Z-TARD

Looks good so far. I like the flares a lot, blended in really well without having to mod the door skins. Have you test fir the LT1 with those headers? If they fit in the car, what kind ar they? Mike

The polycarbonate sheet you posted would work, but it's about 3/8" too thick. Polycarbonate is the same stuff they make R/C car bodies out of, also known as Lexan. It is insanely strong, and very resistant to penetration, which is why it is also used for bulletproof glass. It hot forms pretty easily, but you'll need a BIG oven for something the size of a hood. You could probably hot form it right on top of the original hood. Cold forming with it would be nearly impossible due to its high strength. Plexiglass is a totally different animal than polycarbonate. Plexi tends to be brittle, even in thin sheets. Drilling clean holes through it is really difficult without specialty bits. All in all, plexiglass would make a pretty poor choice for the construction of a car hood. I'd stick with the polycarbonate/Lexan sheet in the 3/32" to 3/16" range. Mike

They need to find a way to use solar energy to distill the sugar cane/corn mash. Like the big solar hazmat burning thing in the movie "Sahara", only not gay. Mike

How about LS2 Twin Turbo?

Mmmmmfffffffff! Sorry, I just vomited in my mouth a little there......

These guys have bends and pipe for reasonable prices: http://stores.ebay.com/Verocious-Motorsports_Bends_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ3QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Coolant piping for the reactor.....

1-6, and 8: Superformance Cobra Daytona Coupe. The most bad a$$ car ever built. All the classic lines of the original Daytona with the benefits of modern technolgy. 7: Bowler Wildcat.

Al, you guys kick a$$. Sounds great man, and if you need lessons, then I'm a Chinese jet pilot! Mike

I was thinking ford 302, with side pipes like a mini Daytona Coupe. Once the Z is done, I think I'm gonna look for one of these to build. I love that tilt front end. Looks like they have a full frame too, so less of the unibody stuff to deal with like on our cars. Mike

Nice Remy!

I need to cut back on my hobbies, seriously. Between the Z and the guns, there goes my paycheck. Anymore though I almost never buy guns off the rack, unless I intend to immediately strip it down to a bare receiver and start from scratch. Being located in CA, I'm pretty much stuck with hanguns and bolt action rifles to stay legal. Building tactical rifles off of old mauser actions is pretty enjoyable for me, my latest one will group 3 shots into 3/8" at 200 yards. Handguns are also pretty fun and easy to build. The Colt 1911 style pistol has become my favorite over the past few years, and I completed this one last year which I find to be more accurate and reliable than any other factory gun I've used: I've also started work on a semi auto target rifle based on the HK-91 action. I'll have to keep this one out of state of course once it's finished, but it's legal for me to have the parts here I found a way to cut the internal flutes in the chamber of the HK action, which is critical to making it function. Had several machinists and most of an internet forum tell me it couldn't be done, so I had to. The alternative to this would be to send it to a guy in Texas who uses Electron Discharge Machining to do it, for the small price of $900. I did mine with a jig and a needle file at a total cost of about $50. The blue tape on the end cuts down the reflection from the machined surface on the barrel, otherwise you can't see too much detail in the chamber because of the glare. The final product should look something like this: I also play guitar a little. Had quite a collection started, and realized I had too much crap so I sold off or gave away all but my 4 favorite. And like all my other hobbies, buying off the rack was never quite good enough so I started building and modifying my own. Thats about as expensive as guns and cars are, and not quite as much fun so I cut back on that..... Mike

Gawwwd! It went for $760! Thats it, I need a bigger garage, and a more sympathetic wife....

Alright, one of us needs to get this. My wife says it's not gonna be me..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Triumph-GT6-Plus_W0QQitemZ4637245501QQcategoryZ6469QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Mike

Man that was funny! That guy makes a better "G" face than Dan Akroyd and Chevy Chase! (Spies Like Us)

Couldn't find any pics of the Z either, but I like this one a lot

I think it's the new Springfield XD that takes 14 rounds of 45. Quite a feat considering it's hard to just hold 14 rounds of .45ACP in your hand period. I'll admit that the Glock will take WAY more abuse than a 1911 and still function reliably. I think most 1911's would be hard pressed to fire away on full auto for that duration like the Glock did. Probably the best compromise between the two is the HK USP series pistols. Has the exposed hammer and much of the ergonomics of the 1911, with all of the durability of a Glock. Still kinda feels like a toy though.... Tupperware is best left in the kitchen.

I had a pet jumping spider when I was a kid. Those things are smart, like problem solving smart. Watching them stalk and kill flies is pretty fun. I used to find wolf spiders in my bed all the time too, would often wake up with bites from the spiders I din't find. Black widows and brown recluses were also pretty common in the mountains of AZ where I grew up, but the ones that really gave me the heeby jeebies were the sun spiders: They have these in Iraq too, only there they get to be the size of your hand, and they can run about as fast as you can..... Mike

I still prefer the overall design and ergonomics of the 1911 as long as concealment isn't an issue, but even as a die hard 1911 guy I can say that that was pretty damn impressive seeing that glock spray that many rounds that quickly. Will I ever own one? ........... Nah. Mike

Now imagine how big it could get if you fed it nothing but stray cats......

The R-200 VLSD should take the CV's from the 1988 300zxt special edition. These pop right into the diff in place of the output flanges. Once that is done, all you need is the Modern Motorsport 300zxt companion flange adapters to run those CV's. As far as I know, that particular ZXT was the only one to have the VLSD rear end. The CV's from the clutch type LSD are not compatible. Mike

Hmmmmmm....... What could it be......... Well now that we know what it is, things get much easier. Depending on what kind of wire you are using, the weld will have somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 psi tensile strength. Putting this into perspective, a 1" by 1" area of weld should reach failure under about 60,000 pounds of pulling force, give or take. That is in a perfect world, in reality of course, it's probably quite a bit less than that, say 45,000 pounds. The point I'm getting at is that a full penetration weld on steel 18mm thick is WAY overkill on a 2500 pound car. You can just bevel the parts slightly, about 5 or 6 mm, and do a root pass and a cover on both sides and call it good. For the pipe going through the plates, I would recomend cutting a hole through the plate so that the pipe will pass all the way through and be welded on both sides, this will add a considerable amount of strength. Something like this:

Tacking all the parts together first should help combat distortion, as long as you still have access to the weld joints once it's all tacked up. Welding sequence will help a lot too, weld a little on each side at a time, being careful not to put too much heat into either side all at once. Leaving that small 2 to 3mm gap will also help to keep it from distorting as much as if no gap were left. When two pieces are contacting, the weld will use the contact point as a fulcrum to pull against, resulting in a lot more warpage. How much weight does this part have to hold? Is there any chance you could post a 3d sketch of the part? Mike

This joint design should work pretty well for your application. As you can see, it's a lot like one of your first drawings, just with a lot more material removed from the back. The yellow lines represent the approximate depth of penetration, so leaving just a small contact area between the two plates assures a full penetration weld as the weld from the inside angle penetrates all the way down into the beveled area. I'd recommend leaving just a small gap between the two plates when tacking them together, about 2 or 3 millimeters. This gives it a little room to crush down as the welds shrink. More of a gap than this is an invitation for hidden pockets of slag or other impurities. Any pockets of slag or voids in the weld create stress points from which cracks can begin. If you are using TIG or MIG, you can probably get away with using slightly more of a gap between the two, and quite a bit more if you purge the backside of the weld with argon during welding. The bevel angle on this drawing probably isn't quite correct, but I've had pretty good luck using an included angle of 45 degrees for welds like this, so about 22.5 degrees per side. Opening it up a little will make it easier to weld, but will also tend to let the weld pull the material a lot more as it shrinks. Hope this helps, Mike