ZROSSA

Sorry 250, should have said " most red". Great that you are near the end of the project. I have actually managed to do some work on mine. Fixed the rust but still have to make up some glass panels. Getting there. Slowly. Cheers Douglas

Thats looking mighty fine 250. I was having a chat to some paint shop people last week and they were saying the redest you ca get is a straight tinter. Very tempted to do it but i also have my office painted in a colour called capsicum wich is a burnt red and it looks really cool. Decisions. Decisions. Douglas

I did a hunt around a while back for more info on the benz engines. It did get a twin cam head but it was two valve. I dont think there was a four valve version. There may have been a 4v motor used in racing in the european touring car races in te 70's. I didnt really find a lot of info about this engine on the web. It cam to the U.S. in the 280 series cars in the 70's. Hopefull someone here knows more that I do and can help out. I have never had any interest in Merc so know nothing. Douglas

Here we go http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=966 Sorry its taken so long. I have been in bed for the last week. I have a new digital camera. If you would like to see some more/ better photos let me know. Cheers Douglas

Well Dark Boy, You need to do a little searchy throught the sacred hyrbrid catacombs! Each of the people you have mentioned do the install a little differently. There are differeing opinions on their suitability for different aplications as well. In other words, people here still argue over what is best. I like jtrs engine position myself. Hopefully others will chime in about quality. I have never seen any of them in person. Mines custom. Douglas

We have had the evo's and sti's gtrs and other very high performance jap cars here for about 15 years now. They are imported used from japan and are very cheep used, even buy U.S. standards. So we now have the situation where you can pick up old one for less then a couple of grand do some pretty easy back yard mods to them and have a 4 wheel drive 300 hp rocket in the hands of kids. They get togetter in packs and do stupid things like kids do. The back wash from all of this is that the police and gov. are really begining to get mean about modified cars. Noise control regs, abilitly to confiscate cars, Vague laws desined to suit the cops instead of being clear as to what you can and cant do. As usual every one is standing around and just letting this happen without putting up much of a fight. Now i can only imagine that over in the land of litigation its going to worse for most of you guys if these guys continue to behave like they were in the movies. We need to find a way to educate and direct these guys need for speed into areas that wont conflict with modern social ideals or we will all lose out. Just some thoughts, I sometimes think that "1984" was just thirty years early. Douglas

Wags, I had a go at it last night. My file sizes were to large so I have to figure out how to make them smaller. I think My wife knows how to do that so I will have a go a bit latter. My computer skills are very limited. The photos are not great. The sun was in the wrong place but it will give you a idea of what i am trying to do. Cheers Douglas

I finally have a couple of photos of the bucks on the car. They still need final sanding. I have no idea how to put them on the site. I can e-mail them to someone if interested. Cheers Douglas

Howdy DJ, What do you do to make the hinges work. I am making a nose for my z that will requre the hood to work in the same manner as the G nose. Cheers Douglas

Guys. Dont run those mount back to the fire wall. Do what len said or make up a new X-member. Use box section tube so you can cut it up and re weld it easily. Make it so it will strengthen the area the trailing arms of the front suspention to as well. On my corolla we moved the fire wall back a foot to get the engine way behind the x-member and I just built wings that attach to the chassis rail that the engine mounts to. there will be a thick aluminium bash plate that will mount back under it all to tie it all in. This will be removable to get the engine in and out. I think fabing up a new x- member will be the safest, cheepest, most pratical,lightest, and nicest looking alternative for that set up. Douglas

Wouldnt mind a saws all but the cheepest i could find in this part of the world is still around $300. I use a grinder for almost everything. You can get super thin wheels for them that totally transform the way they work. Made by Zip or something like that. Douglas

Seeing that we are sort of on the subject of sub frame connecters, Why does every one use square or rectangular shaped tubing. A triangle is the stronges shape. You could just use angle iron and weld it up there and it shouldnt be as heavy. It would be a pain to atach to the existing square section however. I guess this is the reason. Douglas

Wow Phil! Thats a bloody long way to go for a zed! Might even be a record! I cant help you out with the clutch, but i wouldnt mind hearing more about your set up and your impressions on how it goes. I think you will get tonnes of questions about that set up. A lot of people have talked about it but not many have done it. Cheers Douglas

Aux, That comment was really ment for Pokinatcha. I have the turbo 2 stub axel in my race car. Cheep big brakes. Douglas

Pull the front brakes while you are there. Nice 4 spot calipers and big disks from the factory. Douglas

Very lucky indeed. Not even standard z cars around here. Only F...ing sheep! Douglas

Some things I would like in my garage: Fiat 850 sport, Mini (old one), ID19, Triumph Vitesse. Late 60's lincoln. Douglas

I have been using styrofoam. It doesnt sand back that nicely but it will work. I then put on a thin coat of gib stoping (you might call it sheet rock plaster of something similar) and sand the final detail and shape into this. You then paint it and then take your mould of it. The materials are left overs that I had available at the time due to lots of house building going on so the didnt realy cost anything. I am getting close to poping moulds of them soon just need to make some final ajustments. I will be interesting to see how the parts come out. I have made a new nose cone, rear bumper with a small diffuser and a new spoiler. The digital camera has died so yall going to have to wait a while for pics. Douglas

If brake dive is a issiue here is a idea that I have been tossing about for a while. Some single seater run single spring or 3 spring set ups to combat this. They are useing push rods of coarse which makes it easyer. I think that we could get away with it buy welding a strong bracket to the center of the anti roll bar. You would need to make a mount for a third spring for this to work on, or a flexable bumb rubber. It would work as normal in turns but when you brake the bar would rotate and bring the "spring " into action and giving more dive resistance. The other option is to put a little anti dive in your suspension. In one of Carol Smiths books he said that every "Heavy Race Car" should have some anti dive. To do this you would need to lower the front, chassis side of the control arm relative to the rear one. Douglas

Thanks RacerX. Would I need and special equipment to spray the urethane. I dont really know where i can get hold of good breathing equipment. The stuff I have is really just a partical filter and doesnt really work with solvents. I have a few more questions but I will do some study first. Cheers Douglas

Howdy all. I have decided to have a go at painting the z myself. I just wont be able to pay someone else for quite some time and have made good progress on the body work of late so the time draws near. I have a good compresser and gun. I dont have breathing eqiupment oter than the mask I use for orchard spraying. Renting a booth wont work for me. Way to far into town. Anyway... After talking to a paint guy or two it would seem that lacquer paint will be the way to go. Lots of very thin coats and heaps of clear over the top. Does anyone here have any better ideas concidering the limitations? Can you add hardners to lacquer paint to get some of the better anti chipping that the newer paints offer. Any suggestions on what products to use. The car has aprears to have had a couple of paints already but its not worth it to me to bring it all the way back to the metal. I will try to sand back the second coat but it doesnt seem to be in bad condition. Just the wrong colour. Thanks for the help. Douglas

Howdy, Nice looking front end. I was looking at getting hold of one myself but never heard back from the people that curently have the molds. By the time the original designer poped up on the board I had gone down a different road. Anyway this thread will help; http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18151 Cheeers Douglas

Jens, Where have you been? Working on the toys I hope. Anyway, I was alway thought that ladder bars were a drag only mod. They look like they would never let one wheel to work in bumb without binding. That would make for a very poor/dangerous handeling car on the road. You can get leaf springs that will work with 4 links and such. The factory rally escorts had these as the rules wouldnt let them use coils in some classes. Another option (metioned in Tune to win by Carol Smith) is to weld a sleve that makes the front of the leaf spring solid so that all of the springing is done from the part of the spring behind the axel. You could then just add upperlinks and you would have a poor mans 4 link. Douglas

Looks like the one on the cover of my 9 year old motosports auto catalog. Same colour and everything. Douglas

JB, You have the blue zed with the long nose , dont you? Is there ducting from the front of the nose to the radiator so its sealed to the inlet? If not it might be worth it. Douglas