JMortensen

Then you just have the issue of vulcanizing a plate with studs to the bottom of the insulator I guess. Besides that I don't think the rubber insulators were designed for that kind of pulling force. Normally the strut top would be there on top, and they get a pushing and twisting force more than anything. It would literally be easier to cut the strut tops OFF, extend them up, and weld them back together and run the insulator in the normal fashion, but higher up in the chassis.

Did you flip the cage on the driver's CV? You have to take the CV apart. You've already found out that that cover on the bottom pops off. Take the cover and set it aside. Then push the cage and bearings out the bottom. Remove the snap ring, flip the cage, bearings, and inner race as an assembly. Put the snap ring back on, and reassemble. By swapping the cage assy you'll get the travel you need.

The gas won't matter, if anything it probably has a lot of Tolulene and Xylene which should make it run cleaner. The high compression means you'll probably have a lot of NOx. Just go and have them do a PRE-TEST. Make sure they do a PRE-TEST. That way you'll know if its going to fail badly before they run it. If they run it as a regular test and it comes up as a gross polluter then you have to keep having it smogged every year for a couple years IIRC, real PITA.

That's not what I mean. Take your car at stock ride height, control arms pointing down, think particularly of the angle of the strut. Compress the springs so that the control arms are now level. Now the end of the strut is farther from the vehicle centerline than it was when we started. The angle of the strut also has to change. If you have the strut bolted to a piece of metal, the strut cannot change it's angle. This basically binds the crap out of the suspension, and leads to broken parts very quickly.

The rubber insulator gives as the suspension moves through its range. This give allows the strut shaft to pivot. Without that pivot the strut will bend and break in short order. So if I understand what you're talking about correctly, installing the top hat upside down inside the car, then that would eliminate the rubber, and thus the pivot. So you're right, that is a bad idea. Camber plates have a bearing in them to allow the top of the strut to pivot. You would need to incorporate something like that in order for it to work.

You're into rockcrawling too aren't you Clifton? Don't tell me you've never seen those guys overheat their brakes while going 3 mph. I've seen it, and I've only been out there a couple times.

Short story: My wife got rearended on the freeway today in stop and go traffic. She was driving our GMC 1500, and she got hit by a Corolla. Very light hit at ~5 mph, apparently F'ed up the hood of the Corolla pretty good, but only caused a scratch in the chrome on the rear bumper about 1/2" long. Police came and filed a report. Is my truck now considered to have been in an accident? Will this show on Carfax?

I guess the next obstacle is going to be how to attach the mounting ears to the sway bar. I remember you describing how to make a clamp by cutting a pipe, welding tabs on it then using a bolt to squeeze the two halves together. Wondering if I should do that, or weld the ears directly to the sway bar instead. I guess I'm a little wary of welding stuff to the side of a torsion bar, since that seems like a good way to break welds.

How about dual radiators in the wheel wells, Porsche 996 style?

I think you need to read a book or two about this build. Go buy How to Rebuild Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine and How to Hotrod Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine. $30 in books might save you a whole bunch more later on. You could get dished pistons and mill them down, but you can't press the pin out of a cast piston, mill it, then press it onto an L24 rod. If you had floating pins, then you could, but our Datsuns came with pressed wrist pins. Get the books. They'll really help out.

The AZC flat tops have the pin at the correct height so that they don't come over the deck. The compression will be the same as with L28 crank and rods, but the rod/stroke ratio will be better. Higher r/s ratio makes for less detonation, meaning you'll be safer running pump gas. It's been discussed a lot. Search and you'll find. Try the internet at large too.

That's what I meant when I said "They might be able to tell you what NOT to do. Supposedly there V8 510 is wicked fast when it's pointed the right direction, but keeping it pointed the right direction is apparently the problem." Dennis told me all about it one day. They had it all figured out as to how to build it with the lowest PMOI possible, put a ton of money into it, and like he said, it basically sucks to drive. I was kind of thinking he might be able to give you advice like "Don't move the engine too far back, or you'll end up with something undriveable" and that sort of thing. EDIT--That last bit about the turbos and V6's basically means that his L18 race car is faster than all of the turbo, KA24 and VG30 engined cars he's come across. To him that's "not worth a crap."

That's good. But it would be better if you could have avoided locking up the tires, or when you did if you instantly let off and reapplied the brakes. Knowing the limits and having the muscle memory to deal with the situation comes from practice.

Sounds like you need some better rain tires and to practice braking in the rain. I know it's damn near impossible to leave more room between you and the car in front anywhere in CA, but you should try to do that as well when its raining.

OK I had one for the back. Piece of angle iron running up and down with a 7/16 - 20 nut welded to the back. That would spread the load. I guess I'll tentatively plan to do my plates top and bottom in front and angle in the back unless I hear something better from you guys.

Wide tires hydroplane and slip in the snow/ice more easily than skinny ones. You're going the wrong direction. You want some 155's for the wintertime.

Since I finished my TC rod project, I've been thinking about this again. My thought was to get some .5" OD tube that is .37 ID like this: http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=7758&step=4&showunits=inches, drill it out to .386" and tap for 7/16"-20. Drill a hole in the frame rail .5, slide the tube through the rail and weld tube to frame rail top and bottom. That connects the top and bottom rails together. The question is should I put a plate on the bottom and top of the frame as well? I looked again at my front rail, and where the spot welds broke it seems pretty weakened by the stress from the bar over the years. In the rear I'm not sure how to get the heims attached to the uprights (using a rear mounted ST bar). Thinking I could do the same procedure of tapping a piece of the tube and weld it to the upright, but I'm wondering if the upright is strong enough to take the force of the sway bar on only a .5" area, or if again a plate behind or in front or both would spread that load so that it wasn't an issue. The ST uprights are 3/16" thick so they're already a bit thicker than stock, so that might help a little. Anyone have any brilliant ideas?

Well, what do you think the radiator and it's coolant weighs? Water is 8 lbs/gal, probably 2 gallons, then there is the radiator itself, say 10-20 lbs depending on what you buy, so you're moving probably 30-40 lbs. The engine weighs 450 lbs, trans is 150. So moving those back 6 inches or whatever is going to have a much bigger effect than moving the radiator back. You might do both, but then also figure on the weight of the tubing used to move the coolant to the back and the coolant that's inside the tubes, you'll move the center of gravity back but increase the total weight. Do you know Dennis and Peggy Hale? They run the NorCal NASA autoxes in Marina, CA. It was shut down for a while but they're back up and running again. Might want to take a trip down and talk at them for a while, and do some autoxing while you're at it. They had an autox 510 with a 215 that they built specifically for lowest PMOI. They might be able to tell you what NOT to do. Supposedly there V8 510 is wicked fast when it's pointed the right direction, but keeping it pointed the right direction is apparently the problem. Now they just stick to driving "Pinky" their EP 510 mostly.

I'd remove pretty much all of the firewall, hack up the trans tunnel until you get it where you want it. Then rebuild around the engine and trans. IMO if you can't fit the radiator up front I'm kinda doubting that it's going to handle well at all. Too much weight too far forward. Don't know if that matters to you or not though...

Last time. If that is the case, then your car was not at "stock" ride height previously. It was at sagged out or cut spring ride height. The reason it can't go low enough for you is because it was already practically driving on the bumpstops before. The MM kit enabled you to drop the thing down to the bumpstops, but it was ALREADY THERE before you installed the kit. BJ might have a point that the piece that fits under the stock top hat adds height, but unless it is 3" tall, your problem is that you started with a car that was practically sitting on the bumpstops to start with and expected it to get lower by adding an adjustable perch. This is my last effort. I'm not going to post again, because there are enough other people here giving you the right advice and I seem to have pissed you off or you just do not believe what I'm saying. No hard feelings on this end. Good luck.

DP makes both types of plates, the "biscuit" style and the slot style I like the slot style because you can adjust the camber infinitely, but the slot style doesn't adjust caster like the biscuit style does (despite what they advertise). Your choices for camber plates are: Techno Toy Tuning Arizona Z car DP racing EMI Ground Control Carrera The biscuit style bolts in. The slot style requires cutting a complex shape into the top of the strut tower. The AZC and TTT plates require welding in the top plate.

So that would raise the car 1/2".

I'm not trying to get in an argument with you, so don't take it that way. Trying to help here. Unless something in Ross's kit increases the length of the strut from the gland nut to the top, and I'm not aware of anything in his kit that would do this, his kit didn't raise your car. With regards to the sagged out springs, I thought you said before that the car was at the same ride height before as now, and now you have the spring perches adjusted all the way down. The only way that happens is if the stock springs were cut or the springs were sagged. To put it another way. The car should ride with the strut about in the middle 1/3 of its travel. Regardless of the springs and the coilovers, if the car is at the same ride height it was previously, then it should be riding in about the same position on the strut that it was previously. If that is with 1/2" to the bump stop, then your previous springs were either cut or sagged, because NORMAL ride height would be with the strut in the middle 1/3 of its travel, and you clearly aren't there.

You have to figure that your car was probably sagged somewhat to start with. You put this kit on thinking you would lower the car, but it actually lifted it to what was a "proper" ride height. Then you wanted it to look lower than it was with the sagged out springs. Plus you put a lower profile tire on, and to get that to look right with tire to fender gaps you need it lower still. So it's not the coilovers' fault and it's not Ross's fault. It's your "fault" for wanting the car that low, if you want to call that fault.

Just search. We've been down this road too many times.