Spotted

A good customer and friend sent this over today. He was driving and spotted this 993 Carrera. Love the miss green color, anyone know what it’s called?

Advertisement

Braid Wheels for your Porsche

Whether your Porsche is a classic or modern, street or race, rally or tarmac, Braid makes a wheel to set it apart from the crowd. A wide range of sizes, custom widths and offsets to accodomate whatever you can dream up! Your world-class car deserves nothing less than world-class wheels.

Contact us at z1sales@z1auto.com to arrange a set for your car.

Merging of Classics

Classic Porsche + Work Brombacher wheels = something that will look good 20 years from now. Not a trend, not a hip-today look, but something that endures. That’s what modifying a car should be all about, but often, is not. Contact us for all your Work Wheel needs at z1sales@z1auto.com

Perfection on 4 Wheels

It can’t possibly get any better than this

Clone Wars

Browsing around the net over the weekend, I was amazed at the number of people who have chosen to invest in their existing used car vs buying something brand new, and even more amazed at some of the values out there. In the Porsche world, clone cars have been all the rage for quite some time. If you’re an avid reader of the blog, you know that we routinely post rate versions of great Porsche’s. There are so many factory gems Porsche has done over the years it’s sometimes hard to remember them all. But since the platforms all start out as whatever the current iteration of the 911 was at the time, it can represent a great chance for an enthusiast to build their own vs trying to seek out an elusive, original version. There are some awesome second hand cars for sale out there, especially for performance and luxury enthusiasts. Now is a great time to take advantage the depreciation that has hit the market and score a bargain.

One that caught my eye was this 993 RS clone. It appears to have been done to a higher standard, using lots of factory original Porsche parts. Since the work has been done and the car already depreciated, it could be a good value for someone who wants to buy a completed project, vs embarking on their own.

Powergrid Endlinks for your Porsche, BMW, Corvette, and More!

We’ve been offering the Powergrid endlinks for the 350Z and G35 for years. Google it, you’ll find out what everyone else already knows. That if you want the best endlink on the market, you found ’em. Well, we’re now carrying them for your Porsche as well.

This is why they are important, what they do, and why you want ’em:

The endlinks connect your swaybar to your the rest of your suspension. As the swaybar moves during a turn (or technically, resists moving), the endlinks job is to keep the bar parallel to the ground. Whether you have stock swaybars or aftermarket, the harder you push your car, the more prone your stock links are towards snapping, or breaking. Many modern day cars use links that are made of cheap stamped steel, and many are even plastic! They are designed to be used with softer stock spring rates, and less grippy tires than true enthusiasts tend to use. As you increase the grip of the car, the endlink is placed under greater strain to control that swaybar. The same holds true when you’re fitting larger diameter, and adjustable swaybars. These stiffer bars place greater load on the endlink and those stock endlinks were never designed with that force in mind. The second thing to consider is when fitting lowering springs or aftermarket coilovers. As you adjust the height of your car, you can often cause your swaybar to change position. That means during the compression stroke of the suspension, the stock swaybar can be limited in its movement (aka binding), which vastly reduces the ability of the bar to do it’s job. For those with coilovers, this becomes even more important if you’re looking to cornerweight your car. Having an adjustable endlink such as this allows you to adjust swaybar preload, and that translates into more effective cornerbalancing results and more effective swaybar tuning.

Applications – tons! If you’ve got a performance car, we probably have an application for you.

Porsche:

BMW: E30 (M3), E24, E28, E34, E39, E46 M3, E90, E60
Acura TSX
Audi TT
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac XLR
Corvette
Cobalt
Dodge Charger
Infiniti G35
Mini Cooper
Mazda 3, 6, Miata
Mazdaspeed 3 and 6
Mazda RX8
Nissan 350Z
Porsche 911, Boxster and Cayman
Scion TC
Toyota Supra
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
VW GTI
VW Eos
VW Jetta

And we’re always looking to add more! These endlinks aren’t cheap to buy because they aren’t cheap to make. They use genuine THK components (THK is an OEM automotive supplier to tons of manufacturers). They don’t use hardware store heim joints like so many others out there. Those start out great and in short order tend to get very noisy as they are exposed to the elements, and accumulate dirt, sand, moisture, salt, etc. These endinks are different. They offer the articulation (ability for the endlink head to rotate, thus keeping the swaybar in the correct position), but are fully sealed. Never will require any maintenance – no grease, no cleaning, nothing!

Classic Z1 – Part 1: Drag me to Hell

Over a series of posts, we’ll take a look back to where Z1 Performance began.  We’ll chronicle some of the projects, and events from back in the day and share some old photos and stories along the way.

Z1 Performance, the brainchild of a few die-hard Datsun fanatics, saw Adam’s 1979 280ZX as a veritable guinea pig in a project that would strive to blend old school and new in a timeless package.

Mike was the owner of Z1 at the time and an experienced mechanic.  Along with Billy (an equally knowledgeable tech) they had been restoring, repairing, modifying and racing Z-cars for years prior.  They had the experience, parts and knowledge required to get this project off the ground.  Together with Adam’s vision, they targeted the ultimate street car of the time; the 993 911 Turbo, capable of running mid 12-second 1/4 runs with a full interior, A/C, and stereo.

This ZX was not destined to be a trailer queen.  Rather, it would be a fully functioning daily driver as comfortable cruising to work as it was on the drag strip.  As the project grew legs, progress was made quickly.  It wasn’t long before we were all spending Friday nights at Long Island Dragway for test-and-tune.  The boys would have hours to make countless runs, note changes and results.

Phase 1 was simple: Turbocharge the higher compression N/A 280zx motor using OEM Datsun turbo parts along with a rising rate adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

Phase 2 required the stronger Turbo motor’s internals, a front mount intercooler (Starion core) high flow fuel pump, larger turbo and a programmable ECU (Electromotive TEC II).

Phase 3 would bring along a fully built motor, aggressive cam, massive injectors, larger turbo and intercooler plus loads more boost.

Once armed with the ECU, Adam scoped out the few dyno’s available in the area at the time and gain some experience tuning the L series for boost.  We’ll have to search for dyno sheets!

Success wasn’t always the name of the game, and driving the ZX to and from events and testing would often mean long nights prepping and repairing.  I recall one particular test session at LI dragway when the original N/A tranny finally let go…after perhaps one run.  After a tow back to the shop (and a large bill), Mike and Bill had another tranny bolted up in under and hour and we drowned our sorrows with pizza and beer.

Through it all, we built not only fast cars, but solid friendships that would stand the test of time.  While Mike and Bill have since moved on to other careers, they are still very much a part of the Z1 family and continue to offer their assistance, experience and knowledge in their free time.

Is it a prybar or a boost controller?

Likely waiting for an authentic LI Dragway hotdog in between runs

Sitting pretty!

There we go!

That's right, a brushed aluminum gas cap in '96. Z1, setting trends!

Compensating for something?

Now that's competition!

Would this be called "attack mode?"

Who won the holeshot?

Niiiiice!

On the dyno, after a quick stop at the airport for jet fuel! No joke.

Again...

All of it, impossible without this man (Mike). That hat was stlyin in '96!

The last 993 from Autosports that I will post…

…for now.

’96 993 GT2 Street

Ok, ok one of the last two 993s I will post up from Autosports

I love 993s but I don’t want to be super repeititve with our blog content.

By the way here is the link to Autosports for those who can’t find it 😉

1997 993 Turbo-S

1997 Porsche 993 GT2 Cabriolet

I’m not in the market for one of these at the moment but I can’t help but to drool over Autosports’ inventory. I’ve never actually seen a 993 GT2 cabriolet in person before. This thing is clean.

Bullrun 2009 NYC Start Photos…

Here are the photos from the start of the 2009 Bullrun Rally. Some cool cars.

View from the Street – 2

View from the Street – 1

Shelby GT 350

MMS Audi R8 – Wheels

Porsche 993 Turbo S – Rear Emblem

Porsche 993 Turbo S – Rear

Matte Black Ferrari F430

SLR McLaren Roadster – Front

Maserati GranTurismo

CEC Techart GT Street 997 Turbo

Slantnose Porsche

Koenigsegg CCXR – Rear

Koenigsegg CCXR – Front

Lamborghini Superleggera

PES Supercharged Autonet Audi R8 – Side

PES Supercharged Autonet Audi R8 – Motor

PES Supercharged Autonet Audi R8 – Front