ZCG welcomes home friend and fellow owner Chuck G. Chuck has been in Afghanistan for a long time and safely returned today. ZCG has been working(and storing) his GReddy TT 350z and now he can enjoy his 11-second beast!

Here are a few posts documenting Chuck’s build, from being supercharged to it’s current 500rwhp+ twin-turbo configuration.

3.8L Nears Completion

3.8L Lives!

3.8L Baseline Dyno

Welcome home Chuck!

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the myriad of steps involved in a ZCG restoration. Take the dash from Larry and Ruth’s 280z: it was beautifully restored along with a new interior.  I wanted to share some extra dash/interior pictures from the build, full story HERE.
Enjoy!

With driver Scott Smith behind the wheel the SmittyRacing / Z Car Garage 350Z took 1st place in both the Lockheed Martin Sports Car Club autox series “A” class as well as the Norcal UFO series in “OSP” class for 2010! Great driving and congratulations Scott, you make us proud!

2010 was an exciting year for this Z as it ran double duty in open track days AND competitively in 2 autox series. The car had several mechanical upgrades and also changed color from silver to its current Go Green. Let’s recap 2010 with pictures and videos of Scott piloting the Z to victory!

December has been rather wet, so here is the Z sliding around at the UFO autocross in Marina followed by in-car video:

On May 16, Scott took 1st place in OSP at the 43rd annual Dual at DeAnza autox in Cupertino, CA. Here is the winning run:

This Z never sleeps! After running hard on the autox Scott regularly (fiendishly might be more accurate) took the Z to open-track days or HPDEs…here are videos and a few pics from tracks like Laguna Seca and Thunderhill Raceway.

In September the silver Z became the Green Machine with the help of Williams Auto body in San Mateo, Ca. So If you see a bright green 350z on the street or at the track, say hello to Scott!

Here is a list of blog posts documenting ZCG’s modifications to the Z from the Stoptech rebuild to the awesome Motordyne Shockwave exhaust system. You can also see what Scott is running chassis-wise:
Transplant
StoptechRebuild
MotorDyneExhaust
GoGreenPaint
Dyno/chassis

The crew at ZCG installed and tuned several carefully chosen parts on this Z to make it a killer platform for an excellent driver like Scott to dominate the track! Here’s to another successful and fun year in 2011 🙂

Here is another example of just how special the Z is…people may buy a new car every 7 to 8 years. This 280Z isn’t just a car, it has been in the family since day one in 1978. ZCG met this Z family in the summer of 2008 when it was time to get it back on the road after a few years of sitting. We went down the wants and needs list and brought this Z back from a fixture in the garage to a sporty Z ready for a drive to the store or down the coast. Since their last visit, owners Larry and Ruth had a whole new list for us and this time it was to work on the interior.

We met at the shop and talked about different options for seats and interior items. The dash was removed and sent out for restoration and when it came back we replaced all the gauge lights with updated LEDs. We polished all of the plastic covers, resealed all the heater ducts, and lubed all the heater cables. We also serviced the heater core, replaced all the heater hoses and anything easily accessible while the dash was out.

Now for the good part, choosing seats. This is another ZCG first: a set of RECARO LXFs in leather!!! Yes, you read correctly! Leather. There was a tag on the box explaining that RECARO has their own cattle ranch with no barb wire fences and that all RECARO leather is perfect. These seats are not vegan friendly. Comfortable and very sexy, YES!

To complement the seat choice we picked a custom carpet kit and leather for the new door panels and headliner. Another nice touch was the new door panel trim matched the other door panel parts perfectly. More highlights include a new factory center console fitted with an updated HD headunit, MOMO steering wheel, and custom shift boot (Ruth’s choice).

Finally a set of powder-coated louvers and a full detail really make this 280z standout. The interior work was performed by Vargas Auto in Sunnyvale where owner Ron has been around classic cars and Datsuns for a long time. His father used to install all the dealer add-on vinyl tops on PL510s for Downtown Datsun back in the day.

With the interior beautifully finished and attention to little details Larry and Ruth’s special 280z is ready for the road!

Long Live The Z!
Rob

Check out the gallery for more interior detail shots
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Here is another update from Rob on Z8MYMONEY:

When we last heard from Mark and Michelle the Z continued to eat their money and this resulted in major suspension and driveline upgrades, which you can see HERE. During the last few months Mark has been pushing the limits of his latest additions and felt it was time to upgrade the instruments to keep him from hearing the music of sirens from his friends in the local police department.

 

We made a plan for some Autometer gauges. Mark picked the tach and speedo setup and ZCG’s very own Vlad (aka “Frisco Street”) did a great installation. He used set of custom made brackets from behind so the gauges sit flush in their original stock location. Final touches were made to the steering column cover for the LED turn signal indicators. Once the gauges were completed we calibrated the speedometer to make sure Mark can stay ticket free for now 🙂

 

2011 should be an exciting time for Z8MyMoney as we start on the exterior!!!