Mondo

GT525s, Andrew. Though I have no idea when that'll be...!

Eeeeek!! 3" expansion downpipes have just arrived!

If these are the ones that use the throttle body bolts (for the early plenums, basically) then I'll be in for a polished pair with no logo :yes:

If you get a spare moment, could you PM some pictures of them to me please? Mine are en route from AMS as we speak so I'm interested to see what the hell I've actually bought! :lol:

Holy good God!! Are those the AMS 3" downpipes I see there...? If so, what's the quality like, Ash...?

Issue: this conversion doesn't even technically exist yet, as the OP's car is currently in the shop for measuring and fabrication. So the whole point of this thread is to effectively drum up advance orders for something that may or may not offer any benefit other than relocating the turbos themselves and may or may not offer any performance benefit or detriment! Myself, I'd want to know more about the engineering firm who are doing the actual work before I even considered a deposit for something like this. The information is too sketchy for my liking and, as I said, the product for sale doesn't actually exist at this point in time...

A thought has just occurred to me: if your car is currently in the shop being measured up and whathaveyou, then where is the picture of the finished installation from...?

End of thread? I don't think so! You appear to be taking exception to (for all you know) possible customers asking legitimate questions about this conversion, which is a peculiar stance to take. But you've just stated yourself that your car is the guinea pig so there are precisely NO R&D figures to provide, which answers at least one of my questions. :thumbup1: I imagine that it would primarily be racers or drifters who would have an interest in this and I'd expect those people to be very concerned with the flow capabilities of this setup. So that, I think, should be your primary selling point. If you're not going to make a single penny from these kits, why are you offering them for sale, rather than the company who are actually building them...? Are you affiliated with the builders, by any chance? The information you're able to provide is minimal at best. And you don't like questions being asked about either the product or yourself. Neither of those things is good from the perspective of a potential customer. ;)

Well, for a start: you're offering a service (for profit or otherwise) without even being a subscribed member here, so that's the first issue. Another issue, for me at least, is how much flow-work or performance testing has been done with this conversion. It obviously requires new downpipes, as you've stated, so what sort of characteristics do the new ones have? How much R&D has been done (by yourself or the company building this kit) to ensure that they are at least as efficient as the stock DPs? I get that replacing turbos on the VG30 is a PITA - my own will require changing in the near future - but is an additional £750 plus fitting going to be a justifiable expense for the average Z32 owner here?

So you can't justify spending £1k + on some good turbos, but you can justify spending £750 (remember, you're not making a penny from these kits) on giving yourself the ability to change your turbos easily...?

You mean the same kit that you're already offering for sale on eBay? That kit?

A secondhand waterpump...??

What a fantastic looking machine!!

Any pictures of this bad boy...?

Well, I've just placed the order for a pair of 3" expansion downpipes...!! :scared:

Yes, he fitted the new cover after he'd removed the original, but he didn't remove the original cover when he was making the pattern for the new cover.

The problem with what you're initially saying is that the original cover will already be foam-backed, which will add a couple of millimetres in every direction. So if you then pattern over the top of that, your pattern will effectively be slightly too big... even adding the scrim foam to the reverse of your new leather panels won't counteract that problem sufficiently. If the foam layer on the seat structure itself is quite thin, then you really just need to find an alternative to pinning the pattern into place. You quite simply have to have the seat stripped completely before any patterning takes place.

First and foremost, you shouldn't be making your patterns with the original cover still attached to the seat! That will just give you false measurements! The seat should always be stripped down to the bare foam before any kind of patterning is done. The scrim foam you've used to back the leather should have sufficient "give" for this. The scrim backing itself just adds a tiny bit of stiffness to the panel, but there shouldn't be any issues with it preventing the leather from stretching enough. The wrinkles are most likely due to either the pattern being slightly wrong (due perhaps to being made whilst the original cover was fitted) or because the fitting side of it isn't quite right. Might be worth removing it all and refitting it to see if those sections smooth themselves out, William. Padding the structure out with more foam will give you a slightly uneven look, unless you cover the entire seat in an additional layer! As for the harness slots; they're not actually supposed to be removed. You have to cut the new cover once it's fitted and then tuck everything in uniformly behind the slot covers, assisted by either double-sided tape or a little bit of glue here and there. As I said before, this is a very ambitious project for your second stab at retrimming! I did a pair of Cobra Misanos a few years back, which are a similar sort of layout and design, and they were a serious pain....

From the pictures we at least know that they're 5-bolt tubs.

Me and a friend once pooled our pennies to buy one of these, thinking we could put it back on the road. This would be about 18 years ago and, even then, a replacement windscreen was ridiculous money! We ended up doing little bits to the bodywork and then just selling it on as neither of us could really afford to be throwing money at it. :( I remember thinking how out of this world it would have looked on the road, and how crazy the Nova looked in Cannonball Run 2. Shame we didn't manage to get it back on it's wheels. I know... mint story... :lol:

One thing I have noticed is lots of OEM Z32 brake setups being advertised for between £200 and £300... sometimes just for one axles' worth! I know that the S13 gang like to use our brakes as an upgrade for their own, but some of these calipers and discs on sale look absolutely shocking...

My OEM bulb holders fitted straight into both pairs of clear repeaters I've bought... I know that doesn't help you and I'm not trying to wind you up - I'm just genuinely surprised that a different holder is needed!

Are we on about side repeaters lenses here?

Are you just using leather for all the panels, or are you backing it with foam as well?

Marty Ellis is selling a pair of Z32 Bride subframes on Facebook :thumbup1: And I admire your ambition for retrimming those!!