Chewievette

I dont know if it is or not, but most likely the only place your going to find leaded gas is at the airport ...and they probably wont sell to you. FWIW.

I'd like to know also! I love the power steering but since I'm dropping a 12cyl in there I'm going to need all the room I can get! Thanks.

I'm pretty sure he's talking about the steering boxes, the zx's power steering wont fit. There were zx's made without power steering so if you can find one of those , just swap all the parts over, but if you run into fit problems with that your going to have to get inventive.

Forgive me for being ignant about this but suddenly got curious... whould there be any advantage to buying the motor and trans and swapping the whole assembly in? basically, convert the z to run diesel? I know there's a bunch of other fiddly little details you would have to consider, but i'm just thinking out loud here.

Before my heart got set on making this ferrari lookalike, I wanted to build something like this: It still looks like a Datsun, but better. It would have been a Much quicker build than what I'm going to do. oh well, why is it that I always gravitate twards harder projects?

I second that motion! Just let us know what you want to do and we will give you all the advice we've got! It just takes some knowledge and a bit of practice.

Or if your a Corvette fan, it's commonly refered to as a "coke bottle" or If you want you could refer it as a very pretty woman ...think about it. Dont worry blueovalz... I know what a B-58 is! of course I'm also an A&P but is that REALLY considered cheating? The Northrop F-5 series was also designed using this principal, just a little FYI.

Probably not exactly what your looking for, but this is the best site that I've found for this kind of thing. I hope you find what your looking for, if not I'm sure the knowledge base of this website will help you get it done! http://www.gmecca.com/byorc/index.html

and what would be the reason for doing this? I dont understand how this would help me.

Here's those pics I promised... This is the side by side comparison of the 575 GTC and the 280zx, the 575 was drawn at the 575M's stock ride height, and I just noticed that the front end should be a little bit longer, like 2-3inches. I guess that's what I get for quickly sketching this out! This is the drawing I made of the Ferrari's body grafted onto the 280zx, its not perfect but I think it accurately represents the real car. I dont know how much 'playing' I'm going to do to the windshield/roof yet so I left it basically stock. and this is a tracing of the previous drawing layed over top of a stock 280zx, for comparison. It didn't turn out so well so please forgive. and in case you missed it before, I Dont have access to a working scanner so these are pictures of my drawings! Hence the crappy quality. Sorry.

blueovalz - What Backspacing did you end up with on your rims? are all four identical? Thanks.

Drawing is almost done, I should have it up in a little bit. but in the mean time, here's some specs for you... 280ZX: Length: 170.87in Width: 66.53in Height: 50.79in Wheelbase: 91.34in Front Track: 54.53in Rear Track: 54.53in Weight: 2680lbs 575 GTC: Length: 180.7in Width: 80.1in Height: 46.1in Wheelbase: 99.2in Front Track: 65.2in Rear Track: 64in Weight: 2425lbs Which means the Datsun is, 9.53in shorter in length 13.57in narrower in width 4.69in taller 7.86in shorter in wheelbase 10.67in narrower in f track 9.47in narrower in r track and it weighs 255lbs more. so Basically all this means is that I've got a pretty sizable fudge factor to deal with. I'll also post the drawing I made of what the body kit will look like on the car. It will be far from perfect, but I'm going to do everything I can to get it there.

tannji - Thanks for the tip, I'll have to look into that! blueovalz - nevermind about the wheel sizes, I just noticed that you have them posted in your album. btw: I LOVE that roadster photochop you did!! Thanks.

That's Very true, in fact most of my drawings are done that way... I'll have to think about that. It would certainly shorten up this project a bit! So what all did you do to get it that wide? Wheel Spacers? what are the specs on your wheels and tires? I think the width that your running will work nicely for me.

I'll do a drawing for you guys that shows the two cars from the side and how similar they are. It is true that the roof line, especially near the windshield is a bit off, but they are similar enough that I can live with the 'fudge factor'. I dont mean to offend any one here but, I'm doing my body to look like the ferrari, and I thought I'd offer to pop a few more while I'm at it. The DB's are nice and all but thats not what I'm going to do. Just by doing some mental math and figuring a fudge factor, You'd probably be looking at $4000-5000 for the whole kit. Which is what I'm aiming for, If I sell these I want it to be comparable to the 250GTO kits. The most challenging part of the install will be the rear quarter windows, I'm not sure yet exactly how I want to address the issue yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to let you know. CZCAR - I'll post all the comparison specs for you in a little bit, I dont have them on hand right now. and Yes, I do realize that my car has a Loooooong ways to go. but I wanted a project car, and I gots me a project! Now I just need to get a place that I can work on this ...well a better place anyways. I just have to finish up that drawing and post that up for you guys.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=99733 Ever since this Crazy Body Transformation was posted I've been rather ...Inspired! I've worked with composites, esp fiberglass, in the past and I'm confident that I could pull something like this off. but I dont want an F50, I want something a little newer! So I've decided to make a body kit for my car, when I'm done it will strongly resemble the 2004 Ferrari 575 GTC as seen below... I know I can do the body, in fact that will be one of the easier parts of my project, time consuming for sure, but still not all that complex. I'm a bit curious if there would be any interest in this kit? It will be made to fit the 280zx, because that's what I've got(sorry 1st Gen'ers). If I go to the effort and expense of creating this kit, I might as well make a few extras. Probably around a dozen. The kit would include: -Front Bumper -Front Fenders, with integrated headlight pods -Clear Lexan Headlight Covers -Hood, with openable louvers and intake -Rocker panels, optional side exhaust heat shields -Door Skins -Rear Quarter Panels -Lexan Rear Quarter Windows -Rear Hatch, with rear window -Tail Light Panel -Rear Bumper -Rear Wing, uprights, adjusters, and four piece wing, all Carbon Fiber -Pre Cut Rear Diffuser, water jetted Steel -Potential other parts include, Mirror Housings, Roof Scoop, and Scoop/Intake backing plates (most notably on the rear) -You would also need a Fuel Filler tube extension, headlights, and tail lights; which I might be able to provide, depending on availability. Like I said, I dont know if I'll be doing the kit, but I will be making at least one. Do you guys think I could scrounge up enough interest to sell a few? Unfortunately for the buyer there's a huge drawback to this kit, the front and rear tracks. You should be able to use a combination of spacers, wide tires and rims with a different offset to fill up the fenders, however I personally dont like the "deep dish" look so I will be extensively modifying my suspension to use more 'correct' wheels. The kit wont be made until I finish the suspension install on my car, so I suspect it will be 1-2years before I'm ready to ship anything. Comments, Questions, and Criticisms Welcome as Always. Thanks. More, Bigger Pictures: http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/chewievette/Cars/

I know it sounds like a dumb question and I feel funny asking it because someone's probably going to chew me a new one but since I dont know, I'm asking! I finally decided on what look I want to go with on my body work and I'm going to make a replica of the 2004 Ferrari 575M GTC(see signature). I know I can do the body, that's the easy part, but in order for the car to look anything like the Ferrari it needs to be substantially wider, 6-10 inches wider. I can probably get pretty close to that by upgrading to larger tires and a smaller offset on the rims, but then I'll have the "deep dish" look... Nothing like a ferrari. So basically I need to find a way to push the hubs out further. Since I havn't a clue how to do that to the stock suspension, I was thinking about swapping in C4 suspension front and rear, I like this idea because it will get me in the range where it'll look good, I dont have to mess with suspension geometry(much) and the independant suspension is MUCH more forgiving to wide tires. So far that sounds like the "simplest" solution. As a bonus I'll also get five bolt lug pattern. The C4 suspension sounds like the best, acctually it sounds like the Only way that I can do it. but I just wanted to run this by you guys, who have infinately more experience with these cars than I do. I'd really like to hear any ideas that you have. Is there any way to do this without replacing the entire suspension? In case your wondering, I decided that I should get the suspension done first so I can build the body to look good around that. Then when I get the V12 installed, it'll even sound like a Ferrari! I still havn't decided on whether I want to put the v12 in when I'm doing the suspension or after I get the suspension and body work done, I'm leaning twards during, purely because when the body is done, the car is done. edit: Has anyone seen C4 suspension installed on a 280ZX before?

I doubt you'd see any noticeable boost, that is unless you were doing over 100mph! If anything I'd suspect somewhere areound 2-3hp gain. Just remember that Ram Air cant be measured on a Dyno.

Yeah! it's one of those rare F52 Ferrari's that you've never seen before!! That's why it looks funny! yeah... that sounds good.... right!

Now you know what goes into making a body kit like the 250GTO kits. The only difference being the fiberglass would be used as a mold instead of the acctual body panels. This is basically what I want to do with my car, so thanks for the reference pics!

Well, I havn't made too much progress lately. I located another source for the engine but I havn't been able to get it yet. I've been dealing with a ton of other issues around here including a couple of things on my daily driver acting up. Not to mention its Verrrrry cold right now and I dont have a heated work area, so its difficult to get motivated enough to brave the cold. hopefully I can get a bit further on this project when it warms up.

Its in the road signature series, racing and non, all 1/18th scale.

I'm stuck on 4, I'm I supposed to be seeing more than a white square? Maybe I'm just blind...