The ribbing is expanding foam... it doesn't have any load bearing capabilities but once glared over the glass does die to the increase in the second moment area... allows it to stay really light s well and is super easy to work with.

Why do you say I don't need a car where I live? Everything in Michigan is like 10 miles away minimum I'm a calibration engineer so I DD development cars everyday.

 

Ah, I see what you are doing. That's interesting, it's almost as if you are hydroforming the structural characteristics into the hatch. Good idea!

What do you think about laying out bricks in the areas you want to stay flat. I presume the foam could then expand in the "structural" areas. I'm thinking you are foam-filling the damp layer of fiberglass.

Oh Michigan! A good friend of mine almost took a job at Ford in Detroit. I was thinking Queens, NY. lol so you basically "datalog" your route home...

 

Actually I wait for the glass to dry, sand it, lay the foam the apply resin snd lay cloth over it then another layer of resin. The brick idea is good, might use that to get a cleaner line.

Yup, I eork on transmission calibration, test my changes on the ride home, you wouldn't believe how useful real world data is as opposed to closed circuit.

 

Gotcha. If you have anything to do with the programming on the 2011 ford escape's transmission, I have to say thanks. I had one as a rental and was thoroughly impressed with the automatic and the way it was controlled.

I'd like to know the weight of the OEM hatch and the fiberglass hatch if you can provide that info.

 

I wish I new another Z owner close to me with those fiberglass skills. I have some experience but ....... Still learning. Bump heads, combine knowledge , have fun building and have some sweet creations

 

If you're semi-handi, you can accomplish it... believe it or not this is my first time working with fiberglass. Obviously there was a learning curve and I had to throw the first one out but its still worth it. Only advice I have is when trimming, do so in VERY SMALL increments. Good thing about glass is if you f up you can just reglass .

 

Agreed, anyone can do anything if they do it with a passion. Do it, try hard and love it. I've taught myself sooo many things and I'm semi-self taught with CNC machining which includes programming.

 

Agreed, interior ribbing:

 

Anyone want to come over to body filler and paint that I know I'm going to fug up.... not sure what color to paint it. If o paint it red it won't match the cats red for sure and it'll look awful.

 

LOL no thanks. What about vinyl wrapping the roof and hatch with Carbon-fiber pattern?

 

Was thinking about wrap... what's the best place to get that stuff?? What's average price for that?

 

I ordered from AVS(auto vinyl solutions) in 2013 to do my roof. I didn't have any issues with AVS.

It's veryyyyyyyy tricky to work with but, it has it's advantages. I can't say price, you need to measure the surface area and determine what size vinyl you need.

I think it needs to be applied on a wet surface but, I may be totally wrong. Do your research if you go that route.

 

@Dblock55

I started a little "share your project thread". Is like if you shared your hatch project over there. It's totally up to you if you want to or not.

https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-n...and-so-on.html

 

I asked this before but didnt get a response... are race seats rated from the date they are shipped or is it just a generic 2016-2019 sticker? Im going to wait till the new year to order anyways but just wondering at this point.

 

I'm not quite sure. I'll take a look if you can't find anything.

 

Its based of date of manufacture, not date of shipping. That's often why you see otherwise great seats drop in price when a store has some in the showroom or stock thats been sitting for a year or 2.

 

Thank you sir, this is what I've been looking for.... I'm just going to order of the sparco website direct. I'm assuming if I order in the new year I'll get a 2016 seat.

 

Incorrect assumption- Sparco imports their seats and that means--depending on the model--the date of manufacture will be most likely be 2015 if you order in the first half of next year. But you don't really need the seat until you start building the roll cage and seat mounts anyway. When do you plan to start that part of the build? Are you planning on racing this Z in 2016?

 

I have scheduled a tentative start date of February for the cage build... was going to order the seat first thing new year so thsts I have it mounted when I drop the car off at the shop... 2016 will most likely bd a test and tune year for me so that's 1 year lost on the seat... if it's a 2015 then I'm 2 years down...

On another note the hatch is complete, stripped the lexan off to make vinyl wrap easier... 6lbs without the lexan.

 

I was a bit curious about the seat-dating topic so I was reading a little bit. I will contact SCCA tech support and follow up with more research to be sure but, as of now I have read that the seat is good from 5 years of it's production date. It can be used past the 5 years if it is in good shape and is to be used with a back support.


http://www.ogracing.com/blog/2012/11...expires/#seats
"FIA-rated seats have a month/year of manufacture, which can be found on the manufacturer’s sticker (typically affixed to the side of the seat). The seat can be used as-is for 5 years from its date of manufacture. At the end of that period, the seat can usually continue to be used in conjunction with a seat back-brace, so long as it is still in good condition"



http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files...pdf?1448920611
9.3.19. DRIVER’S RESTRAINT SYSTEM
No mention of seat dating but, it does go into detail about harness dating.
9.3.41. SEATS
No mention of seat dating/expiration.

This is research you should be doing in depth since you are building a specified car. Get to know these rule books to the club you are racing in.