gramercyjam

Thats what I thought too. "Our ultimate concern it safety .... " Then why the hell did they have us running through a muddy pond?

My car is effed. Rear quarter panel is bent up under the car now and the nose points the wrong way. I would have kept running though if the LF wheel wasn't bent. I am OK except for my injured pride.

Well I started out two turns in, the rears didn't seem to be getting very hot, so I put another 3 turns in, and that seemed OK too. I did't get enough time to really dial it in though. I crashed near the end of my second session - just as I was getting a feel for the course.

The event was a blast as expected. All I can say about my car is it performed better than I expected with absolutely no shake out time after the rebuild. It was very very quick in the twisties without a hint of misbehavior. I had an intructor for the first session, during which I was shaking out my car. I was driving fairly slowly trying to see if brakes and steering actually worked, and had no a clue about the layout of the course at the same time. My instructor seemed very frustrated that his instruction wasn't helping very much. But he eventually let me go on my own. Once I got a little more confidence in the car, and good idea of where the corners where, it was a whole new ball game. I got black flagged twice, once for tire smoke from a fender rub, once for passing in a corner (by accident - I thought he was getting off). There was a pond from some major water runoff near the end of one of the straight-aways that was a major concern to a lot of us. I can say it was like driving on ice everytime I hit that. I spun out in it near the end of the second practice session on Sat. at 120+ mph and hit a dirt berm pretty hard. (I'm guessing at the speed) The car launched about 4 feet into the air and messed up the passenger side of my car - bent a wheel - that put me out so I didn't get a timed run. Those that observed the incident said they were very suprised the car didn't end up on the roof and more suprised that I drove the car off course after that. It seemed to me the rear end kicked out a little in the water, probably due to a small rear toe mis-alignment - Too bad it isn't adustable on 240Z's. Any way, I managed to keep it straight for a little bit after that, but the water/muck just got deeper and the tail eventually came around. Many people got into trouble in the water - one Vette spun out and went backward through the braking point markers, sending one of them through his rear hatch glass. An M3 lost part of his body kit there too. Sunday morning a kid rolled his dad's BMW M3 in a tight corner, he was OK but the car looked fairly totalled (crushed roof - all glass gone) and it was taken away on a flatbed car hauler. The Carbotech pads were great - but I don't think they got the ultimate workout. Once I got into the groove I pretty much stayed in third the whole track, and caught and passed all the cars in front of me just before or after the corners. I never experienced any fade or overheating and don't see any appreciable wear on the pads or rotors. At this point, I am not interested in upgrading my brakes from stock yet. Can't wait for the next event!

I haven't ever seen any brass O/A or MIG welding tips. They are always copper. I am guessing this is because brass sticks more than copper.

I see where you are coming from. I'm one of the "why buy it if you can make it" and "if buying the right tools for the job costs the same as paying somebody else to screw it up, buy the tools" types. What I can afford and what I want to pay for are usually two different things.

Whats the deal with these MSA cast oil pans? Is it just looks like a cool looking part that nobody sees unless you count what looks like that baffle? It would seem that you could fab something up from a stock oil pan in two shakes that would be a little more functional (like with a kick out for more capacity, dry sump bungs, etc).

I'm interested.

I need to get a speedometer.

I'm lazy and don't want to test. J/K. The reason I ask is because my car with be coming out of a 2 month R&R on the shell straight onto the trailer and to the road course event. I won't have any opportunity for testing other than a warmup session saturday morning. It was a bare metal stripped down shell a week ago and quite a few things are new and will be track-untested. I'm not cutting corners really, but with my time contraints, at this point I'm not obsessing over the "ideal" either. I'll have two sets of tires, a set of Hoosier bias road race slicks, and a set of Kuhmos. Maybe I'll kill the Kuhmos first. The hot setup would be dual brake masters with adjustable bias bar on some reverse hanging tilton pedals and in-cockpit reservoirs. That's what I told my better half I wanted for father day, and the cost ...... But she didn't get them for me

I can hear the wheels turning from here. Nothing like a little rationalization to move the project along!

For those that have one with the stock brakes, where do you like to set it? all the way out? all the way in (I doubt this). A couple turns in? I just fabbed up all new brake lines and put one on last weekend. I installed it under the hood on the firewall because of time restraints so I won't have the ability to adjust it from the cockpit.

I hear you about the cost of good fasteners and the availability of metric. When I got my car, the P.O.'s had just used whatever all over the car - it really "screws" up the car when they put the water pump on by jamming some SAE bolts into the block, jammed on SAE fender bolts, etc. etc. I've slowly been re-tapping/replacing all that crap. SAE nuts on new transverse link pins are a fast way to burn $50. On the push/pull welding technique. I do a lot of pulling mainly because when I push, I tend to rest my hand on the hot weld which is a little uncomfortable, and because it is easier to be steady and I usually get a better bead when welding thin stuff. When welding thick materials/short welds, I will push. The only problem I have with welding upside down is if your arm has to be directly underneath dripping metal!

Z-Tard, don't you mean copper stock?

I don't know that you will be able to overcome the cheap welder problems. They work OK on angle iron, but you really need rock solid wire feed and heat control to weld thin sheet metal well. I remember it was a bear trying to weld exhaust tubing with a cheap MIG and flux core .034 wire.

Tell me it ain't so John!

Another thing I do is heat up the seams with a propane torch before wire wheels and welding to turn any remaining sealers in to ash so it comes off easily instead of mushing around.

The easiest way I've found so far is sandblasting with some coarse black diamond grit. Then a good stiff wire wheel (like the kind for removing weld slag from stick welds) if you can see any traces of undercoat or seam sealer left in the seam. Some places you just won't be able to clean real well though, or you will just miss them. You can MIG weld those places, but you have to hang around in those spots long enough to burn off the paint/sealers so it floats to the top of the puddle. If you do go with just a wire wheel and no sandblasting, try to scrape as much off as you can first. The wire wheels like to just spread the sealers around on the metal. For touch-ups after welds, I just use whatever is lying around. I usually have some industrial black or gray. Rustoleum Industrial is plenty durable and inexpensive and ready available at most Home Depots and such. I try do save anything like painting until I'm ready to close up for the night so I'm not waiting around for stuff to dry. Personally, I try not to put SAE on my car at all. A couple years down the road, I won't have a clue which are or aren't metric and I'll accidentally run an SAE nut onto a metric bolt with an impact gun and ruin my day/weekend. Plus I don't like having to use three different size wrenches to take something off that used to only take 1. You could try drilling the old nut out, and then just putting a new one in the hole that is left. Screw a bolt into it to hold it with while and weld it in. I don't think I'd go so far as to cut it out and welding in new sheet metal.

I think that would be a deal John. Do you take AMEX? Just kidding (Wife doesn't allow me to have cash anymore - for several reasons). Maybe I can buy it and keep it at your house, so she doesn't find out about it. LOL

Boats are cool. I know two things for sure 1. A boat is a hole in the water in which you pour your money 2. The two best days in a boat owners life are the day they buy their boat and the day they sell their boat. Sorry, not much help here. Personally, if I had really wanted to sell the boat, I would not have quibbled over the $350.

I just sprayed on some 2 part Dupont epoxy primer sealer last night (interior and engine bay took a quart of paint). It was the first time I used a 2 part paint and expected it to be a huge PITA. But it wasn't. It went on smooth, covered great, dried to the touch very quickly, easy to clean up, and has a very appealing semi gloss finish. Painting is now one of my favorite things to do! It was a little expensive though.

Ah, but what if the front and rear springs are different sizes (length, mass) and the same "rate"?

Track weekend is in two weeks. I'll let you know. Right now the car looks like this But I'm pressing on and will somehow get it all back together in time.

Hey, ridin' with the funkmaster heeya. I say those wheels are "retro" as well as historic in that they closely resemble those that were found on the very same vehicles that were used to settle the West and who could find fault there?