Mikelly Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 After what seems like a long time (To me!! ), the Z is home... Pics are up on http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Look in a new folder called Mikes Painted Zcar Project folder. Jamie can tell you guys how I laid my keys on the work bench in the car trailer, and then promtly locked the trailer... So we worked quite a while to cut thru the Master Lock to free my keys! Truck was locked, and the spare trailer key was safely in it... Oh well, I'll start doing work to put her back together, starting tomorrow... I missed this car... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschiltz Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Looking good! What lights are those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 18, 2006 Author Share Posted November 18, 2006 Oh I don't remember... Some ebay specials from about four years ago... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschiltz Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Oh I don't remember... Some ebay specials from about four years ago... Mike That's the way to do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWRex Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 I was waiting to see how that Z was going to look w/ some paint on it,especially in the area of your fuel filler location,and it looks as killer as I thought it would.Nice work:2thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 So what's the ETA on this sucker? And how many years in the making??? I think you've got me beat by a substantial margin. Mine is down at least 3 years now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 It looks amazing! I will NEVER forget the day I went to the body shop and saw my Z with the new paint on it. I was floored and I bet you were too. I think it took me about two days to put it all back together I was so excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbk240z Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Your Z is very nice indeed! Great color choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 This particular car came into my posession in the spring of 2002. Chris Cloude (The guy I started designing control arms with) decided to leave his wife and kids and needed to unload the car. I paid him $1000 for the car and then turned around and sold $1200 worth of stuff to members here... Denny took the S&W 12point cage off my hands, and someone else got the Wheels that were originally scotties. I actually started working in earnest on the car in late summer 2003 and then got sidelines when on Sept. 14th 2003 (Day before my wedding anniversary) a piece of sheetmetal from the storage boxes behind the seats cut an artery in my right arm. Trip in the rescue squad for that little episode, and now I'm down to one artery in that arm. Not one week after that incident I got a bladder and kidneyinfection that sidelined me for another 6 weeks. I let the car sit while I screwed around with the flared White Zcar that we installed a bunch of tubing into and did some coil overs/fuel cell on. I think jt1 bought that one off me for $1200-1500 right before I bought my Vette in the winter of 2003. Then I got sidelined screwing around with the Vette while the Zcar sat. I finally sent the car off to have a cage installed in May 2005. Piper Motorsports in Manassas (now in sterling) Va. did the cage work and the cage is a work of art. All winter, at the other house, I tinkered on the car to keep my mind off the stresses of starting a new company. It was therapy. However, in the spring of this year the wife and I started toying with buying a new place with more space... Once an offer was made and accepted, I called Jamie and we worked out getting the car to him for paint. The last week in April I sold the Vette. First weekend in May I delivered the Datsun to Jamie and then sold the car trailer. The week after that I bought the enclosed trailer. So Jamie has had this car since May. He did some cool stuff on the car for me, like shaving the door locks, welding in the final pieces for the radiator support, and welding in the driver's side braces for my seats. Jamie also smoothed out the stuff I did on the radio antenna hole, the holes for the freshair vents behind the 1/4 windows, and making the fuel filler work better. Jamie also smoothed out the door sills on the tops of the doors. Onward and upward gang! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantaz Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 That is one smooth looking Z... can't wait to see it all in one piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Mike - Very impressive. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Mike... I was wondering... If you don't mind.. what were the final bills for the cage?... and the bodywork?... and the paint?.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank280zx Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Looking extremely sharp.. like the color!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Mikelly: your car is looking great! My car has been sitting most of the time since June of 2005 so I know what it is like not to drive the car forever as many guys here do. That windshield reinforcement looks sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 I"m in the middle of uploading more pics with the flares and spoiler "temporarely" mounted, along with the powder coated door handle and a test fit of the carbon taillight panel. I also spaced out those Ford five stars to make them look a little more ideal for the flares... More to come in the days ahead... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 Mike... I was wondering... If you don't mind.. what were the final bills for the cage?... and the bodywork?... and the paint?.... BJ, The Cage ran me $2400 and to look at it, everyone says it was money well spent... I gave Jamie $3000 and bought a second set of his aluminum hubs in the process of that purchase price, and Jamie did some welding on the car for me, to include all the holes being filled and the seat frame rails in the driver's side that are tacked in. Jamie had a lot of work to get the car square again, so although the paint isn't perfect "show" quality, the car is straight and it looks very good. I think for a track car, this is the way to go. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 I've had a couple people e-mail or PM me about other specs for this car... The car has Pete Paraska's full subframe installation done. Chris, the previous owner did this work. Chris also removed all sound deadening. I installed coil overs and my front suspension design on the car. It has Jamie Taylor's aluminum five lub hubs and Ford Cobra 13inch rotors with PBR calipers on the front. I'll use Ford Cobra rear rotors and Chevy Z06 rear calipers on it. The bias and brakelok are in the cockpit. I've got a set of Koni 8610s on order, and I'll be installing camber plates on all four corners. I also plan to order a set of the AZC rear control arms to employ the rear toe adjustment for the car. The rear drivetrain is Q45 with Tim Hepburns Axles. I may buy a set of Ross' Forged stub axles drilled for both ford and chevy patterns (As Jamie's front hubs are). The tranny is a Tremec TKO600. I'm using a McLeod Bellhousing, Centerforce clutch and pressure plate, CAT Internal Balance Flywheel, and Tilton Hydraulic release bearing. I'm also using a tilton Master Cylinder. The motor is the 383 stroker I've had since 1998. It has new forged bits and will possibly lose the FI for the initial run in. It should put down a solid 400WHP, as DD2000 claims over 520 at the crank. Who knows, but I suspect it'll haul the mail. Heads are Dart Conquest straight plug units running 2.o5/1.60 valves. I'm running a hydraulic valve train and the compression should be just south of 11:1. I have some longtube headers, but they are pretty mangled and the ground clearance may suffer if I run them... I may go back to block huggers... If I can find them in 1 3/4s... The cage and subframes make this car extremely rigid. When Jamie and I were rolling the car down the alley and to the car trailer, we rolled out into an intersection. The right front wheel picked up in transition from one street surface to the other... This car is going to be a beast with the parts mentioned. Can you tell I'm excited? I need to sit down and start working out my plans to get the car back together... most of these parts are in house... what to do first is the real question... I believe I'll get her on jack stands and start prepping the motor for install. Mike The oil system right now is a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tombarace14 Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 I might just get to drool on it next time you have the shindig. Awesome Mike just plain freakin awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b__sosick Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 is the link broken or maybe no more bandwidth? maybe it's just my browser but I can'topen the link. :[ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 Just launched fine for me, and I wasn't logged in to yahoo. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.