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250 GTO Owners Thread


Duke

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Anyway, you can still buy the kit from John Washington over at Reaction Research.  John is a great guy so I would give him a call. 

 

 

 

This is good advice.

 

 

I think John Washington can supply a coupe version and a non-tilt front end but you will have to check with him. 

 

The kit is a lot of work but worth it in the end so good luck. 

 

 

 

I'll echo the comments about John Washington/Reaction Research. Good guy to work with and VERY knowledgible.

 

 

Sorry its been a week since I first asked, wasn't expecting a quick response to be honest. Thanks a ton all of you! Its something I'm considering for sure. My wife is more of a gearhead than myself, and a project like this is something she could get behind very quickly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Yes, I can supply a variety of configurations including one-piece front end, conventional front end, and three configurations of coupe rear end...thanks to recent purchase of what I think is the original Alpha molds.

 

Working on a new website right now, but for the moment you can see SOME pix at www.ZTrix.com. I have thousands of pix, so let me know what you need.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My car is making progress  As you cannot see, the spare tire well is now welded over to accommodate a 16 gal  fuel cell.,  The hatch is mounted is being blended in to the body, the access trunk cover is cut and hinge/latch holes drilled, the doors, and front clip are hard mounted,  gaps and mismatches being blended out, cowl vents, similar to the clear lens often used, are being made from fiberglass and blended into the hood. being fitted to hood,  As you can see the hollows for the door handles are still there to allow the handle to be flush to the body..  My plan is to have the door handles, windshield trim, wipers are  the same color as the body.  Very little bright work will be on the exterior except for the window frames, trunk hinges/latch, hood pins, The gills, cabin exhaust vents, and rear brake slots will have fine mesh powder coated black screen,   All cutouts to be functional but will have screw on, or magnetic plates on the inside of the wheel wells for around town driving to prevent mud from throwing up in the gills and vents.  Tail lights will be the square-ish 1984 corvette lens.  And to keep things cooler under the hood, louvered vents will be cut into the wheel wells thru to the engine compartment.  Lot's done and more to do  While the body shop is finishing the body, i am working on the engine.  Currently waiting on a gasket set so I can install the new water pump, thermostat, uprated turbo, and timing belt components.  cam covers, timing belt covers and exhaust heat shield are at the powder coating place..  The Intake manifold is being polished to a glowing sheen.  A modified turbo , that is %50 larger then the stock RB25DET unit,  550cc injectors, SDS ECU with coil pack and injector wiring set up for this motor, 90 mm throttle body, Gredy style intake manifold, BRU boost controller, large inter-cooler, Walco 255 fuel pump and pressure controller.  Paint should be done at the end of the month and then the engine lump will be set in.  After that it's back to me to finish the engine systems/plumbing, install drive shaft, radiator, inter cooler and exhaust.  The totally new and custom under carriage (all installed) has been described in previous posts. I also have some real nice strut braces with color matched mounting plates, to install. Then i can start to address the interior.  The last picture shows the color i am going for   Unsure of the interior design and color at the moment.  As you can see I am departing a bit from the usual tribute car  This s a bit more custom IMHO

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Edited by Kclank
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Thanks for the kind words, guys. Yes, I can supply a variety of configurations including one-piece front end, conventional front end, and three configurations of coupe rear end...thanks to recent purchase of what I think is the original Alpha molds.

 

Working on a new website right now, but for the moment you can see SOME pix at www.ZTrix.com. I have thousands of pix, so let me know what you need.

 So "Reaction Research" is not viable anymore?  From whom did you buy the molds John, if I may ask?

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  • 1 month later...

Kclank-----I am also using a pantera hatch on my build, differing only that my pantera and Z hatch will be interchangable at my whim.My question is lacking a spare well as mine is with a 16gal cell is there enough verticle height on the rear deck for a spare tire(not a donut) with the pantera hatch installed????? thanx in advance Jim

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Kclank-----I am also using a pantera hatch on my build, differing only that my pantera and Z hatch will be interchangable at my whim.My question is lacking a spare well as mine is with a 16gal cell is there enough verticle height on the rear deck for a spare tire(not a donut) with the pantera hatch installed????? thanx in advance Jim

Unless your spare is outsized I would say yes.   I do not think I would not be able to fit a spare thru my cargo access unless I used a temp, inflatable, spare.  I plan on just carrying fix-a-flat and a AAA card.  I did not want the weight so out the spare goes. I was disappointed in the flimsiness and warping of my hatch, as supplied and could not have been happy using it as a direct swap for the stock hatch without significant mods,  I believe the hatch, as supplied, would vibrate and create excessive resonance in the cabin.  That was a big driver for me.  I hope the condition of yours is much better. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Well it did not get final paint.  a second primer sealer has been applied,  pin holes to be sealed and then into paint.  A good thing with delays is that flashes of " I forgot"  happen.  In this case I and the shop guys had forgotten a provision for the windshield washer nozzles.  So a mod. needs to made for those.  Perhaps a couple of slots in the hood, trimmed nicely of course.   There some older kits out there that have a cowl but the Thunder Ranch kit only has a cowl 2" wide and the hood covers the stock Datsun washer locations.  I think John Washington's kit has similar issues as I, having that nice full tilt hood.  Anybody with these kits that did keep functional washers please chime in.

Edited by Kclank
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Hey Kclank,  

 

Pretty engine and the car is looking good but sorry, I am not a big fan of the rear hatch. 

 

Where did you get your headlamp trim rings? 

 

Speed

SR thanks.  It is fair to have personal likes and dislikes, There are funny shadows in the photos that make the hatch/window look weird but in life it is killer (to me) no foul, no error.  Trim rings came from http://www.thunderranch.com /gto.html (when McBurnie was still the owner)The owner/providers have been changed to either Red Rock Racing or Carrera CoachWerks (might have split into two businesses).,  which ever name they are using now.  Not fun to deal with.

 

Hey Speed just found this,  yikes hold on to your wallet and first born kid  These guys are friggen bonkers or do not ever want to sell any,  same with grill.  they also reduced the parts supplied in the GTO kit while increasing the price. I think I paid about $500 for all and a good sheet metal guy could to layout, trim roll and polish in 2-4 hours

Edited by Kclank
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Thanks for the info Kclank.  Darn, I thought maybe you had a local fabricator for the trim rings.

 

Yup, one of the neat things about cars is you get to do your own thing and express yourself.  Like I said, I am not a big fan of the rear hatch, but to each their own.  If you love your car when its done then that is great!  

 

Take care.

 

Speed

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Thanks for the info Kclank.  Darn, I thought maybe you had a local fabricator for the trim rings.

 

Yup, one of the neat things about cars is you get to do your own thing and express yourself.  Like I said, I am not a big fan of the rear hatch, but to each their own.  If you love your car when its done then that is great!  

 

Take care.

 

Speed

Is there a local collage or school that has an auto-body or mechanical arts curriculum in your area?  You might be able to have them made for a song there. For the headlight trim. Wrap some drafting paper or wrapping over the headlight area.  Use the indentation around the headlight as a tracing ling.  Draw the line.  Remove paper from car.  layout flat and draw or have someone draw the inner line and locate tabs where you want.  Take to a local sheet metal/air conditioning shop and have a couple made to your drawings.  You can use the lens to guide the rolled shape and they normally have hand rollers at those shops.   Take them home and polish or have plated. Make it thick enough to dimple or countersink your fastener holes and keep it thin as you can.   The intake lip is a bit more of a problem although I think one of the Ford Taurus models (first or second model year change) had a very similar trim piece. 

luck

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For the washers look at late model GM trucks.  They have a wiper arm mounted nozzle

that looks like it can be adapted with minimal fuss.  I have the Reaction Research kit and

was going to cut in a set of Nissan or Toyota adjustable hood mount nozzles, but tried a

set of parts store universal arm mount units.  They work, but I am looking to replace them

with the GM truck units in the near future.

 

One the crickets front, I find I do not frequent the pinned forums as much as, well all the

others.  Perhaps incorrectly, but I see the pinned topics as static content for archival.  I suspect

others do as well.  A members project thread might get you more conversation...

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For the washers look at late model GM trucks.  They have a wiper arm mounted nozzle

that looks like it can be adapted with minimal fuss.  I have the Reaction Research kit and

was going to cut in a set of Nissan or Toyota adjustable hood mount nozzles, but tried a

set of parts store universal arm mount units.  They work, but I am looking to replace them

with the GM truck units in the near future.

 

One the crickets front, I find I do not frequent the pinned forums as much as, well all the

others.  Perhaps incorrectly, but I see the pinned topics as static content for archival.  I suspect

others do as well.  A members project thread might get you more conversation...

That wiper arm idea is being considered.   If you look at pictures of my car you will see that I have the cowl scoops backwards from the prototype, as I am using them for cabin air.  I can mount the nozzles in the cowl well just underneath them and shoot water right to the window.  Anyway no big panic and thx for valuable input. 

Edited by Kclank
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