katman

Remind me again what the objective is of this exercise? To get a mount for race belts? To go racing? To look like we're going racing?

As I recall the free lengths are different because there's more weight on the right front than the left.

delete this one

I sent a response earlier this morning to Rick Scott, perhaps he will post it, I don't feel like typing it again. It would behoove anybody who's main intent is track days to get a copy of the SCCA's General Competition Rules book and build a cage to those specs for the appropriate weight vehicle. The SCCA collective has some experience with that sort of thing. If your intent is sanctioned racing then you have to abide the by safety rules of the particular sancioning body, as Mark just pointed out. If Chassis Works holds design awards for their cages then I'd like to know the credentials of the Judges. They are heavy and inefficient and borderline unsafe for a Z. On the street, any cage will probably be better than no cage, other than the fact you're adding weight up high and all the bad things that result from that.

The chassisworks design is also missing key structural elements. Use it for looks, not for racing.

Just don't expect the S&W cage to save your ass if you crash. The design is junk, not SCCA legal for a reason. NHRA must not have any engineers on staff...

Don Potter has been honing L series Z motors for years with water circulating thru at temperature. He'd also leave the torque plate bolted up for 4 days before he did the final hone because he claimed cast iron had a little creep to it. His torque plate also wasn't just a plate like commercial ones, it had all kinds of goofy contours to exactly simulate a cylinder head. The secret to building a good engine is there is no secret. Its the financial commitment (the right skills with enough time) to hold the tolerances. Engines require amazing precision for longevity and power (less friction, less intertia going the wrong way, less power robbing vibration, etc.). The secret to the horsepower wars in racing will always remain a secret.

Don Potter has been honing L series Z motors for years with water circulating thru at temperature. He'd also leave the torque plate bolted up for 4 days before he did the final hone because he claimed cast iron had a little creep to it. His torque plate also wasn't just a plate like commercial ones, it had all kinds of goofy contours to exactly simulate a cylinder head. The secret to building a good engine is there is no secret. Its the financial commitment (the right skills with enough time) to hold the tolerances. Engines require amazing precision for longevity and power (less friction, less intertia going the wrong way, less power robbing vibration, etc.). The secret to the horsepower wars in racing will always remain a secret.

I saw Jim Downing's 4 rotor Kudzu ALMS car in his shop the other day. It has 3 plugs per, and as I recall rotaries get about 5000 miles out of a set, and not the cheap plugs either. But it sure does look cool.

First off why stop at 0.020 over? That would require an aftermarket piston (as opposed to a standard factory oversize), and if you're gonna bore it doesn't cost any more to go +0.040 or +0.080. Which block is this? $500 bucks is cheap to do all that, and you will absolutely positively get cheap workmanship. You are rebuilding the engine because of what?

Actually Bang the stock suspension is a "coilover" in a loose sense, although technically it is Mcpherson strut whether the spring seat is adjustable or not (actually Chapman strut in the back if you want to get anal about it). Coilover usually refers to a double wishbone or other suspension where the spring mounts to the shock but does not include the spindle. Whatever.

Actually Bang the stock suspension is a "coilover" in a loose sense, although technically it is Mcpherson strut whether the spring seat is adjustable or not (actually Chapman strut in the back if you want to get anal about it). Coilover usually refers to a double wishbone or other suspension where the spring mounts to the shock but does not include the spindle. Whatever.