The Marin Sonoma Concours D’ Elegance will be held Sunday, May 19. This is a fun event and important for Japanese classic car fans: in addition to celebrating Corvette and Lamborghini 50th Anniversaries there will be a Japanese Manufacture category! Don’t forget the Historic races on Saturday!
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Ray has been with Z Car Garage for several years and owns this limited production SMZ 300zx Twin-Turbo. In 2008 we did a fully built engine with 740cc injectors, JWT dual POP, full 3″ exhaust and mild porting. With 15k miles on the build now the intake cam sprocket was wearing out due to the Sport 500 cams.
Luckily there is BDE Performance who specializes in improving Z32 products. They have rebuilt VTC intake cam pulleys that are designed to eliminate the noise/wear that comes when running the stock units with aftermarket valve springs/hotter cams. BDE also offers a fully adjustable exhaust cam pulley for the first time.
Intake VTC(L) and adjustable exhaust pulley:
Stock(L) and after both pulleys are installed:
This is our first time using the BDE parts and dyno tuning was much easier with the new cam pulleys:
Ray’s SMZ also features VOLK GT-7 wheels,TEIN coil-overs, Powertrix T/C rods and Brembo brakes. Look for more updates on this special Z32.
It really is a small Z car world. Gabe H had talked about supercharging his 370z and was actually referred to Z Car Garage by Juan Felix. Thanks Juan! Gabe even knows Peggy and Dennis Hale from making the drive through the Santa Cruz Mtns, so he’s definitely Z-car savvy.
To satisfy his need for boost and keep things straightforward we installed a full bolt-on 370z supercharger kit from Stillen:
A few more shots of the install including the heat exchanger, oil lines, and intake:
To subtly improve handling we installed Hotchkis sway bars front/rear:
Gabe’s 370z now makes 420hp/316tq to the wheels with the supercharger kit alone; improvements of over 100hp/55tq over stock.
Are you looking to easily add 100+whp to your Z? Stop by the shop!
When we featured Kotaro’s 240z in December ZCG had transformed the car with a monstrous 268whp 3.2L stroker motor. Within one week of picking up the Z from us Kotaro came back, realizing the car needed several things to handle the newfound power. We love to help customers achieve balanced performance. Having a classic sports car that can accelerate, brake and handle as well(or better) than modern cars is what we set out to do for Kotaro.
To address braking issues that come with a high power engine we developed the ZCG Big-Brake Kit. This track-tested setup provides the ultimate in fade resistance and pedal feel. Kotaro’s Z now has 13″ rotors, 4-piston calipers(finished in red), stainless lines and a new master cylinder to ensure correct proportioning:
In addition to almost infinite reserves of braking capacity even with street pads, the ZCG Big-Brake setup looks as good as it functions:
With higher acceleration and braking forces the stock seats just weren’t up to the task of holding Kotaro in place so we installed the quintessential sport seat: RECARO LXF. Now he can focus on driving!
With 300hp on tap it was prudent to upgrade the transmission to cope with that extra power. One of ZCG’s special touches is the marrying of modern and old-school technologies. We backed Kotaro’s L-series motor with a 5-speed transmission from a late model Nissan 240sx. This is the same setup we installed on Rick and Gary’s 280z cars and offers smoother shifting, 5-speeds, and late model service/reliability. A Z32 shift knob finishes off the new transmission install:
Kotaro’s S30 is now a three-dimensional sports car with acceleration, braking and handling that would put some current sportscars to shame. Let ZCG help you acheive this with your vintage Z Car!
