Z-TARD

If the parts are thin enough, they can be steamed and bent into shape. The sides of acoustic guitars are made like this. I don't think you could form one piece into an entire dash this way, but you could definitely give some curvature to a multi piece assembly. Another option would be to build it up from a framework like a boat hull or airplane fuselage. Thin strips glued down onto a temporary frame could be made to conform to most curves while still being pretty light weight. Carving the dash from a solid chunk of wood would be pretty difficult I'd imagine. Like making a dugout canoe. Finding a piece of wood large enough within a reasonable budget would be hard, and if it wasn't properly stabalized the end product would probably warp badly as the wood adapted to environmental changes after carving.

I actually like the hood quite a bit. It looks quite a bit like the design I've had in mind for my Z. I also like the way you've reduced the size of the grill opening by connecting the headlight buckets together. Very simple, and still very much looks like a Z. I may end up copying this if you haven't patented it yet.....

Probably a reground stock cam. Rather than weld on extra metal to the lobes to increase lift, they just removed metal from everything that wasn't lobe.

Wow! That referee is like, 8 feet tall!...... Midgets Aux? Seriously?

I weighed mine using 4 bathroom scales back when I was considering the setup. As pictured here, it is drained of oil, and does not have any of the intake or FI parts included. The tranny is a T-45 out of a newer 4.6 V-8 mustang, and weighed about 100-120 pounds (I could pick it up and carry it with a bit of effort). The cart was probably around 30 pounds or so. Total weight of the whole enchilada was 795 pounds, so the empty engine by itself has to be well over 600 pounds. The T-45 is just held on by a small C-clamp in the picture, my plan was to cut and section the bellhousing on it with a bellhousing from the V-12 to make it fit. An adapter plate probably would have worked as well, as many of the holes were close to matching up. Here's a pic of the same setup alongside the Z for an idea of how things will line up. Putting the shifter in the stock location will let you run the engine without butchering the firewall much, if at all. The downside is that you end up with fully a foot of engine hanging over the front X member, so the car will auto-x like a school bus. The wow factor upon opening the hood though will likely be priceless (: I don't want to talk you out of doing the swap. On the contrary I'd love to see someone succeed with this setup. I'm just trying to pass on all the info I learned when I was gearing up to do this with my own car. For me, the end result has always been performance, with cool factor running a close second. While the Jag is hard to beat as far as cool factor is concerned, the performance side is kind of lacking. IIRC the HE versions in the later cars were good for about 310 HP. The lack of aftermarket performance parts will likely restrict it's final HP numbers to something pretty close to the factory numbers. On a 600+ pound engine, that number just didn't work for me, when a lighter, smaller SBC would make significantly more torque and horsepower while requiring much less custom fabrication to make drivetrain components work.

I considered the Jag V-12 as a powerplant for a long time in the begining stages of my build. I even went out to the junkyard and pulled one. My main reasons were: A) It's a frick'n V-12! The very flat torque and HP curves. C) IT'S A FRICK'N V-12! In the end though, common sense prevailed and I decided to go with a "generic" SBC conversion. The reasons being: A) Weight. The Jag V-12 alone weighs over 600 pounds, despite the aluminum heads and block. Add a tranny capable of handling the torque and you are looking at 750+ pounds sitting in your engine bay.... Parts availability. Parts are hard to find, performance parts even more so. When parts are available, they are priced like Porsche parts.... C) Size. The Jag V-12 is absolutely massive. Despite it's size, the displacement is rather small at only 5.3 liters. Yes, there is room for it in the engine bay of a Datsun Z, but just barely. Quite a bit of it will hang over the crossmember, moving the weight distribution forward a bit. You can cut up the fire wall and move it rearwards, but your feet will then have to fit in a space the size of a Tic-Tac container to operate the pedals... I still think the Jag V-12 is an awesome engine, and it would look amazing under the hood of a Z, but for V-12's I think the BMW would be a better option.

The factory sheetmetal is pretty thin, like 20 or 22 gauge. I'd go a little thicker just to be safe, like 18 or 16 gauge. The weight increase will be minimal, probably only a few pounds, but the increase in strength will be pretty significant.

I'm still waiting to see it, although I've seen most of the spoilers online. I've heard that it's left wide open for a sequel. If the studio knows whats good for them, they'll let Big Phil shoot the next one, his videos are always pretty entertaining and not nausea inducing for the most part (Except for all that Coors Light....). That, and the next one definitely should have more:

Guess I'll trot out the drawing I did a few years ago. Since then, the wind tunnel tests have changed my ideas of how the hood should look. Given the huge amount of drag imparted by the radiator, the pass through hood design seems like it wouldn't really provide any benefits. I still like the integrated side pipe/mufflers though. Running the exhaust externally like that would allow the underside to be cleaned up quite a bit for better under car areodynamics: I'll try to do another drawing using the ideas I've had since the wind tunnel tests were published.

My wife and I just had our first kid a little over 3 months ago. We still haven't really settled on a theme for his room yet, but we are thinking "Animals". We have the alphabet hanging on his wall, each framed letter has a drawing of an animal with it that begins with that letter. Already he shows a lot of interest in them. He'll stare at them and smile whenever we carry him past that wall. I think Dinosaurs would be good too. You could make them as realistic or cartoony as you want. All kids love dinosaurs. List of proposed (By me) themes rejected outright by the wife: Hellraiser II Aliens vs Predator Apocalypse Now The Cambodian killing fields (Seriously, who hates piles of skulls?) Chupacabra Gwar Insane Clown Possey (I really thought I had a winner with this one too....) Congrats on the kid, and good luck with the nursery! Mike

Looks like they probably beat or hammered on the cats to break up the matrix inside so it would blow out on purpose. I've seen cats blow out from running too rich, but the chunks that come out when that happens are normally either glowing white hot or burnt black.

One has to wonder if his goal was to create a car that is utterly and completely hideous from every angle except directly directly head on. If so, I say "Mission accompished...... Mission totally frigging accomplished...."

Let this be a lesson to all of us: When an angry woman attempts to key your car, do not block her attack with your skull. Yet another reason to just paint your car with Rustoleum.

Next time post a warning Terry! I could actually feel testosterone being replaced by estrogen inside of me when I looked at that picture

Screams and beats chest while wearing beer hat: "ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!!!!!!"