Dan Juday

Just thought I'd cap this thread off and let you guys know I DID buy that Hobart welder. For $150 I couldn't pass it up. It's only five years old and has more dust on it than time (maybe four hours if the seller is telling me the truth, he bought it new). I spent more than that for a bottle of gas to weld with. Any who, after I get a 50 amp receptical installed in my garage tomorrow, I'll let you know what I think of it. Heck, if I don't like it the counter guy at Praxair offered me twice what I paid for it.

Have you guys considered using two of the stock hood latches? You may remember the C4 Corvette had a "clam shell" type hood (bonnet) very similar to the VR. GM used two hood latchs to secure the rear of the hood, one in each corner. You could make a similar type system using stock Z car hood latches and a couple of JTR hood latch relocation kits. I was just out poking around under the hood of my Z and I think it could be done fairly easily. The hardest part would be locating, and glassing in threaded metal plates in the bottom of the hood to screw the latches to. With a system like this there would be no visable latches and the hood would be much more secure than with only one center latch. The JTR latch mounts could be screwed to the firewall at each end or possibly in the cowl area on the other side of the firewall. My car has a cowl panel installed so I couldn't say for sure if there's room but you VR guys could check. Just an idea.

Hate you. Hate you really bad.

Here I go butting into this thread again. First caveate: I have not installed a GTO or VR kit. I have installed two of John Washingtons other body kits on my Z. Of all the places on the S30 unibody I would hammer (and I have hammered on mine and others) I would never whack on straight door jambs or door edges. I can't imagine the end results as far as the doors fitting and sealing correctly could be good unless you are a very experianced and talented body man. While I understand that a rear tub is significantly different than a rear quarter panel I personally would install it in a similar manner when addressing the attachment at the rear door jamb area. All of Johns rear quarter kits (SubtleZ, 280YZ, 940Z) bond on top of the original steel quarter panel. None of them wrap around the edge of the door jamb incurring interferance with the door closing. I would only use that lip for alignment purposes. 3M and others make some very good body adhesives today. The modern adhesives are far superior to the traditional epoxies. Once the rear tub is properly bonded I would simply grind the lip off and finish it with a good filler. This is just my humble opinion from a guy who has spent far too much time un-doing things I never should have done in the first place!

Grim, they are complete fenders. The fronts bolt on. They will require some carefull fitting and some minor triming. You will need to drill the mounting holes. Use your old steel fenders as a pattern. The rears bond on and are complete up to the beltline of the fender. Fit and secure them with 2" wide masking tape. Then attach them to the body with four or five self drilling sheet metal screws. The scews act as your alignment pins for bonding. Remove the tape and the screws and glue them on holding them in place with the screws. You may also need to use some tape in places for proper fit untill the epoxy is set. Then remove the screws and finish. 1 tuff z: Thanks.

Hole saws cut perfect circles and they come in about every size up to about 6". Take your time and find the exact center of each hole and drill it with a 1/4" bit. Then finish it with the hole saw. Sorry to hear about the hinge breaking loose from the bonnet. Talk to John. Unless you really forced it it should not have done that.

Dang! Me too. (do we have a smilie that drools?) Anybody notice that they mount American mirrors on there Japanese Z's and we mount Japanese mirrors on our American Z's?

Spoke to a couple of Miller shops in our area. The Hobart can not be retrofitted with the Miller amp control without changing the control board. Total of parts exceeds the cost of the machine (there's a healthy markup, hey?). Guess I'm going to pass on the used Hobart machine.

Well, I'm going to play devil's advocate. First off, the LT1 is arguably the easiest swap mechanically (lets not talk wires here). I've done this swap. It requires the least modification to the engine bay. You even get to keep the stock hood latch. Yes, you will have to pound on the tranny tunnel, but only anal retentives paint their tranny tunnels (flame suit on). You guys are missing a very important part about these motor swaps: the motivation budget. When things drag on for months with little visable change the motivation budget still has to be paid. How many guys here have seen half finished projects sold at fire sale prices because the builder lost interrest? DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! There's nothing like a shiney new paint job to reinvigorate the motivation budget. I'm 45 year old and I've left my own trail of half finished projects in my life. Everyone who has seen my Z knows it's pretty-pretty. Well, it's got some nicks and flaws. If you plan to drive it, it will have nicks and flaws. You can't worry about that. I vote that you paint it.

From the ad: Q: Hello, are these Arizona Z products? If you don't get what you want for the whole package would you be willing to seperate? If so let me know thanks....Dec-23-07 A: yes they are from Artzuna Z. Lets see how the auction goes. I had a stroke and want the whole thing gone. A stroke will interrupt your plans. Looks like a fire sale deal to me. This would be a big jumpstart to someone with the same plans.

I guess that's not the KEY to a successful relationship?

Five years ago I paid more too. Rippin' deal.

Right about 14".

Yes, that is the part that bugs me. Some people, like big B here, have no problems with it. While others said it made a big difference for them. Some of the cheapo migs I've used in the past have had the same three or four setting only control and they were a pain to use. But that may be more related to the overall quality of the welder and not just the heat control limitations. Anybody know if the voltage control from the Miller can be swapped into the Hobart, and at what cost?

Hey guys, Buying my first MIG. I've done some electric welding in my time: mig and stick. I do a lot of oxy./act. brazing and some welding in my work (HVAC). I've used a couple of crappy borrowed migs before with similar results. These welds were not critical/structural. But I get tired of paying welders to do what I know I can do for myself. And welding can be fun when you have good tools to work with. So I've been doing a lot of reading here and on welding sites and had pretty much settled on a Miller 175. Then I was talking to a sign builder here in town (he works exclusively with aluminum and plastics). Be bought a Hobart 175 a few years ago for a rare steel job. He did about 2 hours of welding with it and it's been sitting gathering dust ever since. He needs the money now more than the welder and I can pick it up at a pretty reasonable price. I've read that the Hobart is a slightly down graded version of the Miller. I'd just like to know what you guys think. I'm at that point in my life where bargains don't have the great attraction they used to. I've thrown too many of them in the trash. But if this machine performes like the Miller or can be upgraded easily I'll go for it. Give me your thoughts.

I had to hold my breath to keep from saying the same thing.

Welcome to HybridZ. As far as I know Mike doesn't send out updates (he probably has a life!). Either way this place is where you get the most up-to-date updates. I understand the sheer mass of info here is overwhelming. Don't be intimidated. Any updates would need to be tailored to your particular V8Z: engine and tranny choice and what your plans for the car are. Is this a daily driver, weekend warrior, track car, drag car, ect. Decide, search and read, and then make specific info requests and you'll get good replies. There are some very intelligent and knowledgeable guys here. They did a lot of hard work to get like that. They are happy to help others who have the same work ethic. I've noticed that they tend to ignore posts that are not well thought out and researched. You will get responses, just not from the "A" list.

Pretend? I've been to the future. You morons are going to need all that money your spending on those Z cars. Trust me.

I know nothing about these diff's. $350 may be a low price because of the broken bung on the rear cover (not needed for this application). If it can handle the torque this would a great swap for a motor that's not a high rever but has lots of low end torque (like my tpi). I'd love 3.23 rear gears AND an lsd. I may watch this one myself.

I did this swap on my 240. Here is a good shot of the rear from the Kit Car Builder artical (warning 56k, big file) http://www.reactionresearch.com/280yz/danjuday/KCB13P29.pdf This is not a swap for the faint of heart. The rear of a Z32 is deceptively curvy. While (I believe, but have not confirmed) the rear of an S130 is more square than even an S30. Everything below the rear edge of the hatch had to be custom formed to fit the Z32 taillights. I'd love to see them on an S130. Just bring lots of talent and plan for a bunch of work.

That's what it is. That S30 has an entire Z33 drivetrain installed. The nose is there, I guess, to alude to that. Of course, that doesn't explain the Jeep taillights. Lot's of work, not my cup of tea.

This is a very cool hybrid. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-CHEVY-GT-VEGA-MINO-CUSTOM-MADE-1-0F-1-NICE_W0QQitemZ120186831267QQihZ002QQcategoryZ6472QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks HB, that's what I needed to know.

Help me out guys. I've read many posts from the archives but I can't find a measurement. If you have a PDK 8 point front tower brace on your car, either bolt-on or a weld-on version, could you please measure the distance from the top of the frame rails to the bottom of the main crossbar please? PDK offers this brace with either a curved crossbar to clear the stock l6 valve cover, or with a straight bar for V8's that passes in front of a standard, round, carborator air cleaner. Please let me know which type you have. Since I have a tpi motor in my car I can't be sure, without your help, if the straight bar will clear my plenum. I spoke with Mark at PDK today but he didn't have these measurements and he didn't have a Z there that he could check it with. Thanks for your help guys. Dan

Just wanted to chime in here. I recieved my set of adjustable T/C rods yesterday from the nice people at Technotoy. They are beautifully built and extremely stout looking. The service was very professional and friendly. And I recieved them in a couple of days, just like they said I would. My wife asked if they were made in China because she couldn't believe an american made product like that could be sold for just $200. (All you guys should have such a wife! ) Props to Technotoy: goofy name, impressive products.