We hope everyone had a chance to enjoy 5/10 yesterday in their Datsuns! To celebrate the occasion we drove our Dimes up to Uvas Reservoir. Our good friend Anthony drove down from Oregon to drop off his Datsun 510 Wagon for tuning. You might remember this flared, Supra-powered beast from being featured in America’s Coolest Wagons in 2011:

 

The car has gone through some serious development including including a full 2JZ-GTE engine, rear-mounted radiator setup and massive fender flares–all fabricated by Anthony himself! We will have full details on the blog soon.

Joining us was Rob in his SR20DET 510 and Lou with his new 2014 GTR Track pack. Kane, the ZCG shop dog Enjoyed the Ride too! Before heading out we stopped by the scales on De La Cruz to satisfy our curiosity. All three cars surprised us…
Anthony’s 2JZ Datsun 510 Wagon: 2888lbs

 

 

Lou’s 2014 R35: 3880lbs

Rob’s SR20DET Datsun 510: 2240lbs

 

From the scales we cruised up to Uvas Reservoir.  Watching Anthony’s Dime in motion is impressive. The incredibly huge ToyoR888s (285s!) at all four corners look absolutely menacing from every angle:

 

The weather was great and we had a blast on 510 day. Check the gallery for more pictures!

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No, dear readers your eyes aren’t deceiving you! That is a 1972 Chevelle coming out of Turn 9 at Laguna Seca and here is the story behind this icon from the 70’s.  Owner Dave T was scouring the internet for dyno shops when he found Z Car Garage. With an endorsement from his co-worker an e-mail was sent and we happily obliged to dyno the Chevelle. We love muscle cars!

 

Dave had assembled this engine entirely by himself and wanted to see the difference a new exhaust system made. The stock exhaust consisted of OEM cast-iron manifolds, dual pipes w/o crossover and generic turbo mufflers. Baseline numbers were 277hp/326tq to the wheels. The new exhaust system included Hooker SBC headers, Pypes X-pipe and Race Pro mufflers. This helped produce 330hp/356tq to the wheels!

 

Here is a video of the dyno run:

 

 

What we love most about the car is that it was meant to be a ‘grandma’s sleeper’ that could work at the road-track, the drag-strip and as a daily driver.  It still has its original bench seat and column shifter. Dave has logged over 11,000 miles on the motor and recently completed a track day at Laguna Seca!

 

 

A few details on the engine build:

383CI
Intake Manifold-RPM Air Gap
GMPP Hot Camshaft
COMP Cams Valve Springs
GM Bow-Tie Vortec cylinder heads
Compression ratio 9.543
TH-350 (TCI)
3000 rpm flash stall converter (TCI)
3.08 rear, Eaton posi

 

Dave actually built the engine before he found the car. After the successful engine run on the stand, his dad encouraged him to find a car for it:

“He said, why don’t you get a Chevelle like you had in high-school- that was the best car we ever had. I had received a 1972 Chevelle Mailbu from my parents at the age of 16. It was blue with a white vinyl top. I had an accident in it and some time after that the cam/timing gear let go and although I tried to replace it the engine never ran right and we ended up donating it to the high-school auto shop class.”

 

 

He then found a ’72 on Craigslist in un-modified condition, shown above in the original owner’s driveway. The car has been repainted it’s original shade of green, and that’s it. In went the new motor and he’s been driving like mad.

 

Here is Dave putting the Chevelle through its paces at the Sear’s Point Drags (Sonoma Raceway). His first time out he ran low 13’s!

 

 

Thanks for bringing your Chevelle to us we enjoyed working with you Dave!

 

 

Nick P came to Z Car Garage to fix a blown head gasket on his 280zx.  We decided on a full cylinder head rebuild with a revised cam profile from Rebello, otherwise it was built close to factory spec. Teardown pictures below indicate obvious failure:

 

 

The rebuilt cylinder head:

 

We added a new 6-2-1 exhaust header from MSA and finished it off with the ZCG exhaust system:

 

The intake manifold and associated smog/efi plumbing were cleaned up:

 

With the engine freshened we put the Z on the rollers…141hp/142tq to the wheels is healthy!

 

Next we turned to the suspension. Nick wanted us to install his TechnoToyTuning (T3) coilovers, RCA’s and T/C rods:

 

Old struts out and coil-overs in!

 

T3 camber plates up front:

After an alignment and fender roll the Z sits perfectly without rubbing or scraping. We dig the RB-Rs on this!

 

 

 

This 1967 Datsun 2000 (#485) had a total frame-off restoration completed last September. We love the attention to detail on this one and it is ready to drive.

 

For more details please visit our For Sale page below:

1967 Datsun 2000 Roadster

 Z Car Garage is excited to see this 1972 Datsun 240z go to auction with our friends over at Bring A Trailer.  We found this Z in 2012 for a customer and purchased it from the original owner. This is our first listing with BaT and we anxiously await the final winning bid on this time capsule S30. Follow the auction HERE and watch the final minutes as bidding ends in 6 days!