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1967 Camaro Restoration Underway!

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 1:52 pm on September 22, 2010

ZCarGarage is building this ’67 Camaro Pro-Touring style with a modern powertrain and running gear but nearly stock appearance. Think “old soul” with modern “go”! Power will come from a GM LS1 V8 with a T56 six-speed manual transmission. Full suspension upgrades, modern wheel/tires and a BAER braking system will help control the added power. The first phase in the resto is to literally breakdown the car in preparation for paint, which will be black with white rally stripes after Williams performs his magic

Like all ZCG restorations, each item that is removed from the car is individually bagged an labeled, then placed on a separate rack for the owner.  Here are a few photos from the interior removal:

Say goodbye to the straight-6! Old suspension will be replaced with new pieces throughout:

Stripped and ready for paint…check back for updates!




Z 8 My Money

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Maintenance,Performance
by Alvin G @ 2:41 pm on September 19, 2010

 

That is what the license plate reads on this 240z that belongs to Mark and Michelle G. Although the Z may have ate money it has been loved and fully supported by the family for about 10years. The Z is at ZCarGarage getting a full mechanical restoration before going to Williams Auto Body for body/paint. It is being built for the street with occasional track use, so brakes and suspension had to be upgraded. ZCG installed a full Arizona Z Car suspension from front to rear including robust control arms, sway bars, and bushings.  The entire underbody was also prepped and undercoated:


The 200rwhp L31 engine features triple Mikuni 44 carbs, a rare Clifford 6-2 exhaust header, and a ZCG triple-carb heat shield. The stock transmission was replaced with a 240sx gearbox with a JWT flywheel and heavy duty clutch. In back an R200 LSD diff along with a Porsche 930 CV conversion round out the drivetrain modifications:

 

The rear portion of the exhaust was made to be removeable making adjustments/work easier:

 

The Z featured Porsche 993 Twin-Turbo calipers at all four-corners and though it is an incredible braking system it needed some work/proportioning so ZCG did some fine tuning.

 

Soon these gorgeous brakes will be encased by shiny new custom made 17″ Panasport C8 wheels!

Finally, a nice touch that is both functional and good-looking are some new pedals. Let the Heel/Toe boogie begin!

 

Stay tuned for more updates after the Z comes back from Williams with fresh body and paint!

Lots of detailed pictures of the suspension below:
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Have You Seen the GREEN Z?

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 7:09 pm on September 16, 2010


If you were wondering where the 350z you have seen dominating the Autox, lapping Thunderhill, Laguna Seca (twice), and which received a MotorDyne single exhaust has gone….. it has a new paint job! The ZCarGarage 350z is now GO GREEN with a few strategically-placed black accents and ZCG logos. And yes, it is still tearing up road courses and auto-crosses with driver Scott Smith behind the wheel. Big THANKS to William Wei of Williams Auto Body  for painting the Z a familiar shade of green to complement Rob Fuller’s Go Green Datsun and 510 and 240z cars 🙂

 

Here are some pictures of the Z in action where he claimed TTIG, go Scott! (pics courtesy of LMSCC)

 

 

A few words on Scott’s setup. He runs the Z in the OSP class (versus CSP) because the most of the interior panels of the car are gutted to make-up for the added weight of the current Kirk 4-pt roll bar, though the Z is getting a full cage later. It runs on 285/30 Kumho V710 tires at all four corners that are mounted on lightweight, 18″ SSR Competition wheels( or Enkei RPF1). Z Car Garage recently tuned the Z with the Osiris/Uprev software to an amazing and lively 271rwhp / 252rwtq with its current bolt-ons. The autocross transitions are dampened by a set of Koni-based TrueChoice dual-adjustable coilovers and the alignment specs are dialed-in by SPL suspension components.




Canepa Design Tour/Drive… 10/9/10!!!

Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 5:52 pm on September 14, 2010

Mark your calendars for October 9, 2010! ZCarGarage and Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) have arranged for a full tour of the amazing Canepa Design Museum and Showroom facility along with a beautiful drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The tour is impressive with a full look at how restorations are done on Porsche 959s to vintage race cars that you see at the major Historic Racing events. It is truly a candy store for automotive fans!

Details below:

 

For a .pdf of the flyer just click below
Canepa Design Tour





Japanese Classic Car Show…JCCS 2010 Report

Filed under: Events,Featured Cars and Projects
by Alvin G @ 8:22 pm on September 13, 2010


The Japanese Classic Car Show(JCCS) was held on Sunday 9/12 in Long Beach, CA and it was incredible. This show started in ’06 at the Queen Mary, moved to a park venue in Irvine for a few years and returned to Long Beach where I hope it stays.

We left the Bay Area at 8am Saturday morning and spent the night aboard the Queen Mary(Hotel). This is an experience in itself and I highly recommend staying here not only for the convenience.

Sunday morning Rob and I gave the roadster a quick wipedown before driving a few hundred feet to the staging area of the show. The JCCS staff really have their act together and made parking a breeze. At first I thought it was impossible to fit all participants in as there were 200+! I parked with 18 other Datsun Roadsters under a tree lined area. We were right across from what turned out to be 61 Datsun 510s! Nissan/Datsun had a strong presence for sure.

Grabbed my goody bag from the registration booth and we started checking out all the J-tin in a semi-orderly fashion. No lawn chair lounging for us! We spoke with Ron Carter, Les Cannaday and John Morton near the MOTUL booth where the BRE 240z and BRE Roadster were being displayed. Morton treated show-goers with a long autograph session. It was great to see him in good spirits!

If there was any doubt about the growing popularity of Japanese vintage cars all you had to do was look at how many spectators lined up for the show, some waited more than 1hr! This is great for JCCS and all of us classic car owners. Having a good venue doesn’t hurt either 🙂

Make sure to check out all of the pictures below at the end. The bar is contantly being raised and the level of detaiI/restoration of the cars these days is tremendous! I can’t possibly discuss all of the awesome cars but here are a few that caught our attention:

Randy Yee’s 240z with an RB26 drivetrain. Super clean, track-day resto. Flat black wrinkle powdercoating.  Simple interior. And what made me go gaga was the BRE-style exhaust system…why don’t we see this more often? Maybe it’s too loud 🙂


Wheels, wheels and more wheels! A JDM-wheel fanatic would appreciate the variety on display. From Volk’s new TE37Vintage wheel, various WORK and SSR wheels, ultra-rare Sakuras(the pink ones), Compmotive, TRD, even CCW showed up on 510s! Lots of Rota RB-R too:

This Nissan Patrol pickup truck was imported from Saudi Arabia!


61 510s, and it seemed like over half had some kind of engine swap. In a sea of SR20s and KAs this Dime built by Mario of TSR really stood out. John Morton was enamored with the engine bay! Lots of attention to detail in this one. Check out the welding. I love 510s


The Nissan 200sx or Silvia (S12 chassis) is often overlooked stateside. These cars were modded out and looking great.Yes, One had an RB26!

The Honda N60 models are coming out of the woodwork. There were about 10, all with mild to wild mods! Lots of CVCCs too.

Toyota and Mazda had a strong showing. Several 1/2Jz-swapped cars, Rotary pickups.

From L to R: This 18RG-powered Toyota looked boosted with period parts. I always liked the lines and B-pillarless body of the Celicas(RA). Fender-flared, wide-tired and mean Starlets are always welcome

This Mazda RX-4 wagon had FD Rx-7 running gear, front suspension bits and a linked Ford rear end…wicked:

I always like to see and hear car stories from owners. Interesting stickers also catch my eye, here are some highlights 🙂

It was an awesome weekend. We traveled 860 miles to see the show, and we did it in a Datsun. The sheer number of spectators and participants at JCCS 2010 reminds us that Japanese Classic Cars are still gaining popularity and recognition. Here’s to JCCS 2011!
UPDATE: ZCarGarage built the 1st place-winning Datsun Roadster in the “Modified” category!


For more information on 2010 Winners from all categories check the JCCS website

Full photo album below so click and enjoy!
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