It really makes our day to see a client still enjoying their Z years later after visiting Z Car Garage. Last weekend we saw Michael D’s 1972 Datsun 240Z at the 34th Annual Z Car Convention (ZCON) in Colorado Springs, and it reminded us how we’ve worked with him since 2007. Let’s take a closer look at this Nissan RB25DET-powered S30 featuring our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, full suspension and Panasport C8 wheels.

Photo: Bryan Delohery

Go Green Inspiration

In 2005, Rob Fuller performed an RB25DET engine swap into his 1970 240Z, affectionately named Go Georgia Z (GO GA Z = Go Green Georgia Z). The RB is a turbocharged inline-6 engine from the Nissan Skyline (R33) GTS-T in Japan, requiring new drivetrain mounts and supporting modifications to work in the S30 chassis. Once completed, Rob drove his Z all over California, attending several long distance car shows like Motorsport Auto in SoCal and the All-Datsun Meet at Mt. Shasta.

Rob’s RB-swapped Go Green Z gained notoriety and around 2007 is where our relationship with Michael began. He wanted ZCG to do an RB25DET swap similar to Rob’s in to his super clean ’72 240Z:

Photo: Bryan Delohery

As we know it’s always been tough to keep up with demand at ZCG. Mike is a great guy and kept offering us his business but Rob wasn’t ready to take on the project. Instead, we focused on preparing his car to handle the RB swap. Driveline upgrades included a ZCG-prepped 4.38 R180 LSD (since replaced with R200 3.55 Quaife LSD), restored hydraulic/brake lines and our ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles.

After the RB swap was completed in 2013 at another shop, Michael returned to Z Car Garage to sort a few more items. We did not like how the fuel system wasso it was redone by us. We also sold him our custom ZCG (Z31) motor mounts and tunnel bracket reposition for the OEM RB25 OEM transmission.

A few specs on Michael’s current setup: RB25DET rebuilt with RB26/Neo/N1 parts, BorgWarner EFR 7670 turbo, GTR coil set, Bocsh 1000cc injectors, TIAL 50mm BOV, McKinney Pan and Radiator, Wiring Specialites Harness and a LINK Ngtr+ EMS. With 525whp/480ft-lbs, the suspension and brakes were upgraded. We installed a full Ground Control coil-over suspension (remember this was in 2008) and Michael reports great performance still:

“In regards to the performance of the suspension upgrades, coil-overs, Tokico struts/shocks I was considering T3 and Arizona Z control arm suspension replacements. My suspension performs so well with the stock A-frames etc that it didn’t make any sense to change them. I would add, without spoilers my 240z stays very grounded at 130 mph and I know what I am talking about after having owned a ’14 R35 GTR for 7 years.”

Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and CV Axles

To cope with the power of the RB25DET, Michael has our ZCG Big-Brake kit. Not to be confused with our current Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels), this Big-Brake kit was our initial setup from over a decade ago. This 328mm sized kit requires 17″ diameter wheels and the massive ST-42 calipers are finished in bright red. We actually did all the R&D in-house for this setup…using a 280ZX master cylinder and our own mounting brackets.

Since it was in its infancy we did not market or sell this BBK to the public, installing it only our clients vehicles. There are about 20 sets of these early, 328mm BBKs on client Z cars like James’ Turbocharged L-Series 240Z, Scott’s 260z, Gary’s Datsunworks-Powered 240Z and Lou’s RHD FairladyZ:

Panasport Wheels

Michael also got a set of our custom Panasport Racing C8 wheels. These 3 piece, 17×9 wheels allowed fitment of a 255/40/17 tire under stock fender flares.

When ZCG was starting to build a series of RB-powered S30s, Rob brought in a pallet of C8 wheels destined for the builds. Michael wanted a set so we hooked him up with a silver spoke finish. They look great on his Z:

Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.

 

We built Michael a set of CV Axles, shown below:

Interior

Michael is proud of the interior on the Z, keeping it aesthetically close to stock with updated materials and comfort in mind. A Restomod A/C unit keeps things cool. A very special thanks to Luis at Vargas Auto Upholstery:

“Sewed in centers of original seats, Auto Meter digital speedo and tach to modified to look original in original housings, the dash which is impossible was done with requirement to minimize stitches and never cross a stitch, stereo housing was built to match the faceplate of original, has remote electric windows and locks, power steering, hands free phone, android auto for maps, and seats that hold you in while providing comfort for 8+ hour drives.”

 

Enjoying the Ride

Michael contacted Rob in 2003, just after he purchased his 60k-orignal mile 1972 Z to get the upgrades started. He’s driven it since 2004. Here is what it looked like when he picked it up, and a current photo:

Michael’s goal for the build, aptly named “TRBUTEZ”…

“It is called TRBUTEZ.: A tribute (act, statement, or gift that is intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration) to the many under $3k  starving student Z’s I owned that carried me through life with unconditional loyalty, performance, and dependable reliability. This one is for you. Thank you!  My goal is to upgrade the build of the car for an even better personal experience while maintaining the respect this car deserves through preservation of every original detail possible.”

We were stoked to see Michael and his Z at the ZCON event on Colorado Springs. After all these years he’s still Enjoying The Ride!

When you think it couldn’t get better…he won (4) awards!

Thank you to ZCON organizer Christopher Karl and Meghan Fuller for the show photos! More in the gallery below.

…[read more]

We love to see our products being installed and used on client cars. Tobi is running our ZCG Heat Shield in his 280ZX!

Close-up of the ZCG Heat Shield, this piece is serial #00276:

 

Tobi is a relatively new S130 owner and started modifying it in no time!

“I got the car in the fall of 2020, it definitely needed some love, but it came with a N42 head so that was a big plus for me! While browsing through Instagram I saw a lot of guys in Japan would switch from EFI to a DCOE setup, while some told me it would be a bad idea, I loved the sound of a carb’d L28 too much. I got to work on the conversion during the winter months of 2020 and went with triple-Webers on a Canon intake manifold. While I had the car apart I added T3 front and rear suspension, MSA victory spoiler, and a set of MSA twice pipes. I was super excited when I fired it up for the first time.”

During the summer he  took it to car shows around town and enjoyed ripping it around, but he was having some clearance issues with the heat shield, so he purchased our Z Car Garage Heat Shield:

“I couldn’t have been happier. The build quality on the shield when I unboxed it was amazing and it went on my manifold like butter, it also fixed my clearance issues too. My future plans for the car are to save up for some  Z Car Garage CV Axles and a 240sx gearbox swap in hopes of taking the car to the track.”

ZCG Heat Shield

 

We are excited to offer the Z Car Garage Heat Shield for your triple-carb’d L-series Z car. This is a one-piece 304 stainless unit with laser-etched serial number. Proven on all of our L-series engine builds and dyno testing.

This heat shield will fit Mikuni, Weber, Dellorto and Jenvey induction with several intake manifolds like the Harada:

The ZCG Heat Shield is available for purchase at $169.00 with product information below.  View this product and other ZCG parts on the new “products” page of our website HERE

Thank you for your support Tobi we are happy to see our product on your 280ZX!

We love to see our parts installed and used on client’s cars. Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou is running our ZCG CV Axles in this IMSA GTU 260z race car!

Glenn is preparing for the upcoming Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion event at Laguna Seca. A half shaft failure is not something he wanted to worry about while racing so he replaced them with ZCG CV Axles. Glenn installed set #367 himself with ease:

The Different Drummer Z

Glenn Chiou is our client, fellow racer and friend. He was one of the first to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes on his RHD 240Z and actively vintage races both 510 and Z cars. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence. Glenn restored this race car himself and it is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.

Glenn’s got a passion for re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers and his current restoration project is the Different Drummer Racing Z raced by Greg Sorrentino. This is a really cool race car with great history and build details behind it.

Chassis # RLS30-000024 is a July 1973 pre-production Datsun 260Z chassis that was sold by the factory for one dollar in 1975 to Different Drummer Racing, owned by Greg Sorrentino of Troy, Michigan. It was one of the very first Datsun 260Z chassis and was built by the legendary American fabricator, Ron Fournier. This Z car has been consistently raced for the last 40+ years in IMSA GTU, SCCA Trans-Am, and C-Production/GT-2 classes.

 

In 1975, the Datsun Competition Department agreed to support Greg Sorrentino’s IMSA GTU racing efforts by providing him a pre-production Datsun 260Z. Once in Sorrentino’s hands, it was left to his all-star lineup of builders to help him build a frighteningly fast IMSA GTU car:

• Chassis preparation was to the skilled hands of legendary metal fabricator, Ron Fournier
• Suspension duties were left to Mac Tilton
• John Knepp of Electramotive Engineering built the motors for Different Drummer Racing

The DDR Z in action at Portland International Raceway in 1979:

You can read more about the official history on this Z as documented by Glenn here:

1974 IMSA GTU 260Z – Official History

As usual, Glenn’s painstaking efforts and diligence result in a faithful restoration…where parts are not available he has gone to extraordinary lengths to re-create pieces from historical photos…all from his garage at home.

Thanks for your support Glenn! We we will be rooting for you at the Monterey event!

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Over 130 sets of our ZCG CV Axles are installed in client’s cars all over the world. For more information please visit our detailed post our HERE. Below are just a few examples of race cars running out CV Axles:

Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:

Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:

 

Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z

 

Set #248 – installed on Adam Carolla’s “Greg Sorrentino #90” Datsun 510.

 

We love to see owners installing our Z Car Garage CV Axles on their Datsuns from all over the world! Darius installed a set himself on this 1982 Datsun 280ZX in Los Angeles, CA. Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with the positive feedback.

  

Darius has CV axle set #0359 and we are happy to report that he installed them with ease:

“Hello Rob this Darius your customer from Los Angeles that purchased a set of your CV Shafts for my 280zx. Well I had them installed and they look awesome. When my mechanic and I opened the box we both were impressed with how well designed they were and also how strong they looked, excellent craftsmanship. They were so easy to install it took about 20 to 30 minutes for installation. Thanks for everything, long live the Z Car.”

    

Darius sent us a few pictures of the installation. Nice work!

 

A Forever Z Car

 

We love being a part of a Z car build with a great story behind it. This S130 was Darius’ first car and he’s continuously improving it…

“I have had my 1982 280ZX since 1993 and it is my FIRST CAR, purchased it from my friend, he was the 3rd owner and I am the 4th. The car was first purchased in 1981 at the still there Nissan dealership in Torrance, CA, so this car has never left the south bay area. It had a 3.1 liter stroker with a black cherry Lacquer paint job on it. I almost sold the car in 2012 to a friend before the rebuild but he decided not to buy it and I still loved the car even though things were not right with it.”

 

“In that same year of 2012 I decided this car is going to be my project how ever long it takes and I am going to bring it back to life by channeling my inner Christine magic. First task was to find a black dash board that was in good condition and not cracked. I found one on EBay that came out of a car that had only 98,000 miles on it original black and I knew then I was on trail of something special. It took me about a year of junk yard diving and EBay shopping to pull all the parts together.”

 

 

“The engine was built by Bobby of Original Garage Builds in San Diego, CA. It’s a stroker with ported and polished N42 head and accessory parts from Motor Sports. Other parts are Racing Cam from Schneider Racing and 40mm Weber Big Throat Throttle Body. A polished aluminum radiator, lightened flywheel, Center Force dual friction racing clutch, stock transmission, Quaife LSD in my R200 rear installed by an excellent mechanic Howard at Moto IQ in Gardena.”

 

 

Suspension upgrades include Z Car Garage Custom made CV Shafts, Tie Rods from Techno Toy Tuning, front Shocks Tokico HP’s and rear T3 coil overs, sway bar upgrade front and back along with polyurethane bushings. Stock braking system with drilled slotted rotors. Interior is well preserved new carpet from long ago, Flow Fit Seats and Nardi leather and chrome spoke steering wheel. Body and Paint KANDY color (Wild Berry-House of Colors paints, Down to the Metal) by R Rated Motor Sports.

 

“This car is a life long project for me that I will continue to build on and to keep the 280zx not forgotten. Thanks for your service to the Z car nation.”

 

Thanks for your support Darius! We love your passion and determination to keep the S130 alive. Long Live The Z!
Learn more about our Z Car Garage CV Axles and see other customer cars running them HERE.

We promised our readers a full, zcarblog.com report on Trevor’s 280Z after it was featured on Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Let’s take a closer look at this fantastic daily driver+canyon carver showcasing our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, CD009 Six-speed transmission and more.

The Next Big Thing

It’s no secret that S30 chassis values have skyrocketed in the past few years. While the 240Z commands top dollar it has become out of reach for many enthusiasts. Not to worry, Datsun offered the 260Z/280Z models and both are great, attainable chassis in the S30 world. Trevor shares how he found his 280Z:

“I met my Z in almost completely stock form with 94k original miles. I travel for work, ending up in a new town every 6 months or so. As soon as I had an inkling of where I was going to be sent next, I would start hitting the internet classifieds for a 280z. While the 240z had seductive weight savings over the later versions, my attention turned to the 280z for its fuel injection (with constant travel I didn’t want to have to tune carbs), it’s price/ availability, and they are easier to find with air conditioning.” Below, left is the night Trevor bought his Z:

“I found my silver Z in Phoenix, Arizona. The only things it had on it that weren’t original from the Hiratsuka factory were the wheels, springs, and Toyota 4×4 front brake calipers. The rest of it was stock, and most importantly, complete. I did a little work to get it running smoother, basically replaced all maintenance items and swapped out a few sensors that weren’t working, and then drove it as much as I possibly could.”

Trevor was looking for a shop to take care of his 1978 Datsun 240z and heard about ZCG from a shop tour with Larry Chen on this episode of Hoonigan Autofocus (Thanks Larry!). Trevor brought the Z in last summer and we performed a full inspection before upgrades.

“I chose to send my Z to Z Car Garage after watching Larry Chen’s Autofocus episode on the shop. I could really tell that Rob had a ton of passion for what he does and I knew I could have confidence with him at the helm. Before I had showed up at the shop, Rob and I had talked on the phone about doing the brakes, control arms all the way around, and a couple of other smaller things. I wanted it to handle as best as it possibly could and that meant stopping when it should and having the adjustability in the control arms to set up a proper alignment. ” 

ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles

We handed Trevor the keys to “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car and he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our customers 🙂 Read below for a brief description of these parts:

     

As fellow S30 owner/racer Glenn C mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with engineers at Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 15″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel (and some 14″ wheels) and retaining factory emergency brake lever! A few details below:

Calipers: Stoptech ST42 4-piston front & rear race calipers (Alum 6061 mil-spec Type III anodized)

Rotors: 280mm x 20.6 with Alum 7075 hats

Pads: Stoptech 309 sport street pads

Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.

A few closer detail shots of the calipers, rotors and hardware:

 

We removed Trevor’s existing brakes and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit. The stock suspension (with Tokico struts/Eibach springs) was replaced by Apex Engineered parts, as supplied by Trevor. Shown below are front/rear control arms and T/C rods being installed, more pictures in the gallery:

   

Front control arms and TC rods:

  

ZCG Big-brakes replacing the Toyota 4×4 caliper setup:

      At the rear, the factory drum brakes were replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes. Factory handbrake functionality IS retained!

    

Trevor is impressed with the braking performance:

“I quickly found out that even after just a short spirited mountain drive, the Toyota brakes would get hot and fade. It didn’t help that after getting a taste for driving her quickly, I wanted to do a few track days in the future. I knew I wanted a brake upgrade, one that I would only have to do once. After getting back to Southern California I was really able to put the car through its paces on the canyon roads. The ZCG Big-Brakes proved their worth and were consistent and didn’t fade even after a few good rips up and down the mountains. This car sticks to the road insanely well. With the alignment and new tires it just carves.”

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.

 

Trevor has CV Axle set #335. Stock half shafts (L) and ZCG units:

 

More pictures of the ZCG axles installed, also visible is the ZCG Exhaust system:

Panasport Wheels

Complementing the new Big-Brakes on Trevor’s Z are Panasport wheels! We replaced the aftermarket wheels with 16×7 Panasports and sticky Bridgestone RE-71R tires in 225/50/16. The Z was fully aligned:

Engine

We knew the car would be stopping and handling better than before, so we installed a Moroso oil pan and Koyo aluminum radiator to keep temperatures in check. Other than cooling and fuel system work, the engine was largely untouched to maintain factory reliability.

 

We replaced intake and exhaust manifold gaskets with factory Nissan parts and few ZCG tricks including a certain exhaust nut and exhaust stud.The exhaust manifold was replaced with a Pacesetter header ( to clear six-speed) leading to our ZCG exhaust system with stainless resonator and slash-cut tip.

 

Dyno Tuning

Rob dyno tuned the L28 with OEM EFI. Baseline was 133hp/149tq and with Rob’s tuning it made 143hp/159tq at the wheels:

Enjoy the dyno run video below:

Driveline Upgrades

We built Trevor an OS Giken LSD, a perfect upgrade for anyone doing spirited driving.

“As with the brakes, I figured the best way to do the driveline was once so I also went with an OS Giken LSD and Z Car Garage CV axles.”

  

We changed the final drive, installing a R180 4.11 OSG LSD built in in-house:

     

The clutch hydraulics were replaced to work with new aluminum flywheel/JWT HD clutch combo:

Six Speed Transmission

Next on the update list, we were really excited to install a Nissan 350z 6-speed manual transmission behind the L-series in Trevor’s Z. You read that right! S30 owners can now bolt-in this robust, 6-speed manual behind their L-series engine!  You might remember our first application of Austin Hoke’s custom 6-speed adapter kit on the OS Giken TC24B1Z-powered 240z:

  

Using the 6-speed conversion kit from Hoke Performance we installed a new CD009a transmission from the 2003 -2008 Z33 in Trevor’s 280Z:

  

Here is the brand-new transmission from Nissan being unboxed:

 

The kit necessitated exhaust header changes and after testing a variety of headers we found the Pacesetter 6-2-1 unit provided enough clearance. Serial 9 provided the shifter relocation assembly and we are really happy with its performance. Also shown is the aluminum driveshaft.

 

 

It fits! More installation pictures in the gallery. It’s a very discreet look from the cockpit…until you feel the amazingly direct and precise feel of the CD009a!

 

Trevor is in love with the six-speed, we are as well:

“I had done my absolute best to convince myself that I didn’t need a transmission swap and my wallet and I were on the same page as I went to drop the Z off at Z Car Garage. Where my wallet and I started to have a disagreement was after Rob let me take Butters for a spin. After feeling the CD009 perform there was zero chance I was going to get my car back without one on the back of my L28. However, the more I was driving the car in the twisties, the more I started to become unhappy with the uneven gear ratio gaps between shifts.” 

Details

We sorted out little things for Trevor like making his Speedhut tach and speedo functional. The car was fully detailed:

  

The Z was cut/buffed with a detail from JB mobile detail.  We’ve worked with Veto at JB for years and he’s a big Z car enthusiast:

 

Driving is Believing

When Trevor picked up car, he was blown away:

“The car I got back is a totally different machine from the one I had dropped off. The result of the perfect combination of driveline parts is a sore face caused by either smiling the entire time or from your face almost leaving your head as Rob shows you just how well the brake kit works. Rob also threw her on the dyno and finally got the stock system performing perfectly. I’m sure it’s making more power than it did even new back in ’78.”

  

The Z was recently featured on Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Larry and Rob discuss the work ZCG performed and take it for a spin. Watch the video to get an idea of the six-speed and power from Trevor’s280Z:

We enjoyed working with Trevor and he’s been Enjoying The Ride in his Z:

“I had flown up from the LA area where I was working to the shop in San Jose. My plan was to drive the car back down the PCH to get a feel for my new machine. I couldn’t believe how much fun the car was to drive on curvy roads. The CD009 feels great behind my L28. The shift pattern is short and precise, it’s fantastic. The rear end has no play and pairs nicely to the race feel of the CD009. One of the best parts of the combo is how easy it is to drive. It feels like you have a race car transmission but with the ease of use of a street car.”

 

 

“She’s back at Z Car Garage right now as my job has me in Omaha for the rest of the year. I have been talking to my wallet about coil overs and maybe an engine build while the car is in San Jose. My Z and I are apart right now but I cannot wait until I’m able to eat up more miles with her. She is a wicked joy.”

 

Thank you for entrusting us with your S30, Trevor. We are so fortunate to work with owners that appreciate the Z and believe in our ability to make them better! LONG LIVE THE Z!