hughdogz

I heard you can just flip around the steering rack to make a LHD into a RHD. Never tried it but it sounds simple enough to try.

Hey, The fronts each require one. The rear calipers on a 280ZX requeres four lines. One "inner" one and one "outer" one for each side. So, altogether six. I just got the same setup from MSA, and they said I didn't need that copper crush washer for the brake lines, just for the clutch line. HTH, -Hugh

Hey Captain, First question is why would you want to run both? Either one should be sufficient. I think you have two options for wiring that baby up; 1) Get a thermostat and you don't need a switch. You can pick one up at just about any parts store that sells electric fans. I went this route on my 280zxt 2) If you do go the switch route, you probably want to get a relay to handle the current. A little switch in your dash may burn up depending on how much current the fan draws and how long it needs to be on. Also, use switched power for the relay or else it will suck the juice out of the battery when the car is off. I went this route on my 260z 'cause it was cheap... HTH, -Hugh

Flare nut wrench is like an open end wrench except instead of the box end open at 180 degrees, it is more like (360-360/6) = 300 degrees. Just so you can slip the opening over the 3/16" hard line. It will wrap around five sides of the nut instead of just two...waaaayy better!! Twisted lines aren't good. The ductile material is now "work hardened" and now is more brittle. I'd suggest getting new ones, but that costs a little bit of $$ (of course). Hope you can get it done soon. Later, -Hugh {Edit} WTF was I thinking? open at 60 degrees (not 300) so you can just slip the opening over the hard line. Use a cresent wrench to hold the hose end fitting...

You should be able to turn the flare nut (compression fitting whatever the proper name is) on the tube. Actually, it is easy to do before you take out the clip. Make sure you're using a 10mm flare nut wrench or else you'll risk stripping the flare nut. If that happens, then you'll need to replace the hard line. Good luck!! I'm planning on doing this myself this weekend. mmmm...braided brake and clutch lines... Cheers, -Hugh

Another ME here... I got my BSME from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaing (we were ranked #3 and MIT was ranked #4 the year I graduated). I minored in Thermodynamics. My first job out of school was creating computer models of heat and mass transfer simulation for solar-energy de-salination devices. My next job was a Design Engineer working on CAD (Unigraphics). I mostly designed fixtures to inspect turbine engine castings for aerospace and IGT (Industrial Gas Turbines) mostly for GE, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, etc. A lot of reverse engineer modeling. Now I work at a big software company where I test FEA (Finite element analysis) software and Dynamic Simulation software. I just love it.

Hey Les, to use the sheet metal app you can open a sheet metal template (versus a part template). You can create faces, flanges, etc. etc. and even use the unfolder to get the flat pattern. You can also convert a standard part into a sheet metal part. The unfolder only works with faces that have curves in one direction, no compound faces can be unfolded (e.g. a wheel well). Geez, I didn't know there were all these posts...I'll have to check these out when I get home from work. L8R -Hugh

Hi Les, Inventor Professional uses a subset of ANSYS workbench software. It is kind of limited what it can do...no assembly analysis, thermal or fluids. It basically uses the ANSYS meshing and solver engine. If you're doing a frame, I agree...the hard part is modeling the geometry...the FEA part is relatively easy...as long as you understand the situation you're simulating. Garbage in = garbage out. If you can provide the geometry file that Inventor can read in, I'd be happy to give the FEA a whirl. Later, -Hugh

Here are some more... http://home.comcast.net/~hughhenderson/ani_ANSYS_Con_Rod.avi

Hey Clint, yes. I like that forum...lots of cool people there too. The mastermind behind that site is Sean Dotson, a celebrity in the "Inventor world" ...if there is such a thing. I'm happy to see another CAD user on HybridZ... Hopefully we won't bore these guys too much...hehe... Later, -Hughdogz

Nice Job!! Taking out the instrument cluster (much less the whole dash) still seems too daunting...Care to share the purpose of the indicators? Those look pretty sweet too. Cheers,

Everyone's favorite Weber Throttle body!! This is why I thought it would take that one member more than thirty hours to model a 240ZG just from a plastic model directions. Notice how I scanned in the views of where the decals go to help me lay out the model scale: Hopefully I can post up some simulation stuff so we can have some REAL eye-candy!! Cheers, -Hughdogz

Doh!! Paul, you're completly right. Yeah, I reverse-engineered this model completely from memory. I didn't have a "real life" model to refer to...just a few photos.. Also notice that I made the cam with a generator. We have a cam profile generator...just give it lift, dwell, etc and it can generate the cam profile that is a "spline" in shape. It is more complicated than that, but you get the idea.

Thanks for the Kudos Clint!! I've been using IV since R5.3 (~2001). I agree, Inventor's strong points aren't creating "swoopy" surfaces like the other high-end CAD packages (Catia, Pro, UG). Inventor's real strength is machine design, not consumer products so much. But, we are catching up fast. Models have been created with 20,000+ parts (complete factories, busses, trains etc. with EVERY part / harness etc modeled) I still think that the coolest stuff by far is the simulation package.

Hey Paul, yes I live in Oregon. I've actually visited your house once when I picked up a Turbo motor from Ron...you have an INSANE shop there. Thanks for the Kudos!! I need to come by your place sometime and show you the simulation stuff I do (stress and modal analysis, even dynamic simulation to compute position, velocity, acceleration, friction, damping, stiffness, etc.) What I was trying to do is model up an engine, set it in motion and ~8500 RPM and see what "blows up" first. No thermal or fluid dynamics yet... I've seen a lot of members are making custom intake / exhaust maifolds...If you guys want me to "whip out" a cad model, I can save it in a neutral file format (like STEP, IGES, STL, etc) so your CNC can just mill it out (maybe you'd still need MasterCAM or something like that though). My email is hughhendersonATcomcastDOTnet

Check out some minor projectss I played around with on CAD... I use Inventor these days. I also work on simulation applications too. I'll try and post some more stuff soon. Cheers, -Hugh I have a lot better models...I'll see if I can dig up some more at work. Laterz, -Hughdogz

Lookin' AWESOME Masew!!! I think you did an unbelievable job. You better bring it to MSA this year...or else...

30 hours to reverse-engineer an automobile into CAD?! Surely you jest. I seriously doubt you'll be able to create the body in 30 hours...let alone engine, suspension, etc. I'm interested to see how far you get. I've tried it using Autodesk Inventor, but gave up after about 20 hours (I didn't even finish the body). Maybe SW is alot easier to use than IV, but I've been in the cad industry for eight years, and I would say to really model the 240, it will take 100-1,000 hours, depending on how close you want to get and how many parts / assemblies you create. Good Luck!! [edit: OK, I should have read this better...you already know this will take well over 30 hours...sorry about that]