Life at Shutter Speed is a 400-page collection highlighting 20 years of photography from talented car culture ambassador Larry Chen. We were super excited to receive a signed copy at Z Car Garage with some keepsake photos. The hardcover book is impressive and we are still marveling at the sheer amount of work Larry has accomplished. This is not just a photo-book, it is a story of his craft from his latest events to early beginnings. We highly recommend getting a copy for yourself and for any car/photography enthusiast. Thanks Larry!
Upon reading the book we came across a few humbling throwbacks…
The New Z (RZ34) Reveal in Times Square
In 2021, we joined Larry at Time Square in New York for the Nissan Z Global Reveal in New York. The experience was surreal. You can imagine how honored Rob felt to share a page with John Morton and be recognized as a member of the Z community.
R34 GT-R Dreams
In 2004, Rob drove the Z Car Garage R34 Skyline GT-R to the GT Live event in SoCal. In the book, Larry recounts how his dream of owning an R34 began when he saw our R34! It’s a small world as this ex-Motorex car switched hands and years later ended up back with our friend Sean from Top Rank!
Thank you
Larry commissioned Z Car Garage to transform his beloved SR20DET-powered 1970 Datsun 240Z into multi-dimensional sports car with power, handling, braking, comfort, reliability and performance to match its eye-catching beauty. In Life At Shutter Speed, “Ole Orange Ban”g gets its own spotlight and we are thankful to be part of the journey. Huge thanks to Larry for sharing his passion with us. Long Live The Z!
2025 marked the 21st Anniversary of Z Car Garage. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and clients for another exciting and productive year! Enjoy our 2025 recap and preview of projects and features for 2026.
Z Car Garage Parts Update for 2026
We ended 2025 by sending off 10 sets of cores for our Z Car Garage KW V3 Suspension coil-overs. These first 10 sets are all spoken for, now we let KW do their magic. Super excited to see more S30 owners enjoying a product we are proud of. These coil-overs offer game-changing performance suitable for street, track and daily-driving for your S30 Datsun Z car.
Our exhaust header for the 6-cylinder L-Series engine has been in testing (2 revisions and 2 prototypes built) for perfect fitment. It made more power and torque than anything we’ve tested on our ZCG dyno. Special thanks to Rebello Racing for their help with R&D and dyno testing. Super excited to offer a stainless header for all our builds, and yes, it fits our 6-speed CD009a swap. Photos, dyno testing and video coming soon.
Z Car Garage CD009a 6-speed Shifter
The CD009a 6-speed transmission have been a common ZCG upgrade. We’ve been looking at options for making the shifter more user-friendly. Now on the 3rd shifter assembly, we have just installed it into Mrs. Butters, our Series 1 shop 240z, with testing underway before it is released in our product line.
Z Car Garage Big-Brake Kits
One of ZCG’s greatest achievements is the development of our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes with Stoptech. Tons of happy clients are running these brakes on their S30s. When Covid hit with supplier issues we could not deliver this product to clients. Despite our best efforts, unfortunately we had to move on, no longer offering this kit. Good news: Since we always like to one-up things we will be offering a new Big-Brake Kit! It will have a slightly larger rotor, 4-pistons calipers front and rear. It is in testing, and will be released only if it’s better than V1. Stay tuned for pictures.
Client Updates for 2026
We had a busy year and many zcarblog features have yet to be published. Before we take a look back at highlights from 2025, here are several exciting projects coming along at the shop with full features in 2026:
Rashid lives in Dubai and his Datsun 240Z is getting 3.2L L-Series with pH44 Mikuni induction and exhaust header, ZX 5-speed transmission, OS Giken 4.11 LSD, Z Car Garage KW coil-over suspension, our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (Stoptech) and 16″ Panasport wheels:
David G’s Series 1 S30 which already features our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, ZCG CV Axles and CD009a Six-Speed transmission. It is getting Twin-cam power with the Datsunworks KN20. Re-assembly is next. To see our first KN20 build in action and learn more about Datsunworks please visit zcarblog HERE
Our most viewed video was James’ Turbocharged L-Series Datsun 240Z, enjoy:
Ken’s Series 1 Datsun 240Z (#1762) has our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, CD009a Six-speed transmission and Fujitsubo exhaust. The L28 now has Jenvey ITB EFI managed by a Haltech 750:
Photographer and car culture ambassador Larry Chen commissioned Z Car Garage to transform his beloved SR20DET-powered 1970 Datsun 240Z from an “ok driver” to a no-excuses, multi-dimensional sports car. Affectionately known as “Ole Orange Bang”, it features our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, chassis preparation, dyno tuning and more. It received a full engine bay restoration.
Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240z is now sporting a Rebello 3.2L with Jenvey ITB EFI, Recaro Specialist seats, CD009a 6-speed transmission, our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles!
Rick’s BRE-inspired Datsun 240Z track car is getting a CD009 6-speed transmission, Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, coil-over suspension and track preparation.
We have several Z32 NA and TT cars currently at the shop. Gary’s Twin Turbo (above) got a new set of BBS LM wheels. Full update on this car soon! Paul Ferrari returned to ZCG since we completed his Epic Z32 Build in 2017. He’s ready for ethanol, after running this car on race fuel for many years. We will be installing dual fuel pumps, BDE top fuel rail and all the fixings:
William’s Z32TT, formerly Rob’s personal car for over 20 years. Featuring Volk SF-Challenge wheels and fresh paint:
Cameron’s Z32 is here for maintenance work and downpipes, inlet piping, larger intercoolers all from Specialty Z. Cameron has been bringing his 300 to us for many years and we we are really glad to have him back.
William’s Z32TT is getting 740cc injectors, downpipes and more:
510s
Noah’s Bluebird racecar and Marcus’ Datsun 510 featuring a S14 SR20DE drivetrain
Dyno Tuning your 350z/370z/Q/G
We have been dyno tuning your late model Nissan/Infiniti sports car daily. Bolt-ons, UPREV tuning. Our customers leave happy with more performance. Call us to schedule an appointment! Here are just a few cars:
Kevin’s Nismo 370z
Aaron’s G37 with Stoptech brakes
Nissan Z (RZ34)
Dyno tuning, bolt-ons, suspension installs and general maintenance for the RZ34
Skylines, R35, R34 and R32 GT-R
Chris’ and James’ R35 GT-R
Kurt’s R32 Skyline GT-R is got a fresh RB26 motor and turbo upgrade to complement the new KW coil-over suspension:
Hakosuka Skyline
Sebastian’s Skyline left the shop after a suspension refresh, engine work and adapting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (Stoptech). We hope to offer this in the future for C10 clients.
2026 will be an epic year for vintage racing. The Historic B&C Sedan (HBC) will have its own run group at the Velocity Invitational and Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (RMMR). This year, the featured marque/celebration is Japanese Motorsports! It will be very special. We are almost finished with th Joel Anderson’s #49 IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z, debuting it at the Velocity event in May.
2026 race schedule with CSRG coming soon. We also be traveling this year, attending PIR and Pacific Raceway (SOVREN). Always excited to see our clients improving their craft while having a blast racing. Vintage Spec Miata is growing and please let is know if you are interested running with us!
Highlights from 2025
Even though 2025 was a busy year for all of us we still managed to have fun on and off the track. The shop made some really great progress as well. Enjoy these highlights from the year and Z you in 2026!
Click on each link or photo to see the full features!
Mike R sent us his 1971 Datsun 240Z from North Carolina for mechanical sorting, Z Car Garage-style. Our Z Car Garage CV Axles, Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage KW V3 coil-overs and CD009a Six-Speed transmission transformed this 919 Sunshine Yellow S30.
This is Christopher’s 1975 Datsun 280Z featuring our Z Car Garage CV Axles, Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and ZCG KW coil-over suspension! He performed a meticulous restoration himself with highlights including an ITB EFI-fed L-Series, CD009 6-speed transmission and Watanabe wheels.
This is Matthew’s 1973 Datsun 240Z featuring our Z Car Garage KW Suspension. He has kept the car mostly original aside from chassis and drivetrain upgrades including a triple-carb’d L-Series, Watanabe wheels and Recaro seats.
We first met Jonathan in 2021 while visiting Nissan Headquarters in Tennessee to preview the Z Proto. In addition to being a proud Nissan North America employee, he is an avid car enthusiast with a passion for Nissans and Datsuns, having owned a 240Z, 350Z and Hakosuka Skyline. Jonathan recently acquired this QM1 White R34 Skyline GT-R from our friend Sean at Toprank International Vehicle Importers, and came to Z Car Garage for upgrades and dyno tuning.
RZ34
Joseph’s 2023 Nissan Z
Racing
We love racing! See our race reports below and 2026 schedule coming soon
R’s Day, one of the largest gatherings of Nissan Skylines on the West Coast was held on December 7, 2025 at Laguna Seca Raceway. Z Car Garage attended the event and supported our client Kurt in his R32 GT-R. Rob brought out the Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 and several ZCG clients all had a great time. Enjoy our report with photos and videos!
Kurt’s R32 GT-R
We prepared Kurt’s R32 Skyline GT-R for the track day. Earlier in the year it received a fresh RB26 motor and turbo upgrade to complement the new KW coil-over suspension and Stoptech Big-Brakes….
Dyno tuning Kurt’s R32, volume up!
Kurt enjoyed driving his R32 at Laguna Seca with fellow GT-R owners. Photos by gtrx.app, and you can see more of Kurt’s R32 on his Instagram
Rob’s Vintage Racing Datsun 510
We also dyno’d Rob’s B-Sedan vintage racing Datsun 510:
Here’s Rob’s report from R’s Day…
ROB: Cooper and I loaded the BAAD car to Laguna Seca, our home track during the vintage race season. It was really fun to bring out my Datsun 510 race car with all those cool street cars. We had Dirk stoop in his 1973 Datsun 240z, Amy in her RZ34, Joseph in the RZ34 # 49 car, and a few others including Miles’ R32. Our main focus was to support Kurt in his R32 GT-R which has been modified and tuned by ZCG, full report coming to zcarblog.com soon.
I’ve been to a few R’s day and this was the first time I’ve driven. Each event has seen a steady increase in attendance and it was the most R32, R33 or R34s I’ve ever seen. It was incredible to be in a paddock filled with lots of cool Nissans… There was Pat’s RB-powered Pat’s Kenmeri (featuring our ZCG CV Axles):
All kinds of really cool cars and kudos to the R’s Day team as they were just super organized: the meetings and downloads were quick and informative. I love their grid process. Everything was just wonderful and we will definitely be back next year. Kurt’s car rocked. There were some pretty fast cars including Charles Park from Powertrix with their time-attack R35 tuned by SpecialtyZ. Sean Morris and Brian J from Top Rank, people from all over the California GTR scene. Todd Lapin from Norcal Skylines cooked HotPot in the garages! It was just a very festive, community-oriented vibe and I had a blast.
Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z
Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z features Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (StopTech), Z Car Garage CV Axles, Silvia 6-speed transmission and a host of chassis and driveline upgrades. Rob dyno tuned the 3.0L Rebello L-series engine with triple-Mikuni ph44 carbs, making 265hp/231tq at the wheels. We prepared the Z for R’s Day and Dirk had a great time:
DIRK: Yeah dude, massive difference! Work done by ZCG just before the day: 1. New rear sway bar (ST suspensions), car did not have one before, last Sonoma track day, being able to rotate the car on entry was difficult, this change was made to help that 2. New RE-71RS tires, Rob found old tires were pretty much spent, Dirk ordered tires, car stayed at ZCG an extra day so that they could be installed before the track day 3. Suspension and brake inspection 4. Change diff and trans fluids
Car rotated much better with the new rear sway bar, now able to rotate just by lifting off throttle in turns, quicker, and more fun. Felt great, very predictable and forgiving at the limit.
JOSEPH: It was a beautiful day at Laguna Seca (as if anything else is possible) with GT-Rs from every era, as far as the eye could see! There was also a very famous 510 in the mix…The #49 new Z ran great on its new 18×10.5 SSR wheels (275-35-18 Nitto NT01), but the day was cut short by cleanup of an oil spill from turn 6 to turn 10, and one of my brake pads deciding to delaminate in the heat on the way into turn 2. We’re putting race pads on next time! I made my goal of breaking 1:50, so I left with a smile on my face anyway.
Check out his R’s Day session at Laguna Seca (in-car video HERE)
Amy’s R34, Rob’s 510 and Kurt’s R32 GT-R….more photos in the gallery below!
Filed under: 240z,Events
by Alvin G @ 2:40 pm on November 23, 2025
On Saturday, November 8, Breakfast Club Rallyhosted the Mechanical Mystery Tour. Known for their wonderful Northern California events, the MMT is especially exciting because it is held in our backyard near the Santa Cruz Mountains. We love attending BCR events. They are always well-organized and the variety of cars is tremendous.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Z Car Garage! We hope you can find time to Enjoy The Ride over the holidays. Please note our hours of operation below:
Week of Thanksgiving: We are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11/24 to 11/26 and Closed Thursday and Friday 11/27 and 11/28
Week of Christmas: We are open Monday, Tuesday 12/22 and 12/23 and Closed Wednesday ,Thursday, and Friday 12/24, 12/25, 12/26
Week of New Years: We are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 12/29 , 12/30, 12/31 and Closed Thursday and Friday 1/1 and the 2nd
*A gentle reminder on visiting the shop: No “Drop-in” please, must have an appointment. Not accepting phone calls during business hours-please leave a brief voicemail or e-mail rob@zcargarage.com
