tonycharger72

As I said sport, have a read through what I have said, I don't think I have accused anyone of doing any wrong, because at this point no one has actually done anything yet as numerous other posters have mentioned, ie.......get a product and a price and then we will talk! I have offered an opinion that pretty clearly states that I don't think doing something like this is illegal at all, but if (THATS IF) someone did blatantly rip another vendor off, then you could possibly put people's noses out of joint! I probably lept to John Washington's defence a bit to forcefully though, particulary as it seems his products aren't involved at all in this ! I know this is a state finding and only regulated under state law and I don't know if there is any federal statue overriding this finding or if there was any subsequent findings which differ from this one in 1988, but as Trevor has posted - flat out copying somone else work dosen't appear illegal at all!

I have been trying to take a few more photo's but the flash on my camera dosen't seem to like the idea very much so no updates for a while, but I have reinforced the interior and closed of the original shifter hole because I am planning on using a B&M Shifter. Should have some new pics soon !

Settle down their sport, what are you basing that comment on - have a careful read through what I have said!

Thanks for the run down mate! I wouldn't have thought of doing the flat bottom plate without seeing your prep work and I wouldn't have thought of using expanding foam or even how to cut it - so thanks for sharing your information! It would make my project a lot smoother! I have learn't the hard way that it is so much easier to get the plug right instead of trying to get the copy right as you start close to the beginning again when you are trying to fix up the copy - can be very tedious !

No, you wanted to copy someone elses idea with the possibility of making money from potential sales - this is not for the betterment of humanity, this is a money making exercise ! At any rate...........Have a careful read through my statements rsicard, I am pretty sure my point is fairly clear, literally stealing John's products or anyone elses fibreglass products would be something the original producer would have a very tricky time trying to stop, mainly because even if the dash is customised I really think the original rights to said product would be with the car manufacturer, Nissan - I really don't think you can copyright a copy of something! There is a lot of firms out there selling carbon fibre this and fibreglass that, I think if there was an issue with making these car parts and panels these firms wouldn't exist? The point I am really trying to get across is this!!! Make your own plug and sell copies of that !

I remember when I was looking at Miata suspension into the Z I came across a whole raft of sellers for aftermarket Miata gear, including a few mobs that did V8 conversions, including tubular crossmembers to mount in the LS Engine! Just curious, what is the car like to drive now with the V8 conversion? does it still handle? does it take a nose dive under brakes? how does it compare?

I think there would be a market for this sort of thing, but as the middle man you aren't probably going to realise a whole heap of $$$ from this enterprise because the person you pay to make it won't to it for free and unless they whip it in in China you are going to have to pay them in Paper money! Having said that, you should also be weary about flat out copying someone elses product, even if it is not illegal to do so, which I really think it isn't as long as you advise people that you are in fact a different vendor, you could possibly put people offside by nicking someones elses idea. John Washington is a very nice fellow!

Hey mate, nice work! How long did this process take from start to finish? I am looking at doing something similar with my Z, just so I am clear! You grabbed some expanding foam and slapped it onto the original Spoiler, like so, Then trimmed it down with scissors to get this? Then I presume filled with bog, sanded and sanded and then sanded some more, primed, painted and made a fibreglass copy? Truly excellent work, I am looking at ditching the grill and making a new entrance for the radiator and possibily incorporating the bumper bar - I have seen custom spoilers made from "Automotive Clay", but stuffed if I know where I can get that from, expanding foam is much easier to get !

Wow!!! Just need a turret on the roof and your all set !

I don't know, either way your ripping off someone ! Seriously though, I doubt you could patent something like this, and it wouldn't be that difficult to change the design just enough to claim that the product is "different", so I seriously doubt you could get pinged for stealing someone's intellectual property in an instance like this? Also, it would be fairly debatable about who actually own's the intellectual property (if there was any to own) in the first place, John Washington's dash, I assume, is modelled on the original Nissan Z dash, so in effect you would be copying a copy even though JW's dash does differ significantly from the original. I think you could only get into strife for "passing-off", ie.......sold similar products and passed yourself of as working in conjunction with John Washington in the process of selling said product! Like in your advertisement you put! "Reaction Reserch Z Dash: Now in Carbon Fibre!!!" But this action would be taken in the name of the individual who purchased the item, not the person's whose original ideas were copied! I am not a lawyer though, so my opinion may not hold much water!

I love this idea and it would also serve a practical purpose of rounding of the front of the car and helping aerodynamics! BUT..........I had a really good look at this and the problem I ran into is that you are highly unlikely to find a light that will fit into the Z bucket, so you have to start making alterations to the front of the Z, I found you would have to remove the metal that the headlight buckets mount to, this wouldn't be much of an issue if the bonnet wasn't also connected to this area! Which means you have to put the bonnet hinges in a different location, most likely the back of the engine bay, where the battery and brake booster is located ! If you could find a light that fits into the Z headlight buckets so you could modify them to mount in basically the same way as the original's, but enclosed like the above picturs you have posted, I think this would be a goer - otherwise you are in for some pretty serious fabrication work, from making a headlight surround to creating a new front end and then mounting the bonnett in a different way - I also figured that the bonnet is probably to long, unless you whip up some sort of G-Nose, so you would have to create your own custom bonnet! I ended up sticking with the stock stuff !

I think a bit more planning wouldn't have gone astray when I built my Rotisserie! I used two 900kg engine stands and measured, on uneven ground the heights at both ends, it worked, but the front is slightly higher than the front! It's not a lot of fun to rotate the car once the car is upside down thats when it turns into a two man job to flip it back over !

Oh............the pics don't show up but I assume a triumph? So probably not room at the front, besides altering the firewall I think there may not bo to may ideas available besides trying the twin thermos or the remote water pump! Or maybe ditch the thick radiator and use one that isn't thicker than 25mm?

No way ! There is all sorts of different grades of Carbon Fibre, from the cheapest stuff at around $30/m to the stuff you find on the A380 or in an F1 car at $100-$125/m or more (These are AUD Prices). The process of actually making the CB dash wouldn't be any different than making one out of Fibreglass, you seal up a dash and paint it, wax it and maybe cover it in PVA release - use a stronger tooling gel (so you can make numerous "copies" without f#cking the mould) and your ready to make yourself some copies! If you look at costs of materials, $2/m for chop stran FB mat, about $10-$15 for better quality FB - $30/m for cheap CB, which for a dash you would need about 1.5 to 2sqm's, the cost of the CB is not what makes this sort of thing expensive, because no one would be using the same grade you find on an A380 - what makes it expensive is all the prep work in getting the item to be copied perfect, then making the mould! Actually making the finished dash is the easy part ! Therefore basically everything is the same until the time you make the finished product! BUT...........there is one big difference, if the mould dosen't quite seperate properly or something happens to the finished article in FB, no big deal, sand it, bog it, prime and paint it - you won't do this with CB as most people want the CB look if they pay for a CB item (or whats the point )?

Worked like a charm mate, thanks for the information !

I basically raised my floor pans up 25mm to accomodate the bigger chassis rails that I ran, but I have to worry about ground clearance when I take the car over rego, to low and they won't pass my car! Yes, the original frame rails sucked My new ones are a lot better, before I stuck the car on jack stands and the old chassis rails bowed in, now can literally bounce the car on the new chassis rails and dosen't even come close to making a dent !

Looks like a tubed chassis? therefore a bit of fabrication has probably already gone on? Move the engine back an inch or move the radiator forward until you have clearance, or get some 8-10" thermo fans and mount them either side like suggested, which most likely will work! BUT..........Even if the radiator is 100mm thick, there should be ample room in there for a smallblack chev? Did you custom make the radiator support panel? do you have any pics of that?

Nice work welding above your head like that, very neat!

Isn't 3x2" by 0.125 getting to be just a touch to big? The original Z chassis rails are a hat design, which hang down about 10mm and are approximately 65mm wide with a 1.25mm sidewall, Unless you place the tubing far above the original flan pan line you would be removing a fair amount of ground clearance using stuff that is 50mm tall, plus with a sidewall over 3mm that stuff is pretty heavy duty!

Purchase yourself a cheap MIG welder, something with an amp rating of between 25-30 to 150-180amps and uses GAS wire, most MIG's will allow both gas and gasless wire! I am sure in the USA you could pick up a good quality 3-5yr old MIG for under $500 easy, or a lot less if you wanted to go cheap! Get yourself a Miller knock-off welding auto-dark helmet, which you should be able to get for under $100US easy! Then check out the welding/fabrication section, There is this FAQ in the welding 101 thread! http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tutorial.htm It is extremely helpful, MIG welding is really easy and anyone can pick it up without that much fuss - after a little bit of time you will start to know when you are getting proper penetration, what settings will burn right through thin metal, etc, etc, etc!!! One thing I would say though is stay away from GASLESS MIG Welding as a starter, it's trickier and leaves a hell of a lot of mess, plus the cheaper ones will spend most of there time spitting and sh$tting junk everywhere ! I learn't to weld around November last year And some nice new engine mounts! Just buy a decent 2nd hand brand name unit, then check out that MIG tutorial website and then weld everything in site !

Easy, just quickly whip up a custom firewall like this ! http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6738 Seriously though, Have you tried moving the engine forward by hacking up the front original Z crossmember? Just enough to get that sump forward, This is what 240hoke did when he installed a VQ35! He has a website that shows this particular process. This is from his website, http://www.vq240z.com-a.googlepages.com/frontsubframe As long as you don't use the aftermarket SR20 sump with the big "ears" - this mod should work just fine!

Hey Marc, How do you get the passenger side exhaust flange off? It is connected to the oil dipstick and for the life of me I can't see how you would get the manifold off without having to pull the oil dipstick out, which would most likely require popping the sump off! It can't be that idiotic !

The 280zx panels are a completely different shape - the guards on the 240-280z are much further inbound than the ZX's, means the ZX bonnet is much wider to! It would honestly be easier to make your own guards out of steel then try and get them to fit ! There is a mob in Australia called Alfa Fibreglass who do a G-Nose for the Z (there is a post in Body Kits and Paint Section about them) for $500AUD, they apparently have a pretty good name, Their G-Nose is a 2-piece unit and from the pics I was sent it looked pretty good!

I haven't been able to accurately measure the cars ride height yet because I haven't been able to properly re-compress the suspension since I installed my RX7/Z struts, rolling it up and down the driveway hasn't done the trick plus the ground is pretty un-even and the tires might be a touch flat, which could all be leading to worse than anticipated front end geometry, But good to know I can do this to reduce Camber if required!

Check out the Welding and Fabrication section, some pretty good stuff in there regarding floor repairs and replacing frame rails, Do a search on "Bad Dog Frame Rails"