Our friends at SpeedSF are running another great track day at Thunderhill West October 12.  This is a great opportunity to enjoy the newly opened “West” section of the track. We love running our cars with these folks and they go above and beyond to make sure you get tons of track time! They are also offering a discount if you sign up for both Thunderhill 10/12 AND Laguna Seca 11/1. For more details please visit  SpeedSF.com.

 

Need some motivation to sign up? Watch Patrick in his Vortech supercharged Z33 from last weekend’s Speed SF event at Sonoma Racway:

 

 

 

We had a tremendous week racing at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 14-17.  More commonly known as the “historics” at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, this epic vintage race is part of several events occupying the week-long Monterey car festival leading up to the Pebble Beach Concours.  Our friends over at JNC were lucky to experience the Pebble Beach scene in all its opulence and excitement. From the multi-million dollar auctions and surprising Japanese classic entrants check out their coverage HERE.

If it’s the smell of 110 octane, straight-piped exhausts and wheel-to-wheel action you desire than look no further than the historics. Typically I would cover this event from a spectator’s point of view. This year, I was fortunate to be part of the Z Car Garage race crew and bring you, dear readers, a perspective from the pits as a first time participant.

 

Joel Anderson and Restoration of the #49 IMSA Z

Z Car Garage was thrilled to team up with original owner, builder and driver Joel Anderson to bring the IMSA Z back to life after being stored for 25 years.  Restored to late-70’s spec as it was raced, this IMSA GTU-prepped Z does not have new “trick” parts.  Parts from Joel’s collection were re-used and common wear items were refreshed. Below:  Original race seat and MOMO Prototipo steering wheel. Original suspension parts were plated.

 

Our man William applied Joel’s bespoke striping:

 

More detailed restoration photos and our full interview with Joel can be found HERE. We were very pleased with the engine bay…plenty of Joel’s engineering remains intact:

 

We applied the vinyl livery, took a step back and pinched ourselves…are we still dreaming?

 

With all of the vitals checked, #49 rests before heading to Laguna Seca on the original trailer Joel used decades ago at Road Atlanta:

 

Racing at Laguna Seca

For the Friday practice session we drove the ZCG Datsun 2000 to Laguna Seca and parked alongside some fellow roadsters owners in the paddock. Arriving at  ‘Seca early morning with the track enshrouded in fog is surreal.  Despite the moisture and most high-dollar machinery still under car covers, a few brave souls were on course for their practice sessions.
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John P is a new Z car owner and found this Z32TT in the Pacific NW.  When we first met John his Z had 110k miles on the clock and he decided it was time to modify…so we gave him the works! Before the go-fast goodies were installed we addressed all of the car’s issues John discussed with us and ended up with a beautifully clean, well-rounded 300zx.  Our first order of business was in engine bay, correcting the PCV system which had been bypassed/cobbled together:

 

Next, we found an injector problem and performed the common late-style conversion. 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. There are several adaptor kits on the market to achieve this, making servicing/removal a breeze without the need for removing the manifolds. For John’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 (in our opinion) 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!  The downpipes were mated to 3-2.5″ midpipes:

 

With wiring and general cleaning the engine bay looks much better!

 

A few chassis upgrades included SPL T/C rods and bushings as well fresh rear brakes:

 

With the mechanicals sorted John added a few lighting improvements to the interior. 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:

 

All of the work above was completed on John’s first visit. On the dyno the new exhaust clearly makes a noticeable improvement in power. We picked up 31hp/33tq to the wheels:

 

John visited ZCG for the second time for upgrades!  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:

 

Finally, low-profile engine mounts from BDE offer more turbo inlet clearance:

 

With larger ICs, plumbing and dual MAF’s we tuned John’s Z and it now makes 372hp/360tq to the wheels:

 

Enjoy The Ride, John!

Our friends at SpeedSF are running another great track day at Sonoma Raceway September 6-7. We love running our cars with these folks and they go above and beyond to make sure you get tons of track time!
Register now at SpeedSF.com!

Alex T is the owner of this pretty Black Cherry Z34 and he visited Z Car Garage on referral from our boost junkie friend and customer Juan F.  To satisfy Alex’s desire for forced induction we installed a Stillen supercharger kit that was actually used on Grant K’s Nismo 370z.

 

Out of the box, this older Stillen kit left plenty of room for improvement so we invested in several upgrades like 1000cc injectors, Aeromotive high-flow fuel pump, pulley and these engine oil/automatic transmission coolers:

 

The transmission received a GTM valve-body upgrade and stock bypass valve was replaced with a blow-off valve:

 

Fast Intentions test pipes replace factory cats:

 

To put the power down more effectively we installed a Quaife limited-slip differential, using the stock 3.36 R&P:

 

With all of the modifications and UPREV tuning Rob extracted 435hp/343tq to the wheels. This is a 147hp/104tq gain over stock:

 

To monitor vitals Alex chose PLX Device’s OBD2 multi-gauge. We first installed this trick, wireless sensor/gauge package on Steve’s G35 with an iPhone interface.  For Alex’s Z34 the multi-gauge was seamlessly integrated into the OEM pod:

We love the brilliant display and wealth of data that can be accessed:

 

Enjoy the Ride Alex!

Check out more pictures in the gallery:
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