Rob Fuller is the latest guest on the Bring a Trailer Podcast with BaT co-founder Randy Nonnenberg and Howard Swig. Listen to them chat about Z Car Garage, the burgeoning Z-car market and Rob’s passion for all things Datsun and racing. You can listen to the podcast via this link HERE, and check out BaT’s other cool podcasts too!
We are fortunate to work closely with Bring a Trailer and you can see our work on their personal BaT 240z that gets driven on major rallyes/events.They even drove the Z across the country from their headquarters in San Francisco to Road Atlanta for the historic races at The Mitty
(Below) Randy Jaffe and Bat Co-founder Randy Nonnenberg at the Mitty with their Z cars!
One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and customers again for another exciting and productive year! Enjoy our 2019 recap and upcoming projects below. Please note our holiday closure below:
ZCG will be closed from 12/20/19 to New Year’s Day. We will re-open for business on 1/2/20
Before we take a look back at highlights from 2019, check out a few of the many customer projects coming along at the shop:
Lou’s 1973 Fairlady Z. You might recognize this RHD Z from local Bay Area fun runs and car shows over the years. What started out as a fairly stock car evolved into a canyon-carving street machine as we began modifications in 2011:
The Z featured a 250whp Rebello 3.2L engine, 240sx KA24 5-speed, Recaro seats, LSD, full-suspension, our ZCG Big-Brake Kit and Panasport C8 wheels.
Enjoy this short video showing the mellifluous sounds coming from the 3.2 engine:
Radical Changes
Lou enjoyed his Fairlady Z for many years and after ZCG’s 2nd SEMA build in 2016, Lou was inspired to take his car to the next level. The 3.2L drivetrain was sold to our customer Tim Ng to be used in his ’72 S30 build. We are currently building an IMSA-flared body Fairlady Z featuring widenened Panasport C8 wheels and a stroker RB28 engine backed by a 6-speed.
Several cars delivered will get full reports soon: Cece’s 1977 Datsun 280z, Patrick’sZ32TT and Jay’s Z32TT
Highlights from 2019
Enjoy these highlights from 2019 and Z you in the New Year! Stay tuned for our coverage of the 2019 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and Classic 24hr race at Daytona with John Morton and Rob Fuller co-driving the #46 BRE 240z.
One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and customers again for another exciting and productive year! Please note our holiday closure below:
ZCG will be closed from 12/21 to New Year’s Day. We will re-open for business on 1/2/19
Before we take a look back at highlights from 2018, check out a few of the many customer projects coming along at the shop including full restorations
Scott W’s 260z was completed in summer. This Z has a complete color change, ZCG Big-Brakes and a sweet 3.2L with Jenvey ITB fuel injection. Full report in the New Year!
Several cars delivered before the holidays will get full reports soon: Cece’s 1977 Datsun 280z, Patrick’sZ32TT and Jay’s Z32TT
Highlights from 2018
Enjoy these highlights from 2018 and Z you in the New Year!
We are happy to see more Z car owners enjoying innovative products from Z Car Garage. The Bring a Trailer Datsun 240z recently visited us for a ZCG Big-Brake kit installation after an eventful driving season. We found and prepped this car for BaT Co-Founder and CEO Randy Nonnenberg just in time for an epic road trip to The Mitty. If you missed the introduction to this Z please visit our initial blog post HERE.
Keeping up with the BaT 240z
Before we get into the Big-Brake kit details, let’s catch up with the BaT 240z since it left our shop heading to Road Atlanta in April. The Z’s first duty was to serve as photo/chase car participating in the Copperstate 1000 rallye in Tempe, AZ:
The journey to The Mitty was more than a destination where Datsun was the featured marque. Along the way, the Z would visit “BaT Alumni” and fans for interviews to share their automotive stories. We were stoked to see the Z made it all the way to Road Atlanta!
BaT’s entire Mitty road trip is wonderfully documented in several installments HERE, enjoy this video too:
Rallye Prep Services
After the 4000+ mile road trip the BaT Z came back to us for sorting and a refresh. Despite losing 5th gear in Nashville, Randy was able to cross the finish line at Road Atlanta using 4th. At the shop we confirmed the mainshaft nut had backed off (very common on early 5-speeds) creating situation where all the gears become misaligned. We removed it and installed a really nice 280z 5-speed transmission.
A few more items needing attention that we sorted:
-all fluids
-fixed headlight switch
-replaced/rebuilt hatch strut
-A/C wiring and power switch corrected + system re-charged (performed in-house)
Back in April, Randy and Rob both agreed on returning the Z back to its original aesthetics before the epic road trip. We swapped out the air dam for a factory valance and installed the stock steering wheel, but we didn’t have time to replace the dated black mirrors. On this visit we tackled the installation of factory Nissan mirrors:
Removal of the black plastic mirrors and installing OEM units required minor bodywork. Our man William took care of the 112 paint. Hard to beat these beautiful mirrors on the S30, more pics in the gallery!
With the Z sorted, Randy and his father drove it on yet another rallye in July, the Faultine 500.
ZCG Big Brakes
In September we met BaT at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca. Randy and the crew discussed using ZCG products on their Z as it had an older Wilwood brake kit. The plan was to install and run our ZCG Big-Brake kit for the Targa Baja California rallye coming in October.
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 14″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel! 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.
Randy brought the Z to the shop and we removed the existing Wilwood setup:
Front setup:
The proportioning valve that was required for the old Wilwood kit was removed: ZCG Brakes do NOT require a proportioning valve!
Big-Brakes at the rear as well. The Z had a weird hydraulic parking brake and this was removed so we could install the factory brake lever setup.
Randy’s Z now has a fully functioning parking brake:
Before leaving the shop we replaced a failed u-joint in the driveshaft and balanced it. We were stoked to hear how well the Z and the Big-Brake kit performed on the Targa Baja California rallye in October:
“Big thanks to Rob Fuller and his team at Z Car Garage for preparing our 1972 Datsun 240Z which ran flawlessly the entire time at sustained high RPMs and in hot weather. Prior to the event he outfitted the car with his custom in-house developed Z brake kit which provided excellent stopping power and near-perfect pedal feel. After it was all over, we woke up early Sunday morning in Ensenada and drove 600 miles straight back to San Francisco!”
Thanks to Randy and the crew at Bring a Trailer for the support and sharing their Z car experience with the world. They are truly Enjoying the Ride, proving that Datsuns ARE DRIVEN!
With just 1 week to go before the 2018 Classic Motorsports Mitty April 27-29, ZCG has been preparing several Datsun race cars. We are very excited to participate in this event as it celebrates Nissan’s racing heritage. Make sure to view the race schedule to catch all of the Datsun/Nissan action and activities in the paddock! Here is the roll call for your West Coast vintage Datsun racers making the trip to Road Atlanta in Georgia.
Introducing SORABIRD
Alex McDowell is racing his Bluebird SSS Coupe for the first time since it arrived at Z Car Garage after winning from our friends at Bring A Trailer. Unfortunately, the Bluebird was never raced for several years under previous owner Adam Carolla’s ownership. This will change in 1 week!
While retaining the two-tone color scheme of the Bluebird we changed it from orange to our favorite color Sora (“Sky” in Japanese) Blue. This is a factory paint color from the beloved ZCG Datsun 2000 Roadster:
Jim Froula of Racecraft built and raced this Bluebird throughout the PNW with SOVREN so it is excellently prepared. We dyno tuned the Rebello L18 sporting twin 50mm Mikuni carbs and it is ready to rock! More information and pictures on the Bluebird can be found HERE.
The Hakosuka Skyline
Alex is also racing is 1971 Nissan Skyline. The L-series powered Hako received extensive dyno tuning and some chassis upgrades. Catch Alex piloting the Hako in group 5 Big Bore Production with Boss 302s and 911 RSRs!
The VIPS Datsun 240z
Our friend Glenn Chiou will be racing his Loren St. Lawrence 240z. Coming off a stellar performance at the 2017 RMMR Glenn will be back and faster than ever after some dyno tuning at ZCG.
All three cars can be seen on the dyno demonstrating their L-series power in this video, enjoy!
The Frellsen B-Sedan Datsun 510
Avid Datsun racer Dave Stone will be running his Frellsen 510 in the highly competitive B-sedan field. All of the car featured above will be joining Jim Froula’s 73 Datsun 260Z on board the RacecraftNW race-transporter for the journey to The Mitty!
ZCG will be ready to support all of our customer race cars:
The Rock Vest Datsun Roadster
Michael Anderson’s recently acquired Rock Vest 2000 is already on the way to The Mitty! We are stoked to see this historically significant roadster brought back to life winning at the race track!
The BRE Datsun 240z driven by John Morton at The Mitty
We are extremely thankful and stoked that owner Randy Jaffe invited us to The Mitty. John Morton is Grand Marshall of the event AND he is piloting the #46 BRE 240z once again! The entire ZCG crew will be running pit crew beginning 4/23 for testing through the race weekend ending 4/2. Following the 2017 Historics, we performed post-race maintenance to prepare #46 before sending it off to Atlanta:
For all Datsuns particiapting in the race you can view the entire Race Entry List.
We have more pictures in the gallery to enjoy. See you at the track!
