markrolston@mac.com

It's sold by several companies. It's just called "aluminum brightener" and is an acid solution that etches the surface. I just scrub it on with some scotchbrite and rinse with water. It's sold at truck and RV places for cleaning aluminum trim, wheels, etc. It will destroy paint though. A few Auto Zone stores have it, but it's behind the counter. Some other auto parts stores may carry it too. This stuff is made by "Purple Power".

another small update. We're putting the car back together, fitting the body panels to the frame. We also used a chemical polish to shine up the front suspension parts. mark

the corvette front suspension is a very clean double wishbone setup with very few packaging compromises. Compare it to the 350Z front arms and you'll know what I mean. So it was ideal to use and it also meant easy access to Corvette hub, brakes, and shocks. The Corvette rear suspension is almost the opposite- it's design seems very compromised for packaging issues (in order to minimize vertical space needed to leave room in the cabin. It's also very dependent on a large, relatively heavy subframe. It's not easy to modify or mount into a steel tube frame. In short, very few reasons to use it without distinct advantages to inherit. So when I went to look for an alternate plan, I found a basic design in a company called Team321. A large part of the appeal was the cool factor in a cantilever setup. Needless to say, my rear suspension is not packaging limited in most ways. It's wasteful in the space it occupies, but then again, so what- it's cool and technically does the job an adjustable double wishbone suspension should do.

It won't be done. Just a roller. Electrical is not even started. I plan on using the uprev setup with a stock ecu. I know those guys well. Otherwise I have a motech in the rbz I'd swap out. As for the wipers, I'm looking at the single Mercedes wiper. And I don't like the trap door mechanism. Too complicated. I'll just leave a space for the wiper to hide. Maybe build the cowl cover into the wiper so it looks flush at rest. We will see when we get to it.

The cow ell ports are covered, but yes, i will run wipers. We will install them later but cutting whatever space we need. I hope to install the wipers so they disappear into the cowl when they aren't in use. Not everything is worked out The exhaust isn't done yet. The headers will point up towards the turbos. The turbos will sit up in the V of the engine brace, the down pipe will need to turn 90, go straight down and then another 90 for the tranny tunnel. It looks like there's plenty of space. Oh, and I'll be showing the car assembled at the San Antonio Nismo Fiesta in April.

The hood is finished. Today Andris and I pulled the hood out of the mold. It's amazing to see in person. It weighs only 22.5lbs and is extremely rigid. It's several layers of CF with a klegicell core. The surface looks nice but the weave placement is not consistent enough to leave naked. I plan on painting it anyway. Check it out:

Small update. We are prepping to cast the CF front section. Many layers of CF and Klegicell. It's going to be amazing!

ready to assemble. Instructions not included. I took some pics today at the shop. We're about to cast the hood and we have all the fittings to put the parts back on the car.

quick update. More powder coated parts. Custom rear suspension components.

Not sure what you mean. My center console, dash, and door panels will be the same dimensions as stock, just custom materials. The rear hatch area will definitely be unique.

I am a designer. I do ok. This project is expensive but altogether not a whole lot more than a nice car payment when you stretch the costs out as I have. It's all a matter of priorities.

I started this project before those were available. I've changed a lot internally on the motor and will be running two turbos with a custom intake. After all that the .2L diff in displacement is negligible. mark

I know, we just covered that with tape to make the mold. I always planned to do bodywork and paint. Raw CF is cool, but I don't want that look for the Z. It's also a significantly greater effort to do a flawless body in CF. However, the insides of the car will be full of exposed CF surfaces. Those will be more carefully made.

a few new pics of the frame and first fender part...

I'm not sure you'd really want them. They are nice but not nice enough to leave naked. There are bubbles in part and flaws in the mold that don't matter to me because we will paint over them. If that's still interesting, then I'm happy to get you a price on the materials plus the few hours it takes to make a part.

quick update- first fender CF-part pulled.

The entire car needed to be disassembled into separate pieces to take to the powder-coaters. It will get us the chance to assemble it back carefully and with the right fittings. We are also making the carbon fiber fenders today. attached here is a pic showing a rear fender bagged and vacuumed. It's so incredible to see a datsun fender in CF. beautiful!

another small update: engine arrived. Mitch, who was doing the build on the engine, started the work here in Austin but in the middle of the project decided to move to Colorado. So he finished the job there and shipped the motor back to me. Funny, it doesn't look different We'll now start building the intake, dry sump, and headers. We have flanges already for the I/O so there's no need to modify third-party products. That's more work than it's worth. A fresh approach allows us to do it clean and tight. The other picture shows samples of the powder coating material choices. The the two colors I am using are seen in the rings on the left of the picture. The light silver will be used to coat suspension parts and the darker metal grey will be used to cover the entire frame. Both are matte metallic coatings that look as natural as possible for a coating.

yes

no engine porn pics yet, still looks stock on the outside. but i definitely have plans for that engine. I'm going to shave down the cam-covers, getting rid of all the little cable mounts so it's smooth, then paint them red. The front cover will likely be polished, and the twin intakes will be custom. The two turbos will sit up high next to the cam covers on each side with the piping coming/going straight forward in the engine page. Should be a sight. There's room in there and I have the will and the time.

For electronics I have the stock ecu so I'm hoping to use uprev's solution. But that's a ways off before I have to worry about that.

Almost nothing has happened with my car over the last three months. I'll tell you why: Here in Austin there are only a few shops that are both capable and interested in helping with a project like this. Some are too expensive, but most just don't have the skills. It's not LA. Regardless, I have found a few folks who have been able to help over the years. One shop, Al's Bodyworks, is basically just Al himself. He's really good at what he does and he has been extremely helpful over the years. I credit the great bodywork on my silver Z to him, which is also how we made the molds for this new project. In any case, I recently moved the car from Al's back over to Andris' shop (Laivin's Race Cars) since some of the work was out of the range of Al's experience. He's great at what he does, but this is a complex undertaking. So here we are, having lost a few months with a change of plans. Andris has the car and is now working on the interior rear glass wall (Since the back area will be open, I'm sealing the cabin with a window just behind the seats. The cardboard in the pics is where the plexiglass will go. The engine is finished. The steel body (what remains of it) just got back from sandblasting. As you can see, we are keeping only the minimum. It will be welded to the frame and then all of it powder coated. We're back on it now, not quite full time, but certainly things will move faster. Stay tuned.

I took pics of the engine apart but they were out of focus. I'll try again. being lazy. Still waiting on key parts- head gasket and bearings. should be done this summer with engine. I plan to make my own plenum. It's really part of making it unique. otherwise there are enough options I could slap on. Not sure about the belt issue. not there yet. AC sounds good but this is really a race car. we'll see when we get closer to that. HR choice has been a ***** for parts. at times I wish I'd just gone with GTR motor, but back when I was sourcing the motor, I couldn't find them. now they seem to be around. right now still trying to build the metal framework that hangs the body panels onto the frame. it's been super slow. hope to have visually interesting progress soon. definitely not stopping, but recent process hasn't been pic-worthy.

another small update. working on the frame to hold the splitter and front airdam. Also working on improving the transition between the wheel flares and the airdam.

The hood weighs almost nothing so I plan to use only a tiny spring latch on the hinge to lock it in the up position. My headers will run upwards into the turbos and then the downpipes are designed to run alongside the transmission. It's all been designed to fit nicely. mark