LLave

I have to hand it to you, that is pretty gangster in a mad max sort of way.

That looks very nice. I may end up doing something like that in my S30. If I can find the space, which will be difficult because well... I am not exactly the smallest driver and the S30 is not exactly spacious. 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag.

Yeah it is a pretty sweet build. The doubling of stock sheet metal in a few critical areas does seem like a good idea. I really like their fancy pants gussets. Very cool stuff.

I just noticed you are in the Bay area. I have a nice L28 (F54 block 90 head) with SUs on it. It was running when I pulled it and is on a pallet complete with a tranny. It is just taking up space. If you are interested hit me up and we can work out a deal.

Absolutely. I love the building process but it gets really hard to stay motivated. A little seat time and some tire smoke goes a long way.

I really like it. What do your local experts think?

Thanks. My current plan is just throw this motor in the car as it is and concentrate on sorting out my chassis. Then later build a good motor to replace it with. That might sound like a lot of extra work but I just need to drive this thing before I get completely burnt out on wrenching.

I am very interested in this. I too have been considering putting a Master Power T70 on a TPI 350 I have sitting around. Honestly mostly due to the fact that I am very interested in turbos and just plain want to build a turbo motor. So, if you don't mind, lets talk about a good formula for a reasonably buget oriented SBC turbo motor.

Here is a link to an interesting discussion on the topic of cage padding. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=719280

Excellent suggestions. I will look for an opportunity to safely brace the door jam areas. At this point I am going to mock up my current cage and seat combination and spend some time with a tape measure. I will most likely end up putting that cage on the shelf until I get around to building a real track car.

I did consider cutting into the roof support structure above the down bars and sort of recessing them in. Nothing as pretty for high tech as you are describing. That is an option to get the bars as far away from the driver as possible. But the more I think about it the less hell bent I am on installing a roll cage.

Ok. How about piston and crank identification? Also do you think it would be wise to tear down the motor and replace the bearings?

Good point. Even if you assume the 2 surfaces to be equal the bar, at the least moves the surface 2 inches close to your face. Some baddogs, a good roll bar (my current hoop with some bracing) and a length of tubing stitched into the rocker sounds like a good plan for increasing the chassis rigidity for the street but it doesn't really help too much with side impact on the door.

I recomend to you a tape measure and the search function, sir. No really I think that information is all on here and should be fairly easy to find. Good luck.

Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it. So it sounds like the consensus so far is that working with in the confines of the S30 it is not be possible to place the tubing far enough away from the drivers head to make the chance of impact impossible (err... highly unlikely*). Even with a very low seat and harness. Although in the event of a side impact the drivers head is most likely going to impact some portion of the interior. I am not sure that I am convinced a *properly* padded tube is much worse then the interior of a S30. Could something like this below be much worse then a flat piece of metal? If a full cage is not possible to safely execute what sort of chassis reinforcement would you recomend to improve rigidity and safety?

I recently came to the realization that realistically my car will be much more of a street car then a race car. So, rather then building a ineffective race car that is a poor street car I have decided to shift my focus a bit more toward the true use of the car. I want an aggressive street car that I can have fun with on the track on occasion. The question is what are the merits and dangers of a cage in a street car? I am no engineer but my "gut feeling" tells me the S30 chassis is not exactly the safest thing on the road; especially with a decently potent SBC powering it. The added impact protection of a rollcage is certainly desirable. The danger of smashing my helmetless head into a piece of tubing however is not. Do you think that a properly designed cage that is pushed absolutely as far away from the drivers head as possible and padded, combined with a quality seat (OMP's in my case) and harnesses can prevent the drivers head from impacting the tubing and provide a street safe cage? I can probably design it so that my head is clear of all the cage members but what about during an impact when the chassis my distort? I guess I am a bit nervous about re-engineering the safety system of the chassis and I am wondering how bad the stock S30 really is and if I will do more harm them good. I apologize if this question got a bit lengthy.

I recently acquired a very clean looking TPI motor. I am told the motor is "built and built right" with few miles on it. It does look very clean. The question is, where should I start with this mystery motor? How do I determine exactly what I am working with? How should I proceed? TPI is certainly not my first choice of induction set ups but the motor was near free and I am on a budget.

Is that all seamed tubing I see in that last photo?

Holy stretched side wall batman. Yikes.

My word.... if that is what a broken guard does I can only image what a blade would do.

Man, seems like that 280 strut question has been asked like 10 times in the last few weeks. Maybe it is just me. Anywho I recall someone putting some tubing on the od of a strut and welding it on. Maybe try searching for other posts about struts and more specifically sectioning struts.

Personally I would go for a set of diamond racing wheels. The loads put on a wheel, especially with sticky tires are huge and call me a sissy but I would be a bit scared to drive on swiss cheesed stockers. No facts to back that up just my gut feeling.

Hey, I am local (in Rohnert Park) and I have a hoist you can barrow for a day. Just bring her back in good shape and she is all yours.

Perhaps a sound clip?

anyone try mcmaster carr?