Z Car Garage is excited to race at GRIDLIFE Laguna October 20th – 22nd, 2023 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This is the final festival of the season, with multiple races including the GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, final round of the NOS Energy TrackBattle Time Attack, and demonstrative drift on track. Off track, a music festival experience highlights the weekend with headlining artist T-Pain.

Rob Fuller will be racing his Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 in the GRIDLIFE Touring Car Cup (GLTC). This is a wheel-to-wheel sprint racing series that focuses on single-class sprint racing. Typical entrants are modern cars like the S2000, Miata, Corvette, Cayman…so we are really excited to throw our hat in the ring and show everyone what a 50-year old Datsun 510 can do. It’s a great opportunity to introduce this crowd to vintage racing!

Rob will be running a treaded-tire on the 510 which should make this a really interesting race to watch. We practice and race on Friday with Races 2, 3 and 4 on Saturday. All races will be livestreamed:

Other highlights include professional drift drivers from all of the over the world. Our friend Larry Chen will be drifting and running chase car duty at GRIDLIFE, you can see the race schedule HERE. We can’t wait to be a part of the festival. See you in a week at Laguna Seca!

Photographer and car culture ambassador Larry Chen commissioned Z Car Garage to transform his beloved SR20DET-powered 1970 Datsun 240Z from an “ok driver” to a no-excuses, multi-dimensional sports car with power, handling, braking, comfort, reliability and performance to match its eye-catching beauty.

 

Larry just released a video chronicling his journey with his Z, affectionately known as “Ole Orange Bang”, featuring our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, chassis preparation, dyno tuning and more. It’s a wonderful video with some killer action of Larry enjoying the Z in the canyons. Check it out below or on his YouTube Channel. Volume up and enjoy!

Thanks for the love Larry! You can see our report of the work ZCG performed on this Z on zcarblog.com HERE and LONG LIVE THE Z!

Z Car Garage has built several cars with our client Randy Jaffe including the Rocketbunny Series1 240Z and #46 BRE Datsun 240Z driven by John Morton. In 2020 he acquired this cool 240Z East-African Safari Rally tribute and we helped him take it to the next level.

History and Acquisition

Randy’s Safari Z is a tribute to the original #11 car piloted to victory by Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schuller in the 1971 East African Safari Rally. Nissan campaigned three of these S30s in the rally, finishing 1, 2 and 7th place while handily beating Porsche’s and other marques along the way. It was a grueling race spanning over 3,800 miles and quite an achievement for the drivers and Nissan. #11 is currently displayed at the Zama Museum in Japan, still wearing its battle scars (more period photos in the gallery below):

Randy has always admired the Safari Z, keeping a 1/18th scale model on his desk for decades:

“I always loved the 1971 story where the Datsun Rally Z cars finished on the podium and just kicked ass over 3,852 grueling miles of torture!! A friend of mine built this car from an oddly enough a Safari Gold series 1 240Z – VIN 03227 with a 4/70 production date, Jim Faria – I almost bought the car from him in 2014 at San Diego ZCON but he decided he and daughter who do a few rally’s together which they did.”

Credit goes to Jim Faria for adding livery replicating the Herrmann/Schuller car with period front and rear spotlights, Nissan mud guards, rear grab handles, hood-mounted light pods and replica East African Safari plates:

The interior also features period touches like navigator’s equipment including 70’s route map, microphone headsets and rally timers:

Randy finally acquired the Z in 2020:

“Fast forward 6 years later at the 2020 Z Car Convention in Nashville.  Jim placed the Safari Tribute for auction on Bring a Trailer. I was like ‘Jim you are selling my car!’ Eventually I won the auction and the Z was immediately shipped to Z Car Garage and featured in a Nissan commercial – from there on together with Rob we took this tribute to the next level.”

Z Car Garage Preparation

Randy shipped the Z from Georgia to our shop in San Jose, CA and we were first tasked with preparing it for a Nissan TV commercial. The Safari Z tribute would be in the “60 Years in 30 Seconds” commercial as part of “The New Nissan” ad campaign starring actress Brie Larson. Here are a few shots from the filming location:

With a little green screen action and some actual dirt driving (somewhere in SoCal) Randy’s Z looks like it is actually ripping through the desert plains of Africa, watch the actual TV commercial below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a7oSMoU-Eg

Photos from the off-road adventure were used in subsequent social media posts by Nissan…this montage shows video clips from an Instagram post with the Safari Tribute getting loose in the dirt:

After performing its duty filming with Nissan, the Z returned to ZCG so we could add the remaining touches that Randy wanted. Here it is at the shop, still wearing its dirt after a quick rinse. Let’s take a look at the details we added.

Drivetrain

Randy wanted to proudly display this historic tribute in his collection, but more importantly (also why we love him), he wanted to drive it so people can see and hear the Safari Z in action. The stock L24 with SUs wasn’t going to cut it, this Z was getting the Jaffe-treatment with an engine to give it some go. A new 3.0 Rebello street race motor using a 10.5:1 head for pump gas was installed with a new 1982 280ZX 5 speed transmission and OS Giken 4.11 LSD.

We provided him with triple-Mikuni ph44 induction (as the original #11 Safari Z ran) complete with Harada intake, velocity stacks, linkages and Z Car Garage Heat Shield covering the Fujitsubo exhaust header:

Rob dyno tuned the 3L, producing 254hp/228tq at the wheels:

Enjoy this video of the Safari Tribute 240Z in action!

Details

Small details can make a big difference, like functional Works-style side jacking points, rear bumper steps and twin-exit exhaust system. We worked with Randy to knock-out his list of items:

“Rob and Gary found a source for the rear mudflaps that are a dead copy of the originals along with their brackets and the vinyl mat that sat in the rear hatch area with the 2 spare tires on top! So many custom pieces to get it right and Z Car Garage made it all happen. We installed new race type seats from Jay at JDM parts along with his version of the original Seiko wheels which the car really needed! I found some 175 x 14 tires made for Postal Jeeps that look very much like the Dunlops originally spec’d. Of course the original car is right hand drive but I’m good with what I have done to the car – maybe find the set of Heuer Monte Carlo stop watches that ran on the dash and that will be it!”

Those rear bumper steps were fabricated to be just like the original pieces. Original car on the left with Randy’s tribute on the right:

At ZCON in 2020 Pete Brock demonstrated how these were used (with grab-handles) by the Safari drivers to literally “rock” the Z out of sticky situations:

Randy enlisted help from industry veteran Dan Passe (Director, Nissan Corporate Communications) who had a Zama Museum contact measure the O.D. of the twin-exit exhaust tail-pipes so we could replicate them:

Mudflaps wearing the “Datsun” (as the original Safari Z) logo were sourced to replace the existing “Nissan” units and also proper steel hangers were installed:

The original East-African Safari Rally cars wore Kobe Seiko Competition Works Rally-Magnesium wheels. These are difficult to source but reproductions are available. Randy is running a set from Jay Ataka of JDM Car Parts. Tires are hand-cut from a Postal service Jeep by Bryson from Classic Livery (of Leh Keen Safari 911 fame). Original on the left:

Inside, the original style REPA race belts were replicated as close as possible. The original Safari car ran Z432 seats, as seen on the Salt Flats 240Z we helped revive. These are also difficult to source so we used race-style seats from JDM Car Parts to replace to stock units:

Here is the Z at home in Georgia with Randy now featuring all of the parts/details:

Enjoying The Ride

Before heading back to Atlanta, Randy enjoyed driving the Safari Tribute during Car Week at Monterey. What a car to cruise in, and he even visited the paddock at Laguna Seca. Here are a few more shots from Randy of the Z in Georgia. We love his new “ZAFARI” (previously “SAFARIZ”) license plate:

We have many photos in the gallery below and don’t forget to see the Safari Z featured on Hoonigan Autofocus (now Larry Chen’s own channel) also looking at Randy’s epic Datsun collection.

Thank you Randy for your passion and continued support. We loved working with you to re-create fun details for the Safari Tribute. Long Live The Z!

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The next-generation Nissan Z sports car will be unveiled Tuesday, August 17 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Nissan is making this a global reveal so Z car fans worldwide can watch via livestream. You can sign up for reminders at Nissan’s American website.

Z Car Garage was fortunate to check out the Z Proto at Nissan Headquarters back in May. We were impressed and can’t wait to see how close the production Z will be…with great styling, twin-turbos and a Six-speed manual transmission sign us up!

The global press event for unveiling the new Nissan Z will be at a private event in New York City. ZCG will be attending the event so stay tuned for live updates!

LONG LIVE THE Z!

We promised our readers a full, zcarblog.com report on Trevor’s 280Z after it was featured on Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Let’s take a closer look at this fantastic daily driver+canyon carver showcasing our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, CD009 Six-speed transmission and more.

The Next Big Thing

It’s no secret that S30 chassis values have skyrocketed in the past few years. While the 240Z commands top dollar it has become out of reach for many enthusiasts. Not to worry, Datsun offered the 260Z/280Z models and both are great, attainable chassis in the S30 world. Trevor shares how he found his 280Z:

“I met my Z in almost completely stock form with 94k original miles. I travel for work, ending up in a new town every 6 months or so. As soon as I had an inkling of where I was going to be sent next, I would start hitting the internet classifieds for a 280z. While the 240z had seductive weight savings over the later versions, my attention turned to the 280z for its fuel injection (with constant travel I didn’t want to have to tune carbs), it’s price/ availability, and they are easier to find with air conditioning.” Below, left is the night Trevor bought his Z:

“I found my silver Z in Phoenix, Arizona. The only things it had on it that weren’t original from the Hiratsuka factory were the wheels, springs, and Toyota 4×4 front brake calipers. The rest of it was stock, and most importantly, complete. I did a little work to get it running smoother, basically replaced all maintenance items and swapped out a few sensors that weren’t working, and then drove it as much as I possibly could.”

Trevor was looking for a shop to take care of his 1978 Datsun 240z and heard about ZCG from a shop tour with Larry Chen on this episode of Hoonigan Autofocus (Thanks Larry!). Trevor brought the Z in last summer and we performed a full inspection before upgrades.

“I chose to send my Z to Z Car Garage after watching Larry Chen’s Autofocus episode on the shop. I could really tell that Rob had a ton of passion for what he does and I knew I could have confidence with him at the helm. Before I had showed up at the shop, Rob and I had talked on the phone about doing the brakes, control arms all the way around, and a couple of other smaller things. I wanted it to handle as best as it possibly could and that meant stopping when it should and having the adjustability in the control arms to set up a proper alignment. ” 

ZCG Big-Brakes and CV Axles

We handed Trevor the keys to “Mrs. Butters”, our 1971 Series 1 240z shop demo car and he was sold on our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles! Butters has a way of doing this to our customers 🙂 Read below for a brief description of these parts:

     

As fellow S30 owner/racer Glenn C mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with engineers at Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments. All fitting behind a 15″ Watanabe or Panasport wheel (and some 14″ wheels) and retaining factory emergency brake lever! A few details below:

Calipers: Stoptech ST42 4-piston front & rear race calipers (Alum 6061 mil-spec Type III anodized)

Rotors: 280mm x 20.6 with Alum 7075 hats

Pads: Stoptech 309 sport street pads

Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.

A few closer detail shots of the calipers, rotors and hardware:

 

We removed Trevor’s existing brakes and installed our ZCG Big-Brake kit. The stock suspension (with Tokico struts/Eibach springs) was replaced by Apex Engineered parts, as supplied by Trevor. Shown below are front/rear control arms and T/C rods being installed, more pictures in the gallery:

   

Front control arms and TC rods:

  

ZCG Big-brakes replacing the Toyota 4×4 caliper setup:

      At the rear, the factory drum brakes were replaced with our ZCG Big-Brakes. Factory handbrake functionality IS retained!

    

Trevor is impressed with the braking performance:

“I quickly found out that even after just a short spirited mountain drive, the Toyota brakes would get hot and fade. It didn’t help that after getting a taste for driving her quickly, I wanted to do a few track days in the future. I knew I wanted a brake upgrade, one that I would only have to do once. After getting back to Southern California I was really able to put the car through its paces on the canyon roads. The ZCG Big-Brakes proved their worth and were consistent and didn’t fade even after a few good rips up and down the mountains. This car sticks to the road insanely well. With the alignment and new tires it just carves.”

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. We have over 130 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.

 

Trevor has CV Axle set #335. Stock half shafts (L) and ZCG units:

 

More pictures of the ZCG axles installed, also visible is the ZCG Exhaust system:

Panasport Wheels

Complementing the new Big-Brakes on Trevor’s Z are Panasport wheels! We replaced the aftermarket wheels with 16×7 Panasports and sticky Bridgestone RE-71R tires in 225/50/16. The Z was fully aligned:

Engine

We knew the car would be stopping and handling better than before, so we installed a Moroso oil pan and Koyo aluminum radiator to keep temperatures in check. Other than cooling and fuel system work, the engine was largely untouched to maintain factory reliability.

 

We replaced intake and exhaust manifold gaskets with factory Nissan parts and few ZCG tricks including a certain exhaust nut and exhaust stud.The exhaust manifold was replaced with a Pacesetter header ( to clear six-speed) leading to our ZCG exhaust system with stainless resonator and slash-cut tip.

 

Dyno Tuning

Rob dyno tuned the L28 with OEM EFI. Baseline was 133hp/149tq and with Rob’s tuning it made 143hp/159tq at the wheels:

Enjoy the dyno run video below:

Driveline Upgrades

We built Trevor an OS Giken LSD, a perfect upgrade for anyone doing spirited driving.

“As with the brakes, I figured the best way to do the driveline was once so I also went with an OS Giken LSD and Z Car Garage CV axles.”

  

We changed the final drive, installing a R180 4.11 OSG LSD built in in-house:

     

The clutch hydraulics were replaced to work with new aluminum flywheel/JWT HD clutch combo:

Six Speed Transmission

Next on the update list, we were really excited to install a Nissan 350z 6-speed manual transmission behind the L-series in Trevor’s Z. You read that right! S30 owners can now bolt-in this robust, 6-speed manual behind their L-series engine!  You might remember our first application of Austin Hoke’s custom 6-speed adapter kit on the OS Giken TC24B1Z-powered 240z:

  

Using the 6-speed conversion kit from Hoke Performance we installed a new CD009a transmission from the 2003 -2008 Z33 in Trevor’s 280Z:

  

Here is the brand-new transmission from Nissan being unboxed:

 

The kit necessitated exhaust header changes and after testing a variety of headers we found the Pacesetter 6-2-1 unit provided enough clearance. Serial 9 provided the shifter relocation assembly and we are really happy with its performance. Also shown is the aluminum driveshaft.

 

 

It fits! More installation pictures in the gallery. It’s a very discreet look from the cockpit…until you feel the amazingly direct and precise feel of the CD009a!

 

Trevor is in love with the six-speed, we are as well:

“I had done my absolute best to convince myself that I didn’t need a transmission swap and my wallet and I were on the same page as I went to drop the Z off at Z Car Garage. Where my wallet and I started to have a disagreement was after Rob let me take Butters for a spin. After feeling the CD009 perform there was zero chance I was going to get my car back without one on the back of my L28. However, the more I was driving the car in the twisties, the more I started to become unhappy with the uneven gear ratio gaps between shifts.” 

Details

We sorted out little things for Trevor like making his Speedhut tach and speedo functional. The car was fully detailed:

  

The Z was cut/buffed with a detail from JB mobile detail.  We’ve worked with Veto at JB for years and he’s a big Z car enthusiast:

 

Driving is Believing

When Trevor picked up car, he was blown away:

“The car I got back is a totally different machine from the one I had dropped off. The result of the perfect combination of driveline parts is a sore face caused by either smiling the entire time or from your face almost leaving your head as Rob shows you just how well the brake kit works. Rob also threw her on the dyno and finally got the stock system performing perfectly. I’m sure it’s making more power than it did even new back in ’78.”

  

The Z was recently featured on Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Larry and Rob discuss the work ZCG performed and take it for a spin. Watch the video to get an idea of the six-speed and power from Trevor’s280Z:

We enjoyed working with Trevor and he’s been Enjoying The Ride in his Z:

“I had flown up from the LA area where I was working to the shop in San Jose. My plan was to drive the car back down the PCH to get a feel for my new machine. I couldn’t believe how much fun the car was to drive on curvy roads. The CD009 feels great behind my L28. The shift pattern is short and precise, it’s fantastic. The rear end has no play and pairs nicely to the race feel of the CD009. One of the best parts of the combo is how easy it is to drive. It feels like you have a race car transmission but with the ease of use of a street car.”

 

 

“She’s back at Z Car Garage right now as my job has me in Omaha for the rest of the year. I have been talking to my wallet about coil overs and maybe an engine build while the car is in San Jose. My Z and I are apart right now but I cannot wait until I’m able to eat up more miles with her. She is a wicked joy.”

 

Thank you for entrusting us with your S30, Trevor. We are so fortunate to work with owners that appreciate the Z and believe in our ability to make them better! LONG LIVE THE Z!