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For sale my factory built Scarab Z # 155. This is a true factory car -- one of only 17 known to exist. I have owned this car since 1996. The body and interior was done in 1997. The engine rebuilt in 2003 and the suspension in 2008. This car was built by Scarab in 1979 on a 1972 donor Z. The car has been in northern California all its life and has a good body. Floors are good. There is minor rust on the driver's door and on the rear tailgate finisher (a replacement panel is readily available) This Scarab has a 350 cu.in Chevy "Bow tie" block with angle plug heads, BRE aluminum roller tipped rockers, Edelbrock torker intake with Edelbrock carb. The transmission is a Borg-Warner Super T-10 4-speed with the Scarab installed R200 LSD rear. Scarab installed rear sway bar. Super rare Campagnolo wheels. Recaro seats and Momo Prototipo steering wheels. Front brakes are circa 1979 FIA 4 piston calipers. I am selling this car to fund a new project (I already have a 1967 Cutlass 442 and 1966 Ford Ranchero) and I need the space. Price is $25,000 I have a Flickr page with photos and videos (although I'm having trouble putting the link in). Email me and I'll send the link craig.sparkes@wildaboutcars.com

When I completed the restore of my car, I spent a lot of time removing brackets, clips, and other miscellaneous parts within the engine bay in order to give it a cleaner and better organized look. Actually, this was my son's idea, so I can't take credit for it, but it really did clean up the look of the engine bay nicely. However, as I was contemplating all of the upgrades for the electrical system, I realized I was going to need a slew of new relays for headlights, cooling fans, etc and I just didn't like the idea of cluttering up the engine bay that I just got done cleaning up. On top of that relays are mechanical in nature and as such can fail over time, so I really wanted something a little more elegant as well as reliable. Well I did find something and I'm probably the only Z person in our universe who has done this. I purchased a system from a company called Isis Power. They produce a product that is essentially an integrated power control system that uses solid state FET transistors to switch power to the desired loads. Zero relays and totally programmable. They are apparently pretty popular with the hot rod crowd as well as folks doing a lot of ground up restorations. In addition, they also provide a remote key fob and receiver that allows you to completely disable the ignition of the car (assuming you have your ignition wired into the Isis system) making it difficult if not impossible to jump start the car. I will add that it is also expensive, especially as compared to the relay alternative, so I thought long and hard before deciding to do this. Well it was an adventure to get it all working and took quite some time, but in the end I have an extremely reliable modern day system that not only provides power control but a slew of other features only available in more modern cars. Having said that, it really took some time for me to fully understand the way in which the system operates and all of the capabilities it has, but the fundamental premise of operation is that the system needs to see a switch closure to ground which serves as a signal to activate a specific load attached to the system. As a result of that, I had to do a lot of rewiring as pretty much all of the switched circuits in our Z, switch power, not ground. The system comes as 2 units, a Master Cell and a Power Cell. The master cell is the intelligence of the system and is the termination point for all of the switched circuits that you want to control. The power cell actually provides the power to the desired load. The master cell "talks" to the power cell over a 5 wire CAN (car area network) bus and will basically tell it when to turn on / off any specific load. I mounted the master cell on the passenger side kick panel where my old transistor ignition module used to be. The power cell is mounted in the engine bay on the passenger side tucked away down by the frame rail. I also decided to only use the Isis system for the highest power devices in the car or ones that I wanted better control of. So the system controls headlights (including Hi / Low beam), ignition, fuel pump, wipers, cooling fans, stereo, stereo amp and subwoofers. The other circuits remain as they were although my original fuse box is highly depopulated now. For the install, I also added circuits gradually so I could better understand the way in which the system operated and ensure that each circuit behaved as expected. I've included a few pictures of the install. I've also left out a lot of details on the ins and outs of the install but happy to answer any questions.

Site, You have to remember those are Canadian prices, we get over charged for everything up here. I'm sure an American shop would give a more reasonable price. Chris

Soda normally costs more and it doesn't touch rusty metal. Also it needs to be neutralized before painting. Be prepared for the paint estimates. When I was looking to get a price for doing a Z they were all over the place. Some as high as $8-9k. The guy I wanted to do it was gonna charge $6k, it just seemed to never get to the front of the line. I don't think he wanted to do it. He mainly does older American iron. I ended up just doing it all myself. Still in progress...

Things are getting closer to teardown! The gas line was installed to the garage yesterday which means I can insulate and finish the interior walls, install the furnace, and plumb the ductwork for the downdraft paint booth! so excited!

Bad Dog Cafe in China.

Strange and frustrating at the same time. It was tested on their dyno so its hard to believe its coming from in the engine and why would it start doing it now. Could it be something in the ringgear on the flywheel? Have you sent the video to Rebello and ask what they think.

Auto body painters are at risk of inhaling isocyanates, which include two-part coatings, paints and paint pigments that use a hardener in combination with a catalyst. Sprayed airborne paint chemicals include chromium, cadmium and lead. Primer and sealer paints contain aliphatic isocyanates and ethyl acetate. Clear coat paints contain toluene, petroleum naphtha and mixed dibasic esters. Metal cleaning and body trim work contains epoxy resins, methylene chloride, styrene and adhesive fumes. All of these airborne chemicals can cause respiratory inflammation or disease, as well as skin rashes and inflammations, allergic reactions, nerve and brain damage, nausea, organ failure, headache and vomiting. Read more : http://www.ehow.com/info_12171111_health-risks-associated-auto-body-painting-materials.html The solvents are explosive so be careful with fans, water heaters and other flame sources. The bigger risk in my opinion are the carcinogens and toxic chemicals. I have done a good bit of body work over the years and I have made my self sick more than once. Respirators help, but a fresh air system is better. Also remember many of the chemicals are absorbed through the skin. Wear gloves and a tyveck suit. That will also help with dust in your paint. I went epoxy instead of self etching. I believe the epoxy is tougher and more rust resistant. Most of the auto restorers I have researched use epoxy on their bare metal. Then buildable primer from there. I am older and my kids are getting grown. You appear to be a young man so you should be even more cautious. You need to stay healthy longer than me.

thanks mark - the snoopy dance image is a hard one to let go of... i'll be chuckling all day about that one the distributorless ignition system is going on the new build - that will take some time to set up, so i'll do the initial install with the zx dizzy and then do the swap. i'm trying to do the engine in stages, setting up one system at a time and proving it out (carbs first on the current motor, then new motor w/existing dizzy, then the DIS) vs. doing it all at once and having to deal with the nightmare of having to troubleshoot/tune everything at once. the DIS also requires some programming, which will be easier once the engine is basically running and tuned.

I spit coffee on my screen when I read that.