The Lab is a light engineering & automotive/repair fabrication company specializing in Nissan 300ZX Z32s, Nissan Navara V8 conversions & carrying out mild to wild modifications on almost anything owned by someone wanting special attention to detail & high quality workmanship.
Owned & operated by Glenn & Christine Hodges, Glenn has over 12yrs experience in the aircraft servicing & repair industry & has been working on cars & selling car parts professionally (as well as a few outboard motors, some marine equipment & some farm bikes) for over 30 years.
The Lab was founded in 2010 & we operated from a modest unit in Tawn place in Hamilton, we have since relocated for the short term while we try to enjoy the early years with our little girl, a return to a larger building is in our future plans.
One of the best things we offer is on the spot quick thinking & solutions to problems other places may struggle or not even be able to solve, This ability is demonstrated fairly well with our little Nissan march racecar that now holds ~650hp & AWD, a fairly serious upgrade from the factory layout!
TIG, MIG, arc & gas welding, lathe work (up to 320mm diameter max) & general fabrication done on site with access to virtually unlimited machinery via sub contracting.
From basic maintenance to complete engine rebuilds, making a letter box through to a full automotive restoration/rebuild, The Lab can help you.
Please feel free to check out our extensive albums on out Facebook page or view our brief descriptions of notable projects listed here (we will be adding more very soon!)
Contact Glenn directly on 027 2789691 
Update from round three NZ Superlap Series
After the long swim to get to Taupo the Superlap family had arranged a garage for us to shelter from the rainshine.
We set up camp with Maria N David & Gregory Hirst and waited patiently for our turn in the lake.
As the first car out there was some advantage in that we did not have to deal with the wake from the other boats BUT this advantage quickly became irrelevant.
Once I got brave enough to start to open the throttle a little it became apparent the clutch was not yet bedded in enough hold all the horses (sea horses?) "that's Ok, give it time" I thought.
Unfortunately that's when the stowaway problem decided to join us on the main deck.
What appeared to be a crank angle sensor developed and limited our mighty boat to bout half revs and less than 1/2 throttle.
We were already committed to a lap of the lake at that point so I did my best to press on and bank a time - even it it might have been a bit on the sailboat pace.
With rear view mirrors being watched carefully the Holden boat that was behind us soon vanished, perhaps the captain decided it better to hold off and get a clear lap without the sailboat in front?
Or maybe our little dingy with four propellors could keep her speed up a little easier on the corners?
Either way a dismal 2.07 lap time was banked - and then I tried to play submarine to stay out of everyone's way as much as possible and return to the boat shed.
A few things were looked at but all things considered the option to sail back home and see if the weather would allow a repair at home was taken.
The good news is the problem has been found and exterminated!!!
Literally one loose nut crippled the poor little March.
While adjusting some cable routing I had removed the main power stud nut from the alternator and either forgot to re torque or did not torque enough. The little prick came loose then created mayhem with the ECU giving the appearance of a CAS fault.
She is repaired and everything is all set ready to go for tomorrow!!
NZ Superlap round three "I'll be back!" (Arny accent there)
Boat mode didn't work out so well, have got a crank angle sensor issue or similar.
Car on trailer, looking into a couple of options but not looking good for more track time this weekend.
That's Motorsports sorry guys.
All sorted for E85 for the weekend thanks to Dave from www.facebook.com/autostore.co.nz
Went out of his way to sort a tailored service to look after us!
Dave has 200L drums ready to go now!
www.facebook.com
Retailer of E85, 2wd dyno tuning, seller of secondhand rotary parts and motorcycle clothingThanks to our good mates at Repco Te Rapa we have some awesome cleaning products to help us prepare the Z for sale.
I am possibly getting bit carried away........
Had the Z in dry dock today 🤣
Best way to water blast underside without an outdoors hoist.
She is VERY clean now 🙂
When the downforce from the wing exceeds the strength of the structure in the back end of the roof 🤣
Is OK, it just crushes it down about 5mm or so 🤣
I have a plan and it involves the carbon fiber from the other day.
Trusty Porta power restored things to original dimensions!
She's running again but still on the hoist while more tinkering happens.
I found the missing bit!🤣🤣🤣
She's nearly all back together, if I was racing tomorrow arvo then we would be ready to go.
Probably a good thing this gave up when it did because I'm thinking a failure at Taupo was on the cards looking at this.
New clutch in and box mostly back on.
A couple of checks and it can all start going back in the car.