Z Car Garage is excited to participate in the Velocity Invitational at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca October 14-16. This is a must attend historic racing event for any Nissan/Datsun fan with IMSA GTU Z cars, B-Sedan Datsun 510s and special guest appearances from John Morton and Pete Brock. Tickets are still available, to purchase simply on click on the flyer link below:

 

Z Car Garage Racers

Z Car Garage will be racing and providing support for several client cars. We are excited to be running in Group 5 (1972 – 1977 IMSA GT Cars) and Group 8 (1966 – 1979 Under 2-liter Trans-Am, SCCA B-Sedan, C-Sedan cars). Here is a preview:

#49 IMSA Joel Anderson GTU Z

Rob Fuller will be driving the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z:

 

Group 8 Trans Am B-Sedan Datsun 510s!

 

Historic B and C Sedan cars will get their own run group at the Velocity Invitational! Z Car Garage will be supporting the following Datsun 510s in this super exciting race:

The Corky Bell Trans Am 510

 

Famed engineer and race car driver Corky Bell ran this Datsun 510 in the early 70’s Trans Am series. Z Car Garage will restore it back to its former glory and Trans Am livery (to be documented in a dedicated blog post) and Corky will be driving it at the Velocity Invitational. Yes that’s Corky Bell at our shop, re-united with his race car at 82 years young!

 

Gordon McCall’s Datsun 510

 

Gordon McCall joins Z Car Garage for the first time at the Velocity Invitational with his vintage Datsun 510. He is the co-founder of The Quail- A Motorsports Gathering and “McCall’s Motorworks Revival” at the Monterey Jet Center, the “Kick-Off” party (which we attended) for the iconic August automotive week in Monterey, California. This 1972 Datsun 510 was first ordered from the Nissan Motor Corporation by Garrison Datsun of Florida and subsequently converted into a race car, and it was sponsored by the dealer and raced in SCCA competition through 1977. After 20 years it was returned to its original livery.

 

#72 Tom Dockery

Tom Dockery is driving the Ex-Norm Balzer 510. This car is making a triumphant return to racing after an incident at Sonoma Raceway. Stoked to see Tom back on the track!

  

Kelvin’s Ex-Ted Gruner TransAm 510

Kelvin Tse is a repeat ZCG trackside support client and he will be running the Ex-Ted Gruner Trans Am 510.

 

Glenn’s Ex-Finn/Harris Datsun 510

Glenn Chiou is running his Ex-Finn/Harris U2.5L Trans-Am ’68 510. He restored this 510 himself and ZCG will be dyno tuning it this week. Glenn builds some beautiful Datsun race cars and we will highlight this 510 soon.

 

Living Legends at the Velocity Invitational

 

Z Car Garage is really proud to announce special guests (and our heroes) John Morton and Pete Brock will be at the Velocity Invitational on Friday and Saturday. This is a rare opportunity to get an autograph and chat with these iconic gentlemen.

 

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Trans Am (under 2.5) racing series, Z Car Garage coordinated with Nissan Corporate to have the original BRE Datsun 510 displayed with the Horst Kwech Alfa Romeo at the Velocity Invitational. See the actual race cars in person, only at the Velocity event!

  

Z you there!

Photo by Larry Chen

To all automotive enthusiasts, Nissan/Datsun fans this an event you don’t want to miss. We encourage you to caravan to the Velocity Invitational and show your support for Datsun racing history. Together we can ensure that the Historic B and C sedan groups thrive and see more racing groups accepting Z cars and 510s. This is also a wonderful event for the whole family, check out our report from last year’s Velocity Invitational.

 

Enjoy this video we made showcasing the sights and sounds of the Velocity Invitational. Rob Fuller gets interviewed by the Goodwood Livestream just before the evening race, and I included the lineup from my favorite vintage race group (other than IMSA), the Trans Am cars!

 

Mark those calendars for October 14-16 and purchase tickets HERE. A full event schedule can be viewed HERE.

Thank you Velocity Invitational for an incredible event. We look forward to running with you again! LONG LIVE THE Z!

 

Dear Zcarblog readers, it’s been a busy year and we are catching up on blog posts, so please enjoy our belated race report from May.

WE LOVE RACING! Z Car Garage went vintage racing two weekends in a row. On April 21-24, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) hosted the Trans Am SpeedFest at Laguna Seca. On April 28 to May 1, SVRA hosted the Sonoma Speed Tour at Sonoma Raceway. Enjoy our race report with exciting B-Sedan Trans Am race action!

Z Car Garage Race Preparation

 

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services do include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno. Here is a video of the race cars we prepared this week with dyno passes and a walk around the shop. Enjoy!

 

Z Car Garage Racers

 

Z Car Garage supported the following race cars for the SVRA double-header, more photos in the gallery below.

Kelvin’ Datsun 510

 

This 510 features our Z Car Garage CV Axles:

  

Kelvin’s Ex-Ted Gruner Datsun 510

  

This 510 features our Z Car Garage CV Axles :

   

Ed’s Ex-Walt Mass 1965 Porsche 911

 

Rob Fuller in the Bay Area Datsun Dealers Datsun 510

 

 

The Laguna Seca Race 4/21

 

SVRA is an East-coast based group coming out once a year to host back-to-back race weekends in the Bay Area. It’s really fun and allows us roll with East-coast guys we don’t normally run with. Fantastic operation: they do live-streaming of the races, awards with podiums. ZCG was out in full force this year at Laguna with Ed’s 911, Kelvin’s Pacific Datsun 510. New to the gang was Kelvin’s historic 510 (Dragonetti Racing, ex-Ted Gruner) 510, driven by his brother Kenny.

 

This was our first weekend with both Tse brothers and it was absolutely fantastic.

 

As with any race event we had some car issues. On the day it rained heavily we had a transmission problem and ZCG Crew member Nick saved the day, changing a transmission on the wet ground. ZCG even made a guest appearance working on Larry Oka’s 510 (The Mike Bell car) with Greg Hoff driving (of SCCA Miata fame). Greg did really well and he wants a vintage 510 now:)

 

Historic B and C Sedan had a great race where Troy and Steve Link put on a show mixing it up with Mini’s.

 

Rob enjoyed racing, especially chasing Troy. Track photos by Kurt Boden:

“The 4-days at Laguna I was able to finish 2nd in all three feature races right behind Troy Ermish. I was able to out qualify him in one race. It’s really cool to battle back and forth with Troy as he is a phenomenal driver. People came over to say it’s so great to see someone rocking it out with him.” 

 

Enjoy this in-car video from Rob’s Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute 510 as he battles with Troy Ermish:

You can also catch the SVRA Livestream morning session on YouTube and the afternoon race also on YouTube.

 

 

The Laguna Seca event with SVRA was a success. We towed the cars back to the shop and made sure everything was good to go for the following weekend’s Sonoma race. We miss you Tom Dockery. He had an incident last year but rest assured his 510 will be back in fighting form soon. Super cool that despite is race car not ready he still came out to cheer us on.

 

Special shoutout to Glenn Chiou. He raced his 1973 IMSA GTU 260Z and we are really stoked for Glenn as he cracked off his best lap time of 1:40. He’s one of the youngest “privateer” competitors out there, building beautiful cars. Whenever he needs the assist from the pros at ZCG we are always there to help him.

 

The Sonoma Race

 

We have never attended both SVRA weekends. At Sonoma we had an incredible pit location across from Garage 10 with RacecraftNW and Jim Froula’s band of clients. With Nick and Keith not able to crew were down to Josh, Rob and RN Meghan Fuller:

“Meghan has been my partner in crime for 16 years and this was her first time stepping in…she did all the fueling for cars, learned how to install and torque wheels, work the checklists, vacuum out the cars and confirm GoPros…the feedback from us was awesome.”

 

On Saturday Kelvin broke his transmission so we swapped in one of Rob’s backup gearboxes in at their shop (F7) at Sears Point. He was able to race the rest of the weekend,  and he was in the middl of the field. On Sunday am Troy and Rob battled yet again:

“I was able to beat Troy finally, with quicker lap times. After all the podiums these last weekends it was cool to get that gold trophy from SVRA. Lots of hugs and emotions. Guys in the Ermish camp like Rick Sheldon were congratulatory…nice to be competitors but also share the same love of vintage racing. Two weekends of absolute magic.”

 

Rob Fuller taking P1 at the Sonoma Speed Tour hosted by SVRA.

   

 

Watch the epic battle between Rob and Troy in the in-car video from Rob’s Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510:

You can also catch the Livestream of B-Sedan on YouTube  from Sonoma Raceway.

Big thanks to Meghan for taking photos and video around the paddock. Here is a highlight reel of what it’s like at a vintage race…you should join us next time!

There were cool cars everywhere in the paddock:

   

We hope you enjoyed our race report from the SVRA double-header. Join us next weekend at Sonoma Raceway for the CSRG Charity Challenge!

Racing into 2022!

 

Z Car Garage is amped for this year’s race season. Here is list of events we will be attending. Please join us!

April

4/1-3  Sonoma with CSRG (Finished, REPORT HERE)

4/21-24 Laguna with SVRA

4/28-5/2 Sonoma with SVRA

May

5/21-22  Laps for Laguna with CSRG (Finished, REPORT HERE)

August

8/13-14  Laguna with HSR Pre Reunion

8/17-20 Laguna  with HSR  Reunion

October

9/30-10/2 Sonoma with CSRG Charity Challenge!

9/13-16 Laguna   Velocity Invitational

November

11/4-6   Thunderhill with CSRG

…[read more]

 

Z Car Garage has been supporting the Nissan/Infiniti Z and G-series sports cars since 2004. At just about any time during the day at our shop you can spot a 350Z, 370Z or G37 undergoing routine maintenance or performance upgrades. Many of our late-model Z car clients are referrals and we are happy to oblige when scheduling allows. We met Frank M in 2020 when he had us perform clutch work on his 370Z. The install went super smooth, and Frank and Rob began their relationship.

“I first heard about The Z car garage through another Z car enthusiast, he had nothing but great things to say about the service he had received working with the crew there. I reached out the Rob to have my 370Z’s clutch replaced with the Z-Speed CMAK clutch kit. That was the first job you all did for me.”

A common issue on the 370Z is the internal slave failing due to heat. Thankfully Z Speed Performance makes a kit to convert the internal slave to external (CMAK Upgrade). We installed their Stage 1 Clutch kit on Frank’s Z:

   

On his next visit to ZCG, Frank had us perform an alignment after suspension work including Eibach Pro-kit lowering springs (KW-V3 coil-overs next) and Hotchkis front and rear sway bars and SPC rear adjustable camber arms. We also replaced the rear diff bushings with new Whiteline parts.

 

Frank is a handy guy and he’s done much of the work on his Z himself. For something that is beyond the scope of a simple weekend project he brings it to ZCG. In summer 2022, with 77k miles Frank installed an oil pressure gauge (VLS) and didn’t like the levels it was reading. There is a very common issue on the VQ37HR where  oil gallery gaskets fail, resulting in low-oil pressure to front of the engine.

 

CPZ makes updated gallery gasket with really nice hardware. At the same time to help with oil cooling we installed the CPZ 25-row oil cooler with a thermostatically-controlled Setrab unit:

 

Wheels Make the Car

Mark has great taste in wheels, choosing a set of Work Racing CR2Pwith Michelin Pilot Sport 4s tires 265/35 and 305/30 rears:

 

We spent time with the 2023 Nissan Z back in June and Frank was kind enough to lend us his WORK wheels to test fit on the RZ34:

 

Frank purchased his 370Z bone stock, being the second owner and has added the following mods:

Drive train 

Fast Intentions stainless steel CBE exhaust

Stop Tech front and rear vented drilled and slotted zinc coated rotors

Stop Tech carbon ceramic pads front and rear

Stillen CARB legal cold air intakes

VLS oil pressure gauge

Aesthetics

Custom retrofitted headlights by me honey comb projector lens. Blue demon eye. Black and gunmetal paint job plus new Morimoto clear lenses.

Evo-R carbon fang cover,carbon type three front lip, carbon upper bumper cover, pearl white base carbon top high wing and CF door handles

Fujimura rear lower diffuser

Enjoying The Ride

You can catch Frank carving up the Bay Area backroads like HWY 9 runs up to Skyline and Alice’s:

 

Frank is stoked with his Z car:

“The performance gains from the work Z Car Garage performed was great. The clutch feel is much improved and does not slip it also seems to shift smoother. The oil pressure is up 15 pounds at idle from the oil gallery gaskets and the car runs much cooler after the oil cooler install. I think the cooler temps help the car not heat soak on hot days while pushing it on back roads. The best thing about the Z car Garage is when I leave my car there for service, I never worry about it being there. I know the car is taken care of as if Rob owned it himself. I have nothing but good thing to say about you all. I do a lot of work on the car myself but Z Car Garage is the only shop I will use if I need the help.”

 

Thanks for your support Frank it was pleasure working with you and seeing enjoy your Z. See more photos in the gallery below, and contact us to schedule an appointment for dyno tuning, maintenance or upgrades on your 370Z or Infiniti sports car!

…[read more]

 

Dear Zcarblog readers, it’s been a busy year and we are catching up on blog posts, so please enjoy our belated race report from May.

WE LOVE RACING! On May 21-22, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted Laps for Laguna at Laguna Seca. Z Car Garage had a blast racing our IMSA GTU 240Z and supporting Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 9 (John Morton Cup). It was a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our report with in-car footage and photos.

 

This is a new vintage racing event created by the Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation and California Sports Racing Group (CSRG) to raise money for charity. It is an open sound event with multiple races for each race group, charity rides and more. We hope Laps for Laguna becomes an annual affair.

 

Z Car Garage Supports Two Datsun 510s

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno.

#88 Todd R

 

Todd R has been racing his 510 privateer-style for the last few years. Prior to Laps for Laguna he had us work on his 510 and hired us for the first time doing trackside support. Todd was able to focus on his driving, achieving his highest placing (p6) and personal best lap (1:48.3) time. We will highlight his experience in separate blogpost on zcarblog.com, go Todd!

 

#7 Rob Fuller

 

Rob Fuller piloted the Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute 510. With the back-to-back SVRA events just before Laps for Laguna unfortunately Ed an Kelvin could not make this event so it was just Rob and Todd. Here is Rob’s report from the race weekend with in-car video:

“In Saturday’s first race my 510 had a mechanical and had to pull off to the side. I was not able to finish race according to CSRG rules and we had to start in the back for the remainder of weekend. Thanks to ZCG crew we got the car up and running. It was a different experience starting p23 but we finised 3rd (1:41.7). I received the “Hard Charger Award” and we were right behind Troy Ermish and Parker McKean (fast Alfa)). It was great fun mixing it up with them.”

In-Car video from Rob’s 510

 

The Joel Anderson #49 IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z

 

Rob also be raced the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z at the Laps for Laguna event. The Z got a fresh set of Hoosier slicks to replace the AVONs.

“After Joel’s passing last year we decided to get the GTU car out a little more and Laps for Laguna was great prep for the upcoming Velocity Invitational. Group 8 was filled with Porsche/c-Sedans, IMSA Corvettes, Jim Froula’s GT3  Nissan 240sx. Out of 20 fast cars we did pretty well in both races placing 3rd overall. The two leaders Mike W and Froula (full blown GT3 tube-frame car) were running 1:37s while we did 1:39s. I got a personal best lap time of 1:38.3.”

 

In-car video of Rob racing the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z, volume up!

A weekend of great racing and good times

 

The best part of weekend was hanging out with people we haven’t seen in a long time. Cool to see Todd have a great racing weekend and know he’s getting better. Really hope Laps for Laguna becomes a regular event on the CSRG program. Cant wait for the Charity Challenge 9/30 as we’ll be in the John Morton Cup and GTU car in Group 8. Special shoutout to ZCG crew including the Corwin’s and Josh C for keeping all of the cars running so we can race!

 

 

Paddock Highlights

Big thanks to Meghan for taking photos and video around the paddock. Here is a highlight reel of what it’s like at a vintage race…you should join us next time!

 

Thank you CSRG for hosting great event, see you 9/30-10/2 at Sonoma Raceway for the Charity Challenge!

 

Racing into 2022!

Z Car Garage is amped for this year’s race season. Here is list of events we will be attending. Please join us!

April

4/1-3  Sonoma with CSRG (Finished, report soon!)

4/21-24 Laguna with SVRA

4/28-5/2 Sonoma with SVRA

May

5/21-22  Laps for Laguna with CSRG

August

8/13-14  Laguna with HSR Pre Reunion ( NOT CONFIRMED)

8/17-20 Laguna  with HSR  Reunion ( NOT CONFIRMED)

October

9/30-10/2 Sonoma with CSRG Charity Challenge

10/13-16 Laguna   Velocity Invitational

November

11/4-6   Thunderhill with CSRG

…[read more]

 

The 2022 Japanese Classic Car Show was held on September 10, in Long Beach, CA. This is the original vintage Japanese-car event in SoCal and in its 17th year, JCCS has grown incredibly. Over 20k spectators enjoyed 300+ cars in displayed at Marina Green Park.

 

The vehicles themselves remained a fantastic blend of stock, modified and restored. This is the most important show for Japanese cars, and Z Car Garage keeps coming back every year to soak up the sun, see old friends and drool over some spectacular vintage builds. Here is Rob’s report from the show, enjoy!

 

Rob grabbed a last minute flight to SoCal and joined our good friend Jan Trondsen to check out JCCS. We have watched this show grow and change venues over the last 17 years and it never disappoints.

“It’s one of our favorite car shows. The people, the cars are always on point. I gotta give a huge shoutout to to Terry and Koji for the tremendous work they do throughout the year to make this event a success. I saw so many people from out of town and for good reason…it’s a must see.”

 

Rob was a guest of Nissan and enjoyed a “dawn patrol” viewing of the show before the general public . It was fun to see everyone setting up. We spotted two of Sung Kang’s Z car builds, FuguZ and DocZ. Last year Sung visited Z Car Garage, driving “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car. After driving Butters, Sung wanted the exact same Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels), Z Car Garage CV Axles and KW suspension on his very own FuguZ!

   

Sung was so impressed with the Z Car Garage Big-Brakes that he also wanted a set on his latest 240Z build, the “DocZ”. We happily obliged, only this time we shipped the kit to the Erick of Erick’s Racing, the master builder behind DocZ. We love seeing our parts on client builds!

 

Rally Legend

 

We were happy to see Tom Knudsen’s 1970 Datsun 240Z WORKS Rally Z at JCCS. There was a crowd around it all day! We first saw this authentic time machine back in June at the ZONC 50th Anniversary Celebration.

   

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.

280ZX-R

 

This 1979 280ZX-R is rare, with only 1009 units produced. The owner, Victor wanted a Datsun and went down to the dealership, had his mom co-sign and purchased it brand new!

 

Z32

 

300ZX (Z32) models were present in stock and modified examples

 

JDM Gems

 

This R32 Skyline GT-R impressed us with a stunning wheels fitment sporting BBS E88s. We love non-Nissan cars and JCCS showcases such a great variety that we don’t get to see everyday. Mazda RX-2s, RX-3s, Honda s600, the list goes on! More photos in the gallery below

 

People

We love hearing vintage owner’s stories. See more of the Erin’s father/daughter project 280Z on Instagram.

 

Always good to catch up with friends, local and from out of town! Positive vibes all around.

 

 

project_240Z with his survior 280Z

 

Special shoutout to our clients Ben and Vince.They drove down from the Bay Area together in Ben’s 1974 Datsun 260Z for an epic roadtrip:

 

Ben was happy with the Z’s performance and he’s sending us photos from the roadtrip soon:

“Hello Rob,

I hope all is well. I am sending you this stellar pic of you with Tom’s Works Z!!! Vince and I had a great time at the JCCS and it was great seeing you. My Z drove so well with not one hiccup! In the heat too. Thanks for building an awesome car. I am really enjoying it. Have a great day, Ben.”

 

Thank JCCS!

 

As with past JCCS events the day went by too quickly. Thank you to Terry and Koji for hosting another great show. Enjoy our photo gallery below.If you missed last year’s JCCS check out our report from 2021 HERE .

…[read more]