chelle Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Hiya, THought I'd post over here to share some of the stuff we're doing to our old Alpha1 GTO.. We added a few inches to the wheelbase to make it more correct.. and changed a ton of stuff.. oh, and added a BMW v12 also if anyone is looking for odds and ends in Chicago area for these cars we are getting rid of a lot of used stuff we replaced .. engine, interior, dash, undamaged alpha1 nose etc.. Chelle Here's last year before we took it apart: Here's some pics showing our progress so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maichor Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 WOW! Nothing like basically staring over. That car is going to be killer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest run_n_fool Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I'm in the Chicago area and always interested in the local quality shops. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted April 21, 2005 Author Share Posted April 21, 2005 I'm in the Chicago area and always interested in the local quality shops. Thanks um, I'm doing it all except the paint - gonna pay a pro for that. I painted the Lambo - but I never want to do paint again.. eyelashes were blue for like 2 weeks an thanx Maichor.. I have some stuff posted about the engine swap over in the "other engines" section http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=97350 Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Wow! That'll be a rocket when its finished! Quality work! Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Nice car, never knew there was another alpha 1 in the area. My dad has a 76' 280z GTO. Bought it as is in poor shape, plan to do the same level of restoration to it as I gave my 76". Btw is the car right hand drive? Looks verycool none the less. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted April 22, 2005 Author Share Posted April 22, 2005 Nice car, never knew there was another alpha 1 in the area. My dad has a 76' 280z GTO. Bought it as is in poor shape, plan to do the same level of restoration to it as I gave my 76". Btw is the car right hand drive? Looks very cool none the less. Keep up the good work. thanx John, i wasn't RHD.. but we switched it to be different than all the other 250GTO's out there.. there are a couple of them in the chicago area ... white one in this pic is a girlfriend of mine's who lives close by....what does your car need? We have a ton of parts.. we're getting rid of - we were gonna ebay them but if people close by wanted to look throught the stuff first that would work. We have a 77 engine, a 4 speed, complete 5-speed changeover, Fairlady gauges (a 240kph speedo that is a direct swap for the USA speedo), the undamaged Alpha1 nose.. etc.. Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 The Gto we have needs extensive chassis work, as the previous owner let the car sit and rot away, however the bodypanels and interior are excelllent yet. Nice cares btw, cant say Ive seen a white one before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewievette Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Your car looks great! I hope mine turns out half as good! Could you elaborate on your extended wheelbase modification? My ZX is about six inches shorter than the 575 GTC that I'm trying to replicate. I had briefly thought about extending it but now that I think about it I dont really see why I shouldn't. I'd appreciate any info you can provide, how much you added, where you added it, difficulty, how you did it, etc... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank280zx Posted April 24, 2005 Share Posted April 24, 2005 Cool i have seen that white one in chicago in 2002 is that possible i was driving my zxt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted April 25, 2005 Author Share Posted April 25, 2005 Chewie, the frame stretch was not too hard. biggest issue to me was properly reinforcing the whole area after the stretch. It's all just sheetmetal, there is amazingly little to the whole thing. We pulled everything off the front about 2" forward of the firewall, then took the plasma cutter (though a sawzall will do if you go easy) then cut off the front, and fabricated a bunch of pieces of 16 gauge sheetmetal and welded them in a piece at a time. That's the summary of it - but just stretching the unibody was only part of it. All brake lines had to be redone, the steering shaft from column to the rack had to be lengthened. Tonight when I get home I'll post some pics of the welded in sections, and maybe make a sorta blueprint of how the pieces went together. Granted your ZX is going to be somewhat different, but maybe this will show ya enough to get started. Our car is home form the shop now. I'm not allowed to do body filler and fiberglass there so it had to come home for that phase. The engine is back in it for good though So this week I'm going to be doing fiberglass at home, then in another week or two it will get painted.. then it's back home for all the wiring and to fabricate the interior Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted April 25, 2005 Author Share Posted April 25, 2005 well the engine is in it's final position .. Next comes bodywork, paint, and then wiring/interior There's a ton of room in there in front of the engine Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinhZXT Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 Wow this makes me feel like I should get started on my Cobra Daytona Kit ASAP. Any chance you can post some photos of the rear end of the car? Can you send me photos of the alpha1 dash? My email address is anh3pa@hotmail.com . BTW very nice idea with the vent on the 1/4 glass. I love it. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alpha 1 Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Chelle I sent you an email about your parts. I am very interested in obtaining them. Please email me for a way to contact. thank you Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Here comes trouble Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Gee! Chelle!.... Back in 2002, your first posts concerned a fuel/line/pump delivery problem. Apparently that problem was solved. I am impressed with your latest resolve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Brio Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 Hey Chelle, I sent you an e-mail regarding your front clip. Did you receive it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carolina Z Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 Chelle...I certain it would be a marvelous addition to the pic of the car. I think we can all look at the car , then look at you then back to the car etc...A bikini shot always enhances a car photo... P.S. who manufactured the rims, nice looking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 I was a Windy City Z Club member about 7 years ago. My memory is a bit hazy, but there was a guy in the Shy-town area named Tony who had a nice v8 GTO Z. Maybe he's a member of this board? Anyways, I beleive he had most of the work done at a Chicagoland Z-cars, which I don't even now if it's around anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alpha 1 Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 I just wanted to post about how great my experience was with dealing with Chelle. I purchased the front clip from her and she was teriffic in answering my questions and help with arranging shipment. It is soo great to be involved in a community of people that really are interested in helping others succeced with thier projects. Thank you again Chelle for everything and hope to visit someday to see your Alpha's tom:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted May 13, 2005 Author Share Posted May 13, 2005 VinhZXT- I don't have any pics of an original Alpha1 dash, I had the original z dash till this most recent mod. and Tanx and you're welcome on the 1/4 vents it wasn't too bad of a mod to do Here comes trouble- thank you ... when I first joined here z car EFI systems were a total mystery to me.... I'm glad the stock EFI is gone Con Brio - and all the others who I haven't gotten to reply about the nose, Tom was pretty much the first guy to contact me and paid super fast.. thank you all for your interest - I do have quite a few other parts left but nothing else from the body for sale. I still have a buncha stuff from the fairlady I parted out too, including the metric gauges.. anyone want to put a speedometer in their car that is factory datsun but reads to like 220 or 240? Carolina z lol... hmm, summers coming... maybe when the car's done me and roomie will consider a photoshoot like that - depends on how much weight I work off working on the car The wheels are Dayton's Preith - I don't know any local Z people here in chicagoland .. sorry Thank you Tom you have been a pleasure to deal with too! You are welcome to come see the cars anytime Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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