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Don't know if this will be of any help, but way back in the first week of January this year, I finished the drain channels in my boot, and realised I needed drain holes. I discounted plastic as not all adhesives are effective, so I used copper pipe, which worked very well, I stuck the pipes in with araldite, (4 minute setting time, as I have no patience)
Here's what I wrote then:
When I re-designed the boot lid aperture and put the rain channel in place, I was aware that eventually it would need a drain hole each side.
This is a bit obvious, but I had it illustrated to me one day when the cover blew off and it rained ( at that stage the body was outside) the boot had lots of water inside.
Well its done now, I used two lengths of 8mm copper tube, flared the ends and glassed them in.
Rubber pipe will be used to channel the water down through the floor later.
One more time consuming job that had to be done, finished at least,
another 5 thousand to go...........
So- in a do something, do anything moment yesterday I stripped off the 4" bonnet stripes and cool weather notwithstanding replaced them with 5" stripes spaced 5" apart. More central, not quite straight but this is still a tryout.
For my two new pennies worth, I reckon the Z300 shape would benefit from asymmetric stripes, one thick, one thin, like on this '64 Datsun 1500 Sports -
That would help to break up the expanse of bonnet, which is quite large, and make the car appear more athletic. Just a thought.
So I took Z300S #4 into work yesterday. Had a really nice drive down the M4 into Slough. Later on, in the car park as it got dark, the alarm started sounding and the only way to silence it was to disconnect the battery.
It was still sounding intermittently as I refuelled so had to disconnect it again whilst in the garage. Was probably sounding for 25% of the journey home- very entertaining I'm sure.
Any ideas on why... before I reconnect the battery for the next outing?
I became concerned that the front indicators mounted in the headlamp recesses were not very visible, especially with the headlights on.
Not wishing to alter the appearance too much, I mounted some repeater indicators in the front brake intake ducts on the expanded metal grilles within and sprayed the lenses with boy-racer "Backlight" lacquer.
They contain only 5w bulbs so I may replace the fittings with full 21w ones as fitted to the rear- will still hide them with lacquer though.
I see that the £18,500 Bertini currently on eBay has a strut brace across the front suspension towers.
If it had made a lot of difference, wouldn't BMW have fitted one to the original car?
So- any recommendations here?
Strut braces do make a slight differece, but as the tower movement without them is so minimal, fitting them also has a very minimal effect, which is why most mainstream manufacturers don't put them on as standard.
The cost does not justify the tiny gain.
It seems to be mainly a boy-racer and real racer thing.
With boy-racers, it is mainly aesthetic, but with a rally car or race car, putting unintended extra strain on the towers will give more movement, so the the gains of fitting a brace will be larger, but still minimal.
Apparently a butt brace makes more of a difference with the Z3. The rear suspension set up is not great and on the M cars the rear mounts can actually tear themselves apart.
One of the reasons I decided not to drop the LS7 V8 in the front of mine
WCA, I don't know much about rear strut braces, but IanA was referring to a front one, and so did my comments.
And the other reason you did not put the big engine in your car was the wife threatening to do a John Bobbit on you if you went ahead with the project!!
Had an interesting trip to Retromobile in Paris on Saturday. A really super show with some tremendous exhibits- you don't see a Spanish Pegaso for years and then 14 come along at once.
Not much 1950s Maser activity but a nice 300S. The lighting in the halls is not the best for car shots but some details worth noting...
An interior-
and a badge I'd not seen before-
and an interesting donor engine perhaps for added authenticity-
Ooh, there's my original inspiration loitering in the background of your engine shot - a silver Porsche 718 RSK. Very nice and I'm so jealous. Have to console myself with a walk around the Collosseum tomorrow morning.
Here's one of the aforementioned Pegaso cars, bodywork by Touring, done up as a Le Mans entrant with aero screens, side exhausts and quick lifts. Entered for the 1953 race but one of the team's two cars crashed in practice so the team did not run.
Rebuilt more recently in USA and now in a private collection there.
Having been brought over for Retromobile, I expect it will be seen at the various European salons this year. Wonder if it will do the Mille Miglia?
