Time for another cruise!!  Some of you have just enjoyed the ZONC/NSXCA trip to Hearst Castle and already there is another weekend event on the horizon.  This time the trip is to Antelope Valley to visit the Blackbird Air Park and the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

There are going to be to be two starting points for this trip, one here at Z Car Garage for the bay area members, and the another at a restaurant in Sacramento for the central valley participants.  The drive is set to take place on a few back country highways if the weather permits and lodging is available through a ZONC package for those interested in staying with the group.

There are is a limited amount of rooms available so act fast.  Contact Ann Devor at (925) 943-1173 or anndevor@gmail.com.  Click on the flier at the top or head over to the ZONC website for more info.

Long Live the Z!

I was over at our local Infiniti dealer today to pick up a few parts and was lucky enough to take a photo of four 370Zs that were to be delivered to a Nissan dealer this afternoon.  The I didn’t get a chance to talk to the driver but the cars looked pretty sexy when all strapped down for shipping.  It looks as if tying the cars down lowered them an inch-and-a-half to two inches.

After I took this photo, I also saw a white 370z being driven down the street.  I have a good feeling that this new Z is really going to take off and be loved by consumers.   We will be making our first modifications on a customer’s car in just a few weeks so look for a full write-up in the near future.

Rob just got back from William’s Auto Body (check his site out and support one of our own) where the car is getting painted and all of our jaws dropped when we saw the pictures he took, and he says it looks even better in person!!  When you look at the photos it almost seems as if the inner fenders have been sent to a chrome shop.  This is where the many hours of tedious preparation show and pay off.

The engine bay is all that is painted for now, but the finished shell is just on the horizon and we can’t wait to get it back to the shop and begin the mechanical work!  I will have some pictures for the blog when the next coats go on so stay tuned.  Have a great weekend.

Oh yeah!  There are a few more photos after the ‘read more.’

…[read more]

Up for sale is this Datsun 1200 fastback which is in amazing condition.  Check out the For Sale section for more infomation.  Happy Friday.

I know… I know… Many of you have been waiting patiently to hear what has been going on with this 350z project car.  Now I am here to feed you a just a teaser of what is to come!   From the graph below you can see that the car made 500whp and almost 500wtq at 15lbs of boost on our terrible CA 91 octane fuel.  Remember that this car has a built automatic transmission, with a drive train loss of over 20%.   That puts the crank horsepower rating at or above 650hp!!!

If you are wondering why the car hasn’t made more all you need to do is consult the dyno graph again.  Just as the torque converter locks up the numbers seem to go flat.  This is because the car has a mere fifteen degrees of timing in it.  When fully tuned this car will run close to 18 or 19 degrees of total timing which will smooth out the graph and bring this engine to life!

REMEMBER THIS WAS JUST THE BASELINE RUN WITH THE NEW TURBO KIT

After more timing is added and the air fuel ratio is adjusted, we expect to see the graph continue to climb into the atmosphere.  Only time and tuning will tell, and for that you will have to wait just a little bit longer.  Drool away.