jeromio

Yeah - although I am by no means an expert. My understanding is that once the arms are parallel to the road, any further compression results in positive camber gain. (the arm<->strut angle gets more obtuse since the strut gets shorter and the arm<->pivot length and arm stay constant length) Although, the rear susp. has the strut tops much farther inboard (than the fronts), so, the actual camber trade-off point may be a bit past horizontal. Perhaps John Coffey will notice this thread and post in. I'm definitely with you on correcting the / tire action. I just don't know what the best way to do it is. Certainly having more ways to adjust has got to be a good start though. Now that I look back at your pic, I see how you added metal to the outboard side of the strut top mount.

That looks pretty good, but I'm trying to understand what this means. I'm also a bit curious about the range of adjustment possible with plates. Most of our cars are lowered relative to stock, so the camber gain is wrong. In my car, the primary problem I have is loss of traction - increasing static camber is gonna make that worse. But decreasing it will most likely screw up the cornering. It's a puzzle.

Ironic that you have better access to hardware in Little Rock than I do in RTP. I just poured over the Coleman site again and I don't see where they have any reverse threaded male parts at all. There is a local fastener supply place here, but I can never get over there during business hours.

I am stymied by small parts. I've ordered 2 "sets" of hardware for this little project. First try was Coleman's, but I apparently read the desc. wrong because though the L & R threaded rod ends were good, the doubley threaded rod (L & R of course) turned out to be a tube with female threads. Cannot find any male L thread stuff to match. Ugh. Then McMaster-Carr sent me L threaded bolts that were not threaded along the whole shaft (which is what I ordered) and the L thread bolt doesn't turn smoothly into the L thread nut. I think the threads may not be compatible. And of course I cannot find my old R180 cross brace. Simple project becoming not so simple. Can anyone recommend a source for hardware? I think I may just buy one of those turnbuckles I linked to in the other thread....

You could do as myself and others and use the Camaro fuel tank. You have to remove the spare tire well and fab some mounts, but it's a nice big, plastic tank. The advantage is that the pump and regulator are in the tank and you can save some time and money with the fuel system and wiring. An aftermarket pump and FPR will run betw. $200 and $500. There are issues with the guage - however if you use an aftermarket gauge, I have a simple solution (detailed on my website). I would get the shifter also. And as many relay/fuse panels as you can. May as well get the OBDII connector.

I read right past "pilot bearing" and presumed he meant throw-out bearing. On the LS1 T56, the throw-out bearing is the slave cylinder (hydraulic throw-out). It is a point of difficulty that must be considered when installing the T56 vs. the A4, which is what we're discussing here. The pilot bearing has no bearing on the discussion in this thread, which is why I presumed that Mark merely mis-typed (and I then of course I re-mis-typed). But I thank you for your notation.

That is not true. According to his username (qwik240z), he has a 240Z. The A4 is much too fat to fit without smashing up the tunnel. Plus, there is very little room for exhaust and the shifter lever is very much in the way. Clearly it can be made to fit, but it is a good bit of work. (280 tunnel is quite different from the 240) That's a good point. The pilot bearing, which is the slave cylinder, is a bit of a chore to adapt to "normal" (non-GM) master cylinders. However, there are apparently now a few aftermarket setups that can be bought and bolted in.

Hey, Jeff - didja end up buying a bender? I have most of May off from school - it'd be a good time to do my cage. I'm a go for the pyramid scheme. Anyone else?

I did the very same thing. Got a deal on a LS1/A4, sold the A4 and bought a T56. Wiring harness is fine. You just cut off the chunk of wires that go to the auto. The PCM will need to be reflashed since the programming is completely different. You will of course need the clutch and flywheel. Starter is fine. One thing, the A4 is a fat bastard and will require extensive bashing of the tunnel to fit. So, in other words, it'd suck to try and fit it knowing you will then want to switch to T56 later. Also, the 2 'missions are different lengths. So driveshaft sill need to be shorter and the mount will need to move.

Well, except for the clunky stock shifter, I'm perfectly happy with the T56 thus far. I was just throwing out the Richmond as another possible alternative....

I bought a rebuilt T56 from an outfit in Indiana for $1100 shipped including bellhousing and shifter. How about an aftermarket unit like a Richmond?

Yeah, I was worried about 1st gear with my 4.11. But after driving with it, it is plenty usable. And long term I will have some kind of LSD with a lower ratio, so, no worries there. T56 is certainly heavy - seems lighter than the A4 though (at least according to my knees).

Actually, if you haven't already seen it, here's a thread for you: http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132542

If you're "beefing up the internals", you are adding weight. My bet is you drop down to ~50lbs weight savings. Bell house is different. Input shaft is different. These are problems that can be solved, but why? To save a few pounds? And for your trouble you lose a gear.

How do you crash a car such that the body panels fall off, without really getting bent, except a tiny bit on their outer edges? I gotta admit, the writing on the windscreen looks genuine. I suppose there could be some other reason for there to be writing on there though. Then again, the edge of the window looks a little dodgy up there where the writing is....

Photo Shop

Okay, so at last I am going to buy a steering wheel. I hate the stocker - too large and too thin and just not fun to use. Any recommendations? Can I get a decent one, with hub and all, for less than $75? Money beyond that will start eating into my seat budget. I'm thinking that the 13" would be about the right size. These 12" ones - I've never held one, but that just seems too small. I'm considering the kind with the flattened bottoms for ease of entry/egress from this tiny car. Anyone have experience, good or bad, with that "D" shaper type? Any particular brands to look for, or look out for? Thanks.

Where'd you source your air intake stuff (tubing, flex, etc.)? Looks nice.

I dig it. Excellent cartoon-appeal. I mean, it's not like they "ruined" a great car or anything. They did it entirely for the attention-getting/uniqueness factor. It's creative. Now, whether it's safe or not, I dunno.

http://www.grapesoftware.mb.ca/

The Harbor Freight Bender CANNOT be used for anything except iron pipe for use in plumbing. Trust me, I know. I bought one. My cage is going to be 1 3/4 for the main hoops and then 1 5/8 for diagonals and some miscellaneous cross bracing. I got 1 3/4 DOM to be on the safe side of the rule book. Seems some say 1 5/8, others say 1 3/4. So the most important parts will be thicker. I would need the bender for 3-4 weeks to be on the safe side. I mean, I could say 2 weeks, but I know something would come up. I doubt shipping would be more than $50 if the correct carrier is used - in otherwords, something like R&L Carriers or possibly FedEx Freight where they're used to hauling heavy items. This auction shows shipping at $40. I am definitely down with this. I vote for the Pro-tools bender. I know the other one is good (read good things about it from others on other boards), but I just think the Pro-tools unit with that follower bar is gonna work better. Anybody else need the 1 3/4 die, or is it just me? If so, I guess I could just buy the die set for 1 3/4 and then sell it to whoever needs it. Also, I will very likely have lots of tubing left over if anyone is looking for DOM.

I'm going to try and make one. There's a guy at blindchicken racing (http://www.blindchickenracing.com/tools/Tube%20Bender/Tubingbender.htm) that has pics of one. There's several just like it on ebay at any given moment (too $$$). Uses a long slide piece against a die instead of just a die and flat. I might be interested in a sort of pyramid scheme where several people agree to buy the thing at the end of each use - maybe amoritize usage by lopping $30-50 off the price each time. As in, you buy the thing (for $600 or whatever), use it, then I paypal you some dime ($550 + shipping) and you ship it to me. I use it and then someone else buys it from me (for $505 + shipping - it's a percentage thing). I need a 1 3/4 die though (although I do have 1 5/8 tubing also - planning to mix the 2). Could solve the die problem easy enough - the next person could buy the die req'd or both. I'm like you, I only need the thing for a few weeks and then it'll just sit, consuming capital that could be better used for more car parts (or track time).

Clears steering shaft with no mods? And there's room on the passenger sied for exhaust? I had to move my column over by a 1/2" - just like Lonestar1 (Gary) did. And I still have minimal clearance for exhaust on the pass. side. So, are your mounts like Gary's: large setback plates mounted to the stock towers and the strut rod mounts?

You have to adjust the parking brake adjuster mechanism back down. Been awhile since I did drums, but there ought to be a doodad with 2 fork ends and a gear-like wheel in the middle. You have to turn this such that the thing gets shorter. I don't remember if the Datsun mechanism is different or not, but there is always some kind of adjuster on drum brakes.

LS1 is 90* - I thought the SBC was also 90* ??