JMortensen

I think I read the original question wrong. I'm thinking the whole subframe with diff, axles, struts, control arms, sway bar, brakes, and wheels. Take out the driveline stuff and I'm a lot closer to Tim.

All I can say is that I've had several engineers and fabricators do little projects for me, and those people can turn a 1/2 hour job into 16 hours easy. Everything I had done turned out GREAT, but it could have been 1/2 as great and 10 times cheaper if they didn't absolutely obsess on the details and I still would have been happy. I got to the point where I would say "I can buy this piece from here for X dollars. If I bring you this material, can you do this job for less than X?" and wouldn't give them the job unless they committed to it being cheaper. They weren't trying to screw me at all, but fabricators are a different breed, and man they can be ANAL... Since you obviously can't just go buy this header, my advice is set yourself a dollar amount that you think it's worth and then go to the guy who has all the equipment and tell him you think it is worth X and you want him to do it, but you don't want to pay more than X.

The Supra is a big heavy pig. I'll guess 500+...

Assuming that the mono ball isn't loose in the joint (and that does happen), I'd say you have 2 options: 1. tighten the crap out of the bolt to keep it from shifting when you hit a bump 2. weld the nut to the plate so that it can't shift.

I've got a 250 race slick under a stock fender (same ones Clifton uses if memory serves) but that's with a coilover. Without coilovers I would guess that a 225 might fit. 205's would be the best width for a 7" rim IME.

What's that saying about pots and kettles...

Both sides need to stop trying to re-write history. Just to back up my statement about the projected casualties: http://63.135.115.158/article.asp?ID=1098 http://www.consciouschoice.com/issues/cc1511/invadingiraq1511.html http://www.survivalforum.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=894 Looks like the pentagon was closest, not stating an actual number but preparing for 10 times the number of casualties we've suffered to date. http://www.war-times.org/issues/7art6.html This is estimated civilian casualties:

Did you search? There was a guy who installed these about 6 months ago, had pics and everything. Used slip on rotors with caliper brackets. It looked pretty damn cool.

Wonder what Zach de la Rocha thinks of that? Can't wait to see how he turns the Mexicans into the victims of their own oil. Maybe he can change it up a little: "This is for the People of the OIL!!!"

I don't think that there was ever an estimate of casualties given, but I do remember Bush saying that Iraq was going to be a long and bloody struggle. I was certainly expecting 1000s of dead soldiers. If you had asked before the war, I probably would have said 5,000 in the first year. Of course I also would have thought that it would take months to get to Baghdad. Ask any commander in history if the losses have been acceptable for the gains made and I don't think you'll find a single naysayer. Maybe Colonel Piroth might not agree if he were here, but he'd probably have already blown himself up anyway so his theoretical opinion doesn't count in my book. Kerry's war record shouldn't even be a factor in this race decades later, but it is because HE brought it up, repeatedly. I'm getting a little tired of the Vietnam and the Swiftboat thing, just as I did with the scrutinization of Bush's National Guard service. Maybe these guys should be focusing on what is happening NOW. The one thing that really bugs me about Kerry with regards to military service is his holier-than-thou attitude. I don't know if any of you remembers the debates when he basically told Joe Lieberman that he wasn't entitled to an opinion on the war in Iraq because he'd never been to war. I hope that Bush picks up on that because you know Kerry will use it in a debate. What a perfect time for Bush to use it against him, possibly by pointing out to all the protestors that Kerry doesn't think that they should have a say, because they've never been to war. What a self-righteous prick.

XL and XR 500s would be the same bike, but the XL has turn signals and is street legal. My brother had one, boy was that thing torquey.

I know Cody is probably ending up with Superlites, but I just want to clear up the confusion. The Dynalites have a 5.25" bolt spacing. The Narrow Mount Dynalites have a 3.5" bolt spacing. JSK's caliper mount has a 3.5" bolt spacing. So either a Superlite with a 3.5" bolt spacing or the NMDL will work. There was a guy who even posted a pic of Dyanalites mounted up when I was trying to figure this out.

When you guys search, type in your key words like "280ZX caliper front brakes 240 260 280" or whatever you want, then click the little bullet right below the search term that says "Search for all terms". Then it won't show you a response unless it has ALL of those terms in it. Cuts the search time down A LOT.

OK, I think I've really got it figured out now. The newer Type II torsen is what Drax is showing pics of. The original Type I is different. I am not an engineer, but maybe you engineers can take a look at this: http://www.sonic.net/garyg/zonc/TechnicalInformation/TorsenDifferential.html What I'm getting out of this is that the helical gears slide on their axles and get driven into the case while being forced to turn with each other, which is what generates the friction in the Type II torsen diff. The original Type I used a very similar design to the Truetrac, here is some info on that one: http://www.billzilla.org/diffs.htm. Bottom line: They all use friction against the case to limit slip. The Type II looks to be a HUGE improvement over the Type I. The Quaife, Type I Torsen, and Truetrac all appear to function in the same basic manner from what I can tell. And at the end of the day, I'd rather have a clutch style. 8)

One thing is bugging me about this now: It's that last diagram you showed Drax. Been gnawing at the back of my brain since I saw it yesterday: the Truetrac that I played with for so long has 6 long gears that are located sideways. Three on the left side, and three on the right side. They sit in between the side gears and the case, and there is no shaft holding each of the little helical gears in. You can access them from a plate on the end of the carrier. The Torsens apparently have their helical gears front to back, in pairs, running on 6 "axles". I don't think that this changes anything with regards to how the thing functions as long as the axles that the helical gears are on have some slop in them. If the axles have no slop, then the gears can't move, which means they can't walk out into the case, which means that I've been describing the Truetrac and not the Torsen. In doing a little research I found this Truetrac pdf: http://www.tractech.com/docs/OEMTruetrac.pdf This pdf from Tractech explains a couple things. First, I've been spelling it Tru-Trak and it is actually Truetrac. It also has a very clear picture of what goes on inside. More importantly though, here is an excerpt from Tractech's description of how it works: I am still 95% sure that I have the right idea and I still think that this principle relates to the Quaiffe and Torsen as well, but the axles on the helical gears are making me start to doubt... damn it Terry and Drax!!! This is the kind of stupid crap that keeps me up at night!!! So Drax, are the axles that the helical gears turn on "loose" so that the gears could get forced against the case? Does the case on the Torsens have a nice little hole for the worm gears to ride in and push on?

Might want to ask Dan Baldwin too, but I agree, sounds like 510six has the answers. I'm no stroker expert...

Here, kitty kitty kitty!

I had a cutaway working model of a Tru-Trak on my desk for about a month when I was selling diff parts. The funny thing about it is that there is almost NO resistance to the differential action in the helical gear diffs. For this very reason it is a very popular cheater diff with the roundy-round guys. If the rules required that they have an open diff, they would buy the Torsen because they could pass the usual inspection where they would jack up the back of the car and turn one wheel one way and the other would spin the opposite way. I think I mentioned this before, but my ex-boss raced a Firebird in ITSS and he actually made a point of showing me how little resistance there was. We had the back of his car up on jackstands and he was spinning the tire with his pinky, and saying "I don't know how this thing works, but it does!" When you have two helical gears sitting on each other and you start to turn one, the other will spin, but will also try to "walk" off the first one. If you held the one axle on the sample Tru-Trak I had on my desk and tried to spin the other one, you could see the gears inside "jump". They didn't want to turn on each other when one wheel had traction. They wanted to walk off each other and into the case. With no traction on either side, the gears just rotate around with very little resistance. That's why there is NO resistance to the differential action if you have no traction on either wheel. The more traction you get on both wheels, the harder it will jam those gears into the case. EDIT--With a clutch type you still have to overcome the breakaway pressure even if one tire has no traction at all. This is also why my engineer friends thought that the Quaiffe was the reason that they kept breaking axles on their Midget. The one wheel would lift and instantly 100% of the power went to the tire that was off the ground, which would spin up to a pretty good speed, and when it came back down, BANG!!! I understand Terry's theory, but I really don't believe that it is the correct explanation for this. I spent LOTS of time with one of these, probably the only one that was more fun to play with was the sample Detroit Locker. The gears inside are VERY easy to turn when they have no traction and when they have no preload. I wish Drax's diagram said where the friction comes from. It shows that the worm gears resist turning and create the friction, but it doesn't say why...

I'm not the expert on this, but I know that they won't all work. I think you can use the 280ZX caliper, Maxima bracket and later 280ZX rotor. The 300ZX rotor is bigger **I think**, so it won't work with the Maxima bracket. The early 280ZX rotor has a very deep hat, and the caliper won't line up with the Maxima bracket. I know about the early ZX stuff because I just took it off my car. I was running the ZQuip setup described in Z Car Magazine #1 issue. Double check what I said, but I think it's accurate.

Sounds like you want the Superlites anyway, but there is a Narrow Mount Dynalite which works fine with the JSK stuff.

When I was looking into this I found that the cast Dynalites are stronger and less flexy than the billet ones (this coming from Wilwood directly). At that time the cast Dynalite was the most rigid caliper of that size that they had. I'm not sure how it relates to the new forged one. The Superlites are bigger heavier, and carry a larger thicker pad. You probably don't need the huge pad given your intended usage. I'm going to use Superlite II's up front and cast Dynalites in back. The Superlite II's are drilled for bridge bolts to hold the pad vs a cotter pin. I haven't bought pads yet, still mulling over which to get. Regardless of which way you go, I'm sure it will kick the crap outta the stock system, and it doesn't sound like you'll be running them hard enough to have probelms with either.

Hmm... They do have a new A frame design which is cheaper and supposedly stronger. Think I'll give it a shot. Thanks guys.

I am looking at these Harbor Freight 12 ton presses. I've got a number of bearings that I need to change, stub axles, then I'm going to eventually get into my transmission. Would one of those 12 ton jobbies do it? I know that the giant 30 ton would be better, but I have limited space. Basically I'm thinking I'll probably spend 100 bucks paying shops to press crap off for me or I could just buy my own. Plus it might be handy to have for modifying shifters and that kind of stuff too. Well, what do you all think? Buy the 12 ton or pay a shop?

I think it's time to post the Bill of No Rights, #5 and #10 are particularly appropriate at this point:

Presidents wield lots of power in times of war, and this decision is important. Talking about it is important and cathartic (for me anyway). Mike, I'm sorry you feel so powerless. That's a shame. I feel empowered every time I see a discussion going on. It tells me that people give a shit. At the very least that discussion might be a place to learn something new about a topic that is being discussed (your comments have enlightened me on more than one occasion), or even to learn why other people think what they think. Which brings me to your health care thing... The reason the health care situation hasn't been "fixed" for 35 years is because there are a hell of a lot of people out there that agree with your bleak assessment of the govt in general, and don't want to trust that inneffective bloated bureacracy with their lives in such a literal sense. I'm one of em. You think health care is expensive now, imagine when the govt run hospitals start buying $30,000 toilet seats... Didn't this guy get elected in '76? Turns out he was a sucky president...