260DET

Yeh TC I quoted that series of Autospeed articles in my opening post but the problem is that Maxima has a blunt front and a fairly flat bonnet, quite unlike a 280ZX. So I'm wary about transferring those findings to mine. Put some wool tufts on one of the existing vents as mentioned above. The results were strange because the indication was that air was exiting along both side edges but not the middle of the vent. So at the moment I'm not sure where to go from here.

Ended up putting lips in front of both the stock vents, which incidentially have been modified to flow a lot more air. Going out to the track tomorrow to do some laps, may stick some wool tufts along the drivers side vent to see what happens on the drive out there.

Looks like the vent lips are a go, looks tech too

Repairing a full beer can would be something, otherwise............ Just clean the IC and dust it with a couple of light coats of flat, should do the trick.

Very creative, the underhood evac vents with tabs you say tested well, any idea if the tabs helped? Because I was thinking that a raised section in front of a bonnet/hood vent would help with air extraction. Mentioned in my thread on the 280ZX.

On the question of weight a friend of mine has a 260Z with a RB30ET engine, I have a 280ZX shorty with a VG30DET engine. Otherwise both are similar in spec. And do you know what? They both weigh the same even though the ZX has considerably more interior space.

PBR bought Girlock out I think and went on to make OE rear brake systems for Corvettes and a few other US cars, good systems to use on a Zed because they are big and have a built in park brake. Good luck with your pad chase GeeZ, if you get stuck NismOZed may be able to assist seeing he is in the parts business? Which grade Bendix pad do you want? Plenty of choices with that particular pad.

Guess the US would have structural quality welded square tube made to certain standards and which is a lot stronger than mild steel. Because a lot of it is used in the building and other industries it is relatively cheap too.

Yeh and by changing rake you change the aero too, it really is an often neglected tuning tool.

Re vents 'sticking up' or having a lip at the leading edge, consider the possible implications. The surface of the bonnet being curved promotes lift. Submerged vents will interfere with airflow over the bonnet by introducing emerging air thereby reducing lift. Vents or lips that project into the airflow will reduce lift even more by being even more intrusive. All at some slight increase in drag.

Going through my collection of racing S130's I could find only one (Bob Sharp Racing) which obviously had relocated bonnet vents. Surprise surprise, a bit forward of the stock location. See also the raised lip at the leading edge which I suggest is there to deflect air over the vents and so improve air extraction. May do leading edge lips on mine. Click to enlarge

We are all stunned? Such attention to detail, words fail, yep.

See that DP front ARB is hollow which will save quite a bit of weight over a solid one. Wonder what thickness in a solid it is equivalent to?

Can't drive my car right now but wool tufts around the vents seem to be a practical way of seeing whats happening there at speed. But the 280ZX bonnet slopes to the front more than the S30, and most other cars, which is why it could well be different. What prompted me to check this out was what happended at the sprints the other day at speed. My bonnet is latched at both rear corners. One of the latches was not done up properly, the unlatched corner actually lifted up an inch or so due to the force of engine bay air exiting. To do that it had to twist the fibreglass bonnet a bit as well as lift the weight.

Being trying to find out if the stock vents actually do vent engine bay air or are just there to look pretty. Also if they do vent air, are they in the optimum position? This http://autospeed.com/cms/A_2162/article.html is the only useful article I've found but given that the 280ZX bonnet slopes down at the front its different to the car in the article. May try to rig up some manometer tubes with outlets just under the vents and go for a drive.

Sorry about my blunt responses but why build a cage without forming the bars so they are snug to the body? Then any tagging to the body can be much lighter yet stronger in all planes than where there are substantial gaps to be bridged? That Jap example is just nonsense, its all about show, the Japs love that hand made look

Situation is I have a JDM two seat coupe which were never sold officially in AU. So no spare doors around, the nicely painted doors on the car will have to be used to take moulds from. I'm assuming one inside piece, one outside piece and glue them together. So what is the best way to take moulds off the doors without damaging the paint? If anyone could describe the necessary steps that would be great or else links to relevant info. There seem to be a few ways it could be done, I'm not sure. But seeing that the door locks and manual window winders with glass and guides have to be attached would it be all too difficult? If spare doors were available I'd consider using the metal inside part and bond that to a fibreglass skin. Main reason for fiberglass doors is the ones I have weigh a ton, huge intrusion bars.

Another consideration is that on a race car you can control dive and squat by other means eg springs and dampers. Road cars are relatively softly sprung and damped so may need anti's for comfort considerations. The other thing is that there are degrees of anti dive and squat, its not all or nothing.

Yeh Jon I'm not sure about exactly what anti squat can do in a circuit/road course situation but it is something to do with the loss of rear suspension compliance. Most of the info around is in relation to drag cars which I can understand may benefit from a traction bite. I do know for a fact that its common, in AU anyway, for the multilink to be tipped as mentioned with circuit Nissans.

Re anti squat, for a circuit/road course car you don't want it, keeping in mind that a lot of acceleration is done in corners. Something to do with it effectively and drastically increasing rear spring rates to such an extent that grip can be lost and the car may spin. With the various model Skylines and other Nissans with multi link rear suspension its common to space the front of the rear cradle down to get rid of the anti squat. I think that the S30 is neutral at the rear as far as anti squat goes.

Yeh thats it. Can be tagged right across to the rails like you show or part way, obviously the former is potentially the strongest. I did one right across under the drivers seat because the original piece inside that the seat originally bolted to was removed. To mount the race seat lower.

Sort of confirms my opinion that, yes, an AWD car may have more grip but when they do let go..................

No pics Tony, but the sill/rocker thing is quite simple. With the 280ZX 35x35x2mm square section run the full length underneath. Clamp then weld to the pinch weld, drill holes down from the top and plug weld, make tag strips and weld them to the square section and inwards to the floor. With the 260Z the section was carried forward at an angle to the compression rod pick up points. At the rear it was extended up a bit so it could be welded to the half cage main hoop base. This sort of thing is basically what you want to make of it, obviously the more it is integrated into the body structure the more stiffness and strength you will get. As for the gearbox area Xbrace, it makes sense to tag it into the present gearbox mount area where the body is already reinforced for that purpose. Once agin it depends on how far you want to go but a basic brace would involve a X piece bolted to the floor either side of the tunnel with the gearbox mount bolted on top of that. From memory the Z32 is done like that, its just a smart way to have a gearbox mount that doubles as a Xbrace. I can't recall seeing this done with a S30, having said that someone is sure to show me wrong

Thats Z abuse, leaving it out on the street, shame

In other words, using the steering wheel is not the only way to turn a car in the direction you want. Where the car has a fair amount of power I'm a big fan of the suspension setup you mention, when you have biasable brakes and an accelerator pedal, who needs a steering wheel