veritech-z

It came to my attention from somebody else at hybridz, I'd been trying to design something similar to that for myself all along, and once I saw it, I knew that it was the one I needed. I've heard a rumor that the kit has shown up on Yahoo auctions Japan, that implies to me that they at least made more than one. I also have a thread going on www.widebodies.net, but that forum only has like 72 members (including me now...), and 452 total posts, so I didn't expect much to come of it.

Will, what rectangular sections at the end of the cowl are you referring to? There are other pictures at Hybridz that show the side 3/4 and the rear, I'll have to post those when I get a chance. It seems to me the reason for adding the width in the way it was done is so that you could leave the gap between the fender and the door to evacuate trapped air in the wheelwell, the same way they do in JGTC/Super GT and pretty much any other racing series that takes aero mods seriously. The flares on the rear are ope in the back as well for the same reason, and the car has a sick diffuser made of carbon fiber that looks to have been professionally designed. Stretching the fenders at the mount also means you can take a normal type lower fascia and just extend it in the center, instead of having to redesign the pieces that attatch to the underside of the headlight buckets. I don't expect this car will be at SEMA, these pictures go back a few years. edit: here is an NSX from the JGTC as an example of leaving the fenders open:

I'll replace my parts with whatever works (and of course, I get to decide exactly what "works" means to me). I'm not a purist, but nor am I a particularly skilled fabricator, so I'll be much more likely to take the easy way out and get parts that fit as delivered whether they be custom, factory, aftermarket. That being said, I do have fender mirrors from a 79 RX-7 and side skirts from an RSX Type-S on my 77.

You would think, right? It's nowhere on their website, nor is it on Advan's website (that is the graphic on the door). If I were either of those two sponsors (assuming they are legit and not just customer's choice vinyl) I would be proud to have my name on that car...

We've tried and tried over at Hybridz to come up with some information about this car and it's bodykit, but came up dry. It seems somebody sniped the pictures from a guy that sniped the pictures, and nobody knows anything at all about it. Does anybody here have any info about what's become known as the Monza Mystery Z? I'm hoping it's not a one-off bodykit, but I'm starting to resign myself...Sure does look like it was meant for the JGTC, doesn't it?

I know this thread is old, but the California Z kit was offered by Jim Cook Racing, also known as the "JCR" Widebody.

Or you could read post #21, where I explained it already...total rim width is advertised width plus 1", an S30 Zcar can have a maximum backspace approaching 4.5". Say you've got a 15X8" Watanabe that you want to use. Total width of an 8" wheel is 9", divided by 2 gives you 4.5". This wheel will fit in a 0 offset. Say you want a newer style wheel, like an Impul Hoshino Racing RS-III in a 17X8, but the offset of this wheel is +38. Well, convert 38mm to inches, and this is the thickness of the adapter that will be required to space out your hub and correct the offset to 0. (for the record, that is 1.5"). If you are buying wheels that are custom, just do the math and make sure that your resulting backspace won't end up being more than 4.5" and you will be fine. If it is more than 4.5", determine the difference between your calculated backspace and 4.5", and convert that to millimeters. Put a negative sign in front of it, and that is your required offset. For instance, that same watanabe, but in 15X9: (9"+1")/2=5" 4.5"-5"=-.5" -.5"X25.4=-12.7mm (which can be rounded to -13mm). Your required offset for this wheel would be -13mm.

Talking about offset in regards to fitment will only be useful if you also tell the width. An 8 inch wheel at 0 offset has just enough backspace to clear the strut assembly, but a 10" wheel at 0 offset will have too much backspace to fit. Backspacing is a more useful measurement when trying to fit wheels on a car. The reason using 0 offset works most of the time is because people rarely use wider than 8" wheels on their Z's.

I've got a Choro-Q mini that a fellow Hybridz member got me from Japan that I painted to look like my actual z:

The way offset works is like this: take your advertised wheel width, and divide it in half. The mid point is 0 offset. What a wheel with 0 offset means is that the actual mounting flange of the wheel is exactly at the centerline. closer to the strut is negative offset, closer to the outer edge is positive offset. What this does to your backspacing goes like this: In order to seat your tire bead, there is an extra inch, one half in the front, one in the back, so add that to the amount you get from dividing the wheel in half. So a 17X8" wheel is actually 9" wide from outside to outside. An S30 Z car with standard suspension components can fit roughly 4.5" of backspace without rubbing the struts. On a 17X8" wheel, 0 offset would leave you with 4.5" of backspace. On a 16X9.5" wheel, you would need a -19mm offset to maintain that 4.5" backspace, or else use a spacer to make up the difference. Here is a picture of a 17X8" wheel with a +38mm offset and a 1.5" spacer (this corrects the offset to 0) on my car. Tire is a 255/40 17 from a 996 porsche in the rear. This car has been lowered 1" with the tokico spring/strut kit commonly available on ebay. This picture is the same car from the side, an interval of time has passed between these two images, so don't stress out about the different mirrors and paint :

OTM, you're cheatin' on me over here! You want me to post some of the pics I had going over at Hybridz, or is this fresh ideas only? *edit* since I happen to know that you are out of commision, and will be unable to reply for a bit, I've made a command decision to go ahead and put them up anyway: Here is my group B themed car: This is a tarmac rally car (don't ask about the rainbow paint scheme, it was in reply to a comment about the paint job on the group b car...): This is a g-nose with flipped headlight buckets. Nobody at Hybridz liked this one, but I'm convinced this would look awesome in the flesh...: Disregard the horrible coloring job on this one...it's got a G35-ish fascia on it with a top mount intercooler.