On the cover of the current September issue of Classic Motorsports Magazine is Randy Jaffe’s BRE Datsun 240z. The 12-page feature on Peter Brock’s racing history with the Z also discusses Randy’s restoration of the famous #46 car. We were very happy to see Z Car Garage mentioned in the article after our efforts to support John Morton racing #46 at The Mitty earlier this year. Pick up a copy soon!
Our team removing and replacing a failed engine in the BRE Datsun 240z at the Mitty last April, video below:
Z Car Garage is also in Grassroots Motorsports Magazine in the August issue:
We are excited for the 2018 The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion where John Morton will be racing the BRE Datsun 240z again! You can see our report from last year’s RMMR HERE.
Need help planning for Monterey Car Week? Classic Motorsports has a great guide to all of the events during HERE.
Z Car Garage is excited to participate in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 23-26 at Laguna Seca. We will be driving and supporting several vintage race cars, including this special 1979 Datsun 280zx raced by Jim Fitzgerald. “Fitzy” is the winningest driver in SCCA history with an astounding 350+ wins in his career.
He was never afraid to trade paint to get the win: in 1980 at the C Production Runoffs at Road Atlanta he was seen slamming doors with Freddie Baker in his E-Type on the front straight, on the pace lap! Video of the action can be seen in this HERE. Following this race, the ZX became known as the “Designated Hitter” car. Fitzgerald died in 1987 after crashing his 300zx Turbo in the Trans Am series race.
Comedian/Paul Newman fan Adam Carolla purchased the ZX in 2009, and put it up for sale with our friends at Bring A Trailer last July. Our customer Alex McDowell won the auction and Rob and I visited Adam’s shop in Los Angeles to pick up the car. The Fitzy car was awesome to see in person, from the livery to wide Panasports it got my heart racing. We loaded it up onto a trailer courtesy of expert Datsun-restorer/historian Les Cannaday:
Before leaving, Adam’s crew was kind enough to let us peruse his car collection.
This place just might be Xanadu for Datsun nuts:
Adam is a big Paul Newman fan and it shows! Bonus points for a poster showing our #49 IMSA GTU 240z RMMR!
The ZX arrived safely at Z Car Garage (thanks Les) :
Fast forward to 2018, the Jim Fitzgerald 280ZX gained acceptance to race at the RMMR with Alex McDowell behind the wheel! ZCG began race preparation.
Rob dyno-tuned the L-series beast and it sounds fantastic. See the dyno and unloading in this video below:
We will have another feature for each of the race cars running at the Historics! Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 8/23! Enjoy more pictures in the gallery below: …[read more]
Rick B lives over the hill in Soquel, CA. He’s pined for a 350z and finally got a 2003 model waiting to be modified. Rick visited us to discuss taking the car to the next level and ZCG obliged. We set him up with the tried/true combo: JWT pop charger, Motordyne 5/16 plenum spacer, Bassani cat-back exhaust and UPREV flash. He also opted for the ARC license, allowing Rick to have adjustable launch control, flat-foot shifting and left foot braking, if needed.
Motordyne plenum spacer:
We also installed our favorite Hotchkis sway bars front and rear:
Bassani exhaust:
OEM vs Bassaani:
Exhaust tip detail and JWT Pop Charger:
On the dyno the mods alone produced gains of 11hp/2tq to the wheels over baseline:
With UPREV tuning, further gains of 9hp/13tq were achieved:
From a baseline of 245hp/237tq to 267hp/252tq at the wheels there is a significant improvement in power throughout the entire rev range!
We also handled some maintenance items including: changing the transmission/diff fluids, and replacing A/C and fan belts. Rick was so stoked he sent us a wonderful e-mail.
—–Original Message—– From: —– [mailto:——] Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 11:01 PM To: rob@zcargarage.com Subject: Thanks again!
Hey Rob, I just wanted to thank you and your team once again for all the work you did on my 350z over the last month or so. The experience I’ve had as a new customer of yours has been extremely fun! I’m absolutely amazed at how much better the car feels and sounds. I feel exactly the same way I felt after I first bought the car, I’m in love all over again. As far as I’m concerned you’ve gained a new customer for life. I don’t ever plan on selling this car, if anything, I just plan on making it better and better and your the guy I’m gonna take it to you from now on. Anyway I know your a very busy dude so I’ll let you go but expect to see me again soon and thanks again! -Rick
It was a pleasure working on your Z and we look forward to your next mods Rick!
When we last saw Erich C he visited Z Car Garage for some sorting on his 1973 Datsun 240z, reported in our blog post here. The Z was fresh from a restoration by fellow racer and Datsun 510 specialist Troy Ermish, sporting a Rebello 3L with triple Mikuni carbs and many hot rod parts:
Erich’s Z made an impressive 261hp to the wheels on our dyno and he felt the need to have brakes to match that power. We recently installed our ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels on Glenn’s Fairlady and his review was positive:
“WOW, what a difference. The feel, modulation, power, sharpness was amazing. Hands down the best brakes I had ever driven on a Z car”
As Glenn 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, etc. After Erich drove Glenn’s Fairlady with the Big-Brakes, he was a believer. Erich returned to ZCG to have the brake kit installed on his S30.
The existing new Wilwood brake setup was removed and replaced with the ZCG Big-Brake kit at all 4 corners.
Up front:
Rear:
Erich was really stoked about the parking brake assembly, and now he has a fully functioning parking brake, utilizing the factory hand brake lever and linkage. This was another key request for our customers when creating the Big-Brakes.
A few more detail shots of the brakes:
And of course, the brakes fit easily under Erich’s sexy 15×8 zero offset Watanabe wheels:
For great stopping power, feel and bolt-in convenience, look no further than ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels! Stay tuned as we bring you more Z’s getting the kit installed, joining our customers Frank, Sam, and Glenn. Erich is really happy with the brakes and we loved working on his Z, Enjoy The Ride!
“Great Drives” is a new Zcarblog series highlighting scenic routes and destinations we have enjoyed from the past and present. Whether it is a nice cruise or thrilling adventure, we hope to inspire Bay Area vintage car owners to Enjoy The Ride! Have a great drive of your own that you want to share? Feel free to contact us on Facebook, Instagram or by e-mail.
Pescadero Beach, 7/8/18
Starting from San Jose, there are several fun routes reaching Pescadero State Beach. Sunday’s Fun Run was organized by fellow Datsun owners, beginning in Downtown Saratoga heading up to Skyline via HWY9.
We had 11 cars in the group and joining us as Guest of Honor was Josh Martin, star of the successful Utah-based JDM Legends TV show.
Three Datsun Roadsters: my 67.5, Aidan’s ’69 SRL and Stacey’s 1970 SRL:
Three S30s: Dirk’s silver ’73, Andrew’s ’77 280z and Brian’s ’72:
Representing the finest from Nissan in the 90’s was Josh in the ZCG 300zx Twin Turbo and Naveed in his splendid 1991 Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R:
Our friend Matt drove his F2oC-powered Datsun 510 and we also had this STi(Tim) and 911 (JR) come along:
The blast up HWy 9 to the 35 junction was fun. After a brief photo-op at Sempervirens lookout we headed to Alice’s Restaurant at the 84/35 junction.
Alice’s was quite busy and the car show there was impressive.
BMWCCA was holding an event/rallye so parking was a challenge. I spotted this clean, Kouki S14:
From Alice’s I led the group down 84 towards the coast. This was my favorite part of the drive. We were blessed with zero traffic and an opportunity to open up the throttle and enjoy the turns. Linking each apex one after another was addicting, like the esses at Buttonwillow. Brake dust was wafting in the air from running hard!
Instead of taking 1 South we turned left onto Stage Rd (a route I learned from Glenn Chiou). Stage was bumpy but the reward was a nice, eucalyptus-lined stretch in farmland. Another photo-op session and my first time seeing Naveeds’s R32 in person to study the details. It’s the perfect amount of JDM style with the re-barreled Nismo wheels and subtly aero from Top Secret:
Sensing the mass of cars from the BMWCCA rallye headed our way we promptly headed into town and reached our destination at Pescadero Beach:
Here’s a short video of the Fun Run, turn up those speakers!
Weather at the coast was perfect and we departed via 1 and back up 84 for lunch at Alice’s. Again, 84 was clear and we Enjoyed The Ride:
Thanks to the organizers everyone had a blast! It was also nice to give Josh a sample of our beautiful driving roads here in the Bay Area. Stay tuned for the next Great Drives feature and enjoy more pictures in the gallery below! …[read more]
