Dan Juday

Oh crap! I'm in that picture! But I'm not the guy with the loud shirt (and louder beer belly). But I was 40 lbs. heavier than I am today. Trivia: The siver Cobra replica is a Tomahawk Z built on a Z31. The owner of that car has now past away. EDIT: Alex, that purple Cobra replica you just posted pics of is NOT a Tomahawk. All Tomahawk interations (S30, S130, and Z31) use the stock windshield and doors with fiberglass skins on the outside like the GTO kits.

That's been several years and a few computers ago. When I did the swap I had a Mac and a nice photo program. It was easy for an old guy like me. Now I've got PC's and no motivation to learn a new way of manipulating pictures. Eric over at Zparts.com has some pics of my car in progress but I can't find them anymore when I go there. Sorry. If you think I can be of help PM me and we can yak off-forum. Here is a finished shot from John Washingtons site.

I guess I'll sign in on this one. First thanks for the kind words reguarding my rear end. "Awkward". This is what I struggled with as well. The rear sheet metal of the S30 (and S130 as well) is just not shaped like the rear of the Z32. I tried several interations, positioning the taillights for weeks before I gave up. They all just looked awkward, pasted on. In the end I cut the entire rear sheet metal off below the hatch and formed a new rear end around the taillights. The trick for me was to start with the lights, get them straight and level, and make the rear end fit them. Not the other way around. Sorry, I know this is not what you want to hear, especially after the body shop has jumped ahead of you (how often do you hear that?). Lot's of guys have asked me about this swap and I've discouraged everyone. It's a ton of work to make it look right. And if your paying a body man, a ton of money too. I'm very happy with the end results. But knowing what I know now I wouldn't attempt it again.

I've got to say, it sounds like a lot of work to replace something with all the engineering worked out AND will simply bolt it. I've never had anyone look at my JTR mounts and say that they look out of place. Quite the contrary, everyone looks at the swap and says it looks like it came from the factory that way. There is plenty of other items in the motor swap where you will need to be creative. I'd offer that re-inventing the wheel (motor mounts, that is) is not worth the effort.

I was there. Saw it live at the corkscrew. The lap before that another TR spun and everybody peed their pants trying to avoid it. The crowd clapped and cheered as everyone got around clean. Then the next lap this numb scull takes a dirt excursion. This was the last Monterey Historic event. After 35 years the track owners tossed out the event organizer. More numb sculls. FYI, Jay Leno looks taller and younger on TV.

Your choice. If your car is a '75 or older I would register it as a Datsun but insure it as a GTO replica. If it is later than a '75 get a specialty construction registration as a '62 GTO replica and you can avoid the bi-annual smog inspections.

The proximity to Canada. Imagine how bad it would be if we shared a boarder!

Maybe your geography class. Don't feel bad, looks like they did too.

You can buy the cap and the fiberglass recess from www.reactionresearch.com

This is a little wagon, right? You've got all that room in the back. Do like a Pantara and mount your radiator in the tail. It's going to take some creative plumbing, but the results should peg the cool meter.

My mistake. Sounded a lot like Johns dash. I back up John Washington every chance I get. He is one of the very few people out there producing several high quality products for our old Z cars. Plus he is a quality guy. That is a rare combination. In the last few years he has gotten very frustrated with this business. He has been burned several times by buyers and ripped off by LOW quality guys in the glass biz (did I say Show Cars out load?). One day he will have had enough and we in the Z car community will all be the poorer.

If you build your own plug from scratch and you model it after Johns dash, even if it looks a lot like his, that is completely different from pulling a plug directly from a dash he owns the rights to. "...Before doing anything with it MAYBE there should be a plug made from this dash..." That's the sort of thing that will get you in trouble. Don't kill this idea. I think it's a great idea. Just do the work yourself instead of copying Johns dash. We need more products like this. And, yes, John is a great guy. If you sent him an e-mail and asked for advice about how to do it he would be happy to help. Like I said earlier, he would probably even license copies if you were up-front with him. Just don't go behind his back. Why make an enemy of this great guy?

I really hope that was photo shopped.

rsicard, "...I purchased a fibreglass dash from a fellow in Mesa Arizona. It is for a Datsun being converted to a Ferrari. I really like the dash BECAUSE it has a vertical dash pod right in front of the driver..." rsicard is not talking about the stock dash. The "fellow in Mesa", I'm certain, is John Washington. He produces the Vello Rosa, a body kit for the S30 that looks like what a Ferrari 250 GTO Spyder would have looked like if Ferrari had made a convertable version. And, yes, the dash John supplies with his kit has a pod right in front of the driver with lots of room for gauges. That make sense?

Hey guys, this is someones intellectual property. You are talking about ripping off John's design and then making money by selling copies of it. And you're dicussing this on a public forum. Bad idea. Maybe you just didn't think about that at first. I'm sure you're not the stealing type. Send John an e-mail with your idea. I'm sure he would be willing to work out a licensing agreement for a very reasonable fee. john@reactionresearch.com

Maybe "matching" would be a better word than "correct". It seems reasonable that the curvature of the light would not match the shape of the S30 tail panel. However, a good fabricator could make it look "correct". Well, maybe at least to his eye. I ran into quite a challenge fitting Z32 taillights on my '73. Pictures and photoshop make it look like an easy fit. It is not. To make them look "correct" required all new reshaped metal from the hatch down and from fender to fender. I bet the Caddy lights wouldn't require near as much work to look "correct".

B.S. I have been holding off from commenting here but no longer. Ask some of the people out there that have been victims of ILLEGAL uninsured motorists. Talk to some of the ones whose lives have been destroyed because someone "wanted to enjoy driving it a little before he had the money to put it back on his insurance". Talk to families of the dead and disfigured. Here in our little town is a family I've known for years who have lost everything trying to pay for the medical care of there mangled son thanks to an uninsured driver. No sympathy from me. If you can't afford insurance than GET THE HELL OFF THE ROAD. If you want to be selfish and irresponsible but legal than move to some state that will let you. You were just lucky Lamberson. Now don't be stupid anylonger.

Read more about these Nazis. http://www.cspiscam.com

Yes. Please use the search button. There is a nice thread on just this subject. I could do a search and find it for you, but so could you. It's there, it will help.

Not at all. That was the day Larry came to town.

Haven't you guys caught on yet? Domenic is bating us. He only replies to threads two years and older. And he never has anythng usefull to say. Doubt me? Check his history. I guess I'm now one of his victims too.

Too late Derek. We can all look at your front door. Google Maps. 1984 was 25 years ago.

Sounds like the only real down side to the T45 is the gearing. So forgive me if this is an obvious thing I don't know about. Why not change the ratios in the T45 and have it all?

Anybody else notice the "merlin" uses a front end snagged fron a Vella Rossa? I'm sure John is less than pleased.

Look at other things as well: the ball joints on the tie rod ends, LCA ball joints, u-joint in the steering shaft, alignment. These can also cause your problem and don't require hard to find RHD parts.