v8wannabe2

Dooh!! your right, I guess I was a little too anxious to post a pic of last weekends creation.

Congrats! Education is the one thing that no one can take away and will always pay off for you. Do it now before you get saddled down with kids, mortgage payments, and the dozen or so other responsibilities that creep into your life making it more difficult.

Here's a pic of the one I just put together for my triple mikuni solex set up

Here's the latest update. Installed a rad, painted frame, repainted body darker blue and painted engine red.

I never planned on a chop, but your right it may be a little shorter....call it "artistic expression"

I was thinkin' black body(?), red on the engine block, white headers, red springs, black frame, silver trans and drive shaft. The thought was to make it pop from the inside

I'll tweak it a little when I complete the dual exhaust, that's easy to make disappear!

The engine and the frame started as 2 seperate projects. A little history...when Ferrari make the 250gto the sheet metal was shaped on wire bucks. An Italian artist (Conti, check out www.scudi.com) made 1:3 scale models of these bucks and sold them for around $12,000 each, you could buy a scale highly detailed model of the engine for around $30,000. Needless to say, I didn't have $42,000 to invest in an ornament. Using the 76 280Z in my garage I started taking measurements and bending metal rod and the body was born. The engine just seemed like a fun project and a cool desk ornament. After looking at the 2 seperate for a year or so Jack Daniels and I decided to put the 2 together and a few months ago I started on the frame. Check out the pics in my photo album these's 1 of the wire lambo I made (don't have one of these in the garage so I used a 1:24 scale plastic model). Everyone needs a hobby...my garage art is mine.

Here's the latest update, front suspension completed, beginning of a diff, headers installed, still more to come. What do you think of the color change (I'm not sure I like it)? Any suggestions on a new color?

I got mine in a junkyard too, $10. I used a bunch of bricks wrapped in towels, spring clamps to keep mine in place while the glue hardened. The only place that you can noticibly see it is the end of the dash, when the doors are open. Nice to know that cracks are a thing of the past

I'm painting the car black if I ever get done sanding, I'm at the 600 wet now. Ridiculous amount of time went into getting it straight. I've given the rear bumper a similar treatment and just about finished filling in the vents on the cowl (I cut out the slots and migged in sheet metal). I'll get some pics posted soon. When I was prepping the sheet metal I derusted, painted with a rust primer and sprayed a light coat of truck bed liner on all the inner sheet metal. Should give it some good inner protection and cut down on the cabin noise. Here's the engine that's going in .....cam, stiffer springs, ported polished, valves unshrouded, flat top pistons, clifford research header, ARP hardware oh yeah...that's a mikuni solex triple carb set up. Thanks for the kind words.

Did ya notice that the gap between the headlight bucket and front fender disappeared also? (top of page)

Ya like that, check this out, I shaved the doorhandles and driprail and filled the b-pillar vent. When I put the new rear quarters on I Ispaced them out 1 1/4" on each side to widen the rear by 2 1/2 inches....look at the ridge behind the door. Oh yeah powdercoated the chrome around the window too. Again a whole bundle of mods a non-Z nut wouldn't notice.

My opinion may be a little slanted

The bumper began life as a 76. I moved the strut mounts back a 2", built a new inner structure for the bumper with the mounts inset about 2", dropped the air dam down a couple inches, narrowed the bumper, removed the rubber pieces, filled the rubber mount holes and smoothed the lic plate mount area. A lot of work for a mod the average Joe won't notce.

Polished!!