JMortensen

The problem with heim joint tie rods is the tapered hole that is built into the steer knuckle. The most common way to get around that is to drill out the steer knuckle to 5/8", then run a 5/8" outer rod end. Then the issue becomes attaching it to the stock inner tie rod. I'm not sure, but I seem to remember that the stock inner is 12mm x 1.0 or 12mm x 1.25 threads. Easiest thing to do would be to get a piece of 1" hex aluminum or similar and drill and tap one end for the rack, and the other for the rod end. Not exactly an easy job, but doable. The other major benefit here is that you can then fine tune the bumpsteer at the knuckle.

Remove it from the backside and from the outer edge of the flywheel and that will make the biggest difference.

Doesn't sound unsafe to me. 2nd gen RX7 has 12 x 1.5 studs that are maybe an inch longer than stock 240 studs. Or you can go ARP. 12 x 1.25 stuff should be fairly common. Finding nuts that size shouldn't be a problem. Finding a longer stud probably would be.

OK, then. No offense meant Crazy280. Another explanation of what I was trying to say before. If I really felt that our troops were doing something horrible, then I wouldn't support the troops. If for example, they were prosecuting a war against redheads and attacked Ireland for that reason, I would not say "I disapprove of the war, but I support the troops" because to do so would conflict with my morals. So I don't understand how someone's morals could allow them to disapprove of a war but approve of the soldiers who fight it. I understand being torn, or not knowing, or having reservations. Also I find that little slips are made here and there and you find the anti-war crowd "accidentally" wishing harm towards our troops. The Daily Show is my favorite TV show, but about 2 weeks ago Jon Stewart had a lady on who had written a "Bush is the devil" book and when they were talking about the recent success in the Middle East and their despair at Bush's success, Jon said something to the effect of "Well we can still hold out hope for the insurgency in Iraq." He really did. That's the kind of thing that really gets me I guess.

Man I wish my math was better. I got a B+ in trig... the 4th time I took it. Thanks for figuring that out Terry.

If you move the control arm out .75" and then the front wheels will be severely toed in. So you need the lengthen the tie rods to match the control arms, and then the question is if there are enough threads to do so, which was the issue Terry raised. I'm sure the other guy took the bend out of the outer tie rod to lengthen it, but like buZy said, that might not be enough. I'm still thinking that moving it out .75" is a hell of a lot, and you might get more negative camber than you bargained for.

Well I could be wrong, but I distinctly remember the flare came back in towards the body line behind the tires front and rear, and that it didn't meet very nicely in that area. These are totally flat sticking out behind the tire, like the IMSA flare. Did a little searching: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=89290&highlight=steel+flare Unless they changed them, I don't think they're VB flares.

The VB steel flares hook back in at the bottom IIRC.

Looks like these to me. http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=50-1561 http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=50-1560 I'm looking at the trailing edge of the flare and how it sticks out off of the body. Most of them try to come back to the body line, but this set doesn't.

Rumor I heard is that SA2005 helmets are due in June. I'd use the loaner helmets at your local autox if you can verify that the June date is true. Wait 6 months and you'll have a helmet that is good for 10 years, vs one that is good for 5.

I don't have a direct correlation, but isn't .75" out like a 3º camber change. I've got one of my camber plates right in front of me, and it only adjusts ~1" total. The rule of thumb on the tie rods is you want 1.5x the diameter of the threaded part of the inner tie rod (12mm I think) in the outer tie rod. So if 12mm is correct you want 18mm threaded into the outer tie rod. I don't think there is enough room for that.

Mod Edit: Some stuff deleted. The idea that I was agreeing with is that it is not logical to say "I oppose the war but I support the troops." EDIT -- I think this is the key statement "I oppose the victory of America over Iraq, but I support the troops in their effort to achieve victory over Iraq." How can you possibly support the troops, and not their effort to achieve victory. Because if you don't want them to achieve victory, that basically requires that they lose battles... or stated in another way... that they DIE. If you don't support the war then you DO NOT support the troops. You might sympathize with them, or think they're being misused, or want to bring them home, but you do not support them IMO.

I just grabbed that off the net so I can't verify it's authenticity, but I can verify the validity of its sentiment.

They obviously do have an axe to grind, but at least their methodology is somewhat sound. They take death statistics coming from hospitals and only from hospitals, not polls of Iraqis then multiply like the 100,000 figure to determine the death rates. I do recall some reports of doctors inflating death reports in the first part of the war to try and evoke more backlash against the war here in the US and in Europe. I'm not saying their numbers are accurate, but at least it would appear on the surface that they are attempting to be accurate. They could fling credibility out the window and jump on the 100K bandwagon, but they haven't.

Search

This site has reasonable methods to acquire their figures: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/database/. They only count "civilian" deaths, how one knows if a civilian is an insurgent is beyond me, but they show a high of 19,432 "civilian" deaths. They are openly against the war too, FWIW, but at least their methodology seems sound. They also have an article that has some half-handed analysis of the 100,000 dead we continue to see reported. The IBC says that figure is a projection. Kinda like the 50,000 people that die from second hand smoke in the US according to "the Truth" (if you believe that I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you).

So are you saying that when Saddam tortured and then murdered people the doctors would have seen the victims? Seems kind of silly to expect tortured or executed people to be seen by a doctor.

I'm still thinking about this, and I'm wondering why the endlink couldn't attach to a bracket welded to the control arm in a different spot. Obviously the end of the bar would be shorter which would stiffen the bar, but should work and be out of the way. Also I was looking at a control arm the other day and the oval area where the bar attaches ALREADY HAS 2 holes. Why not just cut 2 inches off the bar and attach to the rear hole instead of the front? The rear of the bar could be spaced off of the uprights and that would lessen the stiffening effect. Takes a little modification of the bar, but I think that's what I'm going to end up doing. Just cut the end off and weld a new end on kinda like Terry did, except I'm going to weld a tab with 3 holes to make it adjust. Anyone see any reason why not to do this?

Search the bumpsteer thing. Been talked about over and over and over and over...

Another timely news story: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050319/ap_on_re_eu/europe_iraq_protests 2 years later and they still don't get it. That's probably because they're all watching the BBC and according to the BBC the whole Iraq thing is a horrible defeat for the US, we're on the verge of throwing in the towel, etc.

944 timing belts require a special tool that costs $500 or so (or at least it used to). I want to say that the job was a 6 or 8 hour job by the book time. If you don't get the tension right they howl. Some other problems: Power steering is a CONSTANT problem. The shop I worked for used to install the later reservoir lines in them because IIRC the routing of the line next to the exhaust was part of the problem. We also used to do the BG power steering flush on EVERY 944 that came in. The power steering fluid leaks straight onto the swaybar bushings too, so those are almost always bad too. Clutch changes are a PITA. Little things like changing the hood struts tend to end with broken windshields. Need motor mounts? $$$. Supposedly you need to replace the aluminum front control arms to fix a bad ball joint, but we figured out which ball joint fit into the 944 arm. That was a big $$$ saver.

That is exactly the way I do it. My T/C rods have the AFCO style end on them in 3/4" and I haven't had any problems in 40K miles of driving and racing.

I would say that fighting a war in Iraq is not as fundamental to our freedom or the preservation of our country as fighting in Gettysburg. But I would also say that the fight in Iraq was worth fighting, and that the deaths are not in vain. I think Pete hit on something too with this: This is the same thing I've been trying to say since the war started. Even now at 1500 dead, that is a TINY fraction of what was expected. It is an AMAZINGLY thorough stomping of the Iraqi forces AND the insurgency. To portray it otherwise is just dishonest, and the MSM seems to be losing credibility in the face of the facts.

I think you're right about Bush and Kerry personally, but Democrats raised more than Repubs as a party:http://www.democrats.org/news/200412060002.html

Here's another one to piss off PETA: http://www.savetoby.com/