chelle

Steve, I haven't found anything online about the guy you mentioned.. please pass on my contact info if you can. With the engine mostly wired up and the intakes back on most of the work we have been doing lately has been on the dash, shifter, and pedals. We made some changes to the mounting for the pedals to make them more adjustable. Out of the box they can adjust about 5" front to back, but we added a means of raising and lowering them about 3" as well. The stock shifter lever was extended about 8" and a box to mount a shiftgate to was fabricated out of .080" aluminum. The dash itself is all fabricated and we just need to cover it. In the pictures the cover for the back of the gauge pod is not attached and the holes for the defroster are not cut out. Next we have to figure out if there's going to be any sort of console. Once we settle on the height of the shiftgate and decide what (if any)console will be there we will cut the shifter off to it's final height and polish it. Anyway - I'm late for work so here's a couple pics of the new dash - and one of our helper One of the puppies insists on being right in there with us when we are working on the car Chelle

Thanx Dave and Dave I'll try and post more updates, I just get really busy Thanx Tom, You know you can call me anytime. honestly that's the fastest way to reach me. One day last week someone at your work signed for a box I sent, it contained a bunch of 1977 wiring harnesses and a bracket I found in one of my boxes of parts .. the bracket is something I'm sure you could make - but it's nice to have something you can just bolt on.. the bracket holds the horsey in the grill I'll see if I can find the tracking info - it showed the name of the guy who signed for it. And I have been carrying around a pair of big big pieces that you can't get anywhere in the back seat of my car that I'm trying to figure out how to get to you. They are fiberglass and very light but so bulky that I can't figure out how to send them. Stupid UPS store said it would be over $100 but to me that's just insane. I mean they weigh a total of like 8 pounds.. I'll figure it out and find a way to send them if for no other reason than they are in the way filling my back seat up. I've been watching for a big enough box to fit them in at work but nothing has come along yet. I'm thinking maybe fed ex will be more reasonable but I just need to find a big enough box. I'm not worried about shipping or anything. I said you can have whatever odds and ends I find when digging through some of my boxes in storage. I do have a few things I may put up for sale that I just won't give away - but they aren't likely to be anything you'd need for your car. I think in storage I still have a 5 speed and gauges and wiring from a RHD 1976 fairladyz. and a few manual trans consoles The harnesses I sent you I left most of the relays and such attached. If you have a stock wheelbase I have a front strut tower brace. The wheels I can't get rid of yet as I haven't bought the new ones. SRGUNZ- Steve, I do most of my own labor :)Thanx tho. Where in Wisconsin is he? is that black GTO for sale now? is it the same one that was at indy last year? I would be interested in buying it maybe - I had been looking at two other F-cars, (both built from real ferrari parts) a P4 replica and a 700hp twin turbo 288GTO replica.. The hybridz will outperform it, but I would still be interested in it.. Can you forward some contact info? Or give him mine? thanx a bunch Chelle

Hi guys, Yupp, that's our car It's been a while, sorry. The base blocks access andat night anymore I just don't get on often anymore. I get about 1000 e-mails a day between work stuff, personal stuff and spam so I usually turn on the computer after work and after other chores for an hour or two sifting through e-mail and never get caught up. I miss a lot I know. Anyway, mostly we've just been doing a few things to fine tune the car. I took out the padded dash I made as it didn't really have the look we wanted in the end. We wanted the interior to look like it was inspired by of an evolution of the original GTO dash and I felt it didn't retain enough feel of the original. We welded in a knee bar we could bolt the column and a new race pedal assembly in to. To that bar we added a smaller bar that serves as the attachment point for a new aluminum gauge pod and switch panels reminiscent of the original GTO dash. The race pedals are from Wilwood and use three seperate mastercylinders with remote reservoirs and a really interesting "balance bar" that allows the front to rear brake bias to be adjusted remotely. We had a race shop fabricate an aluminum fuel cell so we've been trimming in the trunk around that and finishing the interior behind the seats. They added a bar to the roll bar for us to mount the racing seat belts to and now all of that is installed. Under the hood we've been cleaning, powdercoating, and painting everything to make it look better in there. I've been adding some things under the hood to make it all work better as well like brake and intake ducting. We ground down all the flashing we could get to on the intakes and powdercoated them black and late friday night Haley was handpainting the raised ribs on them red. Oddly enough even though almost everything on the engine is aluminum, the valvecovers are stamped steel, so we stripped them and coated them in aluminum color to make them look better. Someday when we fabricate a new intake we may powdercoat them black to look more like an original, but with these intakes we felt black on the valvecovers would make it too dark in there. Yesterday we went kart racing so we didn't get much done. But today the schedule calls for finishing some of the interior trim and maybe a little of the wiring for the new dash panel. Here's a few pics from this week Chelle

I got your e-mail Tom, you were just sending me the address so I didn't think I needed to reply back to it.. I asked for the address so I could send you miscellaneous parts, some of which I should have sent to you by now and some were never discussed before, which I'm just giving you for free. Sorry I didn't think you needed a response right back saying I got the address. I have a large box of stuff for you and am still sorting through boxes seeing what else I can add that you might like. Everything I send to you gives me that much more room here (we went from 3 garages and a storage unit to a one car garage and two storage units) Chelle

Heya Tom, Thanx!! If you still have my cell number give me a call or e-mail me sysadmin@corecomm.net and give me your # and/or shipping address. I get around 1000 e-mails a day so I have to purge older stuff oftem and just can't find your info I have this big box of wiring from a 1977 280z as well as two huge inner fenders and the bracket that the grill emblem mounts to. Chelle

oops... my mistake, sorry I do think Tom McBurnie's front is a lot more accurate than the original Alpha1's.. I think I read that the McBurnie parts were Alpha1 parts that he did a great deal of work to refine.. I wasn't trying to say our car is better, just making sure I vented that it's different Chelle

MusPuppis - just the body mods, not counting making the aluminum work for the trunk or mechanical work, welding, RHD, etc, I would guess about 250 hours ZHeadV8- Joe Alphabet's Alpha1 molds were sold... the GTORR site has a good history on what is out there. . . RaysirX- thanx... part of my perennial lateness is work related, and part is, unfortunately, my nature.. there are a bunch of pics here showing the test fitting of, well, everything.. http://members.core.com/~sysadmin/personal/ just click the links tfreer85- thanx I'll try and get some more pics posted from home soon.. Your car looks great however it's not exactly the same. (nice color btw ) Thunder ranch makes a nice product however I do take issue with something pretty much out of the box being described as "exactly the same" or even only "slightly different" than what I spent a couple hundred hours modifying to meet my needs. This isn't a flame, but just an honest look at the two cars.. I made a lot of mods to our front end including adding length to it, adding the radiator access door, adding the 3 vents under the grill opening, making the hood opening smaller and more tapered, making the side vents functional, grille opening is taller on your car, and we added the vents to the back of the hood. My vents behind the doors are metal, fabricated by me, and functional, your car has a hatchback, ours has a trunk, the vents behind the rear wheels are different, yours are more correctly shaped but not opened up or functional, ours are larger and functional. Our rear fenders flare out further, the gas filler is moved to the correct location and finally the taillight panel on your car is flat across the bottom whereas ours is more rounded like the original. Here are some side by side images to compare those points. after the side by side shots are a couple showing the before and after mods to the nose before it went to paint. Chelle

Jamie, yeah, I agree on the wheels, as soon as I switch to coilovers on the back I'm going to try going to 16" x 10" Daytons Well, Tom was justified in being annoyed. Combine my job (I'm a defense contractor doing computer work for the Navy) with my seeming inability to mail things in a timely manner and anyone waiting to get something in the mail from me is bound to be annoyed. I get sent all over the planet sometimes with less than a days notice. Then when I am around I am so backed up with tasks I get further behind.. It's a good thing my job isn't one that requires me to mail anything, I'd be broke. Anyway - if you know how to reach him ask him to send his address .. I found the mount for the grill emblem, the inner fenders and still have a box of wires for him in storage. Dr_Hunt, Thanx It hasn't been on the dyno, but we are expecting that it's around 500. Stock it was 300(net), but we are running open exhaust, no power accessories, better flowing intakes, and a much better computer with better ignition. Chelle

Thanx, Mike - the steering rack is the normal one - LHD and RHD use the same crossmember and everything. The parts are the same but you have to disassemble them and reassemble them in the RHD configuration. Here's the pic of the rack installed using all the stock parts. You'll note that the crossmember is dimpled on both sides. Chelle

Thanx guys, The interior isn't completely done - likely that will be over the winter as I want to install a Vintage Air setup. Also this winter we will probably go ahead and wetsand and buff the car out. The paint looks better in the pics and outside than it does indoors as there's a bit of orangepeel that will go away with sanding and buffing. Dr_Hunt, here and in the "other engines" section I have posted a bunch of pics and info, but the short version is 77 280z with Alpha1 kit done like 15 years ago by a father and son, we drove it a few years and last Feb went crazy on it in our spare time. ("We"= me and my roomie) Brief list of modifications: changed every body panel installed trunk converted to RHD added 4.125" to front framerails/wheelbase recessed firewall BMW V12 and 6 speed trans Engine converted to dry sump and mounted completely behind the front crossmember and lowered Rollbar Fuelcell still to come: brake and suspension upgrades A/C and Stereo Fire system etc... Chelle

lol, um, I guess sometimes it's good to be me - tho I'm not a man, just a girl with a thing for cars Chelle (short for Michelle)

Heya guys, It's been a while and I seem to be able to connect to this today (military base I work for usually blocks it) so I thought I would post some updated pics Here's a couple more recent pics There is a lister here Tom in North Carolina who I sold some parts - I recently found a few pieces he needed I wanted to send him if somone could let him know I'm back thanx Chelle

Great idea on the custom tool!! I have to try that for my rear window trim and headlight trim rings too:) What gauge stainless steel did you use for trim rings? Thanx! Chelle

Wow, Those pics look great.. you could go with a V12 Only thing not installed in in the engine compartment in this pic are the Air meters, ducting to the air filters, and upper radiator hose (also the hood and fenders are off however that doesn't change what the inside of the engine compartment looks like). Please excuse the dust we covered our firewall with 1/8" aluminum. Bondo isn't a good idea to cover the seams as the whole thing flexes when driving so you will end up with cracks. Best to weld up all the seams and then smooth the welds. Used body filler only where you are trying to make a relatively smooth panel even smoother. Cracks in bondo look a lot worse than a painted seam. Also if it's covered in bondo on one side, any moisture that gets to it either from the other side of the metal or through a crack will be hels there like in a sponge and accelerate formation of rust I love the Vette engined one and the intake on the 6 cyl... would love to have a downdraft setup like that for the 12 Chelle

Well Tim, you're sorta correct The last time my computer connected to the site was then, but I have it set to log in here automatically and my start page is hybridz.org... so whenever my roomie gets online odds are good it loads this site first and sometimes she browses this site a little too Anyway - I work for the military and occasionally get pulled away for days at a time with not much chance to get online - and military buildings are bad for cell phones (they are expressly banned in many areas). For that reason friends sometimes don't hear from me for up to 2 weeks at a time and when I do get back I am buried in e-mail (yesterday I still had over 3000 unread e-mails in my inbox) This is why I haven't posted any updates about the car - I just hadn't had much chance to work on it. I've been back about a week now and am trying to get caught up - it's probably too late tonight to call Tom (he's on east coast) but am off all day tomorrow and will box up a few things for him and give him a call. He called me the day I got back but I was too busy to talk and honestly forgot to call back. On the plus side the car is painted finally, but I'm weeks behind on reassembly Chelle

Well the car went to paint last week Thought I'd post a few pics of the dayit headed off to paint as well assome split pics to show before and after. Keep in mind the "after" shots are after mods, but before paint. I can't wait to show everyone what it looks like after paint! Chelle

Thanx ! We got the trunk and a few other parts from Tom really happy with how the car is coming - though it's still going too slow lol.. I wanted a real ferrari engine but the sidedraft DOHC engines that are sorta affordable are too wide.. and a decent SOHC engine is $15k-$20k. This was a nice compromise. Your car is nice already though - ours had really tired paint and needed to be redone... we just went a bit extreme As soon as it's back from paint we will post lots of pics Chelle

I just realized - didn't post pics of the trunk chelle

We should have it back from paint by the end of the week so maybe this weekend we can start doing all the wiring and interior Chelle

Heya guys! yup, girls work ourcars for fun too! We are going to send the car to paint either tomorrow afternoon or tues, just depends on me getting a tiny bit more sanding done in the morning after we take dog to see the Vet I thought it would be nice to post some pics showing before all this started and what we felt should be changed and what it looks like just before going for paint. Before pics show the car at the veterans hospital show last year. The rear view shows gas filler in wrong place hatchback wrong doorhandles Front shows too large grill openings fender vents in wrong position missing vents behind doors hood opening too large Z-car access doors at cowl seperate cowl panel missing access panel in front of hood hood not bulged accurately Unseen in these pics is it had a 2.8 ltr 6 cyl and was left hand drive and was missing three of the GTO''s trademark grill openings previously posted after pics show it's now a nearly 6 liter V12, right hand drive, with a trunk and vents behind the doors. And tonights pics show the finished vents shaved off driprails doors fixed for GTO style buttons corrected grill opening corrected sized other nose openings, including the ones under the grill. (side note- I have only seen one other GTO replica without an aluminum body that has had the openings below the grill !! ) Corrected hood opening allows the radiator access panel to be cut out. (in these pics the hood opening is marked but not cut out) Corrected hood bulge corrected fender vents behind the front wheels, I'm sure there is more things I was going to mention but am so tired i'm getting more absent minded will post pics when it's back from paint!! Chelle here's before: After: Building the new openings under the grill

Looks like my car too but with right hand the recessed firewall works as a great dead pedal and I didn't have to do any changes to the pedals. Dead Roman, he might not be thinking about turbo's or superchargers. I set ours just as far back because it allowed me to really lower the center of gravity by getting it back far enough to be behind the crossmember. Chelle

kewl!! I love his crossmembers, wonder if he's up for a race V12 with lots of power in high rpm's vs low rpm torque V10... something tells me we both will leave pieces of the R200 littering the track Chelle

VinhZXT- I don't have any pics of an original Alpha1 dash, I had the original z dash till this most recent mod. and Tanx and you're welcome on the 1/4 vents it wasn't too bad of a mod to do Here comes trouble- thank you ... when I first joined here z car EFI systems were a total mystery to me.... I'm glad the stock EFI is gone Con Brio - and all the others who I haven't gotten to reply about the nose, Tom was pretty much the first guy to contact me and paid super fast.. thank you all for your interest - I do have quite a few other parts left but nothing else from the body for sale. I still have a buncha stuff from the fairlady I parted out too, including the metric gauges.. anyone want to put a speedometer in their car that is factory datsun but reads to like 220 or 240? Carolina z lol... hmm, summers coming... maybe when the car's done me and roomie will consider a photoshoot like that - depends on how much weight I work off working on the car The wheels are Dayton's Preith - I don't know any local Z people here in chicagoland .. sorry Thank you Tom you have been a pleasure to deal with too! You are welcome to come see the cars anytime Chelle

Heya Kazu, My tank is 24" x 9" (three gallon) and it was in the trunk, With the nose mods I'm thinking about putting it up front but there's really not a problem putting it in the back of the car. If nothing else the long lines act as an additional oil cooler and they give you more capacity. Just be sure to use the largest lines you can to minimize the difficulty the pump faces pushing the oil through long lines. Chelle