zeeboost
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Posts posted by zeeboost
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I got mine from MSA a couple of years ago for my '82 with T-tops. IIRC, they were around $300/pc and took several weeks to get here.
Their website is www.zcarparts.com
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'72 240zt (Kiwi)
and a larger T4 turbo I installed roughly a year ago
'75 280z widebody project (Ares):
Still a long ways to go with this one.
'76 280z (Blue)
'77 280z 2+2 (Ugly)
I'll probably get some newer pics of it today.
Since this is the s30 forum, I'll leave my '82 and '83 out of this.
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I'm not sure if it would work that well with their odd curvature. They are currently molded in the back (not my choice either) so the only way I'd be able to test it out would be to completely tear apart the rear end and start over. I believe I can get them to fit better, it would just require more work than what they put into it. I'm wanting to start over and plan on talking to the body shop about it, but like I mentioned earlier, I don't want wait another year or so before it's finished. They're already so close with it now, so unless they are 100% sure it will only take them a couple of weeks to a month to redo the rear, then I'm gonna have to settle with that.
Aside from that, does anyone see an improvement with the newer paint scheme posted above?
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Thanks for the info alainburon, but I wonder if that's what'll be better for our cars? Most of the lsx swaps here are street driven, and considering our cars weigh anywhere from 500-1000 lbs lighter, I wonder if we should opt for the higher top end vs. lower end torque. Not to mention not many of us are running wheels as wide as yours. I'd imagine we already have enough wheelspin going for us as it is.
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All I got from the first link was where azcarbum looked into making this for the s130, but didn't come to fruition. The Aritaspeed nose would be the most practical, since it's located in the u.s. and would be much cheaper, but the OP stated he wanted to put an s30 g-nose on the s130, and the link I provided is about as close as he can get to that.
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If you feel like importing one, it's already available for the 280zx:
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Okay geezer, if you don't mind I would really appreciate the measurements of the scoop...that is if I can find a universal one that's very similar. By universal, I'm talking about just the cowl scoop with no hood that can be bonded on any hood (just to make sure we're on the same page). Actually it looks like yours may not sit up as high as the one as bernstein's old Z, but maybe your picture is just at an odd angle or something.
My body shop is waiting on me to provide them with the scoop, so the sooner I can get this info, the better. Appreciate it fellas.
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I like the Z32 lights. Yes, I'm clearly biased. But the lights themselves are interesting. The complex curves and the multi-layer construction (now extremely common and overly exaggerated on most new cars) are what make them a nice piece to look at.
I think they could still be made to look nice on your S130 even with the rather squared off design theme of the car. It's the dang body shop jumping the gun on you that botched it.
When I did these on my 240 I spent hours and days aligning, realigning, adjusting, cutting metal, patching metal back in, looking, thinking, starting over. In the end the entire rear panel from the edge of the hatch down had to be removed and a completely reshaped custom rear made to coalesce with those beautiful taillights.
It was a ton of work and money, and in the past I've said I wouldn't do it again, but now with the benefit of time I have to say I'm very glad I did. The car is beautiful and unique.
I say cut your losses and find a true craftsman if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Find someone who WILL WORK WITH YOU, not a production/collision shop. It will be the only one like it.
Don't get me wrong, I love z32 tail lights in general. I think they are a perfect fit for the z32, and yeah they do look awesome on your s30. When I google pictures of the z32 rear, it baffles me how they can achieve the straight / flat look from the factory (unless this is a 2d illusion).
I've been comparing your Z side-by-side to mine for at least a couple hours now. I think I can see how you angled the panel to achieve that factory look, and I'm trying to mimic the setup on mine (thought photo editing programs), but I'm still a little confused. Especially on the inside of the tails. They curve in a little on the inside, are relatively flat in the middle, then curve in more and up towards the outside. I can barely see on yours where they curve in on the inside, but you mask it very well. On the z32, I don't understand how they make it look so flat, because it doesn't look like any part of the center 'dips' in, so to speak. I can see how they have the outside start to wrap around the body, but even then, it just amazes me how straight they got the lights to look from the factory.
Do you by any chance have any pictures of your Z looking straight at the rear at eye level? (basically the same thing as the ones I'm posting up in this thread)
Here's how my body shop mounted mine. The tail section of the 280zx is recessed a little...they filled this in. In doing so, they raised the center of the tail lights a litte more than the sides. They did this as an attempt to 'straighten' out the tails as much as they could. And it did, when you look at the pictures of the lights straight from the rear, they look relatively straight. However, this throws in added curvature that really screws with the design of the rest of the rear and doesn't look tasteful IMO.
The only real fix I can conceive is to remove all the fiberglass/bondo they laid on there, have the tail section still recessed into the rear, but raise the center of the tail area and have it gradually flow in to meet the recessed portion of the rear 1/4 and tail panel...pretty much exactly the way yours is. I'd also get the real JDM tail lights b/c they do look much better than the knockoffs. It would be great to have the tail section all flat the way the 300zx can pull it off, but it seems like that'd make the rear end stick out too much.
The problem with this isn't money...I wouldn't mind paying more for an outcome I'll be much happier with. It's time. This car has been in the shop their shop for coming up on 4 years now. They are extremely unmotivated with it, and will tinker with it in their down time between insurance jobs. They started off as a custom shop and they still are, but started slowly working in insurance claims. Realizing that they can make much more off these jobs, they don't focus so much on custom work (my speculation, anyways). At this point, basically everything has been finished. All they need to do is a few touch ups on the front end and get the custom headlight setup angled properly. I know that having them start over with the rear would be adding an extra year or so to my car's jail sentence, and I've come to this conclusion: I MISS MY DRIVING MY ***** CAR! So even though I go through my wishy washy moods with the tail lights, I'll probably leave them be for now. However, if I ask them to change the paint scheme in the rear, that wouldn't cost me much extra time. That's why I asked the opinion above for the z32 scheme. /rant
They were the only custom shop I could find in Austin at the time, and that's probably still true today. I didn't have much of a choice, but from the small amount of reviews I could find on the net at the time, they had a good reputation. (They were pretty new when I dropped the car off with them) Curious, though, what characteristics of their work leads you to the "botched" description? No offense taken, I'm just curious...I actually really appreciate your help with the manner, since afterall you've mastered the installation on your s30. One thing that does help you, though, is you have flares that flow well the recession of the z32 tails. It just works with your car.
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I've been messing with so many different combos and I'm not really happy with anything...I think I may just stick to what I already have :/
Does it look like there's any improvement when I give it the z32 black scheme around the tails?
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Strangely enough, Homer's car has about the identical tail light setup I'm going for:
And one of the sketches for the R34 GTR tails...didn't really put much effort into it:
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I'd leave it like that. It looks unique but doesn't go overboard. Like mentioned above, red/blue AN fittings would be
(would've used a drooling emoticon if we had one) -
Eh, no biggie really. It turns out the pantera hatch is also a mold, not a completed one, so it's basically the same thing Justin offers...except maybe a little cheaper? Oh well, anyways this thread is starting to run off topic.
After searching for c210 tail lights and only coming up with a left assembly on eBay, I'm guessing these will be difficult to come by. I'm playing around with R34 GTR lights right now on mspaint and am getting them to look halfway decent on the rear of my s130. If I can find a cheaper set I may order them and see what kind of potential they have.
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Hey, that was directed to me first!
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Last time I talked to Justin about it, he said it'd be some time before they were available, indicating my zx may have been out of the body shop by then. Hm, I'll talk to him again and see if I can grab one of these. Thanks again. Oh and your 2nd link was broken.
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geezer and gnosez - From what I can tell those do look like the same cowl hood, though I would need to see more pictures. Geezer, II appreciate the offer to check out the dimensions, but I'd hold off a little while longer to see if anyone else has more info on this cowl hood. Gnosez, do you have any other info on that Z?
johnc - I did check your website, but the ones you offer are a bit larger than what I'm looking for...I'd prefer something a bit more subtle, exactly like the one I have pictured. Also you offer the full hood and I'm currently using a 1-piece bonnet, so if I can find the dimensions of just the cowl itself, it'd be a better choice to mold in.
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This is eric bernstein's former IMSA 240z and I love the way the cowl hood flows with the car:
I'd like to use this same cowl hood on my widebody project, so I was wondering if anyone had any info on the dimensions of it. I don't know if this is a universal one or a modded MSA cowl hood:
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Awesome, never seen these before - thanks for posting them. I think they flow well with the red zx, especially with the pantera hatch (which is another thing I'm trying to find). I kinda wish they would've painted the tail light trims at least the same as the body, but I'll see if I can edit those. I would seriously look into those if I could find a pantera hatch for the zx...that the owner on craigslist didn't want $1500 for.
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I've looked at the later model z31 taillights, but didn't really think they matched the s130 too well. After looking at them again, they may have a little potential, but I still think the alfa is my best bet.
Dexter - of all of those you mentioned, I could picture the maverick working well with stacked tail lights (2 pairs). I can't see square tails working well with the 280zx in my opinion.
Goth - I've seen those skyline tails on an s30 and I think they looked really good, again, can't see it with the s130.
The one with the c110 lights:
If I get some free time I'll play around with some of the tail light ideas in gimp / mspaint.
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Exactly what the title says. I'm looking to buy one for a '76 and another for a '77, and they need to in proper functioning condition. I believe a '78 should also work. Thanks
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Yep, I remember seeing that car a while back. I like those better than the aerotech ZX's skyline lights (R32 I think), but either way I don't think they really suit the rear end. They look decent on the car...but it seems like a more 80-ish design would fall in line better. I know in the back of my head I always wanted to see how DeLorean tail lights would look back there, but it doesn't seem to match the design of the rear.
So far I'm really liking the Alfa Romeo tails...it has the Z design while adding a unique touch.
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Thaaank you Dan the man! I sifted through the Alfa Romeos as well but couldn't find it. It looks like the tails will be a PITA to find. After searching eBay I did happen to come across some Alfetta GTV-6 lights, and although these look very similar, I think I would still have curvature issues. The z32 lights have odd horizontal curvature while it looks like these would have odd vertical curvature.
I'm certainly going to look more into this though.
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I don't think they suit the rear of the 280zx well. I do like the lights, but you would have to much more custom work of building up the rear to create a smaller tail panel, streamline the tail panel, and then integrate the license plate in the bumper to make those lights look decent on the 280zx, IMO.
I just saw this white car a couple of days ago after watching Gone in 60 Seconds again (the remake) and I can't find any info on it, but I do like the tail light setup it has and can see potential with it working on the 280zx. Anyone know what type of car this is?
It really looks like an older lamborghini model, but I looked through them all (I think) and didn't have any luck.
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Finally got a picture of the rear yesterday:
Here I tried to show the final product by shading the lower gas tank guard (or whatever that grill thing is) and elminating the lines around the tail light housing.
I think the lights look fine in the pictures straight from the rear, but then from the side they still look like poo. Maybe I'll play around with the black paint surrounding the lights. Anyone else feel free to edit the picture.
Also, the tail lights can't be moved any higher. They're in the factory light housings, but due to the way the metal is shaped in the back, they wouldn't be able to just scoot the lights any higher without cutting out the rear panel and completely redoing everything...which I don't think would be worth it.
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Hmmm...1970 Challenger?
(would've used a drooling emoticon if we had one)
Rattle Can / Spray can paint job: Which brand to use
in Body Kits & Paint
Posted
This will keep your fingers from hating you.