TomoHawk

Nate, How many shows have you taken your car to? AFAIK, for usually the first few shows, you might not do very well, but you come out with a great list of things to work on, and that, in Mr. Ferrari's words, makes come out a winner later on. thx

No need to. You are doing very well now.

When I read that there were 3 holes and some unused plugs for (lamps/luminaires/lightbulbs), I thought that two may have been added for extra illimination for the panel. But Perry says he has a 240, which I'm not that familiar with. Otherwise, my 280Z has one on the left end (where OFF is) and it lights up the panel fairly well.

I'll say Kats' English has improoved verie mich to.

To me, the honey Bee is about as cool as a Honda Civic cvcc. It was a little car with great gas mileage, no horepower and you can fit 6 in one parking space. The Honey bee is a dinky little car and those guys think they can stuff the engine from a 350Z in there. So far, the engine is the only thing that isn't COOL.

I'm watching it right now! (Discovery Channel) Monster Factoid: In 2004, Car & driver Magazinne voted the Datsun HoneyBee one of the worst coolest cars EVER.

Back then, they had weird putties that cured hard. I'll bet it was some kind of putty, but not an epoxy putty.

In regards to the glass fuel filters, are they able to take the pressure of the fuel injection systems? I just replaced my fuel filter can, and the gas that came out was darker than mud. I put on a new filter, but would like to put on a glass one also, so I can check it often. thx

...And I always thought that those guys have the hood up because the guy with the BIGGEST AIR CLEANER wins. So all the time I spent cleaning up the engine over the winter goes to a good end? thx

I think you outta go over the whole car and fix it up to be a show-winner. Show them your 1st place trophy (best of show?) and watch them shrink. It doesn't matter how fast, or how big the sub-woofers are, etc., if it won't get any attention at a decent car show. thx

It probably would have cost them $20 million to figure out how to save the 400 lbs, and redesign, retool, etc. Not to mention even more money for the cosmetics. So the price is back up to $35,000 then, but the car is lighter and nicer-looking.

Ed- on a website where are so many "purists," when you mention the word "stock" you immediately start a discuusion that hits everybody in a special spot!

Do you think Bon-Ami would workbetter? It''s a cleaner that's not abrasive. Where are you geting your Brasso? thx

I have never seen an S30 in Ohio, since the 80s closed. Saw a few ZXs back then and the only (non-350) Z I know of now belongs to the president of a local Z club. and that's a 300... I do wave to the guys going to car shows ( see lots of cruisers on Friday & Saturday eves) but I have never gotten a wave back. Even at a cruise-in, about the only guys I get looking at my 280Z are some old farts who come over to "inform me" that my car has "fuel injection!" So I made a big 8x11 sign on paper, which was laminated, that says "1978 280Z." :devious:

Isn't there a website called zchicks.com? http://zchickz.com I don't know about any hotties, but it's all about chickz that drive Z cars ( even the 350Z). O L...

IMO, if they really were going to capture the excitement of the 240Z, they should have priced the 350Z at about $13,000, which sounds affordable to me.

I have been making my own gaskets for smaller parts like thermostat, thermostat housing, etc. Also for lawnmower, et al. I use plastic from toy boxes ( the clear window part) so you can trace the outline with a sharpie, then cut out the shape & trim. Then trace on the appropriate gasket paper and cut out. thx

YOu had to tell us this because it's that obvious, huh? NOT. :mad:

I suppose Parts replaced through Factury service bulletins, recalls, etc., would get counted as mods, since the 'defective' parts were what was on there from the factory? I will stick with daily driver. The most reasonable category for a 28 year old car that has seen 100k miles. thx

When you refer to "Stockness," or "as it came from the factory," are you saying that you expect the car to have the ORIGINAL parts, like engine, brake calipers, etc.? After so many years, especially for a daily driver, it is highly likely that brake calipers, etc. could have been replaced. In that case I would expect to see a part that was approved by Nissan as a replacement, or an NOS part, or something like that. In fact, from all the documents on car show judging by AACA, for example, doesn't stress the "correctness" of the replacement (or original/stock) part, but how well it was installed and cared for. An example: http://www.classiccarinteriors.com/rules.htm "Each vehicle should be judged for authenticity, workmanship and condition; however, points should not be deducted for subsequent addition of safety features such as: a. Auxiliary assist devices for handicapped drivers. These items, if present, must be installed with good workmanship and be in good working order." Even for muscle cars, where matching numbers on everything gets you a higher value on the auction block, you get a lot of leeway relative to replacement of parts. They even mentioned this last night during the Barrett-Jackson Classic Cat Auction, that many of the more expensive vehicles have been 'freshened' with NEW parts, paint, hoses, etc. thx

Good idea Chris, The ZCCA judging document discusses displays briefly (Section II. OUTLINE OF CLASSES) and some other things. The display is supposed to describe what you did to the car. Get yourself a copy of the document and read it through yourself. Otherwise, there's no reason we can't discuss anything in the document here, unoffically. To help you get a good idea of what the judges are looking for, you should get a copy of the judging sheet, if available, and the ZCCA judging document has examples of the Interior, Exterior, and Engine score sheets. But there's no reason we can't put together a checklist of things to look into yourself. thx

Actually, yes, there is, but probably not in ZCCA judging. More like antique & custom cars, where there is only one trophy for each place. I have seen it first hand at these car shows, and heard of it from the owners. Sometimes you even see the same cars at a string of car shows, so they get more particular about what was deducted the last time. I'm not sure it was something like door bolts, but something more prominent. Some kinds of things are actually expected to be aligned. Not just bolts- park plug wires need to be run in a certain way, electrical wires, fuel lines... thx

Those classes are general enough for just about any car to fit in there somewhere, but they are also strict enough for some little thing to push your car to a different class that you didn't intend to be in. For me, I have had to replace some components that no longer worked properly with new ( or newer) things to do the job, because I couldn't find a replacement or one that wasn't outrageously expensive. I'm not really interested in 'competing' for stuff, but it's sometimes annoying when somebody points out, "that wasn't the original part." So what. It got the car running reliable, safe and it's not a pain to operate. I keep the show cars on a shelf in the living room.

Like Vicky said, that car Mr. Schevets linked to (post #7) is probably what the 350Z should have looked like.