We had a tremendous week racing at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 14-17.  More commonly known as the “historics” at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, this epic vintage race is part of several events occupying the week-long Monterey car festival leading up to the Pebble Beach Concours.  Our friends over at JNC were lucky to experience the Pebble Beach scene in all its opulence and excitement. From the multi-million dollar auctions and surprising Japanese classic entrants check out their coverage HERE.

If it’s the smell of 110 octane, straight-piped exhausts and wheel-to-wheel action you desire than look no further than the historics. Typically I would cover this event from a spectator’s point of view. This year, I was fortunate to be part of the Z Car Garage race crew and bring you, dear readers, a perspective from the pits as a first time participant.

 

Joel Anderson and Restoration of the #49 IMSA Z

Z Car Garage was thrilled to team up with original owner, builder and driver Joel Anderson to bring the IMSA Z back to life after being stored for 25 years.  Restored to late-70’s spec as it was raced, this IMSA GTU-prepped Z does not have new “trick” parts.  Parts from Joel’s collection were re-used and common wear items were refreshed. Below:  Original race seat and MOMO Prototipo steering wheel. Original suspension parts were plated.

 

Our man William applied Joel’s bespoke striping:

 

More detailed restoration photos and our full interview with Joel can be found HERE. We were very pleased with the engine bay…plenty of Joel’s engineering remains intact:

 

We applied the vinyl livery, took a step back and pinched ourselves…are we still dreaming?

 

With all of the vitals checked, #49 rests before heading to Laguna Seca on the original trailer Joel used decades ago at Road Atlanta:

 

Racing at Laguna Seca

For the Friday practice session we drove the ZCG Datsun 2000 to Laguna Seca and parked alongside some fellow roadsters owners in the paddock. Arriving at  ‘Seca early morning with the track enshrouded in fog is surreal.  Despite the moisture and most high-dollar machinery still under car covers, a few brave souls were on course for their practice sessions.
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John P is a new Z car owner and found this Z32TT in the Pacific NW.  When we first met John his Z had 110k miles on the clock and he decided it was time to modify…so we gave him the works! Before the go-fast goodies were installed we addressed all of the car’s issues John discussed with us and ended up with a beautifully clean, well-rounded 300zx.  Our first order of business was in engine bay, correcting the PCV system which had been bypassed/cobbled together:

 

Next, we found an injector problem and performed the common late-style conversion. The 1990-1994 Z32TT’s have fuel injector problems because Nissan used a wet coil design. This left the injector coil wire prone to oxidation over time and eventual shorting. The solution? Convert to later style injectors using the early fuel rail. There are several adaptor kits on the market to achieve this, making servicing/removal a breeze without the need for removing the manifolds. For John’s Z we wanted to run 740cc injectors which is only available in the new style:

 

More engine work including full timing belt services along with valve cover removal/refinishing:

 

Driveline was upgraded with a JWT HD clutch and flywheel. Keen observers may note that the exhaust has changed too!

 

Larger downpipes greatly improve flow over the stock manifolds. The best downpipes for your Z32TT (in our opinion) can be found at SpecialtyZ. These are 3″ units:

 

The Z was treated to a chassis steam clean, making a clean grime-free backdrop for the new exhaust system!  The downpipes were mated to 3-2.5″ midpipes:

 

With wiring and general cleaning the engine bay looks much better!

 

A few chassis upgrades included SPL T/C rods and bushings as well fresh rear brakes:

 

With the mechanicals sorted John added a few lighting improvements to the interior. The dim stock displays benefitted from new LED sources. Check out the difference:

Even the climate control display is improved:

 

More LED upgrades throughout the cabin:

 

All of the work above was completed on John’s first visit. On the dyno the new exhaust clearly makes a noticeable improvement in power. We picked up 31hp/33tq to the wheels:

 

John visited ZCG for the second time for upgrades!  We installed more parts from our friends at SpecialtyZ  like their Selin dual MAF.  To improve breathing we also installed larger Stillen intercoolers and charge plumbing from Ash-spec:

 

Finally, low-profile engine mounts from BDE offer more turbo inlet clearance:

 

With larger ICs, plumbing and dual MAF’s we tuned John’s Z and it now makes 372hp/360tq to the wheels:

 

Enjoy The Ride, John!

Alex T is the owner of this pretty Black Cherry Z34 and he visited Z Car Garage on referral from our boost junkie friend and customer Juan F.  To satisfy Alex’s desire for forced induction we installed a Stillen supercharger kit that was actually used on Grant K’s Nismo 370z.

 

Out of the box, this older Stillen kit left plenty of room for improvement so we invested in several upgrades like 1000cc injectors, Aeromotive high-flow fuel pump, pulley and these engine oil/automatic transmission coolers:

 

The transmission received a GTM valve-body upgrade and stock bypass valve was replaced with a blow-off valve:

 

Fast Intentions test pipes replace factory cats:

 

To put the power down more effectively we installed a Quaife limited-slip differential, using the stock 3.36 R&P:

 

With all of the modifications and UPREV tuning Rob extracted 435hp/343tq to the wheels. This is a 147hp/104tq gain over stock:

 

To monitor vitals Alex chose PLX Device’s OBD2 multi-gauge. We first installed this trick, wireless sensor/gauge package on Steve’s G35 with an iPhone interface.  For Alex’s Z34 the multi-gauge was seamlessly integrated into the OEM pod:

We love the brilliant display and wealth of data that can be accessed:

 

Enjoy the Ride Alex!

Check out more pictures in the gallery:
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Mike U visted Z Car Garage back in May for Stillen intakes on his Nismo 370z. The Z was a gift to himself and with just 2800 miles on the odometer he got the modification bug. In addition to the intakes we installed a Fast Intentions exhaust system and Eibach springs:

 

Exhaust before/after:

 

A few more shots of the system:

 

The Fast Intentions system looks great and also frees up some power!

 

We saw a 7hp peak gain at the wheels over baseline:

 

With Rob’s UPREV tuning Mike’s Z34 now makes 315hp/256tq:

 

Eibach springs improve the stance and SPC camber arms keeping the alignment in check:

  

We dig the slight ride height reduction:

 

Enjoy The Ride, Mike!

On Sunday I attended the Saratoga Classic Car Show in beautiful downtown Saratoga, Ca. Now in its 5th year running, thousands of car lovers flock to this historic strip of Big Basin Way.  Two-hundred cars line the street with music, vendors, shopping and plenty of fun for families. Despite its huge following I had never heard of this show happening in my own backyard until a friend sent me the flyer. I thought it would be cool to represent Japanese classic cars with the Datsun Roadster so I signed up and enjoyed the day with family.

 

I’m a huge fan of muscle cars and Hot Rods so this show was a refreshing break from the J-tin that is close to my heart 🙂 Here are some of my favorites:

From Ford:  “Bullit-esque” Mustang and Pro-Touring Shelby fastback:

 

This Thunderbird had a wicked stance and Halibrand-style wheels:

 

From Chevrolet: Pro-Touring ’57, trackday Camaro, C1 ‘Vette, Yenko tribute and mean Chevelle:

 

The roadster was well-received and I spotted a very clean S30 down the street! Maybe next year we can bring more JDM flair to the show!

 

Speaking of roadsters, there was a large contingent of English droptops including this absolutely bonkers turbocharged Sunbeam Alpine:

 

Sporting some sweet vintage Enkei 92 meshies with sticky Re-11s this DE-prepped beast even had a “TIGR ETR” plate!  Below: very clean MGA, Tiger and E-type:

 

I thought I was out of place with the Datsun and then I saw this beautiful ’68 Audi 100…on bags!

Such pretty lines it reminded me of BMW’s famous E9 chassis. The Rotiform wheels were perfect:

 

I was in Torq-Thrust and vintage wheel heaven. Some of my favorites. I love flat caps on these:

Check out the gallery for more pictures!

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