Jason D has been enjoying his G35 coupe since we finished installation of a Momentum single turbo in late 2011. With over 500whp and 315-width Michelins he started breaking the drive axles and came back for some traction upgrades. We started by installing 900hp-rated axles to replace the 500hp-rated units:
A common failure that is exacerbated with high horsepower is found in the rear crossmember and differential bushings. All were replaced with Whiteline units:
On the power side we installed JWT C8 cams w/springs:
The cams transformed the car and UPREV tuning yielded sweet results on the dyno:
Jason’s G now makes 523whp/432tq…peak gains of 26hp and 54tq! Despite a slight trade-off of power below 3500rpm when boost hits both curves jump with as much as 50-70hp/tq until redline.
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!
Dwane has been customer since the opening of Z Car Garage in 2004. We installed one of Vortech’s earliest supercharger kits on his ultra low-mileage ’03 Brickyard 350z circa 2005 and he has been enjoying it ever since. Almost a decade later forced-induction tuning and support has tremendously advanced and many boosted applications are abandoning the old Split-Second and FMU-based systems.
At ZCG we love the UPREV tuning platform and it allowed us to maximize gains from a new GT MAF, larger injectors and upgraded fuel pump. We also installed ART pipes on the exhaust side and nice cosmetic addition of LED-based headlights:
On the dyno we picked up 9hp/13tq with smoother delivery throughout the rev range. Mid-to-high gains were significant:
Gary P is a long-time customer and huge motorsports fan. He owns a rally 510 and acquired this 240z from another ZCG customer. While enjoying the Z on his commute Gary noticed a loud humming sound and came to us for diagnosis. We discovered a right-rear wheel bearing failure and replaced them new bearings. The rear suspension was also freshened with new rear lower control arms from TechnoToyTuning (T3):
New wheel bearings followed by pictures of the tired, stock rear control arms/bushings:
New T3 control arms:
The soft brake lines had also seen better days with rubber cracked and seeping. Not safe!
