JMortensen

Damn dude! I thought I was crazy when I was considering trying to get some used tire changing equipment. Alignment racks are like 40K new, don't know what they'd go for used though.

I really think Austin aka 240hoke did one hell of a job with that S&W kit. Here's his webpage: http://www.geocities.com/projectzt/ He basically used the hoop, then figured the rest out for himself. The main detriment in using that kit is that the tubing is thicker and heavier than necessary for road racing. I think it meets drag requirements, which for whatever reason are more strict about tubing thickness than roadracing.

Yeah, I've got the CD, but I need more than just the stock bolts. I'm into all these fabrication projects and it's starting to really piss me off when I don't have the right parts and I'm getting butt rammed by the hardware store. We have a local fastener dealer here, and even they seemed extremely expensive. I'll check out that ultimate garage site though. Thanks.

I'd bet that the ACT clutch would hold that kind of power. I mean I'm supposedly at 240 whp and I'm using the weaker of the two pressure plates they sell with a STOCK clutch disk and getting no slipping. They have an upgraded friction material on one disk, then I think they have 6 pucks, sprung and unsprung. I'd try the "extreme" pressure plate with the regular disk. Wouldn't surprise me at all if it did the job.

I'd just run them to a catch can. If you run them to one of the 2 ports in the manifold then you're going to have one cylinder running on gas and blowby and the rest running on clean gas. IIRC Dan made a manifold so that he could hook the PCV to all 6 cylinders. That's another option. Last, you could look into using something like this: http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?lang=-1&catalogId=10002&storeId=10001&categoryId=14807 My plan is to do one of those and keep the breather on the valve cover, possibly with a restricted orifice in place so that the crankcase can develop enough vacuum.

I've never had a problem at 100+ either, but I do have an air dam and the car is lowered. A friend of mine took me probably past 120 in her Z which has no air dam and is higher than mine. I think Clifton's onto something. Certainly the air dam helps, and helps more when that big hole in the front is sealed up, but I don't think a Z is going to attempt lift off at over 100 mph. Worn out suspension at 100+ is definitely going to be a scary ride.

I can run a bead on the Datsun sheet metal just fine. If you try to run a long continuous bead the metal will warp from the heat as boodlefoof says, but if you get the heat and wire feed settings right blowing thru isn't an issue. The copper is a good tip. The other thing I've noticed is that if the nozzle is pointed directly at the work you're more likely to blow a hole in it. Keep it at an angle when you can, but sometimes you just can't. I don't know what your settings are like on the Lincoln, but with the miller I run the voltage at 3 and the wire speed at 25-30. Works like a charm. I generally tend to run the voltage hotter than the welder recommends and the wire speed a tad slower FWIW, your mileage may vary.

Yeah, I did think about hooking to the strut, I just don't think it's going to work with the placement of my coilovers and all the rest. Plus in the back the strut is way farther back, compared to where the sway bar normally attaches. I had thought of using a pipe over the end of the sway bar, but that would make the bar at least a bit stiffer than it is now, unless I was to add to the length of the bar with some tubing, and I don't know how strong that would be... One other issue that occurs to me is that maybe the rod end should be spaced away from the attachment point on the control arm to allow more angularity. I know you have some other ideas about the mount to the control arm part, don't you Cary? Now's the time to share...

I just spent 20 minutes looking for some nuts and bolts. Poured my big coffee can full of old nuts and bolts out, got pissed off and dirty, and didn't find as many as I needed. Yesterday I went to the hardware store and they wanted $2.25 for a SINGLE grade 8 7/16-20 bolt that was 1.25" long. Give me a break! Fasteners have been a real PITA lately. So I'm thinking when I put the suspension and fenders back on the car it sure would be nice to have some NEW, CLEAN, FRESH bolts to do it with. The question then is what grade is sufficient for these tasks? I don't think I need a grade 10.9 to put a fender on, but for the suspension it might be a good idea. Or maybe 10.9 is too hard and brittle. Just asking for some general advice. Does anyone know what Nissan used? Also, if you know a good supplier where I could buy a box of 50 of these, 50 of those, 50 of the other, but not fill a whole stockroom full of nuts and bolts that would also be appreciated.

Got the rod ends a couple days ago, between yesterday searching around the garage and today I came up with the mount to go on the swaybar. This is a piece of 3/4" ID black pipe that I cut in half. I used my .103" plate and made the tabs that connect to the rod end and that the 6mm bolts go through to hold the clamp together. I also drilled and tapped the upright for the rod end. I don't have any 7/16-20 nuts, so I figured at least this would let me continue messing with the mounts and all that. So here's what I figured out. The rod end mounting puts the bar about 1.5" away from the upright, leaving space for the jam nut that I do not yet have. One would assume that it will do the same in the front, and it would be 1.5" down below the frame rail. I'm thinking about not using a nut on the backside of the upright, and instead using the jam nut on the backside, like a double nut on the upright itself. Looks like it should work. I also need to grind the corners off of my mount. I didn't want to get too happy with it until I was sure it would work. It looks like it's going to work, so those corners have got to go. The tabs where the bolts go thru look like they're barely tacked on, but they're actually welded the full length on the back side, so I'm sure they'll be OK. The rod ends felt really tight, but with the weight of the bar on there that sucker pivots amazingly freely. Quite a big difference from the poly mounts! Pics: I've been giving some thought to the control arms and how I'm going to attach the rod ends to them. I've been thinking that since my end links are going to be short due to space constraints, the end link would be laying way over if I had the bar adjustable with the typical 3 holes at the end 1" spaced apart. My solution, borrowed from a friend of mine, is to weld a piece of angle iron to the control arm 3" long. That way I can line the rod end up more or less straight vertically at ride height which would give it the maximum movement as the suspension goes through the travel, and I'd just have to move it at both the top and bottom locations. Anyone with a yea or nay on that idea?

Get in touch with KYB. Everybodys struts have slightly different dimensions. Unless you can verify that someone elses nut fits correctly, you need a KYB gland nut.

Easy way to loosen and tighten the gland nuts: With the strut still on the car, take the top three nuts off and pull the control arm down. Then take the spring off. Now put the strut top back on and stick the strut back in and put the 3 nuts back on. Now you have the strut held top and bottom and the spring is out of the way. You can really crank down on the nut to get it loose or tight. Then pull the strut back out, install the spring and reassemble. Should work the same way in the rear if you're not there yet.

Looks much more adult, much less boy ricer. NICE!

That brings back memories! We used to autox at this airport in Santa Maria, CA. There was a bump in the pavement that my friends and I called the "stadium truck jump". In reality it was probably 6 inches high and gradual enough that if you drove your car over it normally I doubt that you'd even notice it. But when you were hanging it out on the edge of traction, it felt like a big jump. You could actually get about 1" of air off the thing if the course and the car was set up right. It was the best part of that whole space IMO. Every time it was like a "what are they going to do with the stadium jump this time?"

"Late apex as early as possible" means that you want a late apex, but you want to get on the power as quickly as you can. Late apexing you already know. It's important to late apex in autox because there are basically no straightaways. If you did a perfect apex like you would on a 90 degree turn at the track you won't be able to transition for the next corner fast enough. If you early apex you're off the course. The sooner you apex the corner successfully the sooner you can get on the power. So late apex as early as possible means get around the corner well, and at the same time get the power down as quickly as you can. Walking the track is the trick to autox. It does change every time, which is part of the fun/frustration. You have to be able to look at a turn and figure out where your line is going to be, what gear you're going to be in, etc. I used to autox with 2 clubs. One had one course walk at the beginning of the day. Sometimes you didn't run until 5:00 in the afternoon. That's when it's really difficult. The other club was a little easier. Morning and afternoon were broken up and there was a course walk at 9:00 and a course walk at 1:00. If your group isn't running first or working first, you're lucky. There's usually at least one spot on most courses that catches people out. If you can determine what that spot is, you can spectate there. Then when you're assigned to work the course, try to work there as well. Hopefully with all the watching you'll have figured out the best way around when it comes to driving the course. Find the most experienced person you can, and walk the track with them and ask questions. At the NASA events I used to attend Dennis Hale and his wife Peggy used to announce that they would take first timers on the course walk and they'd always have a whole gaggle of newbies around when they walked the course. Walk it several times if you can. Sometimes there is time, sometimes not. Couple other tips: look where you want to go! Just like motorcycles, if you're focused on NOT hitting that oil slick that you're staring at, you're GOING to hit the oil slick. If you focus on your apex, you are going to hit the apex. Look ahead too. Don't focus 20 feet in front of the car. Look ahead, this will enable you to get the entrance to the next corner right. It's kind of like hitting a baseball. You have to see the corner way out there, then watch it all the way in until you hit the apex, then get lined up for the next corner (hopefully keeping the next corner in mind the whole time). Sometimes on a slalom or something like that I won't look at the apex, I'm looking at the next cone. This is because the turn you're in is already done, if that makes any sense. Also, I think most autoxes post a course map. If you run last, look at the course map before you drive. When you get in the car try to drive the whole course in your head. And if you've totally forgotten the course, take it easy on the first run and figure out where you're going, and try to remember that on your subsequent runs.

Jessie, I'm going to try one more time. My bro in law Matman has a couple P79s and I think a P90. I'm sure he'll sell you one cheap. If you're going with flat tops, I'd really consider it.

Drive faster around corners. This will even out your tire wear. In all honesty, you really do want some negative camber on the front and the back. If you have too much and you can't adjust it out with the adjustable bushings, then yeah, fastzcars is correct that camber plates or adjustable control arms will help. I really don't like the idea of adjusting a LOT of camber with a control arm, especially if you only have this problem on one side of the car. If you have -2 degrees on the left side and 0 on the right, and you want to get them both to 0, then you have to shorten the left side by probably 3/4". That's not too terrible sounding until you consider how close the halfshafts or CV's are to binding at the stock length. Above and beyond that, the LR wheel now doesn't sit in line with the LF wheel. Again that might not make a huge difference, but it could be something that makes the car handle differently in left or right hand turns.

As much caster and neg camber as you can get in the front up to about 7ish and -3.5 degrees, and about 1/4" toe out. Rear about 1/2 degree less camber, 0 toe or slight toe in if you can adjust. That's for radials. Bias ply requires a lot less camber. Try to steer smoothly, and late apex as early as possible (that's an old autox mantra). The less you steer the faster you go. That ought to keep you busy! It's kind of a moot point on a Z, since we aren't trying to fix a drastically nose or tail heavy car. I'd like to see 47/53 or so for weight distribution. The one time I put mine on scales it was 49.4/50.6 and the cross weights were within 10 lbs just the way I had been driving it. So I was hoping to make all these adjustments, got done weighing it and pretty much said "Huh, wasn't expecting that" then put the scales away and gave them back to the guy who loaned them to me.

I wouldn't do it, but that's just my $.02.

You're missing the image tags. Put one in front and one behind the URL like this (img)http://home.comcast.net/~dbailin/n42_chamber.jpg(/img) except use the brackets [] instead of parentheses.

You'd be able to see the task at hand a lot better if you cleaned that head up. I suggest you have it hot tanked then start in on it. The answer to your question thought is both. You want to smooth the area from around the valve seat so that there isn't a ridge around the seat. This will allow the head to flow better at low lift. You want the max open area around the side of the valve where it comes closest to the headgasket. This is the unshrouding part. What you need to do is take the headgasket and lay it on the head, then use a scribe to mark where the headgasket sits on the head. Don't go past the line, because you don't want the top of the headgasket exposed. Then you grind away until the max amount of room is available around the side of the valve.

It's also really easy to make a new link there that allows room. Hell I did it as one of my very first fabrication projects, and mine even adjusts the rear toe. John- why you would want to put heat into your fuel (which will cause you to LOSE HP) to cool a diff that's only running a 20 or 30 minute session is beyond me. But you're doing nice work, so kudos on that.

Is it this type of bracket, or one for a street style Recaro seat? Reason I ask is I tried just setting the seat on top of the stock bracket and I was already out of headroom. I figured since the bottom was so thin I'd be lower, but because your butt doesn't sink in on this kind of seat you actually need to mount it lower.

I'd like to think that you can autox an S30... Here's another problem not really addressed yet. Having a whole bunch of weight up front tends to make a car understeer and tends to make it worse under braking. Anyone who has seen a 911 at the track knows that they tend to oversteer and can outbrake just about anything. The problem comes when an unexperienced driver in a 911 gets onto the track. Suddenly that rear weight doesn't become an AID to stability, it becomes a DETRIMENT. Well, that's not strictly true. 911's aren't unstable per se, they're just more stable traveling backwards. If you built your ITS Z and were a couple hundred pounds light, I'd be careful about bolting on a 200 lb bumper.