Flexicoker

I would not try and drive it missing a bolt like that. You can take it to a local machine shop and they should be able to get it out for $20 or so. That would be worth the piece of mind in my opinion. If you hear them say 'EDM' run away...

Lazeum, you're braking scenario is not complete, you also need an X-direction force applied to the spindle. Also, the bending reference was not talking about the toe-link, it was referring to the entire H-arm. If the strut to control arm pivot axis is not parallel to the control arm to body pivot axis, then there is going to be a moment acting on H-arm trying to twist it, and the only things reacting that force will be the torsional stiffness of the arm, and the strut itself, which will cause more friction in the strut. The A-arm design eliminates that problem.

I'm fast!!! pick me!!!!!!! on topic... what about knife-edging the crank? My theory is that decreasing the moment of inertia of the crank will increase its natural frequency, and make any harmonic 'bad spots' higher on the RPM range

I don't have any arms in front of me to measure, but I think there will be enough misalignment in a normal spherical bearing with some cone washers/misalignment bushings to accommodate the suspension travel on most cars. With bolt-on clevises you can rotate them to make sure you have the most travel in both directions, someone would need to take some measurements to be sure before making any though.

Okay, after all my griping about rod-ends in bending without presenting a solution, heres a possibility. Probably not the best solution out there, but I think it will work. Little steel clevises that bolt on to the sides of the strut with the spindle pin. Now you can use an A-arm with a proper staked or c-clipped spherical bearing. The only disadvantages I see to this setup are that you can't adjust track/camber with it, but toe will be on-the-car adjustable. Also, sway bar loads are going to load the spherical bearing axially and try to pop the bearing out of its housing on the A-arm. comments?

Imagine a lamp hanging from the ceiling, but its on a really long chain so its at about shoulder level. Grab that lamp with both arms, one on each side, and swing the lamp from the left to the right. As the lamp goes to the left, your left arm is going to go up, and your right arm will go down (relative to the left) The lamp and chain are the strut, and your arms are an H-style control arm. Your arms changing angle relative to one another is the twist thats going to be happening with an H-arm if you change the toe, or move the wheel front or back. The design of an A-arm with a separate toe-link accommodates that movement without flexing the arm or binding the strut. In most cases the geometry change from stock is going to be so minimal that nothing bad will happen, but there are probably situations with alot of toe, or trying to center the wheel in the wheel well were it could become a problem.

Look at the rodend that connects the A-portion of the control arm to the strut. If your car is accelerating, that force is going to have to go from the strut to the control arm. Since the toe link is about perpendicular to the direction of this force, its not going to carry any of the load. The direction of that force is not along the threads, and is going to put a bending moment on the threaded portion of the rod-end. Any force other than a lateral force is going to be bending that rod-end.

RELAX!! Thats the #1 best thing you can do to prepare. Think of your first run as more of a reconnaissance run. be quick, be smooth, but don't try and out-brake yourself or get on the gas too early. Walking the track 1000 times works for some people, but I never really know whats coming until I've been around the track once. Your second run will be way faster if you took it easy the first run, instead of getting over your head and DNFing. I know because I've made that mistake more times than I care to admit. I go the fastest when I feel like I'm going slow. oh ya, and LFS is awesome...

I can't run anymore calcs right now, but going from 1/2" to 5/8" makes a pretty big difference, its over double the moment of inertia (therefor half the stress). I think if you took stress concentrations due to the threads into account, and designed for infinite fatigue life with fully reversed bending, 5/8" would be right on the ragged edge. The jist of what I'm saying is, with a big enough rod-end, periodic inspection, and minimal threads exposed, all of these designs will probably work fine. It should just be known that it does not have a very high safety factor, and is now a racing part, and racing parts need to be inspected frequently. That is all, I don't want anyone to think I'm bashing on their designs.

I agree with jt1. Although I think the A-arm is the optimum shape, that single rod-end in bending is carrying the vast majority of the force due to acceleration and braking. spherical bearings should be loaded radially, and rod-ends in bending are bad news. Doing some super-simplified hand calculations, 1500 lb acceleration force, .5" from ball center to where it meets the jam-nut, and a .4405" diameter stud (minor diameter of 1/2-20 UNF, and not taking into account stress concentrations due to the threads) I get 89 ksi. Thats a whole lot considering that threads and fatigue weren't taken into account, and heat treated 4340 yields at ~200ksi Also the axial proof load on a 1/2" Aurora male rod-end is only 2,040 lbs. And thats how the bearing is being loaded under accel. Unfortunately I don't see a simple solution to the problem other than a bigger rod-end. Getting rid of the threads in bending is going to require alot different design, and probably not be on-car adjustable.

Does it come with a DRO? If not, I would highly recommend getting one, unless you're only going to be doing extremely simple stuff. As for milling basics (I don't know what experience you have) -2 flute endmills for aluminum, 4 for steel -make sure you have a center-cutting endmill if you're going to be plunging. -if you're cutting with the side of the endmill, climb cutting will produce a nicer finish (your workpiece should be moving the same direction as the tip of the tool when its cutting) -start with slow feeds and speeds and move up from there. I always had the best luck cutting steel spinning the tool way slower than seemed appropriate. -carbide is awesome

yes, but only when I'm sure I'm not the ******* (ie. being the slow guy in the passing lane) and when they're really freaking close. I will only brake check if I'm being tailgated in a slow lane (they can and should get in the passing lane and pass me) or if I'm being tailgated in the passing lane when I'm stuck behind someone else. Riding my ass isn't going to make the people in front of me go any faster. The passing lane is called that for a reason, you use it to pass someone who's going slower than you, then you get out of the way. On the Autobahn its illegal to be in the left lane unless you're passing someone, as it should be here.

Not necessarily, I don't know how small is too small, but I haven't found anywhere that you can get an organic or kevlar disk smaller than what Monzter has. Anything with a metallic disk is probably going to be a pain on the street, especially if its super low inertia.

possibly the subject of a different thread... but has anyone considered mounting fender mirrors farther back like the 2000GT?

I think I small, 2-disk organic clutch could be a real winner for high-hp (or low-hp in my case =D) street cars that want low inertia and streetability. Quartermaster makes an 8.5" twin disk in organic, but thats not a whole lot smaller than the stock clutch. It is aluminum though. Monzter's is 7.5" and sounds pretty close to what I'm imagining. After a little research it seems that Tilton makes some carbon/carbon clutches for high-hp street cars that seem reliable. Quartermasters C/C has to be shimmed to keep it in spec (how often??) those are $4k+ clutches though. Another thing to take into consideration is that alot of these clutches will need a custom/modified clutch release system. An annular slave cylinder is pretty easy to adapt to most transmissions with a little machine work...

I think it depends alot on the clutch. I have the 10.5lb Fidanza on my car right now with a metallic clutch and it took some getting used to, and is kind of annoying. I think the lightweight flywheel would be okay, as long as you had an easy to modulate clutch. Most racing clutches however, will not be easy to modulate.

They also have adapters for Quaife gearboxes for the L-series, as well as clutch release systems I believe. (I used to work there)

a racing or custom flywheel will probably run you $4-500. I don't know about the clutches. Call here for pricing and alot more information: http://www.taylor-race.com/

I think quartermaster makes a stock diameter flywheel for a 4.5" clutch for an L-series, not sure about a CA18. Check the applications list. As far as streetability I have no idea. Supposedly carbon/carbon will hold a ton of power, very smooth engagement and very long lasting (this is compared to metallic racing clutches). Thats all from word of mouth though, I have no first hand experience with them. They will probably require alot more maintenance than a street clutch though, and cost alot more money. All that said... I would love to try a tiny multi-disk C/C clutch on my car...

I bought a rebuild head from them for my L24. The car is/was my only transportation so I was trying to get it running quickly, and JIS was right down the street from me. The head was a piece of ♥♥♥♥. The head had a broken valve or some other debris bang around and damage the combustion chamber. They said it was just fine and would not find me another one. It wasn't so bad and I needed it urgently so I just smoothed it out a little bit with a dremel. One of the valves I could not get enough lash on, so I ended up grinding down the jam nut to get enough travel to set the lash... turns out the valve was longer than all the others and would spontaneously eject its rocker arm from that point on. It also had several stripped threads that I had to helicoil. In the end I just bought an L28 out of a wrecked 280ZX and my life has been infinitely better since. In Summary... F% that place.

I've been researching this for past couple of hours and here's what I've learned: I (personally) dislike the look of the modern projector HID's that some people have for their Z's. The metal boob with nuclear nipples. HID bulbs plopped into H4 housings blind people. With some proper glare shields and a little work, you can make HID bulbs in H4 housings not blind people: http://www.hachiroku.net/forums/showthread.php?t=700 Obviously the light isn't as good as projectors, but that doesn't bother me as long as I'm not blinding people. (possibly my biggest pet peeve ever) My plan right now is these housings: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230154579497&_trksid=p2759.l1259#ht_1572wt_1831 These bulb adapters: http://www.hidexpert.com/ph4_adapters.html And whatever ballasts/bulbs I can find from the pick and pull (hopefully) Any input is appreciated.

Join a Formula SAE team. If you think you know alot about cars now... just wait

http://www7.plala.or.jp/ysgarage/ Click on the second green button down on the left, right under 'top page'

Reminds me of another 'Albert' I saw while in Switzerland... http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2004/12/2497.html

my sister was there and ended up in street view!! In the golfcart!!!! http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=laguna+seca&ie=UTF8&ll=36.583258,-121.752749&spn=0,359.995869&z=19&layer=c&cbll=36.583164,-121.752751&panoid=DAuNBwGFOutWLZFyUmT5eA&cbp=12,279.319225183494,,0,29.603896103896115