JMortensen

Different Jason. Jason Gardner criminally abused his 240Z. He literally tore the A pillar off of his Z car at an autox in Santa Maria and on another occasion tore his mustache bar in half. He is working for a company that does fuel injection for the last 5 years or so, can't remember the name and I've lost his email now.

I don't think any of the employees who used to be there when I raced with them are still there. Used to be Doug, Ehren, Jen, Jason, Jack, and Chuck of course when I was around about 6 years ago. Good guys, good parts. They could actually make Mustangs go pretty damn fast, even at an autox. I bet that is a fun internship.

You might want to look at the discussions about the similar sounding hose on the L6 engine. The heater hose on the right side of the block that attaches from the back of the head to the timing cover allows coolant to circulate while the thermostat is closed. While many people block them off and don't have problems, I recall Tony D in particular stating that the purpose of the hose was to prevent small hot spots from forming in the coolant. If it circulates, it heats evenly is the basic jist. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=108870

That's a good argument.

Don't buy them then.

Having a cushion is always a good idea. 6-9 months is a pretty big cushion.

This topic is liable to get political and thrown in the shed. Before that happens, here is my take on it. Worry less about "the economy" and more about "your economy". My economy is doing fine and I'm continuing to spend money prudently on my project. I think at least 75% of the problem is people worrying about the economy becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The economy sucks so I'm going to stop spending is a catch 22. You stop spending, manufacturers slow down production, people lose jobs, they stop spending, manufacturers slow down production, etc. Obviously if you have no money you shouldn't spend like crazy, but it's the people who do have money who stop spending out of fear that exaggerate the negative effects of an economic downturn. I had a buddy of mine call me 4 times in the last month or so trying to convince me to pull my money out of WaMu. What was the reason for their failure in the last few weeks? People worrying about their failure and pulling money out despite the FDIC insurance. For what it's worth I just made some deposits and withdrawals to my WaMu accounts over the weekend. No problems whatsoever. And I didn't have to stand in a panic driven line outside the bank for hours on end either.

I guess I don't read too goodly on Monday morning.

I'm seeing a couple main issues pointed out by the author: 1. Bars are in tension. Bending the bars into the door means that when they get hit they are now in compression. 2. No rocker bar. 3. In the case of his own crash, it sounds as though the door bars were very low in the car and the Miata that hit him drove over the X.

What is the perceived advantage to cutting the rotors vs shimming the hats?

Paper towel rolls work too. If you're using 1 5/8" OD tube, the paper towel rolls fit right on.

I would assume that he is referring to the G Machine bushings like MSA sells. I'd go with the bushings if it is a street car. If the toe is really far off, that will be more important than the camber for tire wear. Another option is adjustable control arms.

How about cutting a big hole in the hood, making an airbox to seal the carbs to the underside, and using a cowl induction setup a couple inches out from the windshield?

How did you do the bracing? I've seen it in pictures but never up close, and I really don't have any idea how it attaches to the car, or if you only need it at 1xx mph and above.

I'm allergic to fish.

A scale? A car that actually runs? A V8? I need all of the above! Been looking at XP and running the 5.3L. Weight would be 2350 lbs, so it might take some ballast.

You're right. It would require a lot of optimization to get peak hp out of both fuels. In my experience the AV Gas works just peachy and I didn't notice any real difference on the butt dyno between AV Gas, Trick 112 leaded cut with 92, unleaded race gas from the track mixed with 92, and 92 mixed with homebrewed octane booster. The exhaust sounded a little flat with the octane booster, but that was really about the only difference I could discern.

Any chance you can test that AVGas vs race gas theory? I'm not buying it.

Thanks for that! I've been trying to figure out how to do this. The best I had come up with was to use butyl tape but I knew it would smush the butyl tape out of the center. Using the 1/2" spacer is a MUCH better idea.

Regardless of whether or not it would be worse for your head, you'd be much more likely to hit it. How about just a good roll bar, perhaps with some subframe connectors and rocker modifications?

Moved from FAQ to drivetrain forum.

I don't think it is possible in an S30 to get the tube far enough away from the driver's head to make impact an impossibility. I think with some of the newer cars that have a higher waistline and a taller greenhouse you could do it if the seat was mounted lower than stock. On an S30 there just isn't that much space inside the car to work with.

Did you mold it to fit the curve of the window or just cut to fit and fasten it down?

This is what it does. Still loses 2" of compression vs sectioned strut and 2" of rebound vs stock strut. If you ran a spacer under the strut, it would have the same amount of compression travel but 2" more rebound travel. Shocks do what they do because the piston is forced through the oil. It doesn't matter whether the shock is in the middle of its stroke or not, the shock should act the same way all the way through until it tops or bottoms out. Aside from only getting 4" of travel out of your 6" stroke shocks I suppose... True.

I'm seriously envious of your speed. Nice work.