Me? Im in the Navy

 

I only ask cause I saw "stationed"


HEY, what happened to the quick reply box
or is it just me?

 

I have one.. but the smileys dont work..

 

Nothing here either, J. And the reply box is gray now, instead of tan. Odd ...

 

I know you got your case of red bull so lets see some progress

 

i stoped reading 20 pages ago..but how is the **** going? did you make anything yet? got pics...talk is worthless without pics!!!! :P

 

There is pics acouple pages back of MY stuff

 

Red Bull!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That stuff tastes like Bull ****... It's all about the "Monster"!!!!! Rod.

 

Red bull rocks. Oh yeah, hows the progress coming??

 

Ah my taste buds are shot without my sense of smell. It all tastes the same at this point What ever kicks me in the ***. Besides, the red bull taste was half what got you going

Got a mold curing on the other relay cover. Just about finished with s/c's overlays after some time off from doing those. I was focusing on some other parts. Got a t top all painted up. I'll be molding that in a couple days after the paint is fully cured. The brake master cylinder heatshield is getting molded tomorrow. So I've got two molds done so far. I'm going to finish up all this little stuff to clear room to work on the hood. Theres some half finished overlay pics a couple pages back skully. They're almost done now so I'll get some more pics of those and post them up tonight. I gotta track down some more batteries for my camera. I know I got em, just gotta find em. I'll take pics of everything while I'm at it so you guys can see how far along everything is. The t top is going to be a complicated mold to make (multi piece) but it should be done soon. The molds have to cure on the parts for a few days so they don't distort. On something the size of a hood the mold has to cure for up to 2 weeks to make sure it doesn't distort after I pull it I've still got order all the bagging supplies before I can make any parts though. I've got the vacuum pump and all the hardware, but I dont' have the bags and release films and disposable crap like that yet. I'm going to go ahead and try to get that first relay cover in the mold tonight (something that small doesnt need to be bagged cause its only going to save a few grams to do it that way and thats not worth the extra expense). I'm just waiting for the paint fumes to clear out of the room from spraying the t top.

Thats it for now.

 

I promised pics so here ya go:

Here's the nearly finished t top plug. Still needs a little sanding and polishing and a flange has to made up, but otherwise finished.


Here is what you will need to keep from your t tops (and the latching mechanism, but I didn't take a pic of that).



Relay cover mold (still on plug and needs to be trimmed)


Here's a heatshield plug still in primer stage


Heres the brake master heatshield. Its also got to be sanded and polished and will go into a mold tomorrow. Those splotches are on the camera lense.


And here they are nearly finished. Still need to be trimmed and clear coated but these two are other wise done. One more to finish though. What looks like waves in the fabric is actually reflections of stuff in the room.

 

mmmm Toasty

 

Yea, so when can we order and buy parts?

 

Sorry I bought all Supply.. 6 products?? I need that hood j.. Use the power of Red BUll

 

yeah s/c's got a substantial financial investment in the company so his parts come first and foremost. Even if they're not all for the Z But anything I make for him can be made for anyone else in the mean time

 

Booo Hiss Hiss Boo. Oh well back to patiently waiting. ( sits down and twiddles thumbs)

LOL

 

Ya just gotta love the fact that the first run of parts to ever come out of "ZSpecGarage" are for a VW... It's just wrong I tell ya! .................................................. ....Rod.

 

It's okay, I still have to save up my pennies for all the parts I want

 

Ouch.. Jey I sent those cuz he said they would be quik and he can do them while other parts cure.. The Z has a bigger order than the Vdub by far.. Hood, body kit, heat shields, relay cover, yopu know the good stuff.

didnt take offense just clarifying Z is more important than VW by far

 

Alright, I got one of the overlays completely finished. Well it's still got to cure, but the last bit of resin is on. I finished trimming it so this is it. From now on I'm charging extra for anything that involves Kevlar. I just spent like an 1 1/2 trimming the edges with a razor blade. For anybody who's never worked with kevlar (ooh, thats me ) when you trim or sand it, it turns to fuzz. The only way to get rid of this fuz is to trim it with a razor blade. But Kevlar is notoriously hard to cut. I went through a pair of brand new scissors just cutting the fabric for those 3 overlays. But anyways, every 1/4 to 1/2" I trimmed would dull the blade of the razor. Each razor only got me a couple inches down the part and I'd have to get a new one

But here's a pic of a finished overlay. There are some resin drips hanging off of it that will need to be trimmed down, but this is it.



If you like what you see then let me know what I can do for you. And if it's not too much to ask, please pick carbon and not kevlar Another thing about the carbon/kevlar is that the two fabrics are different thicknesses, so it creates these peaks and valleys in the resin. I have to keep adding resin and sanding it down until it's all level. With carbon, it would only take a couple layers of resin to get it level. Thats what took these overlays so long. I have to wait for each layer of resin to cure before I can add more. That can take quite a few hours in between coats. And the other parts were more complex then this one, so I could only work on one vertical surface at a time. Then when I finished that surface, I had to rotate the part to work on another surface. Otherwise the resin would just run off the rest of the part and I'd just be wasteing resin (epoxy is not cheap). Again, none of that would've been a big deal with an all carbon. I'm used to working with fiberglass and carbon but that was my first encounter with kevlar and it was a pain in the A$$.

 

Nice Parts J, What Is The Last One I Dont Recognize It?

 

That is for my VW.. Spark plug wire covers..

 

Well, I've got some bad news (or neutral news for some of you I guess ) Zspec Garage is going out of business

Now dont panic those of you expecting parts. It's not going to happen tomorrow or anything But I enlisted in the Air Force today I'm going to give myself plenty of time to get all the parts done I'm working on and then some. So if anybody wants anything made, let me know now cause I'm going to cut off starting new projects soon. S/C, all your stuff is definitely getting finished. Now once I finish making a part for a mold I can whip out parts no problem in no time. So if I already have a mold made for a part then I'll be able to make those parts right up until its almost time for me to ship out. But I'm only going to take on so many new types of parts from this point forward. Eventually I'm going to pick this all back up but for now I've gotta focus on my family and this business is just moving too slowly to do that. So in the time I give myself before I leave I'm going to be working double time to get stuff done.

So like I said if you want something made then let me know sooner than later. Rod the ttops are already started and I will have those finished soon.

This is something I've been mulling over for quite some time and I've finally decided that it's time to just do it.

Jason

 

Wow! All I can say is that I wish you the best of luck. I hope no matter where you wind dup, that you'll still be able to be a regular part of the ZDriver forums. I admire the fact that you put so much effort into doing something for the coolest generation of Z cars that nobody else had. I know how hard it is to balance family responsibility with every thing else. Who knows? Maybe once you get settled in somewhere you can pick up where you left off. What ever happens though, you are still the man! Your knowledge here has been invaluable to a great many people. Sorry you have to stop the ZSpecGarage project for now. As for the t-tops, just let me know when they're ready At least I'll be able to say I got some very limited edition custom carbon for my Z. Now that I have two Z cars to fix up, this might be a blessing in disguise for me . Otherwise, I'd probably be going broke having you make parts for both cars!!!! Good luck man... Really. What ever you do, take care of that family and be sure to stop by ZDriver often. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Rod.

 

It's good to now you will be defending our country, the air force was a good choice. And I really apreciate you helping everyone out everyone here at Zdriver!! good luck