jt1

Found it: http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Files/Mobil_1_Product_Guide.pdf jt

You see a lot of different opinions about how much zinc is needed, and truthfully it varies. The material used in the cam and lifters, the rate of the ramps on the cam, valvetrain weight, lifter rotation, and valve spring pressure all figure in to some degree, with the ramps and springs probably the largest factors. Stock valve springs and stock cam will probably run a long time on 500ppm. If the cam and springs are upgraded much from stock, 1200 ppm seems to be a general concensus. You can add an additive to the oil, or run some of the specialty oils that still have zinc, like Penn, Gibbs, or VR1. Right now I'm using a 50/50 mix of Mobil 1 15W50 and Mobil 1 20W50 V twin. The EPA hasn't hammered the harley boys yet. I'm a big fan of the Mobil 1. They used to show the zinc levels on their website, but it doesn't seem to be there anymore. jt

Oil samples are most useful when you do them on a regular interval and establish a baseline for your motor, as you use it. As you do more samples and your baseline gets better, you can spot a spike in something which indicates a problem. The combo of oil samples and oil filter inspection really give you a good window into the engine. This works really well at spotting long term wear trends, and sometimes alerts you to a coming catastrophe. For a first sample, yours looks fine to me. The increased viscosity can be from the age of the oil, or more likely soot contamination, generally from some blowby, pretty common on high performance turbo engines. The units are in parts per million on all the samples I've seen. Is the rb26 a roller or flat tappet engine? If flat, you need a oil with more zinc that that. jt

The easiest way to loosen that bolt is to loosen the motor mounts, then move the tailshaft of the trans down and to the drivers side. Watch the dist to firewall when you do this. jt

It could be the harmonics. Imagine the firing impulses on the crank, then imagine the crank trying to assume a sine wave shape along it's length as it rotates, with a node at the front, rear, and center. High end V8's are sometimes built with larger clearances on 2 & 4 to allow this. jt

You only fill a cylinder every other revolution. How does the car run now? What are your goals? Chances are you would be better off tuning the carb you've got rather than buying another. jt

Since standards vary from one organization to the next, the only way to be sure is check with the group you're going to run with. I agree with Jon and John that the rollbar isn't the greatest. However, it's probably better than nothing. Around here, I suspect the bar would be OK for HDPE and track days, but not for timetrials and racing. The group you run with will make the final decision, so that's who it's best to ask. Your seat and belt mounting is also an important factor you need to consider. jt

It sounds like rod bolts are the least of your worries. Bolt it together and let it rip, and put a big shot on it for good measure. Be sure and post a vid. jt

You could check the length of the over torqued bolts and compare to some that weren't over torqued. If they're longer, they're definitely scrap. You could also contact ARP, but I have a pretty good idea what their answer will be. If you replace them, you need to resize the big end. Normally they get a little out of round replacing the bolts. I would replace them. A couple hundred bucks isn't much in the entire build. jt

I've got a very similiar car, a 83 euro slant nose conversion. I think your air dam is a Better Bodies Motorsport one, that's what's on mine and they look identical from what I can tell. Mine was also smogged thru CA, and if they put any USA stuff on it they immediately took it back off, it's euro all the way. I suspect that process was pretty liberal. Pelican or Paragon should have what you need for the VC repair. Mine is pretty much a track car, not nearly as sweet as yours, but I have a lot of fun with it!!! John

What's that big grin all about?????????? jt

Is that a factory front spoiler? Metal or fiberglass? jt

Very Nice!!! Andial conversion? How are the headlights set up? jt

John, I'm glad you're to the point you can make some noise. That's always a big milestone. Is that Coffey's master cylinder setup? jt

Try bleeding both screws on the master cylinder first, then the front brakes, then rear. Sometimes when a car has sat a while, or the system has been opened, it may take a couple of quarts of fluid to get all the air out. The check valve shouldn't make any difference. jt

I wonder if you can get the valve covers off with the engine in the car? Very nice car though, lots of hours put in there. jt

Sounds like you had a good time, even with a few mechanical glitches. Nothing like a V8 Zcar on a wet track!!!! Throttle modulation comes into a whole new meaning. How about some pics??? jt

A key point is that the effect of the scrub radius changes depending on which way the steering wheel is turned. jt

If you're going into a left hand corner, and the steering wheel input is to the left, the caster unloads the RF and LR. If the car gets loose, and the wheel input is to the right, it unloads the LF and RR, which generally helps the loose condition. So it depends on the attitude of the car and the steering input. Edit: Assuming you have a positive scrub radius. Edit#2: I bet John's 350Z has a negative SR, while S30's have a positive. jt

My mistake, I thought the yellows were double adjustable. I think you'll like the bushings. You can add some toe and camber both, and that's almost certainly going to help. Welding the diff with almost certainly cause a turn in push that you'll have to drive around or tune out otherwise. But it's cheap and can be dealt with. When you get a chance, read thru some of Cary's (tube80z) posts. He's done a lot of autocross chassis tuning and has some good ideas. Some of which are over my head. jt

My thoughts: Softening the damping on the front usually makes oversteer worse. Have you tried stiffening the front? Rear toe in is a good thing, I added some at JohnC's suggestion and it made a noticeable difference. The MSA bushings are a cheap way to do this without expensive arms. You can also increase rear camber and that will help too. Raising the front pivots is almost always a good thing in general, especially if you're running the car pretty low. After raising them, work on the bumpsteer to get it to a minimum. This probably won't help the oversteer but will improve handling overall. A larger front roll bar would be pretty cheap and good to try, and would probably work well with raising the pivots. Throttle modulation is important. A fairly "slow" linkage is a big help here, along with good tip in response, to avoid shocking the tires and suspension. A LSD would be a big help, but cost more than all the other stuff together. If it's not in the budget, you could weld up the rear end. This is cheap but is pretty much a track only mod, as it will be pretty ugly on the street. Some guys run them on the street, so it's possible. You are exactly right when you say any change affects other stuff. You're looking for the optimum point somewhere in between that yields the best times. jt

Nice looking piece. One of my friends has one, and has been very satisfied with it. Burn some powder and let us know how it does. jt

Not what I expected to see. My preconceived notion was that it started at the threads, but that one started from the OD and worked it's way in. Got to think that one over a while. jt

After some thought....and a couple of 95 deg Sat afternoon beers....I have concluded: Mark's car has too much horsepower!!!!! Actually, I'm wondering if an external weld on an internally threaded tube is a good idea. Mark, can you post a good close up of the ends of the broken tube? jt

Is that the same one you broke the stub axle on? jt