This 1971 Datsun 240Z has a long history with Z Car Garage. We have known owner Rob J since the early 90s, having worked on his previous Z cars, and with a few ZCG touches this Series 1 continues to impress. Let’s take a look at how Rob J got into Z cars and what makes this one special.

 

Datsun Z Family

When Rob J was a kid, his dad bought a 1971 Z (photo below) and used to cruise the Santa Cruz mountain roads with Mom in the passenger seat and his two brothers and him sitting on the luggage deck with their feet tucked under the seats:

“His idea of fun was to chuck the car into turns on Hwy 9 or Skyline Blvd – causing the 3 of us to squish into each other with the G-forces. I fell in love with the look and sound of that car when I was 5 years old and was determined to have one of my own. When I was about to turn 16, my brother crashed that car and Dad sold off the wreck, so I never got to drive it. Nothing “sets the hook” like being deprived of something you really want and I bought my first 240Z as soon as I could save up the $3500 that decent cars were going for in the 80s. I’ve had Zs ever since”

 

His first car was a ’71 that was stolen and crashed beyond recovery by thieves. The second, an Iris Blue ’72 (above right), was his daily driver for more than a decade and gradually benefited from ZCG upgrades. When Rob J had the opportunity to buy Paul Hooks’ S30 he sold the Iris Blue Z car to Tony K.

“When Rob Fuller first came to California to work on Datsuns, we had a regular gang of Z drivers going to track days together. The illustrious Paul Hooks was a fellow track nut and this Z was his car. He had done his restoration and modifications the right way – as a closely spaced series of coordinated upgrades using the best gear available, and the car always impressed me with flat cornering, powerful breaks, and that throaty 3.1ltr engine. So when I eventually had an opportunity to buy it from him, I jumped. “

 

Rob J with the Z he’s longed for:

 

Performance to Stand the Test of Time

Paul Hook’s Z was built in the late 90s/early 2000s, so it has the very same 3.1L L-Series engine with triple-Mikuni induction backed by a 280zx 5-speed and R180 LSD. Period suspension upgrades included 5-way Tokicos w/Eibach springs, ST f/r sway bars and sticky Advan A032R tires (remember those?!). The interior has a roll bar with harnesses, Recaro seats and rear strut tower bar.

 

The ethos of this build was centered around open track day events that Paul enjoyed.  Increased braking performance was achieved through a 4-wheel Porsche 911 Turbo “Big Red” caliper brake kit. It works pretty well, but not as well as our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes with respect to pedal feel/un sprung weight…all benefits from our years of experience and collaboration with Stoptech engineers.

 

What makes this Z special? It was built in a period where Z cars were not deemed “collectible” or valuable yet. Despite this, we were building high-end Z cars that performed really well on the street and track. Perform on track indeed; for a car built nearly three decades ago Paul’s vision and execution is impressive. He was a track hound and this Z was his tool of choice, calling routine track days “high-speed mediation”.

 

This ’71 being a Series 1 offers the lightest S30 chassis and paired with 191whp (modest by today’s standards) from the 3.1L it’s tremendously rewarding. It makes all the right noises too, just listen to Paul blasting down the front straight at Thunderhill Raceway (video below) in both rain/dry conditions!

Mini Z

 

Paul’s Z was special to many, including myself. It was “the one” in my eyes seeing how it did everything well from track days to cruising around…the epitome of balance in the S30 chassis. I admired it so much that I made a 1/24 scale model replica with loads of details based on hundreds of photos I accumulated over the years. In 2008 while attending a ZCG Dyno Day I finally presented the model to Paul. More pictures in the gallery below!

 

Updates and Upgrades

So what does this already well-sorted Z need? We discussed a list of needs/wants with Rob J…including sticky tires, new exhaust system to ZCG-spec, and a transmission upgrade. The aged Hankook R-S3s were replaced with Bridgstone RE-71R in 225/50/16 over those classy Panasports:

 

The 280ZX close-ratio gearbox that Paul had was getting old and noisy. At the time we were doing Nissan KA24 (FS5W71C) transmission swaps (before the CD009a came to market) by modifying a 280Z L-series bell housing. You can see the custom ZCG transmission mount below.

 

A JWT heavy duty clutch and Z32 shift knob finish the swap in style.

 

The Z had a really old-school Crane HI ignition components. We updated to run the MSD box so Rob could tune the car and extract a little more power. The exhaust was replaced with our ZCG exhaust system and a Koyo race radiator installed.

   

Rob J was happy with the updates:

“Recently, I took my car into the shop for an exhaust system upgrade and electrical system maintenance. What I got back was a different car entirely! Rob and the crew replaced my old school exhaust, which was frankly an eyesore, with ZcarGarage’s current system, which is expertly tucked up into the undercarriage and finally really looks the part. The exhaust isn’t louder, but it’s more sonorous and less tinny sounding. I love it.”

Dyno Tuning

It has been many years since this Z had been on our dyno. We adjusted the valves, set timing, sync’d carbs and re-jetted them for the new exhaust. Baseline was 198hp/194tq and after Rob’s tuning the Z made 222hp/213tq at the wheels. More power even after all these years this Z does not disappoint!

Power gains you can feel!

“The improvements are awesome: approximately 25 more HPs and 19FtLbs and much smoother power delivery. The car leaps down the road when you mash the throttle and no longer stumbles when rolling into the throttle from cruising RPMs.  The car was fun before and now is just crazy fun.”

Enjoy the dyno video below as well as some historic footage of this Z in action. Volume up!

 

Enjoying The Ride

 

We love how Rob J is enjoying his Z, just as Paul Hooks did. Rob has attended many events and fun runs and I still can’t take my eyes off this Z! In case you are wondering, his plate reads “Kenjuru” to note the martial arts he practices 🙂

 

Below are just a few of the great times we’ve enjoyed with Rob J and his ’71 Z:

 

EVENTS: The ZONC Annual Car Show

Happy New Year!

Bayline Vintage Meet Pictures!

EVENTS: Driving While Awesome Cars n’ Coffee 11/10

EVENTS: Cars and Coffee at Canepa Motorsports

2014 Silicon Valley Auto Show Pictures!

Bayline Vintage Meet Pictures!

 

Long Live The Z!

 

Plans for the future…we will continue to keep this Z on the road and give Rob J updates like our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, and Z Car Garage CV Axles.

“This 240Z is a late Series 1 manufactured in December 1970, so it’s not a low VIN car (17,XXX) and I don’t feel any pressure to restore it to stock.  Instead, we’ll keep upgrading the go-fast options while keeping a vintage look.  I truly love driving this car on the street and the occasional track day and I love doing both with other Z Datsun enthusiasts.” 

 

 

Thank you Rob J for supporting us and being in our life. We are so happy you found the right Z and ZCG will always be your home! DO IT IN A DATSUN

Enjoy the photo gallery below
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Here at Z Car Garage we LOVE to drive our cars on the racetrack. Open “Track Day” or High Performance Driving Events (HPDEs) are excellent venues to familiarize yourself with a car and its limits while having fun in a safe, controlled environment.  Two of our customers recently shared their first track-day experiences with us and they had a blast!

 

We supercharged Robert C’s G35 last year and he decided it was time to do his first track event at Laguna Seca Raceway. He’s added these gorgeous RAYS Gram Lights 57Xtreme wheels since his last visit:

 

“Rob!
Just want to tell you I had a incredible day at Laguna. David Ray is a great guy and awesome teacher. We spent the first three session working on line, smoothness and consistency with both until I had all 11 corners worked out. The 4th session we put it all together as he pushed me and it was phenomenal! When I IR’d the front rotors after the session I was over 500 degrees and they were smoking. Happy to report brakes are still great and no warpage on the rotors. Ironically David mentioned doing an ST40 upgrade which we already quoted earlier so know that is still on the radar for my next track day. Nice to have someone just back up a buying decision without asking. I did graduate to Solo and was told to register for Group B next time so pretty pleased about that. On the upside I have marked “Drive my car at Leguna and hit the corkscrew” off my bucket list. On the even bigger upside I’ve added “1) Go drive Laguna more. 2) Drive Infineon. 3) Drive Thunderhill and 4)Drive Buttonwillow.” to the list.

David had praise for the current work done on the car and I have to agree. The work you and team have done since October last year has made this car even more enjoyable and something to proudly run on a track. The car had zero issues and feels no worse from the day.”

Robert C.

 

In October we added some bolt-ons and tuned Garth J’s 350z preparing him for a day at Thunderhill Raceway:

“Hi Rob,

Thunderhill track day was awesome a few weeks back. Car felt great. The Bridgestone S04’s were a major upgrade. Thanks for preparing the car for a great experience. I’m thinking about auto-crossing next season.Will be needing some routine maintenance in the new year. Can we schedule something mid January? Happy Holidays.”

Garth J.

 

 
Ready to experience your Nissan/Infiniti on the track? We can help!

It’s raining GT-Rs at ZCarGarage! Owner Kevin K had a blast driving his GT-R at Thunderhill recently. You might remember seeing his car at ZCG for several mods including an exhaust system, wheels/springs and a few other items. Kevin also displayed the GT-R at the SJ Auto Show in January. These awesome on-track pictures are from Gotbluemilk.

How cool does this R35 look at speed?

Kevin had an impressive list of parts installed including:
-Deatschwerks 750cc injectors
-Cobb AccessPORT, Custom tuned by HorsePower Logic
-Clear Bra by Premier Protective Films
-Downforce Carbon Fiber body kit by none other than Williams Auto Body
-Go Fast Bits blow-off valves:

Check out the AMS Catted Downpipes, compared to the OEM units:

The stock rear section of the exhaust was replaced by this beautiful HKS Legamax Exhaust:

The center section leading up to the downpipes was replaced by a GTM Challenge Race Spec non-resonated midpipe:

It looks and sounds amazing!

Kevin has great taste and chose some very sharp Volk Racing TE37 G2 wheels finished in Flat Black: 20 x 10 F, 20 x 11 R. Combined with Swift Springs and carbon fiber lower trim this GT-R looks sinister on the street and on the track!

Costumes and decorated vehicles. Sounds like a parade? Ummm…sort of. It was actually the May 8-9 running of the 24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. This is a nationwide endurance race series for $500 cars. Teams must purchase and prep their vehicles for no more than $500. The limit does not include safety items like roll cage, brakes, wheels and tires. This event was 16 hours of racing over two days. Some LeMons events are a full 24 hours.

Teams “themes” are part of the fun, but the series is so popular that a good theme is often needed to get a team accepted to an event. This race included:
Two Starship Enterprises

A Supra with Tiger and Elin Woods on the roof

A Ford Ranchero wagon (built from an E-30 BMW)

And a beautiful 1958 Plymouth Fury (also built from an E-30 BMW)

There were many good drivers, but also many with little or no track experience. To make the race as safe as possible, the series prohibits even a hint of poor driving. Putting two or more wheels off the track, tailgating, not allowing faster cars to pass, spinning, etc. will get a team black flagged, whereupon they must go to the penalty area. The penalties, however, are hilarious. They might include writing a phrase on the car 100 times, reading a passage from a book “revival preacher style” to their team, or the parading through the paddock confessing their on-track sins. Regardless of the type of punishment, they keep the perpetrators off the track while the rest of the field adds to their lap count.

The bad news: Z cars typically don’t do well in this series (I think it’s because Z cars are so cool they need to be in pretty sad shape mechanically to fall to a value of $500). The organizers award a special prize, the Z Cup, to the Z car team that does the least poorly. This event’s prize went to The Underground from Tempe, Arizona, driving a 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo. They finished 19th out of 108. Not great considering the 18th place car was a Mazda 323.

The good news: This event’s winner was a Nissan. The winner on laps was team Rogue Squadron with their Star Wars themed Nissan SE-R. Way to go!