Z-TARD

Awesome guitars guys! Should change the name of this thread to "Show us your axe!" Cold fusion, that strat looks amazing. Very sanitary looking. Parker makes a version of the Fly that looks similar, with no visible pickups. I drooled over one for a long time, but it just wasn't in the budget. About all I can do for audio samples is record directly to the computer out of my Korg PX3 as a "WAV" file. Recording time is limited to about 40 seconds, and sounds like crap At some point I'll have to get some recording software for the computer so I can make some decent audio files of these guitars/pickups. Keep the pics coming! Mike

The white one was $175, the one below it was $135 about a month later. I've seen the same guitar with a "Buy it now" prce of $115. Out of the box they are pretty much unplayable. Electronics made lots of buzzing noises, weak pickups, action set way to high, etc. Add about another $100 worth of pickups, switches, capacitors, shielding tape and paint and you end up with a pretty nice axe. The GFS pickups are another item I found on ebay. The Crusaders are supposed to be a lot like the Duncan Invader. I've never used a set of the invaders before, but I like the Crusaders a lot. Lots of gain and saturation, without being overly heavy on the bottom end. Artificial harmonics are really easy with these too, even on the neck pickup. On clean channel they sound incredible, kind of odd for a distortion pickup, but I'm not complaining. IIRC the resistance for these is something like 17k for the bridge and 16k for the neck. The Big Mouth pickups are the ones in the Black Pearl guitar. They are rated much lower for resistance, at about 10k bridge and 8k for the neck. They are "supposed" to have a more vintage sound than most high output pickups, which to a large extent they do. Crank up the gain knob though and these things scream. I was trying to get a set of pickups that are similar to the specs for the Dimarzio pickups used in the JS1000 and 2000 guitars. These are pretty close to the Joe and Mo-Joe as far as resistance. Not sure about sound as I dont have real JS1000 to compare against. I really like the sound of these though, they get the Satriani sound pretty well and have excellent characteristics all around as far as playability is concerned. My only gripe is that the chrome case on the pickups is kinda ugly, and makes it hard to fit in some trim rings. Heres a link to the ebay store I got the pickups from: http://stores.ebay.com/Guitarfetish-Store_Pickups-Humbucker_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ16QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Got side tracked from the Z yet again. Probably explains why it has taken me 5+ years to get the car to where it is now, which is only about 40% complete. Anyway, I found a really cool and cheap Chinese made copy of an Ibanez JS sereis guitar on ebay. I bought it with the intention of doing a complete makeover: paint, electronics, hardware, etc. When it showed up I found that I really liked the finish, which was white with skeleton figures painted all over it (A copy of one of Joe Satriani's personal guitars). I decided not to re paint that one since it looked so cool, but I did redo just about everything else. New pickups (GFS Crusaders) which are absolutely brutal, as well as new switching that allows them to be coil tapped from humbucking (Les Paul sound) to single coil (Stratocaster sound). I still had the black pearl paint and clearcoat that I didn't use, so...... Enter fake Ibanez guitar #2. Fortunately the white paintjob on this one was not nearly as nice as the first one, and it was promptly wet sanded down to #400 and repainted, followed by 3 coats of clear laquer. Did a complete re wiring of this one as well, using GFS Big Mouth pickups which are about the best I've ever heard. Wired for coil tapping and a high pass filter like the $1400 original Ibanez version. This thing has AMAZING tonal versatility. It does everything from vintage style Strat sounds to all out hernia inducing metal crunch with just a few pulls of the switches. I still have to work on the setup and intonation on both of them a little, as I haven't yet found the sweet spot for the neck adjustment that will let me get the strings REALLY low. Also, the Floyd Rose style tremelo's are made mostly of brass, so some of the screws for seting intonation have stripped out. I'll probably end up replacing the trems on both guitars because of this. Anyway, pic: Mike

I've ordered from these guys before. Good prices, selection, etc. I liked them better when their website wasn't all "riced out" : http://stores.ebay.com/Verocious-Motorsports_Bends_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ3QQftidZ2QQtZkm As far as TIG machines go, I have a lot of experience with portable welders by Thermal Arc/Thermal Dynamics as well as Miller, Hobart, PowCon, and Lincoln. For all around versatility as well as durability, the TA machines are hard to beat.

Somewhere behind that engine probably lies a partially engaged Spec stage 3 clutch. Those Hemi Dogs probably taste like burnt dog crap dusted with asbestos

Durka Durka!.... Nah, just got sidetracked again and haven't been posting much lately. A buddy of mine gave me a busted up Ibanez 7 string RG guitar, so I started fixing that up. After looking at it, I decided Ibanez's are pretty cool, enter Ebay. Anyway, 4 Chinese Ibanez copies later, along with hours upon hours of rewiring, repainting, and adjusting the action on them, I think I am finally ready to start working on the Z again. I was actually researching the SU-27/35 camo schemes for a paint job on one of the guitars. I didn't end up painting it camo, but none the less the paint job has been filed in my memory banks for use later..... I like how the valve cover turned out, what colors did you use? They look like a really close match to the splinter camo pattern on the bottom SU-27 pic I posted. Mike

Here's a few more camo schemes:

Ahhhh.... Dio. I love the little guy, but seeing him stand next to someone more than 5 feet tall just ruins it. Frodo Baggins would probably tower over him like a sasquatch. I'd love to see some of your Van Halen stuff Phil. I can play about the first 40 seconds or so of almost every song from the first album, after that I get either bored or frustrated depending on the song and give up For a real humbling experience, check out this guy doing a cover of a Steve Vai song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJlHzOz2Wys For some cool Van Halen covers, check these guys out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVjGotIP5Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG0eKARJ5i8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpkSYaNkanA Hmmmm, watching those vids makes me want to go out and roll some red black and white EVH stripes on my Z......

I've always had pretty good luck digging through the metal dumpsters on the Navy bases out here. Engine shops and machine shops routinely throw out turbo and superchargers, metal stock, pipe, plate, delrin and nylon stock, etc. Where I'm working now, I'm the only one that throws away stuff into the metal dumpster, so nothing of any real value ever makes it in there. There are some civilians that work in the shop next to me that spend a large part of their workday sorting through the local dumpsters. One day they found a dumpster full of some old worn out flight deck safety vests, the inflatable kind that they wear on carriers in case they get blown overboard. What use does any "normal" person have for a CO2 inflatable life vest? I'm not sure, but there were only 1 or 2 left in the dumpster once the vultures had finished. Mike

What about the 69-70 Mustang? I've always thought that the fastbacks from those years were the best looking mustangs ever. Kinda hard to find for a low price though, and the coupes from those years take some work to look as good as the 68 and earlier ones IMO. If you can lower yourself to driving a Chevy product ( ) the old Camaro and Firebird are pretty cool too. Mike

Doc, I'm really liking that .30-.378. What's the barrel length on that? 30"? I've been thinking of building something similar in .300 RSUM on a Remington action. Either that or going all out with a 50BMG on AR lower receiver...... A gun collection just isn't complete without a little long distance action. Mike

I think the destructive power required here can best be summed up in one word: Thermite http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7231843493488769585&q=thermite Mike

I'd have to go with the Celica. The first gen Z has them both beat though Mike

+1 for SBC. For a car that needs to be able to do everything rerasonably well, it's the most logical compromise of weight (and weight distribution), power, and cost. You could even build two motors for it for about the price of one RB series engine. Have a 383 or 400 with Auto for drag racing, and a 327 coupled to a T56 or TKO for road racing. Maybe a compromise of a 350 or 383 with a 700R4 for both road and drag? If not the SBC, then definitely the Falconer V12. Maybe we should contact him about a sponsorship Mike

I know man, I've been depressed all day because I'm not evil incarnate anymore. I'm like the diet cola of evil now "Just one calorie, not evil enough..." Mike

Jesus! Sounds like the result of a Dewalt hammer drill and an F-18 Hornet mating I wonder how much power that thing is putting down, and at what RPM. Sounds like copious amounts of both.... Mike

Heres the link to the post with my dash project. Probably not the best way to go about making a composite part, but it gets the job done. If I were to do it over again, I would definitely vacuum bag the dash after applying cloth and resin. I would have used duct tape as a mold release as well. Not doing this cost me A LOT of extra time and effort. Anyway, link: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=98077 Mike

After weighing my options, I decided to just install it rather than start over. My car is already about 4 years behind schedule anyway..... It's not bolted in yet in these pics, but it sits in place by itself pretty well, at least I got that part right

Looks fast. How many seconds did you shave off your 1/4 mile time?