First off we would like to congratulate the owner of this car on it’s (now not so recent) purchase!  He traded in his ’05 35th Anniversary edition with the VQ35DE engine for this ’08, it turns out he just couldn’t resist the call of the HR!!

This build started off some time ago when it came into Z Car Garage fully stock with plans for a simple Injen intake system, a new-to-the-market ARK cat-back exhaust system, and a set of high flow catalytic converters.  It turns out that we saw nearly zero gain from the ARK exhaust (we tested it on it’s own with no other modifications) and the fitment was beyond terrible so it was packed up and sent back immediately.  Bummer I know.

Not willing to accept defeat we decided to go with the tried and true Bassani cat-back system in search of actual power.  The new exhaust came right back at us with a nice gain and the Bassani exhaust note can only be described as GLORIOUS!

Now that the car had a little bit of get-up-and-go the owner decided to upgrade the rolling stock, and with a set of VOLK wheels it is hard to go wrong.  A hard to find, and very expensive, set of VOLK GTS wheels (with a killer looking matte black center) was chosen and wrapped in Toyo Proxes rubber which I’m pretty sure are 255’s in the front and 285’s in the rear.

This list of mods was able to hold him over for awhile-ish.  Actually the need for more power and a killer stance on the Z33 was eating away at him… as it does all of us.  Now a set of Stillen headers were ordered and added to the mix.  More exhaust flow means more power… within reason of course in a normally aspirated engine.  To up the ante one more level we also contacted UPREV and decided to do a computer re-flash so that we could form the timing and ignition maps to a higher level.

All of the hardware changes without the re-tune netted us 18 horsepower and 12 ft/lbs of torque at the rear wheels.  From here on out we started to play with the UPREV re-flash system.  You will see from the dyno graph that it took us quite a few runs to get the tune to where we were happy with it.  We were able to gain 8hp and 1 ft/lb of torque and we still think that there may be a little more in the Z.  We have the software to re-tune the car anytime we wish now so we will be taking another crack at it in the near future.  Plus I have a feeling that there will be a few more modifications done which will require further tuning magic.

Now to obtain the proper stance for the car a set of PSS10 Bilstien coil-overs were delivered to the shop.  It even says on the shock that they are tested on the Nurburgring, how cool is that? (see photos after the jump)  The issue here with a Z or G is that camber becomes an issue when the lowering gets aggressive.  Once again a preemptive strike was made before any problems arose with by installing front and read adjustable control arms from SPL Parts.  One look at the pictures of these parts and you understand why they are so special.  Furthermore we also installed a new set of Hotchkis swaybars just so that we left no suspension stone unturned.  Looks and awesome handling should always go hand in hand.

You can see from the final picture here that the car now has that killer stance and a good amount of new found power to go along with it.  But, like the title says, I’m pretty sure this car will continue to be built up in the constant pursuit of the perfect Z.  Will the owner ever reach it?  Only time will tell, and we are certainly willing to help.

There are quite a few more photos after the ‘read more’ at the bottom so check them out!!

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Congrats Chad!!!!

This R33 has been in the ZCG family for some time now but as soon as it came into Chad’s hands he began to promote the car and give it the love and care that a federal legal R33 GT-R deserves.

Check out the full article/interview over at TunerPlayground by following the link below.  The other link below is the original post of how Chad came to own the car coming from an amazing built twin turbo G35 that was built at ZCG.  Chad we couldn’t be happier for you.  Now let me drive the GT-R some more!!!

Link: Chad’s G35 to R33 GT-R Switch-eroo

Link:  TunerPlayground.com R33 GT-R Article

The GReddy RB intake manifolds have come back to us from our fabrication shop and we couldn’t be happier with the result!!  They have been modified to suit our needs for the RB 240Zs that are currently being built but that is about all I care to divulge.  You will also notice that the surface has also been roughly polished to prepare for the final finishes which are still to be determined.

The other photo is of the throttle bodies that have been modified.  There are a few upgrades on these as well but at this time we are also choosing to keep the modifications under wraps, I’m sure you can understand the need for secrecy here…

Look for more updates soon as the projects roll along towards completion!!!  ZCG!!!

This car needed some serious love and boy is it getting it!!  Many people would have written this car off due to the extensive repair it needed but Z Car Garage and William’s Autobody have been given the job of saving it.  You can see from the photos that every area of this car needed some form of repair.

The frame rails on both sides needed rust repair but the passenger side needed to have the entire frame rail replaced.  The problem with this is that only the frame rails are available from the aftermarket.  ALL the other metal work must be hand formed.

This is most noticeable in the battery box/firewall repairs.  Many many hours of work have been spent getting these parts to look and fit just right, and it is nowhere near finished.  Another tough area of the repairs are the joints between the roof section and the A-pillar and rear quarter panel.  I’m sure many of you have seen rust bubbles that start here after an accident repair of restoration, this will NOT be happening here.  All of the welds were redone to ensure proper alignment and strength.

Other places that received some love were the lower and upper radiator support, the quarter panel just under the rear quarter windows, and the door jams and rocker panels on both sides.  All of these areas had rust holes that needed varying states of work.  The rocker panel just below the battery box had it the worst.  It has now been filled in and will continue to be reworked until it is perfect.

Finally you will see that there is major pitting on the top of the windshield frame.  This too will need to be cut out and replaced with new sheet metal and then blended into the original roof.  Again, this will not be easy.

We do all of this to keep the Zs on the road and in the hands of the people who love them.  This will be one of the most extensive rebuilds that we have done, and we won’t rest until it is done right.  I will update again as more progress is made.

Long Live the Restored Z

All the photos after the ‘read more’.

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We have done a couple of these modifications before to other HR equipped 350Zs with great results.  This round of upgrades differs in two areas.  First off, this is the first set of headers that we have done on an HR car, and secondly, this car is an automatic.

The other changes we made to the car were the tried and true Injen intake system and a pair of Stillen high-flow catalytic converters, both of which we have installed on numerous cars that have come through the shop.  Both of these parts have made nice gains in the past so we pretty much knew what to expect here.

Looking at the dyno graph you can see that the automatic transmission is certainly using up a little more power than in the manual cars but the power gains are more than noticeable.  The car is now more powerful throughout the entire rev range and the torque curve in the middle is now gonna give that push in the back that we all love when you stab the throttle.

I have a feeling that we will be seeing this car again for another round of modifications.  Now that we are an Up-Rev software retailer maybe we will get the chance to play with the fuel and timing tables to get the car where it needs to be.  We can’t wait to get the chance.