Drax240z

For thsoe of you that can recall when you had a nissan tranny in your car, did you at any time cut your shifter to give it a shorter throw? I am in the process of doing this now, I've cut off the threaded end to reweld onto the shaft, I'm just not sure how much material I should remove to give it a sporty feel. I'm thinking 1"... anyone remember doing this? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Yes something to consider. You'll not see many purebred race cars that aren't mid engined and this is precisely why. For those of you with 280z's, ever consider how much weight those bumpers have, and how adversly they do affect handling? They are as far from the center of mass/gravity of the car as you can get. If anyone wants lessons in how to design a car, take a look at lotus. You might not like their engine choices, but as far as chassis goes in my opinion there is no one better. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Morgan the best piece of advice I have for you is to find Corky Bell's book "Maximum Boost" and read it a few times. By far the best book on turbos I've seen, and it will address every issue you have about making this change you plan, of that I am sure. The book is one of the best engineering/reference/design books I have seen. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

I've been measuring in all 3 dimentions, and I am not too worried about those other 2 just yet... because they are darn close. I think I should probably follow your advice Drew, we have a really good body shop in town, the owner has offered to come look at my car on his own time to give me some pointers. I'll run it by him about getting the new rails tacked in securely and then bringing the car up to his shop to straighten it perfectly. If I am going to spend this much time on these rails, I'd best only do it once! ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Finally got around to working on the car again. Its been a busy week or so, I've now added a 5hp air compressor with hardpiped lines to the garage, as well as a bunch of shelving and storage. Can't stand not having any room... To the car, I dropped the front suspension today, noticed I had a bent T-C rod. Spent time cutting around the strut tower, jacking, twisting, cutting etc, and I've got the strut towers within 1/16" of each other now. I've temprarily welded them in place like that. Is 1/16" close enough that an alignment shop can make the necessary adjustments to keep the car aligned? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Many of oyu might know this allready, but Norm from zcar.com had his clutch explode while dragging. His car was a stock SU'd, 2.9L that ran high 12's. Anyway, I saw the pictures after and the clutch did some NASTY stuff to his floorpans, bellhousing, etc. Could have lost a foot easily. Consider a flywheel doing the same thing at 6000rpm and you'll want to put in a bit more protection there! I'd suggest 1/8"-1/4" plate welded around the underside of the trans tunnel (on the body) at the very least, if you are revving the hell out of your engine. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

This is for a set of wheels. And I don't plan on spending an arm and a leg on them, because they aren't going to be the final wheels on the car... Thanks for your input, but is anyone able to answer my question? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Just wondering if a few things are available in powder coating. First, can you get glossy powdercoating? And second, does anyone know of a "clearcoat" powercoating that I could get done on bare metal? Thanks, ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

I just picked up a 6" cloth wheel and some tripoli buffing compund meant for rough polish on non-ferrous metals. Put it on the old bench grinder and went to work. Its a little awkward, but you can get about 85-90% of the area I want to do. (I am just doing the outer ring) What a huge difference. (granted I'd allready sanded, buffed etc.) I think for the next wheel I'll start with a flapper type sanding wheel on a drill and go from there... I'll post if I find out anything else interesting on the subject. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

When measuring front hood corner to opposite rad support, what type of allowance is there for being not square? My car is within 1/4", (with the frame tweaked allready) should it be perfect? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Actually I had planned on powercoating, just had a brain fart while I was writing. I'll try out the mothers polish... I think I am going to hit them with an SOS pad first and see if that works any better for the rougher stuff. (those work wonders on aluminum pots anyway) ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Picked up a set of snowflake turbo rims, and fought with them for a bit trying to clean them. (the clearcoat was chipped all over) I purchased some aircraft chemical stripper and used that to remove the clearcoat - bingo, worked excellently. Clearcoat not a problem. My question is where to go from there? I want a highly polished outer ring, and I'm going to paint the center gloss black. What have you guys done in the past to get out all the imperfections in the polished portion? So far I've used 100grit sandpaper, then 220grit, then 600grit, fine steel wool, then Never-Dull polish. It came out ok, not quite the mirror finish I'm hoping for though. Any other ideas? Should I sandblast first? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Totally over-carborated for a draw-through system. Basically the way it looks like its set up its the equivalent of running 1 - 4 barrel per cylinder. Witha single SU and some cold air induction it'd be a bit better I think, but still you are stuck with the problems inherent in a draw-through system. (no IC, poor cold weather performance, etc) ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

I just don't see big automakers jumping on every idea (be it good or bad) that comes up. Proven designs still often don't make it to the show, because of the costs involved to change over, and even manufacture the new product. (thats why the inline 6 is becoming extinct, the V6 is cheaper to make) There have been plenty of alternative engine designs that have been proven, and didn't catch on. (miller cycle, wankel, etc) Face it, companies are going to keep using what works for them, what they are set up for, and what they know... often regardless of how much better it could be! (I've worked for 2 big mining companies, and a big forestry company) Most times these places would rather spend $100,000 each of 5 years, than spend $200,000 once to get it done right. I'm not saying that this idea is good or bad, to me it looks feasable. I can see a couple of questionable points though. Just because its different doesn't make it bad! ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html [This message has been edited by Drax240z (edited August 29, 2000).]

Yikes, not the best engineered turbo setup I've seen! That intake air must be pretty fricken hot by the time it gets to the combustion chamber... I guess thats why nissan didn't design it that way! ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Wow, what a simple design. It always amazes me that the piston/camshaft/valve etc. engine is the one thats popular when I see something like this that is so simple. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Coates Engineering was the name of the company that was developing rotary valves. There is a thread on them titled "Rotary Valves" in the High tech forum. I really hope to see stuff like this come into the industry soon... Its pretty amazing that engines still use 115 year old technolgy! (well, not quite, but close) Also the OX2 engine was discussed in the high-tech forum, under the title "A new type of 8 cyl engine...". But if you have something to add, please add away! ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html [This message has been edited by Drax240z (edited August 27, 2000).]

Well I've started trying to get the front end straight on my car. Measuring from the firewall to the first bolt on the strut tower, I get passanger side 20 3/16", drivers side 20 3/8". I've tried jacking up the front corner to bring back the drivers side a bit so I can weld in temporary supports, the most it moved was about 1/32"... I'm thinking that I will have to cut out the drivers side frame rail first, then position and brace the strut (temporarily) then weld in new rail. I had hoped to be able to straighten everything before cutting... What type of procedure have the people that have done this used on their cars? ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Just thought I'd add to the discussion a little, there seems to be a bit of confusion about what pipes are bigger than what. # of pipes.....Diameter.....X-sectional area 1..............2 1/2".......4.91in^2 2..............2"...........6.28in^2 1..............3"...........7.07in^2 2..............2 1/4".......7.95in^2 1..............3 1/2".......9.62in^2 2..............2 1/2".......9.81in^2 1..............4"...........12.6in^2 1..............4 1/2".......15.9in^2 Note that the relationship is an exponential one, doubling the diameter of the pipe quadruples the cross sectional area. This is not exactly indicative of how the flow will be, because of things like wall friction, but its a pretty good guideline. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html [This message has been edited by Drax240z (edited August 25, 2000).]

Oh yeah, I'm also thinking that I might get some of that structural foam to put in the center of the rails. What have you guys used to rustproof the inside of your rails? Hopefully with the foam put in shortly after welding them in, they'll never have a chance to get wet on the inside. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

19 lbs is lighter than I expected. .093" sound good to me too. Unfortunately I am going to have to order it... I found my rails are a bit longer than 36", more like 38" (I think).... I guess I'll try to get a 10' length and go from there. I think for the underfloor extensions I might take the 2.5" and split it down the middle, then use a 2.5" x 1.25" U-shaped half on each side. Not as strong as a box, but when welded to the floor boards it will form a box. Thanks for the info. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Out of curiosity, is the radiator cooler actually helpful enough that you've been able to tell its there? Just curious... I've never heard of anything like that before. Nice idea though. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html [This message has been edited by Drax240z (edited August 24, 2000).]

I'm about to redo my front subframe, just got all the stuff stripped off them today. Pete I know you said you used 2.5" .093" wall sq. tubing. .093" seems really heavy to me. But, you are more of an engineer than I am. I'd like to know your opinions on using something thinner than that, given that the car will one day see 400hp, and will be partially triangulated up front, with pipe run from: the top center of the firewall to the top of the strut towers, as well as the top of the front side of the strut towers through the inner fenders and down to the front of the frame rails. (close to radiator) Also a cross brace between strut towers will be offering support. I'm trying to stiffen up the chassis (obviously) without adding too much weight. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

Whoa, that is some neat stuff! Really enjoyed reading about the budget buildup. A lot of thought went into that system, thats for sure. Hmmm, 10 second car for under $6000. Pretty hard to beat! ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html

I've had an idea for speaker placement floating around in my head for a while, figured I'd share it. I am thinking of placing a set of midrange (5 1/4", 6" whatever you want) in front of the rear strut towers, angled up across the cabin. (basically will head towards the opposite person in the car from the side the speaker is on) This is basically wasted space for most people as far as I can tell. I am not yet sure how to attach them, etc. I'm not that far along yet. But I think that if you aim them for between the 2 seats then you will get pretty good sound up front. ------------------ Drax240z 1973 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html