JMortensen

That's what I had always heard about the Tiger. Neat idea, poor implementation, especially with regards to the suspension. Didn't that white one win GT2 more recently? I thought he won just a year or two ago.

Can't wait to see what you've got for me Cary. Thanks.

That's a new one on me. This is what I was talking about: http://www.wpg-autox.org/cgi-bin/yabbnew/YaBB.pl?board=Gentalk;action=display;num=1101187750 My understanding is that they got the delamination problem in the 710s fixed and they are now the tire to beat.

It was the 710's that came apart. Everything I've heard lately seems to say that Kuhmo has the fastest tire out there.

Mack is still running a stock cam. I think they're symmetrical, or closer to it than an aftermarket cam...

I guess the idea for me is that I want to change around the pivot heights some more. I suppose I could make a new TC box like 74 has and slot that. I do have my front crossmember slotted after all. I would prefer to have the most rigid mount I could get though and it sure seems like the bolt held by the frame might be stiffer than a large box that's welded on one side. I realize that this is why the box is 3/16" thick, and I have a friend who basically did the exact same thing on his 510 and it works well enough for him. My friend just drilled a hole at the stock pivot height, then drilled another one to match his raised control arm pivot, and that seemed to work well enough. I guess I just like Cary's idea better. Maybe I'm wasting effort...

Nobody has anything for me??? Kinda surprising.

Noise rules are usually only enforced when its REALLY blatantly illegal, and then it's usually more because they're afraid of losing the venue than they really don't want noisy cars. I guess some venues are more sensitive than others, but IME I can remember one car that got knocked for noise violations, it was a Porsche GT3 that had headers into megaphones. They let him run but told him next time he would have to have something resembling a muffler.

Did you see the Dave Atell comedy tour special? He was friggin hilarious in that! I like his own Comedy Central special too.

Just did a quick measure with a square. The center of the front control arm pivots are 5/8" inside the frame rail. So that means these clevis type pieces would have to be very small. The bolt would basically have to sit 1/4" off the inside frame rail. This probably means off the shelf clevises wouldn't work. Might have to make a bracket instead. Still thinking...

http://www.scca.com/Solo/Index.asp?IdS=001CAA-745A5D0&x=050|070&~= Autox cars and classes. I haven't looked recently, but the Z was a B Street Prepared (B/SP) car last time I was out. You can download the whole SCCA rulebook there if you want too.

Better than beating the crap out of her in front of the kid...

If you're looking at autox you're beyond SP. Maybe in one of the more open SP classes like SM2, or if they have it Open SP. Otherwise you'll be a very underprepared FP car, like I was for the last 5 seasons I autoxed. Nothing wrong with that, you just won't win your class. You might want to just go in as B/SP and see what happens. Nobody is likely to take issue with you until you start winning the class, which would be REALLY hard in B/SP.

Looks about right to me. Could even be a 15x7. FYI BFG TA has to be the worst friggin tire ever. When you get it fixed you should try ANYTHING else.

My solution is pictured in this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103817 It's kind of particular to the Recaro sliders, but it might give you some ideas. If you're going to bolt straight down the trick is to weld a nut to a plate, then cut a hole into the 1x1 tube and weld the plate to the tube. Despite the lower profile of the racing seat I think the solid bottom meant less sag meant my head was closer to the roof.

As I am finishing stitch welding the inside of the car, I am realizing that the next part will be the front frame rail seams. I've been thinking of relocating the TC pivot up to match the already raised LCA pivot, and I've been trying to figure out how to do it. Cary got my brain working about a couple months ago by saying that I should use a bolt placed vertically, then space the rod end up or down with bump steer spacers. Then BRAAP pointed out that the TC pivot really should be in line with the LCA pivot, otherwise braking loads can compress the suspension. So here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking of cutting the TC box off of the frame entirely. I'm also thinking that the reinforced part of the frame rail behind the box which ends up attaching to the floor can also go. I like Cary's idea and I want to use it, especially after seeing how the BMW LCA mounts in one of John Coffey's threads. The question is how to do this? I haven't done any measurements yet, but it looks like the pivot needs to be about an inch or so inside the inner wall of the frame rail. So here's my idea: Get a long 5/8" bolt (lets say 6" for this example). Weld a couple clevises, one on top of the other, to the inside of the frame rail. The bolt slides down vertically through the clevises, so that it is now going through 4 layers of 1/8" plate. The idea is that the bolt should have 4" that are totally within the clevises, and maybe 2" sticking out the bottom. In my non-engineer mind this seems like it would make the end of the mount stiffer and possibly allow it to deflect less. Then close up the clevises with a piece of .105 inch plate (cause I already have it) to make basically a triangular prism shaped box that locates vertically on the inner frame rail that holds the bolt. Next problem is beefing up the frame rail to support the load. My thought here was a couple of plates with some 1" square stock in between that attach the inside of the frame rail to the outside of the frame rail. This will make sure that one side of the rail doesn't take all the load. Then brace from this plate on the outside of the frame rail diagonally to the rocker as Preith had mentioned in a previous post. Might even be able to do a K member type mod to the front crossmember so that these loads are spread as much as possible. For what it's worth I'm also going to do a subframe connector, so the front frame rail won't JUST be attached to the firewall and the rocker. The questions are: 1. Will the frame be significantly weakened by the lack of the TC box structure? It looks like that structure is there just for the sake of the TC rods as originally placed by Nissan. 2. Will my vertical box be strong enough to take the braking loads if I reinforce it as described above? 3. Anyone done anything similar? 4. Does anyone have a better idea? Looking forward to your responses.

My sleeves have been loose for years. Never been a problem. I even changed ride height twice a month for about 5 years. Drive to the autox, lower the car. Race, then raise the car back up, then drive home. All it takes is another hand to hold onto the collar to keep it from rotating while you're adjusting the perch. This might sound a bit stupid on my part, but I also have NEVER EVER used the set screw on my perch. I have the older GC setup which uses a screw that pushes straight on the threads to keep it from rotating. Didn't want to do that, so I just left it loose. You know what, they never moved. Not even a little. And I checked twice a month for 5 years. I also didn't preload my springs, FWIW.

Thanks John. The back was pretty much done before I even got the rotisserie going. That was stupid. It was a serious PITA to lay on my back under the car with hot metal dripping 6" from my head. I got tired of it and that's why I finally decided to do the rotisserie. Having done a little on the spit and quite a bit on the jackstands I can say for sure that NOBODY SHOULD STITCH THEIR Z WITHOUT A ROTISSERIE!!! I'm about ready to start on the front end. Just as soon as the driver's side rocker is done I can start wire wheeling the seams and dive in to the front. No more seam sealer. YAY!!!

Buy a die grinder (maybe even an extended one), buy a couple of burrs, then buy a porting kit. You don't want to use stones on aluminum, they clog almost immediately. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=39154 http://www.american-carbide.com/Burs/LSB.aspx?SubCategoryID=13&selection=4&Cat=2 http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.shtm

The Hobart doesn't have the infinite voltage control, at least the previous model didn't. Unless they've added that feature, I'd go with the Miller or the Lincoln. There was another thread maybe yesterday or the day before where a couple people were saying that infinite voltage adjustments weren't necessary. I have to disagree, especially when welding thin rusty Datsun sheet metal. I have the Miller 135, did have my first problem with it just a couple days ago, but I think it was a fluke thing and with no replacement parts it's back to it's normal badass welding. I can't say enough good things about it, despite that one hiccup. Makes me look like I know what I'm doing.

More progress. Had a little issue with the welder not feeding the wire correctly that delayed me for a day (details here: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106934), then there was the holiday, but got back into it and made good progress yesterday and today. I was in welding mode, so I kept going on all the seams that attach firewall to sides and the rocker seams as well. Got the right side all done, passenger side is tomorrow's project. Scraping the rockers clean of seam sealer is a real PITA for anyone who wants to attempt it. Heat it up with a heat gun, scrape it out with a screwdriver. Get the small stuff with a pick. Then hammer the flange until the gap between the floor and the rocker is gone, then you can weld it. I had scraped the seams a long time ago, and waited until it was on the rotisserie to weld them back together. More pics:

PM Matman. He has a ST rear bar for a 280Z that has no end links and no brackets. You're smart enough to figure that stuff out, and I'm sure he'd give you a good deal on it. Terry used a Honda Prelude bar, then was going to try a 2wd Toyota truck front bar IIRC. He also bends them to fit with a press, so they don't just fit right up. One important thing to note is that Terry has the bar mounted to the uprights in the back like the ST bar for a 240Z. Your 280Z already has brackets to mount the bar in the front of the diff. I think if you want to mount the bar in front of the diff then you'd pretty much be stuck with a 280Z bar because that space is so tight. If you went to mount it in the back you'd either have to make your own mounts or get them off of a 240Z that had a ST bar at one time.

OK, a friend just explained it to me. The arc goes from the tip at the gun to the ground cable, and there is no ground on the spool. So when the wire snagged it must have been hitting a ground somewhere inside the box. Or maybe the liner was just grounded enough to melt the wire where it snagged.

This is my theory: when they cut the liner, they left a jagged corner at the end. This jagged edge was positioned at 12:00 the way I originally installed the liner. I think that I might have had the tension too high so that the wheels don't slip. So instead of a little slippage, if something happened at the other end the wheels would continue to drive the wire. The wire would bend in the direction of the jagged edge, which was the problem. This might be really retarded, but one thing I don't understand about mig welders is how you can put current through the wire without the whole spool just welding itself together. Is it possible that the jagged edge snagging and scratching the wire was what was causing it to burn up there instead of at the end? Regardless, it is working 100% of the time now. If I have a problem again I'll definitely replace the liner. Right now I'm off to buy more gas. As soon as it started working again the stupid thing ran out of shielding gas...

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=75759 I know there has been more discussion than that. I think Olie is right. I think you need a hydraulic lifter and a roller cam profile. Not positive. Hopefully someone who knows more will help out.