Sleek Z

Back in the late 80s I had a customer based out of San Francisco at the time that told me about this V8 engine and that he had researched it's performance potential extensively after he learned that foreign engine importers in LA were regularly having this engine come in to the US in large container loads of Japanese low mileage used engines. He told me that his research convinced him that trying to transplant that engine into a 240Z would not be very rewarding performance wise due to lack of rebuild parts and virtually no aftermarket performance parts from Japan for that engine. I think he said, in his opiniion, that it was grossly over rated at it's then advertised stock HP of around 200 hp. I also looked into acquiring one of these oddities out of facination with having a Japanese V8 in one of my Z cars. Later, while on that quest and another of building a stroker L28 (very rare to see done in the late 80s) I was talking to Jim Wolfe of Jim Wolfe Racing in SoCal, one of the main Nissan performance consultants to Nissan related to developing competive Nissan racing engines for Nissan and it's racing program in the States and he told me that the President V8 engine did not have any great performance potential either. Mostly a historical oddity, was his opinion. Nevertheless, at this late date in Nissan history, swaping in one of these antique beasts into a 240Z would make for a great conversation piece at shows. Otherwise, most likely it's potential would end at that point unless a person had a ton of money to throw at upgrading it somehow. All that aside, I'd love to photo document David's swap project if he makes enough head way or every cruises it to a show that I am covering. I love to photograph all these wacko projects as much as some guys crave their 10 secs of fame. Side Note: Speaking of strange V8 swaps of this genre, I have a Z buddy- engineer type in Australia that is working on transplanting a rather rare and strange Toyota all aluminum V8 into a 260Z that originally was developed to power a rather limited production run of large Toyota Limosines most often sold to very wealth Arabic leaders and businessman in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries of that region. The stranger twist is that he intends to fuel it with a specail turbo charged LPG (propane) performance induction system that a small Australian company has developed. I think he also mentioned that he is intending to custom stroke this odd Toyota V8. It's my understanding that the machine shop actually lost the original crank in the stroking process, but by some act of God, my buddy managed to actually score another crank for that rare engine and has the crank completed. Actually, the unusual V8 engine swap is not the half of his unique project. He's acquired all sorts of unusual rear ends, 4 piston rear brake setups and other crazy sounding parts from the likes of Australian Holdens, Commodores and the like to top off his one of a kind hybridized Z car. Stay tuned, I may have first photos to show by early Spring. "Life's a Modem, Enjoy the Connection Chou for Nou, Sleek Z

I can't give you a manufacture name because I believe the original company has been out of business for a long time. The one in your picture from Arizona Z Car looks to be the same as the one I photographed and posted on my ZPARTS.COM website at http://zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/pictures/00r10f09a.html For examples of more tail light solutions, both commercial and private party built, check my Custom Z Car Tail light Ideas section at http://zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/index.html Sleek Z

Check link below at my ZPARTS.COM to see if this is what you are looking for. Photo in top left corner is of the Tildon flares that I believe were the basics used in an IMSA GTU kit design. Someday I'll get the rest of the the photo shoot of that car published. I brokered it for sale back in 1989. Back then the car sold for $15,000! It ran 15x12 wheels on rear and 15x10 on the front. Photo at http://zparts.com/gallery.html

Tomohawk I have long maintained a small, but well respected, Tech Section related to assorted Z car topics mostly related to the early Z Cars that may relate to what you are looking for, but you will have to work up your own descriptions of each article as best as you can. Link to my main tech seciton is http://zparts.com/zptech.html You also can find several more in progress, mid way down the page at http://zparts.com/inprogress.html In particular, look for references to "Broken Stub Axles" and "Removing rear body panels" You may want to hold off a bit in indexing what is on those 2 index pages because I am soon going to reorganize the tech section index and add some major new articles and surprises there. Note: Kim Blough, owner of Idaho Z and a super Z car tech wiz as well as consumate tech writer, has been collaborating with me upon my request, to publish some of his many excellent tech articles on my website with my photo and graphic illustrations added to articles that can benefit the most. We already have a half a dozen short articles published in test layouts, but these have not been officially linked into my tech section so I can not show you yet what we have planned there. I'll try to let you know when Kim's stuff is linked into my site officially. It's pretty good stuff.

What has happened to the "NICEST Z" theme of this thread, ???? Since when does a few paint strips on a regular looking Z car or someone mugging for the camera qualify as a "Nicest Z" photo? I thought the idea in this thread was to showcase hybridz cars that have noticeably raised the bar on the hybridZ concept and ideal? To help you'all get back on track, here's my next contribution, Kevin Wallace's Ford V8 powered, custom roadster with hand formed metal flares primarily built for autocrossing in New York state. Nicknamed the "Silver Shadow" by myself several years ago, many more photos of this car can be seen at ZPARTS.COM at http://zparts.com/sidebars/sb_kw/kwrdstrv8_main.html http://zparts.com/sidebars/sb_kw2/kw2preview1.htm

ZXjuiced: No offense taken. I was just playing with your "Cobra knock off" comment for the fun of it. If the truth be known, Tomahawk Z kits are not # 1 on my short list of favorite Z based kits, but they sure are my favorite to photograph. Very curvy and sexy through the glass, if you know what I mean. Your ZX looks pretty good as it is. However, you might want to watched out for adding another scoop or detail 'cause the body is pretty "full up" as it is. Maybe if you started over with a new hood and just went for a cowl bulge that would be plenty? Keep at it. Z Dreamer: Whadya mean, you ain't no "HybridZ Guru"?, 'Course ya are. The photo below proves it! Is that a Z Guru look or what? Heavy Z contacted me a couple of weeks ago about me knockin out some definitive photos of his finished car so the hybridz gang could get a closer look his hybridZ solutions, such as the Maverick? or Comet hood scoop he used. Body mods on Black cars are pretty difficult to record photographically, but Heavy Z 'il be over here soon for a half day gig and hopefully we'll have something to share soon after.

Reed, If you are going to go that far off course from the original Z car based platform that the Puckett Daytona Cobra was originally designed for then I have just the right set of project photos to show you. Last year a guy showed up at a NCKCC kit car show with a custom tube chassis he designed and built specifically to accomodate a current day Corvette C5 or 6? suspension, engine, tranny and rear drive line. The surprise was in the exterior he had planned for it. The guy had acquired a Z based Ferrari GTO style kit to fit over the tube chassis, but had discovered that it would not be wide encough to fit. His solution, at the time I photographed car, was to split the fiberglass body kit down the middle and add extra body panel work to allow the original GTO kit to straddle his tube creation. At the show, the body kit finish was still not complete, bu almost there. By now he may have it finished. Pretty hairy creature, but one that looked like it would be an awesome looker with power and performance to blow most competition away. I'll try to get some pics up for viewing at ZPARTS.COM this week. btw, this builder is an acquantance of a rather famous car project builder on the internet that has actually been hand crafting an exact copy of a factory Daytona Cobra Coupe in his garage using a tube chassy and hand formed aluminum panels. According to his website 2 years ago, he was hand crafting every detail of an original Daytona race car to the last centimeter. Last photos I saw showed most of the hand formed aluminum body panels completed and temp reveted to chassis awaiting final weld up of seams. WOW, can you imagine the talent, work and dedication it would require to create something like that in aluminum? Think about that guy's challenges while you are working on your own project just to keep your spirits up. btw, I replied to your email inquiry to me several days ago and wrote to the other Puckett kit owner with your requests, but it turns out that he built a Ferrari GTO kit from Puckett and not a Daytona Cobra kit. He's been notified of this thread and your new project and may comment in this thread later on if he has time. Good luck with your interesting Daytona Project. Keep us well informed, Please. Sleek Z aka Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

Cobra "knock off"? Dude, if you ever see a Tomahawk Z kit alongside a Cobra knock off or the real thing, you immediately will understand that a Tomahawk Z is no more a "Cobra knock off" than the Chicago Towers are a knock of 2 Campbell soup cans on a table. A Cobra kit along side a Tomahawk Z looks like a little sardine can on wheels, held together with off the shelf misc hardware with a giant boat anchor up front compared to an elegantly designed, beautifully crafted and assembled, class act, sports car with potential to run virtually any large power plant or suspension upgrade an owner desires. OK, now back to your hood scoop quest. First place to start is with a copy of the JC Whitney catalog. See these "famous" hybridz forum "Gurus" below? That's exactly what they were working on at a BBQ ala "bench racing session" held at Dan Juday's garage last year, trying to figure out what hood scoops in the JC Whitney catalog would fit an S30 hood and how well. http://www.zparts.com/events/dj_bbq_070602_ps/pages/dcp_4638.htm There are other sources, but none that offer anything significant over JC Whitney catalog selection other than maybe the MSA catalog (http://www.zcarparts.com). What you most likely will have to do is measure out your ZX hood, like the guys above are doing, find a decent design of cowl induction hood or scoop add-on, amongst the many that JC Whitney offers, that will meet your aesthetic requirements and then cut and trim it's base down to fit the contours of your ZX hood. Good Luck, with your ZX hood project. Be sure to show photos later because I get a ton of requests from ZX owners these days looking for body mod options for their models because such things are so scarce in the market these days. Sleek Z

I have a modest display of some of my favorite photos in my Tomahawk Showcase section at http://zparts.com/showcase/tomahawk/docs/photo_index.html

Island, No, I sent you a PM a moment ago. Check your mail. My last post was in response to your first comment in this thread about Mark's car. Enjoy.

I forgot to mention that this kit, with slight variations, has been made for both the non 2+2, 280ZX and early generation, 300ZX models. The interesting news is that when I went up to see the designer several weeks ago, he showed me some new design variations that he is adding to the 300ZX based kit that also may be incorporated into the 280ZX kit. 1. The hood has been enlarged on the sides to have outer edges of hood opening to but up against the inner fender bulge where it meets the hood and the hood has been elongated forward. Both changes now offer a more dramatic visual effect to the front end and better access to engine bay compartment with V8 swapper needs strongly in mind. 2. The front, lower mouth area has a replaceable lower section to allow owners to economically repair their kits if low front section gets damaged on impact with a speed bump (:>) or curb. I saw the replacement piece. It is extremely well crafted and solid. Not some flimsy, cheap quality replacement piece. 3. More exciting, visually, are the 2 new external body, behind the seats, tear drop racing bulges, ala the old Jaguar D Type racers of long ago. I have detail photos of a dusty prototype in black gel coat that I may publish soon in my Tomahawk Showcase section so potential kit buyers can better appreciate the design change coming. Stay tuned. Below is an example of the current 300ZX based kit design owned by Dee Ferris of Willows, CA that I photographed at the 2002 Rio Vista HybridZ show. Not exactly your daddy's typical older generation 300ZX from the past, but ......oooohh, what a cool hot rod to cruise the streets in 2003 ! Sleek Z

Some ideas for comparisons sake. Mark Owens 71 240Z running 17x11.5, 4 bolt, Weld 3 piece wheels at the rear with very modest sized MSA flares attached. Photo by Mark Owen. Below, my 1990 photo of Tildon IMSA style flares (no longer available in the market) from the 70's on a 240Z running 15x12 wheels with 345x35 tires at the rear. And what would a wide wheel/tire discussion be without inclusion of the classic hot rod "tubbed" car example such as showcased on this V8 hot rod street dragster Z that I photographed at the 2000 West Coast Nationals. (and "NO", this is not a photoshop trick, as some have suggested. The sky and pavement were retouched a bit the but the tires on the car are as I photographed them that day) Sleek Z

So, some of you want a rad looking 280ZX hood or body kit for your ZX, huh? Here's one that you may not see at many shows, but it is a complete kit still for sale in the market. This car is running a fresh V8 underneath. Photo taken by Vincent Hudson. More info at ZPARTS.COM in the Tomahawk Showcase section. Enjoy, Sleek Z

OK, Here's my 2nd photo of Mark Ownen's "Red Stomper" taken in Stockton, CA about a year before the one above. Raw, NOS V8 power in a carefully planned, understated, but very visually exciting, hybridZ package. This car is running 17x10 (front) and 17x11.5 (rear) custom made, Weld 3-piece wheels under those modest flares. Can you believe it? Car's full specs at http://zparts.com/sidebars/sb_mo_v8/mowenV8Z_specs.htm Car was originally built to aggressively compete in NorCal SCCA autocross events to prove a point that V8 Z cars could compete effectively against the L6s and other dominant makes on the track such as the Corvettes and Porsches. Mark Owen proved his point well, taking several first places in Fresno and SF Bay area key SCCA regional events before selling the car in 2002 for $24,000 with a 10 year old V8 engine in it! Clean, simple, but oh so powerful, Nitrous injected Chevy V8 engine installation. Car was daily driver and a weekend racer and yet looked this clean everytime I saw it. Mark really took care of his car. Enjoy, Sleek Z

Well, since this thread has been hanging around so long I guess it's time for me to contribute a few that I've personally photographed in the past 2 years. Here's my first, Mark Owen's, ultra clean, nitrous V8 powered, "Red Stomper". More photos of this beast can be seen at my website, ZPARTS.COM Enjoy, SleekZ

Rufus Don't want to discourage your interest in the Tomahawk Z kit, but last price Rory charged for his kit unassembled was nearly $10,000 and recent comments I have heard indicate that a price increase is likely in the near future. Long, long ago I believe the Tomahawk kit was priced under $5000. until reality bite Rory in the butt hard when he discovered how much time it took him to produce the high quality fiberglass and inner liners his body kit panels are note for. Secondly, although a very likeable, honest and hard working guy, Rory Bateman is well known for not exactly knocking out his kits on schedule nor within time frames associated with larger kit building companies. It is obvious to me that most buyers of his kits remain enthusiatic and devouted fans of his kits and his craftsmanshiip, but all will tell you that you must have the patience and understanding of Job to complete a kit purchase from Rory. At least that is how it has been so far. Now that he has a new and larger shop and the very positive influence of his new wife plus the support of many of his loyal customers in the Sacramento and SF Bay Area regions, past production problems may get ironed out and speed of completion improved in the future. I have not seen the quality of other kits straight out of the box, but Rory's molds are works of art in themselves, being reinforced with extensive steel L bar outer bracing and the quality of the body panels and their paintable surfaces are so smooth and dimple free right out of the mold that they look almost like pressed steel panels from a Mercedes factory. Last time I visited Rory he imparted to me some of the advanced fiberglass laying, blending and smoothing techniques that he uses to create his kit panels in order to avoid the typical "wobbly-wavvy" look typical of most fiberglass body kits on the market. Very impressive attention to detail and high quality, indeed. I wish you could see the incredible rididity and finish fit quality of the new hard top components that Rory just completed. His quality would blow you away if you compared them to average quality fiberglass work dominant in the market today. Hope that helps answer your questions a wee bit.

Since the Tomahawk Z kit topic is hot on the burner right now, I'd like to put out the call to you all to help me find many of the original Tomahawk Z kit owners that Tomahawk builder, Rory Bateman, lost customer records of a couple of years ago. All total, Rory tells me that he has sold at least 29 kits since 1995, but so far I only have been able to locate 13 original buyers after 2 years of looking. Can anybody help? Know anyone in your area that owns one? Seen one at a show in the past year or for sale anywhere? Rory Bateman, the Tomahawk Z owners club and myself would really appreciate any leads or contacts any of your eyes and ears could provide. Thanks much, Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

First the good news for someone ready to purchase a turnkey Tomahawk Z kit now. Currently, the owner of Tomahawk Z kit #004 has just contacted me asking me to broker his freshly painted and restored Tomahawk kit for sale. Sitting on a 240Z body, this car sports a Rebello L28 engine with triple Mikunis carbs and is painted in a royal, irresdescent blue with Traditional Cobra like, dual white stripes from front to back. Asking price is $17,000 When time allows, I will be taking full ad photos of kit located in the San Francisco Bay Area for display at ZPARTS.COM. Potential buyers interested to learn more can contact me at sales@zparts.com Read below for more background news on buying a Tomahawk Z kit in the future. Although, the one man company that has produced the Tomahawk kits since 1995 is very much alive and active in building Tomahawk kits, circumstances of life have prevented him from filling more than a few select orders that he occassionally accepts per year through the grapevine of loyal Tomahawk owners and admirers of his kits I keep in close contact with the designer/builder, Rory Bateman. I was just up at his 2nd new shop in Sacramento, CA last month, which he moved into and is in the process of furnishing and setting up at the moment. Most likely I will be up to visit him again for tech and business marketing discussions next week and may have more news after that visit. I have received recent signals from Rory that he may be ready to begin taking new order deposits again on Tomahawk kits in the near future. When he gets to that point, most likely an announcement and buyer inquiry & screening form will be posted on my website, ZPARTS.COM, to allow SERIOUS buyers the chance of getting on a waiting list to have one of these superbly crafted kits built for them. Reason for emphasis on screening for "serious buyers" is because Rory has found out the hard way that most persons interested in his great looking kit, that casually contact him on the phone, just distract him from his work day without producing any income business. For general public inquiries and the curious, we are hoping to publish an online brochure with plenty of specs and photos with new price changes in the next couple of months so the general kit and Z car enthusiast can get a better understanding about the 3 Tomahawk kits that Rory has so far designed and produced for 3 different generations of Z car, the 70-78 (S30) , 79-83 280ZX (S130) and 84-89 300ZX (Z31) models. Note: Currently, the owner of Tomahawk Z kit #004 has just contacted me asking me to broker his freshly painted and restored Tomahawk kit for sale. Sitting on a 240Z body, this car sports a Rebello L28 engine with triple Mikunis carbs. Asking price is $17,000 When time allows, I will be taking full ad photos of kit located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Potential buyers interested to learn more can contact me at sales@zparts.com Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

Although mostly big news for Tomahawk Z kit owners, I thought some of you here would be interested to see Rory Bateman's very unique and creative adaptation of Nissan 280ZX T-tops and roof section pieces into his newest 4 piece Targa style hard top design that he has now finished and produced to fit the early generation Z kits. Vincent Hudson, stopped by today with his fabulous looking "Purple Candy" Tomahawk Z to proudly show off the new, virtually finished, new 4 piece hard top that Rory Bateman has been working tirelessly on for over a year now. Vincent will next be taking top to his favorite body & paint man to refine a few details before having the top painted to match look and color of his custom painted body. Steve Cameron, owner of a black V8 enhanced Tomahawk Z kit in Sacramento was the first owner to get one of these tops, but to my knowledge, Vincent's is somewhat more refined than the prototype that Steve first had fitted to his car. Knowing that some of you keep abreast of Tomahawk Z kit developments I quickly took a few shots of the new top on Vincent Hudson's car and have already published them on my website at http://zparts.com/showcase/tomahawk/docs/news.html Feel free to send me any feed back about the design you care to. I'd most like to know what the rest of you think of it, pro or con. Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

Main question I have been trying to answer is about whether the Nalle & Puckett Daytona Cobra kits the same kit and design or totally different? Rumors I have heard about Puckett's design suggests to me that they may be totally different kits, but I have not confirmed that yet. Photos of Tom Nalle's kit appeared in the Ben Millspaughs "Z Car Enthusiast" book back in the late eighties, to my recollection, but so far I have not verified when Puckett started selling his. Anyone know? I am in contact with a Puckett Daytona kit owner that has not that many kind words for his experience with Puckett and his company, but so far I can not locate anyone that purchased a Nalle GT kit from Tom Nalle while he was officially in business. For those interested I have a pretty good quality photo copy of Puckett's asorted car body kit designs, sent in by Bill Aldridge posted at http://zparts.com/inprogress.html

I see there is some confusion on the price of the reinforcement kits that I have for sale at ZPARTS.COM The entire Z Spyder convertible kit with a Stage I unibody strengthening kit runs $1295. for everything including a detailed fabrication and installation manual and generous free tech support from the designer. The strengthening kits can also be purchased separately. The Stage I kit costs $650. and the Stage II (ideal for Z cars with hi-output or V8 engines) sells for $850. Some of you have expressed surprise at what seems to be high prices for the bracing kits, but one fact always is true in life, you usually get what you pay for. With Sam Freeman's design you get well thought out and tested engineering that really works wonders on a Z car body weakened by having top cut off or from a unibody twisting, torquey V8 swap. When you do it yourself, you usually spend a lot of time dabbling and over welding non engineered steel plate and channel in all sorts of illogical places not needed, sometimes with disasterous consequences and cosmetic defacement of your car's unibody. A kit like I sell at ZPARTS.COM saves you tons of time and does the job intended without a lot of mess and hassle. I have personaly have done the 1000 mile round trip 3 times to the West Coast Nationals in a convertible Z reinfoced with the Stage I reinforcement kit and the car is tight and solid as any new car from a factory. Doors open and close and fit perfectly 7 years after the Stage one was installed. The car does not rattle or flex in strange ways in turns or under hard acceleration and corning. It's rock solid and all because the Stage I is so well engineered. In the ad for the Z Spyder Convertible http://zparts.com/ads/zspider/zspider_index1.html the yellow Z car pictured there was setup by owner with a Stage II bracing kit because car was intended for very competitive auto crossing and road racing running a max bore, stroked L28 with side draft Mikunis. From what the owner has told me, he is more than totally pumped about how stiff and solid his car feels in hard cornering and strong accelleration to date. He said he can not say enough good things about the outstanding improvement Sam Freeman's personal installation of the bracing kit has made in his car. OK, just wanted to clarify the above prices and advantages of the kit I sell at ZPARTS.COM in order so there will be less confusion at Hybridz.org. Chow, Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

For the information of all I'd like to thank the many posters at HybridZ.org that alerted me to the fact that showcars.com was using my copyrighted photos to promote their website product catalog pages. I identified at least 11 of my copyrighted photos or those from my customers and website contributors, pirated from my website, ZPARTS.COM and illedgally displayed at showcars.com. John Washington discovered several lifted from his website as well. Both John and I contacted the owner and webmaster of showcars.com about this discovery. To my knowledge, all that I had copyrights to were promplty removed and I believe John had similar success, but I will let him speak for himself if he wishes to. As a result, I now have a copyright attorney plus my reliable digital copyright encoding service involved in looking for more violations around the internet. If any of you may not quite understand or be clear about the gravity of importance of copyright issues and violations related to unauthorized use of digital photos around the internet, you might find an article by Curtis Scott, owner of Kitcar.com, something of an interesting read. According to Mr. Scott, he has been quite successful in collecting many thousands of dollars from violators that crossed his path thinking they were immune from prosecution when they pirated articles and images from his website. Link to article is at bottom of page at http://kitcar.com/ Article is entitled: "About Copyrights and Copyright Infringement on the World Wide Web" Brief clarification about posting my photos within Hybridz.org forum threads. My most favorite group of Z enthusiasts is that at HybridZ.org. Because of our common interests in sharing customizing ideas I am usually very open and appreciative of the frequent insertion of ZPARTS.COM imgage URLs into HybridZ.org forum topic threads, leading to photos I take and display in abundance at my ZPARTS.COM website. As long as all copyrighted images from my website REMAIN ON MY WEBSITE SERVER and no one else's and are not represented as belonging to someone or website not the legal copyright holder, I am usually quite happy to have them displayed in all Hybridz.org forums for all to enjoy and discuss. If any of you desire to display any of my images for other reasons not commercially oriented or for website promotion, I encourage you to contact me about permission to use them. Quite often I am open to granting limited rights for private use if I am asked first. Thanks again to the many here that were concerned enought to alert me and other copyright holders about transgressions mentioned. Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

John, I believe one of the guys with one of the Daytona kits in PA is named Vu. As I understand it, he purchased his from another friend nearby which tells similar story of a guy up north with several kits for sale several years ago. My understanding is that between Vu and his friend, they have at least 3 Daytona kits in varying states of less than perfect condition that they purchaased from this mystery man up north of them. Vu has sent me several photos of these Daytonas over the years, none of which are very exciting to look at. Requests for better ones have not been answered so far. btw, I was just contacted by the owner of Tomahawk Z kit #004 (of 29 made), a Cobra looking Z car based kit, in the SF bay area, asking me to photograph and broker for sale his freshly painted and restored Tomahawk Z. The Tomahawk kit is built on a 72 240Z and is running a Rebello performance engine with triple side draft large Mikuni carbs. Pics will be taken next week and Car for Sale ad will be published aobut a week later at ZPARTS.COM. For those that know how difficult it is to find a Tomahawk Z kit to buy anywhere in the US these days, this car may interest some of you or your wealthy friends. Please check it out soon.

Nice idea iskone has, but I see one fundmental problem between Ferrari example, which has a headlight scoop area much wider than tall, and that of the G-Nose head light scoop proportions which is equally as tall as wide and much longer in forward projection. I have a Fairlady ZG parked outside my door with the real, original 5 piece G-Nose setup and head light fender extensions on it to envision your idea on and my guess is that it would be difficult to stuff many small lights in the opening in a way that would be visually appealing or balanced and functional. On the other hand, I am a frequent proponent of at least "trying" so I'd say it would be interesting to see what someone could come up with. When you are looking for extra good photos of custom Z car modifications, including headlights, one of the best places on the Net to see a lot of it is at my website, ZPARTS.COM Custom flamed and headlight moded car ya'all are referring to can be seen in detail at http://zparts.com/events/wczn20/pages/00r08f16.htm http://zparts.com/events/wczn20/pages/00r11f18rw2s.htm The owner inquired about selling his 260Z show car on my website last year, but decided to try his luck on ebay first. Haven't heard from him since and I do not remember seeing his car at the West Coast Nationals last April in Orange, CA so perhaps he did sell it finally.

I've been noticing that this thread, which I started last year, has some new life in it lately so I'll add a word or two. 1. Even though this thread is quite long, for those of you seriously interested in custom Z tail lights, you might find a re-read of all posts in this thread, from beginning question to present, pretty worth while. Some of the comments, ideas and photos submitted were pretty thoughtful and creative. 2. Regarding the tail lights on the red car referred to by therealG, that I photographed at the 2002 West Coast Nationals, the story is that the guy found himself a bit strapped for bread when it came time to finish the car up for paint so he decided to get creative with off the shelf parts that he could easily pickup on the cheap that he could swap in without having to cut or alter his car's original body metal. Pete Paraska spoke to the owner at greater length while at that show and wrote down a bit more of the particulars about what parts and sources the owner actually used in his design. Check through this thread for posts by Pete Paraska to review all that Pete added. And yes, I believe the lenses are from trailer lights. That design is fairly common and cheap to pick up, but they still look pretty classy, IMO. You'd be amazed at how large the selection of multi'shaped lenses and sizes of lights and lenses there is in several truck and trailer accessory catalogs. Seriously. Below are a few curious ones that I have in my growing library of photos of lens which interest me in one way or another. You can see larger photos of these thumbnial images at http://zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/nonz_gallery/pages/p1.html 3. I didn't happen upon many new custom tail light ideas to photograph at the West Coast Nationals this year, but did shoot 4 or 5 new ones, most of which I have not yet added to my CUSTOM Z CAR TAIL LIGHT IDEAS section yet at http://zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/index.html However, I do have one photo of Michael Johnston's trick roadster and his choice of custom tail lights. Link to large image is at http://zparts.com/events/wcn2003/display1/pictures/dcp_8914.html btw, stay tuned into ZPARTS.COM. I'll be publishing some slick new photos of the MSA 1978 280Z "Best of show" winner that was professionally appraised at $60,000 !!, (can you believe it??) just before being driven from Florida to the California event. Also have some cool looking custom engine swap photos and tricked out historical wheel ideas to show off at ZPARTS.COM in the next couple of weeks. Catch ya'all later.