In 1990 Nissan changed the Japanese sportscar world by introducing the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo. James L from San Francisco was ready to find out what all the excitement was about and purchased this gorgeous Red Zed. That’s right, he is the original owner!
Fast forward to fall of 2010…James kept this Z in amazing shape driving his machine only when the weather was right. No rain for this Z. It had been 20 years and there were 60k miles on the clock. He was reading about the new and improved Corvette and how this American sportscar was the end all be all. James even went to the extreme of renting one for a few days to see if he liked it. After 20 years could he really turn his back on the Red Zed?
No way!

After doing his homework on some Z32TT modifications, James found Z Car Garage. We met and he told me he had this Z since new and was finally ready to take it to the next level.
We performed a full inspection from top to bottom and found James’ Z suffering from common issues at his mileage. The clutch was slipping badly, as evidenced by the baseline dyno:

The transmission was removed and a JWT HD clutch with lightweight flywheel were installed:

The factory pre-catted downpipes are restrictive and large power gains can be found here so 3″ fully divorced downpipes from SpecialtyZ along with a full stainless exhaust system were installed.
Fully divorced downpipes:


The exhaust system consists of a 3″ mid-pipe with resonators ending with 2.5″ dual tip mufflers. Note the rusted factory resonators and restrictive piping:



The final before/after and how the Zed will look as it blows by those ‘Vettes 🙂

A common performance upgrade on the Z32TT is the air intake. Dual JWT POP chargers help in the breathing department, and look pretty cool too. Look how clean that factory airbox is!


The factory ECU was sent to JWT to get fuel/ignition re-mapping(Stage3) and boost raised from 7psi to 13.5psi. The revamped ECU, new exhaust/downpipes, and intake help put down an impressive 356hp/369tq to the wheels!
Whoa is just as important as go, so a full Stoptech sport/street brake package was installed. This inlcudes stainless steel braided lines, new rotors, pads and MOTUL brake fluid. The clutch hydraulics were also freshened:

Corvette Summer is on hold…its cold outside and as well all know turbos love the cold.

Enjoy the ride James!!!

Gary S. is a guy on a quest…to own each example of Nissan perfection. Lets begin the next chapter in Gary’s 240sx as it gets closer to that vision of exellence!
With the G35TT being what it is, Gary’s back-up car must have the same 3-dimensional qualities of big power, big brakes, and suspension. The to-do list included cleaning up the work done by the previous owner, and improve on an already amazing ride.
When the 240SX arrived from the east coast it already had the SR20DET engine swap, stock MAF, stock turbo, and boost controller. We dyno’d the car in stock configuration: 205hp/193tq at the wheels indicated a clean bill of health. Let the modifying begin.

We made a plan to make nice power on 91 octane with big torque throughout the mid-range to help Gary forget his new ride only has 4 cylinders 🙂 We installed a more “adult” exhaust to replace the loud RS*R muffler. Made by BRM, this exhaust is fairly priced, has perfect fitment, and most of all the twin-tips look very close to the factory outlets!

A call was made to Clark @ JWT and we wired in the Z32 MAF, installed the NISMO 740CC injectors, and plugged in the new ECU upgrade from JWT. We knew the stock turbo would never meet the power and torque requirement…come on it’s Gary…So another call was made, this time to the folks at TOMEI USA:

We decided to run several TOMEI components so off came the valve cover to install the S14 Poncams, rocker stoppers, TOMEI Expreme stainless turbo manifold, and turbo outlet pipe. TOMEI had just released the M7960 turbo and we told them we would give it a try and report back on the performance level. Behold the turbo manifold in all it’s glory….before it gets wrapped with high temp tape:

The stock manifold + turbo vs new Tomei setup….Hey Gary that old T28 is going into Alvin’s roadster, right?

Once the parts were installed we ran the Wideband 02, plugged in our Consult II and went out for a test run. The MAF voltage was higher than I had ever seen on a turbo car at this boost level. Once the boost kicked in…it was enough to put you firmly back in the seat.
On to the dyno…power levels were very nice, but at the top of the rpm range we were having trouble holding steady boost. 338hp and 305tq to the wheels with a great powerband was nice indeed.

We checked all of the usual suspects to sort out the boost issue but no answer. TOMEI USA was contacted and they are willing to help us find a way to get the desired power with a steady boost pressure: To be continued…

…Back to the car…
Big power is a great thing but driving a car that can only go fast can get old very quickly. It is no secret that ZCG loves using Stoptech Big-Brake-Kits…we have tested them on the street and the track with impressive results. It’s about time serious hp power met serious brakes on these cars! When was the last time you saw a set of these on a 240sx 🙂 Larger rotors, stainless lines and appropriately sized master cylinder round out the upgrade. To match the front calipers the rear Z32 calipers were finished in red/white lettering:

The 240 already came with a sweet set of bronze 18″ Nismo LM-GT4 wheels, here is the before/after Stoptechs up front:

Of course the bronze looks great against the white body but Gary wanted a more low-key appearance so the wheels were re-finished in black:

The next steps in the 240SX project will be to sort out our boost issue,  install some suspension upgrades and gauges. Here are a few more pics of the car with the new look:

Long Live the Man With The Most Nissans!
Rob

Gary S. must have an affliction for Nissans that are fast, black, and modified. This 2006 G35 Coupe has just 13k miles on the clock and it has been tastefully modified to the tune of 500+rwhp. He is also the owner of the black BEHEMOTH RB28 240z, and brilliant S14 240sx (not black) that I will report on shortly. There has got to be another black, high hp Nissan somewhere in his garage 🙂 Besides owning fast Nissans Gary is quite resourceful and creative. Notice those ZCarGarage-themed barstools in the shop office? See a bunch of hard to find JDM pieces on wall? Thanks Gary!

When we last heard about Gary’s G35 it was making 470whp/470tq on 91 octane with the APS TT kit. The built engine comes from Rebello Racing and uses JWT S2 cams, 650cc RC injectors, 3.5″ downpipes and a JWT flywheel with HD clutch.
We were having trouble holding the boost level steady so upgraded Forged Actuators(13.5psi) and an HKS EV6 Boost Controller were installed to keep it in check. UPREV tuning with a PMAS MAF showed that stable boost = BIG HP and TQ: 513hp/509tq to the wheels!

Here is a short video clip(more to come) from one of the tuning sessions:

When Gary isn’t driving his amazing S14 he swaps out for this big, black machine with massive Stoptech brakes gleaming through gunmetal spokes of the Volk GT-7 wheels. Gorgeous .

This is the year that Gary will finally drive the long awaited BEHEMOTH so keep following the blog!

A few years ago I noticed a super clean white 300zx (NA) with tan interior always parked in the garage at my work. It made me excited to see another Z brother and I wanted to meet the owner or at least leave a “nice Z!” note on the car because it was in such good shape. Eventually I met the owner, Amir, at a conference and turns out that he has always been a fan of the Z32 since it was released in 1990! I mentioned ZCarGarage to him and soon enough this pretty Z32 was getting some love at the shop.  Amir’s Z came to us with 114k miles on the clock and virtually no major problems during it’s ownership. Routine maintenance was performed and a few choice performance parts were installed including:

-Powertrix tension/control arms
-SpecialtyZ exhaust system
-Twin-Turbo Z32 wheels
-power steering hoses
-timing belt service
-full steam cleaning of the underbody

 

SpecialtyZ exhaust system:

 

Powertrix parts:

 

New tension rods installed:

The dyno revealed impressive numbers for this 20-year young Z.  197hp/184tq at the wheels for a bone stock engine with 114k miles!

 

We have a feeling that Amir might have caught the mod-bug so stay tuned for more pictures and updates.

Long Live the Z32!

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 🙂