JeffGarcia77

RedFive, the racers among us need CF doors. Not just the door skins as previously suggested, but the door shells too. They probably wouldn't need the mounting points for the window regulators, but they should have mounting points for stock hinges and door catches. Maybe a window frame with a flange for mounting a Lexan window. We can rig something up for releasing the door latch from the inside/outside. The stock doors weigh a ton, and CF would reduce weight in the right places (i.e. outboard, meaning less body roll). Front fenders are another part that is not available, to my knowlege. Thanks for stepping up, Jeff

I just dug out that old drawing. It seems I pictorially grafted a coupe greenhouse onto the 2+2 convertible. So it ended up being a 2+2 with a smaller greenhouse and a trunk (boot). If built, it might have better aerodynamics (less rear lift) than both the coupe and 2+2.

Chartoo, Have you considered doing a CONVERTIBLE 2+2? This would give you the freedom to redefine the roofline to your liking with either a cloth top (no quarter windows?) or a removable hardtop (with/without quarter windows). It would look GREAT with the top down. I did a little drawing once upon a time of a topless 2+2 260Z, and it looked very sleek because of the extra length. Good luck with your project!

Put carbon fiber wheels on it, and it'd be a real winner! But seriously, I think this study looks incredibly good. I especially like the profile. Perfect Z-car proportions and shape in profile. Let's start our own car company and build this ourselves.

Wow, those are awesome wheels! What are the dimensions? 3.8 lbs. is amazingly light. Did you build them in house, or...? Makes me wonder why the OEMs who are producing hybrid cars don't install carbon fiber/metal wheels. The lighter the better when fuel economy is the main goal.

Challenger: Go to Dymag.com and click on "Technologies" in the top banner. The info there should answer alot of questions. But yes, they are made of a material which consists of woven carbon fibers and some sort of resin to solidify the layers of carbon fabric. I'm sure it gets more technical than that. Any carbon fiber expert want to help me out with this? Jeff

Nigel obviously sees the logic behind the design of these wheels. Dymag's website, Dymag.com, is very educational and enlightening. I suggest studying it with an open mind. It is based on physics, sound engineering principles, and careful testing. Also read the testimonials from the very high profile race teams and supercar manufacturers. True, we might have to wait for the prices to come down before we can afford them, but they'll be worth the wait. Jeff

I'll take that as a statement, because there was no question mark. I see you're sold on the quality of Dymag wheels too.

Or imagine hitting a pot hole at 40 mph and a cheaply made aluminum wheel fails and you and your car go rolling down a mountain. If cost is your only concern, then good luck to you. Do a Google search (or your favorite search engine) and read up on the properties of these wheels. Pay attention to how many government tests they have passed, and to their reliability record in racing and extreme use.

Anyone running these superlight Dymag (Dymag.com) wheels on a Z yet? They're less expensive than I thought they'd be: only about $2100-$2200 each. They will custom build to buyer's specs.

I just looked at mine, which are on the car, and they would be very difficult to measure from end to end when they're installed. But I did get a very close approximation of the length between the center of the "FORWARD hole" to the FORWARD end of the steering knuckle. By "forward hole" I mean the hole in the steering knuckle through which a bolt passes to attach the steering knuckle to the bottom of the strut. As you know, there are 2 bolts holding the knuckle to the strut. For this measurement, I measured from the approximate center of the forward bolt (closest to the front of the car) to the forwardmost extent of the knuckle. This length turned out to be 3 1/2 inches. If your steering knuckles are shorter, they should be shorter along the same segment of the knuckle that I measured. Good luck, hopefully you have the quick steering knuckles. Jeff

If they are indeed the quick steering knuckles, they will be 10 millimeters shorter than the "normal" steering knuckles. Hopefully you have access to a set of normal knuckles. If not, I can go out and measure mine tomorrow and get back to you. Jeff

Z Man of Washington (Oliver Naugle) sells 105 and 120 amp alternators which fit the Z car mounting bracket perfectly. He provides instructions for re-wiring, because the alts he sells have an internal regulator, instead of the big, external reg. found on the pre-78 Zs. I had one on my 280ZX, and it provided plenty of juice for the lights, wipers, blower motor, A/C clutch, radio, brake lights, all at the same time. You can go to zspecialties.com Jeff

That Xebra would be OK for a person from the planet Ork who wears suspenders and looks like a young Robin Williams.

Here's another reason to convert to electric drive: No more exhaust fumes entering the car. Unless, of course, you're running a genset. jmead and others doing this conversion, I applaud your efforts, and I considered this at one time, but for my purposes (I need my Z to be able to travel long distances) I need to find a clean-running, fuel efficient gasoline engine to replace my tired out, stinky, gas guzzling L-28. But keep up your good work, as batteries are improved upon, you'll be able to improve the range of your EVZs. BTW, have you considered Optima batteries? They might save a considerable amount of weight, and they can be mounted on their sides. On the other hand, their cost is about twice that of lead-acid batteries.

Congrats on getting those "dum" brakes out of the way! Now you can move ahead with something that really works.

The drums on my '77 were so stuck to the stub axles, I had to make 4 cuts with a cut-off wheel, forming a square which was slightly larger than the axle flange (so that I wouldn't accidentally cut into the flange). After I removed the major part of the drum (it slid right over the shoes easily), I used a hammer and chisel to force the remaining flat part of the drum away from the flange. It had only been about 8 years since the drums were removed, but apparently this was enough time to form a seriously strong bond between the two dissimilar metals. The car had been sitting outdoors in the Mojave Desert (CA) all that time, but despite the extremely dry climate, they became stuck. And yes, I did try a brake drum puller, hammering, PB Blaster penetrating oil, etc., before resorting to the cut-off wheel. I replaced the lightweight drums with some cheap ($35 each) IRON drums which weigh about 7 pounds more PER DRUM, as a temporary fix to get the car driveable again. I know that is way too much extra rotating and unsprung weight to be hauling around, but it's only temporary.

If you were to use Arizona Z Car's upcoming aluminum hub carriers in conjunction with inboard rear brakes, the rear of your car could conceivably have incredibly low amounts of unsprung weight (depending on tire and wheel weight). This might make a tangible improvement in cornering speeds, depending on how bumpy the driving surface is. Another old car that used inboard rear brakes was the Alfa Romeo GTV-6 from the late 70s/early 80s. Correct me if I'm wrong on that point.

Your link isn't working. Since I can't see what you're refering to, I can only guess at what it is. Is it a carbon fiber intake manifold, a carbon fiber intake tube, or what? What engine is it designed for?