Bartman

It must be that time of year...it seems like a lot of people have been painting recently. Looks great!

Yes, but you still may need to change to shorter springs. A big factor will be the tires you ultimately select. Tire widths will vary even though the listed size may be the same.

I think the short answer is no. The only cars that I know of that have that size have shortened their rear springs to 8" in order to raise the lower perch above the tire and have rolled or cut their fenders. Here's a thread of someone running 17x9 in the rear: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=119352 I think the biggest without modifying the fenders is 17x8.5 - if your lucky and have the backspacing just right.

Okay here's a close up shot of the latching mechanism. You can see it works just like the stocker. And here's a shot of the hinge mounted to the hatch. Clearance is an issue here, so I used bolts with thin heads.

Here's a couple I just took.

Here's a couple shot's with the cf hatch installed with the stock glass. I was informed by my wife that I have to replace the tail light panel with a carbon fiber one. What's funny about that is she used to not like carbon fiber, and was unhappy when I started ordering cf pieces. Go figure... So if anyone knows where I can get a deal on a cf tail light panel, let me know. If nothing else, I guess I'll just order one from MSA.

I'll try to post up some pic's for you ASAP. There are quite a few pic's on raeonusa.com including one's of the underside http://www.raceonusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=826_827&products_id=27697&zenid=fdek4hcr0p22m8g7gbh0c8qph1In fact, I just looked and they have a pic's with someone holding the stock hinge up to the mounting point on the cf hatch (image #32 and 34) and one of the threaded inserts on the hatch below the hinge mounting locations (image #33). I'll post up a pic with it bolted on ASAP.

I got my carbon fiber hood, hatch and cowl from Raconusa.com. In order to install the hatch I removed the part of the hinge that's welded onto the stocker and bolted it on to the cf hatch. Here's a link to my CF Hatch thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=151503

I finally installed the stock glass, and boy was it a PITA. The thickness of the fiberglass made it really hard to get the weatherstrip installed on the hatch. Eventually I got it to work and it looks great. The latch is working and I trimmed down the hatch weatherstrip so that it sits where I want it without putting to much pressure on the hatch itself.

Thanks everyone, and Ken there would have been no reason to think twice about your color scheme. I'm working on getting it completed just about every day, and last night I got the carbon fiber hatch installed with the stock latch and glass. So a pic from the arse end will be coming in the near future...

Hey Ken, haven't seen too many posts from you for quite a while. The primered paint job is a nice improvement. It looks like you have a good autocross setup, are you still taking her out to the parking lot for workouts? P.S. - I think it would look better with bumpers.

Good job on the swap! I bet you'll really enjoy the test drive.

I bought all my paint from tcpglobal.com and I used Restoration Shop urethane basecoat/clearcoat system. The colors are: #2101 Sterling Silver Metallic #2506 Electric Blue Metallic #1901 Jet Black (Gloss) If you go with a single color you can get a ready-to-spray kit for around $230 that includes 1 Gal. BASECOAT COLOR, 1 Gal. REDUCER, 1 Gal. CLEARCOAT, 1 Qt. HARDENER, Sticks & Strainers.

Wow Guy, that's really wierd. Sorry to hear about all your bad luck...but I still think you have a great setup.

I shot the paint on August 16th and now I'm sanding polishing and putting everything back together. All in all it looks good and I'm happy with the results.

I completed sanding and polishing on one side of the car and decided to get some pic's in the sun. Here's a shot of the Mako Shark reproduction emblem and the gill. And finally a close up of the paint.

Thanks for all the positive comments! I have to tell you I'm really stoked about the way this is coming out. It's actually exceeding my expectations. Here's some pic's with the black parts sanded and polished. As you can see the black came out nice and shiny. The hood is just set in place, so it's not lined up quite right, but you can see I painted the leading edge to help bring the blue around the front. Everything other than the black and carbon fiber still needs to be sanded and polished.