250 GTO Owners Thread

[smash]

OMG - 1st and 6th pics are simply awesome. What a totally stunning car. Totally stunning.

[COZY Z COLE]

I made this thread a sticky because the people doing this mod certainly deserve a special recognition.....

 

 

LARRY

[chelle]

Well thanks again all

I tried to shoot some short video clips today - but the files are too big with the new camera.. I uploaded some high res pics from the car show in the Photo Gallery Hybridz section here: http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=14877&cat=502

 

Chelle

[Con Brio]

I made this thread a sticky because the people doing this mod certainly deserve a special recognition.....

 

 

LARRY

Thanks 'CZC'.

Kind Regards.

Mark

[chelle]

come on guys! let's see more of everyone's cars!!

here's another of ours at Carlisle

 

[Zerrari GTO]

I need to break away from Chelle's GTO porn to ask a technical question.

 

I am getting ready to bond the rear tub onto my Z body and wanted to know how I should treat the rear valance panel. John Washington's instructions require that the rear tub be secured with adhesive where the tub meets the rocker and door jam area. The rest if the tub is secured by filling the cavity between the Z body and the kit body with expanding foam. There is a gab of a few inches between the rear valance panels and I wanted to know if it was typical to leave the Z's valance panel in tack or cut out a portion.

 

The reason I ask is because I am planning on cutting out a couple of oval exhaust ports through the fiberglass and did not want to have to cut through sheet metal, a layer of foam and then fiberglass. There is a member here named Maichor with a LS powered Velo Rossa who made a similar modification but he has not posted in quite a while or answered any of my messages. Here are some pics of his: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=96038 see near the bottom of the page.

 

Any feedback is appreciated.

[Zerrari GTO]

Well, after viewing some of Maichor's pics I can see how he trimmed the valance for this modification.

 

His VR build was really coming along nicely; I wish he would chime in on this post and let us know how it is progressing.

[Boy from Oz]

The body-fitting manual I have for the coupe includes a photo of the valance being trimmed. The manual is of unknow origin but the persons captured in the photos has liking for flared pants, paisley shirts and facial hair - you can guess the age of the document.

 

I noticed in chelle's last offering to us mere mortals that her car did not show the inner fibreglass guards at the front. I have been wondering if the guards should be fixed to the car or to the fidreglass front clip. Mine seems not to fit either perfertly. Any comments would be appreciated.

[chelle]

Zerrari - I have to say I dunno on your question of bonding... though my preference after redoing old bonded panels and seeing what happens to unevenly bonded panels or ones that even a little oisture got to is to cover as much as possible with West System resin and fill and to eliminate every possible pocket that could allow moisture to seep in. Seriously I have seen some panels that appeared well bonded or had just the tiniest crack at the edge that when you removed the panel there was extensive corrosion. Considering how difficult it can be to get to all the areas that the rear tub might be covering I might try and bond an aluminum panel with mounting tabs to the rear body section along the taillight area or something along those lines so that air could move in there to let incidental moisture to dry out completely and the unibody could flex a little without creating cracks in the bonded area.. I'm probably not describing what I mean well.. sorry I'll try and think about this more when I'm more awake.

 

You mentioned "GTO porn" I hope you mean that the way I took it as a the pics I posted being nice. I'm proud of what we built and hope posting more pics might inspire others to post more

 

Boy from OZ, The inner fenders we used don't attach to the front clip. When we had the stock "Alpha1" clip on the car it had inner fenders that fit nicely just inside the wheel openings. After the nose was on the car, these were bolted to the holes that secure the stock inner fenders. Unfortunately those inner fenders didn't work with the modified nose, nor did the other inner fenders we bought from Scorpionz. Keep in mind though our nose is pretty extensively modified. Tom even tried to discourage me from using them but I bought them on the chance they might fit. What we ended up doing is making aluminum ones that bolt to the steel front framerails. They are essentially a 19" by about 65" sheet for each side. Ideally I'd like to use an english wheel and form inner fenders that would hug the contours of the inside of the nose better, but we just don't have the room for a wheel or the time to tackle that right now. Our inner fenders are not mounted in the pic of the car without the nose as they have to come off to lift off the nose.

Chelle

[Zerrari GTO]

Zerrari -

You mentioned "GTO porn" I hope you mean that the way I took it as a the pics I posted being nice. I'm proud of what we built and hope posting more pics might inspire others to post more

Chelle

 

Chelle, I meant it in the best way possible. I have always enjoyed the pics of your car and am looking forward to posting a few of my own when it is complete.

[chelle]

Chelle, I meant it in the best way possible. I have always enjoyed the pics of your car and am looking forward to posting a few of my own when it is complete.

 

Kewl I thought that's how ya meant it - an that's how I took it... but after thinking too much I started to worry that I mighta been coming across as a "attention wh....". And if I was being annoying with all the big pics then I wanted to make sure ya knew I just really love the car and that I hope others post pics and updates too

 

I have posted lots of "in progress" pics and look forward to seeing everyone's pictures at whatever stage the cars are at

 

That said here's a couple new pics of the interior. I think we're going to redo the back of the console different (it looks too squared off right now), but it's coming along The serial cables to connect the laptop to the computer and wideband controller come out the armrest area of the console and the pouch on the dash is really just a cover to hide the stereo. We haven't decided if the top is going to get covered or will be left bare aluminum yet.. and need to do a little more tucking of wiring as well as decide what to do about door panels. Two screws at the top of the switch plate release the top of the dash so we can access all the master cylinders, fuses, relays, etc..

Chelle

 

[COZY Z COLE]

The quality of the work being done on these cars is an inspiration to all HybridZ members who are in various stages of completing work on their cars.

 

 

 

 

LARRY

[Boy from Oz]

'chelle' - thanks for the info on the inner guards.

 

I'm in Melbourne for a couple of weeks and noticed this GTO replica coming up for auction in a few days. I might just drop in to see what interest there is from bidders. A standard 6 cyl one sold last year for $32,000AUS - that's about $26-27,000US

 

http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/lot.jsp?id=O391PAR7BLNB0R80#

[Here comes trouble]

Times have changed ! What tire recomendations for the 8'X15" Daytons that will conform to the size of the GTO wheel opening ? (a comment by Mr. Goodman would be gladly accepted).

[Boy from Oz]

It is difficult these days to obtain 'baggy' tyres, i.e. those with a high aspect ratio. The modern trend for safety and performance is to fit wider, large diameter wheels with low profiles, or low aspect ratio, to achieve the same rolling diameter. The introduction of multi-seat passenger vans has however provided some 15" options but you need to check the speed rating as well.

 

The original GTO tyres were Dunlop L700 ® and L600 (f) which are unsuitable for road use and I read where the road going GTOs were using tyres fitted to Rolls Royce cars in the 70s & 80s. The L700 had a 29" outer diameter but I'm not sure of the front - 26", I think.

 

See the R6 & R7 tyres here. http://www.stuckey.com.au/tyres.aspx?BN1=Dunlop%20Motorsport&BN2=Dunlop&Category=Racing

 

A modern day 265-75-15 gives the 29" dia and 225-75-15 would look pretty close for the front. The 75 aspect ratio being the key issue but you may have to settle for 70.

 

Here is a great overall reference site for tyre info. http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

[smash]

You could have a look at www.longstonetyres.co.uk for ideas - they specialise in historic style tyres (also supply genuine Borranis ironically!) - they have specific pages for Ferrari etc. tyres

 

Look out for Avon CR6's (radials) - they're a fantastic looking tyre - very popular with GT40 (originals) brigade (they sold out completely during lead up to Le Mans classic, LOL!). A friend has them on his cobra rep and they have unbelievable amounts of grip plus look utterly superb - you may hear arguments about short life through wear, well I can only go off what I've seen of his tyres and they don't look like they're wearing quickly.

 

Also have a look at Michelin XWX (radials)

[Zerrari GTO]

'chelle' - thanks for the info on the inner guards.

 

I'm in Melbourne for a couple of weeks and noticed this GTO replica coming up for auction in a few days. I might just drop in to see what interest there is from bidders. A standard 6 cyl one sold last year for $32,000AUS - that's about $26-27,000US

 

http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/lot.jsp?id=O391PAR7BLNB0R80#

 

That car is sweeeet! Even the semi-stock interior looks good with the GTO body (I'm not usually a fan of Z interiors with GTO bodies). Toyota V8 and the finish work looks great from the pics; let us know how it turns out.

[SpeedRacer]

Hey Here Comes Trouble - I have Dunlop D65 Touring P205R70’s installed up front and P225R70’s on the rear. If they were 1/4" larger in diameter they would not fit. Under full torque the right tire just rubs a little undercoating off the front of the wheel well.

 

Since the rims are very wide the tires look great installed and look like they match the car - i.e. not to wide but not to narrow either. Dunlop supplied the original GTO tire but the tread pattern was much different than these. However, the tread pattern is pretty normal and doesn’t get anyone’s attention.

 

Make sure you check the actual size of the tire you are installing because they vary from one manufacturer to another as well as one series to another.

[Zerrari GTO]

Since the rims are very wide the tires look great installed and look like they match the car - i.e. not to wide but not to narrow either.

 

Speed,

From the photos of your car the rims look like Daytons; is that correct?

Are they 8" up front and 10" in the rear?

Do you have any offset information?

Thanks!

[Here comes trouble]

I am still looking for the Dunlop D 65 and 70 Touring tires My Daytons are all 8 inch with the rears highly offset. These were the recomended wheels by Rod Simpson/Pre Stable Works..................26inch for the front and 29 inch diameter for the rear sounds right. I have some 15 x10 inch Halibrand on the rear with 275 x 50 BF Goodrich on the rear and stand at 25 inches and slightly smaller than the wheel well. BF Goodrich seems to still have a wide range of 15 inch tires. .Goodyear has Eagle GT tires in 15 inch @ 26 (P235) inches and 27 (P255) inches. My car will not simulate a GTO that well but I am not ready to put BF Goodrich Radials on it for public consumption or run neon lights underneath.