flame the newbie alert! GTO replicas???

[smash]

Hi guys,

 

Firstly let me say i've been cuising through the forum and galleries and there are some truly great looking cars on here. congrats. I had a 240Z back in '93/94 and tbh I'd forgotten just what superb looking cars they are in their own right. Being in the UK, most Z's are suffering from the very damp climate and mine was certainly no different - oh man the tailgate!

 

Anyway (prime your flame throwers!) I'm currently considering what to get when I move my shelby cobra rep on in July - somehow a 'Rari GTO replica makes sense what with the cobra/ferrari wars and all!

 

My problem is there was only ever one kit available in the UK that i suppose was probably splashed from an Alpha - I've seen only a handful about at shows over here but most leave much to be desired.

 

I found the scorpianz site and that conversion looks awesome - I like the vela rosso too but want fixed head. So too business then...

 

I'd love to know what realistic time scale and cost is involved with one of these. For me not only would I have to get the kit shipped over the pond but also the donor Z if I want to get anything rust free - plus the fact you guys are really way ahead on Z tuning and V8 hybridz (which I don't think actually exist over here). I was originally thinking I'd like a V8 having had the cob with all that low down grunt, but I'm coming round to a straight 6 turbo - it might actually be in with a shot of sounding something like the original unlike the V8!

 

What should I expect to pay for a solid Z turbo ready to rap....I mean sympatheically convert?

 

Does anyone do turnkey on these conversions anymore?

 

Sorry for the lame questions but I'm a long way away over here

 

Ok, hit the burn button!

[y-not]

Kit $4K, Donor $1-$3K, 200 hours body work. Misc BS $3K.

If you go whole hog, Wire wheels with knock-offs $2.5K, 425 HP 302 $5K Tremec TKOII trans and clutch $2K, etc. I can sell you mine for $25K.

Bill

[Dan Juday]

And it comes with a new fuel pump!

[BlackBeaut]

Have you been to http://www.zclub.net yet? Not only are there V8s in the UK there are gto replicas in production. Speak to Moggy who is making one now and also has a set of panels for sale. There are also folks who can help out with importing a rust free Zed.

 

Cheers,

Rob

[smash]

Bill - been pricing container and import tax and duty and that certainly looks 'do-able' I reckon that's about £17K door to door

 

Searched the forum but can't find any pics of your car apart from the engine bay - my cob is Ford Windsor so that's great. Is it a hatch or trunk style rear end? Would appreciate any pics you might be able to post so I can get an idea of what $25K gets me - as I say I'll be looking around end of July with any luck. The cob has to get me to Le Mans Classic and back then it's up for sale.

 

Rob - Cheers for the link, had a nose and will post on there separately. Saw moggys panels and notice it's the boot conversion a la scorpian. In all honesty I'd still rather get a car stateside for the same reason the splitscreen dub heads do - 30 years of soggy europe c/w 30 years california sunshine - well you know the deal.

 

Scott

[SpeedRacer]

Hey smash - It was a lot of work but I think you can make an Alpha 1 GTO look pretty good.

 

 

 

I suggest you contact Tom Edwards at Scorpion Z Cars as he probably has the best kit going since he is the only one to offer a trunk option. http://www.scorpionzcars.com/ Sometimes Tom even has a turn-key car ready to sell.

 

You can also try Jeff at Stable Autoworks http://www.zcarkits.com/

 

BTW, all of these are descendants of the original Eagle/Alpha kit with modifications and tweaks over time.

[smash]

Yeah - that looks 'pretty good' LOL! Very, very nice!

 

Any thoughts on using 2+2 to get the longer wheelbase? Noticed some talk about it on the UK forum although I would've thought the door would end up looking too long as a trade off against the different roofline maybe?

[BlackBeaut]

I'd ignore Sean's obsession with wheelbase if I were you The 240Z wheel base is closer to the GTO even if it is a little shorter. Plus the panels would not fit without major mods to the backside of the 2+2. Or you could check out Chelle's posts, she actually lengthened her 240Z to get the correct wheelbase. Hell of a lot of work but awesome result!

 

Cheers,

Rob

[chelle]

Kit $4K' date=' Donor $1-$3K, 200 hours body work. Misc BS $3K.

If you go whole hog, Wire wheels with knock-offs $2.5K, 425 HP 302 $5K Tremec TKOII trans and clutch $2K, etc. I can sell you mine for $25K.

Bill[/quote']

 

If you go insane, for V12 add another $20,000+

[smash]

Hee-hee! My cheque book doesn't do 'insane' - he's got his little head well screwed on!

 

V12 sounds awesome (in all ways!) - scary stretching the frame though, very brave (or completely nuts!!)

 

Speedracer - had a look over your car domain page - that's totally stunning!! (best looking chevy iI've ever seen ). Re: bodies I s'pose it's very much like the cobra family tree - in the UK pretty much all derivations can be tracked back to ground zero which was the import of a Steve Arntz body. Stands to reason that the ZGTO's lineage would start from one point also.

 

Bill I found a couple of pics of your car elsewhere but a bit blurry - would be interested if you could send me some pics and a spec.

 

Rob - advice taken How many do you reckon are actually on the road in the UK? more to the point with anything other than stock 240 lumps?

[chelle]

Thanx Rob

Some reason this site seems to have been removed from the filters at the base. I hadn't been able to log in here from the office for such a long time. Till they notice and block it again maybe I'll be able to post a bit..

 

Smash - yes, we are kinda insane, but it's a fun ride and worth the sacrifice. Doing all our own work we probably have $70k or so in ours.

We redid the dash in ours and lately have just been tinkering with detail stuff like the door latches, a new radiator, and modifying the injection system..

 

I'll post some new pics sometime soon

Chelle

[BlackBeaut]

Rob - advice taken How many do you reckon are actually on the road in the UK? more to the point with anything other than stock 240 lumps?

Blimey, I really haven't a clue! Given how few Zeds there are in the UK anyway, I suspect you wouldn't need to borrow another hand to help count the GTO reps. I also doubt that any will have anything other than stock/2.8 engines in, naturally I can't guarantee that statement but it just seems unlikely to me.

 

Chelle, I look forward to seeing the new pics and feeling even more inadequate

 

Cheers,

Rob

[y-not]

Try this link for pictures of my GTO.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/multicarnut/my_photos

Bill

[chelle]

Smash,

as far as using a 2+2 to have the wheelbase right that is NOT the solution. The extra length is in the wrong place. It is in the doors/roof and instead needs to be longer between the firewall and the front wheels. If I was doing this again I would even have shortened the cab 2-3" and added that much more to the front framerails

Who knows, I might do this again - but likely when I decide to make another car it's going to be something different - Haley loves the Vector, so maybe that or - just to annoy FNA, maybe an Enzo lol

 

SpeedRacer and Bill and the rest here have some wonderful cars and are an invaluable treasure trove of knowlege. Keep asking questions, it's a lot cheaper than the alternative

Chelle

[smash]

OK, so the plan that is forming in my head so far - I'm impatient (terrible trait that has got me in trouble at least more than once previously with cars) so I will be looking to buy pre built (Bill not making any plans yet but if the cob goes OK then I may be flying out to see you;) ).

 

I've been studying every GTO pic I can find - the real and the replica and have come to the conclusion that there are two major identifiers to the Z based. The hatchback and the apparant 'stockiness' of the Z compared to the longer looking and more lithe inspiration.

 

I don't actually think it's so much the wheelbase as the extra depth of the Z body - from messing in photoshop two things really seem to help, getting the car to sit as low as possible, I think speedracers is as low as I've seen although I'm wondering if it's possible to get it to sit lower? On the real article the bottom of the body appears to line up about 3/4 the depth of the wire wheels - is it me or do the replicas seem to sit about half way or higher?

 

The other, and this really is pandering to optical illusion (and I'd be interested on any thoughts on this), would be a tight graduated shading sprayed to the bottom 1 or 2 inches of the body as it curves under to make the whole car appear 'thinner' and gain an additional bonus of illusion of length to the body. For this to work to maximum advantage the car would really have to sit very low.

 

Stupid idea? Probably - sounds like me! I'll mock something up in photoshop to see if I can demonstrate what I mean (black cars are excluded obviously *ahem*)

 

EDIT***

 

OK, scratch that idea - can't find a decent side view of a replica! Stupid idea anyway, and after even more scrutiny it seems the cabin is shorter on the real thing and it has one hell of a tall upright windscreen. The front wheels are really tucked up in the arches on the real one......hmmm, I think I should just buy one and not worry, lol!

 

BTW Has anyone ever put a set of knock off Halibrands on one of these?

[smash]

Attempt at comparison before and after lowering and addition of black vinyl body stripe following first part of front arch to change shape. And I wondered what those Halibrands would look like...

 

 

I've come to the conclusion that I like the Halibrands but the stripe is very subtle and wouldn't look good close up.

[dot]

If you go insane, for V12 add another $20,000+

There might be a Jag V12 kicking around somewhere in the UK that might fit. It only takes a weekend to put one in...

 

and a year to make it start.

[chelle]

It only takes a weekend to put one in...

 

and a year to make it start.

 

lol, hiya Glenn.... I feel your pain. We fit our V12 in pretty quickly, and have hundreds of hours in on all the little details it took to make the thing run.. Several large aluminum bricks were sacrificed (as well as entire weekends) making brackets for everything needed to make it work. Making the dry sump pump bracket and hub alone took like 3 days.

how many hours did you spend on your headers?

Chelle

[dot]

lol' date=' hiya Glenn.... I feel your pain.

Chelle[/quote']

 

My swap was planed to the extreme. Not my first swap. The motor was mated to the transmission in advance so all there was to do was drop it in one weekend. I had budgeted three months of spare time for the headers, but had them together in about three weeks in a burst of energy. The rest of the time was devoted to the ancillaries, you know, plumbing fuel and coolant lines and such. The major headache for me was the fuel injection as I had never been there before. The rest of the car was set up for a V8 so this was basically an engine swap.

 

Chelle, I see your car has made centerfold status. Congratulations. Your GTO is quite remarkable. You guys have done a wonderful job.

[smash]

Chelle - can't find any pics of your car *ahem*

 

Dot - Jag V12s are 10 a penny over here. Not really a popular engine for kits and the like - bit of a pain in the a$$ and expensive to tune - ironically for the kind of app. we'd be using it for we'd rather go with american V8 (which, I might add, we pay a hell of a premium for over here!).