Six_Shooter

I was just asking Matt how your car was coming today, he came into Tom's when I was there, had a noise in the front end of his Scooby, ask him about it. I really thought you were going to go MS, looking at that harness layed out on your bench. I've built harnesses in the past and it can be a long and tedious process, so I can empathize with you on that. I really want to see your car back on the ground.

Yeah it wasn't cheap back then either, luckily I wasn't paying for the trip, my mom did. Being a kid at the time, FTW! lol

I'd be in for a dual range speedo face in the standard black with white lettering. Similar to newer analog guages, have MPH around the outside in the size it is now and then another metric range on the inside, in smaller font, possibly a different colour, like a light blue. The only reason I'd want the black face is because I like them that way and don't want to take all my guages apart. If no one wants to do that, I'd like to know what program you guys use to do this sort of editing. Something like Corel Draw work? If so I'll buy that program since it looks like I will need that program for other purposes too.

Y = Yellow - Starter WB = White Black - +12V I also cheated a bit and verifyed what I was thought I was seeing with another source of ignition switch information I use for work. I can read wiring diagrams, but that one is not that easy to decipher, there looks to be some parts not labled, and it has both manual and automatic wiring, that makes it difficult to read.

A friend of mine imported a car from Austrailia, a 1973 (might have been a '74) Ford Falcon XB GT, to make a Mad Max replica. This is the car: www.madmaxcar.com Anyway, he was looking into moving to Austrailia, for various reasons, and found that he wouldn't be able to drive the car in Austrailia the way it is, due to the blower sticking through the hood. He has been informed that the hood can not have any holes in it, even for something like a blower. Sucks, because it's such a perfect replica, and he's put a lot into the car. He could import the car, but it would not be able to be registered. I know that I have seen stories of LHD cars in Austrailia, one story was about an older couple that drove across the outback by bike, they had to put a sticker on the back, to say that it was LHD, it had a sidecar. I thought that was rather entertaining, since it was a bike afterall. Take the sidecar off and it's a RHD? I wish I could remember what the cars were like when I lived there 20 years ago. I'd like to go back one day, get to the places I missed.

I would, if my car wasn't still 2000 miles away from me right now, but thanks for your post.

Looks good, nice use of space and materials.... Oh wait this isn't an art exposition. Seriously the way they fit is very nice, a little close to the frame rail for me, but when you gotta, you gotta, right? I had to build a header that only had about 5/8" clearance to the inner tierod end on a FWD, but had no choice. Did you buy a box of bends from Hedman? That's what I usually end up doing when I need to build a set or two.

There's another thread about this, I believe it's in the non-tech forum.

That's VERY cool, I actually saved the link for future reference. But for $750 for the "small" set, I could waste a whole lot of metal U and J-bends before that would save me any money. While I was looking at it, I was thinking I would spend between $250 and $300 on something like that no problem, not that I think it would save me that much wasted material, but I could have lots of fun mocking up headers in a few vehicles. I have at least two I know I have to do. Looks very well thought out, especially with the indexing, to determine if a section could be cut from one piece.

Thanks for the pic, but with the gallery the way it is, it would take me much longer to find a pic of what I wanted to see than asking about it. I was second guessing myself, that's why I asked. Anyway..... So the struts is then pressed into the cast knuckle. Then spacing or modifying the LCA where the knuckle attaches (to move the assembly back) puts that bind in that has been mentioned at the upper strut mount. How much are we really talking about here to center the wheel? 3/4", 1"? It keeps looking like it will be easier to just wait and do the live axle swap (for me) than try and push the existing IRS back, without some involved modifications. Are we trying to do this with stock diameter springs? Looks like some space could be found by switching to a smaller diameter spring/coilover, and then modify the upper strut mount (by slotting and reinforcing the upper strut mount), which I think has been mentioned.

I was thinking about this on my way into work this morning (partly because I'd also like to easily move the rear wheels back to center the wheels in the well), and was thinking about the knuckle. Is it a cast piece that supports the bearing, as in it's pressed together, and there isn't a 'conventional' bearing/hub assembly? One that would be held on with say 4 bolts. I've only seen a few pictures of this area and haven't seen this part detailed, the pictures I've seen were showing off other areas, like the LCAs and disc upgrades.

Just from that it kinda sounds like it's a good thing he didn't respond. Although I did see that the shell wasn't as good as he was claiming in some of the pictures, I saw the rust of the passenger (IIRC) wheel well along with a few other things. The only reason I would have considered paying $1500 (what he was asking) was because it was a complete car and a better shell. I could have sold off what was good from the extra parts and reduced my overall cost. But I found a better condition '73 anyway, just waiting on some paper work to make the arrangments to get her home. #152391 belongs to me.

LOL, I tried contacting that guy about the very same pair of Zs, no contact at all from him. So, what's the deal with Larry Temple? What did I steer clear of?

No, an external heat source is not required for the epoxy resin to cure. The external heat source just allows the curing process to be excellerated and monitored more closely for more consistant production of parts. Vacuum bagging is not necissary either, but is a good idea, especially with complex shapes, to set the cloth into the mold, and bleed off the excess resin. I wouldn't worry about trying to re-invent the gelcoat that is used with carbon fibre, you can get different gel coats, and if memory serves there are different thermal barrier ratings, or tempuratures that it will stand up to well. the most difficult part about working with carbon fibre is to get the thickness correct, as in just the right amount of resin used, and getting the carbon fibre cloth to form to odd shapes. You will probably find that you will need a few different shapes of carbon (for lack of a better term), as in some straight cloth, and for the runners, using a tube carbon would be easiest. This is litterally woven in a tube that when stretch closes up (smaller diameter) or opened up by scrunching it from end to end. This lends itself very well to the transitional shapes that are needed or desired for the runners. Carefully planned could even use curved runners.

I didn't even notice that part of the reply from BOZ, I just read about moving the hub on the knuckle and thought that it could be possible, could be. I've seen simarl things done on other cars, not on driven wheels that I can remember, but some people have changed the ride hight or geometry of thier rear suspension (or front suspensions for that matter) by moving the spindle point, in a few ways. Think drop spindle, but apply it to a drive wheel and in this case instead of for the purpose of lowered ride hight, for the purpose of moving the wheel in the wheel well. Might take engineering a new knuckle (spindle mount?), but just might work. Some ideas start out as "crazy" ones.

Ok, I'm actually in tears over this one, I've never laughed this hard at an interweebnet picture before!

Ok, this is the best one, I actually LOLed at this one:

Great idea, but not sure it would work with the stock brakes. I'd have to take a closer look, at how the wheel cylinders and the shoes attach. If they attach to a removable backing plate, that could also have the holes notched, this would be a pretty easy way to center the rear wheels. Rear disc would lend itself to this easily, as you could make the brackets how they need to be to place the caliper over the rotor in proper alignment. Do the LCAs attach to a mount that is welded to the chassis? I haven't looked closely at this, but if not, or rather if the LCA mounts were a bolt in item, then make new mounts or modifying them to move rearward would help with this. The only other hurdle would be to move the lower strut attachment point. Again this isn't something I looked at, especially with the intent to modify it for something like this. You would also be wise to move the diff back the same amount as wheel centers are moved back, to keep the axles in line.

My current DD is a 1998 Chevy Malibu. The car has been nothing but reliable, other than a failed starter that stranded me at the bank at a bad time to do so, but other than that it was mostly just the normal maintenance. That reminds me I need an oil change. I'm looking to sell it too. Once I get my truck back together, should be this spring, or early summer, it will be my DD, a 1985 GMC S-15 Jimmy, "Typhony".

Too cool. I've actually thought about doing something like that, on more than one occasion, and for more than one reason, in fact I'm still thinking about doing something like this for my planned engine. (not an L6 though) I looked quickly for the reason to use 3 parts to make the head instead of the original plan to use just 2 parts to the head it seems that the bore spacing changes between a couple cylinders that would make the bore spacing incorrect of the L4 head across a pair of cylinders on the L6 and so to correct this spacing, the cuts were made to leave "extra" material to account for this change in distance between these bores. Did I understand that right?

The live lead would be shorter going to the switch (4 post) than using the relay at the alternator, with a rear mount battery. The 4 post switch has two isolated circuits, one for main battery cut off and the other to kill the alternator lead without running the charge side directly to the battery. Now if you were keeping the battery upfront, then I could maybe see a use for the relay, but then you could just disconnect the battery, since it will be right beside you while working on the alternator.

660Z; Do you have any information (like pics) of your solid axle swap? I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to do my swap (basically a back-half), but would like to see what others have done or are going to do.

Forgive my import engine lack of knowledge when it comes to the designations, but L31DETT = Skyline? Is that engine set up like other DOCH engines I've seen that has oil sprayers in the cam cover?

I had one hose clamp, that I have no idea where it came from, that was actually two hose clamps with a short piece of metal attached between, that I would use to hold the tubes together. I've been contemplating making some out of different sized hose clamps to hold an entire primary (or 6) together, before any tacking. BOZ; did you get some wide hose clamps? The ones I can find are pretty narrow and don't allow for drilling a hole like that, tried it, only worked marginally.

Why would you want to disengage the front wheels from being driven? Even if I could do that, I think I would have too much fun with the all wheel traction to want to disengage it. The adult in me likes the sensibility, but the kid in me likes the fun.