Guest Anonymous Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 After 3 days and 23000 miles, I am now an owner of a Alpha GTO kit!...WoW what a trip! don't want to do that again for awhile....I have not looked for all the pieces but appears to be complete...I did find that 1 mirror is missing. Have not had time to unpack everything yet. Any words of advise before I start on it would be appreciated. Anything I should be aware of before starting? Look forward to your guys expertise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 Damn. That must be one fast tow vehicle you have there to do 23,000 miles in only 3 days. Matter of fact, that is not a bad average for a Cessna! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Zone Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 And to think I didn't jump on that deal because it was only 1200 miles from me! Zvette must have a bit more determination than I do.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Oppps...sorry 2,300 miles.... I did have a pretty fast tow vehicle....but not that fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 I liked the 23,000 mile trip in 3 days better (real hard core determination for a renagade Hybrider).. I would concentrate on lowering the car correctly if not done and finding 15 inch wheels to fit it. Deep dish wheels are kind of hard to find these days in 4x4.5. I have these 8X15 Daytons wire wheels that have these knock off adapters in 4x4.5. (These Dayton adapters show up on E Bay and can be re-drilled and the correct Daytons do show up on E Bay) I would have preferred 10 inch wide wheels in the rear than the deep dish 8 inchers with about 2 inch backspace. You may want to go 5 lug by 4.5 bolt circle. Nate originally put coil overs on his Vello Ross but later went to 2 inch sectioned struts with the coilovers to get low enough. Take some pictures and post them of the push button door pulls so TomoHawk in Ohio can begin sleeping nites. (LOL) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatbum Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 TeeZee - Heck - I don't know about TomoHawk but I am just about ready to fly to NC just to see those ^%$#@ door latches so I can sleep better ZVette - welcome to the GTO world and maybe you can post some pics of those hood hinges so TeeZee can start getting some work done instead of spending all his time aligning the hood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Okay......I will take pic,s of the door pull hardware and the hood hinges this weekend...i did see some of the door pull parts but did not see the hood hinges but have not had time to go thru everything yet.would not want to be responsible for anyone to lose any sleep... I have already purchased wheels and tires some years back when I orginally started this with the intent of doing the vello rosa....but they are not true spoke rims (15x8) ...but have a couple of leads on some. I sectioned the front struts as described in the vello rosa manual (1 1/2)..but wondering about springs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedRacer Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 zvette - Congrats on getting the car! I don't think you are going to be very impressed with the hood hinges. They are just a piece of box iron that bolts on to the body where the original hinges fastened. There is a flange welded on and a hole drilled through the flange. Looks like an h with the bottom part closed. The hood also has a fiberglass flange (with a hole in it) sticking down. A bolt goes through the holes in both to form the pivot point. Very crude. BTW, I have a drawing of the original hood hinges. Also, I did not use the hood hinges for my car and have an extra set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Same to you, Bud! I sleep fine at night, thank you. I'm not really worrying about the door handles either. I would like to put them on because it would clean up the door and eliminate some expensive rubber weatherstripping. Looks better too. Right now, after I put on my (New Steering Wheel!) on, I'm going to put this thing away for winter, so I'm about done with stuff for the year. Maybe one or two more small things, like fuel hoses. Otherwise the car is driveable & safe, finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedRacer Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Guys - these door pull adapters are not rocket science. There is the piece (part "A") with two holes in it so you can bolt it to the inside of the door using the two existing holes on the door skin. On the end of part "A" a short piece of 1" OD tubing is welded on and acts as a holder for the Honda push button assembly. The button assembly slides into this holder and a modified Datsun spring clip holds it in place. (BTW, I notched my part "B" so the button assembly could not rotate). Welded on the back of the 1" OD holder is part "D" which holds the bell crank. Parts "B" and "C" are mounted at 90 degrees on a shaft that goes through part "D". When you push in on the Honda button the plunger out the back pushes against part "B" causing it to rotate. This rotates part "C" downward, which moves the original Datsun linkage downward and opens the door. BTW, the linkage in the door that comes up off the locking mechanism has a threaded nylon piece on it so it's got some adjustment range. This means that dimensions don't have to be perfect. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatbum Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Thanks Speedracer! You just solved my headache! I just could not "see" how the parts in the diagram came together. Thanks! Teo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Z Vette .. I will still need the push button photos ....hmmm I have the diagram and instructions now, but will need the photos to explain to TomohHawk.(LOL)He talked me into this and now I can't sleep or quit worrying about having to crawl in and out of the rear hatch every time I use the car. As for springs: was your section done for 10 inch coiovers. Ross C has an excellant "washer spring perch".. Stock Car Products has a free catalog (1-800-262-8099) and lists 5 inch threaded tubes for $15.30 (need to be bored out for 280 Z),coilover nuts for $12.65 Afco racing (1-812-897-0900) has a wide range of springs but pricey.Contact Jegs or Summitt directly for unlisted coilover springs. I picked up my 10 inch carrera 165/180 #s) off EBay. and my sleeves and nuts are used Bilstein with bored out sleeves to fit over the 280 strut housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Will you quit that already! Winter is coming, so put away your car and work on winter stuff for a while. I'm not in a hurry to figure out the door handles, but I might get to it for an hour on Saturday. New steering wheel looks nice. It's a Grant classic #201. Horn works too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 I am not ready to get out the snow shovel.We are at the beginning of intense global warning that will bring the Vello Rossa back into production. Get out the sawzall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 Okay Tomahawk, what exactly do you need a pic of?..the latch, the rods?...remember that nothing is put together so I am not sure exactly all the parts required and the manual says nothing about them.And everything is just thrown together in a box. Come to think of it the manual itself is very incomplete and not very well done. I have not had time yet to go thru things as work gets in the way, but will do so this weekend and take pics. Does anyone know of any good tips on installing the front clip? getting aligned without taking it off and on too many times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatbum Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 TeeZee, You are making my head hurt with your little nagging of TH LMAO. Seriously - I am glad to see a little humor on this board so I smile instead of thinking of all the work I have to do when I want to be working on the car. Let's hope we get a little global warming and John gets the VR back and we can throw some of this cold your way. It has been snowing in MN and while I need the snow (so that I am motivated to work) - I also need some clear weather so I can get the summer cars and my boats into storage. Then I can move the VR into the shop for some serious progress! Zvette - the pics I think we want are of the honda latches with the metal tabs connected so we can see how the horizontal movement becomes verticle to throw the push rod. I got a good idea from speedracer but I think TeeZee still has hood hinge alignment on his brain because someone should have gotten a VR front end instead of a MacBurnie - Just teasing - don't flame me too bad here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 Actually Tom's push button door pull question brought into focus of "how (?) was I going to lock this GTO". Now I am considering putting the Honda push buttons on the Tomahawk kit too.. As for aligning the body kit ...put all the parts on and check the loose fit first to find the initial problems. Re-set the fiberglass parts to the donar car. I have began by bonding the doors first and then aligning the front and rear clips to the doors. We shimmed the top steel door hinges out with 2 washers to fit them to the warped Mc Burnie front fenders.I have an old Kit car magazine photo display on mounting the Alpha body plus my Blue Ray manual in addition to Nate's Vello Rossa manual.. I have also found that even my stright Tomahawk body needs to be on the Donar car to prevent it from taking a warped set to the fiber glass. I use welding vice grips to hold it in place to the car.. Store the front clip standing on its its nose and the rear clip on its butt.Also Check out my post in the "cable car" thread about fitting the GTO front on the Tomahawk donar car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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