This is the moment we have all been waiting for as Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts! For the first time ever, Nissan will be the featured marque at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 23-26. Now in its 45th year and commonly known as the Monterey Historics, the Reunion is a highlight of the famous Pebble Beach “car week” in August. This event features the best of every decade of racing history, all condensed into four days of qualifying and competition at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway.
Even if you are a seasoned race car fan or hardcore Datsun nut this is the event you don’t want to miss. To make it even sweeter the good folks at ZONC are proudly sponsoring the Nissan Car Corral AND a Parade Lap around the world famous Laguna Seca Raceway!
Datsun & Nissan Exclusive Car Corral Parking
At past RMMR events our Nissan car corral has been mixed with the other marques. Not this year. We have the incredible spotlight and desirable PAVED parking between Turn 2 and 5. It will be our time to shine, let’s make a strong showing by bringing our beloved cars out! Have a Nissan Skyline GT-R from the 90’s? Bring it. Got a Datsun 510 Wagon? Bring it. Nismo R35 GT-R? We want that too. Remember, this is THE best place to park your car, enjoy the races AND proudly represent!
To participate in the Car Corral and Parade Lap you must buy tickets through ZONC, details can be found by clicking HERE. Take advantage of discounted general admission through ZONC and let’s make this a superb showing of our Nissans and Datsuns! Please spread the word to fellow owners 🙂
In case you missed it, here is our coverage of last year’s RMMR: RMMR 2017
We plan on bringing the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA 240zto participate in the race! We are really excited for our fellow racers this is going to be an EPIC event. Enjoy a few photos from past RMMR events. LONG LIVE THE Z!
One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. From all of us at Z Car Garage we thank our friends, family and customers again for another exciting and productive year! Please note our holiday closure below:
*ZCG will be closed from 12/22 to New Year’s Day. We will re-open for business on 1/2/18*
Before we take a look back at highlights from 2017, check out our exciting plans for 2018 including motorsports events and several customer projects.
Catch us at Road Atlanta in Georgia for the 2018 Classic Motorsports Mitty April 27-29. We will be running pit crew again for John Morton piloting the #46 BRE 240z owned by Randy Jaffe. Nissan is the featured marque!
Just a few of the many customer projects coming along at the shop including full restorations:
Scott W’s 260z is slated for completion in Spring. This Z has a complete color change, ZCG Big-Brakes and a sweet 3.2L with Jenvey ITB fuel injection:
Tim N’s 1973 240z will also be getting new paint, a 3.2L with Jenvey ITBs and our ZCG Big Brake Kit:
Richard Y’s series 1 240z is fresh from paint:
Tuning of the OS Giken TC24B1Z, turn up your speakers and enjoy!
Several Z32 projects will be completed as well, look for full reports next year!
We are excited about our new Big-Brake kit for small (14″) wheels. Debuting at JCCS earlier this year (report soon) we have performed a few local installations into Z cars and 510s. Look for an official offering early next year for S30s, 510s and other Datsuns.
Changes at Z Car Garage
Stay tuned for announcements in 2018 including a new website and business changes!
Highlights from 2017
Enjoy these highlights from 2017 and Z you in the New Year!
The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) is one of the oldest Z car clubs in the nation. In its prime they had over 600 members with close ties to Yutaka Katayama (“Mr. K”) and Nissan USA. Of the many events and fun runs they host throughout the year including the famous Blackhawk Museum Show, we had a wonderful time attending their ZONC Annual Car Show in Brisbane, CA held on July 22, 2017.
This was a relaxed, relatively small gathering of enthusiasts that we shared with a group of ZCG customers and friends. Our Saturday morning caravan to the show began at the shop with seven Z cars, one roadster and a C110 Kenmeri Skyline:
Here is a short video of the ride to Brisbane with all of our cars…just Enjoying The Ride on a Saturday!
Highlights from the show
Still to this day, 240Zs are the most represented model in the club. Expansion over time currently includes all recent Z models and the GT-R, but also reaches back in time to include the Datsun Roadsters and 510s. 41 cars were displayed this year, each one of them special and showing pride of ownership. The only model missing from the show was the Z31 300ZX and that’s because the only one registered somehow overheated on the way.
From showroom stock to wildly-modified the S30 selection was diverse. We are very proud of ZCG customer James S’ 1972 240z. This hot rod sports a Rebello 3.2 L-series engine with boost provided by a GTX3576R turbo and Haltech management. The exterior is quite menacing with large carbon fiber flares containing 17″ VOLK TE37 wheels wrapped in sticky Kumho slicks. ZCG Big Brakes are at all four corners. Stay tuned for a full report on this beast as we dial in the E85 tuning!
Frank Burkeen’s stunning Series 1 240z is the result of a full rotisserie restoration. We will have a full report on this build soon, but if you take close look at that stock engine bay it’s impossible to tell that it makes about 50hp more than stock!
Frank is also a long-time ZCG customer and his wife drove his other Z car, a bright orange fuel-injected canyon carver. We love the Chevlon mesh wheels and they do a superb job of framing our ZCG Big Brakes!
Our friend and fellow vintage racer Glenn Chiou’s 1971 Nissan Fairlady 240Z-L is a RHD model with a Rebello heart and a host of period goodies. The original paint is impressive and this car just looks so “right” from all angles.
260z and 280z
ZCG customer Joe A showed his pretty 260z, fresh from the shop (full report on the blog soon)
Linda W’s 1978 280z
S130
Who could forget the S130 280zx! Black Gold too:
People
We like this show because of the laid-back atmosphere and good folks that organize it. You won’t find Drake or EDM blasting through loudspeakers here. No bikini contests. Just Z-car and Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts simply sharing their love about cars.
Z32
11 Z32 300zx cars were displayed ranging from high-mileage survivors with original owners to show-spec pristine examples. Kevin N and Joe K’s Z32 Twin Turbos are both top-level examples of highly modified yet tasteful machines:
Jack and Yolanda’s famous widebody Z32s. Jack is the creator of the original “primadonnaZ” back in the 70’s.
This 1994 NA Z32 caught our eye because it had 332k miles from its original owner!
Z33
If you are a fan of Japanese classic cars there’s a good chance that you have visited Japanese Nostalgic Car. JNC’s senior minicar correspondent and all-around J-Tin guru is Ricky Silverio and he is also a Z-car owner! Here is his pristine, 10k-mile 2003 350z Track model that we will be performing services on soon. Like his other sports cars, Ricky shows impeccable taste in his “OEM+” mods. Check out more pics in the gallery as there are many “easter eggs” in his Z!
Z34
This is the first show since 2009 that Nissan USA helped support and ZONC was very happy to have a new NISMO 370Z on display:
We spotted this pair of of white NISMO Z’s. Nissan’s final evolution of the Z34 is the best looking, in our opinion:
510s
Three Datsuns 510s showed up, two with KA24s and one sporting an L-series. Datsun die-hards may remember this familiar 510 that belonged to builder Gary Jervis:
Our favorite (and the crowd’s too) was Matt’s 510. This boosted KA24DE Dime ticks all the right boxes for our love of low-flying bricks, and he also won 1st place for Best 510!
The Kenmeri Skyline
Alex M lent us his C110 Skyline to participate in the show. It was well received and even won an award!
Roadsters and Best of Show
The lone Datsun Roadster, and winner of Best of Show award went to Dan M’s pretty ’69 Datsun 2000. Dan also brought his ’72 240z!
Vanity plates
It’s no secret Z car owners have the best vanity plates! Some notables:
Parking lot finds
The beautiful venue is also a public park so plenty of folks stopped by to check out the Z’s.
Award Winners
It is always great to see ZCG customers carrying home awards for their pride and joy.
James S won Best Modified and Super Modified! Joe A won best 260z and Frank M won Best Stock 240z!
See you next year!
Spending the day at the ZONC Annual Car Show was a welcome experience that reminded us to, in the words of the late Mr.K, ” Love cars. Love people. Love Life.” We look forward to the next show keep an eye on our event updates and Z you soon! Don’t forget to check out our picture gallery below! Big thanks to the ZONC organizers and Ricky Silverio for sharing his photos with us.
Scott N visited ZCG because he felt the suspension on his 1994 Z32 ‘Vert could be improved. The Z33 Rays wheels look sharp on this 300! We installed TEIN coil-overs and a few other goodies:
Here are the existing shocks and the new TEIN street coil-overs going in front and rear:
Z1 upper control arms:
SPL tension rods so we could fully adjust camber up front:
The rack bushings are vey common problem on z32s so we replaced them. In the back: the aftermarket adjustable upper control arms were making noise so we replaced them with OEM parts and performed a full alignment.
Martin B has owned this 1991 300zx Twin Turbo Z for a very long time. With 237,000 miles on the clock he visited Z Car Garage for the first time in 2013. The difference between a general repair shop, an independent repair shop and a Z car expert is a big deal on a Z32 because it is a car that you can get behind on quickly. If you are not well-versed in this chassis you will throw parts at it endlessly, often leading to more repairs.
After more than two decades of working with Nissans, the crew at ZCG have got it down. The 90-96 Z32s are some of the raddest Japanese sports cars of the era. We know what to do and what not to do. For Martin’s first visit we corrected the knock sensor and harness, replaced the clutch with a JWT HD unit, turned the existing flywheel, replaced center support bearing, clutch M/C, power steering hoses and corrected rack bushings:
JWT Clutch and flywheel
Heater core repair:
We installed a few suspension parts including new adjustable camber arms:
The transmission had several leaks needing attention:
After 237k miles the driver’s seat had seen better days so we rebuilt it from frame to padding and sent Martin on his way…
Later that year, after enjoying the car with the ZCG touches he felt that it earned a place in his collection. With 240k miles on clock, we removed his engine/transmission for a rebuild using a Rebello VG30DETT with JE pistons, Eagle rod and balanced with ACL bearings. Full engine bay harness service as well. Many more pictures of the build in the gallery below!
All hoses and parts in the engine bay that are relatively inexpensive were replaced while the engine was out:
The drivetrain is installed and buttoned up. A clean Z32TT engine bay is a treat to look at, despite the complexity:
On the dyno the freshened engine made 318hp/320tq to the wheels:
It has been since 2013 and Martin’s Z now has 255k mile on the clock. We touched up everything and added some Work Emotion wheels (not pictured).
