Wagz

I can't imagine that there are any issues with aluminum and gas (corrosion, etc.) Tons of fuel cells are aluminum. I've seen street rod tanks made of aluminum. I've placed my aluminum cell inside a steel tube frame to give it some protection, but I don't think it's any less safe than steel tanks. My $.02

Vinh - The Spyder looks fantastic! The fiberglass looks like Reaction Reasearch product (?). I'm also really liking the chassis reinforcement work. Did you do that yourself or did you have a chassis/rollbar shop do that for you? I'm building a VR and I may adopt a design based on what you've done. I'd love to see some more pics of the build process, if you've got 'em.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm going to look it over on Saturday. We'll see what happens...

I've been considering picking up another Z to turn into a semi-daily driver. I'm planning on keeping this one fairly close to original and not doing another V8 swap. I've run across a guy in town who has a '78 Black Pearl Edition. The owner claims that has not been modified in any way. It needs to be repainted and freshened, but it's in decent, drivable shape. I'm going to look at it on Saturday. My question is: Is the Black Pearl Edition any more desireable or valuable than a comparible '78 280Z in the same condition? I tend to think it's not worth any more than any other 280Z, but I don't know how rare the Black Pearls are. Anyone have any knowledge/experience with them? If I buy it and paint it, are replacement Black Pearl graphics available anywhere?

I too, am guilty of occasional stoplight races. Although, no harm has come of any of my lapses in judgement, I've regretted my stupidity each time. I tend to agree that it's probably not a good idea to dedicate a forum to it.

Either the search engine is down or the search Id isn't in the server cache any more. It worked for me a while ago. Just search on the word "fumes." You'll get a bunch of hits.

Welcome to the fold! As said above, post some pictures and some more details about your car when you get a chance. Us "gto" guys are always interested in other build-ups and are willing to share ideas/info.

I shipped my old stubs minus the bearings. Ross sold me the bearings/seals with my stubs, but they were separate. I put everything together myself pretty easily.

I'm sure both welders are pretty equal in the quality department. These were the two brands I considered when I was shopping welders. I ended up getting a great deal on a MillerMatic 135 (couldn't afford the 220V models and my garage isn't wired for it). The Miller gets my vote only because I own one and it has worked flawlessly for me. I love it.

How'd that turn out, by the way?

http://marcsgarage.net/gallery/FuelCell

No. 2002 - as in: "that video made the rounds on the internet and automotive boards several years ago." Never the less, it is a pretty cool video...

"John" would be John Washington the owner of Reaction Research and the maker of the Velo Rossa kit. That picure if from the VR gallery on his site (www.reactionresearch.com) The yellow VR is a customer's car, not John's (as far as I know). You might check the VR builder/owner links from his site to see if you can find anymore pictures. The only other pictures (B&W) of side pipes I know of were in the VR Install manual available from John.

Here's the yellow one on John's site. It's hard to see the black coated pipes in this photo, though.

I don't know about Jeff, but that is the one I was thinking of. Good plans...

Welcome back Larry. I'm glad that ordeal is over for you. Sorry to hear Fatboy isn't in the same condition you left him in. Now get to work and get that badboy on the road.

One of the HybridZ members had a very nice set of drawings on his site, but I can't remember the link. I went getto on mine and used a couple of engine stands with with home welded mounting brackets. Here's some links I did have: http://www.zparts.com/zptech/articles/restoration/phenley/rotisserie/index.htm http://zhome.com/Classic/HowTo/GraemeSucking.htm http://www.prostreetcar.com/body_rotisserie.html http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/rotisseriebydave.html http://www.autorestorer.com/articles/art106.html http://www.competitionplus.com/2005_02_03/rotisserie.html

Mozilla just released a fix for this:

Velo Rossa kit, Baby! Turn it into a convertible AND into a (pseudo)'62 Ferrari! Seriously, I would have a frame shop check it out before I spent another dime.

Nicely handled, Pete.

I've posted it on my personal site too. You can find it here: http://www.marcsgarage.net/resources/t56_service_manual.pdf

Yeah, that looks like a one-off job. Jim Cook Racing has a somewhat similar wide-body kit called the California Z. You can see it here: http://www.jimcookracing.com/catalog/page21.html

Wow, fantastic job! It all looks familiar. Although, your '71 had a bit more rust than mine. I learned to weld on the exact same projects (battery tray area, firewall, pans, sf connectores) and can really appreciate how much work goes into what you've done. It's looking great.

Oh, the horrible waste...

You're not alone. I've got the big house, big garage (big mortgage), three kids with the oldest being one year from college($$). The wife took last year off and cut our income significantly, but is now back at work as a Unix Admin so, our income was back to normal for a month or two. However, I just walked away from a very nice, regular income as a systems development manager to become a partner in a very small consulting firm with no guaranteed level of income. In the middle of all this is my Z project. I've got the rolling chassis back on the ground, but the engine is still on the stand and the T56 is collecting dust on the floor. The Velo Rossa body kit is stored on the RV pad next to the house. I started the project several years ago and it seems I'll never get it done. Spare cash for the car is scarse these days. Most of the project money dried up a long time ago, but I try to squirrel away a little money here and there like Tim talked about. Every now and then I blow the dust off the car and make a little headway. I've entertained the thought of selling the whole project several times, but I can't seem to go through with it. Hang in there, be patient. Heck, it took Pete Paraska 10(?) years to complete his work of art.