Z-TARD

The local Pick and Pull down here in San Diego normally has several Jags. The complete setup from hub to hub should be about $250. Mike

As far as I know, they are closed down

Yes they were hubcentric, and he already had the specs for the 280Z hubs so I didn't have to measure anything. He can also make them centered to the wheels as well, but you'll have to provide the dimensions for the center hole in your wheels for that. I didn't choose to center mine to the wheels, but they seem to run very true anyway, no vibrations at all. Mike

As I recall, the jag rear end has some ridiculously low ratios too, something like 2.8 I think. Would work really well with a SBC/TH400 setup.

R-200V (Short nose from infiniti J-30, 240sx, etc) weighs 75.....

First attempt at welding? Jesus.... That year and a half I spent learning how to weld in the Navy now seems like wasted time Seriously, that looks awesome! I hope my rust repair looks half that good when its done. Looks like yet another car that will be finished before mine Mike

Apparently the Sparco seats aren't very fire retardant. Damn that sucks.

The chick comes back on Sunday evening, so I should have something worth posting shortly after that. Of course, my original estimates were that I would have it completed by now..... Mike

Probably the most cost effective alternative is to use adapter/spacers that allow you to use more modern wheels with negative offset, and either honda or toyota bolt pattern. Something like these: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=6 Or something like this maybe, although I'm not sure I'd use it in a high performance application as it is two piece:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7949302247&category=42614 I have a set of these on my 280Z "The Turd", and am very happy with them:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7950130116&category=66486 Hope this helps, Mike

Made some progress on the dash over the last few weeks. The DAP surface is all sanded down. That stuff is really easy to work with, and takes spray paint pretty well. The first coat dries really fast because it partially absorbs into the surface of it, so I know the adhesion is going to be pretty strong. I'm doing a few coats of primer first to build up small scratches in the surface so I can wet sand it down before spraying on the epoxy paint. The surface is going to be smooth enough so that I can use this plug to make a female mold out of fiberglass, rather than using it by itself as a male mold. I've also decided to make the dash entirely out of carbon, rather than a hybrid of carbon and glass. I still might end up spraying it with a flat clear coat, depending on how bad the glare bothers me. Unfortunately I don't have any new pics to post, as my camera is currently out of state with the chick I'll post pics as soon as I get it back. Mike

30ksi would still be preferable to the unkown value a chromed cage would have due to hydrogen embrittlement. And $2300 is small change when in the pursuit of maximum bling Plus the 500 psi springs might stress the chrome cage to the point where chrome might start to flake off..... How many want to get in on a group buy for mil spec stainless? Mike

Could make it out of polished 304 stainless. I seem to remember that the blue twin turbo Q-45 engine from Japan that we all drooled over a few months ago had either a stainless or chromed cage in it. Totally blingin' yo. Mike

I helped a friend of mine pull one of those at the junkyard. They are a very stout setup, but are on the extreme side of being heavy. The center section is made by Salisbury, and is essentially a Dana 44 (IIRC). That alone weighs well over a hundred pounds..... I suppose the swap could be done easily enough though, the entire unit can be unbolted from the car in its own subframe. Mike

You might like these:

I'm using the 10.5" cobra wheels on mine. With a 1.5" spacer, they clear the spring perch by about 1/2" on the inside, and stick out of the body by about 1.5". You might be able to tuck the 9" rims entirely under the fender lip with some 245 or 255 tires. It's possible you could use a 1.25" spacer instead of the 1.5" to gain some more clearance on the fender lip. If you already have the wheels, you can determine which spacer to use by just setting the wheel inside the wheel well and measuring the distance between the back of the wheel and the stub axle flange/brake rotor. Obviously it's not quite that simple, you'll have to make sure the angles all line up so you can get a true measurement between the two surfaces. Harbor freight sells some magnetic base angle indicators that work pretty well for that. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34214

Alright, who let Al Queda advertise on Craiglist?

I have yet to do the floor boards in my car, but I have done a little welding with a $200 Wal Mart wire feed to fill in the rear marker lights and antenna hole. I'm confident the machine would be capable of doing floorbards as well, but like Wheelman said, stick to short tack welds to weld everything up. Long beads will just burn holes, and worse yet will most likely cause the piece you are welding on to shift alignment so it wont fit as precisely. Treat the tack welds like you are torquing down head bolts, use an alternating pattern so the welding heat is evenly distributed and it should work out Ok. Hope this helps, Mike

You might not even have to weld on it before grinding. If the surface is thick enough, maybe just a few thousandths taken off with a belt sander (steady hands here.... )might be enough to make it seal. If not that, maybe trying two gaskets instead of one? I dunno, thats all I can think of for now. Mike

The VLSD should have one splined shaft that is almost an inch longer than a non VLSD setup, as well as one that is just a little shorter than the non VLSD. If both of yours are the same length, they most likely are not from a Shiro VLSD. Any pics to work with? Mike

Looks awsome! Nice work on bending all the tubing for that, looks amazing! I like your dash too. Is the gauge pod going to be separate from the rest of the dash, like in the 350Z? Definitely keep us updated on this one. Mike

When I was working at Shelby, I remember seeing crates of these things in the Series 1 building. They were using the torque tube/rear transaxle setup from the C5 vette, along with a lot of suspension parts. Unfortunately at the time I din't think to look any further into how the engines were mated to the drivetrain. Doh! Mike

Yeah, imagestation works for crap when I use it for some reason. If you refresh a few times they might show up.... The scope is a Bushnell elite 3200 series, fixed 10x with mil dot. For the money (about $170), it's the best scope made that I've ever seen, easily comparable to leupolds costing 5 or 6 times as much, not quite as good as ziess or swarovski though The rifle is one of the new Savage law enforcement rifles. I bought this one after shooting my friends rifle (identical except for a choate stock instead of the mcmillan) I shot a half inch group (4 rounds at 100 yards) the first time I picked it up. Recently he has started using hand loads and is shooting 1/4" groups with it. Prior to this I had been on the bandwagon with everyone else, talking trash about savage rifles, because prior to these, most savage rifles pretty much sucked I had the money to get a Sako TRG 42, but decided on this instead because it shoots just as well for about a third the price. This thing is almost as cool as a Z...... Mike

Got your pm. Actually, I used quite a bit of the spray foam on the mold as well, mostly on the backside for reinforcement. The spray on contact adhesive leaves a little to be desired as far as strength goes. Once the first dash is pulled from the mold, I could use the backside of it as a female mold to spray some foam in, making a duplicate plug out of spray foam. It would still be incompatible with polyester resins, but if the surface finish was good enough it could be used for molding with epoxy resins. For now the DAP stuff seems to be working OK for a surface finish, although I dont think it will be durable enough to make more than 1 or 2 dashboards before it starts to crumble off of the foam core. I should have it sanded down and painted sometime this week (Got derailed for a few days due to a cold), I'll keep you guys posted. Mike

I've actually had this for a few months now, but I finally got the scope mounted on it and had to show off