Dan Juday

The Z31 needs a re-body kit. Even a replica of an exotic or classic would be nice. I bought that '84 Straman from John Washington a few years back and it's just sitting in a container waiting for me to get a good idea. Haven't had one yet. Rory Bateman makes a Tomahawk body for the Z31 but it looks frumpy. Wrong windshield to wheels positioning for a Cobra. Maybe something like a Lotus Elise? Or the nose off any late model Aston Martin? If you did a replica or custom nose there are tons of headlight options available now. Not just the OEM's but also the guys making custom headlight clusters for factory cars. Saw a lot of those at SEMA last week. Doing a tilt front end adds another layer of complication to the mix. Why not just a pretty new front end in fiberglass that bolts on? Focus on making it look nice rather than engineering new hinges and latches and dealing with vibration and rubbing issues. Once you have a nice fender/hood/nose set-up you could then convert that to a one piece later if you still had some motivation left. Too many cool projects don't get finished because more was bit off than could be chewed. I like the idea of a new nose for the Z31. If done right it could generate a little excitement for one of the "less appreciated" Z cars.

Reaction Research offers the SubtleZ cowl hood for $495. http://www.reactionresearch.com/subtlez.html A VERY reputable company.

Not so John, unless things have changed in the last few years. I freely admit I don't keep up on all our car law changes. I did a non CARB motor swap for a friend a few years back on his '78 280Z with a Tomahawk body kit. When I started the swap it was registered as a '78 Z and was getting the bi-annual smog inspections. When the swap was done he went down to the DMV to apply for the specialty construction registration. They told him they were all gone for the current year but to show up the first week in January and he should have no problem getting one. Sure enough, he showed up sometime around the 5th of the month and got an application. He had to see a referee to confirm the body had been changed to "resemble an older classic", in his case an AC Cobra, but anything older than '75 would do. His referee was quite accommodating and helpful (this may not be your experience). End game: it is now registered as a '65 Cobra/specialty construction, no smog inspections required. This was about four years ago.

John Washington, aka www.reactionresearch.com sells these in both FG and CF.

That picture reminds me to go visit my cousin in Gresham. Many years ago she lived in Sandy at a place that looked just like that. Damn poachers. In the old days they hung poachers.

'84 Corvette cross-fire injection? Just a guess. If it is he's swapped the TB's for carbs, obviously.

I'll be there.

Wow, look at all the respect for the lowly tpi. And no plastic motor covers required.

John Washington. I was going to mention him too. First I was going to ask what the application was though. If you want super light race parts that you plan to paint John may be your man. If you want the woven look of CF for a street car then I'm guessing John probably would pass. But hey, I don't speak for him. Shoot him an e-mail and see what he says. Great guy, I've got lots of his parts on my Z.

Thanks to John Washington, S130 owners can build ther own.

Sounds like the clutch is not completely disengaging. I had this problem with the first clutch master cylinder I tried using. It was a 3/4". I switched to a 7/8" and that solved the problem. I understand you're using the GM master but you may not be getting enough travel in the pedal or, like you said, the line is expanding under pressure. Depending on your hose ends, obtaining a steel braided line may,or may not, be so easy. Even if you do need to swap master cylinders I'd recommend using a steel braided line. Just like brake hoses, it will give the pedal a more responsive feel.

Check out Chelle's 250 GTO replica. Aside from the body kit, the BMW V12 install, the 4" stretch between the windshield and the front tires, she also swapped it from LHD to RHD. Carefull if she tells you it was no big deal though. I suppose after all that other work the swap from LD to RD was probably a walk in the park for her.

I just found a great way to reduce the weight of my car. Let all the air pressure out of my tires! Contact Area X 0 PSI = 0 weight

I'll give you that. Just a little more engineering and you could do it though. For the weight of an empty shell what he's got there now is overkill. I like the wood. Think about it: It's light, cheap, and more than strong enough for the job. When he's done it takes up very little space. (I've got an engine hoist taking up precious space in my cramped garage. I use it maybe once every two years.) It's easily recycled into house framing, funiture, or heating fuel. Remember, it's just a tool. Why spend a bunch of time and/or money on something most of us will use once?

Props for creativity, engineering, and efficiency. Other than a diagonal brace to keep it from rolling back I don't see a problem. Do you?

There is one aspect I haven't seen in this discussion yet. Maybe it's here under another name that I'm just not noticing being the non-engineer type. Momentum. The distance between power pulses, 60* for a 12, 90* for an 8 for example. If friction and momentum is a linier function than it really dosen't matter. But if it's more of a hump shaped graph than you would want to catch it at some optimum slope on the curve. Since each subsequent power pulse would have to recoup the momentum lost from the previous pulse, a 12 cylinder engine would have less recouping to do than and 8, or 4 cylinder engine would. Thus more of each pulses' power would go to providing output than recoup. But again, this depends on what that graph looks like. If it's linier, the slope being constant, it really doesn't matter and I've just wasted everybody's time.

In my plan I wouldn't use the weather striping at all. Just sand a nice clean edge on the acrylic cover before it's painted. The felt pads would go on the mounting blocks, between them and the painted bucket. Since the cover would not be fastened with screws it would probably move around slightly even if every thing was fabricated to tight tolerances. Thermal expansion, wind, and vibration while driving. This movement of the mounting blocks, even slightly, may mar the paint on the bucket. Without the weather strip you would get more dirt and grime under the cover. But with dowels at least the covers would be easy to remove for cleaning. BTW, I really like the look of that rendering.

This is the guy who questioned the point of doing a taillight swap?

I saw a heavily modified S30 at an MSA show several years ago that the owner had done something like this to. It looked "O.K.". Actually it looked like a lot of work/money for just an o.k. result. It did get me thinking though. I hate those brackets. Exposed screw heads and double back tape, arg! So I was thinking: You could paint the clear covers about an inch or so in from the edges the same color as the car. When mounted it would look like you had smaller than normal covers. Then glue acrylic blocks to the backside, behind the painted areas, as mounts. In the blocks drill holes and glue in dowels that would fit into matching holes drilled into the headlight buckets. If you were carefull, and clever about where the mounts are located, you could get a nice tight fit without any exposed hardware. The covers could be installed and removed by squeezing them enough for the dowels on one side to clear the holes. Use some small felt pads on the mounts so any movement won't mar the paint.

Having been there (I did this swap with Z32 tails), if you chose to do this I would recommend you cut the rear panel out of a junk yard S130 and graft the metal where the lights bolt to into the rear panel of your S30. It will make alignment and mounting much easier.

I've had this happen twice to me when I lived in San Jose, working late nights. The first time I was quite annoyed and pulled over, hard on the brakes. He almost rear ended me. Like R.P. was saying, he was looking for drunks. Once he discovered I was sober he sent me on my way, end of tailing. The second time I had less attitude and pulled over early (and without the high peddle pressure). Same deal, looking for drunks. The cop appreciated the responce and actually appologized. But, like Alex says, cops are like regular people, some nice and some rotten.

Excellent ideas. When you talked about relocating the hood release I got another idea. Instead of moving it get a second one. Leave the first one where it is as a decoy so the thief keeps yanking thinking that it's broken, or he broke it.

I have MML coilovers on my Z. Excellent service, fast delivery, honest guy. You do have to catch Ross when he's "in the office" though. I would have no hesitation buying anything MML offers.

That's the radiator. Grab a Taurus two speed fan and you're good to go.

Amen to that. And who needs a spare anyway? Hot rods and race cars don't carry spares. Excess weight is your enemy. A can of Fix-a-flat and a AAA card, that's all you need. I havent carried a spare in my Z since I've owned it.