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Sportier Sedan: Daren’s G35

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,g35,Performance
by Alvin G @ 3:50 pm on July 12, 2013


Daren S. wanted to make his Infiniti G35 Journey Sedan more exciting to drive on the commute. Better breathing can improve power so we bolted on  JWT dual POP chargers and a Stillen exhaust system followed by UPREV tuning.

The POP chargers also add a very throaty intake sound 🙂

The Stillen exhaust system replaces the restrictive OEM parts and makes getting on the throttle a bit more satisfying:

On the dyno, the intake alone made a noticeable improvement in power from 260hp/235tq to 264hp/243tq at the wheels:


UPREV tuning makes efficient use of these breathing mods for a final output of 276hp/246tq! Gotta love that huge gain under both hp/tq curves:


Whoa is just as important as go and there are many options out there for improving braking performance. Instead of a full-blown big-brake kit Daren opted for a Stoptech Sport Kit:


This is a great alternative to OEM parts. When coupled with our favorite 309 pad and Stoptech 600 fluid this kit is perfect for spirited driving whether it be on your favorite mountain road or commute!




Tung’s 370z

Filed under: 370z,Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 9:35 pm on July 11, 2013


Tung N. is an auto technician at a local shop and the owner of this beautiful 370z. Tung did a very clean installation of bolt-ons himself and came to ZCG for tuning. We are glad to see that he still enjoys working on cars as a hobby!

On the dyno Rob’s UPREV tuning yielded gains of 10hp/6tq for a total of 295hp/253tq at the wheels. Power delivery was improved throughout the rev range:




Track Day Fans: Lapwise Is Here!

Filed under: Events,Performance
by Alvin G @ 12:25 pm on July 8, 2013

Z Car Garage is constantly looking for cool stuff to help fellow track junkies and newbies.  I came across Lapwise, a web-based tool to store and analyze your driving event data.

Lapwise is a cloud-based web application for analyzing motorsports data captured by GPS data-loggers. Upload your Harry’s LapTimer CSV or Trackmaster XLS data files and Lapwise offers several services:
– Stores events by track name and date
– Searchable and customizable dashboard
– Share to Facebook, Goolge+ and Twitter
– Multiple YouTube videos per event
– Trackmap overlays
– Speed and G-force analysis
– Interactive plots
– Detailed statistics

To allow you some testing, Lapwise offers a free promotional code for Z Car Garage Customers: 2013zcargaragep1

As another perk for Z Car Garage customers Lapwise will meet up to two drivers at an event in Northern California and spend the day as your personal data engineer and driving coach. The results of the day will be featured on the Z Car Garage blog. It is first-come, first-serve, so if you have an upcoming track-day contact Glynn, lapwise.com@gmail.com.


Please let us know what you think!
http://www.lapwise.com





Stillen Supercharged Nismo 350z

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 12:08 am on July 2, 2013

 

Hideki K brought his ultra-nice Nismo Z33 in for a full Stillen supercharger installation. Unfortunately Stillen did not make a kit specifically for the Nismo edition Z so we purchased a Stillen kit designed for the standard HR motor and made it work for Hideki!
Here are the goodies:

A few shots of the install:

 From NA to Forced Induction:

 

On the dyno the Nismo put down 282hp/246tq and the Stillen kit bumped those figures up to 370hp/272tq to the wheels:

 

Rob’s tuning yielded significant gains of 22hp/13tq for a grand total of 392hp/285tq to the wheels!


Enjoy the Ride Hideki!




Wednesday Night Drags Report…6/26/13

Filed under: Events,Performance
by Alvin G @ 12:27 am on June 29, 2013


Hot summer evenings, the sounds of engines revving and the smell of burning tires in the air….the drags are here! We had a very impressive turnout of ZCG customers and friends at the Wednesday Night Fun drags 6/26!  Our caravan from the shop was 8 cars strong including: Joe E’s Porsche 911 Turbo , David C’s R32 Skyline piloted by Josh C, Scott G’s Twin-Turbo AWD G37 Sedan, Ken S’s 300zx Twin-Turbo, Rob’s 300zx Twin-Turbo, Jeff V’s Vortech Mustang GT, Marco’s RWD(!) Honda CRX, and I drove the Yellow 4-door Datsun 510

 

 

When we arrived at the dragstrip even more familiar faces had joined the fun: Juan F’s Vortech G35 Coupe, Jason D’s single turbo G35 Coupe, Trevor M’s sexy Z31 Turbo, and John T’s Z32 TT:

After everyone passed the tech inspection(yes, even the RWD CRX) we headed to the grid and started practice runs. If you are a first timer, these “test” runs allow one to learn the optimal launch/shifting strategy for consistent E.T.’s and reaction times. We got  lucky and everyone had 5-6  runs before eliminations. This is one of the most fun parts of the day where you can race your car down the strip, collect your timeslip and discuss with friends!  Also,  between runs comes the banter and virtual car show in the grids:

It was neat to see the little yellow 510 in midst of big-block muscle cars and fire-breathing boosted imports. I taped my first run and ran an embarrassing 16.2s at 87mph. Josh even rigged the MSD ignition’s two-step feature through the horn button, set at 4000rpm. Unfortunately this launch just spun the inside tire:

I gradually improved the launch with each practice run and got down to a 15.797 at 87.73mph before eliminations started.   It was still hot, 90 degrees but rapidly cooling.  Time for elims!  Everyone chose a dial-in time and marked it on the windows. I dialed in at 15.8s. With the adrenalin rushing it’s hard to focus completely on your launch. The countdown tree of lights becomes an over-analyzed feature. Once moving though many things come into play like temperature. Cooler weather means more power and if you feel like you are running faster than your dial-in, maybe letting off or even tapping the brakes could net you a win.

Almost all of us made it through the first round of eliminations!  I eventually lost to the modifed Focus ST pictured next to me as I broke out by running a 15.739 at 88mph. Josh and Jeff moved on and Rob even went to the third round in his 300! Here are some E.Ts for the cars:

 

Jeff V ran 12.06 at 117.94 mph in the Mustang
Rob ran 11.5 at 126.8mph in the 300zx Twin Turbo
Scott G ran 12.3 at 114mph in the G37 sedan
Joe E ran 12.0 at 117mph in the 911 Turbo
Josh C ran 13.6 at 104mph in the Skyline

Stay tuned for more in-car videos in HD.

Come out with us next time for the Wednesday Night Fun drags as it is certainly an experience that all enthusiasts can appreciate!


More pictures in the gallery!
…[read more]




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