chelle

okay, sorry for slow reply.. the scoops on our red car are not like an Alpha, on the Alpha for some reason they really made it a coumpound curve, almost like a bowl. It could be for improved airflow, or the original was formed using pics that didn't show it clear or simply artistic license, i honestly don't know.. On ours they are closer to the original, but still not exact.. that's a nice thing about the original GTO's, they were all slightly different.. some had additional scoops, different driving lights, hood bulge shapes, etc.. I even have some pics of one with little bumpers so there's always some wiggle room mkaing a replica 250GTO unless you are trying to match one specific car. Or air intakes in front of the hood are 7.25" wide and 6.5" front to back, and they are on 9 7/8th" centers leaving about 2 5/8" of material between each scoop. To make them just use 3 simple cylinders secured in place. I used plastic paint mixing containers as they were thick and sturdy enough to hold their shape, and the resin wouldn't attack them. Once I built up the panel and the glass had cured I was able to pop the "forms" right out and cut away excess to get the look. I attached some pics of the nose as i was modifying it as well as an original Alpha1 nose and then some close up pics of some original GTO noses to see the angle to cut away the intakes and placement of the Dzus fittings. Last pic is of an unusual original GTO as it was seen at one point.. i can't remember which ca it is, but i do recall during a restoration it was changed to how the scoops look on most of the others

I have some work stuff that's gonna keep me busy most of the day, will reply tonight when i get home the buckets are not upside down though, i made the decision to install the rings upside down due to the lack of access to the screw when placed properly. It's less than ideal but works. I'm trying to find a more appropriate trim ring though will post pics and measurements tonight!

Okay, and here's some pics of our red car's covers. We used brackets carved from billet and then polished. The trim rings were cut from .060 aluminum then filed to shape and polished and we used large flat slotted screws to hold them on. The brackets were attached by drilling holes through the body with bolts all the way through. Unfortunately not using a metal front end with tabs means you have to slightly shift the location of the inside rear brackets as there's no way to drill the mounting hole through the nose to perfectly match original. Honestly i don't see that as a problem though as our headlight buckets really are shaped different than original. Here's our solution... brackets aren't really noticable and it's a subtle enough difference i think to not be a concern Chelle

the way GTO's attached the covers was not with brackets at all. The GTO's had tabs that were part of the front sheetmetal. For us this creates a dilemma .. do you attach tabs to the glass somehow or use brackets? I considered using a dremel too and cutting slots in the fiberglass inserting a metal strip like 3/4" wide all the way through and glassing it in from the backside so it couldn't move to make it more accurate, but after seeing some original GTO's that had had the tabs cut off retrofitted to them when owners went back to using covers. I'll post some pics of original gto's with covers on an off to show you.. and then another post to show what I did..

Nope, i have the Alpha rear.. I don't know if they still sell the ScorpionZ taillight panel/spoiler seperately, but i know he did for a while. I'm already planning on getting rid of the fiberglass trunk crossbar, but if I redo the rear spoiler i'll just bite the bullet and do it in aluminum.. I'm really on the fence thought because the car already works.. if i redo the rear fenders and spoiler I'll be tempted to just start completely over again.. My preference is to do the doors, trunk, and a front 2/3 tube chassis on this car but keep this engine, trans, nose, etc and use my other engine/transaxle for a completely new GTO from the ground up. really torn, I want this car to be better, but i think for perfect I want that to be on the next car, which is gonna cost exponentially more

this would prolly be easier to see if i was better with photoshop.. i took the profile pic of our red car and pasted part of the area surrounding the door over it at 65% opacity.. so if you look close you can see the doorseam through the image over the top of it.. hopefully this is easier to understand than my description lol Chelle

I agree completely about the doors.. I do want to replace them too. Some of my changes are going to require redoing the paint anyway, so I'm not too worried about the paint. My preference is to toss the doors completely and make new ones from aluminum. This will accomplish so many things. 1, I can save weight 2, Aluminum doors skinned in aluminum will look a lot better, sound and feel better when closing, and no potential moisture trap causing rust. When you look in the door gaps you'll just see the thin edge of a metal door rather than the thick edge of a glass skin glued to the Z's steel door. 3, an new aluminum door will allow all the dimensions to be brought more in line with how the GTO's are supposed to look. I can use a smaller door, extend the back of the front fender back, raise the door sill, and change the angle of the opening at the rear. I attached two profile pics, one with a grid superimposed on it and one without the grid to show the side by side comparasin of our red GTO replica with the extended wheelbase shown above an original GTO being restored with the door removed.. The stock GTO door is smaller in all directions, which actually makes our lives easier.. we don't have to cut into the rocker or door jamb, we "just" have to add material to fill in the gaps if a more correct door is made I hope that helps anyone trying to come up with a way to make changes (assuming you want to - stock wheelbase is still a darn attractive car in my mind) I honestly think the rise of the rear fender is pretty accurate and with a smaller door opening you could correct the angle of the back esge of the glass frame and extend the curve of the rear fender forward enough to make the hips line up with a new more correct door .. i'll do another pic so show what i mean Other differences the rear wheel openings are bigger on the original too and the windshield wraps around more.. oh, and the fenders curve down quicker at the front.. and the ScorpionZ guy's rear spoiler is a lot more accurate than most of the others Chelle

lol, yupp, but he didn't really push it with his foot.. i was at the back pulling it out from under his foot.. it was worth it see? here's the pic pulled back

Wow, good timing for me to start peeking in here again looking at people's progress that does look good, though i think i still like Henry's setup more becasue the ITBs are verticle and closer together so they look more like the 2bbl webers from a real 6 carb V12.. definitely kewl though.. Con Brio, your car's looking wonderful! hope i get to see it IRL someday I haven't done much this year other than drive and enjoy ours.. i did upload some of the video from the filming at the Ferris Bueller's day off house video shoot if anyone wanted to get a better look/listen to the car.. i suck at filming and video editing, but i did upload it high enough resolution that you can watch all the way up to 1080p HD. video here: i hope to cut into the car this winter and really make a lot of changes.. haven't finalized much yet though as i'm trying to decide how crazy i want to get or how crazy i can afford to get .. i made a aluminum trunk lid, and am thinking the fiberglass trunk hing panel will be changed, and a more correct looking back window fabricated.. either way a lot will change on the car this winter.. Nice to see everyone is still working hard on their cars!!

I used West Systems epoxy resin... just noticed your pic here though is a photoshop modification of one of our cars. That pic was taken in the driveway of the Ferris Bueller house, by me.. original is here: http://members.core.com/~michelle.lonnecker/Ferris/GTO-NBC4.jpg just kinda surprised me to see it posted like that without something noting it's a modified pic . Can we see some pics of your car Phdr? I don't come on much anymore as I am working too many hours, when not working i'm working on a couple cars.. sorry, is nice to see the thread is staying active. Welcome new members, looks great Sidwell Chelle

Potential is there for a lot of power.. The twin turbo BMW 850's with same engine and a lot of boost have claimed 1200hp in the past.. John, did you put mufflers in the sidepipes?..ever tried it with open pipes?

Wow, I have been away too long!! looks great!!! Congrats on a very nice build!

Having Ferrari (or special construction) on the title/registration is very useful in one important regard. When you get pulled over because the officer who has followed you long enough to run your tag gets concerned it might be a stolen car when the tag comes back listing it as a Datsun. Then when you have to dig around showing him VIN tags and trying to convince him it really started life as a Datsun and life can get difficult. If you made a custom dash and didn't put the VIN in the original location technically it is a vehicle with tampered VIN tags, and they can impound it. At that point it's really totally up to the officer's discretion. At least if you have the stock dash or an alpha dash you can leave the stock tag in the stock position. Anyway.. it's something to consider and can reduce problems down the road Chelle

hey guys, Ferris house stuff just keeps coming up. Video was on NBC yesterday like a minute in I'm driving the car into the garage http://lxtv.com/openhousechicago/video/10064 Treadstone, it depends on local laws. The VIN is attached to the dash and if you replace it with a GTO style one you're going to have to remove the VIN tag, in most places it's "illegal" to reattach it.

Zerrari, I threw a bid on it to give it a bump.. sorry to see you having to let it go

oops..i figured it mush be spelled same as your name.. was still neat to see one I have access to the Puckett molds and one completed body panel set btw, but no desire to go into business making bodies.. not really sure what we're going to do with them. In all likelihood they will go to Mr Washington as he already is in that line of work. Watch this space and when I decide what will happen this is where I'll post it. best, Chelle

Heya Tomohawk, I saw a blue Tomohawk z saturday in Waukegan Illinois! First time I have seen one on the road I tried to follow him to get a pic.. missed the chance though

lol... I was kinda surprised you didn't list it as Ferr@ri or something similar like most of the others that get listed.. but hey if a letter from FNA's pet lawyer gets you to keep it and just put it on hold till you have the time or whatever you need to finish it then kewl

sorry Zerrari you've given someone a very nice start.. I'm "lucky" in that there's no one for me to spend my paycheck on but me.. in the end you have a family, I have some toys... IMHO you win best of luck to you, Chelle

lol, I share your enthusiasm but I wouldn't do 200 in it.. without some serious mods in a windtunnel as well as other revisions. He might potentially have the ability to get close to that but I can speak from experience with our car that at 150 a Z is terrifying.. front end gets light in the 120-130 range.. and it's not in a happy place. The one time I have pushed it that far I had an empty 4 lane highway and kept thinking the car was about to turn into a sailplane piloted by an idiot. Others here (and especially the owner considering he's a racer) are more qualified to speak on it than me, but despite all the reinforcements in ours I wouldn't try 200. A friend has a Kirkham cobra that's a 200 mph car and the prep it took to get it there "safely" is insane.. google "morris clement cobra" if you want to see what it takes, the engine and suspension are just the start..

Wow, glad you walked away from that mess. I wonder if either of our cars would pass tech.. lol, if we did try to race anywhere I wouldn't drive anyway, roomie/co-owner would. I'm a middle of the pack driver, but Haley is very talented. We used same.. I think it was from power window company.. would have to do some digging to know for sure. I have a 4 stage Peterson pump in about the same position but on other side (ours is RHD) so my first thought was dry sump even though I didn't see a tank. There's a street rod guy here in my area who has a Viper engined rod, but I don't see many using that engine around here. Who did your headers? Are they custom or meant for a Viper? thanks! Chelle

Beautiful! Thanks for posting this update, wanna race? Road America? Did you use the same solution as we did to get the wipers working after cutting away the area of the firewall where the stock wiper motor goes? Passenger side front of the engine I see AN fittings.. is the Viper a dry sump too? Congrats on a wonderful result !

Welcome "Hot Rod" I'm sorry it's take a while for anyone to reply, I guess with the warmer weather people are out using the cars or working on them. Sounds like you have a great start there with a 240. The Thunder Ranch body is a great choice as well in my opinion. Another advantage for your choice of wheels is weight. I do think the wires look right on these cars but wish I had an alloy wheel I could use for track events that would still look appropriate. I may go with some BBS centerlock wheels. A friend has a connection there and managed to get centers for the modular ones that look nice and are very strong. Perhaps some of the reproductions of the old magnesium wheels used on the P4 I know of a shop that makes those in whatever size you could want, but they are very pricey. We have 15x7 on the front and 15x8 rear on the red car right now, but Kim's white one has 15x10 and they fill out the rear wheelwells much better. Both have 275 rear tires I thought about doing a full tube chassis and if I don't do it to this car I will on the next one. With decent reinforcement of the existing chassis there's no need to fear the body working loose if the right amount of prep work is done beforehand and you use the pricey epoxy resins and bonding agents. I prefer the West Systems solutions. The biggest issue after choosing the right bonding is surface prep and sealing off the edges so moisture cannot wick into the seams. My desire to do a tube chassis have less to to with body panels staying on than they do with safety. The co-owner is a VERY competitive driver and when she has been pushing it hard she scares me.. makes me think I need it to be a lot stronger. I was going to do one of the mustang II style crossmembers and am still on the fence about it. The strut setup from ArizonaZ on a tube front end would give me more room around the front of the engine (Keep in mind I have an extended wheelbase car with a V12), but the street rod IFS setups are reasonably priced and open up a lot of options. At the rear I am happy with the R200 and have a lot of power, but since you came from street rodding I can understand why you might want a live axle. I remember back in the mid to late 80's Hot Rod magazine (think it was them) had a z car project car and I believe they put a 9" rear under it. Personally I prefer IRS over a live axle, but we do more road course than straight line. There are other options for the differential you could use and keep it IRS. I'm near the illinois/wisconsin line (Gurnee) and you are welcome to see our car sometime. We haven't taken it to a 1/4 mile track but I had a built up chevelle with a roller big block that ran 11.17 at 129mph and I feel pretty confident the GTO could stay with it. Of course the GTO is only 2200lbs and has a better f/r weight distribution.. talk anytime, and again, sorry for the slow reply. Filmjay, here's those pics from the Ferris house I promised If anyone wants any high res I have them.. and will work on piecing together some video

Thanks guys, and yes, I'm sure some of the pics have just the car, I wish I had thought to get video of the car pulling out of the garage too Will post some as soon as I get a chance

lol, yeah, well they were really careful about it, wiped his feet several times, and he wasn't really pushing hard, was more like I pulled it out from under his foot an if it got scratched, well, it would be an excuse to redo a few things and repaint it!