Drftn280zxt

Have you seen pics of Topless280zx ? i think is his screen name. He did A convertible job on his 280ZX. You should PM him, he could help you out I'm sure. Keep up the nice drawings , I know I will!

oops, double post . Sorta

anything by 7" is easy to come by, but what about 17x12 with -2 inches (-50.8mm) of offset (4.5" of lip) and 17x10 with -1.5 inches (-38.1mm) of offset (2.5" of lip). With a rounded polished lip, and seven spoke design similar to that of the G35 coupe? If you can match that description that would be awesome! I'll have to try the site you mentioned though, and no doubt, Japan is a magical land of rare unique custom parts and great cars .

It is a little exagerrated huh. Heres the thing I don't want flares like those seen on porches, where everything oraganically blends but I also don't want box flares. In reality the angel would be much less steep and the rear quarters (flares) would appear so flat, they would actually slope down more. I made the space between the rear wheels and rear quarter windows too small. Proportionally the model represents probably six inches of space where in reality its much closer to 10-12 inches I think. Also I kicked the door in too much in the model. The doors on these don't concave in that much, another overexagerration. What I really should do is find a ~1/18th -1/12th scale model of the 280zx (2+2 if possible) and scuplt right off of that. Than the proportions would be nearly perfect, and the lines much less exagerrated. Also back on the wing, I want it to be level with the roof line. I know this is very tall but I find cars with wings that are level with the roof line to look much better and more in unity than those with smaller wings. If my calculations are correct the new overall rear width of the car would be 72" (~70" up front). So I think any from a 60" wide wing to a 68" wing. Currently I have a 52 inch wing. Thanks again for the feedback Sir Daniel.

Hanomon do you have any pics of this process? What does PCM stand for? The foam you are referring too, is it that insulating triple expanding foam used to fill in holes where water leaks can occur on houses? How does only the outside of the foam expand leaving the the part touching the car really smooth or does the contact portion on the car also expand and get lumpy. Where do you get clay dividers to divide up the parts when making molds, or can this be done with other materials?

I'm still a little confused. THey made it seems like the mold is just one sided. I would've thought that you make one side of the mold lay in a bunch of glass then put the back mold of top of that. With hoods you need a way to attach to hood to the car. the easy wasy is pins but what if you want to use the original opening mechanisms? I also thought the molds themsleves were made of clay, these are fiberglass. And the whole gel thing is confusing. Thanks for posting the site but are than any other that are informative yet understandable to a novice. (hands on I've never even worked with fiber glass, just done some reading to understand how to lay up fiberglass. The waxing is also confusing. Is he talking about car wax for shinyness and protection or some other kind of wax? In the case of making custom body components would taking an autobody class be an excellent idea, or is that really only good for learning how to repair stuff?

16x7 and 17x7, very common sizes, easy to come by. But I'm talking 17x12 with -50.8offset (-2inch offset, 4 inches of backspace), and 17x10 with -38.1offset or -(1.5inch offset, 4 inches of backspace). That my friend isn't a very common wheel size. But if you know who can make them, that would be awesome. I know some of those wide body 240SX's run some pretty wide wheels. Any one here know if an 18inch wheels with low profile tires will fit in the wheel wells of a 1979 280ZX 2+2? Would coilovers be the best solution for keeping the ride height at about 4inches or would more customizing be neccesary to keep away from too much negative camber?

I'll havbe to remember that when I move to Cali. I plan on running a cage in my 280zx, for safety and for strength. The window tint thing seems like a good idea but remember too dark will get you in trouble too, just FYI. Some cops are really picky about dark tint, especially tint less than 15% in translucency all around. But if you have radar who cares, paint your windows black if its in your best interest .

Which body lines are you referring to? I thought I had the line in the middle of side pretty well done, but I admit I screwed up on the window line and the decending line of the rear quarters. Next time will be better. I'll probably do another drawing before another clay sculpt. Thanks for the comments though. Yeah I have to agree the wing I made is just a little too wide. Also I'm debating the position of the stanchions for it. Where do you think the best placement would be? Also as for the width of the wing, i think some where between the edge of the flares and the outside of the window. Thanks again.

can someone post a pic of what their molds looks like? Pictures would help a lot so that I have a good idea of what it is I'd be making eventually. I figure that if I'm going to try to make a widebody kit for my 280ZX 2+2 I may as well make a mold of it incase of future damage. Thanks

I went to powertechs website powertech It appears they do make truly custom wheels but are limited to being flat and I think it must be a ten spoke design. Can some one else look to see if I'm right. It was kind of confusing. ROH wheels in australia might make truly custom wheels, but how they understand what you want looked confusing. Very vague. Any other ideas for truly custom aluminum wheels. Where do drifters get there custom wheels? Especially the wide wheels?

I think the eclipse headlights would be too wibe besides my design is a little more modern intoducing LED headlight technology and projectos style xenon technology with a little bit of that classic shovel scoop design. I'll have to pst some pics of my custom headlight /taillights designs along with the other front end. Out of curiosity why don't you like the wing. Personally I thought the car looked like it was missing something without it, but thats just my opinion. Thanks again for the feedback. Just in case it wasn't immediately evident but in this widebody unlike most the rear flare starts in the doors prematurely whereas most start after the door. Very rare among wide kits, more custom stuff for the better though.

I have a question. With that blue foam, do you remove it after fiberglassing, or does it stay there as a permanent component of wahtecer you made?

You have know idea how bad I want the kit to be made! But it'll have to wait or be darn close to free to produce right now. Plus I got thinking fiberglass is awesone and all but c/f would be even better. Lighter and stronger. Of course I'd paint of it blue like the design. Other downfalls, have to have custom wheels made, custom headlights/taillights, and well one heck of an engine to accomodate that body kit. Any sponsers listening ! . Thanks for the feedback guys. Keep the ops commin, the more feedback the better. As for the front fascia well It didn't come out exactly to plan in this sculpt, better luck on the next one, when ever that'll be. Oh yeah while I was sculpting I designed up a fascia that is very similar but instead of coming way out it comes in and then out. Kind of reminicient of the original lines. I'll have to do a large drawing of it and post it (the original was like 1" by 1") , you old school folks will probably like it better .

Nice job pushes me to believe that I can make this Interior (re)-Design for My 280ZX 2+2 Nice to know that theres another person who is apt to molding other car's stuff into their own. I've got props for you for being so creative and inventive. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Well it took a while, but here are the results I achieved after about two weeks of sculpting and two days of painting (click the links) . The Website and Top Angle View Just Click through the pictures using the slide show the views will appear in the following order Rear View Front Three Quarter View Rear Three Quarter View Rear Angle View Side Profile Side Angle View Front Profile Top Angle View Back to front over top view Tell me what you think. Not to be picky but if you want to display these pictures to other people please don't take credit for it, mention my name (Sean). Thanks. Now that it's done I really want to make it real, darnit I have to be patient and wait though until I'm done with school and have the cash flowing in. . At least i can drool over this in the mean time . These pictures really don't do it justice, its much prettier in reality.

Phantom, did you get the other information, the specifics on that company. Process of wheel making? Materials? Styles? If not thats okay. Just curious because when visiting their site I found nothing in regards to designing your own wheels.

Go for it. I think it would look awesome. ? though, would you use adapters or can you get those in proper offset? Either way it would look good but with proper spacing would look quite nice although I guess that could change the look of the wheel. My .02 .

If I only had my future mechanical engineering degree right now . I need to research this whole straight pipe thing. I'm beginning to understand why its better to have the pipes that come in perpendicular versus, an angle (it all about have equal pressure right?) With angled plenums the first cylinder (closest to the TB) would be getting really high pressure and the farthest one the least amount of pressure (am I correct?). My common sense tell be that having the plenums stick in so far would not be good. Less turbulence! Rather if they flush with the intake (main chamber) that would be most beneficial. I'll have to make it in autocad when I get a chance. Although (a 3D modeler , ex. 3D VIS would be more ideal, but my schools computers only have some other Autodesk modeler that I'm not familiar with)

I'll keep you in mind when it (someday) comes time for painting and such. DeadRoman, where are you located out of curiosity? (please not the east coast ) I'm in Nevada. Long way from painting ( a really long way). Except for my minature concept model of my Z's future (about 1/18th scale about a foot long and ~6 inches wide).

NICE! post some pics of it with all the welds cleaned up. Lookin good. Now are you going to get an APEXi muffler or some other kind of muffler? Can't wait to see it on the car! Keep up the good work man.

i'm definitely going to have to read Jeff's stuff on his car. Looks good, thanks for giving me a place to look to understand what I'm proposing a little better . Thanks

No offense taken. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll start looking more detailed into those things. A little enthomethodolgy (sociology term meaning disrupting the norms to understand the norms) shows me that asking the source (you guys) on this site isn't always the best way to go. First search, then ask is waht I've found. Please don't think I'm stupid, but rather different people think different ways. To the search I go. The search can be a little exhuasting though because sometimes you receive 100's of posts all of which are good, and reading them could take a long time. A little discouraging when you can just ask again, w/o hunting. I'll try to be as patient as possible with though. I guess I don't like digging very much! Crap !

I'm sure those rear are flared at least 4 inches. Also the vody work here is more than just rear fenders. He's got the quarter "bleeding" into the door. Notice how the door angles out just before the door handle. Very difficult to pull off. Very time consuming and would help to have a pro on hand. Of course I want a similar look on my Z Now to find a pro fiberglass dude or become a pro. (I'm considering C/F, strong and lightweight). If you know the right people C/F rolls can be kinda cheap, especially through the military supposedly. I came across a guy who worked for shelby that said he could probably get his hands on some C/F if I wanted it. Not sure about the rims. Those quarters are most likely custom, sorry man. Might be a custom front front lip as well, I'm not sure.