wonderllama
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Posts posted by wonderllama
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Deisgning the part and testing it are the most time consuming aspects of product development. Actually amking the part is reasonably inexpensive if there's enough volume to make a production run. A vendor (like me) needs to recoup his design and development costs over the expected sale slife of the product.
In the S30 world, most production runs are for 10 to 25 items so development costs are a pretty high percentage of the cost of each part sold. In most other (profitable) automotive markets, development costs are a very small percentage of the thousands of parts produced. From research I've done, the entire Datsun and Nissan aftermarket is smaller then the market for any one of these three brands of cars: Civic, Mustang, and Camaro.
The fact that any vendors tries to service this market is suprising. I question my market choice every day...
while this is true, i think a fairly good point is that the hardest part of making a part like a brake caliper bracket is manufacturing the bracket. in this example, you are either going to have to machine it from stock, or weld two pieces together at the correct offset. either way, you'd have to be fairly decent at either skill to make a usable part.
and while brackets will have research time involved, i'd say that anyone capable of fabrication is also capable of engineering the part. i'd wager that most of the posters in this forum are lacking in at least one of the three main categories to manufacturing their own parts; skillset, time, and tools.
that's why i don't believe that having a drawing will do most people any good, and they will buy the parts from the vendors like always. the people who will benefit from these specs will be the people that would have built these parts themselves anyways.
either way, it doesn't seem like anyone is interested in doing this anyway. especially since i had made a similar thread eariler that didn't even get a reply: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=127533
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I had an idea about creating a library of dimensional drawings of fabricated parts for the Z. For Instance, drawings that show overall and hole dimensions for adjustable control arms, rear disc brake caliper brackets, etc. I did a search on this, and could not find anything similar, even though there are some people that have posted drawings for several items.
First and foremost, I understand that many on this forum might make their livings (or at the very least some extra cash) making and selling some of these aforementioned fabricated parts. However, I believe that anyone capable of using a drawing to fabricate a part would probably make it anyway, not purchase it. We’d just be saving them the time it takes to measure and document the part.
I’d even offer my services to anyone that has only a “napkin scratch†drawing; as I could re-draw it in Solidworks and post it here in the correct format.
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so wait, when installing coilovers you don't have to section the struts? i was under the impression that you had to section them to get them to work.
sorry for the hijack.
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could it be that the spring is worn out? the shocks that i took out were dead, and had been like that for a while. the spacers were good when i removed them. i will have to check the the size of the springs tomorrow.
well absolutely, it's unusual for a spring to degrade that much faster than it's partner, but not impossible. someone could have replaced only the one spring as well. i'd take them off and see how dead they are. springs are usually replaced when shocks are replaced anyway, especially if you are replacing "dead" shocks.
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1978 280Z with an educated guess of 115K miles. All original, but soon to change that with some fiberglass parts, and some wheels.
I will be completely redoing th entire suspension first, though
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Nice job. I'm with davy, this car/wheel combo makes a large (relatively) tire profile look just right.
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hard to go wrong for $300, but man is that dusty
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ok, i admit, chortled when you first brought up the saturn airdam. but damn, ( or should i say dam?) that looks like it was made for the fron of a z.
have fun having people ask you what kind of car it is EVERYWHERE you go now.
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heh. well, dont make me take a picture of a stock 78 with the egr, air regulator, pcv, etc. the fuel rail makes a huge difference as well.
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i love that picture of your engine, i want to hire you to make my engine look that clean
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Are you sure you mean +04 and not +40? Because that would make a huge difference for one little typo.
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veritech, that is a clean looking 260/280 engine bay. kudos to you, good sir.
i need mine to look like that someday.
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yeah, i am doing this less for hp and more for the fact that my BCDD was shot, and the RPM idssue was annoying. i guess i will just try to plumb a pipe up to the air regulator and try to tap the tb spacer.
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I would go with a larger 60-80 gallon compressor that's hardwired and buy a couple rolls of hose that will stretch to whereever you want to work. You'll work the hell out of the compressor using air tools for body work with that small a tank. I have an 80 gallon from Harbor freight that cost me about $350 and has the same CFM ratings. It's great. I've been running it for well over a year now for everything from body work to everyday mechanical to painting. Never failed me and I've had it running for a solid 45 minutes before because the DA Sander puts quite a load on there.
do you have the part number for this compressor? I'd liek to check it out.
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So, I am installing the new 60mm throttlebody onto my 1978 280Z, and I was wondering what everybody else used as a piping from the AFM and the new throttlebody. Obviously, the old duct is too small to fit over the diameter of the new throttlebody intake.
Also, there is a pipe fitting coming out from the old pipe, which I assume is the idle air bypass?, do I need to retro-fit that onto the new pipe? Or is it unnecessary?
I am running the stock fule system, and ECU.
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I plan on doing some body work and grinding to get 30 years of rust and grease off of my 1978 280Z. This air compressor seems to have the best CFM rating for the price range, so I thought I'd pick it up this week. That is, unless someone knows of something better in the price range.
I've been looking for used compressors for weeks now, and there has been nothing local.
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Do they not ahve a store around you? Or are these online items only?
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while mine are not that bad, i too am wondering if there are rust repair panels for the inner wheel wells. my rear wheel wells are flaking off fast, and it would be real fun to bend a piece of metal for a patch...
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OMG that HF MIG is perfect, looks like I'm going to have to call an electrician to get a new 220V breaker put in.
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Is this a 0" offset?
I was under the impression that 8" rear tires would fit a stock suspensioned 280Z, am I incorrect in assuming so?
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the 350z is a heavy car, even back in 03 which is the lightest year. to make a heavy car handle well, they have to make the suspension stiff, which is what makes the ride so harsh.
if you dont want the stiff ride, you have to change out the springs, shocks, etc for a softer set. which may be hard to find, as most people are looking for the exact opposite. just know that this will detrimentally affect your handling.
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what is the spring rate for the eibach springs?
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hey, at least it will be easy to change the serpentine belt.
how's the shifter location? looks really far forward, is it comfortable?
Rust repair using panel adhesive
in Body Kits & Paint
Posted
wow, i never really gave adhesive a second thought, as i thought you had to overlap. but your fixes look great, and it looks like there won't be a great need for too much filler.
can you grind it after it cures?