JMortensen

You might read up on droop limiters. Looks like your lifting quite a bit on the inside rear

I can tell you that the 5.3 in my truck (2006 GMC 1500, so it is an aluminum block) is done by 5500 rpm. I think a cam swap is necessary if you want to get the rpms up higher than 5500 and then you need all the BS to go along with that (pushrods, valve springs). So if you start with an LS1 that might be a better platform if you want to put it in a car. I am going to run in X Prepared class for autox so the extra .4 liters of the LS1 would cost another 80 lbs in weight which is pretty substantial, so I went with the 5.3 truck motor. If they made a 4.8 with an aluminum block I probably would have gone that way.

Keep it up! If this all works out I think you'll help a lot of people here. It's been a really long time, but one thing I used to recall us doing to help wear here was to file the points on the gear clusters where the ring engages. If you grind the gears too much the points get mushed up and I think that contributes to the problem.

OK, I misunderstood your PM. So the "selector ring" that the fork fits onto is the same but the groove needs to be opened up. Got that. How about the synchro ring itself? That's the piece that usually wears out or breaks. Did you even check to see if that fits? I would guess that a worn synchro might have caused a jamming of the selector ring into the dog teeth which broke it in the first place. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it but I didn't open up the pics at the start of the thread. Porsches commonly break the synchro rings, and I assumed that's what I was looking at when I saw the three broken pieces of the selector ring that you showed in the pics. Oh well, I guess I turned you onto a solution. What is kind of funny is that in another thread I was told that the selector rings didn't fit. Maybe they just didn't think to open up the groove on the outside.

You can get the same balance on the car with softer or stiffer springs. Stiffer springs will work the tires harder and will allow less roll, so less loss of neg camber under roll. Softer springs will give you more compliance for bumpy surfaces. John Coffey has posted a lot more about structural stiffness and spring rates than anyone else, but the bottom line is that at some point you'll go to a stiffer bar or stiffer springs and there won't be a change in how the car handles because the chassis will flex as the spring deflects, masking the change. Weird. Looked big, but 13" is the way to go for autox IMO, so I guess you're there already. I never had a problem with shuffle steering, but I know Cary and I have talked about it and he has one part of a track he runs regularly where he actually lets go of the wheel and lets it spin. That's not the way I was taught to do it, but I guess if it works for him it's kind of tough to argue. For me, I try not to cross hands and not to let the wheel spin in my hands. I was taught that relatively late in the game and only used it for a couple years of my 8 years of autoxing, but it works for me so far.

From that other forum:

Get an inside micrometer and install the caps and make sure the hole is round with the caps torqued to figure out how the caps go on, and put the 4.11 diff back together. Shimming the pinion depth is the tough part, and if you don't get it right that thing will be noisy. It will be easier to reassemble in the original housing than putting them in the other housing and having to shim the pinion to fit the new housing. If you're going to do it the hard way you'll need to check the pattern to see if you have the pinion depth right. There are diagrams on wipe patterns and basic instructions in this booklet: http://www.ringpinion.com/Content/HowTo/TechnicalInstructions/Yukon_Installation_Kit_Instructions.pdf That doesn't have torques or backlash for the R200, but you can look those up here or in the FSM. You made it a lot harder on yourself than it needed to be. Swapping that open carrier for the LSD takes about an hour or so if you have both diffs out and drained on a table.

Did you put the main bearing caps back on the way they came off? They are line bored with the caps in place, so if you flip one from side to side or top to bottom that could throw things off. I really don't know if that would change the way it felt spinning it by hand, but that's what I'd be worried about. If you didn't change the shims, then the shims aren't the problem.

Do this. Follow the post on what to do in the FAQ section. MUUUUUCH easier than shimming the pinion in a different housing.

I've seen the SR-71 in flight too. Mid 80's at the Point Mugu Naval Base airshow with the Blue Angels (in F4 Phantoms). The Blackbird came from directly behind the stands at very low altitude at probably about as slow a speed as it could go. It cruised out over the ocean and then the pilot punched it and it disappeared very quickly into the distance. Nice sonic boom. I was about 8 at the time, still remember it like it was yesterday.

Does the RT mount put the diff at the right angle with respect to the transmission? If I'm reading your post right you didn't check the angles there. That would be my first thing to look at. The poly bushing isn't going to CAUSE a vibration, although it will transfer more vibration to the chassis. If you have something going on with the driveline angles changing to rubber might help mask the problem but won't fix it.

I gotta think that anyone that is out there filming themselves driving around in canyons is most likely out to do something stupid. The guy in the Bimmer should have just pulled over, and his tantrum really points out what a prick he is. That said, I gotta give a big WTF to the Mazda driver, not for pushing the Bimmer, because he really wasn't tailgating or anything, but for taping his speeding with (presumably) plans to post it on youtube. That's just a dumb thing to do, IMO. One more idiot taping his own crimes and posting them on the internet.

Go find a range where you can rent guns and try them all. I'm not a fan of the 92, not for any particular reason, I just like others better. I was about to buy an XD then I shot one and didn't like the trigger on it at all. I ended up with a Sig P226. A lot of what makes a gun the right buy for someone is just personal preference. Try before you buy and you can find out if you like it first.

Sounds like you made some nice improvements in the handling dept. I would suggest that when you go to a bigger tire you might need to up the spring rate again because the increased traction will generate more lean, nose dive under braking, etc. As an alternative to putting a rear bar back on, you could go stiffer springs and smaller front bar to balance the car without gaining a whole lot of roll. Front toe out would help turn in, maybe try 1/8 or 1/4" total and see if that is of any benefit. If you're driving to the event that's going to rip up tires, so what I used to do was have a mark on the left tie rod for street and one for race, and then I'd just adjust that one side. Makes the steering very slightly off center, but you don't have to adjust both sides that way. Any instructors ever talked to you about shuffle steering? Takes some getting used to, but it's a good idea to (almost) never to have your hands cross on the wheel like that. Also that steering wheel looks huge; what is that, a 15" wheel? I'd swap it out for a 13 if it were my car, and get something grippier than wood. I tried a 14" wheel and my hands kept hitting the door panels, not sure if you have that problem or not but it drove me crazy. Your car looks faster than my car ever was, and sounds great when it's not backfiring.

AHA! Thank you.

Well there's that and the fact that he can't discern probably 200 hp from 350 and if they did open the hood he can't discern an L6 from a V12, not to mention a Datsun from a Ferrari (on the inside). Question: Did the 250 GTO have shoulder harnesses? Why am I thinking it either had no seatbelts or lap belts only... I keep trying to post this and it won't go: @ActionJeans5000 Because the interior of that car is OBVIOUSLY Datsun, and there is a 250 GTO kit. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/236622 You can blame sound compression all you want, but that sucker sounds more like this: than this: You've got a bunch of Datsun Z people looking at it telling you it is a Z. Why we would want you to believe it is a Z if it isn't?!?

Once you go black, you never go back.

I like the idea of pinning the passenger door on but not the driver door. Probably wouldn't be that hard to fab up a hinge either. If I recall it is pretty easy to remove the spring from the hinge to reduce the pressure on the door. I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money saving a couple lbs on custom aluminum hinges, just not worth the money for the small gain IMO.

Could always string together a couple videos with Z sounds and interior shots and post it with a title like "Ford GT vs Ferrari 250 GTO (is really a clone)" or something similar enough that people viewing his video will see the other.

I think the comments are turned off. I was going to add more about the hatch shock looking just like a Z and link to some sounds of the Z vs the GTO (pretty apparent that thing has an L6) and wasn't able to post.

That Hobart is the only good alternative to the Lincoln and Millers, so far as I am aware, but it doesn't have infinitely adjustable controls. I can't recall if it's wire speed or juice that it has 4 or 5 click settings for, but I see that as a pretty significant drawback. You would be able to use it for everything you want to do, no doubt, but you won't be able to dial the welder in quite as closely.

Millermatic 135 and 140. Not too familiar with the Lincoln model designations, but I think the SP135 is basically the same as the MM135. There should be no metal in your cage or structure of the car thicker than .120". I think NHRA might require .180 for mounting plates. 110V will do everything you need just fine. If you wanted to weld up a trailer or weld 1/4" or thicker metal, then a 220V welder would be the right call.

Really well done!