Lou S is a long-time friend and customer of Z Car Garage. He is also an avid sports car fan with a interesting collection including a 3.2L FairladyZ, FD RX-7, Mazda RX-4, and Dodge Viper GTS.   Adding to this stable is his 2nd RHD vehicle, a 1992 Nissan Skyline GT-R. For most fans of Japanese sports cars this “R32” supercar is highly regarded and quite popular. Not familiar with this model? Find out what makes it special over at JNC.

Lou acquired this Skyline from previous owner David C who had extensive suspension and engine work performed at ZCG. Lou wanted to make it his own so he visited us for some upgrades and tuning! Wheel aficionados will immediately notice the VOLK TE37SL wheels, sized 18×9.5 and finished in high-metal bronze. We think the TE’s are easily one of the best looking wheels for the R32, good taste Lou!

 

Perfectly framed by the TE’s spokes are Stoptech calipers/rotors at all four corners. The Ray’s valve stems color-matched to the “TE37SL” sticker is also a nice detail:

 

Adding to the list of choice parts is a full titanium exhaust system from Tomei. This includes downpipes, test pipe and the Expreme Ti muffler:

 

The quality and detail of this exhaust system is impressive, please click on the pics for larger views. We think it adds a little sportiness to the car’s rather understated (by today’s standards) aesthetic. It also sounds sublime.

 

  

The R32 was much louder than I anticipated. At idle it has a loveley burble and part throttle acceleration produces a semi-truck like turbo hiss…very audible from outside but never obnoxious. Under full throttle however, there is an absolute orchestra of sounds from the exhaust and turbo…it screams and reminds us how unmistakable the RB is!

 

With the new exhaust we re-tuned the Haltech to a healthy 412hp/311tq to the wheels:

 

I personally love this car.  A few more pictures…

 

Lou is having a blast driving his R32 and recently attended Cars and Coffee at Canepa. We love how he chose to take Skyline/HWY 9 as opposed to the freeway. Enjoy the Ride Lou!

 

More pictures in the gallery to enjoy below:

 

John P is a new Z car owner and found this Z32TT in the Pacific NW.  When we first met John his Z had 110k miles on the clock and he decided it was time to modify…so we gave him the works! Before the go-fast goodies were installed we addressed all of the car’s issues John discussed with us and ended up with a beautifully clean, well-rounded 300zx.  Our first order of business was in engine bay, correcting the PCV system which had been bypassed/cobbled together:

 

Next, we found an injector problem and performed the common late-style conversion. The 1990-1994 Z32TT’s have fuel injector problems because Nissan used a wet coil design. This left the injector coil wire prone to oxidation over time and eventual shorting. The solution? Convert to later style injectors using the early fuel rail. There are several adaptor kits on the market to achieve this, making servicing/removal a breeze without the need for removing the manifolds. For John’s Z we wanted to run 740cc injectors which is only available in the new style:

 

More engine work including full timing belt services along with valve cover removal/refinishing:

 

Driveline was upgraded with a JWT HD clutch and flywheel. Keen observers may note that the exhaust has changed too!

 

Larger downpipes greatly improve flow over the stock manifolds. The best downpipes for your Z32TT (in our opinion) can be found at SpecialtyZ. These are 3″ units:

 

The Z was treated to a chassis steam clean, making a clean grime-free backdrop for the new exhaust system!  The downpipes were mated to 3-2.5″ midpipes:

 

With wiring and general cleaning the engine bay looks much better!

 

A few chassis upgrades included SPL T/C rods and bushings as well fresh rear brakes:

 

With the mechanicals sorted John added a few lighting improvements to the interior. The dim stock displays benefitted from new LED sources. Check out the difference:

Even the climate control display is improved:

 

More LED upgrades throughout the cabin:

 

All of the work above was completed on John’s first visit. On the dyno the new exhaust clearly makes a noticeable improvement in power. We picked up 31hp/33tq to the wheels:

 

John visited ZCG for the second time for upgrades!  We installed more parts from our friends at SpecialtyZ  like their Selin dual MAF.  To improve breathing we also installed larger Stillen intercoolers and charge plumbing from Ash-spec:

 

Finally, low-profile engine mounts from BDE offer more turbo inlet clearance:

 

With larger ICs, plumbing and dual MAF’s we tuned John’s Z and it now makes 372hp/360tq to the wheels:

 

Enjoy The Ride, John!

Alex T is the owner of this pretty Black Cherry Z34 and he visited Z Car Garage on referral from our boost junkie friend and customer Juan F.  To satisfy Alex’s desire for forced induction we installed a Stillen supercharger kit that was actually used on Grant K’s Nismo 370z.

 

Out of the box, this older Stillen kit left plenty of room for improvement so we invested in several upgrades like 1000cc injectors, Aeromotive high-flow fuel pump, pulley and these engine oil/automatic transmission coolers:

 

The transmission received a GTM valve-body upgrade and stock bypass valve was replaced with a blow-off valve:

 

Fast Intentions test pipes replace factory cats:

 

To put the power down more effectively we installed a Quaife limited-slip differential, using the stock 3.36 R&P:

 

With all of the modifications and UPREV tuning Rob extracted 435hp/343tq to the wheels. This is a 147hp/104tq gain over stock:

 

To monitor vitals Alex chose PLX Device’s OBD2 multi-gauge. We first installed this trick, wireless sensor/gauge package on Steve’s G35 with an iPhone interface.  For Alex’s Z34 the multi-gauge was seamlessly integrated into the OEM pod:

We love the brilliant display and wealth of data that can be accessed:

 

Enjoy the Ride Alex!

Check out more pictures in the gallery:
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Stillen supercharger month continues at Z Car Garage! Our last reports included Daly’s G37 sedan,
David G’s G37 S coupe and today we bring you 2009 David S’ G37 Convertible. The trifecta of supercharged Infiniti G-cars is complete!

 

As with previous builds, the Stillen supercharger kit installation is straightforward. A Stillen oil cooler and colder plugs were added:

 

From NA to boost!

 

Out of the box with the Stillen-supplied CAN tune the ‘vert made 408hp/325tq to the wheels. This is a great improvement of 122hp/75tq over stock but at Z Car Garage we can do better!

 

Rob’s tuning yielded +12hp peak with smoother delivery all the way to 7500rpm:

 

With 420whp we also thought it would be prudent to start David off with some fresh tires 🙂
This concludes our Stillen supercharger month at the shop…can we help you boost your Nissan/Infiniti?

On Sunday I attended the Saratoga Classic Car Show in beautiful downtown Saratoga, Ca. Now in its 5th year running, thousands of car lovers flock to this historic strip of Big Basin Way.  Two-hundred cars line the street with music, vendors, shopping and plenty of fun for families. Despite its huge following I had never heard of this show happening in my own backyard until a friend sent me the flyer. I thought it would be cool to represent Japanese classic cars with the Datsun Roadster so I signed up and enjoyed the day with family.

 

I’m a huge fan of muscle cars and Hot Rods so this show was a refreshing break from the J-tin that is close to my heart 🙂 Here are some of my favorites:

From Ford:  “Bullit-esque” Mustang and Pro-Touring Shelby fastback:

 

This Thunderbird had a wicked stance and Halibrand-style wheels:

 

From Chevrolet: Pro-Touring ’57, trackday Camaro, C1 ‘Vette, Yenko tribute and mean Chevelle:

 

The roadster was well-received and I spotted a very clean S30 down the street! Maybe next year we can bring more JDM flair to the show!

 

Speaking of roadsters, there was a large contingent of English droptops including this absolutely bonkers turbocharged Sunbeam Alpine:

 

Sporting some sweet vintage Enkei 92 meshies with sticky Re-11s this DE-prepped beast even had a “TIGR ETR” plate!  Below: very clean MGA, Tiger and E-type:

 

I thought I was out of place with the Datsun and then I saw this beautiful ’68 Audi 100…on bags!

Such pretty lines it reminded me of BMW’s famous E9 chassis. The Rotiform wheels were perfect:

 

I was in Torq-Thrust and vintage wheel heaven. Some of my favorites. I love flat caps on these:

Check out the gallery for more pictures!

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