We are excited to offer the Z Car Garage Heat Shield for your triple-carb’d L-series Z car. This is a one-piece 304 stainless unit with laser-etched serial number. Proven on all of our L-series engine builds and dyno testing.
This heat shield will fit Mikuni, Weber, Dellorto and Jenvey induction with several intake manifolds like the Harada. Also available for 4-cylinder L-series applications as well! Utilized on both race cars and street cars. Shown below are ZCG clients running the heat shield on their cars, starting with JDM Legends’ epic S30 build:
We love to see our products being installed and used on customer cars. Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running our ZCG Heat Shield in this vintage 260z race car! Volume up and enjoy!
Richard’s 1971 Datsun 240Z:
Khang’s EFI L-Series with Jenvey ITB and Z Car Garage Heat Shield:
Vincent’s 1973 Datsun 240Z:
More Z cars running the ZCG Heat Shield:
The ZCG Heat Shield is available for purchase for $169.00 with product information below. View this product and other ZCG parts on the new “products” page of our website HERE
Wayne A came to Z Car Garage for a full inspection on his 1971 Datsun 240Z. Rebello built him a nice engine and now he needed the right suspension and parts to enjoy that new drivetrain upgrade. Rob and Wayne developed a plan for a total suspension refresh.
The Right Z
Let’s take a look at how Wayne got his “SERIEZ 1” S30 that he’s owned for the past ten years:
“My neighbor had a slew of 240z and 510s. I stopped by and asked him about his cars. I told him I specifically wanted an orange 1972 Datsun 240z. One day on my way home I saw this car out in front of his house. I was amazed when I saw it. It had slotted wheels with BF Goodrich tires and was lowered quite a bit. I had asked him about it and he said he just got back from Oregon to purchase it with intentions to flip it for a really good price. I bought it that day from him.”
Here is Wayne’s Z as it arrived at Z Car Garage:
The Rebello 3L stroker with triple FAJS 45 induction backed by a 5-speed transmission:
Enjoy this video of the Z in action:
Suspension
Wayne’s chassis was treated to a full suspension rebuild with new parts, bushings and a full coil-over (Koni) suspension from Techno Toy Tuning. T3 finishes the suspension in our signature color and we really appreciate Gabriel and his staff. They make some of the best suspension parts out there for Z cars.
New parts included the T3 adjustable T/C rods, T3 rear control arms, T3 front/rear strut tower bars, new ball joints, new front bushings, all new bearings and seals and ST sway bars. New Macpherson bumps were trimmed for best ride quality and full travel followed by a full alignment.
Front suspension refresh with T3 coil-overs, T/C rods, ST sway bars, rack bushings and f/r wheel bearings.
We also installed a new set of Watanabe wheels (15×8) with 225/50/15 Toyo R888R tires:
Enjoying The Ride
With new suspension and wheels Wayne immediately took his Z out, sharing his joy with family. We thank his nephew for sending us photos from their drive. More pictures in the gallery below!
Wayne is really happy with the upgrades:
“It drives worlds better. Rob did an incredible job with the suspension. I couldn’t be happier! It went from scary to drive to where I can’t wait to get in and drive it now.”
Wayne and Rob met, developed a plan, made a quote, got all the parts here and his car came in on Tuesday leaving on Friday. Pretty cool for a 50yr -old car to get a major performance upgrade in short time. Thanks for letting us work on your SERIEZ 1. Next up Wayne, brakes! Long Live the Z!
We love to see owners installing our Z Car Garage CV Axles on their Datsuns. Chris M recently performed the installation himself on his 1970 240Z. You may have seen this Safari Gold Series 1 beauty at events in the Atlanta area or online features. We are proud to be part of it!
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 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
Chris has CV axle set #0353 and we are happy to report that he installed them himself with ease:
“Install was a breeze, old axles come out, these new ones go right in in their place. Couldn’t ask for an easier installation.”
He sent us a few pictures of the unboxing and before/after replacing his old half-shafts. Nice work Chris!
Simple and Satisfying
Chris’ Z is not a fully-restored example. Aside from the paint he’s gone through the entire car making it an ultra-clean driver that is still show-worthy. The stance is achieved through full air-suspension. It was one of the first S30s to be on airbags, gracefully tucking those gorgeous 15×9 Work Equip 01s:
The engine remains an L-series with triple-Weber 45DCOE’s and 10:25:1 CR ported E31 head on a stock 280Z bottom end. We do love his choice of Fujitsubo Legalis exhaust.
Listen to it sing:
Chris’ Z and the great story behind it has been told many times we encourage you to read his Petrolicious and Speedhunters features.
Datsun/Enthusiast
Chris loves his Nissan/Datsuns but also enjoys other marques as an enthusiast. Check out his R32 Skyline GT-R, 280Z (bought by his uncle brand new in 1978, and has been in the family since) and R30 Skyline 4-door!
We’ve been following Chris on Instagram for years and met him at SEMA and when he visited Rob at our shop. Stoked to see a fellow Georgian and be a part of his Z car journey. Thank you Chris for your support and we are happy to see you Enjoying The Ride (and CV axles)! Enjoy the photo gallery below
Filed under: 240z,Parts
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on November 23, 2020
Our ZCG Big Brakes have been winning over Z-car enthusiasts locally and globally. Jaime recently purchased a set and performed the installation himself in his garage in Los Angeles, Ca.
Big-Brake Kits Available For DIY Install!
Z Car Garage is proud to offer our Big-Brake Kit to Z-Car owners that want to perform the installation themselves. We can ship worldwide and each kit contains everything needed with a comprehensive (40-page) installation guide. Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE. Let’s take a closer look at Jaime’s beautiful S30 and his ZCG Big-Brake installation:
As mentioned, our ZCG Big-Brake kit ships with everything needed to install and retains the factory parking brake:
If you follow Jaime on his Instagram page its clear that his attention to detail is impressive. He successfully installed the BBK on his Z, complete with functioning parking brake:
Front and rear:
Easy fitment behind his 15×8 Watanabe (zero offset) wheels:
Beyond ease of installation and quality components, our Big-Brakes perform by offering superb pedal feel…everyone that drives our demo Z confirms! 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. Jaime was very happy as well with great feedback:
“The brakes are a complete game changer. Money well spent”
A Beautiful Work In Progress
This is Jaime’s first vintage car to work on and his goal is to have a reliable daily driver/occasional track machine. Under the hood is a ported/polished L24 with Spirit Garage R header, triple-Weber carbs tuned by Kyushahousetaka, Fujitsubo Leagalis R exhaust and our very own ZCG Heat Shield.
He’s been Enjoying The Ride (and braking with no worries)
The chassis was treated to a full coil-over suspension and many more parts from Techno Toy Tuning
We really like Jaime’s aesthetic with the 904 Kilamanjaro white against the gunmetal Watanabe wheels, JDM tails, 432 grill, xenon bumper w/Skillard lip and JDM fender mirrors:
He also installed a Vintage Dashes unit and reupholstered the seats:
Keep up the good work Jaime and we are very proud to have our Big-Brakes on your Z!
Stay tuned for more customer installations of our ZCG Big-Brakes! Check out our ZCG CV axles HERE.
Long Live The Z!
More pictures in the gallery: …[read more]
We enjoy helping Z cars owners get their cars in top shape to Enjoy The Ride. David P purchased this 1975 Datsun 280z on the East Coast and the exotic shop it was at had difficulty with it. David moves between San Francisco and Massachusetts and wanted us to sort his Z out before hitting the roads here. Our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles along with tuning and aesthetic upgrades transform this Z.
Affectionately called “Triple Six”, the Z arrived at our shop from the East Coast via Masney Auto Transport (Thanks David). David had not seen the Z in person yet since purchasing and it needed some attention, Z Car Garage style.
The car was not running upon arrival and Rob had many suggestions after the initial assessment. From David:
“When Rob called to tell me that my car had made it there I said ‘Ok great. Can I tell you what I want done?’ to which Rob replied ‘Nope’. He said ‘I want you to come down here, drive my car and then say to me, OK I want you to do to my car whatever it was that you did to yours’, and after driving his car I did say those exact words.”
ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles
Indeed, we had David test drive “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car with full suspension and our ZCG Big-Brakes:
“I drove Rob’s unassuming, Safari Gold 240Z, that he appropriately named Butters, and God damn was it fun! I was surprised when he told me it had 275 horsepower, not a small number for a car that’s so small and light, its just that it felt much more powerful than I ever thought a sub 300 hp car could feel.”
After the test drive he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our customers 🙂 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 David’s brakes and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit. Up front:
Our Big-Brakes utilize the OEM brake master cylinder and booster along with the factory hydraulic system. We installed a new master cylinder for David and fixed the wheel/hub area:
At the rear, the aftermarket disc setup was replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes:
Factory handbrake functionality IS retained! A few close-ups of the front and rear setup:
Panasport Wheels
Complementing the new brakes on David’s Z are Panasport wheels! We replaced the generic aftermarket wheels with 16×7 Panasports and Bridegstone S007a tires in 225/50/16.
The new brakes fit nicely behind the new Panasports: We dialed in the spring set on the coil-overs and adjusted them for the best ride quality.
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 100 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.
David received axle set #324. Stock half shafts (L) and ZCG units shown below with more pictures in the gallery:
Details
To ensure that David could pick up his Z from us and start Enjoying The Ride immediately, we performed clean-up work on the interior and sorted the turn signals and headlights. Aesthetically he wanted to change a few things like the front end. We installed a Euro front bumper with Josh fabricating some brackets to make this 280Z look great:
David was blown away by the suspension and braking upgrades:
“I was completely convinced that Rob was not only the right one, but probably the only one that could bring my 1975 280Z up to its fullest potential. I say the only one because of the custom built Z car garage suspension and brakes that Rob uses. We agreed on a comprehensive upgrade to my Z that would be completed in two stages. The first stage was completed this past March. The 45 year old suspension was, to say the least, upgraded. Because Rob believes in a holistic approach, the suspension work also included the proper brakes, wheels and tires. All of the components were specifically chosen to work together in order to produce a car that handles phenomenally and almost unbelievably well.”
Engine
The triple-Weber L28 simply received an ignition timing set, making 161hp/160tq at the wheels:
Enjoy this dyno video below with sweet L-series music:
Part Two
David reports that his Z went from junk to handling better than a 911. Here he is (above) Enjoying The Ride on Skyline near Alice’s Restaurant. What’s next for Triple Six? Full engine upgrade!
“The second stage, that we will be starting soon, will be the engine work. The goal is to get 300hp out of the old in-line six. Rob’s love the cars that he works on is evident in the quality of his builds. A true craftsman in every sense of the word.”
We look forward to working with you David, LONG LIVE THE Z!
