Shop Talk for
Z-Car enthusiasts!

Click here to go to the Z Car Garage home page...Click here to go to the Z Car Blog home page...
Performance Parts for Nissan, Inifiniti and Datsun Cars
Search:

ZCG CV Axles and Panasports for Bruce’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

Filed under: 240z,Parts
by Alvin G @ 2:40 pm on February 2, 2026

 

This is Bruce’s 1971 Datsun 240Z featuring our Z Car Garage CV Axles and Panasport Wheels. Before we go into the parts let’s hear how Bruce got his Series 1 S30…

 

BRUCE: My love affair with the Z began in 1983. I owned #2112 and quickly realized how special Series 1 cars were. I drove that car as much as possible. It was sporty, sexy and huge bang for the buck. Sadly, I had an accident with it and it was a total loss. I loved the car so much, I vowed to get another but this time do it with no expense spared. Fast forward to 2017, I found the current Series 1 car in the garage of an abandoned building in Silverlake Ca. $1,500 later, she was mine…

 

…I convinced Don Byars at Full Throttle Panteras, who restored and modified my award winning DeTomaso Pantera, to restore this Z. His extreme quality demands, attention to detail and passion for special cars was just what the car needed.

 

BRUCE: Although he worked solely on Panteras, he enjoyed the build and the attention the car received being in his shop. It was my job to source parts and get answers to difficult questions and that’s how I came across Z Car Garage. Rob was very generous with his assistance and was a great resource for the wheels, CV axles and the fuel injection system. The quality of parts and such detailed service Rob provided was invaluable. Sadly, Don fell ill in 2022 and passed away before the build was complete.

 

ROB: I met Bruce in 2019  when he called to purchase some Panasports from ZCG. We talked about the Z and some of the upgrades we have, philosophy behind the cars and how we strive for the right product to do the job. Bruce would keep in touch and later purchased a set of ZCG CV Axles and a KOYO race radiator plus our own hose that make. We can’t work on every Z car because of limited bandwidth, but it’s really cool to  share a few things that we’ve developed to make a Z car better.

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 200 CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback. Here are Bruce’s CV Axles installed on his ’71 Z:

 

The ZCG CV Axles complement a full suspension rebuild with new parts from Techno Toy Tuning:

 

BRUCE: In 2023, I moved to southern Oregon and had found a great shop for my classic cars and the Pantera. Chris at Custom Performance and Rods in Central Point Oregon generously agreed to finish the project. Two years later, she was complete. Chris loved the service Rob provided and the beautiful machine work on the CV axles. They were easy to install and really held up well with the high horsepower being pushed through them.

 

Panasport Wheels

 

Bruce purchased a set of 16×7 Panasport Wheels from Z Car Garage. We are an authorized Panasport dealer with have limited sets available for fitment on your S30 Z car with 225/50/16 tires. Bruce always loved Panasport wheels and getting a set was on his wish list since he was a teenager. Don Byars who built his ‘74 Pantera chose the slick Gun-Metal color:

 

 

 

Interior

 

Bruce’s interior choices were subtle with a simplified center console, stitched dash and custom covered seats.

 

Drivetrain

 

The Z sports a Rebello 3.0L L-Series engine with Jenvey ITB fuel-injection. Rob provided support for the EFI and KOYO Race radiator. The engine is backed by a T5 5-speed transmission:


 

Enjoy this video of Bruce’s Z in action. Volume up!

 

Enjoy The Ride

 

BRUCE: I have since put about 800 miles on the car working out bugs and now she runs and performs beautifully. I can say for the most part, my collection is complete. My goal was to build a stock appearing Z that had subtle modifications and had the performance of a Daytona Ferrari. I believe I achieved that. Eliminating the stock marker lights and the stacked Ansa exhaust makes the car seem sexy and sleek. I’m still unsure about the T5 transmission that is in the car. The only plan for the future is to possibly swap the tranny out for something better.

 

“Thank you for the privilege to showcase my Z. Z Car Garage puts forth passion for the marque that is intoxicating and addicting. These are great cars and Rob makes sure everyone realizes it. He is an asset to the Z community.”


Thanks for your support Bruce we love that you are Enjoying The Ride and Long Live The Z! More photos in the gallery below

…[read more]




FOR SALE: Datsun 240Z Dash (NOS)

Filed under: 240z,260Z,Parts
by Alvin G @ 2:45 pm on January 26, 2026

 

This is a Series 2 Datsun 240Z dash. It is brand new and in the original box. Personally owned by Rob Fuller of Z Car Garage for a long time. The dash is perfect. Here is your chance to own a NOS dash.

Price: $5,000 SOLD

 

Contact Rob at the shop to more details: rob@zcargarage.com or call 408-452-0350

Long Live The Z




EVENT REPORT: R’s Day 2025 at Laguna Seca

Filed under: 510,Events,r32,R35,Racing,Skyline
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on December 15, 2025

 

R’s Day, one of the largest gatherings of Nissan Skylines on the West Coast was held on December 7, 2025 at Laguna Seca Raceway. Z Car Garage attended the event and supported our client Kurt in his R32 GT-R. Rob brought out the Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 and several ZCG clients all had a great time. Enjoy our report with photos and videos!

 

Kurt’s R32 GT-R

We prepared Kurt’s R32 Skyline GT-R for the track day. Earlier in the year it received a fresh RB26 motor and turbo upgrade to complement the new KW coil-over suspension and Stoptech Big-Brakes….

 
 

Dyno tuning Kurt’s R32, volume up!

 

Kurt enjoyed driving his R32 at Laguna Seca with fellow GT-R owners. Photos by gtrx.app, and you can see more of Kurt’s R32 on his Instagram

 

Rob’s Vintage Racing Datsun 510

We also dyno’d Rob’s B-Sedan vintage racing Datsun 510:

 

Here’s Rob’s report from R’s Day…

ROB: Cooper and I loaded the BAAD car to Laguna Seca, our home track during the vintage race season. It was really fun to bring out my Datsun 510 race car with all those cool street cars. We had Dirk stoop in his 1973 Datsun 240z, Amy in her RZ34, Joseph in the RZ34 # 49 car, and a few others including Miles’ R32. Our main focus was to support Kurt in his R32 GT-R which has been modified and tuned by ZCG, full report coming to zcarblog.com soon.

 

I’ve been to a few R’s day and this was the first time I’ve driven. Each event has seen a steady increase in attendance and it was the most R32, R33 or R34s I’ve ever seen. It was incredible to be in a paddock filled with lots of cool Nissans… There was Pat’s RB-powered Pat’s Kenmeri (featuring our ZCG CV Axles):

 

All kinds of really cool cars and kudos to the R’s Day team as they were just super organized: the meetings and downloads were quick and informative. I love their grid process. Everything was just wonderful and we will definitely be back next year. Kurt’s car rocked. There were some pretty fast cars  including Charles Park from Powertrix with their time-attack R35 tuned by SpecialtyZ. Sean Morris and Brian J from Top Rank, people from all over the California GTR scene. Todd Lapin from Norcal Skylines cooked HotPot in the garages! It was just a very festive, community-oriented vibe and I had a blast.

 

Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

 

Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z features Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (StopTech), Z Car Garage CV Axles, Silvia 6-speed transmission and a host of chassis and driveline upgrades. Rob dyno tuned the 3.0L Rebello L-series engine with triple-Mikuni ph44 carbs, making 265hp/231tq at the wheels.  We prepared the Z for R’s Day and Dirk had a great time:

DIRK: Yeah dude, massive difference! Work done by ZCG just before the day:
1. New rear sway bar (ST suspensions), car did not have one before, last Sonoma track day, being able to rotate the car on entry was difficult, this change was made to help that
2. New RE-71RS tires, Rob found old tires were pretty much spent, Dirk ordered tires, car stayed at ZCG an extra day so that they could be installed before the track day
3. Suspension and brake inspection
4. Change diff and trans fluids

Car rotated much better with the new rear sway bar, now able to rotate just by lifting off throttle in turns, quicker, and more fun. Felt great, very predictable and forgiving at the limit.

Photos by sflcks and Cooper:

 

 

Joseph’s 2023 Nissan Z

 

Joseph’s 2023 Nissan Z proudly wearing the Joel Anderson-inspired #49 livery:

JOSEPH: It was a beautiful day at Laguna Seca (as if anything else is possible) with GT-Rs from every era, as far as the eye could see! There was also a very famous 510 in the mix…The #49 new Z ran great on its new 18×10.5 SSR wheels (275-35-18 Nitto NT01), but the day was cut short by cleanup of an oil spill from turn 6 to turn 10, and one of my brake pads deciding to delaminate in the heat on the way into turn 2. We’re putting race pads on next time! I made my goal of breaking 1:50, so I left with a smile on my face anyway.

Check out his R’s Day session at Laguna Seca (in-car video HERE)

 
 

 

Amy’s R34, Rob’s 510 and Kurt’s R32 GT-R….more photos in the gallery below!

 

 

 

…[read more]




RACE REPORT: CSRG Sears Point Challenge and Season Finale events

Filed under: 510,Racing
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on December 11, 2025

 

Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the Sears Point Challenge at Sonoma 10/3 and Finale event at Thunderhill 11/1.  Z Car Garage participated  in both events, supporting several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group. Great weekends filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our race reports with photos and video!

 

Sears Point Challenge 10/3-5

 

ROB: Beautiful weekend at historic Sonoma Raceway (which will always be Sears Point to me). We had a a few bitchin’ 510s including Tom Dockery and Kenny. Super excited to test out the suspension fresh and adjustments on Noah’s Bluebird coupe.

 

Everything seem to be working well with Tom, Kenny everyone up to a really good pace, it was fun.

 

Lots of cool hardware in the paddock:


VIDEO

Turn the volume up and enjoy the sounds and sights from the paddock at Sonoma Raceway!

Vintage Spec Miata

 

ROB: The Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) is excited to welcome Vintage Spec Miata (1990-1997) to all of their events! This is a fun, affordable way to get into vintage racing. Each event we see more really clean VSPs coming out to race. Season high for us in Sonoma, with I believe 10+ cars out there:

 

Speaking of glorious…we would like to introduce you to “Little Butters”, our 1991 Vintage Spec Miata that will be available for rental throughout the vintage race season. Contact Rob at ZCG for details. Since this is a new build for I drove it for the weekend to make sure it was sorted and ready to rock for any client that wants to enjoy it. It has a competitive race engine, Penske shocks which are the current suspension for SCCA Spec-Miatas. Just to pay tribute to how wonderful Mrs. Butters Z (our Series 1 shop 240z) is,  we painted it Safari Gold. It’s nickname is Little Butters,  Josh likes to call it “I can’t believe it’s not Butters” and then we picked the number 23 because we are Nissan dorks.

 

Anyway it was fantastic to have the car out and then honorable mentions are Lora B, she keeps kicking ass in her Spec Miata and Allison as well. Also on Saturday and Sunday we had Ross Lindell in the Randy Pobst National Championship-winning Miata (1992)…pretty cool that Miatas are old enough to have their own vintage class and then also have one of the their own ambassadors:

 
 

Super excited for the season to play out at Thunderhill. Huge thanks to Josh and Cooper for keeping us safe all weekend , Meghan and Oliver for taking care of the snacks and the tire recycling. I love that event. CSRG is magical. If you haven’t been to one those events you ar emissing out, so come on out! WE’ll be posting out race scehule soon after the holidays.

 

CSRG Finale 11/1

ROB: Every year CSRG ends their season with the Finale at Thunderhill. This event is lightly attended and results in tons of track time. There’s an Enduro on Sunday with with a faux LeMans start… and it is just rad. The Saturday night dinner is a special event and we are seeing more and more people showing up. It’s been two years since I have had my Datsun 510 out and it was a great way to end the season racing it. 

 

Troy Ermish brought his 510 and we had a really nice B-Sedan field with a ton of Dimes out there. Most important 510s to us obviously include Tom Dockery and the return of fire captain Todd R,  Noah, Tom, Alison and Rob was out stable for the weekend:

 

It was just awesome having so much track time. Everybody was kicking ass and taking names, and by Sunday afternoon I think we’d all kind of figured that we’ve had enough track time which is unbelievable for us to say. Once again Josh and Cooper kept us all safe all weekend long and we rocked it. Oliver was on tire recycling duty and Meghan on snacks while enjoyed the small town feel of Willows.

 
 

We enjoyed Saturday night dinner with CSRG and it was so much fun to see everyone. I hadn’t seen Josh Moriarty in a long time and he was out there kicking ass in his 510. There was a really great group of these ex-GT3 cars (tube frame/ fiberglass bodies).  Jim Froula was in one (240SX) and a kid I run Spec Miata with (Joseph Carl) was out there with his Dad in a super cool vintage 1st-gen GTU RX-7.

 

VIDEO

Turn the volume up and enjoy the sounds and sights from the paddock at Thunderhill!

 

ROB: We had perfect weather and another race reason in the books.  Can’t wait for 2026 we are super excited and will be traveling this year. There will be a big Japanese big-bore/bash with Sovren in the PNW and I’ll be going to the Rose Cup at PIR in my Miata. Get out there and race! If you have any questions/thoughts about racing with us please contact Rob at rob@zcargarge.com

Tom Dockery

 

Tom Dockery continues to enjoy racing in his Ex-Norm Balzer B-Sedan 510. Here is his report from both CSRG events along with some great in-car footage

TOM: The Sears Point Challenge was a fantastic weekend filled with learning and improvement. With Kenny, Noah, and me as students, Rob skillfully coached, challenged, and encouraged each of us to push our limits. As a result, I managed to improve my lap times with each session, achieving a new personal best at Sonoma.

 

The CSRG Finale at Thunderhill was fun, although it had its frustrating moments. We shared track time with the higher horsepower group 8 machines during all 10 sessions. The frustration stemmed from some group 8 drivers opting to start from the back of the field despite their qualification times. As they worked their way through the field, they didn’t always take the easiest path, requiring slower drivers like me to let them pass, which affected my race pace with competitors I hoped to stay with.

VIDEO

Volume up and enjoy. in-car video action from Tom Dockery’s Datsun 510!

 

TOM: There were positive aspects too. I learned the freight train signaling method to coordinate with teammates at the start. Noah and I used this technique to block a NASCAR Cup car that tried to prevent the faster B-Sedans from overtaking in the corners. Josh and Cooper provided excellent support on both weekends. At Thunderhill, Josh performed a fuel pump swap while Cooper replaced a lower radiator hose, ensuring we didn’t miss any sessions.

 

See more photos in the gallery below (Thanks Meghan!) and stay tuned for our 2026 race schedule!
…[read more]




EVENTS: Mechanical Mystery Tour with BCR 11.8.25

Filed under: 240z,Events
by Alvin G @ 2:40 pm on November 23, 2025

 

On Saturday, November 8, Breakfast Club Rally hosted the Mechanical Mystery Tour. Known for their wonderful Northern California events, the MMT is especially exciting because it is held in our backyard near the Santa Cruz Mountains. We love attending BCR events. They are always well-organized and the variety of cars is tremendous.

 

Our client Jim H attended the MMT rally with his 1971 Datsun 240z. It is now sporting a Rebello 3.2L with Jenvey ITB EFI, Recaro Specialist seats, CD009a 6-speed transmission, our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles!

 

Jim had a great time driving on the event and kindly shared these photos. Also attending were our clients Miles and Kurt W. in  their R32 Skyline GT-Rs:

 

More photos in the gallery below!

 

Thanks Breakfast Club Rally! More MMT event photos from BCR’s professional photographers can be seen HERE.

 

…[read more]




« Newer Articles — Older Articles »