260DET

Seeing the engine is in the artificially lit garage and the camera has decided its flash is not needed, pics are crap. What I will do is a walk around with the video camera in due course so these may be the last still pics. With the front view pic see the chopper disc behind the crank pulley set and the REF sensor which appears as a tube between the alternator and the disc. SYNC setup is behind the left cam pulley, lots of custom work.

What's happening with this, developments?

It's a pity that the designer is not here to explain the concept, makes it a bit of a dry argument. Anyway, from the pics it looks to me basically like a double wishbone suspension with bits on top to support and operate springs and dampers. If that is correct, then it's the alignment of the wishbones in relation to the chassis which determines the roll center and all the other alignment specs, the bits on top have no bearing on that. If the designer would correct any misconceptions inherant in the above than I would happily try again

Fairly sure that Neil Roberts in his totally excellent book Think Fast discusses rear toe in detail Jon.

On rear toe in, what are the results if you run more than 1/16" on a S30? Just curious because with my rear multilink suspension I tried 10mm (not a typo) toe in once and the effect on slower circuit corners was quite noticeable, like the car had rear wheel steer. I don't do autocross but have always wondered if such a characteristic would be handy there.

My choice for a S30 would be along the lines of converting the existing strut suspension to a double wishbone setup. It has ben done before, it would not be much heavier and the design could incorporate whatever adjustable setup was required. Done reasonably well it would outperform the rest of the car.

Quick impression of that video was that most of of the cars did not have rear aero and were struggling for grip on the long sweeping bends that characterise that circuit. Also the Honda was not slow in a straight line compared to a lot of the cars he passed. On that circuit I'd suggest that a front jiver would be comparatively easy to drive, just wind more lock on in those sweepers whereas most bum draggers (FWD) find very slow corners tough, particularly on exit. With a powerful rear driver on that circuit you would need a lot of high speed rear grip, aero, plus have confidence in the car and be able to drive it well. Not easy for most of us. Having said all that Hondas are a damm fast circuit car, obviously the car and driver in the vid are good too.

Stags are cool, I'm just jealous Not sure if a Z31 sump will match the oil pickup etc on a 33, some are a bit different I think. But yeh, 33 would be better, Pathfinder 33 may suit.

If it has inner and outer pivot points for the upper and lower suspension arms, which it looks like it has, of course it would work. A double wishbone suspension. But I'm not knocking what's been done, would like to know why it was done though and what are the advantages.

Yeh the Z31 300ZX sump sounds right for this hairdresser's car, it is shallow at the front and goes back a bit more than half way before deepening.

If I was starting my S130 project again a LSx would definately be considered. This car shows how the 280ZX suspension is not so bad after all, go you good thing

Always good to see someone trying something but from what I can see if the suspension upright was made into a coil damper unit then all the other parts above it, except the upper control arm, would be superflous. Basically it looks like a over complicated double wishbone setup. Thanks for showing though

Note the Tasmanian locals, T has a reputation for keeping breeding a family affair, cruel and probably just a bit out of date, still That targa stuff makes us circuit playboys look ***, some of the incar video of the top runners is damm scarey, hitting just one tree at say 200kph means goodbye nurse, no run off areas, no armco. It happens too, mainly with Porsches for some reason

Doesn't look like overkill to me, should work well. You may need some welding lessons but the idea and concept is good.

Looks like I'm going to have to respond to my own question. If front camber/caster is adjusted then toe must be too. To do toe the car will have to be raised so you can get underneath it to do this. Then the car will have to be lowered and everything checked again, and so on. This is assuming that camber/caster is being adjusted up top and not from underneath too, which would complicate things more. If rear alignment is adjustable then the same procedure there. Fine if you have plenty of time and a piece of reasonably level ground to do it on. Otherwise.....

I couldn't afford the damage one of them would do to my drivetrain

Nearly forgot, with any DIY alignment how do people do the actual adjustments? Other than adjustable strut tops eveything else is underneath where it can't be got at with the car sitting on the ground.

Interesting input Tony, thanks, I have this sort of half arsed theory that if the squish areas run at very close clearances then grooves are going to help. But with your usual production clearances? Not enough squish effect so forget it.

Pic shows the lower plenum with 550cc low impedance Bosch injectors under SATAN fuel rails.

Those Toyota lump of iron calipers belong on a truck not a sports car, a starter upgrade for somone on a budget and that's about it.

Small world, I know Jeff who put that video on YouTube, he races a SR20DET engined 510.

What would be helpful is educated comment on the proposition that a groove cut in the squish/quench area of an OHV engine would create combustion assisting turbulence. It's proven that squish areas assist combustion, it seems reasonable to me to consider if the surface shape of such areas may be relevant as well.

"... Turbulence is attempting to deform the natural spherical flame front. When the flame front is deformed the ratio of flame front surface area to volume unburnt gasses in the chamber increases. Simply stated this is just an attempt to expose unburnt gasses to the flame front. This is why multiple grooves are being reported as yielding results. I think what is happening is the groves make a column of gas and thrust it into the flame front, which causes an equal volume of the burnt gasses to be thrust in an opposite direction away from the groove. Instead of a standard quench area expelling a flat sheet of gas, the groves are attempting to expel a column of gas. This column of gas having a bit more volume and mass is able to penetrate the flame front further than a more consistent sheet..." Yeh, that was my thought, it improves the efficiency of the existing squish/quench effect. VG33 engine has a large squish area so it might respond well to such mods.

Was thinking the other day that a VG33 head may benefit from a groove in the squish area at about ten oclock, pointing directly at the spark plug. Can't see it would do any harm anyway.

That makes sense John, thanks. It may also explain why A6 tyre life can be so short in a longer race situation.