240Zs rule.  They are lightweight, handle amazingly well, and are easy to work on; but what do you do when the reliable L-series engine runs out of breath?   Simple, bring it to Z Car Garage and install a set of 44mm Mikuni carburetors, new header, and a slightly larger exhaust system…. and hold on!!

The amazing change in the dyno numbers only tell half the story.  The fun factor of this car is now light years ahead of where is was when the car first came to us.  The torque now stays strong through the entire rev-range and the increased breathing capacity now allows the engine to spin freely to six grand if you so desire.  There is an increase of FORTY horsepower and the same in torque through the last 1,500rpm.  This is a life changing difference.

One of the reasons this looks so drastic is the inefficiency of the semi-odd dual carb setup that this car came to us with, but the results prove that that this is one huge step in the right direction to making this car about as much fun that the owner can handle.  The car is now using three individual ITG filters to make sure that the newly found airflow is clean enough for government work so please don’t think that we sent this car on it’s way with no filtration.  Sorry that I don’t have any pictures.

On the horizon for this car is a possible camshaft change to get the last bit of power out of this engine so expect a post in the future if this comes to fruition.  The smile on the owner’s face hasn’t left since we gave the car back and it seems we have lit the fire under another early Z enthusiast, we are happy to help.  ZCG

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

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Hot Import Nights (HIN) is amazing.  That is obviously my opinion but if you are into tuner cars or the ‘import’ lifestyle how could you disagree?  The cars featured at the HIN events are straight off the covers of today’s hottest magazines and the energy in the cars and surrounding crowd rival that of a Slayer concert.  To up the ante even more is the blaring music of all genres, gorgeous women dancing to said music, AND top drift stars from all over the world destroying tires and whatever else gets in their way!!

We have known the HIN crew for quite some time and even traveled with them on the “Follow the Nissan Z” tour from our shop in San Jose, CA all the way to Las Vegas, NV.  They never disappoint…. good times indeed.

At this event in San Mateo I was caught off guard from the moment that I walked in because there were Zs and Gs everywhere.  It seems that we (ZCG) cater to the most popular cars in the import scene for the time being, good for us!  Modifications ranged from wild to mild as the old saying goes, everything from simple lowering springs and an intake to full-on one-off wide body kits with turbos and nitrous equipped to every possible orifice!  Oh my.

The other half of the show cars included Supras, Audis, Evos (VIII-X), Scions, S2000s, and even the occasional Mustang(?).  Engine swaps abounded throughout the show with the all-conquering 2JZGTE engine (Supra) being swapped into everything under the sun (FD RX-7, 350z, IS300, etc).  There was also a really clean Mazda RX-7 with an LS-x engine swapped under the hood.  Many of you know that we have performed one of these swaps and they are simply a blast to drive.  Do yourself a favor and get a ride in one.

The drifting competition was great, but with it comes my only beef with the entire event, no grandstands of any sort.  I had a tough time seeing on my tip-toes and I’m 6’1″ without shoes.  The skill these drivers possess is something not of this Earth, car control to the Nth degree.

When it was time to head home the ZCG crew was more than impressed with the entire event.  So impressed in fact that we have been in contact with the event organizers and we will be making our presence known at the next bay area stop in Pleasanton.  We have a few crazy ideas that we hope to pull off between now and then so make sure to mark your calenders for the HIN event on July 18th.

Please support HIN and ZCG by visiting their website and events, and make sure to tell them that ZCarBlog.com sent you!

Now onto the photos!!!  There are almost a hundred pictures after the “read more” so make sure to click at the end of this post to continue!!  (you can also click on the main post title at the top to take you to the full post)  ENJOY!!!!!

Post script:  a few of the shots look dirty and hazy due to all the tire smoke and burning chunks of rubber in the air from the drifting, wicked.

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The little touches that no one notices at first are sometimes the coolest modifications.  In this case a customer wanted the blinking side-marker lights off of the new 370z on his 350z.

Okay, no problem.  Well one problem.  The stock 350 “Z” non-flashing side emblems only use two small clips to locate the plastic part.  The new 370z flashing marker has cylindrical extrusion that is about 1.5 inches tall with a 1.5 inch diameter that needs to go through the fender and be wired to work properly.  We used a small hand saw to make the cut and everything turned out perfect.  The electrical connections simply required us to source which wire was the running light and which was the blinker and then the simple wiring changes were made.  All connections are a quick release style so that the new bulbs can be serviced when the time comes.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about how we secured the light because we need to be able to offer this as a service to customers.  I will mention that we used a couple of custom brackets to make sure that nothing moves around.  This modification is quite simple after all is said and done and I think that it bridges the gap between the new and old car nicely.  Added safety and style are always a good combination.

Please be careful if you are thinking about attempting this yourself because a new fender is not cheap from Nissan.  Feel free to contact us if you would like ZCG to handle it.  rob@zcargarage.com

See the video of the new parts flashing below!

Here are the results from this morning’s plenum swap.  The results are… ummm… about what we expected.

This car is a 02/06 350z with an automatic transmission.  There is an extensive list of aftermarket components on this car ranging from a carbon fiber diffuser to a custom painted roll cage, but this post has nothing to do with any of these mods, it is about the before and after dyno numbers.

The plenum install went off without a hitch and the car was back on the dyno in no time.  This mod was a straight plenum swap with no fuel or timing changes made (the owner did not want to install a Uni-Chip or other tuning hardware at this point.)

Run 003:  Stock Nissan Plenum (BLUE)
Run 005:  Cosworth Plenum (RED)

On to the dyno graph you can see that the Cosworth plenum LOST a healthy amount of horsepower and torque through the entire rev range except between 5,800-6,000 RPM where it gained two, yes two, horsepower.  The design of the plenum just doesn’t seem to work on lightly modified normally aspirated cars.  Unfortunately this is a loss that will really be felt when driving the car.  This plenum is so beautiful that we really wanted to make a ton of power with it so that we could improve the looks and performance of the engine.  At this point I would find it really hard to recommend this to a customer.

Mind you that this is the first normally aspirated car that we have installed the Cosworth on.  My full post with all of the boosted car tests is still to come this week.  That post will include all of the dyno results and all other pertinent test data.  Very, very interesting….

A very good customer of ours was involved in an unfortunate accident which ended with his pristine 300zxtt getting totaled.  As you can see from the pictures the car was rear ended at a high rate of speed.  The good news to come out of this is that he is uninjured for the most part and that there are A TON of good 300zx parts that are now up for sale.

This car is being fully disassembled right now and as you can see we are just about ready to pull the engine and transmission.  The interior has already been removed for the most part and has been carefully put away until it finds a new home.  You can get a complete list of the parts that are for sale by emailing us at rob@zcargarage.com.

There are a few more pictures of available parts after the the “read more.”

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