Lou S is the owner of this right-hand drive 240z that got the full ZCarGarage performance suspension treatment last year shown HERE. With the handling and footwork sorted the Fairlady has received several improvements that add to both the driving experience and aesthetics.
The Z’s vinyl seats had seen better days with a few rips and tears so new Recaro LXF seats were installed. These are some of the best seats for your Z and a huge improvement over the stock pieces in terms of comfort and grip…letting Lou take advantage of that grippy new suspension!
Another upgrade to the interior was the steering wheel. The tuner-ish “D” shaped wheel was replaced by one of the best period-looking units on the market today: The MOMO Prototipo. I love this steering wheel:
The Fairlady’s tired chrome bumpers got replaced with brand new show-quality pieces and for a cleaner look the over-riders were not installed.: …[read more]
It is always great to hear stories from original Z-car owners. Joe A came to ZCarGarage to restore his 1974 260z after 36 years of ownership! He had become familiar with ZCG through our local club, ZONC. After carefully inspecting the car, Rob and Joe sat down and discussed several procedures that would update and improve the car. They decided on a complete engine rebuild with tuned exhaust, and removing all smog devices since the car was over 35 years old.
Here are a few pictures of the engine bay after removing the drivetrain:
The engine was rebuilt with a mild cam and dyno results showed nice gains of 23 rwhp and 13tq!
The engine bay and underhood had to look just as beautiful as the body so William painted everything back to the original exterior color. ZCG provided zinc plating and powdercoating services under the hood and all wiring harnesses were redone:
Here is Joe with a few words on how the Z became part of his life:
“It was January of 1969 and I had just been discharged from the Air Force. …[read more]
It brings me great joy to share this with you because it marks a major chapter in one of the most epic Z car builds I have witnessed. ZCarGarage is building this Datsun 240z for Gary S and it is affectionately called the “Behemoth”. If you are not familiar with this project just click HERE for past updates on paint, suspension, drivetrain, brakes, etc.
The stroked RB28 drivetrain was mocked up and test fitted into Gary’s Behemoth. The engine now resides in Rob’s GoGreen 240z for break-in and tuning before going back to that lovely black engine bay:
Here are some quick videos I shot of the car in action. Turn up the volume, you won’t be disappointed! And if I may, please allow me to personally describe the music this motor makes. To me the sound is very distinctive and exotic. It is loud, nasty and ferocious on start-up and idle. It reminds me of a BRE 240z with those twice pipes cackling, only this RB28 sounds much deeper in tone. It totally contrasts with the smooth, buttery noise produced when cruising. Only Nissan inline-6s sound this way. And that turbo whistling as you roll into the throttle…absolutely intoxicating. When the car shuts down one can actually hear the turbo still spinning through the exhaust!
Enjoy!
Scott S ran the GreenMachine at ButtonWillow Raceway 5/13/11 with Blacktrax. Here is some in-car footage from a friend’s Honda S2000. The blue S2000 being chased is supercharged with ~400rwhp!!!
Watch closely here at 5m50s it looks like Scott induces some fear or panic in the S2k driver 🙂
The Green Machine is still tearing it up on road courses throughout California!
I just got my copy of “America’s Coolest Station Wagons” from Amazon. It is a large paperback with 145 pages of high-quality images. Wagons of all makes/models are featured from bone-stock to customized, beaters, drag racers and of course Anthony’s 2JZ-GTE powered Datsun 510 wagon! Definitely a must-have for car nuts and Datsun fans alike.
