Drax240z

Hey dude. There is no reason why you can't put one together using a MIG and weld-els. If you've done your own intercooler piping, you have the skills necessary to make the manifold. It may require a bit more patience, and it may not last too long, but I would think the cost would be low and you'd learn a lot. I'd stick with mild steel for your first attempt, and if all went well and you felt it was a keeper, then make another out of stainless, or ceramic coat the first.

Just for the record, I was just working on my tan (and tacking stuff in place) without the mask. Yup thats our prototype frame for our formula SAE car. Coming along pretty nicely. (13x7" wheels, at 7.5lbs each)

Hehe.

Sweet! Can't wait to see it.

Check out the link in my signature... it'll answer some of the basics for you I hope.

Ahem. L28T made 180hp stock. 200ft-lbs.

John you have the reasoning behind crumple zones down. The 'crumpling' helps dissipate energy, and helps direct the energy from impact away from the passangers.

A word of advice for those of you considering a cage in the rear. Make sure you still leave some crumple zone there, otherwise you'll be a milkshake. (but look fine on the outside) I don't think the small rear bumpers do anything at all, except distribute some of the force to the whole rear end in the case of being hit by a small object in the center of the bumper. (telephone pole, fire hydrant, etc)

Sounds like some sort of timing issue I think. Double check your wires connected to the distributor, and that your firing order is right, and the wires are going in the right direction. Are you sure that your cam timing is right, and not 1 tooth off? That would give you similar symptoms. Also check to see all your spark plus wires are hooked up, and the plugs are gapped well. Good luck.

Fine sandpaper, SOS pads, some mothers aluminum polish on a rag. Thats the order I did mine in and they came out quite well.

Hey meakin. I never did get up to Aalborg, I spent most of my time in Aarhus. Which reminds me that I want to go back again and see more. Didn't the danish government pass a few laws that makes it very difficult (or expensive) to drive cars over a partcular age?

James, isn't aramid fiber flammable? Not sure that would be a good intake in that case...

Greetings and welcome meakin. Where are you in Denmark? I spent almost a year there a while back. And no, I didn't see a single datsun in the time I was there! In fact, not many cars older than 10 years... go figure.

I would say for sure it provides stiffness to the whole rear of the car. Hatchbacks are notoriously flexable. If you are going to install a cell, just remember triangles are your friends, and concentrate on beefing up the area at the base of the strut towers... thats likely where you'd feel it if was too flexable.

Thanks for that writeup Thomas. You've given us all a little something to aspire to. A great looking car and something to be proud of.

Time for my Kevin Shasteen impression. Terry, your theory is sound. What occurs at the point of contact is called an 'instantaneos center of zero velocity'. Basically the rest of the tire is basically pivoting around the I.C. at any given time. (of course, the I.C. is constantly moving as the tire rotates as well) Now the velocity of the center of the tire is for our discussion, the same as the velocity of the vehicle, in this case 200mph. w=v/r : rotational velocity=linear velocity/radius. w is constant everywhere on the non-accelerating wheel, while v is different depending on how far from the I.C. the point in question is. Just for $#!+$ and giggles, if we assume a 25" tall tire, the tire sees a rotational velocity of 290 rad/s. (forgive me for not showing my work) Or 46 rev/s. Thats a cool 2760rpm. Back to Einstein. The stationary observer will see you and your car moving at 200mph. They will see the top of the wheel (directly across from the I.C.) travelling at 400mph. You (in the car) will see the top of the wheel moving at 200mph, and the stationary observer moving at 200mph. As far as centripital acceleration goes, its dependant on the distance from the center of rotation. This is because its not instantaneous, but sustained. (remember the last example is only for in INSTANTANEOUS center, and that center has a new position around the circumference of the tire for every instant) In this case, you must consider that the wheel is rotating around its center. The wheel will grow uniformly in all directions, even at the bottom. (granted the weight of the car will slightly affect the shape and growth) Hope that helps visualize. I do highly recommend the book Johnc mentioned. I don't know what he means about it being boring though! (engineers are funny that way)

quote Heh, dude they won't have a prayer! Aim higher. Can't really help you out much with the ECU, I avoided the stock stuff like the plague in my swap...

Jim, a properly done weld will be mechnically stronger than whatever its connecting. Granted some of the heat affected zone CAN get weaker, but proper precautions will prevent this. Yes, welding is cool.

Heh, take it from me... designing your own car is a lot of work! (at least, designing it WELL is a lot of work) But as you say, its probably the best and cheapest way to do an AWD Z.

Hey Scott, it sounds like the car is really working out great. Did you ever get the body portion of the car straightened away like you had planned? I'd love to see some finished pics if you've indeed finished. Sounds like you might be considering some bigger rubber out back soon! 315's might be nice.

I was offered one from a friend here for $75. Turned out I didn't need it. Had one lined up 2 years ago for $50. Both were in "30 year old" condition.

Throw in a header and a 2.5" exhaust and I think you should be there! Sounds like it'll be a sweet street car.

ScottieMiz, is that 1.73 on street tires? If so, what tires are you running?

I think the non-dish is just because its been treated like a 2D image when pasting the bullit style wheels onto the pic. I think it will look really good with proper offset dished wheels.

Firebern, if you want to fool around with 'what ifs' for your suspension on a computer, there is software out there. One good one that I've used in the past is at: http://www.performancetrends.com/rc.htm Its great for seeing the effect of roll center changes with mods to suspension geometry. We used this in part to design our FSAE car's geometry. Of course we also had another $32,000US suspension program from machine dynaimcs inc. given to us on a trial basis, so we did use that a bit too. But for the price, the performance trends stuff is good. (free) They have lots more stuff at: http://www.performancetrends.com/