250 GTO Owners Thread

[Boy from Oz]

Great to see there is so much interest.

 

...can we get more pics .... please?...

 

Wes, I'm not sure exactly what you want. I must have thousands of photos but they are mainly of the details of components or construction. The idea was for any future owner/s to see how it all went together.

 

Here are a few general shots of the build.

 

PS. I've learnt how to spell oil in Italian 'Olio'... D'oh!

Edited May 17, 2016 by Boy from Oz

[Kclank]

Well done!

[Medic8]

I am SO glad to see this section of the Hybrid website.

 

I have a 250 GTO convert, just getting back into finishing it.

 

I have not yet read all 58 pages, lol, but intend to and intend to hopefully be a meaningful contributor tot his thread.

[Boy from Oz]

Wow, the car looks awesome Peter. I'd say it was definitely one of the best, if not THE BEST, Z car – GTO conversions in existence. Glad you got it done and you should be quite proud because you tried a lot of different things and it shows! Yup, I would say it came out looking great!

 

Hmmmm.... you drove my GTO replica – can I drive yours?

 

There is another car here in Oz that is just sensational and puts mine to shame, I'll see if I can get the owner/builder to come on here.

 

For all the fabulous advice you've given you can drive mine any time you want.

 

Hey Chelle, glad your are still around but I thought you sold your GTO replica quite awhile ago????

 

Anyway, I found some plastic chrome trim to replace the old trim on my headlight covers.  It's just OK, and will do for now, but I still want a metal trim ring.  So thanks, I guess I will attempt to make a set. 

 

I'll make you a set and bring them over next year when I come over for the Indy 500.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Boy from Oz

[chelle]

I did list mine.. was offered 90k.. just couldn't do it.. Here's my garage at home - lots of cars in storage though

 

Album of my red car here: http://imgur.com/a/GgJqV

 

 

 

[chelle]

Thanks for sharing the pics Peter!!! Wonderful work!!! You did use all the Puckett bits! A friend offered me the Puckett molds - they are interesting bodies, I only know of 4 bodies from these molds  

[Fauxre]

...Here are a few general shots of the build...

Oh yeah...just what I needed.

 

Spent today pulling the VR out of storage, charging the battery and repairing the broken front bonnet hinge with my son.  I little grinding, welding and painting and she's good as new. I will attempt to refit the bonnet tomorrow and she'll be road worthy again.  Repairing the fiberglass nose damage is next.

 

Thanks for the inspiration Peter!

[Boy from Oz]

I used all the Puckett except the roof and door skins. Puckett owners, RR in New York and EF in Toronto, were very helpful.  

 

I'm not sure if I told you in emails but the kit was a basket case. Someone had cut up a berlinetta kit to make a spyder. I had to realign all the bits to rejoin them and make up those parts which were missing. Unfortunately when I layered up the joins the whole kit distorted as there was no support, as would be normally provided by a mould. I had to cut it up again, create braces and once more reattach all the sections. I think this may be already somewhere on this thread.

 

To add insult to injury there was no gelcoat so we had to painstakingly hand fill all the pores. 

 

I made my own wider doors (also 50mm lower at the top and 50 cut off the bottom) and wider/higher sills (rockers) to suit, and modified the front guards (fenders) to add 50mm to their width and align with the new sills. I still have to make aluminium door cards - and a million other details! Again I think I might be going over information already on this thread.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Boy from Oz

[Fauxre]

Your entire build is spectacular, but I think your devotion to faithfully recreate the original GTO design is what is most impressive to me.  To create doors from scratch, conveys a grand commitment, all by itself. ( Insert favorite "I should be committed" joke here.)

 

 

Again...Well done.

 

 

[CHATZ]

Thanks for sharing the pics Peter!!! Wonderful work!!! You did use all the Puckett bits! A friend offered me the Puckett molds - they are interesting bodies, I only know of 4 bodies from these molds  

If anyone has any helpful templates, or advise, or procedures for converting the Tailgate into a fixed screen and making the GTO trunk/boot i would really appreciate it. My car currently still has the original 260Z tailgate. 

 

From the pictures of 'Chelle' and 'Boy From OZ' it looks like a lot of time and effort has gone into getting the ratios as close as possible to the real car. If you can help even by giving me the measurements of the screen size you use and the boot size i would be so grateful.

 

Also i am racking my brains as to how to go about making an Alloy rear window frame like Chelle has??

 

Honestly guy the pictures and the work is something else! really is!

[Boy from Oz]

You are probably better off trying to chase down the ScorpionZ rear mould which was sold to Oliver Graham Meulbrouck (Google and see also British phonebook) around 2006 and marketed under OM Sportscars. They went under fairly quickly but the moulds may only have changed hands in 2013;

 

http://zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8071&page=2

 

I'm not sure what Michelle has done but I had to create a recess in the roof for about 150mm to position a standard 240Z perspex rear window.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Boy from Oz

[chelle]

I used all the Puckett except the roof and door skins. Puckett owners, RR in New York and EF in Toronto, were very helpful.  

 

 

RR is the one with the molds, and a body that was in them when he got the molds while helping EF get the parts owed to him  I've known RR a few years, took him out in mine.. I love what you did with the doors, I'm doing similar except out of aluminum (making hood and already made trunk lid the same way) The frames for the side windows have been a real issue for me.. The last few days, having mine back, i walk out to the garage like 5 times a day an just smile..

[chelle]

Okay, measured mine for trunk. I have a meeting in a few minutes, but will write more on my thoughts about making a trunk later

 

here's trunk measurements and the headlight trim rings/headlight covers. I wasn't thrilled about placement of the screws, but the construction of the nose limited where I could place a couple screws. I liked using the proper hardware, gives a much better final result..   direct link to the images here: http://imgur.com/a/CQwPc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chelle]

Chatz,

I built my first trunk using the scorpionz trunk kit.. I posted a thread on here long ago about how I felt, that the kit was a decent start, but that if (and when) i did it again, i'd rather go metal. Unfortunately the maker took it as me attacking him - which was not my intent. Those trunk kits were an okay option. To use my kit, I strengthened it in several ways, but in the end, I still feel, metal is a better option. The crossbar won't ever crack, the trunklid won't have any issues distorting in heat or cold, affecting fit, and everything from the hinges to the latch will be better when done.

I'll try and find my original post on this point

[SpeedRacer]

There is another car here in Oz that is just sensational and puts mine to shame, I'll see if I can get the owner/builder to come on here.

 

For all the fabulous advice you've given you can drive mine any time you want.

 

 

I'll make you a set and bring them over next year when I come over for the Indy 500.

Thanks for the offer Peter and I may just take you up on it.  I would have to ship the headlight covers to you ahead of time since the holes to hold them on are already drilled.  We have time so I will let you know. 

[SpeedRacer]

Chatz,

I built my first trunk using the scorpionz trunk kit.. I posted a thread on here long ago about how I felt, that the kit was a decent start, but that if (and when) i did it again, i'd rather go metal. Unfortunately the maker took it as me attacking him - which was not my intent. Those trunk kits were an okay option. To use my kit, I strengthened it in several ways, but in the end, I still feel, metal is a better option. The crossbar won't ever crack, the trunklid won't have any issues distorting in heat or cold, affecting fit, and everything from the hinges to the latch will be better when done.

I'll try and find my original post on this point

Thank you very much for the info Chelle and I am sorry if you thought I slighted your awesome GTO.  I didn't mean too but I thought you had sold it AND I forgot just how awesome it came out after you made all those changes and lengthened the nose. 

 

Still not sure if I am up to making my own aluminum trim rings so I might just take Peter up on his offer.  BTW, yours look really good!

Edited May 22, 2016 by SpeedRacer

[chelle]

Thank you very much for the info Chelle and I am sorry if you thought I slighted your awesome GTO.  I didn't mean too but I thought you had sold it AND I forgot just how awesome it came out after you made all those changes and lengthened the nose. 

 

Still not sure if I am up to making my own aluminum trim rings so I might just take Peter up on his offer.  BTW, yours look really good!

 

I promise, i didn't feel slighted at all, I think you're awesome, and your build inspired me long ago    Thanks for your kind words! The person who got upset with me was the guy who made and sold the Scorpionz parts. I didn't have issues with him, I just felt the trunk kit could use some improvements, or, more correctly, I felt there were a few things someone using the trunk kit could do to get a better final result, and that metal was probably a better route for anyone with the skill to make it.

 

I probably spent 2 weeks on my rings getting to the point I was happy with them.. i do sometimes get a little anal about some details.

Edited May 27, 2016 by chelle

[35 Dodge Hot Rod]

I posted here about 7 years ago, with high hopes, wild dreams, and lots of ambition. My project however figuratively hit the wall, hard. I have to own it, however I'll gladly lay plenty of blame with the now defunct Thunder Ranch for screwing around with me. I'm not necessarily a spiritual person, but I do know the bad start and feelings didn't help this project out one bit. Bad vibes.

 

To make a long story short, life changed quite a bit and the project has sat. That ambition instead has been funneled into building my own house (actually myself, not hiring someone like most people do when they say "they built a house"), acquiring a long time dream cabin property that never in a million years thought I would be able to purchase, improving my machining and welding abilities, building a few garages and garage additions for friends in my "spare" time, and buying, selling, and upgrading my old Ford car projects.

 

My next 2 years are going to be fairly booked up with work, 4 semesters of CNC training, sleep in between, mowing, plowing, & property maintenance on weekends, and trying to squeeze in building myself a proper shop to actually work in somewhere in between. I've been kicking this Z project around, weighing if I should send it down the road, or keep it along with my other 3 major automotive projects, boat restoration project, and now an ultralight project.

 

I was going to put it up for sale in March, figuring that if it sold, I would put the money into my other projects and free up some space. As I put it up it brought back a certain young nostalgia, and I got fired up about it again. I forgot how cool it was to sit in the drivers seat in that pile of Z car, and I just imagined how much better it would be with the body reworked.

I walked through a few local junkyards in April searching in vain for a good donor vehicle to supply me a rear window glass. I've actually discovered that a late model Chevy Astro van has a potentially suitable window in the sliding side door. It's the closest thing I've found for a piece of glass without resorting to a custom (and very expensive) glass maker. I know, call me crazy but the idea of a plastic rear window just never sat with me.

 

This is a choice that I alone have to ultimately make, but I would value any input from any members here who have completed one of these projects. I know this would be a big project, but it may help to actually hear a bit more of a detailed scope from anyone who has gone through it.

[Boy from Oz]

Unless you are a retiree looking for a hobby I honestly wouldn't recommend this project. There is an unbelievable amount of devil in the detail. During the course of my build I met two owner/builders who told me they spent 6-8 months of 8 hour days, six days a week. just fitting a standard kit. It seems it's very difficult not to wander to other aspects of the car, e.g. engine, suspension, etc. to complement the bodywork

 

I have come away from my experience with a total respect for design engineers. Some of the modification I undertook seemed so straightforward in concept but turned out to be very difficult and very time consuming to execute.

 

If you really want one of these cars I would suggest (based on the info you provided) you sell what you have - and you may be lucky to recoup half your expenditure - then buy a completed car and modify it to your own taste and pocket. There is a lifetime of work in that alone.

[chelle]

If you really want one of these cars I would suggest (based on the info you provided) you sell what you have - and you may be lucky to recoup half your expenditure - then buy a completed car and modify it to your own taste and pocket. There is a lifetime of work in that alone.

 

This is sound advice.. do with it what you will, but there is so much more work in successful execution of these things.