Z-TARD

Check this out, I would have killed for this when I was 10. I'd seriously hurt someone for it at 30..... http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/acm-r5-amphibious-snake-like-robot Mike

Looked at it again, and I might actually be interested in the whole thing if I can come up with $$$. Might have to sell off the wife's cat or something. Anybody want a flamepoint siamese with a hairlip?

If you're willing to split them up I'm interested in the hood. Not exactly local, but only about 2 hours away. Mike

You should probably turn your argon down to about 15 to 20 CFH as well. 30 is pretty high, that extra velocity may actually be sucking air into the purge like the venturi in a carb sucks in gas. Make sure nothing heavy is on the argon hose too, I don't know how many welds I've blown porosity into by accidently stepping on the hose..... Mike

I worked at Shelby for a short time about 6 years ago. I saw quite a few rare cars while I worked there. One thing that always dissapointed me was the lack of workmanship in most of the cars. The original Cobra, which was converted from an AC Ace, is quite possibly the most hacked up looking car I've seen in a showroom. Being the first of it's kind however makes it literally priceless. We tried taking dimensions off of it while we were working on the chassis design for the new 289 FIA cobras, it was a waste of time because nothing on that car was symetrical. The point of all this is that workmanship is about 90% of the equation on a shop car. Getting it out of the door on time is important, but after that your client might have YEARS to pick apart every little detail that you had like 6 months or less time to complete. Getting everyone in your shop to be on the same page as far as quality control is concerned will be a big part of making a name for your shop. I like the idea of having a theme for the shop, something every car that leaves the shop will have in common. Staying away from current trends is probably a good idea. You may lose some customers due to this, but your cars have a better chance of standing the test of time, unlike the current crop of JDM/drift/Manga/"DUB"/Bling mobiles currently being cranked out by most "shops". Good luck man, keep it clean and sanitary and you will turn some heads. Mike

Nice! XJ's are the shiznit, YO! When are you gonna get some "ZG" flares for it? Mike

The vacuum bag will work well with most viscosities of resin, probably better with thicker suff actually because it would tend to print through a little less than thinner resins. I've tried a few different types of epoxy resin, and all of them have been as thick or thicker than polyester resin. I'm seriously considering starting this project all over again from scratch, and doing everything the right way to begin with. I'm not really happy with the design of the dash for use in a street driven car, and I've thought of a lot of new designs I'd like to try since I started this one. It's definitely been a good learning experience, but I know I can do better. Stay tuned for "Side Project #352, Homade Dash Project part II" Mike

Having learned a lot of lessons from this one, I'd much rather start from scratch to make a new one. There are a few design aspects I would change for sure on a second version, like recessing the gauges, and angling the center portion more towards the driver along with drastically changed aesthetics. It would look a lot more like a TVR styled dash basically. I could definitely gain some of the gloss back by further wet sanding and clear coating, but there are spots where I actually sanded through the CF all the way into the fiberglass backing to get an even, level surface. These spots are small, and randomely placed. This coupled with the crappy finish imbedded in patches of the resin would make it pretty difficult to leave much if any CF exposed while still looking good. The entire package is still extremely light, so the main advantage of using the CF has been retained in spite of all the resin I used on this thing. Once I get all the gauges mounted and wired up I'll weigh the whole thing and compare it to the weight of the stock 240 dash. If I lose even 1 pound, it will have all been worth it...... Mike

Now that you mention it, it does look a bit like Tiger..... LOL. Mike

I actually kind of like the sheet metal front. I'd definitely change a few things though. Open it up a little to let some more air in there for one. Add a lip to the bottom edge to keep air from ramming under it. I think in the current configuration it would only make the front end lift situation of the Z bodystyle worse. Not to turn this into another areodynamics thread, but here are my thoughts on this: Front end lift on Z's caused by air entering the engine compartment and being directed downward by the sloping suface of the lower firewall/footwell. This is debatable for sure, but until someone proves me wrong with a wind tunnel, this is my stance. Now imagine the force of all that air being allowed better leverage by being moved forward to the sloping surface of that sheetmetal in the grill. Seems to me that it just gives all that lift some extra mechanical advantage to help flip that car nose up at speed. Adding a lip or a splitter up there would help out a lot by directing air around the sides rather than under I'd imagine, and probably not look half bad. Sounds like the hail storm dimpled that thing up like a golf ball, which is an entirely different ball of areodynamic wax Ever see the episode of the Red Green show where he takes a ball peen hammer to a ford escort to improve the high speed areodynamics? Heh Heh Heh..... Mike

The lead actor was pretty cool when he was in Jarhead, I think his agent made a big mistake putting him in this one though. He would have been better off carreer wise taking something like Brokeback Mountain...... It's still gay, but at least it's openly gay. Mike

The gray areas are where I have sprayed primer to get a better idea of surface texture and porosity. Like I said, this thing didn't turn out as nice as I had planned. The surface is smooth enough to paint though once I get all the edges trimmed to the right shape. I still have to make a cut out for the steering column along with drilling out some holes for the obligatory ricer toggle switches (Functional in this case). I'm going to keep the vent/heater assembly, but the controls will be altered so they don't look out of place on this dash. I'll post more pics as I get further along. Mike

I finally went out and bought a random orbit sander to use on this. Man, what a difference! I normally prefer to do things old school style, usig hand power tools, but from now on I use random orbit when sanding Now for a bit of bad news, the multiple layers of epoxy resin I used to build up the surface all cured at different rates, with varying degrees of clarity. Some spots are actually pretty opaque due to tiny air bubbles in the resin. So polishing it up to showcase the carbon construction is out. I'll end up painting over all that beautiful carbon twill with bedliner paint most likely. I thought of maybe making just small portions of the CF visible by masking them off during painting, but on the whole the surface condition of the resin really doesn't even lend itself to doing that. Lesson learned for next time I guess. I'll get some pics up of it's current condition in a few minutes. Mike

Are you running drum or disc in the rear? Typically on a drum setup a broken stub will mean the loss of the wheel and tire. A disc brake setup will retain it in place and would probably have a lot of the symptoms you describe. Mike

Yeah, you can never have too much garage

I know a guy at work who might be interested in it. I'll give him a heads up on it tomorrow. Mike

After using a technique like this for my dash, I have the following recomendations: 1: Use the duct tape, use the duct tape, use the duct tape. If you apply it evenly, it wont have much if any effect on the outer surface. If you are going to use carbon fiber for the part, then you'll have to use epoxy resin. Epoxy by its nature sticks to almost everything. I used a ton of mold release on my dash after applying several layers of wax as well, and still ended up clawing the foam mold out of it in chunks because it stuck in multiple places. In fact, it stuck just about everywhere except for a small hole in the mold that I covered with duct tape.... 2: As a general rule of thumb, a layer of carbon is about equal to two layers of glass cloth of the same weight as far as strenght and rigidity is concerned. This only applies if the correct amount of resin is used though, as I found out on my dash. Too much resin will make the part really gummy and flexible. Bad. Also, mixing epoxy resin is kind of a pain, it is very picky about proper ratio and mixing. I'd suggest mixing the two parts in one container, then pouring into another clean container and mixing again before applying it. Having a partially cured part baking in the hot sun in the back of your jeep cherokee for several weeks really sucks, and tends to make said jeep smell like a chemical factory.... 3: I think someone mentioned this earlier, but it would probably be a good idea to use some duct tape as a mold release agent..... Good luck man! Mike

"Airbrakes deployed, preparing for re-entry into the atmosphere!" Sorry, couldn't help it.... Mike

How about the Vortec 4200 I6 engine from the trailblazers? Or even the 3500 I5 out of the H3 and Colorado? The 4200 isn't much bigger (if at all) than the L28. DOHC, Variable valve timing, etc. About 270 HP if I remember right. They are also all aluminum, so weight should not be an issue. I've read that the dowel pins for the tranny match up to the pins on the standard SBC bellhousing, so making an adapter to a T-56 six speed wouldn't be too difficult. They also have a 2800 I4, same displacement and horsepower as the Datsun engine (170), but much shorter and lighter. Throw a turbo on that along with the T-56 and it would be a monster. As far as I know, NONE of these combos has been tried yet Mike

He can probably thank that rear spoiler for keeping it level. It most likely acted as a canard to keep the car from pitching up and stalling, like the front wing on these aircraft: Quote from Airventuremuseum.org website: "A canard aircraft has its tail planes located ahead of its main wing, instead of behind. The tail planes of a normal aircraft typically produce a downward force, canceling some of the lift created by the main wings. A canard surface creates positive lift, adding to the aircraft’s overall lift. Careful design of the canard surfaces can make the canard stall first, before the main wing stalls. A canard stall will then lower the nose and increase airspeed before the main wing stalls, initiating an automatic stall recovery, without a spin. This is the reason that many canard aircraft (including Rutan’s canard designs) are considered “stall-proof.â€