jt1

Tom, I hope you make it OK. I was thinking of you when they said the fire was close to jumping the waterway. jt

A $2000 budget is going to be tight, but can probably be done if you shop carefully and do most of the work yourself. A carbed 1st gen sbc is going to be cheapest. Look for a 70's or 80's motor with the trans you want and try to buy the combo. You won't be able to get much of a hot rod, just look for a good running motor with as little smog stuff as possible. All the little stuff is gonna add up real fast, so spend lots of time with the jtr book and plan out your project as much as you can. You can do this and shop for a motor and trans while still running your current motor. Don't buy the first one you see, shop around, and if you think somebody is BS'ing you, walk away. jt

A 2:06 is cooking around VIR. Greg, congrats on the new record. Nice job. jt

One possibility is that you are changing from toe in to toe out, or vice versa. Say if your running 1/32 toe in, and you jump a curb with the right front, and in bump you go to toe out, the car can react abruptly. Lots of scrub radius can do the same thing, but unless you changed wheels it's unlikely you've changed that. jt

Take your time, stick with it, and do a good job. If you get in a rush and halfass it, every time you jack up the car and see your sloppy work, it will piss you off. jt

Cool vid.. It's nice to see those Z's running together. jt

Thanks Warren, that worked like a charm. The "admin options" part threw me off, I never tried those. John

I have some pics in my album that are no longer relevant and taking up Dan's server space. I freely admit to being a dummy, but I can't figure out how to delete them. Can anybody help? John

Thanks for the update, Bob. Glad you're doing well. John

Yes. jt

Happy Birthday Old Man!!!!!!!!! John

On my 73 240Z, with a R200 installed with a R200 mustache bar of unknown year, the main horizontal part of the bar is to the rear of the two big mounting bolts which protrude down from the unibody. Does this answer your question? I can get some pics if you need them. John

I'm not sure by memory, but I'll check my car tomorrow and post. jt

The laser method is the easiest I've seen. Remember you don't want the crank/trans CL pointing directly at the pinion flange, you want them parallel, so the u joint angles will be the same. When I did my car, it fell into place almost perfectly. All I did was tweak the trans mount a bit. I helped another fellow on a V8 conversion, and it took a lot of work. The nose of the diff was high and pointing to the drivers side. There was no obvious wreck repair, but it took a lot of shimming on the diff and relocating the trans mount to get the vibration out of the driveshaft. jt

I worded that very poorly. I meant that the weight transfer can increase the force on one joint, for instance accelerating out of a corner.

It's not the radial load I'm concerned about, it's the bending moment and shear force on the threaded portion of the heim joint, and the pics above seem to me to show a male joint, not a female. I'm not trying to be argumentative, or saying the design isn't adequate. I am saying the load on the forward joint is much higher with the toe link design, since it carries all the load, not a portion of it like with a h arm. The forward joint caries the weight of the car on that corner, the weight transferred to that corner by acceleration and cornering, and the force that is accelerating the car. All this combines as a bending and shear force on the threaded portion of the shank, if in fact it's a male joint. It's an important piece, and the specs of the joint should be given due consideration. jt

What transfers the longitudinal force generated by the contact patch to the chassis? It looks to me like the force path is thru the tire to the wheel, to the stub axle, to the bearings, to the spindle, and then all placed on the forward heim joint, in bending, on the threaded part of the heim joint. jt

The only reservation I have about the A-arm/toe link design is that the entire accel/deccel force generated by the rear tire is placed on the forward heim joint. Has anyone done any analysis of the force on the forward joint? jt

There are lots of methods, but there are a few important things to remember whichever method you choose. Most V8 conversions offset the engine to the pass side about an inch, to give more header clearance at the steering shaft. Relocating the steering shaft is a major pita, and the offset to the right helps the weight distribution of the car. The diff is not centered in the chassis. Based on my attempts to measure it, it varies some, but seems to be about an inch to the pass side. It may not be parallel to the CL of the chassis, due to the condition of the front rubber mount and the mustache bar. The CL of the crank and the CL of the pinion need to be parallel as installed, so you have an equal operating angle for each of the driveshaft u joints. This is very important to avoid driveshaft vibrations. Remember you are working with a 30+ yr old chassis that was mass produced and has a lot of unknown history. Perfect just doesn't happen in my experience. EDIT: Crap, I just realized you are working with a RHD. You can probably disregard everything I just posted. I will shut up now. jt

Greg, is there any sign of metal transfer between the main cap and block? jt

Kevin Shasteen has posted some great info on this in the past. jt

Yes. A couple of layers should do it, but it's tricky to get the right amount of tape up the threads on the bolt(s). Too much and it wads up under the action, not enough and you glass the threads. That's the first time I've heard of the c clamp method. Seems like it could work pretty good. Remember the whole idea is to provide a uniform, stable bearing surface between the action and stock. In my experience it's very easy to use way too much glass, and get it all over everything, hence my warnings about taping and release agent. After the glass cures, if you have a big enough freezer you can put it in the freezer a while and the action will usually pop right out of the stock. jt

I would do the action and the first couple of inches of the barrel. After that's complete, you can experiment with shimming the forearm to see if it helps. If so, you can glass it later on. The couple of inches of glass being square doesn't matter, but if it bugs you tape it off or use a dremel to relieve it after the fact. When you relieve the stock stop about 1/4" inch short of the edge where the stock meets the metal, so you don't see the glass from the outside. It makes a much neater job IMO. You can tape the action screws oversize or bore the holes afterward, or both. Use plenty of release on the screws, and everything you don't want glass on. If your rifle has a recoil lug, only bed the rear of the lug. Tape up or clearance the side and front. It's usually easier to tape it. Use plenty of release. Tape up the trigger, mag, and any part of the gun not touching the glass. Use plenty of release. Did I mention use plenty of release? Edit to add: There are about as many methods as people who do this, so don't be surprised if you get a lot of different opinions. If the old stock has no sentimental value, I highly recomend a practice run on it before you start gouging on the new one! John

Looks great. I'm glad you got a handle on the vac leak. jt

You can fit a 14x3" air cleaner if you use a drop base. The Z28 repro bases work well, along with the Edelbrock drop base. jt