Devil-Z Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 And my friend Dan's ZX is kinda rat like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 How's this for a faux rat rod Z? This is mine when I first bought it. The only things I had done so far were remove the rear window louvres, mount some new tires and get the thing running. Oh, and it had an L24E, so the hood scoop seemed a little superfluous at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I can't resist... I've had the joy over the past year of not having a care in the world in terms of my 280's body. I learned fairly soon that the body was not worth the money saving, so I'm just waiting to put all of my parts into a clean shell one day. Rust in the doglegs? Fenders? Some aluminum flashing will take care of that... Id agree with the fact that its more out of neccesity to keep my car in a rat rod condition. Id rather spend money on performance parts than paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtl260z Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I can't resist... I've had the joy over the past year of not having a care in the world in terms of my 280's body. I learned fairly soon that the body was not worth the money saving, so I'm just waiting to put all of my parts into a clean shell one day. Rust in the doglegs? Fenders? Some aluminum flashing will take care of that... Id agree with the fact that its more out of neccesity to keep my car in a rat rod condition. Id rather spend money on performance parts than paint. I am right there with you. Always performance over paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 did someone sayyyyyyy..... S30 Ratrod? Howsabout the Grey Ghost, so named during the years it rolled the streets of WPB in primer grey while my old man was attempting to do the ULTRA budget resto (we were so broke he was reduced to driving this beater 240, so thats what he told himself ) That was mid 90's, he got an 83ZXT by 96, and at that point the Grey Ghost became a yard decoration for four years. Around Y2k, it slowly turned into this: Immediately apparent are the 14x7 Toyota Supra wheels on it, with takeoff slicks (from god knows where) and also the cheapo G-nose kit. The g-nose was in poor shape, and massaged back into usefulness when installed on this car. It belonged to my uncle, and had came with a collection of parts. My dad used his car to put the kit back into usable condition. While it was a street car, it had a one-piece fiberglass front end on it on the road that he salvaged from a trashed fiberglass front end, and even grafted a standard ducted glass airdam onto it. We still have the old front end (not pictured) but a racer we know bought this Gnose off of him a few years back. You can see here how ghetto-rigged the G-nose was. This car became the ultimate budget racecar, his total investment was under 2 grand in like, three years of running small time local club races in parking lots. The car spanked its share of Boxters and Corvettes. In this next picture, you can see the 70 hatch with one-piece spoiler molded on. I think we still have this; it may go on my car. This paintjob was done by my dad and a friend of his, using a red color that was the result of mixing a few cans of leftovers from some other jobs his friend had done lately. The white "mouth" and smiley on the back were done because my Dad was afraid the paint would start looking too good, and it was Temporary with a capital T. He figured, he couldn't leave it looking this way for too long.... The Grey Ghost lost its original 240 motor when it threw a rod out the passenger's side of the block. For the record, the engine continued running, belching oil out all over the road while my dad pulled it into a left turn lane, waited for traffic, turned into a parking lot, and then turned the key off. When the racecar was taking shape, I begged him to use the large chunk of rod he had left as a shift knob; alas, discretion prevailed. He built a middling compression 2.8 liter block, and installed the E88 head he had made back in 85 for his OLD 240 (RIP 1989) It had the larger exhaust valves, but he retained the stock e88 intake valves, and ordered his cam accordingly. He says this head gives him great power and fuel efficiency both; all I can do is repeat what he tells me. I've never driven this motor, only seen it, watched it, help build it... My dad has had this cylinder head as long as he has had me, and the car it originally came out of (the '72) IS my earliest memory. The entire interior was gutted, and my dad welded a piece of 1" square steel between the rear shock towers. There were a couple gauges dangling around inside; by the time the car was retired it had been well set up interior-wise, but I don't have any pictures. It was an elemental beast, powered ultimately by a four barrel holley. The engine lives on today in my dad's 78 280, and the one piece fiberglass front end from its road days is destined for my 75 280. Sadly, the rust in the chassis, and the lack of dedication to this particular car wound up sentencing her to be cut in half and sent to the scrapyard about a year ago. My brothers have a 240 ITS car*, my dad has the 78*, my uncle has his 72* and a 73 auto^, and I have my 75 former DD/project^, and no one had any effort or love to give to this car. It wasnt worth selling, believe me. (*=sweet S30, ^= project/ratrod) heres a youtube playlist of six, five second video clips of the Grey Ghost at speed. I think this is in the parking lot of the MetroZoo in Miami. The 4th and 5th videos are my favorite. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=80A011318B890123 To me, the concept embodied in the term "ratrod" is about the vehicle's roots. Underneath that shiny maroon paint, that car was ALWAYS the Grey Ghost... and no matter how nice he made it look (rather clean by the end, but very superficial.. after a two year retirement it was all rusting out again) it was always function over form, with a bullet. This car taught my whole family a number of lessons, many through mistakes but many through successes as well. It will always have a special place in my garage. OHHHHHH So they're Supra wheels! Well now I feel like a dumb ****. Some dude in a Porsche asked me at a stop light "Hey are those Supra Wheels?" And I said no they were Celica wheels because thats what the previous owner said. >_> WOOPS +1 idiot point! I did have to cut out a lot of material from the inside of the center circle due to the front hub spindles and the hole not being big enough on the wheel. Discount Tire said they would mount a tire and put it on the car ebause I was crazy and they didn't want to be liable for my death so I said mount the tires and I'll bolt the wheels onto the car. This way when I crash and hit something hard, I can blaim myself. They still tried to talk me out of doing it and buying some proper wheels saying that the tires would wear improperly and that I would have a lot of vibration at higher speeds. Well now... 145mph... didn't wobble so much to me. I kinda have some ratrod soul in my car. 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Rollins240z Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Make sure you don't use black primer. Primer is not a sealant and your car will eventually rust from the inside out. A product called "hot rod black" or similar is a single stage urethane paint and will achieve the flat black look you want. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit50 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Well I do say "rat rod" because when i got mine with rust in the floors and the battery box... GONE. frame rails need to be chopped and re-caped and me and my dad custom built the caps made are self's, but really why I classify mine as a "rat rod hot rod" after what happened to it in "September 2007" here is it is right after what happened and with an after pic as well I will show you the step I took to fix it up! BEFORE! After! To me this is my "Rat rod hot rod" That has been through hell and back! I'm look forward to posting the project soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit50 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Aww my pictures did not post:( Oh well click the links should be able to see them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Zone Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 nope, still can't see them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zed not zee Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 me too cant see anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit50 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Ok... now this should allow you to see my pictures! BEFORE! AFTER! lol and yes sunlight does affect this paint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I think my car is very ratrodish for now... Manual conversion, turbo conversion, Dirty looking engine, exhaust piping for intercooler piping, open DP, rattle can paint. Ill post a pic later today. All go no show! (that will all end soon, Im painting my car the next "Mod" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zx 2by2 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I give you my "rat rod" Z... The car was either in flat black, all black rustoleum, or black/red two tone rustoleum over 4 years...The hybrid Z logo even has the red "Z"... . this is what i consider a Z rat rod, functionality over form, the opposite of a ricer but there are cars that are just ratty and not rat rods (mine)... oh and there is the famous ratsun term that fits so good here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit50 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Sweet my picture worked really well what do you guys think of that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260Mopar Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Here's mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_CHAD Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 My Rat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbonissanzx Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 If you have a higher res version of this photo, could you please send the highest resolution version you have to shawnmcarey at gmail dot com?? This is one of the more interesting and awesome photos of a Z i have ever seen.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
at-jefft Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 AHH, Finaly an appropriate place to post pictures of my z. My Ratish 260z: I had nothing to do with the flat black rattle can job, Pics showed white hood, went to see the car, and it was definitely not white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I actually liked this more then the flat black paint complete with missing bonnet. Although I don't like the 16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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