Sleek Z

TIM I'll do my best. Big problem is time to clean up the photos. There's about 10 interesting ones worth putting together as "First Looks" display, but most have a bad yellow cast all over them from indoor lighting, something that does not mix well with dark blue paint on the car. Sorry to say the shots of the interior suffer from accute camera shake, but even blurry, it is obvious that the interior is about as trick inside as the engine is. If one rear quarter fender flare shot cleans up well, I think many will find it's unusual style on an S30 body rather intriquing as well. Also, there some decent underneath shots showing the big, custom designed dual exhaust system on the car. You might say that this Z car is "DUAL Everything". I have Z buddies in the States and Japan that have offered to interview the owner for me so we all can get a full over view of what this relatively young Japanese enthusiast accomplished with his project. Hang in there and I will try to do my best to get more up tonight. PS. While you all are waiting, I think it would be great if many could send me questions that they would like me to ask this Japanese customizer when I have my friends interview him. ......... Sleek Z

OK Gang & Tim, curiousity got the better of me also. I wanted to see how successful I could be in cleaning up the heavy yellow over cast lighting on the engine pics, and wah lah!, first edit is a beaut! Go to the Featured Project Index at ZPARTS.COM http://www.zparts.com/indexes/featproj_index.html and you'll find the Q45 V8 project intro and links to the first very dramatic engine swap photo of the dual turbo Q45 V8 car. More to follow soon. Who's gonna be next to do one of these............in the States? Sleek Z

Man, Tim, you certainly are "a Johnny on the Spot" on this topic! I just posted my question about 3 minutes ago and you already have your hand waving in the air! You sure you don't just live here 24/7? Seriously though, I did expected you and some "others" that I know at HybridZ to be quick on the "Yes" vote. Too my embarassment I am horribly behind on getting my photo display of HeavyZ' beautiful black V8 Z published, but maybe he will forgive me a wee bit if I take a moment to schelp a few of these new photos up onto my website tonight or by tomorrow. Sleek Z

HI, GANG After a year or more of waiting I have just received first preview photos from a Z customizer in Japan of his recently completed DUAL Turbo, dual intercooler Q45 V8 engine swap into a 240Z. He's also installed an unusual rear quarter flare that looks similar to a certain Porsche model. All is painted dark blue set off by big (17"+?) 5 spoke modular silver wheels. To my awareness, this the first performance oriented Q45 V8 engine swap ever attempted or completed. The newest photos of this completed swap definitly show a lot of custom welded aluminum and stainless steel fabrication and duct work like you probably have not seen on any other custom V8 Z to date. Because the owner does not write English well, I have little other facts to share at the moment, but my Japanese translator buddies will try to get the whole write up from the owner and assembled for publication on my website as soon as possible. Note. To see earlier photos of this same dual turbo engine in process of installation, that I received from owner last year, go to URL listed below at my ZPARTS.COM website http://www.zparts.com/showcase/engines/pages/q45v8z-testfit.html Photos received today are not the best of quality and need to be cleaned up a bit in Photoshop while I wait for better ones, but I could put up a few soon if any one is strongly interested? Yes or No? Sleek Z

What is "luan"? I have never heard of it before as a shapable material substitute for fiberglass. You shape it to a form like a console using what technique? By hand or with special tools? You buy it where? Sleek Z

I ran few searches first looking for electric window conversions and the like and drew mostly blanks so here's my question for ya'all Anybody have direct experience or recommendations for adapting older model car electric window motors to the 70-76 door regulators that can be positioned on the inside of the lower door area? I am thinking of reversing crank handle rod in regulator and mounting a small pulley on inside of door to be driven by a rubber belt down to reduction gear motor assembly in the lower forward dead space on an S30 door to see if it'll work properly. Looking to see if I can develop a compact enough system to avoid interfering with glass movement. My hopes are that a rubber belt system might be quieter and smoother than other types of motor driven systems. I have looked into the commercial system tha SPAL offers at http://www.spal-usa.com/html/mampss.htm, but I would really like to make the effort to develop my own system from available off the shelf and junk yard parts. Sleek Z

As the subject title says, I am looking for Sources for Color Cordinated water hoses, vac lines & plug wires. I am not sure where to start looking for a good selection and decent quality. Can anybody here suggest websites or automotive supply specialty shops anywhere in the country that YOU KNOW actually carry a good selection of this kind of stuff? In particular, I am looking for mid to dark Green spark plug wires and water hoses and slightly lighter green vacum lines to experiment with on an customized engine bay I am playing around with. Either that combo or a reverse in dark to light green of those plug wire and hose colors. And, Yes, I did a search on this site first, but drew a blank after a few tries. Thanks much, Sleek Z

Best I know, at this point, the body kit was named after the man that created? the kit, Tom Nalle and his company, Nalle Motors, LTD. See the fuzzy photo of the Nalle Motors manufacturing plate below that was found rivited to the #001 production car recently found. What I would like to know is what the words "Daytona R/T" refers to on the plate. Reference to "Daytona" on the official name plate seems rather risky from the copyright violation point of view unless Nalle Motors actually had some kind of official permission from the original designers of the famous Daytona Cobra race car? Anybody know what the "R/T" on the plate refers to? "Road & Track" perhaps? Side Note: New owner, Dennis Urick of Richmond, Virgina, has told me that he has driven to the last known address for the Nalle Motors company in Virginia attempting to trace the history of the company and it's kit, but has drawn a blank so far. Based on rumors I have run across in the past 2 years of searching, my suspicion is that Tom Nalle made an effort to sell off all of his inventory ( aprox 8 kits or bodies") sometime in the past 10 years and has since past away? Based on those rumors, I believe that 3 of the partially finished kits sold by a mystery man in Virginia (Tom Nalle?) now are located in Pennsylvania owned by two friends which have not managed to finish their kit projects to date.

OK, guys, I guess no one here, beside RacerX and John Washington, knew of or had ever seen a Nalle GT body kit on a S30 body before so now I have just published the first preview Photo of a Nalle GT at ZPARTS.COM Start at link below and click on photo above "Coming Attractions" to take you to the larger photo. http://www.zparts.com/home.html Main link to just the preview page is at http://www.zparts.com/showcase/bodykits/nalle_gt/nalle_gt_001.html Hopefully, I will receive several more photos from the new owner soon to publish that will give you all a much better impression of the kit's design overall. Also have sent Pete Brock, Carroll Shelby's partner from the past, a questonnaire about his original Daytona Cobra design and it's history, through a mutual contact that knows him well, hoping to find out about what he may know about the Z car based Nalle GT body kit. Enjoy

Dude, the installed Pantera hatch "kit" from the past is nothing more than a stock S30 hatch frame minus the stock glass, weather strip and lower metal section removed and a giant fiberglass "snowshovel" bath tub hung from the cut out opening with small section of plexiglass added for a rear window. Just measure a stock S30 hatch frame on someone's 70-78 car, subtract the weight of the glass (aprox 14 lbs) and some projected removed metal and then guesstimate how much the thin fiberglass tub and plexiglass window will add to the frame and you'll be within 10% accuraccy of final results. Just study the many photos of the blue one I photographed for inquiring minds like yours, that I posted the link to previously and you can figure it all out in practical terms. From the photos you can clearly see how wide the fiberglass "bath tub" insert and it's hanger lip are within an inch or less. Then "do the math" on your Z31 hatch.

RacerX, again you come through on topic with asute observation and valued info. Up to several days ago I had never seen a frontal view of a Nalle GT so I too was quite surprised to see that little slot in the forward hood bulge letting me peek inside to see the engine valve cover. Maybe it was little "oops" features like that that insured that the Nalle GT never sold in high numbers? Hopefully the owner I am in touch with will eventually dispell much of the mystery about the kit for me and others once we get some good documentation photos coming my way. btw, RacerX, throwing out or giving away old kit car magazine's from the past is a big "NO NO" for bodymen and kit car aficionados, IMO. I would even hazard a guess that St. Peter himself might bar you from passing through the "Pearly Gates" as a respectable body man if you don't bring a ton of historical kit car magazines with you to pass eternity with. Maybe you should go and "borrow them back"? because I'd really like to score copies of any old articles on the Nalle GT that might be in those issues for my archives. What are the chances?

Evilrufus & 280Zone IMHO, you all would be miles ahead of the "buying a mold game" if you just put your brain power, hands and money into making your own one off Pantera hatch restyle piece rather than dreaming of tempting someone like the seasoned owner of Arizona Z Car with offers on bits & pieces of his hard earned stash. All it'll take ya is tons of time, decent talent and enough money in the bank to see it through to the end. Once you've knocked out a quality mold you'll be off to the races of fame and fortune. Your first sale will come quick 'cause you will be in a state of "pumped" and car nuts like that. Same with your second, but with a surprise "gotcha" or two mixed in. Your 5th may not get shipped until months after deadline, but it'll happen. At 10, if it happens, you may believe that you've broken even, but may still feel a bit uneasy about that assumption deep in your gut? After that your profits may grow, but getting to 20 most likely wiil take you a year or two. Of course, you will now be divorced, or at least "very single", your Z car project under a tarp and looking for cheaper shop rent or a vacant corner in a farmer's barn, but you will definitely be "THE PANTERA HATCH REPLACEMENT KING of the WORLD" and probably have a website proclaiming just that. After that, you most likely wiil then be on a first name basis with the owner of Arizona Z Car, maybe even taking him to lunch on a regular basis (because, you know what "loves company") and be asking him regularly about what the potential may be "....to sell your molds for big bucks? No doubt, soon after, you will find yourselves, company and molds for sale, being discussed frequently at HybridZ! Of course this is all just conjecture on my part. I could be terribly off base and out of touch with the market? Good Luck,

RacerX is on the right track. I am going to leave my question up for a few days more just to see how many here, at a site that is primarily devoted to customizing Z cars and body mods, are aware of the rarity and significance of the Nalle GT kit related to the history of body kits made for the Z car since the 70's. One question I am trying to research is about whether Pete Brock?, former partner with Carroll Shelby, and the one often credited with the design and development of the Shelby company's Daytona Cobra racing coupe, actually collaborated on the development of the Nalle GT rebody kit for the Z car? Tid bits of info I have tracked down suggest that there is a slim possibility that this may be true in some way. For over 10 years I have been chasing historical documentation on two virtual "phantom" Z car rebody kits from the past that have greatly fascinated me, the Nalle GT in the US and the Piranha in Europe. Until last week all these efforts had not resulted in one confirmed sighting or known existence of either of these kits in the current day. In fact, as readers can see by the lack of response to this topic thread so far, virtually no one here even has even heard of a Nalle GT rebody kit! After you see how cool this kit looks on a Z car you will wonder, "how come?" The 3-4 photos that I had collected together from books and magazines of these two kits from the past suggested to me that both looked exceptionally good on a Z car body and were well thought out and constructed and yet, like vapor drifting in the air, they both seemed to have just disappeared from the planet and the awareness of the Z car and kit car enthusiast community around the world. Now I have been contacted by an owner of an officially manufactured Nalle GT by the Nalle, Ltd company. Even more impressive is that the Nalle mfg plate on the car appears to state that the guy's car is production car #001 ! OK, so come on guy's surely amongst all of you that are always discussing and debating the merits and designs of all kind of Z car body mods, some of you surely must be able to contribute more to the Nalle GT topic thread? Hint, there is an infrequent poster here from Pennsylvania that may actually have a Nalle kit in his possession, but can not document that possibility yet. Anybody know who I am referring to? Oh, and yes, for those of you that prefer easy answers instead of questions, the gods willing, there will be a full set of photos, possibly some close ups of the construction, of this recently found Nalle GT Z car rebody kit, publised at my ZPARTS.COM website eventually. Right now the Nalle car is stuck in a garage with a bad cam, but first photo I have seen shows it's body kit to be in excellent condition with two classic, bold white stripes down the center of a subdued blue paint job, sporting cool looking headlight clear covers, integrated air dam, dual chrome bullet mirrors, large mesh style wheels with center spinners and I think I can see a rear wing?. OK, so who else besides John Washington and RacerX knows something else about the Nalle GT rebody kit or the company that used to make it?

OK, so this is just a teaser to find out if anyone understands the significance of the Topic line above? First photos will appear soon at ZPARTS.COM Anybody got something to contribute or are ya'll just stumped in your tracks? John Washington, "keep your mouth shut on this one" 'cause you already know the skinny.

"GOOD ONE, TIM", Sounds like something I might resort to after a long, frustrating day of trying to do it meticulously with hammer and dolly methods while bent over on ground with my knees being gouged with gravel. I'll have to give your method a whirl up the road. A "Tony D" over at zcar.com had some good experience to pass along as well. He claims that a large rubber mallet of just the right rubber hardness and some carefull and steady blows has enabled him to straighten out many floor pans without the typical damage that a metal hammer would cause. Is Tony D also on the Hybrid Z forums?

Looking around my ZPARTS yard I can see that I have a large collection of potential project Z car bodies to consider upgrading or customizing. While looking at the two most recent arrivals to fall into this project category, namely a well preserved 280Z NISMO racer and a very well preserved early 260Z 2+2, I am noting with frustration, how most of them have floor pans that have been pushed up significantly from underneath over time, probably from coming down too hard on road speed bumps. Other than this damage most of the floor pans are free of rust through and well worth salvaging in place. I am wondering whether any of you here have insight or experience related to massaging these pushed up floor boards down to a relatively flat position without doing more damage than good to the pan and car's body integrity. Mainly I want to reduce the cramped, "raised" look and feel of the pans that reduce the spacious feeling under the dash and carpet beneath someone's feet when they get into and ride in the cars. Cheap approach, I suppose, would be to get an extra heavy mall like hammer and some 8" x 5" steel plated and try to dolly the pan down to an acceptable flatness, but previous experiements have made me skeptical of this approach. Also have wondered whether some of these body shop hydraulic kits at Harbor Freight could be used to achieve my objectives, but I know next to nothing about using these type of tools. Can anybody here guide me toward a solution or make suggestions from experience?

Kinda surprised that you all keep forgetting the many body kit documentation photos that I take to share with all of you at ZPARTS.COM? To refresh your memories, here's two LINKS that'll lead you to a few I have taken in past years of Pantera hatch kits seen at shows. http://www.zparts.com/events/wczn20/pages/00r10f09a.htm And here's a set of very infomative photos that I have never made public before that is sure to intrigue many of you here. LOTS OF SURPRISES if you review them all! Be sure to note the interior hatch area shot of the Pantera kit car to see how much cargo space you loose when you convert to a Pantera Hatch Kit. Start here to see a set of photos being shown for the first time. Important NOTE: Disregard the page titles that say "2003 West Coast Z Car Nationals" Not intending to make this photo display public until I had edited all down to half as many photos, I failed to edit my slide show template Header Titles before uploading everything to my web server last year. http://www.zparts.com/events/zfest2002/index.html Enjoy, SLEEK Z

Since you are all discussing custom tail light mods for Z cars, don't overlook the largest topic thread on HybridZ on this subject at http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11275&highlight= Thread has over 19 web pages of discussion and tail light ideas featured in it. You also might find a related featured section at my ZPARTS.COM website, focused Custom Tail Lights Ideas, of some interest. Link to that section can be found on lower left area of page at http://www.zparts.com/home.html In that section there is an excellent example of a home grown round tail light solutiion that looks very classy on a S30 model. Sleek Z

I believe there is a Z'er by the name of Lynne? that hangs out over at the Classic Z Car site http://www.classiczcars.com/ that likes to create a lot of these cartoon like images of Z cars, but not in animated forms, from what I remember. Find his personal photo directory and you may find a whole slew of these images.

Good points, Mike What monitor/screen resolution, and size of monitor did you view page with that made the text in the boxes appear uncomfortably small? This is a difficult problem to address because so many web visitors view sight with such a wide range of computer hardware and monitor settings, not to mentiion different operating systems and browsers all set differently. I mostly design web pages on a dual 21" monitor set at 1152x870 under Mac OSX and check site with 3 different Mac browsers and a Windows based setup on 15" monitor set at 1024x768, resolution which normally would make small text even smaller than average, so I have been hoping that most stereotypical web surfers running at 800x600 would most likily see the small sized text as plenty large. On both of my website check computer systems, the text seems quite clear and large enough for legibility, but I am in the dark as to what others see or are comfortable until comments like your surface. Maybe others will comment about this. Big problem with increasing text size is that comment box sizes have to be increased as well in order for all the text to display at once, thus crowding out the image behind them. Hot links in the boxes to more info or on page somewhere on page is a good idea, but currently I have the boxes configured as "show on mouse over" and "hide on mouse out" so as soon as you move cursor off object, text boxes with links would disappear. There may be another solution however. Stay tuned. I, myself, can no longer afford the time to take personal calls or email inquiries about all the custom work displayed on my website and still run my business and "have a life", but I do encourage project builders and car owners to allow me to publish their email contact addresses and/or phone #s within the web write up so fellow Z customizers can attempt contact them to exchange ideas of mutual interest. For privacy reasons, choice to publish them or not always remains with the project or car owner. btw, from comments seen you make about your car, you seem to be a bit down on your Z car's olive green color, but I actually think that stock color can look kind of classy and distinctive when the factory paint is in good condition. I also have a turbo charged L28 in a 240Z painted the same stock color as yours and although the paint is shot to hell after sitting out in the weather forever I often think of repainting it the same color because I like it. Below is a scan of a Nissan brochure at my website featuring that same stock color in it's prime just to boost your spirits a bit.

I think I have heard about it being done, but not without a virtually redo of the entire roof top and lines. However.............I do have photos of a buddy's 77 280Z based convertible with custom body kit (Tomahawk Z) and matching custom top which shows 280ZX T Tops integrated into 280Z windshield and door body lines so skillfully that you can barely believe that they are not factory manufactured to fit the 280Z body. To feast your eyes on a custom piece of car art, go to this URL at my ZPARTS.COM to see larger views of above image and another. http://www.zparts.com/showcase/tomahawk/docs/news.html To wet your appetite even more someday, I'll post up a set of photos of a customer's 77 280Z that appears to have a "factory" installed, internally retractable, moon roof section built into it that you'd swear that it could have been only constructed at the Nissan factory itself. Truely amazing, but story ends there because customer has no records as to how or why that 280Z has such a thing built into it or by who or what company. Enjoy

I appreciate both Mike and Scott's input. Mike, Thanks much for the quick feed back. Nice to know that HybridZers are willing to answer my call for input. Scott, what I am attempting to provide in my project displays is more than one way for both Z car customizers and just the curious, to review key features in photos from a project shoot without having to click away and reload a second page just to study unique features on project and featured cars showcased at my website. My idea is to enable viewers to interactively study a car photo and then quickly view more details about car's custom features in the photo simply by moving mouse cursor over those items . I am hoping, once I refine the popup feature with numbered or semi transparent circled hot spots in photo, that more visitors will catch on and find it helpful in studying overall project or featured car. However, I agree with you that a more conventional approach. with visible, fixed position, comments next to each photo, as you prefer, may be more satisfying and less stressful to for many visitors. Rest assured that the the visible commentary boxes next to each photo, typically used in other displays at my website, will not be discontinued. At the moment I am working on a featured project layout concept that will include at least 3 different ways for a visitor to review and study what is presented. 1. An introductory page to each person's featured project consisting of the owner's main write-up. Within that section, which may be as long as several pages, the owner can write anything he wishes, with me sometimes recommending a bit of brevity or clean up to an overly verbose one with too many misc details. Any reader can read to his hearts content in this section and download for a print out if he cares to. Also within this intro will be scattered occassional key photos from the photo display as support to owner's comments. 2. A 10-20 page, online web photo display (similar to slide show) with brief comments on each page clarifying important tech details about what is shown in each photo that may not be entirely obvious to a viewer trying to study the builder's project and ideas. 3. Links on Introductin page to 1-5 experimental pop up comment photo pages featuring key photos of the car, most likely the more aesthetically attractive of the bunch, which will give a certain type of web visitor a chance to interact with the photos without loosing sight of photo of itself. My hopes are that some will find this a very interesting way to study the builder's project and customizing ideas without having to load another page or scroll the page down so far that the viewer can no longer see the photo that the supporting comments relate to. Get the Picture? Hope that all makes sense for now. Comments on improving my project displays are most welcome. Scott's critique has been quite helpful. I hope others will point out other objections or make suggestions for improvement such as his so I can continually improve my web layouts to improve communication and usefulness to the 45,000 plus visitors per month that regularly visit ZPARTS.COM from all over the world. Thanks much,

All, I am working on designing what I call an "X" brace replacement roof for a 260Z 2+2 (or later) model body. I have a side profile illustration of a 2+2 from Road & Track magazine, but can not find an overhead illustration or decent, square on, overhead photo of the 2+2 body similar to what Nissan published of the 2 seater coupe models in their early factory service manuals. Can anyone assist me or point me to such an illustration or photo on the web? Yes, I have checked a Nissan 260Z factory manual and it does not seem to have any illustrations of 2+2 models from any angle that I could find. If one of your 74-78 factory manuals does show one, please let me know and I will obtain one somewhere. If anyone would volunteer to take such a shot for me of their 2+2 car that would be most appreciated. Thanks much,

Hi, All Small update to Brett's announcement and a question to you that have checked out the preview image of Brett's unusual hood scoop adaptation for his V8 engine swap's tall air cleaner. I originally had the preview shot at a temporary URL which Brett announced last week. I have since moved that preview page to a new URL that you can find by either clicking on image above "Featured Car Project" thumbnail image of Brett's hood photo at ZPARTS.COM'S home page at http://www.zparts.com/home.html or at FEATURED CAR PROJECT INDEX at http://www.zparts.com/indexes/featproj_index.html NOTE: Brett was also kind enough to update URL in his original post- Thanks much, Brett Question I have for all of you that have checked out the experimental preview page is whether the pop-up comments and photo insets are working OK for you with assorted browsers/older versions and as to whether the popup photo enlargements are loading promptly for you when accessing page with dial up modem connections as soon as main photo loads. I also would appreciate comments, pro or con, about whether new pop feature is useful and appreciated by web viewers or not. If valued I will refine that new feature. If many negative comments are offered I may drop it. To check out pop up feature in preview photo of Brett's car, move your cursor over the assorted aftermarket or customized parts visible in hood photo to find out what I am referring to. If you see no pop up comments or photos or something seems to be misbehaving, please drop me a line at eric@zparts.com to help me correct problems so all of you can enjoy the benefits of what I think will be a great improvement to the Z cars and projects I feature at my website. Upcoming Featured Z Cars at ZPARTS.COM. Anyone ever seen a 1978 280Z that has had so much custom work done to it that it has been professionally appraised at $60,000 ? Well, if not, stay tuned, because such a car was making the rounds of the major Z car shows this past summer where it won best of show at the West Coast Nationals and I believe top honors at the Z Car National Convention plus several others and I had the good fortune to take it out fora 2 hour photo shoot after the West Coast Nationals so I could show it off to a larger audience that may not have attended these shows. I hope to be featuring a full photo display and write-up on that ultra customized Z car within a couple of months. "Life's a Modem, Enjoy the Connection" SLEEK Z (aka Eric Neyerlin - photographer and owner of ZPARTS.COM

I haven't heard any reference to the Tri rotor engine in this thread yet. I once had contact with a 280Z owner that purchased a dual turbo, Tri Rotor engine for a swap into his car, but lost contact with him. If anyone knows the official engine model designator for the Tri rotor engine please post it here so I can search for more info. I've always felt that if one were to attemp a rotor engine swap into a Z that the wisest approach would be to go the whole nine yards to make the expense and time worth it (especially the Results!), but I am totally ignorant about rotor engines or what the biggest obstacles are to such a swap. I'd love to hear more from others that are attempting it, because I have a few Z bodies sitting around here that I could attempt such a swap in) I'll keep watching this thread or explore the Mazda forums to learn more also. Oh, and I will do the suggested search of the HybridZ site as well. Sleek Z