We were so stoked to see him happy with his Z again.
Getting updates from Larry was rad:
“It finally performs as good as it looks! Rob and the team are so detail oriented. They know these cars inside and out and my car has never driven so well in its lifetime. I can’t wait to bring it back for some more goodies.”
We were reunited with Larry and his Z at this year’s Japanese Classic Car Show at the Anaheim Stadium. The Z was on display in the Leen Customs booth where fans could get his autograph:
Orange Bang with FuguZ and Medusa. We are beyond happy to have our Z Car Garage chassis parts on these high-profile Z cars.
As happy as we were to see Larry driving around SoCal what really made our day was seeing him drive Ole Orange Bang in anger at a local autocross event! He put our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, suspension and dyno tuning to work:
“I decided to take a personal day and do a bit of driving for fun. I haven’t auto crossed in almost 15 years. I went to the CornerExit auto-x at California Speedway and it was an absolute blast. Orange Bang held up amazing, and everything @zcargarage did to it paid off. I ended up getting 2nd place in mod class!”
We will have video of Larry ripping through the autocross on our Instagram story. For now, don’t miss the video we made of the Z in action here:
UPDATE 6.30.23
Larry just dropped an amazing video about his Z including its history and canyon driving, enjoy!
Thank You Larry!
Our journey with Larry is just beginning. Thanks for entrusting Z Car Garage with your Z and believing in us. We appreciate all that you do for automotive culture and your work is inspiring. Always Do It In A Datsun and LONG LIVE THE Z!
This is Greg S’ 1970 Datsun 240Z in Monte Carlo Red. We have known Greg for a long time, actually preceding the opening of Z Car Garage. It’s always been a pleasure to see Greg with his beloved Z plus he’s a Nissan enthusiast with a few Patrols and mint RL411 wagon. His Series 1 S30 received our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles and Panasport wheels.
Our relationship with Greg goes back well before social media and our photo documentation. Greg performs his own work on the Z, and we finish the small extra things that let him Enjoy The Ride. Let’s take a look at how Greg became a Z car enthusiast.
History
Greg does not have glorious restoration pictures of the Z with fresh parts all laid out on benches etc., as the car has never been through that process. He simply just replaced or rebuilt parts as needed to keep the car running and looking good. He acquired the car from the original owner,VIN# 4052 with a 5/70 build date:
“My old man purchased the car for me in 1992. I was 19 and we had been looking for a decent 240z for about a year. We found this one in one of those auto traders printed on recycled paper. It was basically ‘Original owner, runs great, 83K miles $3,500 OBO’. It was bone stock, totally straight, unrestored and completely unmolested. The original sales receipt for $3,300 was in with his service records. Seemed like the car had spent its whole life in northern California.”
“The photos with the basket style 14” rims were after a trip to the junkyard for said rims, new tires and some elbow grease polishing and waxing it. It cleaned up pretty nicely. I went to college in Santa Clara and first ran into Rob when he was a mechanic working at the shop I would take the car…I did most of the general maintenance work but had that shop put in a set of Suspension Techniques sway bars, springs and Tokico struts. At the time I didn’t know enough to appreciate what a good shop that was.”
The car was repainted in 2000 by Lakeville Auto Body in Petaluma, matching the original #905 Monte Carlo Red. At about 150,000 miles Greg decided to replace the motor, even though it would have happily ran for a bit longer:
“Nissan was selling remanufactured L28 280ZX long blocks for $1,400 which seemed like a smokin’ deal. It was about the same price as you could buy the parts to rebuild the L24. I had moved back to Sonoma county and my dad and I did the motor swap in his garage. I took the opportunity to add the Redline triple Weber 40 DCOE kit, a sportier cam and a set of headers. I worked with a speed shop to sort out the jetting. It ran decent, but was pretty rich down low, would stumble at times and got poor gas mileage. I drove it like that for several years, replacing the intake manifold, fabricating the heat shield and air filter assembly.”
The Z Car Garage Touch
About 12 years ago Greg was looking to resolve the jetting on the Z and seriously considered ditching the Weber carbs altogether. He spent some time trying to find that original shop in Santa Clara but found Z Car Garage instead. It didn’t take long to figure out that he had already worked with Rob and that alleviated any reservations about dropping his Z off at a shop a few hours from home:
“As expected, Z Car Garage did an excellent job re-jetting carbs. The car idles perfectly, pulls cleanly, makes more power and gets a respectable 18-20 mpg. Now anytime I need help sorting out a problem with the Z, advice on an upgrade, part availability or just need someone to sing some ballad rock to me, I call Rob.”
Greg is really happy:
“Since then Rob has set me up with:
The correct 16″ Panasports that saved me the hassle of getting wheel sets that rub or rims that just look OK.
ZCG CV Axles axles that were a joy to install, run smoothly and don’t make the racket that the other (hateful) CV kit did.
Recaro seat that is actually suitable for driving long distances and keeps you from sliding into the footwell.”
ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles
We are proud to have several of our ZCG products on Greg’s 240z. As he mentioned above, Greg installed our Z Car Garage CV Axles and we installed our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels). These products have been standard on numerous ZCG builds.
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 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 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:
Greg brought his Z down on May 20 and with a one-day turn around we installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit with parking brake assembly. We also replaced his brake M/C with a new OEM Nissan unit, bleeding the system and setting it all up. He’s super impressed and he also had fun visiting us:
“While I was down at ZCG, Rob took the time to show me around. The shop is clean and even the parts storage container is expertly organized. The quality of the cars and race cars in the shop were a joy to see.”
“Most recently I dropped the car off to have ZCG install their excellent brake kit. Super clean installation, perfect pedal feel and stops great. They clearly put a lot of effort into this kit and did such a nice job installing it.”
Front brake installation:
At the rear, the OEM drums brakes were replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes. Factory handbrake functionality IS retained!
Z Car Garage CV Axles
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 140+ CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
Greg was experiencing significant vibrations in the back of his car. In February 2020 we sold him a set of ZCG CV Axles and installed it himself…he loves them. Standard half-shafts shown on left:
Greg is having a blast in the Z and sent us this video he made from a recent drive in Petaluma, enjoy!
Panasport Wheels
In 2014 we sold Greg a set of Panasport wheels which were finished in a slick, gumetal shade. Our ZCG Big-Brakes also look great behind Panasport wheels in our offset allowing 225/50/16 tires (Bridgestone S-007a). The Z was fully aligned afterwards.
Interior
The stock seat was replaced with a single Recaro Specialist, we love these seats for the S30. Time for another seat, right Greg?
Bluebird Wagon
“I have only called Rob to cry about the 411”
In addition to the Z, Greg has had a few Nissan Patrols and still have this 1967 WRL411. A true labor of love, this little wagon showcases Greg’s work/fabrication and aesthetic. It was also stock, complete and unmolested when he acquired it 15 years ago. The 411s are close to our heart as they share some parts with their Datsun Roadster siblings. We have also helped out client Kevin M with his SSS Bluebird.
Greg freshened up the interior, replaced the headliner, carpets, front seat covers and made the gauge cluster insert. Originally it had a 3 speed automatic that was replaced with a Roadster 4-speed. The front brakes and hubs were replaced with larger units also from a Roadster. This required fabrication of new steering arms.
Under the hood is what make this 411 wagon a true sleeper: with a little machine work you can use the crank out of a U20 and turn the R16 into a 2.0 liter:
“The motor barely fits into the 411 and it’s especially tight near the radiator requiring a special shorter water pump. The exhaust exits through the fender well and all the stock units have long since rusted out so I was forced to weld up a new header for it. The SU’s were replaced with flat slide Mikunis and I made a new 3-D printed airbox and throttle assembly. I am still working out the final tune with some updates to the exhaust system likely required. I want it to run as perfectly as the Z. Maybe I need to put a set of 40mm DCOEs on it and have Rob re-jet it.”
Greg made the CAD for the exhaust header and welded it up himself. CAD was also used to make a new gauge cluster to accept a tach and modern signals. It’s the icing on the cake on a sweet build:
“The gauges out of the early roadsters are beautiful so I was originally intrigued with them. They are expensive if you can find them and the diameter is too large to fit nicely in the stock cluster housing. I ran across a few images of this SSS cluster in a car but it appeared to also have a larger cluster housing. Both seemed impossible to source. The new electronic tachs and speedos are way easier to get working than fussing with MSD tach adapters or speedo gears etc. If you look at the CAD image you can see that I gutted the original speedo housing and added the toothed wheel and sensor to it. It’s driven from the stock cable running to the transmission.
We admire Greg’s ingenuity and determination to keep his cars on the road. Thank you for your support Greg, and keep Enjoying the Ride in your Z! More picture in the gallery below…
The 2021 Japanese Classic Car Show was held on October 30, in Anaheim, CA. This is the original vintage Japanese-car event in SoCal and in its 16th year, JCCS has grown incredibly. Thousands of spectators enjoyed 400+ cars in the parking lot of Angel Stadium. The vehicles themselves remained a fantastic blend of stock, modified 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.
Z Car Garage Parts on Sung Kang’s Datsun 240Zs!
FuguZ
Actor and star of the Fast and the Furious movies, Sung Kang also happens to be a car enthusiast as well. At the SEMA 2015 show he debuted his vision of the perfect Datsun 240Z, named FuguZ. The build was chronicled the through social media, enlisting parts from around the world with final assembly by Kenji at Greddy. Sporting the latest Rocket Bunny body kit, Volk TE37s and NA RB26 drivetrain this was a crowd favorite and sparked the Z car love in many people.
FuguZ became one of the most prominent S30s in the world. Fast forward to 2021 and Sung Kang visited Z Car Garage, driving “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car. After driving Butters, Sung wanted the exact same Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels), Z Car Garage CV Axles and KW suspension on his very own FuguZ!
Rob and Kenji came up with a plan and the Z was shipped up to us so we could install ZCG Big-brakes, CV axles and KW suspension before the JCCS. Kenji then revived the Z with twin-turbos that the RB26 is famous for. Now Sung can enjoy the boost, and reign it all in with our brakes and suspension. Full report soon!
Doc Z
Sung was so impressed with the Z Car Garage Big-Brakes that he also wanted a set on his latest 240Z build, the “DocZ”. We happily obliged, only this time we shipped the kit to the Erick of Erick’s Racing, the master builder behind DocZ.
Erick was very pleased with the kit and ease of installation:
DocZ was built as a tribute to the Datsun 240Z that dominated the 1971 East-African Safari. Sung even had his own multi-piece wheels made as an homage to that history-making Z. The ZCG Big-Brakes can be seen through those iconic slots:
DocZ also features interior parts (look at that dash!) and exterior carbon fiber pieces by Carbon Signal:
We are thrilled to be a part of Sung’s builds and the collaborate with his team of talented craftsman! Thank you for your support Sung! Stay tuned for a deep dive on DocZ when we see it at SEMA this week and more details on the FuguZ when it returns to ZCG for tuning.
Showtime!
We arrived early to the new venue at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. This location is larger and more vendor-friendly than The Queen Mary and Marina Green of past shows. It was a a huge parking lot, and those that braved the lines to get in were treated to a J-Tin overload. Once inside we made our way to see client James and his 1972 Datsun 240Z.
James’s 1972 S30 was displayed in the Love20bee booth. At the heart of this beast is a turbocharged L-series managed by Haltech. Chassis upgrades include custom full-length subframe connectors, CD009a 6-speed transmission, KW Suspension, ZCG CV Axles and Big-Brake Kit (328mm) behind RS-8 wheels restored by Love20bee. Larry Chen featured James’s Z on this episode of Hoonigan Autofocus. Inside, a stack instrument cluster was integrated into the gauge pod, viewed from leather Recaro Pole Position seats:
Recent upgrades to “Medusa” include a new tubular exhaust manifold, intake manifold and down-pipe from from ProtunerZ. We will have more installation photos and dyno results coming soon to zcarblog.com!
Highlights from JCCS
Enjoy this video I made highlighting the sights and sounds of JCCS 2021:
Why do we keep coming back to JCCS? Each year the bar is raised for the show cars, and this year was truly impressive. With over 400 cars and aisles of vendors it was almost impossible to see it all in the 9am-3pm show time. Here are our favorites, starting with Nissan/Datsun.
Skylines
Here are few of my favorite Nissans and Datsuns, starting with that not-so forbidden fruit commonly known as the hakosuka Skyline. Ralph Kenyon’s stunning build was the result of OCD-level attention to detail.
Ralph’s Hako received a true, rotisserie-style nut and bolt restoration but didn’t stop there. He strengthened the chassis, utilizing beefed-up suspension/driveline components to support the raging and exotic 3.5L Datsunworks twin-cam L-Series. This fuel-injected monster is backed by a Nissan CD009 6speed transmission. Take a look at that engine bay…you will find yourself discovering a treasure of details from the dry-sump tank to perfectly aligned wingnut bolts on the air filter housing. The S20-inspired valve cover, equal-length exhaust manifold, OEM hose clamps…”next level” is appropriately used here.
Roy’s ’72 Skyline now with an old-school Cartech turbo kit:
Rick’s GTX on RS8 wheels:
Mike C’s 4-door:
Jun’s unflared Hako:
It was great to see our ZCG CV Axles under this 3.2L, fuel-injected Hako in the Hagerty booth!
I didn’t expect to see a large gathering of R32/33 Skylines, even a 4-door! DR30 and 240k!
JDM Legends had their C110 Kenmeri Skyline on display. Now with a 3.5L Jenvey fuel-injected L-Series and 6-speed transmission. It was great to see Eric he expressed how fun it is to drive!
Our friend Sean and his team at Toprank International Vehicle Importers brought the heat to JCCS with an impressive showing of rare Skylines. It goes without saying, if you are in the market for a vintage Skyline (or any JDM car) IVI is the place to go. The iconic “BF Goodrich poster” R34 and R33 Nismo 400R were a treat to see in person:
Z Car Extravaganza
S30 Z cars were everywhere. 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. Nissan returned to JCCS with a cool display including this pristine example:
Jay from JDM Car Parts always has a fun display with RHD/JDM cars surrounded by a working model train (See video):
There were an impressive amount of Z’s with bodykits from Rocketbunny and Libertywalk:
Lowered on Hayashi Racing wheels:
Loved this Z on Watanabe wheels with an L28ET:
Beautiful 260Z and 280Zs and a 2+2!
Andrew’s RHD Fairlady Z sitting on Watanabe “Gotti” wheels was near the Techno Toy Tuning booth. He drove it down with his Father from the Bay Area:
So. Many. Z’s!
The show-winning Z! Mark and his daughter Samantha built this Z as a family project it is SEMA-bound!
Larry Chen’s 1970 SR20DET-powered Z was on display in the Leen Customs booth. It was featured on Hoonigan Autofocus and we will take a closer look at the work ZCG performed this past year including our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles on zcarblog.com:
You can find more S30s in our gallery!
S130!
Keeping Z31s on the map was the best display of the model I’ve ever seen at JCCS. Proudly shown right next to the Nissan display there were Kouki, Chuki and Zenki models to enjoy:
300ZR and Shiro Special sitting on white Watanabe R-type wheels:
The lone Infiniti sitting on Autotradas:
The Nissan 300ZX (Z32) was also well-represented. My favorite was a white slicktop on Nismo wheels:
Sweet 240sx/Silvias and B13 Sentras!
People
At the JCCS it is always great to see old friends and meet new enthusiasts! The best part was to meet younger folks that were passionate about their rides…we need the the next generation to carry the torch for us!
Datsun Fairlady Roadsters
The Datsun Roadsters came out in full force this year, running 12 cars strong!
Thanh Lam’s 1964 Datsun 1500 was the oldest car present, winning the JCCS Best of Show award!
Ed’s sharp 1970 SPL sporting Enkei Compe wheels:
Eric’s show-winning ’68 2000:
The Desirello’s also displayed their SR20-powered beauties:
More roadster pics in our gallery!
Datsun 510s
Datsun 510s dominated the field as the most represented model again this year.
Not one but 4 Bluebird Coupes!
Matt of Love20bee’s Rotary-powered, box-flared 510 sitting on Tomcat wheels. Hear it run in the video above…BRAP!
Erick’s S2000-powered 510!
TSR-built 510s:
All kinds of engine swaps abound including Toyota 18RG, SR20, Mazda Rotary and even an LSx V8!
This 500hp, SR20-powered 510 was tune by our friend Seb at SpecialtyZ. It’s running our ZCG CV Axles and the owner is super stoked with their performance!
Our friend Troy’s customer won Best 510! We saw the happy new owner of Troy’s former race car!
Stock RHD 4-door!
Wagons!
Jun Imai’s “Kaidohouse” 510 in the GReddy booth with Work Equip 40 wheels, IRS and KA24DE-T powerplant:
Alex’s V8-powered wagon. He also brought a Sunny truck!
Toyota
Toyota always has a huge showing with AE86, Cressida, Celica’s and Corolla’s!
Great showing of RA29 (Liftback) Celicas!
3nd and 4th gen Celicas and Supras!
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.
Variations on the mesh wheel from BBS, Epsilon, SSR, Volk, Bahn and more. Riverside, Autostrada, Racing Hart, Hoshino, Work, Mugen and Tomcat and Watanabe. Heaven!
Honda
EF, EA, EG Civics, CRX, DA and DC Integras, NSX and even motorcycles!
Super Sexy NSXs
Mazda
FC, FD RX-7s were out as well as RX-2, RX-3, REPU pickups and Miatas:
Many more pictures from JCCS in the gallery!
Farewell
Towards the end of the show we staged a quick photoshoot with Sung Kang and the DocZ next to James’ Medusa. It was crazy to see everyone swarm around me once they realized what was going on 🙂
Later, at the Greddy booth Kenji and Larry Chen indulged us for another quick photoshoot with James’s Z, FuguZ and Ole Orange Bang. You can see Rob driving FuguZ in the vide0. We are beyond happy to have our Z Car Garage chassis parts on these high-profile Z cars.
Thank You JCCS!
How does a show go by so fast? Just like that, the JCCS ended and we still did not explore the entire show or meet everyone. I personally think there needs to be signage or at least a map so spectators can make sure they see everything! Despite missing out on some displays there was such a great, positive energy. Love seeing families and younger generations of car enthusiasts, for all marques.
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 16 years! No other show gives you the chance to see obscure, pristine, modified Japanese classics…and we look forward to next year’s entrants. Koji and Terry, thank you for your efforts. We hope you have enjoyed our coverage and please visit our mega-gallery for more pictures.
