Hi everyone
I am building a complete new body for my Zed
Thought I would share


Re Body New and different headlights

Spliter and new nose foamed , working on the fenders

the rear hatch will be replaced with a smaller trunk , no rear window

the whole body will be fiberglass

plug for the roof scoop

the back , new lights , etc

 

Welcome- this looks like quite a bit of work and thanks for sharing. What kind of condition was the donor Z in when you started this project? Did you retain the OEM quarter panels?

 

This is my type of thread. Keep us updated

 

Hi dkmura
Ok well there seems to be some interest here in my build
The doner car is a mint condition 2005 35th Anniversary Edition with low miles , I know it seems like a shame to pick a rare and mint car for a new look , but I wanted a good car under all that work .

 

So I think I will start from the very beginning
A friend and I were interested in the Vaydor built by Matt McEntegart based on the G35 , so we went to Tampa Florida to visit Matt and check the Vaydor out , we were very fortunate to get to go to a Hot Import Nights car show where Matts Purple convertible was the feature of the show .
The next day we went to Matt's shop and he gave us the tour , answered all our questions , super nice guy not to mention extremely talented.
The Vaydor is a very cool car but the logistics of the price and the difference on the dollar plus shipping to Canada were just not viable .
So on the flight home I thought to myself , hey I am a handy guy why don't I build my own car !!!!
And so I decided to go for it , I picked the Nissan 350 Z because I am already a Nissan guy and the Zed is great bang for the buck .
From the beginning , I had to set up a shop to do Fiberglass work in , my existing shop is attached to my house and you can't do glass there .
So here we go !!!


I built some For wooden wheel to simulate the new 22 inch Rims

this works well for test fitting and the expensive ones don't get destroyed during the build

the fronts are 3 1/4 inches wider and the rears are 5 1/4 inches wider

this was an empty building when I acquired it

Disassembly

the rear hatch will be deleted and so will the rear window

building the mold for the inside hatch replacement

mold for replacement hatch


laying up the inside hatch part

the inside hatch replacement will have a smaller trunk .

 

next is the outer hatch replacement

building the plug to replace the outer hatch panel

tons of glass

laying it up

building a base for it to stand on once it gets flipped over to make the new part from the mold

here is the mold , it's a one time part so no gelcoat

this is it with the filleting wax removed

the two parts sitting together ( inside sitting in the mold for the outside )

laying up the outside part

curing

outside part getting trimmed

the two together on the car

trunk hole cut out

 

Just to let you know I have been building this body for almost 2 years now it's getting close there are like 2000 pictures , hard for me to pick which ones to show you .
On to the the trunk parts the bottom of the truck gets built into the back lid ,until it needs to be cut out .I will make a copy of the bottom so I can build the top of the trunk lid on the bench instead of leaning over the back of the car

this is the plug for the piece that goes over the rear suspension tower brace

laying up the mold

here is the mold ( again a one time part no gelcoat )

the mold trimmed

the part layed up in the mold

the part out of the mold

the part trimmed and on the car

the perimeter for the trunk opening


this will eventually get trimmed off around the very outer edge and the trunk seal will sit on the standing seam


these slats will become ridges in the base of the lid


constantly checking plumb and level to stay on track .

 

closing off the trunk from the roof


I made up some flat fiberglass to cut pieces to fit in between the trunk edge and the roof

here you can see I made patterns with bristle board , no cheating here with a $100,000 dollar scanner

here's the pieces traced out on the flat glass

prep for the closer plates

taped into place

then fiber glassed into place

it turned out well I thought



oh no you have seen my signature Exhaust !!!

 

Sub'd. Definitely want to see how this turns out!

 

I'm so wet.
Fiberglassing takes a lot of patience and artistic skill. The way your hatch came out compared to what others have tried making here are night and day. Very impressive.

 

Thanks for the kind words
more on the trunk lid


bottom where the lid fits


adding filler


the part above the yellow tape in the center is going to be the back of the trunk lid




these are just a mock up but this is what the top of the lid will look like

trunk lid louvers

 

Just wanted to show the lower or bottom half of the hatch replacement , this seals on the factory rubber just like the hatch did .
So here you can see it off the car , on the car and from inside the car .
The flange hanging down will be trimmed off once the upper and lower are bonded together .

off the car


on the car


inside the car

 

On to the roof scoop !!!


Started with the foam to get the curve of the roof



covered the foam with paneling












the pocket will be where it gets bolted to the roof panel . It will need to be removable to replace the windshield










the pocket will be separate , it will locate and secure the scoop on the roof along with two ridges on the roof to provide stiffening .


there are a lot of hours in these parts

 

Intrigued by the roof scoop- will it be functional, and if so, how? Vent the interior via a roof vent? Or just flow air to the rear window?

 

More on the Scoop !!
This was a very difficult part to make and keep symmetrical


Ok this is ready to take a mold of ,the red part is called a plug (a finished part you want to copy )

the plug gets several coats of parting wax (high heat mold release wax ) then gets sprayed with PVA polyvinyl Alcohol another release agent

next it gets black tooling Gelcoat it can take the heat from the part curing in the mold

then it gets several layers of fiberglass

I like to add plywood to help hold the structure and it gives it a base to rest it on to work


So this is the position it will be in to layup the new part


Because of the shape of the part I decided to make the mold in two parts so it wont break getting it out

so I cut the back off and made it removable





Ok its time to take the red plug out !!

you have to be careful here not to scratch the mold with any tools

So we use wooden wedges

and Baam it's out Shitty part is the red plug is now garbage !!! Plugs usually bust because they aren't very strong

Ok so next is prepping the mold to make a part it now gets several coats of wax and also gets sprayed with PVA


ready for the white gelcoat

the white gelcoat is applied , it needs to dry overnight usually

next day two units of Fiberglass


here it is layed up and still wet and curing

next day its ready to get popped out of the mold

I trimmed the edges first here just for safety , the flange will still need to get trimmed to go on the car

Here it is out of the mold

Here you can see pulling off the PVA the PVA is like liquid saran wrap , you can usually pull most of it off in large sections

one of the nice things about PVA is it water soluble

here it is ready to be trimmed

and sitting on the car

 

Hi the roof scoop is Not functional , it's purpose is to help with roof structure ,( and cool factor ) it could very easily be made functional to pass air through to the back or into the cabin .
Thanks again for your interest .
Cheers

 

Based on your progress and techniques, I would say this is quite the understatement. I've dabbled a little in fiberglass and carbon fiber, but nothing to this scale. Truly impressive.

 

I used to make copies of evo hood scoops to install on factory hoods. I would use bowling alley wax as a release agent. It worked perfectly. I had the mold for so long before i got rid of it from not really being in that type of scene anymore.

Is this what you do for work, or just a great hobby that you decided to take on?

 

Hey thanks for the support guys , I am actually a welder , fabricator , mechanic .
But I have worked in many different fields and picked up a few things along the way .
Lets take a look at the front of the car .

These are the headlight buckets, made of wood and body worked. These are the plugs to make the part

so next is make a copy of them and then make the part form them

so this is the first layup of fiberglass

Now it gets popped of the plug with little wooden wedges , not to damage the fiberglass

here is a good shot of the PVA getting pulled off

So now these get waxed and PVA so they can be layed up with fiberglass

here they are glassed

and here they are on the car after being trimmed up

This one needed some clearance for the windshield washer bottle



These headlight buckets will get glassed into the the whole front under the bumper piece , that the nose and front fenders and hood all come together .

 

Next is the front lower bumper , spliter and fender support


So this piece ties the front of the car together , The spliter will bolt to this and the fenders at the bottom and inside under the hood

there are provisions to run air ducts to the brakes and cold air intakes , not to mention a large are to cut out for the radiator




tons of hours have gone into this project






I don't know who invented sanding ..........


after all these parts are fiber glassed together the plug goes in the garbage ...........totally disheartening






I have extended the front bumper 2 inches giving more room for inter coolers and oil coolers , still retaining the factory tow fixture


so here you see the white part with the purple this is ready to be glassed , this ties the headlight pots and the front fender fastening area together


this whole nose should have been glassed at this time but I got too excited and wanted to see some foam and shape happening , it's ok I just have to do it after the nose gets glassed and pulled off .