blue72

While I don't agree with the "100% accurate body" bit (very close, but I noticed some small differences), that is an incredible feat. Mid engined with wider than stock rubber, plenty of power, good suspension, awesome headers, wow. Still, what would it be registered as, and would it be road legal in the state he lives in?

Hmmmm... I see a trend here. It seems that all the cars on the cover have paint on them. My car only has paint on a few select body panels. I wonder why mine isn't on the cover?

What about the De Havilland Mosquito, the "Timber Terror"? Those planes were made during WWII and constructred entirely of wood with a thin heat formed plywood skin over a balsa core. Piano and furniture builders were called in to make them. They were even powered by two supercharged Merlin engines, each making 1250 horsepower. It was the fastest operational plane of its day at 400 plus mph. Some of them even had a 4000lb bomb payload. Trumps me, I've only ever cut and installed moulding in a house and other small projects.

I was going to mention the upside down caliper possibility in my first post, but I guess I forgot. I was listening to CarTalk about a month back, and one of the callers went through his whole process of elimination with Click and Clack. He explained how his brakes didn't work correctly after a simple brake job, but it wasn't until the end when they asked him about his bleeding procedure, then they found the problem. He had done everything else correctly, but had the pump pedal/open bleeder valve sequence a little backward. It might not be what you are experiencing, but I just thought it interesting that sometimes it turns out to be one of the things that have already been ruled out. It just takes a different point of view to see it. Sometimes it is the simple little things you wouldn't otherwise think twice about.

Perhaps not to diss the grooves, but the application of them. On the website http://www.somender-singh.com/ the general theory is explained as "directs the (added) turbulence towards the igniter". This guy did that with half of his grooves, but the other ones seem a bit counter productive. He took a fringe idea, and still seems to have messed it up.

I finally got around to starting a scrap metal sculpture again. I had the idea that I wanted to make something akin to a dragon, so here is what I came up with. I think I'll add something else to create a sort of webbing between the wings. It's mostly old transmission parts. The wings are cut down steel plates, but the outer toes, and the upper arms are the wrist pins from an old L24. Here's a picture of it "lording over" the mundane pile of parts from whence it came. Solid half day of chopping, welding and breathing welding fumes. So nice to not have to worry so much about structural integrity compared to welding on a car.

Carbon nanotubes are also being touted as the next great advancement in solar power technology. We're just seeing the beginning of some exciting advances.

F54 blocks were used on turbo and N/A applications from '81-'83. It's stamped into the block on the intake/exhaust side down by the oil pan in the rear. From my experiences in junk yards, it takes a lot of looking to find all of those pesky bolts. It's also torturous removing bolts from the heat shields on certain years.

Sorry, I own a 240Z and clicked the thread out of curiosity. I did 2 minutes worth of googling and came up with a site with many nice large pictures of what looks to be a stock 280ZX Turbo. Plenty of interior shots, so maybe that'll help you out. http://www.scottiedog.com/zcar/page2.htm Maybe you could look at the Blackdragon Auto catalogues online to see how things go together as well. Just my .02¢

He must have a ten run policy on any part he paints. It doesn't matter if it's blue, red, silver, gold, it must have runs or fisheyes. Almost looks like he dips every piece in a 50 gallon drum of metallic paint. Too many questions. Like who convinced them the franken-clutch thing was a great idea? Then the 16.83 1/4mile time from a 380+ hp car? I really should stop reading. It hurts too much to watch.

I just saw that on a forum somewhere not too long ago. That's not even the worst part. That car is tweaked, blundered, bungled, mangled, spindled and folded all over.

Ha ha, Pork® and Engrish. One of my favorite all time sites on the intertubes is engrish.com. Man, I really have to make it over there sometime. Thanks for sharing.

I like Jay Leno's take on this equation. He regularly gets a kick going "fast" in any number of his slower older cars, and seems to have just as much fun, if not more than driving one of his fast cars. If the car gives the illusion of speed then your mind tricks you into thinking you're going faster and having more fun (and getting away with it). The practicality of a street driven car is what 99% of people think about. You have a car to get you from point A to point B. The rest of us are the 1% who have to push the limits, but like grumpyvette says, There's always someone faster than you. By the time I'm to the top of second gear in my Z, I'm already traveling faster than all but freeway speeds. That's plenty of get up and go for someone who doesn't live anywhere close to an official track. Plus, having a 36 year old car that pushes you back in your seat and makes noises unlike anything else at 6500+ RPM makes for lots of excitement any day.

Oh, I don't mind suggestions. I'd love to model some RB-R's, super wide ZG flares, slam the thing, stick an airdam on it, corbeau seats, etc, etc... I just need to find some time to make all that stuff. At the moment my render farm, which includes my main workstation, is tied up batch rendering an animation, and I've got more scenes to set up, plus regular life, you know. I'm sure I'll find some time eventually to make my own personal "dream car". Right now I'm trying to find a company out there that thinks my work is intriguing enough to pay me for it. Then I could afford to spend money on my real car again.

A few more little details might help. Which year car is it, and is it the stock brake system, or modified? Not knowing those things, I'll assume an S30? If it is, I might suggest reading up on the reaction disk, because it can cause the exact same brake pedal feel. Here's a link to the little writeup I did on it over in the brakes, wheels, suspension and chassis sub forum. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=138712

Looks pretty standard fair to me. Nice chromed air cleaner housing though. It was chopped down a bit on the end. It doesn't look like its been lowered to me, perhaps the body kit gives that illusion. Someone also retrofitted the 280Z turn signals into the front grille. Steering wheel is a bit smaller than stock, and the seat belts aren't factory, but the rest of the interior looks good from what I can see. Nice headlight covers. 280ZX rims, aftermarket mirrors. Looks like some overspray on the wiring in the engine bay. Looks to be clean and straight on the outside. Nice purchase.

MSA, Blackdragon Auto, Z Car Source, Too Intense Restoration, Courtesy Nissan, E-bay, etc... They all should stock emblems. Or you could post a parts wanted ad in the appropriate forum here and see if anyone has a few lying around.

I'm not trying to be arrogant or condescending here, just trying to help. Believe it or not, I actually put some thought into most of my posts here. You specifically asked about the head gasket issue, and I gave you a link to my findings on it. I even took the time to wade through all of the postings by 1 fast Z one by one to find that post on the exhaust liners in case it was pertinent to you. I don't think search should be seen as the S----! word here. I have personally seen many threads on this site that deal with the N47 head, its advantages and disadvantages in a multitude of configurations. Discussions on compression ratios and quench, articles and photos on shaving down, welding and reshaping the open chambers of the N47 to ideal dimensions. Discussions of static and dynamic compression ratios and cam grinds, etc... All of which contain useful information to be gleaned for personal use. The information is here, by the bucketload. This is a great resource if used wisely. Good luck with your build.

At the moment, I haven't made the model commercially available. It's gigantic, 80mb and 800,000 plus polys, and that's without the drivetrain in it. It also represents hundreds of hours of work. You can't see it, but many of the small details are there as well. All of the suspension, much of the interior, and even such tiny things as the lettering on the brake calipers were all modeled. I am entertaining letting some members here use parts of it for CFD simulations to further our understanding of aerodynamics with these cars. If/when I do decide to let others purchase/use the model I'll let the interested parties know.

Here's one of mine. MIG'd and clear coated. I have access to literally tons of otherwise useless transmission pieces, and I'm trying to come up with something semi complex right now.

I'd say some searching is in order, as the liner and HG issues have been covered here before. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=134333 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=125186

I agree on the uniqueness of the purple 2+2 taillight panel. Sorta makes it look Kenmeri/classic american muscle. I would question the rear tow eye though. That would drive you nuts klanging around all the time. 1fastZ and jay28 sure have set the bar high as far as good looking 2+2's.

Hey, the site was infected with Graemlins. I wonder if it still works Seems that same feature is still here.

Without further ado, I give you the outcome of months of off and on 3D work: I thought you guys here might appreciate this. The plain render seemed a little lacking, so I added some period looking Datsun advertising touches. Personal preference dictated the carbon fiber hood and lack of fender emblems. The car is all 3D, modeled painstakingly, down to the nuts and bolts. It is based on reference schematics, and eyeballing my own Z. The background is a photograph. I just wish my own car looked this good. And just to confuse everyone not in the 3d industry, here are the specs: Modeled in Maya, rendered with Mental Ray. Post processing and composite work done in Photoshop. Background image and lighting courtesy of sIBL. If you want, the rest of my portfolio is on CGSociety (one of the other forums I am a member of) http://renderanything.cgsociety.org/gallery/ There you can see some of the other details on this model, and my full L-24 engine and transmission model. Oh, and here is a link to the full 1920x1080 image, because some of the minute details like tire tread are easier to see in full size. Beware, 1.5mb. http://www.renderanything.com/Pictures/BillWilhelmDatsun240ZBannerEdit.jpg Feel free to tell me what you think.

You can always try tapping the solenoid, or jumping the terminals on the starter. That is, assuming you know how to do that safely.