John Washington

I once let slip through my fingers a 77 Z that had a popup roof similar to that available on the 1st Gen RX7. It could be lifted at the back a couple of inches or removed and stowed in the back. The seller wanted $500 for the whole car and I've been kicking myself ever since. It would probably not compromise the structural integrity of the chassis at all, unlike T-tops or a targa (which is essentially the same as removing the whole roof. One of these days I may try to cobble together something like that. As always, it kind of depends on the prospects of selling enough to make it worthwhile. Anyone interested?

I've bought stuff like that from Harbor Freight, http://www.harborfreight.com . Some good, some just OK.

In case any of you guys have been trying to get to my website and encountered problems, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm working on it. The web server got hacked resulting--ultimately--in rehosting my website with Earthlink. You can read the details on the front page of my website. Anyway, I used to have four URLs hosted independantly: a. reactionresearch.com, b. kitcarz.com, and velorossa.com both pointed to the "automotive" page under reactionresearch.com, and c. gtorr.com pointed to it's own domain. A. and b. are still the same, but apparently the pointing has gone awry and I've had to redo that a couple of times (love Network Solutions!). Maybe it will "take" this week. Gtorr.com now points to the "gtorr" section under reactionresearch.com. If you have any subpages bookmarked under any of those domains, you may have to go back and navigate down from the main RR automotive page in order to rebuild the bookmark. Sorry for all the confusion, but at least I can assure you that it's been a lot more painful for me than for you! Please come back and check it out. I've posted a LOT more info on the FAQs page this year. If you run across any bad links, please let me know and I'll correct as soon as possible. Thanks!

Hey, Brian Spillar....How ya doin'? Haven't heard from you in a while... I was surfing around in this section on behalf of a friend who has an SHO engine he'd like to sell. I'm sure the price would be reasonable, but haven't asked him yet. If anyone is interested, you can reach him (Rusty) at brad900rr@aol.com . Tell him I sent you!

I gave up on finding those a long time ago. Like with a lot of things, I put way too much effort into it, so I feel pretty confident you won't find any. I believe they were made only for the GTO, so finding them at a swap meet is unlikely. However, if you prove me wrong I'll buy lunch next time you are in Phoenix! If Jim is making them you can bet they are first class and worth every penny.

Thanks for the referral, Joe. I do have both the Joe Alphabet-style dash and the more authentic Jim Simpson-designed dash. Unfortunately, my webserver was hacked and Trojan-horsed last week. After completely rebuilding the server, the guys who host my website brought the server back on line only to discover that it was being bombarded by a denial of service attack. I'm hoping they will get everything straightened out pretty soon because I feel sure it's costing me some business. Thanks in advance for your patience. If it's not up again soon, maybe I can email you some photos.

As usual, thanks for the kind responses, guys. I've been prefacing all my stuff with "I'm not an expert" lately, and when I realized I didn't on this one I was holding my breath in hopes that some more knowledgeable person wouldn't say, "You're an idiot." I really need to update the installation manual. Unfortunately, it's not in the cards for the short term. However, I've been pretty good about going through it step-by-step with new customers when they take delivery, to make sure it's all fresh in their minds when they begin, and that they have the latest info. I did post a photo of the new cheeks at http://www.kitcarz.com/newcheeks.htm I also summarized all this suspension stuff at http://www.kitcarz.com/suspension.htm along with a photo of the camber curve correcting spacers. In there I answered the question about the rear suspension, and whether to use both the JTR cross member mod AND the camber curve correction (Yes). I put some links there that you will find useful, too. One of them is to a thread between Pete Paraska and Marc Sayer that is particularly helpful. Chris, when I refer to "third generation Z" I mean 84-89. Let me know if you have more questions!

Thanks Wags, for letting me know about the thread. I saw it early on and meant to reply, but have just been buried! Adjusting front suspension ride height on a Z or Z-based car. 1. Sectioning the struts really is essential. Without it you simply can't lower the car enough without getting down to a point where you still have reasonable suspension travel. 2. 300ZX (third gen) shocks are not only shorter by about 1.5", but they also have the same threaded piston rod (upper end) as the first gen cars.Therefore, you can use them without modifying the strut insulator (top hat). With the GTI struts you have to drill them out. It can be a pain, plus it makes it harder to tighten or loosen the top nut. The GTI piston has a round threaded section, whereas the Z has a "D" shape that prevents the piston rod from rotating. 3. Coilovers are the way to go. I had some made locally but it was a pain; so much so that I'd recommend Ground Control in spite of the expense. I'd be interested to hear what everyone is using in this area. Coilovers will give you adjustability in ride height that will help you trim out the rake of the car just the way you want it. 4. While you have everything apart, drop the cross member and relocate the inner pivot point a la the JTR V8 book. This will eliminate the annoying bumpsteer that was built into the Z to help compensate for overly soft suspension, I suspect. What's bumpsteer? The annoying tendency of the car to follow the ruts in the road or pull to the side of a bump if you only hit it on one side. It's due to the tie-rod arm and control arm not being parallel. Re-locating the pivot point will cure it. 5. Install "bump steer spacers." Why the quotes? That's not really what they are, but it's what everyone calls them. They are spacers that go between the bottom of the strut and the ball joint. What are they really? "Camber curve correctors." My term. Copyrighted. Use it and you have to pay me:) In essence, when the suspension height is stock the ball joint translates outboard with increasing bump load. This makes the camber more negative, i.e., the top of the wheel leans more toward the center of the car. The more negative the camber, the better the bite from the tire, which is exactly what you want when you load that side (the side on the outside of the turn). At some point when loading the suspension, the control arm goes from a normal drooping (toward the outboard side), to horizontal and eventually above horizontal. When this happens, the ball joint starts coming back toward the centerline of the car, decreasing camber and causing the front of the car to "wash out" (understeer) in hard corners and especially under braking (which transfers more load toward that critical outboard tire). So, if you graph (I'm the self appointed king of analogies and visual aids) the camber versus loading, you see the camber start out at some negative value, go through zero (corresponding with horizontal control arm position) and start to become positive again. When driving a stock Z under normal conditions you'd never get it loaded far enough to get the control arm significantly above horizontal. However, when the car has been lowered the entire "camber curve" from the above referenced graph is artifical shifted toward the positive camber area. That is to say the closer you start out to horizontal on the control arm the easier it is to get into the wrong part of the curve. Imagine that if you started out with the control arm exactly horizontal, it would only take a minute amount of loading to start decreasing the camber. The camber curve correcting spacers push the control arm back to something more like a stock location, and therefore depress the camber gain curve back into a more desirable region. "How come I've never heard of this before, and why don't the racers do this?" I've heard that question, too. The answer is that most of them run such stiff springs and shocks that you don't have much movement on the camber curve. In essence the camber becomes fixed. The downside is loss of that all important suspension travel and it's little buddy "ride quality." In a racecar, neither is that important. I have some really nice billet CCCs that I never properly marketed. If a dozen of you guys would buy them from me it would pay for my time in posting this info. I'll try to get a picture up on the website when I have a chance. Some parenthetical comments: While you have everything apart, it's a good idea to do the suspension bushings. The steering rack in particular can cause irritating mystery problems that you won't figure out until you have a friend turn your steering wheel while you watch the rack move back and forth 1/4 inch relative to its mounts...or until you listen to me and just do it Also, you may as well change out the brakes. The JTR-suggested Toyota 4-piston conversion is a pretty good one. I think I have one of those in a box here somewhere I'd make someone a deal on. It's a little heavy compared to "real brakes." I hate to admit it and many of you probably hate to hear it, but our good friend at "the other Z place in Arizona" may have the best setup for that. If you just can't stand him so badly that you wouldn't buy a $20 bill from him for $10, let me know. I may have some inroads to some alternate sources, but don't have the time to invest in exploration without pretty promising prospects of selling some. Be very conscious of the bottom of your car. There should be nothing hanging out below the "frame rails." This becomes even more critical with decreasing ground clearance (duh), but you'd be surprised how many aftermarket headers dump out an inch below the frame rails. I call these headers "speed bump feelers." Make sure whoever does your exhaust work from that point back understands the concept as well. This is especially important with V8 cars. Not only will this stuff drag, scrape off that pretty JetHot coating, and tear up the exhaust, it will also loosen your exhaust manifold studs (or break them) and potentially ruin the gaskets. Also, I have had much better luck with graphite gaskets than anything else. They are a lot more expensive than paper, but it's a relative thing...relative to how CHEAP the paper stuff is. I hope this helps!

I have images of Velo Rossas, GTO replicas, and GTOs in almost every color. If you let me know what you'd like to see, I'll dig and post what I find on my website. It (website) is a never-ending work in progress. I could spend days sitting at the computer posting all the info I've gathered over the last decade!

Many of you have seen the partilly-completed Velo Rossa listed for sale on my website ( http://www.reactionresearch.com/johnson.htm ). The seller has asked me to put some extra effort into selling it, and emphasize the "or best offer" part. This is a very nicely done car on a great donor. I've personally laid eyes and hands on it, as it was put together locally. If any of you are interested, please let me know right away, before the seller lists it on eBay and some dufus who doesn't know his rump from a bump bids it up to some crazy price!

I'm considering adding the G-nose to my product catalog. However, I'm reluctant to spend a bunch of money on the mold without knowing there's a market. How many of you would be interested in getting one? I know the answer is somewhat dependant on price, and I'd be interested in knowing what you would consider a fair price. I have molds for the headlight covers to match, but they are sans trim rings, so would have to be bracketed onto the G-nose, or screwed on ala GTO.

Once again, thanks for all the kind words! You guys are my best advertising. Drewz: I think Canadian representation would be wonderful! Ideally, if I had someone "up there" to receive stuff in bulk and help me figure out how to get it across the border with a minimum of duties and customs intereferance (I guess "NAFTA" never lived up to the hype), it would be worth discounting a bit. Hopefully, it would generate some volume that I would not otherwise do. I know the market is a bit limited due to not many Zs left (all rusted away?), but in some ways it may be a better market. All the current owners have to be enthusiasts to keep the cars going! Mike: I've toyed with the G-nose idea on and off for years. I know a guy who has a mold squirreled away, and I have bought a nose from him. However, it is a bit rough...more race quality than show quality. I'll start another thread and see how much interest there really is. I have a set of molds to make the G-nose headlight covers...

Vinh, I meant to reply to you directly about that car when you emailed me last week. I kind of lost track of who sent that photo to me...getting old I guess! Anyway, I believe that is a Nalle kit...pretty rare bird. Eric Neyerlin has more information on it, I think. I'll email him and let him know it's being discussed.

It's slow going on the GTORR website at the moment. However, Hank Black and Evan Friedman are the first two members to fill out the GTO Replica Owner Information sheet and I've managed to post Evan's information. Click through to his page from the gallery: http://www.gtorr.com/Gallery.htm I'd love to have more info from the rest of you, but can't promise speedy posting right now! Thanks in advance!

Trevor, your first mystery car is indeed an Alfa: a TZ2 to be precise. The second one is a TZ1. Lest you think I'm so smart, I pulled a photo of the TZ2 out of a magazine years ago thinking it might be a good candidate for breeding with a Z car. However, I couldn't find the clipping and wound up having to contact former GTORR high Kahuna, Terry Watson. In addition to being a rocket scientist by day, Terry is also a very active member in the Alfa club and does a bit of race driving at their events. He replied with the following: TZ2 1965 The Alfa TZ2 was reveiled in 1965 and a development of the desirable and succesful TZ (Tubolare Zagato) model which only then became known as TZ1. Both cars being a design of Zagato's Ercole Spada, built around a tubular spaceframe of Alfa Romeo's engineer Giuseppe Busso. The bodies of all of them differing in detailing like ventilation openings and lamps,were fabricated from glassfibre (except one which was of aluminium) and looked much more mean and aggressive than its succesful forebear. The well proven and reliable 1570 cm. engine produced 170 HP at 7500 rev/min. (later ones boosted 2 spark plugs per cylinder) while the front height necessitated the adoption of a dry sump engine lubrication system. A gearbox with 5 forward gears was fitted and the rear discbrakes were inboard against the final drive which had a 47% differential lock. With a total weight of only 620 kilogrammes top speed was well over 155 miles/hr. depending on the chosen transmission ratio's. You could do a Google search for more info, but I found a couple of not-so-great photos at: http://www.classicscars.com/alfa/tz2/tz2.htm

I have seen photos of the Factory Five "Cobra Daytona Spyder." I think it's the best looking front-engine, rear wheel drive car I've ever seen. An awesome semi-original adaptation of an existing design. I like the idea much better than attempting to copy a design. I've toyed with the idea of adapting a kit to a 300ZX or some other platform. However, as you can see on my NEW FAQs page ( http://www.kitcarz.com/faqs.htm ) it's very expensive to reprototype and retool, and the 300 is not a very good donor platform. If I were going to do such a retool I'd eliminate the unibody altogether and start with a purpose-built chassis like that built by my friends at Precision Design ( www.calspyder.com ). It's already set up for a small block Ford, has real front suspension (double a-arm), and could have a late-model Mustang IRS installed. Now if one of you guys wants a really cool car, buy one of their chassis and let's talk about me prototyping a body for you!

Charlie Puckett was at one time employed by Tom McBurnie. He ran a few ads and came to only one show (of which I am aware) with several unfinished cars. His kits required a frame stretch and were longer between the firewall and the front wheels to make up the difference in wheelbase between the Z and the original GTO. I think he has been out of business for many years. In fact, I think I saw recently on another Hybrid forum an phone number from a classified ad some member posted for tooling for sale that sounded suspiciously like the Puckett stuff. Out of curiosity (I have too much brain damage already to bite off someone else's problems) I called the number and left a message. However, I got no response. I have sold a bunch of parts to a guy in Canada who had Puckett "build him a turnkey." If you are really serious about trying to find a Puckett, I can dig out the guys email address. However, you may be disappointed by what he has to say. I don't think he's a very happy camper.

I'm just curious...doesn't really matter. I'm getting more enjoyment out of hearing you guys talk about the trials and tribulations of making molds than I would get out of the profit of selling you a dash:) Plus, the fact that you are describing the excruciating detail provides a disincentive for anyone else who wants to make their own stuff instead of buying from me. So, I probably owe you a beer or two!

Looks like a Simpson dash. Is that one you got from me, or did you get it from Jim Simpson?

I've been trying to do a little bit of work on the GTO Replica Register site ( www.gtorr.com ). There is also a new contact form there and I'd love to have info from you guys on your cars.

You guys are gluttons for punishment! First making a top and mold from scratch and now a dash. You do realize that I sell the dashes, too, right? Ah, for the good old days when I too had more time than money... I'd be interested in hearing more about the GTO replica manufacturer from Salem. That's a new one on me. I've been trying to do a little bit of work on the GTO Replica Register site ( www.gtorr.com ) and this info would make a great addition. There is also a new contact form there and I'd love to have info from you guys on your cars. I'll cross post into "who's building."

I appreciate the feedback on VR styling and the new mid-engine project we are doing. The mid-engine car is being designed to be substantially EASIER than mounting a new body over an existing unibody chassis. We hope to completely eliminate bonding, sanding, and painting...and of course the cutting, reinforcing, and all the accompanying work. "As I envision it," we would do the "hard" stuff: supply the welded chassis with suspension mounted, "roller" wheels and tires, and the body hanging. The customer would install the wiring harness, the drive train, and do final mount of the body including lights. In a nutshell, the customer would only have to "wrench" and not have to do anything involving dust, sparks, or paint. The styling? Well, that's a work in process. Neither Steve or I are very good at translating design elements into renderings. We'll keep you posted, though.

Unfortunately, once you make molds you are constrained to making the identical part over and over until you are willing to prototype something new and make a new mold. That is exactly what we plan to do. You reference the early Ferrari designs but then the question becomes, "what makes the Ferrari's so attractive." You have to have a starting point; some empirical objective. I hesitate to share these ideas because I would like to elicit from others untainted ideas of design attractiveness. However, maybe they will jumpstart the discussion. In my opinion the GTO is attractive because it had a long (some would say "phallic") front end--very masculine. However, the aspect ratio of the front is very slender--more feminine. And the nose protrudes in a pronounced fashion with similar reference to both genders. Likewise the rear is wide. On one hand (so to speak) you could compare it to muscular, broad shoulders or strong legs. On the other hand, being literally the "rear end," you could compare it to the hips of a woman--very feminine. To complicate matters more (literally) the bodywork has a multitude of openings; slits, holes, ducts. All add interest because they draw attention and break up the otherwise smooth panels. They are also passages from the beauty you see on the outside, to the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. The exterior surfaces incorporate more complex curves than modern designs. That is to say, mathematically more complex: They have curve from top-to-bottom AND from one end to the other. However, the radiuses are "medium." That is to say, not small like at the edge of a panel, nor large like on a relatively flat panel (the radius of which approaches infinity). This point about complex curves relates directly to making the body more appealing. It is softer (again, more feminine), but "bulgier" (if that's a word) which is more muscular and masculine. It also relates to the appeal of the "modern retro" designs, like the PT Cruiser and the 350Z, to cite two examples. It also generates highlights that are more concentrated. That is to say, if the vehicle is in bright sunlight and you squint at it, you see the highlights as small, scintillating, points of light. However, you can't just round off all the sharp corners or you wind up with a blob. The design incorporates strategic "inflections" (another mathematical concept). These are found as you trace the line of the bonnet above the front wheel from front to rear, right before you get to the base of the windshield, and at the rear quarter transistioning to the spoiler, to name two. Inflections are changes in direction, adding interest and perhaps implying an exciting quality of tenuousness. OK, I'll stop with the cheap romance novel now. However, maybe this gives you an idea of the kind of feedback I'm seeking!

This may start a thread that will wind up being transferred to another topic, but I read with interest TomahawkZ's comments about the Tomahawk being masculine as opposed to "feminine qualities like the Vello Rossa." I'm totally not offended by this, so don't please don't take it wrong, but it harks back to a series of discussions I once had at the prompting of the folks who "adopted" the company last year (one of many good things that I got out of that relationship): What makes a particular car design attractive? This question is an attempt to take a critical and empirical look at body design. I have some very strong ideas about it, but it's very difficult for most folks to put it into words. Design is very much a subjective thing. "I don't know art, but I know what I like." Most comments on the appeal of the design are related to other designs, i.e., the GTO (obviously), the front of an E-Jag, the rear of a Cobra, etc. I'd be interested to hear some more from all of you guys on this subject. It may lead to some improvements in the design of my Z products, and certainly will contribute to the eventual body design of La Bala, our new mid-engine project (see http://www.reactionresearch.com/moreautomotive.html )

I need to add to my sig block, "email me directly if you need a quick response." I don't yet have enough time to put on my daily checklist "Surf HybridZ." The status of VR Engineering has been resolved to my satisfaction...except for the brain damage and having to pay the lawyer. I can now supply almost everything (except for a few items of hardware that were depleted from inventory) that I offered before. Just let me know what you want...and help me make my lawyer's Porsche payments! Actually he's a pretty good guy...kind of like the dentist, when you need him you are glad he's good at what he does, but you kind of dread going to see him anyway. Britt, the YZ kit is $1900, includes front fenders, air dam, rear quarter panels, and rear spoiler. Spoiler can be deleted for $150 credit in case you want to run a wing or something. Also, rear quarters are available separately. TempeZ, thanks for the offer of help. I haven't dug out far enough where help would be helpful...if you know what I mean! I sold my shop building last year and am now operating out of my house (Old Town Scottsdale)and my vendor's facilities (north Tempe, and east Phoenix). However, there is no reason I can't show you what I have. Just let me know when you want to get together.