JMortensen

Springs and shocks are a must, whether you do coilovers is up to you, but that would allow you to adjust ride height. In the back I'd do G Machine camber bushings, but I'd do that for toe adjustment. For the rest of the bushings I'd go polyurethane, except the TC rod. On that I'd go poly in the front and one of your old rubber bushings in the back. Then I'd get some bolt in EMI camber plates from John C. Maybe some adjustable TC rods and some strut tower bars as well.

I did a quick check and I did find this: "Handgun ownership has been restricted to police, members of gun clubs or collectors. Very few (about 50 in the country) have been given permits to carry handguns for "self-protection." This is only possible if an applicant can prove that their life is in danger and the police cannot protect them." So I guess it's restricted, not totally illegal.

Really? I thought that was the law there. Maybe I'm the hoser...

That makes perfect sense. Keep the loads straight on the turnbuckle. Thank you for that Ron.

As it turned out there isn't a whole lot of the flat plate that can be cut out, due to the angle on the one side. I'm going to screw the rod ends directly in, I have the pooor man's toe adjuster for toe adjustment. These arms give me the ability to widen the track should I feel the need down the road, but for right now it's just about reducing the stiction really. I'm going to use a long bolt through the heims because the pin is like .001 or .002 too big to slide through. I left room for spacers, and if I feel like I want to adjust it down the road I'll pick up a bumpsteer spacer kit and that will give me a bunch of different thickness shims to use.

Right. I agree 100%. So what does that have to do with aligning the TC rod to the ball joint?

What effect are we talking about? Still caster trail? Or some other effect?

Thanks Terry, glad to be your guinea pig! It would be lighter too if I could have found some thinner wall tubing and if it didn't have my sway bar additions on it too. I think a tubing thickness in between the .065 and the .120 that was available here would have been better.

All righty then. Finished welding up both arms. I also figured now would be a good time to weigh a stock arm vs the modified, looks like it gained a lb and a half (weighed on bathroom scale, so that's approximate). Also I forgot to mention previously that the original setup with the tube just the same length as the frame rails on the arm doesn't work, because the rear actually adapter has to hang back behind the frame rail in order to line up where the originals did. I could have lined the tubes up at the front end, but by the time I realized all of this I had already cut them and welded the adapters in, so it was just easier to leave that extra 1/2" of tubing on the end. Still got to get that inner heims joint adapter done. I think I'm going to try and find a local machinist again and see if I can't get that going.

I've done a bit of research too and I agree that you're correct in your description of trail, yours is a bit more eloquent than mine was, and the pics help a lot for others trying to follow along. But what I'm saying is that the angle of the TC rod has nothing to do with trail whatsoever. Caster vs the SAI is what determines trail. Aligning the TC rod to the ball joint doesn't have anything to do with it, right? I don't see the TC rod angle in your drawing...

Outlaw vs Wilwood thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=108750

I've done a little more research on this and I'm a bit confused as to how the TC mount affects the trail. The trail has to do with the difference between the contact patch location and the line through the top of the strut through the ball joint. Changing the location or the angle of the TC rod wouldn't have any effect on that at all as far as I can tell.

More info would be helpful. What kind of track car? SCCA racer, open track, time trialer? Are there rules that have to be met with the group you'll run with, or can you just slap anything on there? What kind of tires will you be running? Budget? There's a ton of stuff you can do from bolt on to cutting and welding on the chassis. The main limitation of the stock chassis is that it has no adjustability except front toe. You need to be able to tune the chassis so that the tires can work properly. That's really the goal.

I'm guessing that was me, and here's the reason why: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=87758 Use a poly in front and stock rubber in back and that should lessen the stress on the rod a lot.

No progress to report so far. I did get in contact with the guy who has offered to help Hybrid Z with this project, but that's as far as it has gone, even once it gets started its going to be a BIG project. Don't hold your breath is the point, so just post if you need info on something and can't find it through the search function.

The clevis at the LCA allows you to dial in a lot of caster without tweaking the stock J bar end of the TC rod.

I think it was Minnesota or North Dakota, eh. Those hoser Canadians can't own handguns.

What a... bargain...

There is also a FAQ on TC rod modification in the FAQ area, and it deals specifically with your question.

I have a pretty good thread on shimming the LSD here: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=92629 If the stock unit has a weakness its that there is only one clutch disk and two clutch plates to transfer the torque on each side. Some of the NISMO units have a lot more clutches in them, more like 8 per side IIRC and more aggressive ramps too for better lockup. However you'll see in that thread that a roadster racer bought an LSD from Nissan Comp directly and got the big spacers, so from what I can tell it's a bit of a crap shoot. If you did break yours Tom, I'd suggest a KAAZ or Cusco diff as they have a lot more and larger clutches than even the "good" NISMO LSD, and they run in the $800 range online.

LSD only "limits" slip. If you have one tire with no traction at all, or in your case if you have a broken CV shaft, the diff will spin. Get your new CV shaft in then try to turn the tires in different directions by hand. You'll know right away if the LSD is broken.

3/16" is SAE. I believe the metric size for the tubing is 4.3mm or something like that. Just about any NAPA or Kragen or other auto parts store should have what you need. You should just need simple 10 x 1.0mm fittings. The only pitfall I know of is that that there is a European and a Japanese flares, so you might look out for that.

Hole saw worked great, but the teeth were so agressive that it snapped one drill bit off in the hole saw, and bent a second one. Got the holes drilled though, and it looks like it's going to be good for quite a few more, and doesn't look worn at all from the 8 holes it's made so far. So I welded the adapters on and then went ahead and welded the tube to the end of one control arm. It went fairly smoothly. I still have to cap the ends of the tube, but I figure I've had enough fun for one day. I wanted to stitch the area where the tube meets the flat plate on the inside, but I couldn't get in there with the gun for the welder. Tried every conceivable angle and all that, just couldn't get it done. I think it's strong enough as is, it's welded around the frame rails on the control arm, spot welded through the flat plate, and stitched on the outside edge (will finish that up when I box then ends). Now I'm considering cutting the rest of the plate away. With the tube on the end and the angle iron I installed previously for the sway bar end links, I don't really feel like that flat sheet is doing much of anything structurally. Do you all agree? Side bonus there would be that with the bottom lip removed I could finish stitching that other side too...

You'd be better off just removing the strut and the control arm and disconnecting the halfshaft and cutting the brake line. The nut should be ground away as Pete mentioned, otherwise you'll wipe out the threads on the stub axle when you take the nut off. Plus that sucker is torqued on there TIGHT, so it's a lot easier to take it home where you can at least put it in a vise, if not take an impact gun to it.

Zedd Findings has replacement frame rails. Many members here have made their own frame rails from plain old square tubing. Search around in the chassis forum and you'll find lots of options. Most of them require a lot of fabrication skill, so if you don't have that then it might be cheaper to start with a different tub.