We make Zs better.  It’s what we do.  In this case the customer brought us a fairly low mileage Z32 300ZX Twin Turbo that was in need of some more power.  At first we were headed down the normal road of simple exhaust mods consisting of new downpipes and mid pipes with high-flow cats when things got a little hairy.

We also had plans to place all four shocks, switch to braided steel brake lines for improved pedal feel, and install a set of Stillen sway bars for more stability in the corners.

As you can see from the baseline dyno (bottom of post) this car had serious issues when it came in.  The owner had reported hesitation and overall poor driveability and it was up to us to figure it out.  After the suspension and brakes were handled we dove head first into the quest for power.

The computer was shipped out to Jim Wolf Technologies for a reflash to accept the bigger NISMO 550cc injectors and added boost, we also picked up  a new clutch from JWT to handle the new power.  After all the modifications we completed the car was reassembled and test driven to make sure everything was copacetic.  Unfortunately it wasn’t.  All we could get out of it was seven pounds of boost.  Not good.

We suspected a turbo issue so the car was taken back apart for inspection.  The turbo had failed and was grinding the compressor wheel into the housing.  (see above photo, and for comparison see the other good stock turbo above)  There were metal shavings everywhere, really not good.  Now we had to get new turbos as well, and we were going to go bigger.

Jim Wolf once again came to the rescue with a set of their Sport 500 turbos.  They are the perfect combination for the power levels that we were looking for.  Now with no further complications everything was re-assembled and we proceeded to cycle countless quarts of oil through the engine to make sure we had all of the debris cleaned out.  Then it was back to the streets to do some test driving.  After another oil change we loaded the car onto the dyno to see what it could do.

You see from the graph above that the car has made a complete u-turn in both driveability and performance.  I’m happy to report that the customer was overjoyed when he drove the car for the first time after the upgrades.  That’s just the way we like it.

Long Live the Z

There have been a few changes to the schedule of events on the 22nd.  Below is the most recent agenda for the gathering.  There are already sixty or so people signed up which is awesome.  We hope to see you all out there!

Follow the tread at MY350Z.com HERE

Point A
We will be meeting at Z Car Garage @ 9am. This is the Official start of our drive.

Z Car Garage
140 Archer Street
San Jose, CA 95112

->Google Map To Z Car Garage<-

We will start staging @ approximately 9:45am to depart to Red Robin.

Point B
Plans are to reach Red Robin @ 10:30am. If you are not planning on Caravanning with the Z Car Garage crew this is the place you will want to meet up with us to have Brunch.

Red Robin
2204 Bridgepointe Pkwy
Foster City, CA 94404

->Google Map To Red Robin<-

Point C
After we Eat (No Set Time, No Rush) we will stage and head out to T.I. We will only be doing a pit stop here to hang out and take some pix. Due to lack of permits we will only stop for 1.5-2 hours and then move on.

Sorry, we don’t have ETA available for T.I.

Point D
Final destination will be Alameda where we will be able to hangout with no restrictions. At this point we hang out until whenever.

Time for another awesome get together!!  This Treasure Island meet is usually an annual deal and this year we are going to try to make it as legitimate as possible.  The meet will be starting at 11:00am and ending somewhere around 6:00pm, or whenever we decide to leave.  There is also going to be a photo shoot scheduled so we ask that everyone arrive by 1:30 so that things can run as smoothly as possible.

A thread has been started by the event organizer over at MY350Z.com so make sure you sign up over there or at least check out who will be attending the show.  I will have more updates here as the day approaches so stay tuned.

Link:  MY350Z.com Treasure Island Event

We will be meeting at Z Car Garage at 9:00am on Saturday the 22nd to make a group drive up to Treasure Island.  A group from Monterey will be joining up as well so we should have a decently large caravan to the show.  DON’T MISS IT!!!

Z Car Garage
140 Archer St
San Jose, CA 95112

(The map below of the meeting point at Treasure Island is a little vague so I will try to find an actual address for everyone, outlined in WHITE)

Just when you thought the ZX was starting to fade into the distance…. something like this eBay auction happens!!  Apparently this is number 1 of 3000 “Black Gold” tenth anniversary 280ZXs and it is trying to fetch a pretty penny through the online auction.

The car has just over 1,000 miles on it since new so it isn’t hard to see why the starting bid is $35,000, but I’m sure that will seem like a bargain in the coming years when there are no more of these cars left.  It looks like the owner is quite the Z enthusiast because you can see a quite a few fellow S30 chassis Zs in the garage as well.  Make sure you check out the listing and all the other photos by clicking the eBay link below, and thanks to Autoblog.com for the heads up on the awesome Z news.

Link: eBay auction: “Black Gold” 10th Anniversary 280ZX

Source:  Autoblog.com

We love adding goodies to the ZCG 370z but it is tough to keep up with it because business is as busy as ever!!  This last week though we were finally able to install the Hotchkis swaybars that have been waiting in the wings.

The new bars are of a tubular design (hollow, to save weight) in 35mm and 27mm front and rear receptively.  They came with all the bushings and parts to make the install as easy as can be.  As you can see from the comparison photos below they are certainly beefier that the outgoing stock units and they now have a durable anthracite powder coat finish.

The car feels a bit more planted with noticeably less body roll which is always nice, but we really need to get the car out on track or at least to a local autocross to give some serious feedback.

If you are interested in ordering any suspension parts for your Z or G send Rob an email at Rob@zcargarage.com