JMortensen

I had thought the same thing, but I am really hesitant to remove the link between the two control arms. Would make diff changes a snap...

1x2 would interfere quite a bit with exhaust routing, so if that were necessary I think I'd leave the stocker in there. I know there is room to do two .5 x 1 bars side by side, so that would be .5 x 2

I wish we had some insight as to why Nissan made it thicker. I think when the diff comes up it also goes back so maybe they were trying to prevent that twist. Terry, there is definitely room on the seat belt bungs to attach something. What did you have in mind?

So I'm sitting here waiting for my Bondo to dry and I'm looking at the underside of the car. I just modified my Ron Tyler diff mount from roostmonkey so that it bolts in to my 70 z, and I'm thinking to myself "I don't have to capture bushings with the crossmember, and I'm not going to have a diff mount hooked to this crossmember, so why am I using the crossmember?" Now I think it's important to have a piece that spans the front bushings for the rear control arm, but that convoluted shape of the stock crossmember doesn't look like the most efficient way to do that. I think it is built primarily with the diff loads in mind rather than the control arm loads. Which brings me to my possibly lighter and simpler solution. I'm thinking just use a simple rectangular .5 x 1 x .065 tube across the bearing retainers, and weld it in place. The downsides that I can see are that I would lose about 3/8" clearance for the exhaust and I wouldn't be able to take the diff mount out anymore. The upside is that it would drop several pounds in weight and might actually be stiffer. Or I could just leave the crossmember that is there. Opinions?

CFD (computational fluid dynamics) is what you're talking about. That would be a nice idea, but someone would have to program in the shape of the Z to get the ball rolling, and then also change the shape to test other configurations. My understanding is that the CFD is only as good as the shape used, and it can get pretty complicated with the underside of the car. It will be interesting to see what people like Michael think of the accuracy of one type of testing relative to the other. Certainly our cheapo wind tunnel test isn't as good as it could be with a rolling road, etc. I have no personal experience with CFD, but it seems like it would be a very good idea if it's not super labor intensive to do.

Careful there Pete. John knows his road racing, and had an INSANELY fast 240z that didn't have subframe connectors at all. I think there are better places to lose weight than from subframe connectors. Focus on weight up high. John sells nice CF hood and hatch replacements through his motorsport business http://www.betamotorsports.com. You might take a look at bjhines's project. He went a little crazy with a flared hole punch. Don't know how much weight he saved though, and again, I think I can guess accurately that John's opinion is that both bj's and my own cages are overkill and unnecessarily heavy. I believe the ROD had a roll bar, not even a full cage...

Then there is my brother-in-law, who stopped at a guy's house and asked if he wanted to sell his Z, the guy said sure and they settled on a price of $500. Apparently the owner had tried to sell it through ZONC with no success for quite a while and was about to donate it to charity for the write off. There are still deals to be had. I feel that auctions are probably not the best place to buy a car, unless it's a wholesale auction or a police auction and you know what to look out for...

Still looks like he has the right idea, which is riding the hp peak.

If you're selling than that is good for you. If you need parts or a parts car, or want to build another, that is definitely not good for you. I am definitely not into Z's as an investment, and when they get too expensive and I can't find parts anymore I'll switch to the next cheap go fast car.

There were pics recently of someone who had installed RX7 front LCA's in a Z. They look very similar to Porsche 944 LCAs, by the way. Just in case you're looking for donors... The advantage to that style arm is that you can gain tire clearance by shaping the arm differently than an arm + a rod. I would imagine that the single piece arm is stiffer too, especially an aluminum arm. I do remember that I could really feel the difference between an aluminum arm and a steel arm on a 944, and that was just driving around on the street. The disadvantage is that you either have to adjust caster at the top of the strut (no room in a Z) or by moving the LCA rear pivot side to side (extremely limited room). So if you're going to do this and you want more caster than stock I'd suggest you design it in by placing the arm further forward.

I don't know if nylocks would be the best choice here. Seems like the brakes and wheel bearings and driveshaft joints would generate a lot of heat...

Car magazines have a long and deserved reputation for being anything but unbiased and truthful. The Ford Taurus was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for how many years??? Wonderful car, that Taurus... I would also say that I believe the reports of 10's in Z06's. If you read the thread that Mike Kelly started there are quite a few people reporting the same.

Lightness vs stiffness seems to be the issue. I think the correct answer depends on how hard the car turns and what spring rates are going to be used. The more g's and the more spring, the more stiffness you should have. That's the theory I'm using to build my car.

Crap, now I'm second guessing myself. Was it the inside or the outside??? Someone better ask joe d.

I know my mechanical autometer gauge pegged several times, so that's probably 110+ psi, but the filter never had issues. I think the gauge is pretty accurate and it's on the same galley as the filter if I remember correctly.

What side of the bracket does the caliper bolt to? If it is the inside, then this bracket should work as well: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=115339

You can also install a bolt and a jam nut so that you can adjust the pressure without having to pull the plug on the oil pump. That's what I have. I also have one comp and one stock spring. 2 comp springs was maxing out my oil pressure gauge when the engine was cold and was still giving too much pressure after things warmed up.

Eh whatever. I am not trying to make a show car. This is a dedicated track machine. Hopefully anyone who sees them won't be able to make out the details as the continually get smaller until they can't see me anymore.

Cross drilling reduces weight but hurts the ability of the rotor to absorb heat. Reducing weight will improve braking performance. Cross drilled solid rotors, especially in the rear of a Z, do indeed make a whirring or buzzing noise as the air expands in the hole but is trapped by the brake pad and then is released when the rotor turns. It never really bothered me when I ran them. I actually thought it was kind of cool sounding. Like a baseball card in your spokes for grownups.... Slotting supposedly provides a path for gases to escape between the rotor and the pad. I haven't used them myself but I know lots of people who have and you see them on race cars on TV all the time. It seems like pro racer types wouldn't use them if they did nothing... I think both do something. The question is do you want or need them to do the something that they do? If you have stock rotors you probably don't want to cross drill them, although if you're racing you might want them slotted. If you have vented rotors you probably don't need either, although if you have huge 13" brakes on a 2300 lb car you could probably justify cross drilling to reduce the effect of the heavier rotor and reduce the mass out at the end of the rotating lever which is the rotor. For 99% of people, they buy them for style and drive around on the street thinking it looks cool. If you're one of those, get whichever style tickles your fancy. If you want different front and rear it won't make the slightest bit of difference.

I was looking at that myself, but I think the issue preventing it is the exhaust hanging down. I had my exhaust tucked up really high and tight, and I don't think I could make it work. Sloppy exhaust would be damn near impossible I think. I haven't actually mocked it up, by the way. I just looked at the Bad Dog SFCs and the location of the front diff mount crossmember and figured it was a no go. You might want to take a close look before you rule it out.

But do they work with the lights I have or would I need the flanged lights.