rayaapp2 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 A HUGE thanks to John at Reaction Research for the 280YZ kit and all the work on the custom front air dam. Those 17x8.5 front wheels are way to narrow! They are about 4" inset from the edge of the fender. I have some wheel arch trimming to do on the rear fenders as well. I wasnt sure about that front dam, but now that Ive seen it I have taken a liking to it. So does anyone have an idea how I am going to attach these to the car? The fronts are fairly straight forward. There will be some fabrication involved up front for mounting near the head light buckets still, but the back is going to be the real fun part. For the rears I think I will start by cutting the fender along the same axis as top arch of the inner fender well. That way I can extend the inner fender well out past the current fender and butt it up against the new fenders. That way I can have a real inner fender/semi rock guard. I think I should go ahead and mold the rear fenders into the cars body. That would be the easiest way of doing this. However I like the idea of removable rear fenders. If something happens and I have to replace a fender or if i need to work on the suspension it would be best to be able to remove the old fender. I wouldnt know where to start with that kind of setup either though. I know that some track cars have special clips to retain their panels and that there is another kind of clip used to hold the panels in place while there being fitted to the car. Im sure there are other things out there as well. Ive only seen the two examples though. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlalomz Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Here's the Ztrix how-to. http://www.reactionresearch.com/fenderinstall.pdf Google "dzus fasteners" if you want to go the race car approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zman0690 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Let me know your approach. I posted earlier this year wanting to see what others had done and how their results had held up over the years and got a few bites but not nearly what I was looking for. I was really hoping more people would have posted close up pictures of their results, their fastening technique and how long since they were attached. I still think this is something the future Z community would really benefit from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaapp2 Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Currently Im thinking about bonding them in the rear. Id like to re-enforce them underneath somehow. Maybe a caulk or something near the attachment point. A full inner liner made of sheet metal that extends out to the new fender Im sure would do the trick. Ill probably bond it inside in the same manor as the outside mating surface+caulk. I know there are automotive caulks out there. I will just have to find one that will fill my need. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 (edited) <p>I had my body/paint guy (Stuart) weld on a lip to meet up with the 1.5" gap the rear subtle z panels provide. While rapping my knuckle from the c pillar down to the wheel lip, it sounds like continuous solid metal. We used a 3m adhesive to bond the rears. I need to update my build thread (nelsonian 240z) with new pics. We did the fronts where they come close to the door crease also, but bonded the metal strip to the inner fr fender. Stuart also filled in the inner wheel housing with metal to the adjoining rear fg panels to fill the new void. With the addition of the newly welded on lip, the panel becomes very sturdy.</p> Edited December 18, 2012 by Nelsonian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kid Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Rayapp, what is the name/model of the air dam you got? That is a style I am looking for. That car will get tickets just sitting still once you get those mounted. Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Ray, When we did my subtle z rears we used the stuff that corvette uses to bond all there body parts to the frame. Worked really well. We dry fit them to where we wanted them then used the 3m stuff and screws to fasten the 1/4s to the body. Then we Filled in all the gaps (body and fiberglass fenders) with the bonding material. it was something from 3m. I will shoot my buddy an email to get a part number or something if you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The 3M adhesive that we used was 3M 08116 panel adhesive and the manual gun purchased at TCP Global. We ended up using Stuart's pneumatic gun as the adhesive is very thick and he had a pneumatic gun. In similar fashion to Stony, we also used small screws to fasten the rears well to the body. These will be removed and the holes filled in as we progress. The adhesive along with the previously mentioned added metal lips and metal brackets have provided a very strong and well fastened rear panel that sounds like a continuous metal piece as you knock on it from the top down. I have unfortunately had some minor fitment issues, (mostly on the front fenders), but I chock it up to a) the fiberglass material and my car suffered from a nice wreck at one time by the po. I could not be happier with John's help and customer service, as he has gone above and beyond with helping me out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaapp2 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Rayapp, what is the name/model of the air dam you got? That is a style I am looking for. That car will get tickets just sitting still once you get those mounted. Nice! Reaction Research made the air dam. Its the first one available. John custom made the mold after I spoke to him about having something different than the original 280YZ air dam. Im going to try and make a mold for one more on my own as well for a 3rd type. Thats why I bought the xenon 3124 as Im going for the Bill Coffee look. Ray, When we did my subtle z rears we used the stuff that corvette uses to bond all there body parts to the frame. Worked really well. We dry fit them to where we wanted them then used the 3m stuff and screws to fasten the 1/4s to the body. Then we Filled in all the gaps (body and fiberglass fenders) with the bonding material. it was something from 3m. I will shoot my buddy an email to get a part number or something if you want it. let me know what you find on that adhesive Clint! Which car had those fenders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Z Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Any progress on this? Im looking to get one of these kits too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 What did you use for that 3rd brake light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaapp2 Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 300zx Z31 third brake. Panel trimmed a bit to fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaapp2 Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Clint did you use the same 3M 08116 panel adhesive? Just curious. Im getting very close to that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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