JMortensen

The reason that I was considering doing all the gusseting was to stiffen the structure, not to prevent joint failure. I'm really not worried about joint failure, I did a really good job on my tube joints and I'm confident in my ability to weld the 1/8" tubing together.

Thanks John for the pics. I was in the shop starting on the door bars today (got the tube right above the rocker in on both sides) and I just don't see too many places where I can put the gussets. The rear is triangulated 6 ways to Sunday, the dash bar already has large tube gussets in each corner, same at the top of the windshield. About the only thing I came up with was in the V where the front strut bars intersect at the dash, but that area is already tied into the firewall and the cowl, so it just seems redundant. I did install some long shear panels at the base of the A pillar bars. I'll take some pics tomorrow of what's been done, I just don't know where I can really use these gussets. I just don't know if there's any point in gusseting the shoulder bar. It doesn't seem that important from a chassis stiffening perspective, and I'm not worried about the joint in a T bone collision.

Still looking for opinions on the gusset issue...

[sarcasm]I feel much safer now[/sarcasm] Onto another subject: I've got a box of about 20 of those little Joe's taco gussets. I'm just wondering if I should take a page from BJ http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=109864&page=6 and go crazy with these suckers, or whether I should call it a day. I'm getting ready to do door bars, and once that is done it will be a lot harder to get in there to weld anything, which is why I'm wondering now. I've read a couple things here lately that seem to indicate that it might be worth a couple hours to get them installed.

I haven't seen the all aluminum 5.3 swap. Maybe I missed it, as I don't follow the V8 forum as closely as some of the others. I guess it's probably going to be exactly the same procedure when you really get down to what is involved though...

The L33 is an all aluminum 5.3, rated at 300 hp 330 tq stock. My 2006 GMC 1500 has one in it. I was thinking of going with this motor because of the weight/displacement rules for X Prepared class in autox. I'd love to see someone else pave the way...

Pull the cam and take it to a machine shop. I don't think glass is flat enough to check and the chances of having a completely flat piece of steel larger than a straight 6 head is pretty minimal. Checking for warp takes all of about 2 minutes, they just lay a straight edge across the deck and see if there is a gap anywhere.

What the hell is the matter with you? Your punishment for reading that article is to go out to your garage and hit something with a hammer for a while.

Depends on how sticky the tires are. If you're running really sticky tires, you'll have more body roll. To counter that you need stiffer springs or sway bars or both. You can have a well balanced car that is really fun to drive but has street tires on it, but put sticky tires on that car and suddenly you have excessive roll.

Dave is right. Terry Oxandale had the same problem with his Z, it has to do with having very tall tires and trying to get the car as close to the ground as possible. This was his fix: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=688085 If you were to do the same modification, it might change your CV lengths too, so watch out for that...

Balance in handling is the result of an accumulation of many different suspension factors. A lot of what you're asking about (oversteer or understeer with a given bar combination) might have more to do with spring rates or caster settings or toe settings. What's more, I always felt like I was fighting a push in my car but other people drove it and thought it was tail happy. I think you're oversimplifying the matter trying to narrow balance to just sway bars. To answer your question though, I ran the 25/22 MSA combo for a 240Z. The bar was bound on the frame very badly in the rear. I thought it understeered.

I would strongly suggest that everyone involved in the next test read "Race Car Aerodynamics" by Joseph Katz. It's $35, but that's cheap compared to the cost of the next test.

I think what you've got there looks great. As to the panel welding question, I think there are different ways of finishing it. You can seam weld the whole thing, or you can just stitch it and use seam sealer to seal it up. If you think about it, none of these panels were seam welded from the factory. As to the TC mount flexing, the area where the rod goes through the mount can still flex, but the way you've got it set up there should be a big improvement from stock. I'd fill in the sides with some sheet, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

You can hit the little frame rails just inside the wheel wells in the back. I used to put the front stands on the TC buckets and that seemed to work well, but the crossmember should be fine too.

Someone here posted their setup which had a jack point at the front and the back of the rocker on each side (sorry, can't remember who you were) and I was thinking of doing the same thing you were, with the stands like a rally car. But then I was thinking about how often I really needed to get the car up on stands like that, and for the few times I replace a clutch or whatever I think I'll just jack it up and put it on regular old jack stands. I would very much like to have one jack point on each side so that I could make a ride height adjustment or change out a tire without having to go underneath the car to jack it up. Are you sure you need to notch the rocker like you're describing? Seems to me this other guy just had plates on either end of the rocker panel and the tube welded through, and that was it. Seems like an easier install that way. I was thinking about 4" or 5" behind the last flanged hole in the rocker panel.

I was going to do a jackpoint straight through the rocker with a plate on either end and a tube through the middle. How would you suggest incorporating a jack point into the tube above the rocker? Seems like the jack would have to go right through the door...

I went back and messed with the right leg instead of the left and had better results. Biggest mismatch in angles is now .5 degrees, and I think it looks a bit better, if still not perfect. Here's the finished product: Cary, I hear what you're saying but I'm not going to be doing any hillclimbs and the amount of effort involved makes me think that it is just not worth it. If I had known then what I know now I would have started by cutting up the rockers and installing a 2x2x.120 square tube. If I did do the rocker tube, it was just going to be across the door opening. I think you had previously suggested that it go all the way forward to the firewall and I think that would be a real bitch to get in there and weld it in. EDIT--Just re-read your post Cary. You're saying that bracing the floor in between the X prevents something from coming under the X and crushing the bottom of the seat basically. That's pretty good reasoning. I guess I'll have to reconsider this...