Dick Goodman's GTO

[Guest Skillet]

Thanks Dick & Staledale for the info on the tail lights and rear mounting dimensions. This info has helped me to make up my mind on which body to go with. I will build up the VR kit in convertible form.

 

Here are my plans in mostly this order: First is the LSD, CV half shafts, Ross's 240SX rear discs and 5 lug conversions, coil overs with Ilumina's, then 350 motor, T56, lots of body rienforcing, the body, and finally the interior.

 

I am still having concerns about wire wheels with around 400 hp and I can not decide what seats to go with. I would like some sporty seats and stearing wheel but I do not want to blow my cover that this is not a real Ferrari. Also, any advice on a roll bar. I would like it for safety (and a little more rigidity) but I am not sure if it would look right. Did Ferrari's ever have factory roll bars? Anyone with a VR kit that has a roll bar, could you please send me some pics?

 

Thanks Speed Racer, you will be hearing lots more from me

Chris Larson

[Dan Juday]

You'll be happy working with John over at VR. Top notch guy. Before you start welding in reinforcements check with him. He sells a reinforcement kit, (maybe it's included in the VR kit?) and he knows where things need to strengthened. Happy trails and keep us posted with pics!

[staledale]

Hey Chris,John's manual has the reinforcement and roll bar pic's in it. Shows different ways that other guys did it. his web site has a picture of a yellow VR that has a roll bar.

http://www.reactionresearch.com/velorossa.html look under gallery and click on the yellow VR. As for Dick's GTO there aren't enought of these to give him credit. I've got all his pic's everywhere it inspire me. Great car speedracer. Wish I had more pictures and I'd make a calendar for myself.

Stable has tail lights that are close to the real one's, and they told me they'd fit my VR.

P.S. Dick the V-12 is not dead. Still might use it.

[SpeedRacer]

I thought that might be what you are looking for Chris. Somebody mentioned El cheapo (and they may look a bit like that) but the lenses are real glass and they go for $210 - $240 EACH! Don't forget the teardrop front side markers at $220 each. Now that I scared you with the price, here is a link to the real ones http://www.ferraripartsexchange.com/lensesandlights.htm

 

You can also try Jim Simpson and see if he can round up some good used ones. http://www.simpsondesign.net/ I bought my replica hood hold-downs, wire wheels, Nardi steering wheel from Jim. He also installed the bezel and provided the hardware for my headlight covers.

 

The L-488 and L539 sure look close but it's hard to tell from a picture. FYI - mine are 3 3/8" in dia. and stick out 2 1/4". It's hard to measure the mounting surface because of the curve in the sculpting at the bottom but, where my lights are mounted, I have 8 3/4" of mounting surface from top to bottom. Remember, the real car also has a rectangular red reflector in there too. A few of the cars had three lights with one being a clear backup light.

 

BTW, I was a bit worried about the amount of light from such a small tail lamp assembly. And, since the lens is made out of glass so I wouldn't have to worry about heat melting it, I installed 50-watt halogen bulbs.

 

I applaud your efforts to make it look original. Since there are only 41 real ones in the world hardly anybody has seen one up close. I've had my car at many shows and fooled many people. It's fun to watch them squeeze the fender lip (to see if it's glass) or get down on one knee to check out the Z suspension. You know they have doubts but they are not quite sure so the just keep looking. Great fun!

 

Again, let me know if I can be of any more help and good luck!

[Guest nezzie76]

If you are building a convertible model I wouldn't bother with trying to make it look "authentic" because the only people you will fool are the people that don't know about the car anyways. Those that know GTOs will know that there wasn't a convertible made. I suggest that you make it how you like and put whatever you think is cool on it. If it's in better shape than mine and doesn't say Datsun on it you can probably get away with calling it your Ferrari Velo Rossa and about 99% of people will believe you. Before I found the kit I would have believed it.

[Guest Anonymous]

As for body reinforcement and roll bars, John Washington bought out The "Origin" Datsun convertible kit line and should have those parts or plans for re-inforcement that included two styles of roll bars.I have the Origin kit and everything can be duplicated easily. From a "body re-inforcement" thread in this forum I learned that the critical areas are from the firewall to the passenger compartment, ..front strut towers to firewall and from the rear towers to interior compartment. The Origin kit does not address the front strut towers to the firewall and interior.400 HP and you could be stripping spokes on wire wheels. I have Daytons and I would not be putting these quality wheels to much Horses Inferior wires would not hold up after much use . my opinion

[SpeedRacer]

Thanks for the very nice compliments on my car staledale!!! I am starting to get a little embarrassed here.

 

BTW, I've got a friend at work that is a semi-pro photographer and he is dying to take pictures of my car. So, as soon as this nasty winter weather (it's 19 degrees right now) goes away, I plan on getting some really good shots of the car. I’ll send you a few if you want them.

 

I still think the Jag V12 would be awesome. So, how is the car coming?

 

Chris, I’m afraid the guys are right. Ferrari never made a convertible (Spyder) version of the 250 GTO. They only one I have seen is a custom replica built on a real Ferrari and owned by the ZZ Top drummer, Frank Beard http://www.conceptcarz.com/carChosen.asp?car_id=605

 

BTW, I think I'm getting pretty close to 400 HP out of my little 327 and have had no problems with the Dayton wire wheels. Of course my engine is probably down on torque compared to most 350+ CID motors.

 

Please stay in touch guys and let me know if I can be of any help.

[staledale]

Well Speed, Dick, or Mr Goodman, not sure how you want to be addressed. My GTO is on a hold right now. The railroad found my medical history and found out I've got neck problems. They put me out of service. After MRI's last week found I've got 6 buldge disks, two that are herinated. Mean while, while being off work (past two months) I got two jobs on the side restoring 65 mustangs. Every once and a while I get to play with it. Got the body cut to fit on, wheels cut, doors cut,and I'm ready to fill in the rear 1/4 glass. That leads me to a couple of questions. How did you finish the inside of those windows? I'm puting 1x1 tubing with a slight curve at the door opening, then using sheet metal on the outside. Might double wall that and put some on the inside too. Noticed some GTO's have vents there some don't. Like to get ideas and putting some type of working vent there.

Next, my VR rear tub had to be cut for the hatch, I left a little extra, that hangs in where the hatch closes. I have to trim it to get a nice fit along the hacth edge. Now what is under that? Did you close in your old tail light openings? Just trying to think about water getting in that gap and where it will go?

I would love to get some pictures of your car. It's my dream. And here's a link for a v-12

http://classicjaguar.com/JUAN6.jpg

Look how short the intake is. Not really the best for the H.E. engine, but it will work for me. Really need a GTO forum so we can swap idea's (that's pick your brain). There is a lot of GTO guys out there. guess this is long enough, keep in touch. Dale

[SpeedRacer]

Staledale - Call me Speed or Dick (I've been called worse) but definitely not Mr.!!!

 

Really sorry to hear about all your disk problems. It must be quite literally a pain.

 

For the rear quarter windows I mig welded in a piece of ~4-5†wide sheet metal (I think 14 gage) that was bent ninety degrees on a brake. It's welded at the top and the bottom in a position so the fiberglass rear clip just wraps around it. On my kit the fiberglass blends into the roof from the top of the door opening in the rear to the corner of the hatch opening.

 

For the inside, my kit came with a black gel coated (with vinyl texture) filler panel that screws in place. If you don't have these I'd check with Jeff at Stable Autoworks and see if you can buy them. They really look great and give the inside a professional finish.

 

To close in the old taillight openings I just took some flat 1/4" fiberglass, cut it to fit, sealed it with RTV and screwed in place. Not real fancy but at the bottom of the hatch opening on each side I drilled a 1/4" hole and the water just drains out the bottom of the car. Water inside that hatch isn't a problem because of all the weather-strip.

 

BTW, for those of you that are interested here are a list and some pictures of just about ever 250 GTO made. http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/summary/SN.250.GTO.62.htm

 

Yeah, it would be kind of neat to have our own GTO forum but I don't know who has the time to maintain it. Maybe some day John Washington will add it and the registry info to the GTO Replica Register site http://www.gtorr.com/ For now I hope Super Dan doesn't mind us using this one.

 

Wow, great shot of the Jag engine - I still think you should do it. It would be awesome looking and oh, the sound of a V12!!!

[chelle]

Hi all,

I have been digging through the archive as I'm new to this list and was thrilled to see this subject line. I've had a lot of experience with the various 250 GTO replicas. My friends and I assembled 3 in the past, and currently my roommate and I own one of the Alpha1 cars I'm building a chassis for a puckett car and another friend has another Alpha1. I wanted to chime in on some of the points made here because I've had exposure to most of the 250 replicas made. I don't bother with ebay for the decals or emblems as it's rare you actually can get them for less than you can elsewhere. For decals and valve caps (with little tiny ferrari emblems) I go right to the dealer. the emblems, well, I get wheel emblems at the dealer and the rest come from http://www.kitcaraccessories.com/ferrari.html

 

Tom Mcburnie's shop does seem hard to get on the phone these days. I have talked to Tom 3 or 4 times in the last year and he was always open to making odd things I needed. Honestly though Tom was about the only one who was able to answer individual questions I had. The woman I talked to was nice, but knew little about these cars. I do like the nose on Tom's better than the earlier Alpha1 cars. Particularly the hood, cowl panel, and grill. I feel just as positive about the look of the Stable front end, however I have called the Stable guys three times in the last 6 months trying to buy parts and NEVER have gotten a call back. Bad move by them considering what I spend on toys like these. Tom has been in the business a long time... and I think you might have caught them on a bad day - just try to get Tom on the phone. works for me.

Nezzie76, you said that the thunder ranch stuff doesn't seem to fit but really I wouldn't be too hard on them, you chose to put panels made by two different companies on your car. It can be made to work but it's going to take work. I like the roadster back halves, but prefer a hood to a tilt nose too, and I know if I want a roadster with components from different suppliers I'm going to have to sort out the differences. This isn't a flame, just my opinion. One solution might have been to have bought door skins from Tom as well so the nose could sit where he intended. The front edge of a door is generally a lot harder area to fit than the rear due to the way doors pivot. I had a mako Shark Corvete replica years ago that we never could keep the tilt nose from chipping paint off the front edge of the doors because the doors were stock and the tilt nose was of course not. I know you're not using the tilt nose but you are using a nose made by a different manufacturer than who made the doorskins.

Mr Puckett I agree has the most accurate bodies out there if you are willing to go the distance on prepping your chassis. His kit requires adding 4" to the wheelbase and shortening the doors and cabin a couple inches. I spent an hour talking over options with him. He does offer a nice kit that uses the stock chassis as well. His kit gets rid of the hatchback and uses the stock rear glass repositioned 4" forward and a trunklid like the originals. I don't like what he did with the taillight panel however making it look more original is not a big job. I have pictures of his cars scanned and will e-mail them to whoever wants them.

Racer X I tend to take those consumer alerts with a grain of salt. He has had alerts about "shoddy work" by IFG for years and it's my understanding that the big issue he has with them is they wouldn't advertise with his site.. I could be wrong about the advertising but I know for a fact that IFG makes the best Lamborghini Diablo bodies out there - there are a few dozen companies making diablo replicas who merely buy IFG bodies and assemble them. I build a diablo and a countach from IFG and their quality FAR exceeded pretty much everything else on the market. The Prova countach was a better car mechanically than the IFG but the fiberlass work on the prova was horrible. The vella Rosas I've seen all looked great, but I never put one together. I plan on finishing my Puckett car chassis this summer, It's not on a Z (my choice was to build a complete chassis out of tubing)It's been a work in progress for a while now. currently I'm kind of tied up converting the red car to right hand drive. If anyone is in the Chicago area you are welcome to come take a look at any of the cars. My newest toy is a 1974 Lamborghini and is almost ready to sell. No I'm not making this up - lol.. the current collection of 2 alpha1 GTO's and the Lamborghini represent an investment of under $30,000.. tho that amount is kinda going up by the day .. lol

anyway here's our red one like Dick's

Chelle

http://members.core.com/~blonnde/new/0127_002.jpg

[Guest Anonymous]

Chelle, Thanks for the pictures. Apparently the Puckett GTO 250 is the most accurate replica offered and still affordable. I forwarded the pictures to Nezzie 76.If you saw the other post about engine stalling, I suspect that your problem is a plugged fuel line . If the problem happens again, remove the gas cap and listen for air sucking into the tank.Get in touch with Eric Nyerlin since he can use your information and knowledge on the GTO's

[Guest Anonymous]

Mind if I chime in here a little late? The kit I have is from Stable Autoworks and it is of very nice quality. I have seen the VR kits in person as well and they are top notch as well. It seems that the hood fitment is a problem on most kits, due to the different number of compound curves and whatnot in that area. Mine doesn't fit quite right but can only be noticed if you are sitting on the ground.

 

As for taillights, I am usin a set of Austin healy sprite taillamps. They ran me right around 25 bucks each, are glass and of very nice quality.

 

pictures of them can be found @ http://communities.msn.com/ZTFerrari/carpics.msnw .

 

All and all, no matter which kit you buy the results are WELL worth it.

[Guest Anonymous]

Glad I found this thread. I also have a Rhino from Jim Simpson, before the business was sold to Stable Auto Works.

 

You can see pictures at:

 

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/sea_urchine/lst?.dir=/250+GTO

 

Am looking for the side light, but don't want to pay $250 each. Any leads would be appreciates.

 

Thanks

[Guest Anonymous]

Where did you get your headlamp cover rings and How much did they cost? The dash looks nice.Are those stock gauges? Was this car on e Bay? (recently) Really good looking car /ya need a v8

[SpeedRacer]

Good looking GTO Jay and welcome to Hybrid Z!

 

You might be able to get reman. side marker here http://www.ferraripartsexchange.com/sidemarkers.htm

 

I agree with Tomahawk Z - ya need a V8 (or a V12!).

 

Hey, do you guys think we can talk the HybridZ moderators into a Body Kit/Kit Car section?

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks Tamahawk Z / Speedracer

 

The head light rings are real cheap. They are made from chrome plated plastic body side molding that comes in rolls from any auto parts store. Simply mold them with your hands into the shape needed, and stick on. They will do for now, but I intend to replace with some metal ones when I can find them.

 

The dash was the last one made by Jim Simpson when he was in the Woodlands, before selling the business, and I did mount the OEM gauges in it. The wood trim is Tiger Wood, that I brought back from the far east and hand made.

 

The car was recently on E-Bay, but I decided not to sell. Am studing and preparing to do an drive train swap. Have thought about a Jag V-12 or Northstar 32V, but don't want for the conversion to take forever, so decided on a LT-1/T-56. Will make it happen before the end of year for sure, just waiting for last kid to finish A&M.

 

Later!

[pparaska]

Jay, I had to go get another keyboard to type this, since the drool in my other one from looking at the pics of your SWEET GTO 250 bodied Z were SO BEAUTIFUL!

[staledale]

Yes, welcome Jay, another beautiful reason for a GTO group. Nice car Now can I pick your brains like all the other GTO/Z guys? Do you know much offset you have on your Daytons on the rear? You should also try the V-12 swap, cause misery loves company and I'm as miserable as can be. It will fit with work. Anyway, very nice car!

[Guest Anonymous]

Good looking car Jay. You're located in Houston? I'm up in the woodlands. I'd love to get together sometime. I would like to see another kit in person some day. Looks beautiful!

[Guest Anonymous]

Guys, thanks for the kudo's. Makes the all the effort worth it.

 

Staledale; don't know what the offset is on the rear wheels. Simpson ordered them for me, but if you are getting ready to buy, will pull them off and measure for you. Do you have a V-12 installed? Any pictures? Advice?

 

Z_Ferrari; yes, I'm in Houston. email me, and we can rally around town.

 

Need some recommendations; over the years, the floorboards rusted out in the front. Had good undercoat/sealant, but rain water leaking in has caused them to rust out from the inside out. Years ago I had the same problem with a 62 XKE convertible, and fiberglassed new floor bottoms, but was wondering if there was a better solution, that would fix the problem permanently