zdmz

"win", "lose" or "draw" the debates dont mean anything to 99% of the voting population. Everyone already has their minds made up and the debates will do little to change those opinions. Media spin will have more of an impact than the actual debates will. Neither candidate is wonderful......Is one of them better suited to be president??? I see it more as 'One of them will be worse for our country'. Kind of a lesser of two evils approach. We hear the same things every day - Bush is a liar, Kerry is a flip-flopper and on and on. IMO the best way to decide is by gut feeling. When either one of them speeks what do you feel. I am voting for the one that fills me with less dread.

I read an article some time ago (I think it was on the Georgia z club site???) that someone was doing a convertible z using a 2+2 model because they thought the proportions would be better looking than the 2 seater. I have looked for updates on the project but have never been able to find out if the car was completed. Does anyone have pictures of a 2+2 convertible to make some compairisons??

Interesting topic. Does anyone have a best guess as to what the aerodynamic affects of the chopped top and laid back windshield will have on Henrik Schiolde's car? (He is the guy from Sweden with his car posted on cardomain). A guy named Matt Weaver has done some interesting studies on laminar flow using human powered vehicles (bicycles with aerodynamic carbon fiber shells). http://www.speed101.com

I am spraying directly to metal. I bit the bullet and bought more primer and am planning on re-doing the whole roof. Good point about the air line - it has been a while since I drained my compressor of moisture, I will look into that.

Humidity may be a factor here. I live in northern Nevada and it is usually very dry here, but it did rain a couple days before I did this primer application. Not sure why it would have bubbled on other occasions??? Larry, Thanks for posting the pic.

I was able to create a person photo album under zdmz and post a photo. phew,,,what a task. Anyway I don't know how to post the picture here. It is a fairly decent shot and shows the bubbles clearly if enlarged. thanks.

The bubbles are more air pockets than what would appear to be "grit". On some of the larger ones - about 316" in dia. - I have poked them with a knife and they peel up like a flap. If the reducer is bad I am not too excited about buying a whole gallon to repaint just the roof. could I just use some rattle can primer to patch in the affected areas or would I run into compatability problems??? thanks

I will try to get some pictures posted. I don't have a camera but I asked my brother to get some shots of it. Each time I respray the bubbles show up in a different spot so I don't think there is anything "wrong" with the metal. I have been spraying outside (no garage, yet) but still this has not happened anywhere else on the car!?!?!?!?!

I keep getting bubbles in my primer on the roof of the car I have sanded it off and redone it three of four times and it keep happening. I thought a first that maybe I had touched it after cleaning it and the oils from my hands were making it bubble. The last couple of times I primed it I was very careful not to touch anything - still bubbles. Now I think it is because I am spraying too much too soon between coats??? What do you think? My prep proceedure is to sand down to the metal ( nice shine with no visible rust or other impurities) - wipe with laquer thinner - and spray with primer. This method has worked well for everything esle on the car but the roof is giving me fits. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

I went to Reno for a couple days and had some fun. Went fishing on Friday on the Truckee River out at Verdi - I caught one fish On the bright side I reminded myself how bad I am at fly fishing. On Saturday I went to the Reno Air Races. That was a blast. Just the sound of the Merlin V12's of the unlimited planes was worth suffering through the wind and cold. They had a couple of new things this year - they now invite private planes to be displayed in the static display and you can vote on your favorite plane, much like is done at car shows. They had many beautiful and rare planes. Someone had even salvaged a Japanese Zero from the Solomon Islands are restored it - I had never seen one before - fascinating!! There is also a new event - it's called Red Bull Racing. It is a timed event with aerobatic planes flying through a series of pylons and a required set of stunts to perform. Very entertaining. See it at http://www.redbullairracing.com I got to see the new jet class race - it was almost anti-climatic - they are very quiet. Good demonstrations from military planes like the F-15, F-16, F-18, and an F-4. The F-4 is going to be completely phased out of service for the U.S. later this year. They also had a jet car, cars dropped from helicopters and a lot of other fun stuff. It was a great time.

The annual World Human Powered Speed Challenge is taking place this week in Battle Mountian, NV. It is a bike race using recumbent style bicycles that are enclosed in aerodynamic shells. The record currently stands at 81 mph. It is kind of off the wall but interesting. Check it out at http://www.wisil.recumbents.com

Terry, Not much can be added to what has already been said. Just want to add my vote of appreciation to the work you have done on your car. It must be very satisfying to just sit and look at the car you built and know you did it yourself I, for one, am glad you took time to post pictures of the work you did - they have helped me. Thank you.

I had to go to a wedding in Reno this weekend - on the good side I was able to see a few of the Hot August Nights activities. On Saturday I went to the swap meet - lots of stuff - one vendor in particular might be of interest. Flip Flop LED sells quite a variety of LED brake lites and other lighting affects. A lot of it is ricey but some things that could be very usable. See http://www.flipflopled.com Stopped by the Hilton on Sunday to look at cars there. My impression is that most of the cars are actually driven - not just trailer queen show cars - I like that people drive there cars after they get them done. I lived in Reno when Hot August Nights started and it has grown to the point of being almost overwhelming, but the cars are impressive and a good motivator to doing more work on mine. I did not see any z cars that were part of the festivities

I have a 1948 Willys CJ2A that I bought in about 1982. It has been drivable for only about 4-5 of those years. bought it before I got married, I now have three kids. I hauled it around when I moved and have been saddend to see it sit and rot for years. I have had strangers knock on my door and ask if I would sell it. I am one of those crazy people that would not sell their old piece of junk to someone that was willing to fix it. This year I fianlly began to work on it. It is almost ready for paint. To me it was worth keeping. I also had a 71 240z that I loved. Bought it about the same time as the jeep. Did a lot of modifications to the engine but the body and suspension were beyond my ability to fix. Had a lot of good times in that car but it got so bad that it was not worth keeping. I tried selling it a few times but no takers. I gave it away in 1998. I have mixed feelings about letting that car go. I now have the tools, time, and limited money to fix it - but it would have been a huge project to replace the rusted body work. Now that I am in my mid-life crisis period I have hankered for another sports car. I looked pretty seriously at getting a Porsche 928 - even test drove a few - but came back to a z car. (mostly because of price of parts etc). The 260z is comming along well. The body is in much better shape than the 240 was so I probably made the right choice in getting rid of the 240 but .... if the the 240 would have been in better shape I would rather have had it. (memories and all.... you know....) If your car is in good shape (not rusted) keep it - even if it takes 20 years it will be waiting for you.

Plainswolf. If the seam is at that junction is spot welded it may be worth removing some of the lead there and welding the seam solid. I did not remove enough material there to see how that seam goes together. I would guess that it is spot welded because most of the car is put together that way. Anyone know for sure? I would not try to "fill weld" the whole area. I would say the lead covers a couple of square inches and would be too much to fill weld. Just get to the seam - weld it - and bondo. From what Terry says it may not be worth the effort to do all that - but do other body stiffening methods instead?????????

Mild v8 slightly stiffened suspension disc brakes all around Clean

Before I shaved my drip rails I took a close look at Terry's site. The dozen or so pictures he has there really are worth a thousand words. It took my a couple of weeks to complete mine - worked on it a little bit at a time. Just grind a few inches of the rail off, weld it up, grid the weld smooth, repeat. I ground mine pretty flush instead of leaving the 1/8 inch Terry mentioned and ran into some problems with burning holes in the metal that I had to spend extra time welding up. That got a little agrevating but in the end I used very little bondo. I also used a flat file to help get things smoothed out and lined up. I suppose you could get it good enough that you could not have to use any bondo, but I am not that patient. It was a lot of work - and when I started I felt like I had gotten in over my head. Now that it is done it doesn't seem like it was that big of a deal. One other thing, the section of the roof that meets the rear quarter panel had some tin/solder/lead???? to fill the junction of the panels and that threw me for a loop when I hit that with the welder That stuff melted out of there pretty easy. Once I finished welding that section I just smoothed it up and bondo'd it up.

I had most of the day yesterday to work on the car. I was filling a couple of door dings and the spots where I welded up the holes for the decorative side strips. As I was working on things I chucked my sanding wheel into my 4 1/2 inch grinder an ground on the roof dents a bit and got them too hot to touch - then I doused them with a rag soaked in cold water. It actually pulled some of the dent out!!!! I got them good enough that I then filled the rest with a light weight filler. The filler is no more than a sixtheenth of an inch thick in the deepest spot. I am hoping that they will not pop out later. I did have someone tell me that dry ice is used to pull dents!?!?!?!? Not sure how that works. The closes dry ice to where I live is 50 miles away or I may have tried that. Anyway, got a lot of work done and now the car is about 1/2 primered, another day like that and I will be ready for paint. Thanks for the help with ideas.

1 vote to pound them out and 1 vote to use bondo. I also had one friend suggest leading it. This leads to a couple of questions. How hard is it to put in a headliner? and: How likely is it that bondo would pop off the somewhat flexible roof? At this point I think I am leaning towards pounding the dents out.

Saw my first Crossfire this week and the speedo in it is a nice white faced one that reads up to 160 mph. Looks like it may the right size to fit a z car!?!?!?!

I like the Z car better. The smooth lines of the 2000 are nice, and the interior is very good looking, but the headlights are just too much. I am undecided about the rear end - overall it looks good but the big bumpers are a big detraction. The side view of the 2000 is also very nice. Although the z car is more angular looking it has nicer lines overall.

The 71 240 that I once had had a blue interior - if I remember correctly the carpet was black.

I just finished shaving the drip rails on my car and primered the roof. While sanding it out I notice several shallow dents in the roof. They are not real bad but they will probably be noticable when it is painted. I understand there is a way to remove dents by heating and cooling but I am not sure of the exact technique - anyone familiar with this???? The car still has the headliner in it and I really did not want to remove it - will this technique ruin the headliner?? I could try pounding them out with a hammer and dolly but that does not seem like it will be very good for the headliner either. I do not want to fill them all with bondo because IMO the metal on the roof can move around too much and I am afraid that bondo may pop off. Any other suggestions on how to fix this. Thanks

That would make a great second car.

My brother is just finishing a '66 mustang coupe - it's kind of funny because he is the ultimate "not" car guy. His intent was to build a daily driver but with a little extra oomph He has had a friend helping (read that as doing all the work) him along the way and giving advice on what to do etc... he now has a very nice- mostly stock- looking car, with a 351 Windsor engine that is stroked out to a 408 and is easily pushing over 500 horses. He is going to hate this car as a daily driver but it will be an awsome drag car. My intent with my car is to make it a good daily driver/ road trip car and push it as far as I can with the "comprimise" toward high performance car and have it still be comfortable - have AC, radio, heat !!, and maybe even a few custom interior upgrades. (not sure what yet). I agree with the original post - have an idea of what you want to end up with so you don't build a car you won't 'like' to drive.