Coming Attractions

NOTE: This is a preview index page to showcase featured cars, projects and illustrated tech articles being prepared for future publication at ZPARTS.COM. Links here DO NOT lead to complete articles. Completed articles will be announced at the ZP's home page.

web page layouts and Photos here designed to display best in Internet Explorer 4 & 5. Navigator & AOL browsers may not display all content and photos properly.

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280Z Bumper Conversions Article (04/23/04) Due to many questions put to me related to adapting early style, thin chrome Z bumpers to the later 74.5 to 78 Z car models, I am working on assembling as much wiritten and photo documentation on successfully completed bumper swap and conversion projects as possible. When completed it will all be published here to aide the many that wish to do the swap themselves. Click on the preview image on the right to view one of the most beautiful conversions I have yet to run across, a 76 280Z, owned by Robin Bolz, with early 240Z bumpers installed using a combo of stock and custom made mounting brakets. Look for details of his swap project here soon.

ATTENTION Z Car Owners: If you have completed a bumper adaptation and would like to share what you know, please contact Eric

NALLE GT Body Kit #001 FOUND! 2/12/04 First photo ever received from an owner of a rare Nalle GT produced by Tom Nalle's body kit company, Nalle Mfg, back in the mid 1980's. This car is based on a 1975 Nissan 280Z unibody. . Within the Z car community very little appears to be known about this rarely seen Daytona Cobra style body kit once produced by Tom Nalle long ago. Click on image at right to see first photo of this rare body kit from the past.

WANTED: Z CAR BASED BODY KIT INFORMATION AND PHOTOS. I've been researching the history of Z Car based body kits and design for many years trying to put together enough information and photos to create a showcase of it all to share wit the Z car community. To that end I am now actively soliciting photo submissions and historical facts of anything related and searching for owners, former sellers, designers of all Z car based kits or add-ons, past or present, or from anyone with more information, to get in contact me about what they can contribute. Among the many designs I am searching for, the highest on my list are: designed, but never produced kits and add-ons, Piranha Z kit in Europe, examples of Puckett Automotive Design & Development Z kits, Nalle GT (Shelby Daytona style), Daryl Starbird's Flash Gordon looking futuristic Z car called the "StarBird", the Prima Donna cars (4? produced), Tomahawk Z kits outside of California and all variations of the Ferrari GTO body kit movement that started with the Eagle GTO in Campbell, CA or the McBurnie kits (Thunder Ranch). Photos of all historic body add-ons such as cowl hoods, hatch replacements, front and rear spoilers, side skirts or pipes and tail light replacement kits are being looked for as well. If you have any photos or information or stories to share, please contact Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

Website Links to Current Z car based Ferrari GTO style kits:

Reaction Research | Thunder Ranch | Stable Autoworks | Scorpion Z Cars

Puckett Automotive Ad Flyer
submitted by Bill Aldridge

Z Club of UK Magazine

Alpha Engineering Sales promo

RON JONES' 240Z DRAGSTER. Car is due to come out of body shop repaint in late April. Owner intends to send in a fresh set of still and action photos plus full specs, to feature at ZPARTS.COM. For now enjoy the this great "launch" photo.

Z CAR WHEEL SHOWCASE. I get so many inquiries about what brands, sizes and designs of wheels, new & used, are available for the 4 lug Z cars, that I have decided to work on a pet project of showcasing the best examples I can find. Click on photo to view a trial format for showcasing owners cars and wheels. If you would like to have your car and wheels showcased here, contact Eric for submission guidelines.

 

WHO IS THIS MAN AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? Rumor has it, in the near future, he's planning to tell you. Tip, if a Z guru can massage an L6 head better than Don Juan why would he prefer jazz clubs in Spain? Send your guess to Eric

You are looking at history here, Z fans.

 

BROKEN STUB AXLES ILLUSTRATED. Now that some 240Z have aged past the 30 year mark, it is becoming increasingly important that present and future owners of 240Z cars learn about certain dangers lurking inside the older cars, chief of which, may be cracked or broken stub axles.

In worse case scenarios, a 240Z can loose a rear tire at speed and cause a driver to loose control of the car, not to mention, cause extreme damage to the rear wheel well and suspension components.

Shown here are 3 photos and some illustration overlay to introduce owners to the topic. Hopefully a full article with documented solutions to the problem, will appear later. If you have direct experience or solutions to the problem please send them to eric@zparts.com

November 06, 2006 note: Jon Mortensen alerted me today of an extensive tech write-up project he is preparing at the HybridZ.org site forums entitled:

Differential / CV / LSD / HP / Torque / R160 / R180 / R200 / R230 / Diff Mount FAQ

I encourage all Z owners to bookmark and review his write up. Jon has gathered together a valuable depository of info there.

- Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

 

Preliminary photos of one of the few original Nissan restoration program cars produced in the late 1990's.

Example here is of Arvin M's beautiful and pristine 1970 240Z. When documentation is finished, many details of restoration will be recorded including original "D" hubcaps, incorrect year parts used by Nissan and close-ups of how restoration shop finished areas of interest to current day restorers.

 

Mark Owens fabulous "Red Stomper" V8 Z. Incredible car both in power, clean workmanship, performance and of course, "Looks". 80+ shots were taken before Mark sold his car last summer. More are planned with new owner.

A magazine has requested first crack at the photos, but there's no harm in sharing a few new ones with all of you that have only seen the Featured Car Photo and Specifications pages.

 

 

More SILVER SHADOW pics. Owner Kevin Wallace graciously accommodate my request last year for an even nicer set of photos of his unique looking custom Z car. Here is #1 of aprox. 8 to come.

See first set of photos at Silver Shadow SideBar.

 

First photo documentation of method of removing S30 model metal panels using spot weld circular cutter tool. First panel removal will be of rear tail light section no longer produced by Nissan.

Note: In response to one visitor's questions about the procedure, I now have a quick description of the steps involved published here that may answer most questions while waiting for the full article to be published.

• Panel Removal Steps

Panel removed -50k

 

Jim Darnell's custom 240Z, nick named the "GODDESS Z" by myself. (Actually, I name many of the custom cars I feature, such as the Silver Shadow & Red Stomper, owner permitting, of course [:>)

Jim took his car through many custom stages, from first having Luciano Sarra "french" the door handles, remove the rain gutter, weld up the cowl and head light cones seamless to the body to later additions of a lower body kit, custom painted on emblems, unique side pipe design, ultra nice paint job and last, but not least, the very colorful and dramatic, under-the-hood mural of the volcano Goddess. Jim even had his stock air cleaner signed by Mr. K himself! Fascinating car to study up close. Hopefully I will be able to show all online viewers a bird's eye view of everything later on.

Note: My first photo shoot captured many excellent images, but I feel I need more to round out my documentation of this car.

 

Examining, repairing, re-keying and replacing Z car locks.

• Detailed write-up by long time Z specialist.
• Detailed photos of hidden lock damage, code stamped, outline copies and worn key comparisons and internal worn parts.

 

Example of 240Z convertible project featuring the frame reinforcement and rear fiberglass "cap" work and design of well known southern California fabricator and customizer, Sam Freeman.

Mr. Freeman's fiberglass cap design, unlike most S30 convertible designs that use the cannibalized, overly rounded, stock hatch to cover the trunk area, avoids the out of harmony consequence of that approach by carefully reworking the metal inboard of the rear fender body arc to blend into an integrated fiberglass cap in order to pick up where Nissan's design team left off, thus bringing the convertible's design into balance and scale with the car's forward design features

Take a look from the rear and sight toward the cowl up front and see how the rear fender metal body work (gray primer) and fiberglass cap (white section) are integrated to harmonize with both the forward fender design and the arc of the cowl. IMO, this is the attention to detail that is most often missing on most S30 convertible conversions.

 

Inside bracing

Under body bracing

 

Photo article illustrating all the interchangeable Nissan clutch components, transmissions, speedo gears, specs and part numbers needed to perform transmissions swaps between 1970-1983 Z cars.

The MONSTER 4x4 Z Car is back and now it's listed For Sale at ZPARTS.COM. While the ad is being prepared, I thought visitors might like to see 2 new photos not previously shown on ebay.

For another original photo of this 4x4 car, see Michael Spreadbury's collection of "monster Z car photos" .

To learn more about this car for sale, you can read the owner's former ebay ad description of vehicle or write to Eric at eric@zparts.com