Richard M has been our customer since he moved to California years ago and together we built his 2009 370z into a balanced sports car with power and style. We are really proud to see him enjoy his Z and be an active member of the community. Let’s take a look at the journey with a few highlights along the way…

Humble Beginnings Lead to Boost

“Then 2 months later we reached out to Stillen to bless the Z with the full Stillen Supercharger kit and oil cooler. The kit was installed and dyno’d making 433whp and 340wtq. We transformed the Z into a new car. The new driving characteristics were improved drastically and the kit, compared to the naturally aspirated setup was day and night.”

We added a Stillen 25-row oil cooler and GTR plugs:

The installation was seamlessly, before/after:

With a CAN tune out of the box we saw 376hp/284tq to the wheels. This wasn’t terribly impressive considering baseline NA numbers were 305hp/251tq, netting gains of 69hp/33tq:

Richard was happier now with over 400whp 🙂

“The performance of my Amuse 370Z from the beginning has met both my expectations and Rob’s expectations. Rob and I always talk about how this car has been a stand out in regards to reliability with added power enhancers.”

“Working with Rob was the best decision I could’ve made in allowing someone to tune my car and keep me grounded as it’s easy to get sucked into the battle of “who has the most horsepower”? Although it can always be done,  I am proud to daily drive and make repeated trips between Norcal/Socal without any issues.”

We thank Rich for the kind words, and the Z certainly has been a workhorse.  Here are some of Rich’s memorable moments with his 370z.

Highlights

• Landing the front cover of DSPORT Magazine (Feb. 2018) which was also their SEMA issue and my first car cover and centerfold.

• Being featured on Matt Farrah’s youtube channel “The Smoking Tire” which has over 500k views. We love to see our customer’s cars spotlighted in the media!   Check out the video:

• Winning 1st place Best Import at The San Jose Auto Show inside the “Spider Section” for custom cars at the Convention Center

• Being invited & featured by Super Street Magazine to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Nissan GTR & Z Heritage in Monterey California for car week

• The final and most special to Rich is being invited to be featured in the “2020 Toyo Tires X SuperStreet” calendar which has also been declared the very last Calendar that Toyo Tires and Super Street Magazine will do. SuperStreet has been such a pillar for all of us import enthusiasts so to be recognized by them has been a childhood dream come true.

Style

Rich added his own touch to the Z, including a full Powerhouse Amuse kit and custom paint job with Silver with Gold flakes:

“The PowerHouse Amuse body kit is a kit that is also functional for cooling purposes but is also one of those kits that I actually fell in love with. The sharp body lines that I think enhances the Z. I imported the kit from Japan after becoming friends with Hitoshi Matsui and becoming more confident in Amuse now known as R1 Titan.”

 

We love the Work Emotion CR KAI wheels (F: 19×9.5 +15 R: 19×11 +18) with Muteki 12×1.25 Neo Chrome Extended open lug nuts and Toyo Proxes T1 Tires 285/35/19R -255/35/19F:

Rich would like to thank his sponsors:  Toyo Tires, Stillen, ISC Suspension, Socal Z, and ZCG.

LONG LIVE THE Z!

  

We also knew after his initial visit to ZCG that he couldn’t stay NA for long. In 2017 we made a plan to install the Stillen supercharger kit on his car.

This is the satin kit with our usual supporting mods like GTR plugs, a Z1 25-row oil cooler and the Stillen AT transmission cooler:

 

It made good power with 365hp/295tq at the wheels, but Roy is a guy that likes to keep turning up the boost (pun intended). At the end of 2018, we installed an air to air intercooler from  SOHO Motorsports. Ecutek software was also installed which allowed us to run at Speed Density instead of MAF:

 

The gains were impressive, picking up almost 100hp/50tq for 465hp/343tq to the wheels:

We actually had to dial it back down after running out of injector. A full fuel system upgrade is next on the list. For now the Z is making 410hp/328tq:

Now it was time to add suspension to the mix. We installed our favorite coil-over: the KW V3.

Stock Vs KW installed front:

Rear:

  

SPC upper arms up front and new links at the rear.

 

 

Hotchkis sway bar set:

We also installed Roy’s new set of wheels:

These were freshly released at the time: ADVAN AVS F50 in platinum black. Sized 20×10 F 20×12 R with 275/35/20F, 305 in rear. New TPMS were installed to retain factory tire pressure readings eliminating that annoying warning light.

Enjoy The Boost, Roy and see you soon!

  

At Z Car Garage we love working with the later model Z33 and Z34 cars, from full forced-induction builds to bolt-ons. Brian S brought his 2015 Nismo 370z in for a full Fast Intentions exhaust system installation:

  

We enjoy working with Fast Intentions and their products are high quality/proven. Brian purchased his exhaust from FI and we installed it.

OEM vs FI:

 

We think the latest Nismo Z34s are the best looking and performing editions of the model. For a no-frills sportscar that only a Z can deliver these are great value and the price of entry is coming down significantly.

 

Brian will be coming back for a dyno tune and intakes to let that VQ37 sing!

We installed Jose’s Stillen AP Racing Big Brake Kit, replacing the stock front calipers and rotors:

The 14″, 6-piston calipers finished in red really fill out the Nimso 19″ wheels:

 

We like the new look with the rear spoiler and lowered suspension:

Thanks for letting us be a part of your build Jose, Long Live The Z!

Jose B is from Antioch, CA and knows our customer Richard M (ZCG-modified 370z). After getting into an accident with his 370z, Jose went to several shops to identify a peculiar squeak coming from the front end.  Unfortunately the squeak was not resolved so Jose visited ZCG to sort it out. We spent time going over the suspension and other areas to identify the source of the squeak and found that one of the motor mounts was completely broken:

In addition to replacing the driver’s side motor mount, Jose wanted us to install some parts he had purchased online. Here is a full Motordyne exhaust system including their Long Tube XYZ stepped headers with Helmholtz module:

A few shots of the exhaust installation:

We also installed Stillen Gen 3 intakes:

 

With the motor mount sorted and new parts installed Jose wanted to have the Z UPREV tuned. This was a wise decision, especially with the new bolt-ons. Historically we have made good power with simple bolt-ons to the VQ37 and we were surprised by Jose’s Z34. The Z baselined at 295hp/245tq to the wheels and with UPREV tuning put down 344hp/266tq to the wheels!