Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference.  In this case we have a 1973 240z that was in need of a bumper re-do to make it as beautiful as the early cars.  This car first came to us last year with the idea to re-spray the engine bay and replace the tired 2.4L with a factory long-block 2.8 and a new set of SU carburetors.  It turned into a half restoration that was finished just in time to deliver to the customer for Christmas last year.

It came back to us a few months ago to have the bumpers smoothed and re-chromed with all the over-riders removed and their respective holes filled.  A few weeks ago Rob and I took a trip to the chrome shop to check on the progress and ended up making a few changes to the bumpers to be ensure that we would be happy with the finished product.

The bumpers were finished on Tuesday and I was given the task of prepping and carrying out the re-assembly.  All related brackets were repainted and all new zinc plated hardware was used.  We were also able to source all new bumper rubbers because the both the front and rears had seen better days.

I had a little trouble finding shots of the car before the change but there is one at the San Jose Auto Show from last year where you can sort-of see the front over-riders.  The newest shots show the nice change that took place after all was said and done.  So now the customer has his beloved Z back again just in time to enjoy for Christmas, a nice gift indeed.

Click on the “read more” for tons more photos of this nice 240z

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At Motoring J Style earlier this year we were lucky enough to be pulled aside by a writer (Telly Sahara) and photographer (Akio Hirano) for Vintage Auto magazine published by Lightning.  They were very interested in shooting both the ZCG RB 240z and 510.  We were happy to oblige and a meeting time for the next day was set!

When we met the next morning they began to take shots of the entire shop along with some of the other vintage cars that we store for ourselves and customers.  We then set out on a mission to find a few suitable locations to shoot the two “Go Green” Datsuns.  They wanted to keep to the green theme and luckily I knew where we could find the most well manicured grass this side of a Montecito golf course.  The only thing stopping us from shooting there were three large concrete pylons made to prevent this exact thing.  Lucky for us, Datsuns are extremely skinny vehicles!  Picture SUCCESS!

Next we went to a nearby condominium complex that has a nice round-about.  We were able to jam up traffic for the next few hours while we positioned the cars in every position possible.  The photos that came out of this set look great and were well worth the effort.

After returning to the shop the photographer asked Rob if he could drive the 510.  Wow, he has more courage than I do.  Rob never lets anyone drive his 510 (usually only shop employees), but he felt in his huge Datsun heart that it was the right thing to do.  And it turns out that he owns a high horsepower N/A SR20 510 in Japan that he uses for drifting.  They came back about twenty minutes later with huge smiles on their faces.

Good times were had by all on this day, and it was well worth the trip from Japan.

Sorry but I couldn’t find any links for an offfical site for Vintage Auto.  Your best bet to find this issue is to go to your local Japanese book store.  Happy hunting.

Today’s post concerns another meaningful 280zx restoration that we are undertaking right now.  This car started it’s life as a normal ZX but was put under the knife to receive extensive modifications almost immediately.  It is now a collector’s item and a truly special car to the Z faithful.

This car runs a vintage “blow through” turbocharged and intercooled 3.1L engine that breathes through Mikuni 44mm carburetors.  It is truly a unique setup that allowed Jim Cook to make great power even with the limited technology available at the time.

This car is soon to be under attack from the ZCG assembly crew as we have just received a slew of parts from our powder and ceramic facilities.  Expect to see some posts on this project in the next few weeks as things come together.

There are more pictures and more background info on the 280zx Turbo after the “read more.”  The owner was also gracious enough to gather some information on the car and Jim Cook himself and send it in to us here at zcarblog.com

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We do quite a few restorations here at Z Car Garage but this one holds a special place in our heart and I would like to share it with all of you.  This 280zx has been a few years in the making and will be coming to a close soon once a couple of the nearly impossible to find parts are sourced.

Most of the parts that we are still searching for have been out of production for a decade, so you can see why this has taken some considerable effort to close out.  Almost all of the interior pieces needed to be repaired and redyed to match the new dash and the newly upholstered seats, but no expense has been spared to get the highest quality items available.  As these parts slowly trickle in from around the country (and world) the car is being re-assembled to better than original condition.

I have over a thousand pictures that have been taken over the course of this project so here are a few of the significant ones that show what lengths we have gone through to make it one of the cleanest restorations around.   It has truly been a labor of love to restore this car and it will be a sad day when it gets delivered to its owners once again.  I hope that they will enjoy it once completed as much as we have while building it for them.

Click on the pictures for the full-size and click the read more for more…

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We were up at the paint shop today and I grabbed a few photos that Rob took while there.  As you can see the entire engine bay is being smoothed out to match the paint quality of the exterior of the car.  All unnecessary holes have been filled in the entire engine bay along with the battery tray on the passenger side of the engine compartment.  All welds that weren’t critical were smoothed as well to complete the look.   Bodywork is due to be completed in the next couple of weeks with paint beginning to be sprayed after New Years.  I really wish these pictures could show how sharp our paint shop has made the body-line,  words don’t due it justice.

I’ll try to get some pictures of the RB 2.8L engine up soon so that you can drool over that too.  Wheels and camshafts are on the slow boat from Japan and should be here fairly soon as well.   We can’t wait to see this car come together.  BOOOOOSSSTT!!!!

I’m also going to throw in some pictures of the car before it was torn apart and sent to the fabrication shop for the roll cage and then to paint.  (The roll bar in the photos is an old bolt-in.)

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