capt_furious

Wow. NICE! Fantastic work! We need video of it driving!

Haven't seen a Z with them, but I've been keeping them in the back of my head as a possibility(I want a '60s or '70s period roadracer 6-spoke or 8-spoke look). They've got a late '70s / early '80s look to them. Not a fan of the polished lip, though...they'd probably look killer in 100% gunmetal.

...I'd forgotten completely about the mechanical advance. Thanks, guys. Was worried I'd have to drop a load of dough on a new distributor(I know my timing chain is okay, it was replaced a year ago). ...and knowing is half the battle! G.I. Joeeeeeeee...

I know there's not supposed to be any play in the shaft, but is it supposed to be able to rotate at all with the engine off? I can get about 30 degrees of turn by hand, although it does center itself. I'd think you wouldn't want any rotation at all, as this would trash timing. Do I need a new(rebuilt?) distributor, and if so, where can I get one without breaking the bank?

I've searched all over the place and can't find a Revolution wheel in that pattern. Are they out of production?

Hahahahahaaaaa! Brutal! Nismo, bravo for wanting to learn. I don't think I'd have the guts to go at it like this myself, but then again, I don't have the resources, either.

Anyone know what these are? Campagnolos, maybe? I'd love to find a set... More here: http://www.tizcc.ca/marcs.htm

Thanks for the compliments! I'm really happy with how it turned out. (John, I sent you a private message)

I polished my taillights while the Z was getting painted, and figured I should paint the rear trim while I was at it, since it'd be a wasted effort to put the salty trim back on over a set of good taillights. Here's what the car looked like before: Here are the taillights in process. The right one has been completely polished, the left has been wet sanded. Of note is that I shaved off the DOT lettering before sanding. Left side wet sanded and primed, right side yet to be started. The primer is Tamiya surface primer, because I had a can in the paint drawer and because the slot car shop across the street had two boxes on the shelf. Works for both plastic and metal, which I needed for the chrome trim pieces. I wet sanded everything, including the chrome pieces, before priming. All primed pieces were wet sanded again with 600 grit after they dried. This produced an extremely smooth surface and I don't think I'd have got it with a standard primer. Tamiya's spray nozzles are well designed and the primer goes on very smoothly(important if you're painting models). Left side and center painted with Dupli-Color Graphite Wheel Paint. This is very close to the stock color(a bit light from what I can tell, either that or the old paint was really dirty and blackened from road film & exhaust) Closeup of the center section. This was after a coating of Krylon Crystal Clear Satin. I didn't want a high gloss and I needed something to seal in the wheel paint...the metalflake seemed as if it might rub off after it dried, and might age quickly as a result. This sealed it in and gave it a sheen without looking too 'plastic'. All assembled. I tinted the reverse lights with Monogram Clear Lacquer Tint. Stuff works great, even leaves a nice gloss over the polish I'd already put on them. Closeup of everything assembled. I really like the look, works well with the car's colors and doesn't overpower anything. The chrome definitely had to go back here, if it had been perfect I'd have left it alone, but it was flaking and pitted.

To clarify, most of the 'Super White', 'Bright White' so forth labeled bulbs and HID systems emit light primarily in the blue spectrum. They may appear white, or have a slight bluish tint, which is primarily the reason for their marketing and popularity. However, the human eye is not as effective at discerning objects and maintaining low-light clarity(night vision) when lit primarily in blue spectrum light, the ideal spectrum is yellow, which will also appear white at higher color temperatures. Remember Blu-Blockers? They filtered the blue specturm of light to reduce glare. Looking through them gave everything an amber tint. Most 'driving' sunglass lenses have the same effect. The reason blue lights / blue coated lights / HIDs have caught on is marketing and appearance. They look brighter, and most people associate a yellowish or warm hue of light to a standard bulb with not enough wattage being delivered. I'm not sure of the exact dates, but for a period from the 1970s to the '90s, French lighting standards specified selective yellow lenses as opposed to 'white' or clear lenses. Here's my source: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/images/S-Yellow.pdf

Blue lights or rather, blue-spectrum lighting, is about the worst possible thing you can use to drive by. The ideal lighting spectrum for driving is yellow, due to its high contrast and low glare. The blue spectrum will visually seem brighter due to the color temperature, but it produces the most significant amount of glare of all the spectra and less contrast than white or yellow. A new headlight harness & relays, H4 conversion with standard halogen bulbs, and yellow foglights or a good set of halogen driving lights are as good as you get without going silly bling-bling and spending far more than you really need to in order to blind yourself and everyone else. ...this is, of course, my biased opinion, based upon a smattering of fact.

Hey, he completely passed me up and I've known Aux for almost 10 years! ...of course, I can't really use them and they'd probably sit in a box for another 10 years. He knows this.

I'm working on getting the trim and hardware restored now, it should look more complete in a few weeks. I'm going to clean the bumpers up and remount them, and I'm in the process of repainting the tail panels. Not sure if I'm keeping the airdam or not. The front valence is mostly repainted, the center section needs to be finished and then the BRE style urethane airdam will go on. What do I need for painting urethane? I'm using aerosol cans. Is there a special primer, specific types of paint in spraycans, or am I pretty much SOL and have to take it to a shop where they'll use regular paint with a flex additive? I'm up in the air about the rear trim. Part of me is saying paint it body color, the other part is saying go back to stock(I'm painting over the chrome since it's shot, unless someone's got a good set they'll let go cheap). I've tinted one reverse light already, and I like the results, just not sure how it'll look. Lots yet to do. Let me know what you think, the more feedback, the better.

You mean one of these? That's with the Le Mans hardtop. Doesn't look that far off!

ARGH. Can't get a ride to the shop today. Postponed until tomorrow! WANT CAR NOW.

Is that a swapped motor in that RX-8? Some rather salty bits in there for such a new car.

Very cool. Looks like fun!

It's possible to replace a Z roof that's been cut for a sunroof, but you'd need a donor car. Instead of welding a patch into the hole, you'd have to cut out the roof and replace it with a solid one. Not as difficult as a task as it sounds, but still requires some skill with a welder and careful measuring / cutting.

Wow...is this a track car, show car, street car, or more than one of the above? The reason I ask is the lack of side glass. The looks didn't set well with me until I saw it in motion, now I have to say that it's pretty slick! The body sort of begs for a V8, but the 6 does just fine from the look of things.

Just called the body shop, car is painted and is in final cleanup stages, should be ready for pickup tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll have enough light left at the end of the day to take pictures. Otherwise, I'll have them on Wednesday.

Well, which one is it, friend? Rich or poor? Some people will run springs on the choke arms as a return so the choke opens all the way back up. Try disconnecting your choke cables, hang the ends high above the rest of the cables, tape a drinking straw onto the end and pour oil down the straw. It should soak up the oil into the cable and free it up. Use the oil sparingly as you might find it dripping out into the cabin at the other end!

Ugh. If the Mustang is any indication, it's more of the same. Over-the-top Hollywood special effects with a heavy helping of BS and glitz.

...wow. Wish I'd realized this sooner. There's a soda blasting company in my area that does cars and even blasted one of the planes at the air museum that I work at. KHAAAAAAN! ...I should be getting the car back about the middle of this week. Here's the color:

I've got a halon bottle in the car. It's pretty small, though, and the stuff is NOT something you want to breathe in. You can still suffocate yourself with a CO2 bottle, of course. I don't have a garage, so it's never been that big of an issue for me. If I did, I'd want one of the flightline bottles that I use.

I've had various problems with the latch on my 260. It's on what is at least its 3rd hood(assuming the one wiped out by a deer before I bought it was the original), the last one was a 280 unit with vents, which gave me some trouble if I didn't push hard enough straight back from the front of the car and let it slam shut. I bent the latch support one night trying to get it closed and had to bend it back. I replaced the 280 hood with a solid unit that had some serious fitment issues before I removed the latch mechanisim and filed a bit off of the leading edge of the latch. It closes fine now(pretty tightly downward, actually), but I still have to stand on the passenger side and push a bit toward the driver's side a bit to close the hood. It's on slightly askew to begin with, and I'm wondering if this is because the car itself is warped from hitting the deer. The front left corner is much closer to the headlight bucket than the front right. Not sure if there's an easy way to realign everything.