Tim240z Posted December 20, 2002 Share Posted December 20, 2002 A.X. Thanks for the update! I definitely don't need those kinds of hassles!! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleek Z Posted December 21, 2002 Share Posted December 21, 2002 I'd like to see pics that illustrate the discrepancies in the fiberglass g-Nose that you are referring to because I can't quite visualize where the fit problems are based on your text description. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 21, 2002 Share Posted December 21, 2002 Aviatorx.. I saw some (Yahoo?) pictures of your trial fit Gnose... IMHO... the mold may have been slightly ajar, misalgned or warped when the lay-up was done without much concern with any quality control of a Z front end on the manufacturing premises for a trial fit to check for proper alignment.An experienced fiberglass fabricator should straighten out the mess easily.It would take me about 5 hours at my slow pace with 3 hours devoted to cussing Showcars for overlooking quality control. When a company makes many fiberglass parts they lose the ability to have all the vehicles around to trial fit their parts for quality control purposes and fiberglass can take a dramatic warp from a minute problem an "it dont wanna get straight again once the set is in" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 Eric - I'll take some pictures in daylight to illustrate my problem - I can understand the difficulty in grasping with my description! If you can immagine a top view of the g-nose on the car, the flange at the back of the headlight buckets bow out toward the fender, making the surfaces unable to make a proper seam. A pictures worth a thousand words....I'll get some up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 I've been running into some issues with the eBay g-nose I bought that others may want to be aware of should you decide to go down the same path. The purchase was made from Showcars-Bodyparts in Toronto, and this is the same guy offering another g-nose on ebay for $495. I've been working on getting the fender to gnose seam consistant across the headlight bucket, and I'm finding that the molded flange is not perpendicular to the headlight bucket, and thus does not allow for a good fit since the fender front and bucket rear are not parallel. In order to get them parallel I have to back cut the flange to a point where there is no longer any flange remaining to mount the bucket to the fender. My second issue is that the buckets are not molded deep enough to properly wrap around the headlight as in the original configuration. With the bucket cut out removed, I have a 1/2" gap at the bottom, even with the bucket rear firmly seated against the fender front. There was no way to make this cut out deeper, and you cannot simply push the bucket rearward to close the gap because of the interference fit at the inner fender. I realize there is a certain amount of customization required with any fiberglass part, but I think that these areas speak to a bad mold, and I would have to change my opinion of the product based on my last 2 days of fitting. I freely admit I have no previous glass experience, but this isn't rocket science! And since I've not had the advantage of seeing any other g-nose installations I'm proceeding on instinct. I would have to NOT reccommend anyone else pursue a g-nose from this guy, unless he can prove he's fixed his mold to correct, at minimum, the above deficiencies. I know MikeK, Tim240Z and others have expressed interest in his fiberglass, and I hate to turn someone away, but my experience over the past few days tell me you'd be better to pay the extra money and take your business elsewhere. At this point I'm looking at giving the g-nose to a good local bodyshop with glass experience to make it work, and I'll probably be another $200 into it - shame one me - should have went with the MSA kit?! Dammit, John Washington, make one of these!!!!! I'll post pics if anyone's interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 Ok, here's some pictures that I've taken that hopefully allow others to see what Im working with, and trying to describe in the messages above. 1. This first image shows the passenger side bucket to fender seam after having cut away nearly all of the mounting flange on the g-nose....not bad alignment, but there is more work remaining... 2. This image should help you see what I mean when I'm describing the g-nose flange to fender problem. the view is from the top and a straight edge spans the back edge of the headlight bucket from inner to outer edge. You can see a mix of daylight and flange bulge creating an inconsistant edge =- one that is not parallel to the fender it is suposed to mount to. Not shown well here is that the top edge of the headlight bucket top edge also falls away form the seam line. 3. This is the rear of the drivers side headlight bucket showing the mounting flange after the first trim to accomodate the headlight. The flange is quite thick (nearly 1/4") and about 1.5" wide thus requiring trimming. 4. The last image shows the gap at the base of the pass side headlight indicating that the bucket was not molded deep enough to wrap aroud the headlight as in the original bucket. I've also found the seam between the hood and g-nose to be less than optimal (those pictures, and these above can also be found here - g-nose on Picturetrail.com I've not gone any further with my work on the g-nose beyond what you see here. Any one with experience correcting these deficiencies is welcome to comment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted December 22, 2002 Share Posted December 22, 2002 Have you contacted the maker and let your issues be known! I would at least give it a shot and see what they can do for you! It sucks, that`s $500.00!!! It looked to be a nice style with the added spoiler! Can`t offer any fiber glass wisdom, but good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatorx Posted December 22, 2002 Author Share Posted December 22, 2002 I am giving them a chance to make things right, but no response yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason81NA,82RBtt Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 My friend has already paid for a 280zx widebody kit from these people. He paid extra to have it shipped in only 2 days. The seller made it sound like the kit was already made. Come to find out the kit wasn't even finished yet. That was two weeks ago. And now he can't even get a hold of anyone at all.On top of this I'm hearding bad things about the quailty!! I was really excited to hear that someone was making fiberglass parts for the 280zx and 300zx, now I'm wishing that someone else with more quailty and business sense was making these parts. Good luck JasonRB260ZX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 we are having the same issues fitting headlight buckets on my friends gt500 clone, it is typical of fiberglass parts, it looks like you are going to have to lay some resin down, and i wouldnt get so upset over it, my buddies hood cost him 500.00 and it didnt fit either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 Len 168 makes a good point about fiberglass parts.. It helps to develope some fiberglass fabrication skills because most of the parts need a little help in fitting.. The Show Car's Gnose is a precise fit compared to the Thunder Ranch 250 GTO front end, Nezzie 76 recieved.... After getting that warped abortion semi strait... we made a mold for a convertible top with those acquired fiberglass fabtrication skills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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