Trevor

Yes, JC Whitney just started carrying a part that looks like louvered vents. They look a lot like the Cobra and Ferrari pieces that go into the side of the fenders just behind the front wheel. Don't know if they are fiberglass or ABS. They'd look great on a Z if they aren't too big.

I bought the "How to build kit car bodies..." book with the diablo on the cover. Save your $30. You've probably already read the same info here in this forum. There is another "How to build fiberglass car bodies" book originally published in the 1960's which is much better for the scratch builder. It goes to a greater level of detail like creating door jambs and molding the recessed rain gutter that goes around a decklid opening. I bought it at Barnes and Noble a few years ago. Mark

Oh I get it. He puts the pipe in his mouth, and holds one end in each hand........

According to Mike Knell's Jags that Run book, the 400 is NOT a good candidate for use in a 1st gen. Z. Since the 400 is externally balanced. It might fit in the "Scarab" position, but due to the large flywheel and large harmonic balancer diameters it will interfere with the TC rod mounts and the crossmember if mounted in the "lower set-back" / JTR position. Better look for a 327 or 350 instead.

Another method for making a one-off part like a glove box or heater duct is to carve it 3-D and slightly under sized from a block of polystyrene foam. It can be complex with a lot of under cut which complicates a normal female mold. Lay up the 'glass matte and resin over the outside. Then disolve the foam out with acetone. It leaves a hollow 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- ?-sided box. Some cautions: Polyester resin dissolves the foam too (Or use epoxy resin.), you have to make a barrier between the foam core and the fiberglass. I've used latex paint, plastic wrap, and duct tape. The "Goop" that comes out is nasty toxic waste.

On impulse I bought a hydraulic pipe bender from Harbor Freight when it was on sale. I didn't come with (English) instructions.... but I was swayed by the the advertising things like "you can built exhaust systems, roll cages, custom parts..." But it's nothing like the pros use at the muffler shop. It's a simple rig with a 12 ton jack, pushing cast iron shoes between 2 steel roller wheels. In preparation for some exhaust work I put some test bends in a 1" diameter pipe with dissapointing results. once the bends get past 20-30 degrees it kinks in the inner radius of the bend. I tried bending a little and moving the pipe but all I get was a series of small kinks. Visualize the factory exhaust on a '81 Chrysler K car. Looks like junk. Not what I want. I want those smooth "mandrel bends" you get by stretching the outer radius rather than kinking the inner. I want up to 90 degree bends and some complex shapes too. Anybody know how a mandrel works? Can I acheive the nice smooth bends in 2" pipe with my new toy?

The new JC Whitney catalog came yesterday, all sorts of finds.... They now sell the painless harnesses EFI for 5.0 Ford $489.95 and Chevy LT1 $399.95 to 549.95 Also brake rotors reduced 20% 300ZX rotors are $40 instead of $50. They don't advertise a specific brand name, but I ordered a set of rotors for my Explorer and when they came they were Bendix (Made in USA). Also Some nifty exhaust flexible couplings, not those corrugated steel pipes. They have a braided wire covering between 2 rigid ends. Not sure where they'll go but I think I need a pair.

There are other Ford sources for the hydraulic T/O bearing slave cyl. Both 90-95 Ford Aerostar and Explorer with V6 5spd. The mechanics are brilliant, in case you saw the T-Bird photos and wondered "how do you fill the master cylinder under the dash board?" The reservoir is actually downstream in the clutch hydraulic line, on the engine side of the firewall.

Thanks for the pedal ratio info, Pete. I was thinking of increasing the stroke by moving the cylinder down the firewall (use the bottom stock bolt hole for the top, drill new hole for the rod, etc.) and re-locating the rod on the pedal arm. Farther from the pivot = longer swing. But I guess the greater effort due to less leverage would defeat the advantage of a smaller diameter MC.

I'm 37. And still enjoy crawling around in the mud at junkyards. And ain't looking for a cure.

Boots for struts - Aftermarket source - Ever see those day-glo yellow large boots on 4x4 truck shocks? JC Whitney carries them (in black too) for about $5 ea. They are designed to fit 2-3/8" diameter shocks, but the clamp squeezed them snug around my 280's 2-1/4" strut housing. They are long enough to cover the entire strut rod with big holes on both ends, so they don't really have a "wiper" function, but keeps the mud out. Sure looked neat inside my blue ST springs, dunno about smaller-than-stock diameter coil-overs but I suppose with that much area in the bellows it would move with the spring, rather than rub against it.

All great points in this discussion. Thanks for the tip on sheet wax (sure it would have to be high-temp since the resin produces heat as it kicks). For years I've been using masonite and clay - even for simple one-time-use flange dams. Terry brought up the support bracing - very important with a long thin wobbly shape like an air dam mold. Very very important on a full body panel that is expected to be dimensionally accurate enough to bolt onto a steel unibody.

Wax the part really well with Turtle wax. Apply PVA as a parting agent. Spray on one layer of tooling gelcoat. Lay up alternating layers of fiblerglass mat and cloth. The first layer should be 3/4 oz "angelhair" mat. Use laminating resin (the other kind has wax in it). Succeeding layers of mat should be the heavier stuff. Cross-section of a mold should be twice the thickness of the finished part. Let the resin cure, pop the original part out.

Oil Pans from '69 to '74 Ford Econoline vans have a real rear sump, not a "double sump" as in the Fox platform cars. I think that would fit the best in a Z.

A "pull" type slave cylinder is about $60 from the Speedway parts catalog.

I have seen the guts of a replica car door (32 Ford street rod) which is a fiberglass shell around a 1x1 steel tube frame. They (Gibbon) weld a corrugated 18-ga. steel plate inside the door. The door meets 2001 Federal side impact requirements. | / | The edge looked like this | Each flute was about 1/2" deep / So it doesn't take much mass, just rigidity. Maybe a similar piece would fit inside a Z door between the outer skin and the window mechanism. It would have to bridge the door jamb-to-jamb, so it wouldn't act like a can opener if one corner popped loose. weld buzz weld buzziitt

http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/toyota/reviews/parking_brake/ Not Z-Car specific, but interesting. No connection to the Toyota 4x4 front brake swap. This is a commercial product using a disc on the driveshaft, for use when the stock handbrake was eliminated swapping rear drum to disks on a pickup.

>> BLKMGK posted February 25, 2001 >> Seems to me there's not really much of a >> need for a vented rear rotor - it's not >> going to get nearly the abuse that the >> fronts do. But it is the visual sex appeal, like NACA ducts and whale tail spoilers and exhaust tips the size of a Maxwell House can.

Thanks for the ideas! Once Terry wrote "hook" I had a better image of what is happening. The caliper body is really a fixed mass (volume?) of cast Iron and you can't expand it. Maybe I can machine the "slot" wider..... without weakening the part. I was brainstorming around the Maxima / 240SX part because they are $5.95 each at the self service yards hmmmm...at least 20X more frequently than '88 300ZX or '94+ Mustangs. Even RX-7s are available 5X more often. hmmmmm....

I recall seeing photos of an early Z with vented front rotors. The builder used the original Sumitomo front calipers and widened them with a machined spacer inserted between the 2 halves. I realize that 240SX and 300ZX stock rear calipers are single cylinders and sliding brackets for solid rotors, but..... could the same idea apply to somehow "widen" an inexpensive stock part (with a parking brake) to fit 0.875" to 1.0" wide vented rotors? For the rotors, I am thinking about FWD Maxima 10.5" dia. rotors (front on the back), per Terry's Race car. Thinking aloud, Mark

I have the Puckett Assmenbly manual for the 4" wheelbase s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Haven't taken the plunge yet. Nope- no tube frame required! It's pretty clever. But it is for kits only since you couldn't use the stock front sheetmetal with the front wheels 4" farther forward. Since the mounting bolt holes for the front crossmember are almost 4" apart, they just slide it forward so the front frame hole aligns with the rear crossmember hole. Steering geometry remains intact and square with the frame rails. Underneath: Drill 2 more holes for the front crossmember, 4 more holes for the anti-sway bar clamps, and lengthen the T-C rods. In the engine bay: New(!) motor mounts weld to the frame rails, cut off the horns on the crossmember. Then it gets hairy.... you cut the inner fenders with the strut towers, slide them 4" forward, weld, and patch the holes with sheetmetal. I wondered if this is really neccessay, the handling might benefit from the increased caster? Then lengthen the steering column with a 4" splice.

Being a '82 ZXT it will have the tripode CV joints instead of U-joints in the rear axles. Desireable if you want to lower a car, which introduces extreme angles in the axle joints.

Early Six cylinder Mustangs from 65-73 used the 4.5"x4-bolt circle,same as the '60-up Falcon. (and Same as Datsun, Toyota, Mazda) V-8s have 4.5" x 5-bolt circle. '74-'78 Mustang II changed to the "Pinto"4.25"x 4 bolt '79 to'93 are 4.25" x 4 bolt.

What are the advantages to the RX-7 gas tank?

There was a company in central California called "Puckett Auto Design" that made those Ferrari GTO replicas and the Ford Daytona Cobra replicas on Z chassis. I have a 5-yr-old price guide and catalog somewhere. He built about 5-6 cars a year and they sold for $32,000 ea. Not bad for a Datsun Z. Mark