Our Z Car Garage Big Brakes have been winning over Z-car enthusiasts locally and globally. Jay recently purchased a set for his 1972 Datsun 240Z and performed the installation himself at home in South Carolina. Last year Jay also purchased a set of Panasport wheels from ZCG and he’s been enjoying the ride. Before we go into his Big-Brake experience let’s hear his Z-story…

“The car was from California and made its way to Gainesville FL and was put in storage. I had been looking for a good 240 and this one was taken by the owner to a shop owned by a friend of a friend. The guy wanted to get it running and sell it. That triggered a phone call to me while on a anniversary trip with my wife to Italy, we were living in St Augustine Florida at the time. My buddy sent me some pics and a quick video and he grabbed the car for me. It was all there and very little rust. I had not really considered a Blue one, much less one with white interior.”

 

Z Car Garage Big-Brakes

     

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:

  

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. Enjoy these pictures of Jay’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. Jay successfully installed the BBK on his Z along with a full suspension rebuild:

 

“The kit was packed and labeled extremely well, everything was included except for brake fluid.  The manual Rob sent me was very good. If you are looking for a great bolt on brake solution for your S30 with no need to cut n paste parts to make it all work, look no further than Z Car Garage. Great quality and Great folks to deal with. I had a small hiccup and Rob jumped on the phone and had me fixed up. Very happy with my purchase!”

   

Jay used OEM bushings and parts for his suspension refresh and full exhaust system from Zstory:

 

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. Jay was very happy as well with great feedback:

“The performance of the brakes is awesome. My car is essentially a stock L24 but I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains and we have a lot of great driving roads and frankly the stock brakes sort of didn’t inspire confidence. This allows me to drive the car a lot harder with no worries. Super happy with the fit, finish & performance of the brakes. Thanks to you guys for making parts that take these old cars to the next level.”

 

Enjoying the Ride

 

Jay has been braking deeper and with more confidence on those Blue Ridge mountain roads, we love that this Z gets driven! Enjoy the short video Jay sent us the Z in action:

 

Love for the Z is strong in Northern California

The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) is one of the oldest Z car clubs in the nation. In its prime they had over 600 members with close ties to Yutaka Katayama (“Mr. K”) and Nissan USA. We had a wonderful time attending their 50th Birthday Celebration at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, Ca on June 5, 2022.

 

Despite some morning rain the turnout was impressive for a relaxed gathering. No judged car show or awards, just Z-Car fans catching up with old friends and meeting new enthusiasts. (above) Aerial photos by Bryan Delohery.

Highlights from the show

Still to this day, 240Zs are the most represented model in the club. Expansion over time currently includes all recent Z models and the GT-R, but also reaches back in time to include the Datsun Roadsters and 510s.  For their 50th Birthday Celebration, ZONC assembled a “generations” display in front of the museum with samples of S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33 and Z34. Sitting front and center was the 2023 Nissan Z!

 

Racing History

 

A selection of Datsun race cars also joined the “generations” display. Datsun 510 guru and racer Troy Ermish displayed his 1971 B-Sedan 510 “Penny”:

 

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou displayed his FAR Performance 240Z. This Z has a very rich racing history, driven in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence in VIPS Restaurant livery.

 

Glenn has vintage raced this Z at several high-profile events. He turned a track-mishap into an opportunity to perform a total-restoration (again) and bring this Z back in “Bay Area Datsun Dealers” livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.

 

Rob Fuller of Z Car Garage displayed his #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z. An interesting note, both Glenn and Rob’s race cars have ties to ZONC gatherings decades ago.

 

Linda Williams’ 1972 Datsun 240Z OMS Pace Car Duplicate was staged next to the #49 IMSA GTU race car (the original OMS Pace car). Z Car Garage revived this historically-significant Z from its slumber to make it a nice driver for Linda while retaining its survivor status. She loves driving it everywhere.

 

The New Nissan Z!

 

ZONC teamed up with Nissan to display the new 2023 Z as part of the “generations” display in front of the Blackhawk Museum. This is the Performance model sporting a 6-speed manual and Passion Red paint. And Z Car Garage got to drive it back to our shop at the end of the event!

 

Z’s, 510s, Roadsters and More!

 

Here are a few of my favorite S30 Z cars from the gathering, starting with this flared beauty on Watanabe wheels:

 

Flared Series 1 Z with G-nose and Works-style wheels:

 

We were pleasantly surprised to see many Z Car Garage clients so let’s take a look at what they drove. Ed B is the original owner of this 1971 Datsun 240Z ZCG has maintained for almost two decades:

 

Bob Russell is the original owner of this S30 we will have a full report on zcarblog soon!

 

Representing the G35s were our clients Larry and long-time client Jason:

 

Eugene and long-time client Craig showed their 350Zs:

 

 

Richard M’s ZCG-modified 370z was representing Z34s

 

Here is a video from the 50th Birthday Celebration with load-in of the #49 IMSA Datsun 240Z, walk-around of the displays and the new Z leaving, enjoy! More highlights below…

 

260z and 280z

 

S130

Who could forget the S130 280zx! We spotted 4:

 

Z31

Three Z31s, including David’s sweet 25th Anniversary edition. This was his first ZONC event, welcome and thanks for bringing your Z out David!

 

The Works Rally Z

 

In the middle of freshly painted/detailed Datsuns and Nissans was this rather dilapidated S30. Upon closer inspection viewers were treated to the tremendous revival of this real-deal Nissan WORKS rally car. Recently I had just posted a blog report on Randy’s East-African Rally Tribute, so seeing an actual, surviving rally car in person blew me away. We all geeked out pretty hard on the details, and they were impressive:

 

This is chassis #2 of 4 that were built by Nissan for the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally.  It is the project of Tom K and noted Datsun expert Steve Pettersen and their restoration website is a must-visit for history and feature documentation (as shown above). The Z remains largely intact with original parts like the Nissan competition exhaust manifold and roll bar. Period-correct parts like the Ikeda Bussan rally seat and reclining navigator seat were sourced. Check out the heater-port to defrost the headlight covers, Nissan-branded acrylic windows and more:

 

 

Authentic Magnesium rally wheels and Kanto Seiki 8krpm tach! Thanks Tom and Steve for bringing it out to the ZONC event!

 

 

This Z deserves its own spotlight, but enjoy this walk-around video until we can visit Tom and take some proper coverage:

 

Z32

 

Z33 and Z34

Our client Steve’s Nismo Z33 and a brace of 350Zs in the generations display. Good to see a build from way back, Tom’s supercharged 370Z.

 

510s

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Jay’s 510 features our Z Car Garage CV Axles. We will have a full report soon as he just completed a DWA rallye in the Sierras!

 

Matt’s 510 with turbocharged KA24DE:

 

Andrew’s 4-door Hakosuka Skyline and Josh’s 620 truck

Roadsters

The lone Datsun Roadster was Hotep’s ’69 2000 with L-series drivetrain and factory, OEM hardtop!

  

This rad little B13 Sentra b13 packed a full SR20VET engine from a Nissan X-Trail and 6-speed transmission!

 

 

S12, and S14 Nissans:

 

 

R35 Row

A very large showing of R35 GT-Rs parked together

Plenty of cool, modified cars but this one caught our eye, it is a GT-R “T-Spec”.

 

Only offered in two colors, Millemium Jade and this Midnight Purple finish made iconic by special-edition R34 Skylines. Inside, a Mori green interior and alcantara touches really set it apart from other models. Best part? The owner drives it everywhere despite being an ultra-rare and pricey variant.

   

Driving the New Z to Z Car Garage!

 

I had the opportunity to drive the 2023 Nissan Z from the ZONC show back to our shop in San Jose with a group of die-hard Nissan fans. Huge thanks to Nissan! We had the Z for a few days to enjoy so stay tuned for a full report!

Happy Birthday ZONC!

Spending the day at the ZONC 50th Birthday Celebration reminded us to (in the words of the late Mr.K), ” Love cars. Love people. Love Life.”  This is a club that keep the Z community together year-round and we are excited for their next events. Don’t forget to check out our picture gallery below! Big thanks to the ZONC organizers and Nissan for bringing the new Z out. Stay tuned for a full report our time with the 2023 Z!

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Z Car Garage has built several cars with our client Randy Jaffe including the Rocketbunny Series1 240Z and #46 BRE Datsun 240Z driven by John Morton. In 2020 he acquired this cool 240Z East-African Safari Rally tribute and we helped him take it to the next level.

 

History and Acquisition

Randy’s Safari Z is a tribute to the original #11 car piloted to victory by Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schuller in the 1971 East African Safari Rally. Nissan campaigned three of these S30s in the rally, finishing 1, 2 and 7th place while handily beating Porsche’s and other marques along the way. It was a grueling race spanning over 3,800 miles and quite an achievement for the drivers and Nissan. #11 is currently displayed at the Zama Museum in Japan, still wearing its battle scars (more period photos in the gallery below):

 

Randy has always admired the Safari Z, keeping a 1/18th scale model on his desk for decades:

“I always loved the 1971 story where the Datsun Rally Z cars finished on the podium and just kicked ass over 3,852 grueling miles of torture!! A friend of mine built this car from an oddly enough a Safari Gold series 1 240Z – VIN 03227 with a 4/70 production date, Jim Faria – I almost bought the car from him in 2014 at San Diego ZCON but he decided he and daughter who do a few rally’s together which they did.”

 

Credit goes to Jim Faria for adding livery replicating the Herrmann/Schuller car with period front and rear spotlights, Nissan mud guards, rear grab handles, hood-mounted light pods and replica East African Safari plates:

 

The interior also features period touches like navigator’s equipment including 70’s route map, microphone headsets and rally timers:

 

Randy finally acquired the Z in 2020:

“Fast forward 6 years later at the 2020 Z Car Convention in Nashville.  Jim placed the Safari Tribute for auction on Bring a Trailer. I was like ‘Jim you are selling my car!’ Eventually I won the auction and the Z was immediately shipped to Z Car Garage and featured in a Nissan commercial – from there on together with Rob we took this tribute to the next level.”

 

Z Car Garage Preparation

 

Randy shipped the Z from Georgia to our shop in San Jose, CA and we were first tasked with preparing it for a Nissan TV commercial. The Safari Z tribute would be in the “60 Years in 30 Seconds” commercial as part of “The New Nissan” ad campaign starring actress Brie Larson. Here are a few shots from the filming location:

 

With a little green screen action and some actual dirt driving (somewhere in SoCal) Randy’s Z looks like it is actually ripping through the desert plains of Africa, watch the actual TV commercial below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a7oSMoU-Eg

 

Photos from the off-road adventure were used in subsequent social media posts by Nissan…this montage shows video clips from an Instagram post with the Safari Tribute getting loose in the dirt:

 

After performing its duty filming with Nissan, the Z returned to ZCG so we could add the remaining touches that Randy wanted. Here it is at the shop, still wearing its dirt after a quick rinse. Let’s take a look at the details we added.

 

Drivetrain

 

Randy wanted to proudly display this historic tribute in his collection, but more importantly (also why we love him), he wanted to drive it so people can see and hear the Safari Z in action. The stock L24 with SUs wasn’t going to cut it, this Z was getting the Jaffe-treatment with an engine to give it some go. A new 3.0 Rebello street race motor using a 10.5:1 head for pump gas was installed with a new 1982 280ZX 5 speed transmission and OS Giken 4.11 LSD.

 

We provided him with triple-Mikuni ph44 induction (as the original #11 Safari Z ran) complete with Harada intake, velocity stacks, linkages and Z Car Garage Heat Shield covering the Fujitsubo exhaust header:

 

Rob dyno tuned the 3L, producing 254hp/228tq at the wheels:

 

Enjoy this video of the Safari Tribute 240Z in action!

 

Details

 

Small details can make a big difference, like functional Works-style side jacking points, rear bumper steps and twin-exit exhaust system. We worked with Randy to knock-out his list of items:

“Rob and Gary found a source for the rear mudflaps that are a dead copy of the originals along with their brackets and the vinyl mat that sat in the rear hatch area with the 2 spare tires on top! So many custom pieces to get it right and Z Car Garage made it all happen. We installed new race type seats from Jay at JDM parts along with his version of the original Seiko wheels which the car really needed! I found some 175 x 14 tires made for Postal Jeeps that look very much like the Dunlops originally spec’d. Of course the original car is right hand drive but I’m good with what I have done to the car – maybe find the set of Heuer Monte Carlo stop watches that ran on the dash and that will be it!”

 

Those rear bumper steps were fabricated to be just like the original pieces. Original car on the left with Randy’s tribute on the right:

 

At ZCON in 2020 Pete Brock demonstrated how these were used (with grab-handles) by the Safari drivers to literally “rock” the Z out of sticky situations:

 

Randy enlisted help from industry veteran Dan Passe (Director, Nissan Corporate Communications) who had a Zama Museum contact measure the O.D. of the twin-exit exhaust tail-pipes so we could replicate them:

 

Mudflaps wearing the “Datsun” (as the original Safari Z) logo were sourced to replace the existing “Nissan” units and also proper steel hangers were installed:

 

The original East-African Safari Rally cars wore Kobe Seiko Competition Works Rally-Magnesium wheels. These are difficult to source but reproductions are available. Randy is running a set from Jay Ataka of JDM Car Parts. Tires are hand-cut from a Postal service Jeep by Bryson from Classic Livery (of Leh Keen Safari 911 fame). Original on the left:

 

Inside, the original style REPA race belts were replicated as close as possible. The original Safari car ran Z432 seats, as seen on the Salt Flats 240Z we helped revive. These are also difficult to source so we used race-style seats from JDM Car Parts to replace to stock units:

 

Here is the Z at home in Georgia with Randy now featuring all of the parts/details:

Enjoying The Ride

 

Before heading back to Atlanta, Randy enjoyed driving the Safari Tribute during Car Week at Monterey. What a car to cruise in, and he even visited the paddock at Laguna Seca. Here are a few more shots from Randy of the Z in Georgia. We love his new “ZAFARI” (previously “SAFARIZ”) license plate:

 

We have many photos in the gallery below and don’t forget to see the Safari Z featured on Hoonigan Autofocus (now Larry Chen’s own channel) also looking at Randy’s epic Datsun collection.

 

Thank you Randy for your passion and continued support. We loved working with you to re-create fun details for the Safari Tribute. Long Live The Z!

 

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Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou has been a friend and client of Z Car Garage for many years. His canyon-carving companion is this 1972 Nissan Fairlady 240Z-L featuring our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and dyno tuning. Before we get into the details behind this rare, right-hand drive survivor let’s take a look at Glenn’s Datsun story.

 

Racing Is Life

 

Glenn is passionate about vintage racing and loves re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers. Like privateers of the period, Glenn builds his Z cars, maintains and manages his racing efforts himself. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence or his Ex-Greg Sorrentino IMSA 260Z at events like the Velocity Invitational and Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Glenn restored these cars himself and the VIPS Z is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.

 

Glenn also races a Datsun 510, championing a vintage race group dedicated to the Historic B&C Sedan class. He is currently restoring the 1968 Ex-Finn/Harris U2.5L Trans-Am 510. You can follow his racing adventures on Instagram.

  

Finding a Fairlady

 

When he’s not working on race cars, Glenn is enjoying his 1972 Nissan 240Z-L. It’s “the dream list” car that started his Datsun passion. Glenn has owned it for several years, enjoying it as a back-road burner on the street and rallye events.

 

The Z has a great story behind its acquisition. Purchased from Chiyoda Nissan as a used car by US Air Force lieutenant David Zabel in ’73, it was brought back with him to the States in 1974 and driven until 1992. Glenn found the Z in 2010 sitting in a Datsun collection in Ben Lomond, Ca. Below are period photos from Japan in the 70’s at Yokota air base near Tokyo and ski-trips at Lake Tahoe:

 

Find out more about the story behind this right-hand-drive survivor over on Petrolicious with photography by Courtney Cutchen with a great video. To this day it still wears its original paint, interior and neat Japanese-market features like the 8-track Nissan/Hitachi radio and passenger side foot rest. Glenn also sourced the rare rallye clock that is functional, running off an oscillator box in the passenger footwell.

 

Drivetrain

 

We actually tuned Glenn’s Fairlady back in 2012. The 3.0L stroker is fed by triple-Mikuni induction backed by a Nissan 240SX 5-speed transmission and OS Giken limited-slip diff. With Rob’s tuning it produced one of the highest dyno numbers we had seen back then putting down 249hp/227tq to the wheels:

 

Z Car Garage Big Brakes for Glenn’s S30

 

The Z clearly had more than enough power, but braking was always something Glenn wanted to improve and once he heard about our  Z Car Garage Big-Brakes  for small wheels he became a believer after test driving them. Rather than tell you how we feel about this product, let’s hear Glenn’s experience.

“Throughout my years of Z car ownership, I have run a variety of brake setups. My Z cars have seen everything from restored OEM Sumitomos, Toyota 4×4’s, trick Wilwood setups, even frankenstein’d Baer calipers. There is no doubt that it has been one area that I have never been completely satisfied with. Over time, after many years and attempts to find the ‘perfect’ setup, I had given up and just settled for what I had.

The most important aspect to me when it comes to braking on a street driven car is feel. Yes, stopping power is extremely important, but also is not that difficult to achieve on an early Z car that is naturally light to begin with. Feel, however, is something that has always managed to escape me. On my vintage 240z race car, we use multiple master cylinders, swap them in and out, fiddle with our brake proportioning valves, fine tuning them to fit our driving style and preference. We are trying to find that ‘racer’s edge.’ In all honesty, when it comes to a street car, I want nothing to do with all that.”

“Wheel sizing and style was also extremely important to me. I love old school wheels and the sizes they came in. I needed a brake caliper that would fit under my 15” Watanabe RS wheels without having to shave or drastically modify my setup. If it was not for being in love with these wheels, I would have opted for Z Car Garage’s larger big brake kit.”

Our clients asked us to make a BBK for smaller wheels so even a guy running 14″ vintage 5-slots slots could brake like a modern sports car. Typical big-brake kits use a 4-piston setup up front and a ZX in back; Proportioning is hard to get right, varying from car to car. We wanted a brake system that suited the car and totally bolted in, no M/C change, no proportioning valve, no booster change.

 

Working with Stoptech again, we developed this smaller BBK as a direct bolt-in solution for the 1970 to 1978 S30 Z cars. We’ve been with Stoptech since the beginning and love their products. With over 150 brake kits sold, we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.  Let’s get back to Glenn and hear his initial impressions of the big-brake kit:

“Rob informed me he was working up a solution and he wanted me to be test the brake kit. Rob promised three things – they would brake amazing, they would fit under my 15” Watanabes, and they would feel as if they belonged on the car. Did I doubt it at first? Sure, a little. However, I also knew that the fit and finish of all products that came out of ZCG were top notch, and that Rob thoroughly tested all his products against his own standards. Which I’m sure everyone knows, are extremely high.

In preparation for the Monterey Historics last year, I had brought the Z race car to the shop for dyno time. Rob gave me the keys to his Butters Z and said “Go drive it.” Under 14″ wheels sat his brand new ZCG brake kit. I gladly accepted and took the car for a ride.”

 

“WOW, what a difference. The feel, modulation, power, sharpness was amazing. Hands down the best brakes I had ever driven on a Z car, and these were on a car with stock suspension, tires and probably cruddy tires! I told Rob, “sign me up!”

Glenn wanted to run the brake kit on his Fairlady and we happily obliged. He had also been gearing up for a road rallye so the braking system would be throughly used. You can see his Z (top left) along with his buddy Erich C’s S30 (top right, also getting a ZCG BBK!):

 

“Then came the day Rob called me up and said they were ready to rock and roll. Lucky for me, I was just about to head out on the 1000-mile Coastal Range Rally! The kit came with beautifully anodized front and rear calipers, hats, rotors, brakes lines, reversible brackets (for early and later Z offsets), and a factory ⅞” master cylinder. Read that again… Yes, a proportioning valve was left out from that list! The brakes were a straight bolt on and ZCG did all the math to get both the master cylinder size and piston sizes correct. We brought the car in for install and within a day the car was ready to rock.”

 

 

Glenn’s 240z now had 4-wheel disc brakes ready to tackle the street and rallye:

  

And of course, the brakes fit beautifully under the 15″ Watts. Kane approved, and Glenn was stoked:

 

“I could hardly wait to jump in the seat of the car and take it for a spin. The brakes were now on a car with suspension, tire, power, and a proper alignment. It was everything I had remembered from driving the Butters Z and MORE. The brakes performed flawlessly on the Coastal Range Rally, taking abuse from California’s most challenging roads”

 

“Attention to detail goes a long way. This is exactly what these brakes delivered, and what continues to be delivered by ZCG.

LONG LIVE THE Z!”

Still Enjoying the Ride

 

Last weekend we caught up with Glenn and took the FairladyZ out for a spin to stretch its legs. Glenn was one of the first clients to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes back in 2018 and we are happy to report that he is still braking late and deep all while Enjoy The Ride!

 

Over the years we’ve been fortunate to drive our Datsuns together through the local Bay Area backroads. Glenn’s Z always looks sharp while sounding sensational. Here is a video from our recent drive, volume up and enjoy!

 

You can find him carving through the Santa Cruz Mountains or taking a break at Alice’s Restaurant off Skyline…

 

While we were catching up with Glenn he reminded me that the ZCG Big-Brakes are better than any of the other setups he’s driven, the only one that feels and behaves like a modern car. He loves them.

 

What’s next for the Z? Glenn says its due for a refresh..NOS door panels, some engine bay fuel plumbing updates and maybe a change from the Ground Control/Tokico coil-overs. Aside from the Z Car Garage Big-Brakes , it remains very much the same as he set it up over 10 years ago. Big thanks to Glenn for the support and feedback. We look forward to many more race events and drives with you. Enjoy the photo gallery below and LONG LIVE THE Z!

 

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The Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo is one the best Japanese sports cars of the 90’s. Keeping them on the road is our passion and we love to see our clients like Peter H Enjoying the Ride after some Z Car Garage power, chassis and aesthetic upgades.

 

Let’s take a look at how we made the already-fantastic 300ZX a well-rounded sports car, starting with Peter’s Z-story.

 

It’Z Never Too Late to Z

 

Peter was not always a Z-car enthusiast, but as we all know it there is no time like the present to own one and he acquired his Z32 from a prior Z Car Garage client:

“My experience with ZCG started back in end of 2016 when I acquired the Z from one of their former customers. To be honest, I had a very limited knowledge on Nissan Z cars before 2016 as I had a heart on rotary engine (Mazda FD RX-7) until I connected to the Z and its timeless design. I first brought my Z in to ZCG for power steering leak as the car was exclusively maintenance by ZCG and I want to keep it that way and I was impressed with the quality work of ZCG and their knowledge. Istarted to chat with Rob about the car and learned a lot from Rob about Z cars.”

 

Over the last 5 years we helped Peter with regular maintenance along with performance upgrades. Peter really wanted to give this car the attention it deserves while enjoying the occasional open track day.

Power Upgrades

 

Prior to power upgrades a few items were addressed. 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. For Peter’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 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. Downpipes were mated to 3-2.5″ SPZ mid-pipes and Greddy SP1 Exhaust:

 

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. Managing boost is a Greddy Profec E Boost Controller:

 

Finally, low-profile engine mounts from BDE offer more turbo inlet clearance and oil temps kept in check with a Concept Z Performance full Flow Oil Cooler Kit:

 

Recent work at Z Car Garage included a repaired turbo actuator, oil plan replacement, repaired heater core, new OEM wiring harness and minor electrical sorting from a 3rd party gauge installation.

Dyno Tuning

 

We dyno tuned Peter’s Z picking up 25hp/32tq for a total of 36hp/341tq at the wheels:

 

Enjoy this video below showing the dyno run, a walk-around, take-off and brief track footage:

 

Big-Brakes and Chassis

 

As every Z32 owner knows, the stock brakes just aren’t up to the task for track duty or even spirited driving. More power exacerbates the issue and you know how we feel at ZCG:  It’s Stoptech Or Don’t Stop At All. Peter eventually experienced the difference:

“The Z was cranking out 355wHP but with stock brakes and heavy wheels. The acceleration was great but it had a big problem on stopping. I first upgraded with bigger rotors but it did not feel enough stopping power when going downhill. I brought my concern to Rob and Rob made it clearly to me Stoptech BBK is the only solution on Z32s.”

  

We installed the 332mm Big-Brake Kit using red calipers and rotors. Stock vs Stoptech:

   

At the rear, stock Z32 calipers were paint-matched to the Stoptech red up front.  Sport kit slotted rotors with 309 pads and SS lines throughout:

    

In addition to their function, the Stoptech’s look nice too!

 

A few chassis upgrades included Powertrix Front Strut Tower, Stillen Front Rear Sway Bars, SPL Titanium Tension Rods, full Tein Flex Z Coilovers and new steering rack boots/bushings:

 

Interior

 

Peter wanted us to sort out his aftermarket gauges (Prosport Boost Gauge, Oil Temperature, Water Temperature Gauge), install a new steering wheel and upgrade lighting:

    

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:

 

Peter’s interior touches include a Custom Alcantara on factory steering wheel with thumb rest:

 

Recaro Speed Racing Seats with Bride Seat rail/bracket, Nismo Clutch and Brake Pedal, Cusco accelerator pedal, and custom carbon fiber interior door sill with a logo “Fairlady” :

 

Aesthetics