Vigor's kit thread

[nuttin but Z32]

well hurry up and finish this extreme makeover lol
we all wanna see how it looks when it's finished,well atleast i doi.
and how often do you work on it?

[es.biggs]

No one likes change, in fact tomorrow I should post the car video on a Cavalier or Civic forum and see what they think

Link please

[VigorousZX]

I hope my thread doesnt get locked
http://www.civicforums.com/forums/3-gen ... s-car.html


To dharr67
I have a thread in 3zc.com with pages and pages of negative comments but none of it phases me

To sweetdreams6t9
What I like about the Beet kit is how it includes the door in the wide-body rear where the other kits start from the end of the door. If I was ever going to have a wide-body, I would make one over paying for one

well hurry up and finish this extreme makeover lol
we all wanna see how it looks when it's finished,well atleast i doi.
and how often do you work on it?

I used to live at my fathers house where the car is and I would work on it every day. I cant believe how fast time flies but its been a year since I started the process. I currently dont have a job so Im on site at least 3 days a week... I should have pictures of the headlights cut out tomorrow.

[Re037]

front end tapers so it doesnt appear long. if you keep the width all the way through the car immediatley looks imbalanced. it looks like it wants to tip over forward. the hood looks really long. either shorten the overhang or start pulling it in (like how it already is...) you need to prioritize basic proportions of your volumes and worry less about graphics until you have your stance and gesture. i know you dont have millions of dollars like a major oems, but you can atleast get some foam to get an idea for volume before laying down exspensive fiber glass resin. foam is easy to shave away with a sureform tool (homedepot $7). you might as well find some peugeot headlights like in your photoshop instead of covering up the stock lights.

the reason why most body kits look like crap is because they dont accentuate the design theme of the vehicle, which sits well because the proportions support them. oem and factory/dealer parts are made in mind with cars design language so things dont look foreign, like having edgy creased bumpers on an organic smooth flowing body. ie combat kit on a volvo wagon. the veilside kits look "okay" because they revamped the entire surfacing of the car to make it hollistic. (not that i personally like them but because they dont look like random parts). very few aftermarket kits look good.

i've been doing this every day at school for the past 3 years. in fact i'm interning at honda RD right now.

[VigorousZX]

Thanks for the great advice, I hope you land a job at Honda... maybe you can show someone my backyard work and influence those guys to start making sporty cars again.
If this kit business of mine takes off, I want to construct the black design on a mid engine car so that I can cut really deep into the hood like I want.

Members, please feel free to browse the pictures and make comments without having to read all of the following.
Ive been constructing the Zed for a long time now and I feel I finally got the dimensions down. I made it a little more squared and rounded out the bumper too. I read before that there are DOT regulations on the bumpers strength, so keeping the stock one underneath should satisfy this but it also stops me from cutting the front shorter.
Next week Im going to fiberglass the top panels only then finalize the rest. Once its finished, Ill sand the edges a bit to make it more rounded.

Right now one of the headlights is misaligned which is due to my rushed work, but Ill fix this after the glass is cured.
Here is a close up of how I mounted the headlights... its basically sheet metal that is shaped into an L and secured into the existing screws, http://lh6.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/TGaJm ... all%29.JPG

The way I placed the newspaper over top, the car looks like it drank a barrel of oil and got a black mustache. As I was working today I noticed that it kinda looks like a huge grill, then it instantly reminded me of the Aston One-77 concept.
Funny enough while I was scanning for pictures I found an artist Aston concept that looks like my black design.
http://www.automotto.org/entry/aston-ma ... on-martin/

So I've complete the top of the car but now Im wondering if I should copy this enormous and masculine grill or keep with the old bumper render. If I do the Aston bumper, Im still going to incorporate those side vents from the old render.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/TGaL8 ... oncept.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/TGaL8 ... cept-2.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/TGaL8 ... cept-3.jpg


Do you guys like the One-77 grill?

[JustinGB]

man poor car... anyways if your target are NA owners, you won't be making much money.

[VigorousZX]

Since I cut the bumper in half and refitted it, Im not sure if the same can be done to TT's because of the intercoolers.

[Chattzx]

idk the front does not mix well with the rest of the Z. good luck though

[vitaminZ]

I think it would look great if you made it flow with the rest of the car (i.e beefy wheels, wide body, etc etc)

its like having a female with a REALLY huge rack but a REALLY flat bottom!

[frag-me]

As much as I like kits I'm not feeling this one but that's only cause I'm waiting for the final piece. But that's awesome to what you're doing and I wish ya the best of luck.

[VigorousZX]

I think it would look great if you made it flow with the rest of the car (i.e beefy wheels, wide body, etc etc)
its like having a female with a REALLY huge rack but a REALLY flat bottom!

Nice analogy I wish I could expand the rear too but at this point the project has taken a long time and it would also increase costs. Perhaps a little trim from the front and rolling the rear fenders would balance it a bit like this Acura.

http://tl.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=744942

[JustinGB]

rolling the rear fenders will make it even more awkward. You'll have a long swooping smooth shape up front then a muscular bulge in the rear but is disproportionally small. I don't understand, you were so willing to hack up the front to make your vision come true but you are hesitant to do anything to the rear to make it complete? After all the ridicule and discouragement, you're just proving them right.

[Pieceofsand]

It has a luxurious look to it Vig. I see you finally got a real model in your first pic.

[VigorousZX]

Im preparing to fiberglass the top surface at midnight, Ive got 3 fans, a respirator, gloves and Im going to make a body suit out of garbage bags. I hope to have a drivable kit on the road in less then 2 weeks.

rolling the rear fenders will make it even more awkward. You'll have a long swooping smooth shape up front then a muscular bulge in the rear but is disproportionally small. I don't understand, you were so willing to hack up the front to make your vision come true but you are hesitant to do anything to the rear to make it complete? After all the ridicule and discouragement, you're just proving them right.

A rear kit and wide-body would take a long time to perfect. For now the front kit and a cheap fender roll should be satisfactory for someone looking to buy the conversion on a budget. My future car might even have the mid sections wider

[VigorousZX]

Update

Now the cars top surface is fiberglass-ed and Ive cut out one headlight. My current dilemma is to center the headlights vertically which means either cutting more into the fender and hard metal front frame or bringing the kit forward.

The high-beams are purposely not fully exposed because it just looks better this way and I hardly use them anyway. If I have legal problems with it in the future then I'll have to readjust it.

Here is a front view
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/THI8_ ... 6yE/01.jpg






Side view
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/THI8_ ... RV8/03.jpg







Side view
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_aqdJkNjP_iM/THI8_ ... p68/05.jpg

Photoshop

This is how I want the car to look like, I was deciding on the other grills that members were voting on but they had a mean face to them and I didnt really have a happy face grill as an option. After finding the right "happy face" grill and liking it over the other grills, Im 90% sure to complete the car with this face.

Other accessories I'm looking to add are LED lights and plexiglass covers to fill the headlights. Also bigger side vents, specially if the kit is going to fit TT models, and stock blinkers at the corners.

I hope you guys like the final design and hopefully I can pull it off.

misc pix http://picasaweb.google.com/VigorousZX/Misc#

[VigorousZX]

[tg]

the only way this is happening as KIT is if you offer it as front fenders, bumper, hood and light relocation.

Not much chance in hell somebody is going to buy the kit for $3000 and cut their car to s*** to have it look like a Peugeot.

[gbeto60]

Always wondered whats up with Vig`s avatar? if thats the head I can only imagine the rest full of leather and a wip... then picture that driving his "project"...
I hate to bring a brother down like this but come on bro, look at it again.. look at it!!!

[VigorousZX]

Hehe, I used to have my face for an avatar at the Australian Zed forums and someone made this mock-up... Im kinda popular, in an undesirable way. Seeing how this leather fetish hat is designed after a generals hat, I put my logo on it and voila!

the only way this is happening as KIT is if you offer it as front fenders, bumper, hood and light relocation.

Not much chance in hell somebody is going to buy the kit for $3000 and cut their car to s*** to have it look like a Peugeot.

Oem hood, Fenders, bumper, these parts are going to total ~$1000 dollars alone, its even a bigger waste when the parts are flawless and the paint is good. Its a great idea and a sensible one for me to offer whole packages but being an amateur to fiberglass and not knowing what specifications insurance companies expect in aftermarket parts, the cutting up and puncturing of the Zed will be the only way for now.

One of my business strategies is to have cheap local cars and these dirt cheap 1k-4k L.A. Zeds converted and sold for profit.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/search ... axAsk=4000

[VigorousZX]

You will definitely have to re-craft the doors, trunk, and back bumper (B-pillars and C-pillars) to allow the front-end to "flow" well with the rest of the car's design. Have you thought of creating your own headlight assemblies? That would be a much simpler solution than having to constantly readjust the existing OEM headlights.

After selling the front kits I'll start making a new rear end design and I may be expanding the kit to include new body lines to flow into a wide-body rear. Making my own headlights would be great but because there are laws to have DOT approved headlights on the road only, getting them tested and approved would cost lots of money.

I will agree with those in this thread that trying to create a business venture and profiting off of this won't turn out well for you. This is a good one time project and you will be comfortable with the outcome because you crafted the entire project - but people won't pay for such a large investment as a car without paperwork and warranties from a body shop. And you aren't a body shop and cannot provide those things.

Other then the 25k+ NSX, I cant think of any production car under 50k that has as sexy curves and looks as my car. There must be people with the same taste as myself and are willing to pay 10k to have the car as a whole, without any warranties.

If I owned the same high end cars as your self, I would sell one or two for a "turnkey" Ferrari replica. You dont need to have any badges or to lie to your friends that its real, its the beautiful body that I would appreciate and drive around.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylFsNfmpIxM[/youtube]

[Z32TT]

As much as I like kits I'm not feeling this one but that's only cause I'm waiting for the final piece.

It will never get finished, so dont get your hopes up.

[Z32TT]

Oem hood, Fenders, bumper, these parts are going to total ~$1000 dollars alone

I dont know where your getting your dollar figure from but used those parts are cheap, and ill speak from experience on buying my front end, 80 for my hood, 140 for FB, 150 for Jdm fenders. 300zx front end parts dont really go for much...

[VigorousZX]

I found my prices from the first set of results in Google with all car parts being new and from fancy over charging websites.

update photos... I was playing with the 240sx today

high resolution picture in my miscellaneous album

Im going to be cutting deeper into the fender to position the headlights properly and if its still not good enough, Im going to hack the plastic off the headlights a bit and reseal it with a new smaller enclosure. One concern with doing the latter is that around the bulb there are metal reflectors and these would get trimmed out or moved in. Since new brighter bulbs are available today, removing these metal reflectors shouldnt be a problem.

[VigorousZX]

A little teaser pic, Im making the holes for the blinkers and fog lights today

[VigorousZX]

Thanks, keeping both sides of the model identical was a hard process and just overall designing was hard.

The look has changed a bit, I photoshop-ed some optional headlights from a 2010 Mazda 3


Progress pictures


photoshop


I also started a thread in my town
http://www.revscene.net/forums/gave-my- ... 24616.html

[VigorousZX]

More pictures in my album.

[xclusivez32]

does your car run? jw because all of the pictures are taken in the same spot

[VigorousZX]

Yup, one of my previous videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl0Iqq24 ... re=related
I want to auction my car on ebay in a few weeks.

Link to my album
http://picasaweb.google.com/VigorousZX/MyCar#

[JDMricist]

I thing this will be SICK if you use your own design and not copy or make the kit look like another car..
If you make it in your own image and it looks nice, that would be pretty sweet.

[Initial_Z]

the only way this is happening as KIT is if you offer it as front fenders, bumper, hood and light relocation.

Not much chance in hell somebody is going to buy the kit for $3000 and cut their car to s*** to have it look like a Peugeot.

That's what I've been telling him.