Jason Jarvis

I had to go research that, contrary to what I thought, the Hobart and the Miller are different in that the Miller has infinite VOLTAGE, while the Hobart has click settings (they both have infinite wire speed adjust). Hobart and Miller are manufactured by the same company and they are the same basic machine, but I guess Hobart is the Nissan and Miller is the Infiniti, a few higher end options and tuning, but parts are bolt compatible. You'll have to decide on that one, once you get some experience, the infinite voltage adjustability would be nice to have, and is what sets the Miller apart from the others feature wise. If there is only $50 bucks difference, go for the Miller, if you can find a good sale on the Hobart (try Tractor Supply), then go for it. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Lincoln, I just don't have any experience, but buy one of these three, don't waste your time or money on a cheap brand at Harbor Freight or something.

The Millers and the Hobarts are the same welders in the price range you are looking at. I have a Hobart 135 (they are on the 140 now) and absolutely love it, especially since I got it on clearance for $250. Within the realm of what you are going to be doing automotive wise, it should be able to handle it. The only limiting factor with mine is my skill level, but I am getting better every time I try. I have spoken with several accomplished welders who have bought these as ultra-portables, and end up using them constantly. The new 110's are a world of difference from the buzz boxes of 10 years ago. If you do go with one of these though, throw out the flux core wire and buy gas, the 135/140 already has the regulator, you just have to buy the tank, it makes a big difference.

I'm about to have exactly the same problem. Smoothline makes them, but someone replied to my possible group buy thread that the ones they got from them were poor quality. I noticed Motorsport now shows them, but at $160 each, kinda spendy, and I don't know who makes those or have any idea of quality. BTW, very early 240's did have fiberglass headlight buckets..... Jason

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but if that is indeed PAINT running between the metal and fiberglass in places, the first thing to do is have them pull the kit off and clean up the sheet metal and put a decent coat of paint on there. If it is as bad as it looks, you'll be distracted from the poor fit of the kit by the paint peeling off the car in a few months.....

I worked in an auto parts / body shop supply for a few years, black can be harder than people think, but white is a killer. All mixes have a bit of color in them, even white. Get a few extra drops of red, you made light pink, yellow, cream, you get the picture. Add to that that there are several mixes of white, even in a single manufacturer, add alternate mixes to those (because even the suppliers to GM don't always make it the same) and you see where I'm going.

Johns current pricing on Subtle Z front is $700 for the fenders and $150 for the air dam..... Actually white is the one of the HARDEST colors to match it you really care about it being perfect... Jason

I think I prefer the molded and smoothed in look myself, but it is an interesting look, especially if you are going for the serious race car style. I was thinking YZ's in the rear and ZG's in the front myself, but I think I am going to end up with Subtle Z's in the front now.

It's a Pantera transmission, a ZF as I understand it. It isn't a Porsche, this guy is also into them, but didn't seem impressed with the Porche tranny's ability to handle the power. Even though he says he has talked to others who have done the same thing with the Porsche unit. With this one, he just had to get the right adapter to go between the Chevy and the tranny bolt patterns.

Yep, supposedly when painted there is no way to tell it isn't a stock fender. Honestly there hasn't been enough interest to get this together, and during the week I have been waiting I have started talking to John W. and am probably going to go with the Subtle Z front fenders anyway. I'll probably still order headlight buckets from Smoothline.... Jason

Yeah, this guy has done a couple of Ferrari kits in the past, a Fiero based one and a Z car version, this is just the next step I guess ! The car itself, I know was purchased from a Ferrari dealer (sans engine and tranny) where it had sat for several years. He has developed a theory that the car was purchased at a deal by the second owner, or that they extended themselves too far buying it. Then the service came up (I think it has ~20 thousand miles on the car), they took the car in and AFTER the engine was pulled, they realized they couldn't pay and abandoned it. Then later the original engine may have been used in one of the cars that had problems as you mention. This is all just a theory though, even though it sat at the Ferrari dealership all those years, no one really knew the history. I'll get in touch with him and ask some of the specifics, and yes, the tranny was a bit spendy. Jason

Thought you guys might be interested in this, it's a friend of a friends Ferrari 308 with a 350 and a Pantera tranny (work in progress) Jason

That is correct, the only way I would be involved would be to let them know that we have enough people to get the discount. So far it isn't looking good though, yours is the first reply here. I have received several inquiries, but very few people have been very serious about buying now. You and I are interested in fenders and HL buckets, a couple of others are serious about spoilers or spooks, but nothing has reached the discount point yet. I'll probably place my order early next week either way.....

Very nice, that's quite similar visibly to what I am working on, I'll have to check out your album. The first time I read this post the pic didn't show up, so I just saw it for the first time.... Jason

I just got off the phone with Gary at Smoothline http://www.smoothline.com current prices are listed below.... 10601 Drivers side front fender - $250 10602 Pass. side front fender - $250 10612 Drivers side headlight bucket - $110 10613 Pass. side headlight bucket - $110 10611 Hood (280Z style with vent holes) - $250 Shipping estimated to me in North Carolina was around $130 to a business with a dock. I raised the possibility of a group buy, and Gary said they could probably offer a 10% discount simply because they could pull the molds and make a run of parts all together. 10% doesn't sound like a lot, but for what I am ready to order it would be a $72 discount. I would not handle ordering or money, I would just need to know that we will have at least 5 orders or so for each part included in the group buy, arrange it with Smoothline, then everyone would call and order and arrange payment themselves. Lead time was quoted as around 8 weeks, as these are laid up to order. A small deposit may be required, with the balance due when the parts go into production, probably 6 weeks out. Anybody interested ?

If you go this route (any media blasting) either do it with a shop that does cars often, or in conjunction with a body shop, and have the car shot in a bare metal and rustproofing primer immediately. Bare metal will start rusting again immediately in any humidity, and it's a real pain to D/A back off, trust me.

Yep, to get the full benefit of flares you have to trim the fender.....

Thanks, but AZ Z Car has been in and out of fiberglass for years, and they have never wanted to ship it. No 'glass is listed on their web page any longer that I see, although it has been updated with a lot of new stuff.... Zcars.com seems to be a search / trap now, but it sounds familiar, who is that supposed to be ?

Thanks ! Smoothline is the one I was just searching the web for but couldn't remember, funny they don't show up in any searches, I even remembered the Corvette hardtops....

I know this has been discussed before, but I can't find it, either it is gone or my search skills leave something to be desired. Who makes stock replacement bolt on fiberglass front fenders for S30's that are of known good quality ? I know about the ZTrix options, and I know John's stuff to be of high quality, but they aren't what I have in mind. I'm looking for a completely stock looking fender that bolts on as stock, and is known to be a high quality layup. I see that Showcars shows them, but I have heard so many complaints about their service that I am afraid to try, how is their quality after you actually get the part ? Thanks for any input.... Jason

Plasma cutters are great in general, but not so great for cutting through the multi-stamping and space combinations you need to cut through, a-pillars and rocker panels for example. As far as getting the drivetrain out without a lift, I would do this before curring the body off the drivetrain (and I've kind of done both). I don't know exactly how space / tools limited etc. you are, but that was what drove me back in the day, no room or tools to do it right. Set something under the engine and tranny, if I remember correctly, I used a pallet under the engine crossmember and an old tire under the tranny. Unplug all the wiring, remove intake pipe, coolant hoses, etc. like you were puilling the engine normally. Place a jack or some other support under the crossmembers, unbolt the upper strut mounts and the 4 engine / suspension crossmember bolts. Remove the 2 tranny crosmember bolts, drop the support and the entire engine / tranny / fromt suspension should drop. Unhook the driveshaft and lift the front of the car up (you may need help here) and push it back over the droppend engine and tranny. Drivetrain stays where it was, and you have the rest of the car semi-portable, and all the componente out of the way if you want to start cutting it up for scrap. Just what worked for me once....

Not exactly my cup of tea, but VERY nice work !

Interesting ! There are a few different styles of the Caddy lights, but I agree they look bigger than what you have in the pic. This is a friends truck, you can see thay pretty much fill the height of a Ranger bed corner.......

I like the idea, just not exactly the style. BTW, "WE ARE ADDING MORE ONTO THE CONSOLE PORTION RIGHT NOW AND WILL HAVE A NEW MOLD SHORTLY. I'LL BE POSTING MORE ON THIS PAGE IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO." has been like that for more than a year, so you might want to call and see what the status is before you get settled on that one. VintageTechZ on here is talking about an original style in carbon fiber that really has my attention right now.....

I am doing it, but have a tube framed car. I tried to fit it before the decision was made to go full tube, but the front upper link mounting ear wanted to be in the same spot as the major reinforcement dogleg of the frame rail, an already weak spot I was concerned about cutting out. So since the rest of the car was tube, it just made sense to go ahead and do the back. The person who did it and reinforced the stock unibody was doing John Washingtons Velo Rossa, not a Cobra, I think I have his contact info and a few pics somewhere.....