Jesse OBrien

You need a spindle, and what looks like a differential bracket. While you're in there, it's probably a good time to get an RT diff mount as well. I don't have any for sale, just trying to help you find what you need.

Right, but he was only running 225's, where the Turner was running something like 355's. Both had well-tuned suspensions for the hill and carried incredible speed through every corner. Both are ~1500lb cars plus fuel/driver. I guess I'm just surprised that AWD can bridge that much of a tire size gap. That's my plan as well, I just feel like I should ask for some input from more experienced people before going crazy with the widest tires I can get, and slapping overfenders under them. I want a car that I can drive quickly and effectively, not one that's bored waiting for me to figure out how to wrestle with it.

I agree, none of this makes any sense. I thought I had a moderate understanding of how things worked 'till these guys started explaining things to me. I may just be taking away the buzzwords from the conversation, and didn't absorb all the context. I feel like I'm starting over in suspension 101 again. That makes perfect sense, and is what I had always assumed. More mechanical grip means faster times. The Audi driver reported slower times with wider tires, which is what threw a wrench into my brain. It's kind of funny, my whiteboard in the garage has a 'johnc prep list' on it with starting recommendations straight from you. I think that should be standard reading for anyone who buys an s30 (http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/91330-240z-chassis-prep-reinforcements/?do=findComment&comment=864737). I think we all end up asking that question at some point in our ownership. It's very carefully cobbled together. Scrub radius is what they were explaining to me, but I'm not sure anyone used that term. I want 0 offset on the 15x9's correct? I'm really just looking for a solid starting point, it doesn't need to be the end-all best possible wheel. I've ogled Braap's old yellow z with its massively wide tires many, many times and would love to be able to justify running wide tires like that. I'm trying not to put the cart before the horse though. I have a lot of math to do, but for right now I'm just looking for a starting point. I'm trying to balance this to be street driveable as well, since I don't have a truck-trailer to haul it on. The main problem is that I don't know what the car's performance window actually is. I don't have dyno results for the engine, haven't changed any suspension components (yet, since I don't know exactly what the car needs yet). The only real determination I could make is gearing, and even with that, I'd like to swap up to an LSD (STI, perhaps) which will change my gearing again. For now, a starting point is all I need.

I'm certain this has been addressed before, and I did a lot of searching (on several forums) but have come up short. This past weekend, I attended a hillclimb race event and made a few observations that made me rethink wheel choices. I had always assumed the widest wheel possible would offer the most mechanical grip and amount to the best 'momentum' car possible. I saw a few Turner cars ripping up the track with plenty of power and plenty of mechanical grip, along with well-sorted suspension. They were unquestionably fast: However, a cobbled-together awd twin-turbo Audi broke the track record. It was unquestionably fast as well. The thing that got me thinking and questioning what I "knew" is that the Audi is running significantly less tire, weighs roughly the same, and can put down roughly the same amount of power. Both cars had excellent pilots. However, the car with narrower tires was putting down better times, going against everything I had previously believed. I asked the drivers about it afterward, and I got a brief primer on roll centers, kingpin angles, and terrifying steering vs smooth steering characteristics. I had always assumed that the hub should be lined up with the centerline of the wheel, but apparently I had it all wrong and the roll center should be lined up with the centerline of the wheel. I'm working my way through some of the experienced racers' advice on here, and am not quite ready to invest in wheels/tires, but I'd like to get some research done ahead of time for this. I have to assume that there's a wheel/tire combo that's a good 'starting point' for the s30. Right now, I suppose I'm looking for 15x8 wheels since they have a reasonable selection of sticky DOT tires, but I wanted to see if I could get some reading material from you fine folks before I spend money and potentially ruin the car's handling capabilities.

Just received this last night: I'm really sick of trying to find pedals that fit. At this point, I'm ready to bite some bullets and just get the damn thing put together, so I'll order this over the weekend: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wil-340-12410 I started adding some tack welds to the major chassis seams, and after it's running/driving, I think I'm going to make some tubular subframe connectors (or I might just go with BD parts ones).

After this weekend's event, I don't really see any alternative to adding a roll cage. If I'm going to drive this thing in a hillclimb event, I'm going balls to the wall with safety. It's something I'd rather go overboard with than not, and it looks like I have all winter to get it sorted. Without getting into too many specifics, getting to see the 40-or-so cars thrashing the crap out of such a beautiful mountain road has me completely sold on this event. I won't get into too many of the boring details, but I took a few (hundred) photos and a bunch of video that I'm still sorting through: Amazing home-built machine (lots of time on an English Wheel) running surprisingly fast times on bias ply tires. Runs sub-10psi pressure through a front-mounted supercharger off of an earth mover. (this one isn't my photo) Twin turbo Audi that made me rethink squeezing the widest wheels possible on the Z, and instead focusing on balance and roll centers (he broke a couple of records this weekend)

I believe the lever goes to the passenger-side vent. You should have a pull-cable similar to a hood popper on the passenger's side. It's pretty bare-bones, but you can see it here:

I've accepted that I lost my budget a long time ago. I'm still tracking it, but don't have a latest breakdown. My best estimate is around $3500 right now, but I still need to spend money on: tires (and possibly wheels) brake lines fuel lines battery seats fluids (comes to around $125, more expensive than one might expect) radiator new battery box brake booster brake master cylinder exhaust I think that with some more clearly defined data on what fits and what doesn't (forums are NOT an ideal way to organize that data, by the way ... searching then scanning is pretty ineffective), I could have stayed within my original budget of $2500 without any issues. I'm now on my 3rd pedal box that doesn't fit, for instance. (automatic original, 280zx manual box didn't even come close, and the late-s30 box is close, but not usable without significant modification). Gaskets and manifold studs really added up too, I think I've spent $300 on studs/bolts between these two engines, largely because sellers didn't provide adequate descriptions of their products. I was extremely disappointed with http://www.ebay.com/usr/charger440rt, who sent me EFI bolts instead of carb studs, even though this was a 240z bolt/stud kit. I tried to be helpful in my description of what the problem was: Two weeks later, I followed up with them, and the reply I got was: At that point, it wasn't even worth picking up the phone for these people. This is just one example of a setback I ran into, but at this point I just need to move on and finish the car up. I'm not TOO far away from completion at this point (around $1500 away, if my math is reasonably accurate).

An impact driver was what finally stripped the head. I blame Phillips. Phillips sucks.

I've finished quite a bit, and without giving too many details away pre-emptively, I just received a few parts: installed the transmission/driveshaft (both fit nicely, with the automatic driveshaft and transmission crossmember) after I cut the shifter hole a little): ... picked up a spare n42 l28 with round-top SU's: ... cleaned up one of the engines and installed it: ...and have been wrestling with this stupid door jamb/latch thing. Those Phillips screws must be welded in by a master welder or something. They don't wiggle at all. I'm waiting for my exhaust manifold to arrive so I can finish assembly of the engine: Then I need to sort out the barely-doesnt-fit pedal box location and missing throttle linkage piece: Once that's done, I get to tackle wiring and hard line routing, and see if I can get the thing to start. Once it starts and moves, all I really need is a seat, and I'm good to make it my daily. As an aside, I wanted to share my review of my current daily throughout this project (the Yaris is waiting 'till snowfall to take over daily driver duties): http://drivendaily.org/humble-honda-cl360/

As far as I can tell, the only reason to stick with ITBs is to have something that's different from most other cars. In my book, that's not a great reason. Join the pack of l28et owners who rarely complain about their cars, and stop feeling like you're missing out on something. You've been at this long enough, and if someone else wants to carry the torch of ITB/SDS for awhile (and pay you for the privilege), I say let them.

Very minor update, this happened last night: I had already installed the transmission before trying to line it up with the output shaft, so the driveshaft had to come off the differential to be able to install it. It's an automatic driveshaft and an automatic transmission crossmember (shouldn't matter) on a 4spd transmission, and I haven't confirmed that the auto driveshaft is the right length for the 4spd conversion. I'll definitely have to cut the shifter hole a bit, but I'll just take care of that when I fix the floors (riveted sheet metal). I have a big old shopping list of parts to pick up, but I think I'm on hold 'till John gets back to the States. He has a magical treasure trove of nearly everything I could need.

Once Week 10 came up, I felt defeated enough that I gave up on the project altogether. Then I read 'Snow Crash' last week, and decided that I'm obligated to build the 'deliverator' and was inspired enough to get back into the garage with a newfound fury: I'll get some new photos tomorrow and give a more complete update, but that's the general idea of where it's headed. First thing's first, I need to make an updated shopping list, as if i just bought this project from someone else instead of inheriting it from 3-months-ago-me.

The rack assembly bolts that came with those carbs are only long enough for 4 carbs, so I just ordered some threaded rod and nuts to go along with them to turn a rack of 4 into a rack of 6. It may not serve especially well as a permanent solution, but should be perfectly adequate for mockups-and probably a few test runs.

I was waiting for parts today, and this started happening: I'll give more detals in due time, but let's just say that I'm excited about where this could go, after the build is finished.

Week 9 is quickly approaching, and I'm behind schedule as well as over budget. I don't have either engine in the car, as the transmission bolts I thought would work are too long for the first l28, and I'm waiting on manifold studs, a gasket, new distributor components, and an exhaust manifold before I can plop the second combo in. I ordered some motor mounts and a transmission mount as well, but those won't be in until after next week. I had some seats that I was hoping to pick up this weekend, but I had to postpone that drive 'till this coming weekend (they're out in VT, which is a bit of a hike), so the interior still isn't complete either. On top of that, I'm completely out of space in the garage and the 'workbench' that the previous owner had built (really, it was just a shelf that had been crappily taped to the wall) finally came down and I need to build/buy a new workbench. I think this build is getting pushed back a month, judging by the way things have been going.

It's on my to-read list, but I just received my book on SU's, along with "How to rebuild your Datsun l-series" and "How to modify your Datsun l-series" books. I also just received the book on road-car aerodynamics by the author of Autospeed. I'll get around to doing some more reading as time permits, and I'm definitely interested in learning more (fascinated by fasteners?). That all makes sense, I was aware of zinc plating acting as a sacrificial anode, but hasn't really considered that it works in both directions (protecting the bolt and the chassis where it's being threaded into). I'm certainly not married to the idea of stainless steel. I'm going to go out on a limb and make a comparison that might be unrelated, but it seems to be in-line with this discussion. I've been through a pile of straight razors, trying to find the right one. I've tried multiple stainless blades, but they never really got a good sharp edge, and wouldn't hold a moderately-sharp edge for very long anyway. For a razor, sacrificing performance really isn't an option. If I have to oil a blade before storing it and spend a little more effort to keep it from rusting, that's just fine in my book. The advantages of stainless do not even begin to outweigh the performance advantages of good tool steel. However, my folding pocket knife is stainless. It sees all manner of abuse and it's more important that it have one side that has an edge-like surface than for it to be able to split hairs with ease. It regularly gets plunged in water and doesn't get cleaned for days at a time, and I see the advantages of stainless being much more beneficial than the improved edge properties of tool steel. I like to think that this comparison also applies to fasteners. The bolts inside an engine see lots of torque, but are bathed in oil so rust isn't really much of a concern relative to strength or heat expansion properties (or whatever other considerations are applicable). In places like the timing cover or distributor mount, I'm seeing a trend toward rusty bolts with gritty sludge baked into the bolt-holes. It really doesn't seem like overall strength would be too much of a concern in these areas, where it would be a big concern on something like the flywheel or rod bolts. It sounds like this is in-line with what you guys are saying (I could get away with stainless in some areas, but not others). Finding (reasonably-priced) zinc plated fasteners is not as easy as stainless fasteners (I haven't found anywhere that I can just order a bulk load of bolts in various sizes). That doesn't help when the heads of bolts rust off, or there isn't enough material left on the threads to run it through a die.

Why are stainless manifold studs so popular then? Is it just a mass misunderstanding?

The best search engine I've ever found is called "other members" based on my experience. It looks like I could spend quite a bit on fasteners, but here in New England, traditional steel bolts tend to rust rather quickly (in my experience). I just heard back from the hardware guy I normally use, and while he has no idea if the stainless bolts he offers would be suitable for this application, he did say that they're 304 stainless and are rated for 100,000 psi. That sounds like a lot, but as we've already been over, "I just don't know what I don't know." I have a lot to learn still.

Aw man, I was hoping for SOMETHING to simply be what it appears to be, and not require additional knowledge/experience. Surely there are some fasteners that matter, and some that don't, at least? For applications like holding a valve cover on, or attaching spark plug wires, I don't imagine engineering would make much of a difference since the stress levels are so low. Give me a couple weeks, I'm now convinced that I'm not even aware of what I don't know at this point.

All these rusty old fasteners are getting old, and I'm ready to just bulk-order some stainless bolts. I've been through a big pile of m8-1.25 bolts on the n42 that I've been wrenching on lately, but it seems to make sense that I reach out to the community for what common bolt sizes are really needed. Right now I'm just looking at m6-1.0 and m8-1.25 in various lengths from 10mm to 60mm, and I believe they're just a2 stainless (not incredibly strong, but sufficient for most applications). I'm looking for a bit of everything, from transmission bolts to engine bolts to timing cover bolts to radiator securing bolts to fender bolts to seat bolts to hatch bolts ... essentially if something rusty comes out, I plan to replace it with something I won't have to worry about again. I did some searching, but couldn't find a thread that had any hard facts in this area and I'd rather not spend all day with my thread measurement gauge figuring out what to order if someone's already been through it. My current order: m6-1.0 - 25 of each length from 10mm to 60mm in 10mm increments (10mm, 20mm, 30mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm) m8-1.25 - 25 of each length from 10mm to 60mm m10-1.25 - 25 of each length from 10mm to 60mm washers - 50 of each diameter lock washers - 50 of each diameter nuts - 25 of each thread pattern studs - I haven't taken any measurements yet, but I'd DEFINITELY like to replace the intake manifold studs Misc. fastener data: I've discovered that ARP camshaft bolts for a GM LS* fit the Datsun pressure plate perfectly (order two kits), and ARP flywheel bolts from a Toyota 3m-GTE fit the Datsun flywheel perfectly. I haven't load-tested these, but don't see any reason for them to fly apart and kill puppies (I believe that a high-strength fastener is a high-strength fastener, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Did some more carb rebuilding yesterday

This is the beginning of week 8, and this happened yesterday: It was an awesome adventure for a $200 engine/transmission combo. I had asked around to see if any friends had a truck and would be willing to drive ~2 hours (each way) to pick up some car stuff, and Laurie got back to me saying that her friend Nate was willing to loan his truck to her. I had no idea what a fantastic piece of crap the truck would be, but I fell in love with it. As it turns out, this is his rallycross truck, and it has seen many days of hard driving. It doesn't have luxury features like 2nd-gear-syncros or suspension on the front-left corner, but it has a bed and enough power to haul an engine, and he just let us drive off with it. I think I've made a new friend for life out of this deal. The pickup Once we were on the road, I found that the differential was welded and the throttle pedal gets stuck after it's been turned off for a few minutes. It also sounds like a diesel engine that's having sex with a sewing machine in an echo-y bathroom. In short, it's my favorite pile of crap I've ever driven. The organ donor We finally got down into the southern end of Mass, and I got to meet another Nate, who had taken on an awesome ambitious project. It seems straightforward in theory (sr20det into an s30) but the car's previous owner was not ... was ... well, they're the sort of person who probably shouldn't own cars. It had molded flares, a bunch of riveted-on galvanized steel with a few lbs of bondo putty layered on top to repair rust, and the floors ... they were quite bad. His sr20det build looked like it was coming along very nicely though, and I'm excited to see how he finishes his project. The engine It was everything Nate had described. I can believe that it had moved onto a trailer of its own free will. I don't believe that it was capable of running correctly, or that it had done much more than idling and sputtering around parking lots in the past year or three. However, for a $200 engine, I was still getting a steal. We loaded it up, exchanged some money, and Laurie and I got back on the road. That and unloading the engine in the rainy mud ate up what was left of my day, but I looked the engine over a bit better this morning. I didn't get any great pictures of it, but the intake manifold had been window-welded to the head. I blame this on the PO2 (the previous owner's previous owner), so the manifolds had to come off first and foremost. The manifold studs all came out easily, and chasing the head's threads was a breeze. It turned out that the PO2 didn't even remove the intake manifolds before applying the window weld. A new gasket and studs should be all it really needs to get back to ship-shape condition. The carb slides were completely seized in the closed position. I took the caps off, pulled the slides, ran everything in the ultrasonic cleaner a few times, carb cleaner'd them, wiped them down a few more times with a tack cloth, and reassembled the top halves. Now they seem happy as well. While I was at it, I decided to clean one of the sets of my motorbike carbs as well, and the other SU's are still on the first l28. The next genius move the PO2 left as his legacy was the airbox. I had dismissed modifying my airbox, since round holes and square holes just don't line up properly. Any 2nd grader knows that. I'll give him points for determination, but I'm thoroughly disappointed in the end result. I also noted that the distributor was a little different on this l28 compared to the other l28 I have. The mount is totally different, and the adjuster screw is accessed from the BOTTOM, not the TOP (which is how the other l28 distributor works). It's a curious distinction, and I'll have to do some research to determine what the consequences of using one vs the other would be. So now there are two near-complete n42 l28's with carbs in my garage, and I couldn't be happier. My immediate-needs shopping list: Round-port airbox (I've PM'd a few sellers, but asked them to hold off until I knew if this airbox would be acceptable ... so I'll be back in touch with them this week ... I need TWO round-port airboxes) Carb manifold stud kit (I really like the stainless kit I bought on eBay last time, and will likely do the same thing again this time) Square-exhaust-port manifold gasket Square-port header - I now have two OEM top-half manifolds, and am unimpressed with both. They're heavy, clunky, and ugly. I may just get some tubing and have Laurie weld it together for me, which would be fun ... but I wouldn't have time to do it justice, engineering-wise.

Yeah, I'm just hoping it won't be so bad that it's undriveable for a few hundred miles. I just picked up an extra engine/transmission, so this might become the 'long-term' build, which would mean that I can spend a little extra time getting the clutch/flywheel pack to a shop to balance it.

I find that I'm most impressed with potential hires who admit that they don't know something, but can still create associations with other things they don't know. For example, we recently brought in a reporting specialist to help create usable reports for a MySQL database. She didn't have much experience with MySQL, but did have a lot of experience with MSSql (which is similar). She showed up to the interview well-prepared, and knew what was comparable to the concepts she was familiar with as well as what she didn't know. Be aware that there will be a learning curve, and show up armed with proof that learning curves aren't a problem for you. I think Jon put it perfectly when he said: That doesn't just apply to the interview. Those are words to live by. On the resume front, if there are grammatical or spelling errors, I won't even get to a first interview. Communication skills are absolutely critical if you're ever going to work with other humans. Have an English professor look it over, and tell them to be brutal. Your resume is a representation of where you'd like your career to be, and everything on it should culminate into a central 'next step' (which should be the job you're applying for).