Gorgeous weather, an amazing variety of cars and exhilarating driving all on today’s drive organized by Naveed Y. The starting point was Buck’s of Woodside with an absolutely bonkers mix of vintage/modern sports cars from all marques:
Our customer James Stevens showed up with his turbocharged 1972 Datsun 240z, check out the Speedhunters article with great photos by Naveed HERE!
We departed up 84 to Skyline heading towards 9. There were so many cars in the group that we split up–some took Bear Creek Rd down through Felton and eventually we all met at Whale City Bakery in Davenport. Jeremy Gomez’ G-nose S30 was looking sharp sitting on Longchamps:
I was honored to pilot Rob Fuller’s S30, affectionately known as “Ms Butters Z”. This Series 1 240z has recent engine, suspension and further chassis upgrades we are very excited to share with you. I was impressed with its performance, stay tuned for a full report!
Our final leg of the trip was the best: HWy1 and 84 back to Alice’s Restaurant. Thanks Naveed for organizing the run it was a blast! More pictures in the gallery below, enjoy!
We are extremely happy for our friend and fellow Datsun enthusiast Tom D and his newly acquired B-sedan Datsun 510. This is a historically significant race car built and run originally by Norm Balzer. Here it is at Road Atlanta in 1977:
Tom brought the 510 to Z Car Garage to have it prepared for the upcoming race season:
“I bought the car rough three years ago from Steve Link with the help of Dave Stone. Since then I exchanged information with MaryLee Balzer (the original builder and owner’s widow) and Jon Koobation, the last guy to campaign the car. Both kept all the records and materials associated with the car. They graciously gave me all of it, even Norm’s race jacket (so cool). My plans are (with Rob and ZCG support) to get the car track ready. The car will be campaigned with its original livery and as much of the original equipment as possible, including the FIA prepped L18.”
The car was wildly successful on the West Coast. Many, including Larry Oka referred to the car as the “other BRE car” since it was built with the help of Mac Tilton and hardware from the BRE garage as the Trans Am series ramped down. Tom plans to run several events this year including CSRG April at Infineon Raceway, The HSMA Festival of Speed in Late May, The Rolex in August and the CSRG Charity Event in October. We are currently breaking the car down for race prep. It is shockingly original and a treat to see!
Enjoy that twin-Mikuni carb’d L-series sing!
A Rich Racing History
Purchased from a local Datsun dealer in 1971 for a one dollar, Norm Balzer took this Datsun 510 which was damaged in shipping straight to the garage to create one of the most successful B Sedan race cars on the West Coast. With help from Mac Tilton, many parts were sourced from the BRE garage. Norm raced the car from in B Sedan from 1973 until 1979 and then later as a GT2 entry in 1980.
Willow Springs 1976 and RA in 1979:
Jon competed with the 510 in GT2, GT3 and IMSA/GTU Special Group 2 from 1981 to 1992, amassing a number of first place finishes including a win in IMSA SP2 at Laguna Seca in May of 1983. Together Norm and Jon took this Datsun 510 to the podium forty times with thirteen first place finishes and six Southern Pacific Division Championships. Overall they competed in eighty-six races between 1973 and 1992.
Stay tuned for an in-depth look at this historical Datsun race car!
Filed under: Events,Performance
by Alvin G @ 12:36 pm on January 5, 2019
VARA is hosting a vintage racing event at Autoclub Speedway January 18-20 in Fontana, CA.
There will be some exciting Vintage Nissan/Datsun groups running, a Japanese car show and autocross events for everyone to participate.
Our friend Mike Anderson will be racing his Rock Vest Datsun 2000 Roadster along with many Datsuns:
Let’s get more Datsuns out there, on the track and in the paddock!
Z Car Garage is expanding to support our vintage, late model and motorsport work. We are seeking an experienced and skilled automotive technician to join our team.
This is not an average automotive job. The position is for a special candidate that wants to be part of a shop that is growing and always striving to set the bar a little higher. We offer competitive pay/benefits and the best working environment.
Requirements: Experienced with a good set of tools, willingness to learn, and be part of a team.
Interested or know someone who might be a good fit? Please contact rob@zcargarage.com or call us at (408)452-0350.
We are happy to see more Z car owners enjoying innovative products from Z Car Garage. The Bring a Trailer Datsun 240z recently visited us for a ZCG Big-Brake kit installation after an eventful driving season. We found and prepped this car for BaT Co-Founder and CEO Randy Nonnenberg just in time for an epic road trip to The Mitty. If you missed the introduction to this Z please visit our initial blog post HERE.
Keeping up with the BaT 240z
Before we get into the Big-Brake kit details, let’s catch up with the BaT 240z since it left our shop heading to Road Atlanta in April. The Z’s first duty was to serve as photo/chase car participating in the Copperstate 1000 rallye in Tempe, AZ:
The journey to The Mitty was more than a destination where Datsun was the featured marque. Along the way, the Z would visit “BaT Alumni” and fans for interviews to share their automotive stories. We were stoked to see the Z made it all the way to Road Atlanta!
BaT’s entire Mitty road trip is wonderfully documented in several installments HERE, enjoy this video too:
Rallye Prep Services
After the 4000+ mile road trip the BaT Z came back to us for sorting and a refresh. Despite losing 5th gear in Nashville, Randy was able to cross the finish line at Road Atlanta using 4th. At the shop we confirmed the mainshaft nut had backed off (very common on early 5-speeds) creating situation where all the gears become misaligned. We removed it and installed a really nice 280z 5-speed transmission.
A few more items needing attention that we sorted:
-all fluids
-fixed headlight switch
-replaced/rebuilt hatch strut
-A/C wiring and power switch corrected + system re-charged (performed in-house)
Back in April, Randy and Rob both agreed on returning the Z back to its original aesthetics before the epic road trip. We swapped out the air dam for a factory valance and installed the stock steering wheel, but we didn’t have time to replace the dated black mirrors. On this visit we tackled the installation of factory Nissan mirrors:
Removal of the black plastic mirrors and installing OEM units required minor bodywork. Our man William took care of the 112 paint. Hard to beat these beautiful mirrors on the S30, more pics in the gallery!
With the Z sorted, Randy and his father drove it on yet another rallye in July, the Faultine 500.
ZCG Big Brakes
In September we met BaT at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca. Randy and the crew discussed using ZCG products on their Z as it had an older Wilwood brake kit. The plan was to install and run our ZCG Big-Brake kit for the Targa Baja California rallye coming in October.
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 Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 14″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel! 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.
Randy brought the Z to the shop and we removed the existing Wilwood setup:
Front setup:
The proportioning valve that was required for the old Wilwood kit was removed: ZCG Brakes do NOT require a proportioning valve!
Big-Brakes at the rear as well. The Z had a weird hydraulic parking brake and this was removed so we could install the factory brake lever setup.
Randy’s Z now has a fully functioning parking brake:
Before leaving the shop we replaced a failed u-joint in the driveshaft and balanced it. We were stoked to hear how well the Z and the Big-Brake kit performed on the Targa Baja California rallye in October:
“Big thanks to Rob Fuller and his team at Z Car Garage for preparing our 1972 Datsun 240Z which ran flawlessly the entire time at sustained high RPMs and in hot weather. Prior to the event he outfitted the car with his custom in-house developed Z brake kit which provided excellent stopping power and near-perfect pedal feel. After it was all over, we woke up early Sunday morning in Ensenada and drove 600 miles straight back to San Francisco!”
Thanks to Randy and the crew at Bring a Trailer for the support and sharing their Z car experience with the world. They are truly Enjoying the Ride, proving that Datsuns ARE DRIVEN!
