Today, April 7th, is Z Car Garage’s fifth birthday. We couldn’t be happier with where we are at right now and we have so many people to thank for it. The ones who have given the most know who they are and we were lucky enough to have a few of them come down to the shop today. Our customers and friends are some of the kindest and most giving people on the face of the planet and we wouldn’t have our current success without them and you. From ZCG to you, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll try to find some old photos of when the shop first opened and I’ll share them with all of you in the next few days. There are some pretty funny ones.
On a side note, Rob and Fred are pulling late night shifts at the shop right now to finalize the longest build in ZCG history, the red 1982 280zx 2+2 non-turbo restoration. After years of sourcing impossible to find parts and dealing with strange circumstances this car will be completed in a day or two from now. This car is unbelievable. It’ll put any car rolling off of an assembly line to shame. We rule, happy birthday to us.
Filed under: 350z,370z
by Forbes @ 4:37 pm on April 6, 2009
The little touches that no one notices at first are sometimes the coolest modifications. In this case a customer wanted the blinking side-marker lights off of the new 370z on his 350z.
Okay, no problem. Well one problem. The stock 350 “Z” non-flashing side emblems only use two small clips to locate the plastic part. The new 370z flashing marker has cylindrical extrusion that is about 1.5 inches tall with a 1.5 inch diameter that needs to go through the fender and be wired to work properly. We used a small hand saw to make the cut and everything turned out perfect. The electrical connections simply required us to source which wire was the running light and which was the blinker and then the simple wiring changes were made. All connections are a quick release style so that the new bulbs can be serviced when the time comes.
I’m not going to go into too much detail about how we secured the light because we need to be able to offer this as a service to customers. I will mention that we used a couple of custom brackets to make sure that nothing moves around. This modification is quite simple after all is said and done and I think that it bridges the gap between the new and old car nicely. Added safety and style are always a good combination.
Please be careful if you are thinking about attempting this yourself because a new fender is not cheap from Nissan. Feel free to contact us if you would like ZCG to handle it. rob@zcargarage.com
What a busy day here at ZCG. We went to William’s Autobody around lunch today and took a few photos of the first exterior paintwork to be done to the RB28 240z. The paint looks amazing and there are still more coats to go with tons of color sanding in between to make sure the finish is perfect. I’ll have more photos soon!
Rob and I were also out driving the ZCG 370z and a white 240z that is here to get triple Mikunis (see above photo) and we decided to stop by the scales and weigh the newly acquired 370z. The car tipped the scales at 3,320 lbs with no passengers and almost a full tank of gas. Not too shabby. (For reference the ZCG G35 Twin Turbo came in at 3,600 lbs.)
I was pointed towards a link on the Edmund’s Straightline Blog the other day that gives us a view into one of the 370z designer’s mind. Randy Rodriguez penned the original 370z sketch and it turns out that he grabbed some inspiration from a few exotic Italian motorcycles.
While the 370z was in it’s early design phase Randy was piecing together a MV Agusta F4-750 and it is easy to see how one beautiful two-wheeled machine was able to lend a few design cues to a four-wheeled one. There were also influences from a Ducati 749/999 upper triple clamp that was morphed into the final design of the sport-package wheel. His MV Agusta motorcycle now sits behind his desk at Nissan Design America in San Diego when he isn’t out putting it through it’s paces.
Many of you know that we here at Z Car Garage ride motorcycles or have close ties to them and it is always nice to see our two passions come together in a car that we get to enjoy, the 370z. In a side note, I’ve had the chance to own a few Ducatis and still own a 2006 749s, small world…
There are a couple more photos after the ‘read more’ including one of the Ducati 749s that I own. Enjoy and thanks to Edmunds Insideline for the Nissan info and a few of the photos.
