Unfortunately the Z Car Garage twin-turbo G35 was hit while at a dead stop on US 101 last Tuesday night.  Please do not talk (or text) and drive. The damage to the bumper is obvious but what is underneath is far worse.  As you can see from the photos the main bumper crash structure is completely destroyed along with the bumper support.  The car was hit hard enough that the exhaust was pushed forward and a few of the brackets were broken.  Now we have an exhaust leak and we are hoping that the turbos and manifolds are not damaged.

Don’t worry though, this is somewhat good news!!  We have been wanting to get rid of the tiny 2.25″ Injen system for a long time now and we finally have a reason (and someone else to pay for it!)  Now the plan is to make our own custom system out of 3″ stainless steel.  As far as downpipes are concerned, we were going to use the 3.5″ APS units but there is a chance that we will be making something of our own design here too!!

No decision has been made yet on what rear bumper we are going to run yet (stock or aftermarket) so if you have any suggestions leave a comment and I will look into it.   Hopefully this will be a blessing in disguise and the car will be returned to it’s previous glory as soon as possible.  I’ll put up another post when repairs/mods begin!!

Here are a few photos I was able to take during this week’s torrential downpours.  I hope you enjoy them.

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last week, we have been extremely busy with R&D in the last few days.  Expect to see a few posts with ZCG original product info coming very soon.  All the testing we have been doing lately is really starting to pay off.

Also, from these shots you can see that we have gone back to the stock wheel/tire combo currently because we have a track-day planned in the very near future with the GT-R.  The one off HREs are being mounted up with fresh rubber for the event as we speak.  There have also been a few other changes as the car is going through a small transformation as we look to the future with our GT-R.  Godzilla is on the horizon.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference.  In this case we have a 1973 240z that was in need of a bumper re-do to make it as beautiful as the early cars.  This car first came to us last year with the idea to re-spray the engine bay and replace the tired 2.4L with a factory long-block 2.8 and a new set of SU carburetors.  It turned into a half restoration that was finished just in time to deliver to the customer for Christmas last year.

It came back to us a few months ago to have the bumpers smoothed and re-chromed with all the over-riders removed and their respective holes filled.  A few weeks ago Rob and I took a trip to the chrome shop to check on the progress and ended up making a few changes to the bumpers to be ensure that we would be happy with the finished product.

The bumpers were finished on Tuesday and I was given the task of prepping and carrying out the re-assembly.  All related brackets were repainted and all new zinc plated hardware was used.  We were also able to source all new bumper rubbers because the both the front and rears had seen better days.

I had a little trouble finding shots of the car before the change but there is one at the San Jose Auto Show from last year where you can sort-of see the front over-riders.  The newest shots show the nice change that took place after all was said and done.  So now the customer has his beloved Z back again just in time to enjoy for Christmas, a nice gift indeed.

Click on the “read more” for tons more photos of this nice 240z

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At Motoring J Style earlier this year we were lucky enough to be pulled aside by a writer (Telly Sahara) and photographer (Akio Hirano) for Vintage Auto magazine published by Lightning.  They were very interested in shooting both the ZCG RB 240z and 510.  We were happy to oblige and a meeting time for the next day was set!

When we met the next morning they began to take shots of the entire shop along with some of the other vintage cars that we store for ourselves and customers.  We then set out on a mission to find a few suitable locations to shoot the two “Go Green” Datsuns.  They wanted to keep to the green theme and luckily I knew where we could find the most well manicured grass this side of a Montecito golf course.  The only thing stopping us from shooting there were three large concrete pylons made to prevent this exact thing.  Lucky for us, Datsuns are extremely skinny vehicles!  Picture SUCCESS!

Next we went to a nearby condominium complex that has a nice round-about.  We were able to jam up traffic for the next few hours while we positioned the cars in every position possible.  The photos that came out of this set look great and were well worth the effort.

After returning to the shop the photographer asked Rob if he could drive the 510.  Wow, he has more courage than I do.  Rob never lets anyone drive his 510 (usually only shop employees), but he felt in his huge Datsun heart that it was the right thing to do.  And it turns out that he owns a high horsepower N/A SR20 510 in Japan that he uses for drifting.  They came back about twenty minutes later with huge smiles on their faces.

Good times were had by all on this day, and it was well worth the trip from Japan.

Sorry but I couldn’t find any links for an offfical site for Vintage Auto.  Your best bet to find this issue is to go to your local Japanese book store.  Happy hunting.

Today’s post concerns another meaningful 280zx restoration that we are undertaking right now.  This car started it’s life as a normal ZX but was put under the knife to receive extensive modifications almost immediately.  It is now a collector’s item and a truly special car to the Z faithful.

This car runs a vintage “blow through” turbocharged and intercooled 3.1L engine that breathes through Mikuni 44mm carburetors.  It is truly a unique setup that allowed Jim Cook to make great power even with the limited technology available at the time.

This car is soon to be under attack from the ZCG assembly crew as we have just received a slew of parts from our powder and ceramic facilities.  Expect to see some posts on this project in the next few weeks as things come together.

There are more pictures and more background info on the 280zx Turbo after the “read more.”  The owner was also gracious enough to gather some information on the car and Jim Cook himself and send it in to us here at zcarblog.com

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