JMortensen

I'd rather mine not break... Jon

I don't know what a "good" TC rod looks like, but I saw Dennis and Peggy Hale break one that had been on their "Datserati" 510 for 10+ years with poly bushings. Just popped at an autox maybe 7 years ago or so, no warning or anything, just snapped. Anyone who knows them knows their stuff is well maintained. They are not rare, I wouldn't go snapping them up off of ebay for $50 a piece or anything. The key to the TC rod failures is stressing the TC rods with stiff poly bushings. Run rubber bushings like they were designed for, or one rubber one G machine. Still haven't heard of anyone trying poly in front and rubber in rear, but I suspect that would work well too, and the poly in the front would cure dartiness under braking. Of course a rod end on an adjustable rod is the best since it can easily move through the entire range of motion with no bind or stress on the rod from the up and down movement. There's been a lot of discussion about this in the past few months, so search the archives in the brakes/wheels/suspension forum. I doubt anything will be said that hasn't already been said. Jon

Rears should lock after fronts. If the fronts lock first, the car goes straight. If the rears lock first... Jon

Look I don't want to argue with you Ross. You make a nice product, and it works great by ALL accounts. It wasn't for me, main reason being that I wanted smaller wheels than will fit your setup and I have a limited budget. But, I will say this: show me a roadrace Z that is faster than John Coffey's car (good luck) that burns up his braking system, and I too will believe. I would also point out that vehicle weight has some bearing here, so one of the V8 cars from the PIG post might be justified in going larger. EDIT--also, I believe you're comparing HD rotors to your setup, and the common 12" rotor is the UL setup. Less vanes and considerably lighter. Jon

Guys who road race with VARA and similar organizations use the 4x4 setup, because VARA will only allow brakes similar to the original racing equipment, and the 4x4 setup is very similar to the FIA stuff used in the 70's. Only problem I've heard from them so far is one guy snapped the long bolts that hold the rotor and spacer to the hub, but he thought that metric grade 8 was the same as SAE grade 8, so he was actually using SAE grade 5 bolts to hold it all together. These VARA cars are FAST, 12:1 compression triple carbed cars. Jon

PBR's do have dust boots. Sounds like Moridin is sold. Wasn't trying to cut down the MM products at all, just trying to point out that brakes need to be big enough to dissipate the heat from braking. Any more and your lugging around extra weight. They WILL require bigger than 15" wheels, and I always try to run the smallest diameter wheel I can get away with. The MM setup should be capable of stopping ANY Z repeatedly for long track sessions etc, and I would never try to take that away from Ross. John C thinks my JSK brakes are bigger than necessary. He has quite a bit more hp and quite a bit more suspension than me and uses a smaller setup with 11.5 x .81 rotors. MM setup is a lot bigger than what I have. I'm sure you could adapt some crazy 14" rotor road race setup from a Viper or similar and get even more brakes with 18" wheels, but it isn't necessary on a Z was my point. And as for weight, my hat weighs nothing compared to the rotor, I'm not sure of the difference in weight between a 12" rotor and a 13" rotor, but I'm sure there is a lb or two at least, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the 13" rotor weighed 13 or 14 lbs. The Wilwood UL 32 vane rotors weigh 10 lbs without the hat. I doubt there is a lb of aluminum to be lost from scalloping the rotor hat or taking it from the inside. Jon

He used to have a $1500 minimum on fiberglass. Wonder if he's going to change that rule... Jon

Yeah, but it only goes over one shoulder and has connects very high, so there is no way that it could force your body down in an accident. I was referring to 4 point and better real harnesses, not OEM seatbelts. Very common scenario in Honduh wannabes: They'll get a 2" wide "race harness" with a Y strap that plugs into the back seatbelt. They then have a 30* or more angle down from the back of the seat to the seat belt connection. If they crash, when the seatbelt pulls tight it will force their body down. If the crash is hard enough, you're talking spine injury. That's the type of scenario I was trying to warn against. Haven't seen anyone in a Z running the shoulder belts to the floor right behind the seat, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were someone out there driving around like that, and it is not a good idea. Jon

R Lee Ermey from FULL METAL JACKET

I used to install a lot of harness bars for Porsche guys who were just hitting the track. They were not very big or strong looking. I would think that you might be able to find something similar for a Z. The one thing most people screw up is the angle of the harness. The harness should NOT angle up a lot to the top of the seat. If it does, and you crash with the harness on, it will compress your spine. BAD!!! I used a Y type for a couple years, never really USED it though. Next time I'll go with separate shoulder straps, but the Y didn't worry me. The end of that Y is pretty thick. I think the recommended angularity is 5-15* to the back of the seat. Hopefully someone with more direct knowledge will give us the official word on that. I honestly don't know if attaching the seatbelts to the strut towes is a bad idea, but I know I've seen a couple Z's that had the belts attached there. The original 3 point from the early Z is probably the best stock seatbelt to use, because you can crank it down really tight, which you can't do with a retractable belt. When I was autoxing my Toyota P/U, I used to fold the belt in half and pull it through the loop so that it wouldn't loosen during a run, but it never really worked that well. The Z setup allows you to make it tight and not have to worry about it coming undone. Jon

Why rebuild when you can get a new used for $50? Were you going to change the ratio, replace the ring and pinion, spider gears, just bearings, what needs to be done? Most of this stuff is damn near impossible to find new. Ring and pinions can be bought from Nissan, but $$$. I had all the bearings changed in my R200 when I first got it about 10 years ago and the shop I went to screwed it up 3 times and the cost was $300 or $350. Since I pulled it and brought it in to them, it was me under the car 3 times pulling that thing out and reinstalling every time... Jon

Not terribly important, but here's an easy way to do a one man bleed: Just use a vacuum hose on the bleeder into a plastic bottle with a little brake fluid in the bottom. The bottle end of the vacuum hose needs to be submerged in the brake fluid. 20 oz Coke bottle or similar works good, if you bleed a lot go a little bigger with a small Gatorade bottle or similar. Then bend a wire hanger to grab the top of the bottle and make a hook on the other end and you can hang it on the suspension. Open the bleeder and pump all the way up and down 5 or 6 times and get out and close the bleeder, then move to the next one. As far as your problem goes, Manually adjust the rears so that there is a little drag on the drum when the wheel turns, if necessary get a new adjuster. If you still have a soft pedal, do the master test. Push soft and slow, see how it feels. Then stab pedal hard. If you get a firm pedal with the stab but not with the soft and slow then replace the master. If your wheel cylinders are way out of adjustment, then the pedal will go down farther because you're using the stroke just to get the shoes to contact the drums, not to actually apply the brakes. Jon

Here's a couple of tips for you: 1. You don't need coilovers with ZG flares. 2. You do need to cut the rear fenders to install them properly, which is not easy. You also need to fill the hole in the fenderwell after cutting the fender out. Lots of body work. If you don't, you've severely compromised the strength of the rear strut towers, unless you have a bar or cage that will support the suspension pick up points. 3. You'll need a wider rim than a slotted mag. 4. Not easy to find wide enough 14" tires to fill a ZG flare 5. Not easy to find wide enough 14" rims to fill a ZG flare 6. Even harder to find a wide enough 14" rim with the correct offset for a ZG flare 7. 15" rims and tires have better availability, but still hard to find a 15x9 or 15x10 with the proper backspace 8. Consider a set of steel circle track wheels. They can be custom ordered in just about any width and offset. If my calculations are correct, a 15x9 with 4" backspacing should fit. Not sure if 3" or 4" backspacing would be better. Someone like ON3GO would be a help in this regard. He just did this recently, although he used 17's. Maybe shoot him a PM. The stock 14x6 mags shouldn't have any more than a 185 or at very max 195 width tire on them IMHO. People will tell you that you can put a 225 on there, and its true. But it will handle better with a 185 that fits correctly than a 225 that is way too big for the rim. HTH Jon

And of course there is http://www.jskinnovations.com They now make a Wilwood front and rear setup that fits under most 15" wheels. Jon

This thread reminds me of Full Metal Jacket...

I guess your comment about Ackerman is a little confusing. I suppose you'd get a very mild cam action on the knuckles if they aren't in line with the tie rod ends. Still seems like the effect would be the same on both sides though. Maybe I'm just not picturing it correctly. I've always understood that by changing Ackerman one changes the imaginary line that goes through the tie rod and the ball joint, and that (at least for 510's) the goal is to get the lines on the left and the right to intersect at the differential at the axle line. But I've never heard of trying to adjust Ackerman by moving the rack fore or aft, so maybe I'm just totally ignorant of how that would be adjusted. The MSA bumpsteer spacers are really camber curve adjusters. By moving the control arms down, you will gain more negative camber when the suspension compresses. To measure bumpsteer you need to remove the front springs and disconnect front bar, measure with dial indicator on the front and back of the wheel (I just did it on the rotor) and either jack the body up and down or jack the control arm up and down. The suspension should be in the range where the car is driven, and the change in the dial indicators should be as close to the same as you can get as the suspension goes through its normal travel. It is pretty easy to adjust if you use rod ends for tie rods, and a common bumpsteer spacer kit from a circle track parts supplier. Moving the control arm pivot is easy enough too if you slot the holes. Jon

OK couple of things: If you turn to full lock and there is interference, you need a limiter. Terry has some on his front control arms: http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/detailfs?userid={7DC317B0-8EDB-4B2E-A837-F708D07C9769}&ndx=14&slideshow=0&AlbumId={17E71651-3EF8-4704-9954-22956DF10FCB}&GroupId={3B8751D4-D564-4405-8017-F14E1CDA9AF0}&screenheight=768 You can't really "see" bumpsteer problems when looking at the suspension, because the pivots are not easy to see, and small changes make a big difference. If you line up the arms and use an angle gauge or something similar, you'll be off, almost guaranteed. Also, lots of tie rods are bent, making it harder to tell by looking. The inner tie rod is inside the boot, so it is hard to tell on that one. You'll have to measure to be sure. Ackerman on a front steer car would require the steer knuckles to be bent out towards the rim. Usually there is not a heck of a lot of room there. Much easier to change Ackerman on a rear steer car like a 510, because they then get bent inwards. If you're not going road racing, I'd put some steering limiters on the control arms and drive it. Jon

Moser engineering, Dutchman Axles, there are a ton of em. Do a Google search. Thing is most people just upgrade to the 280 and call it done. Have heard of CV's exploding, but can't recall someone breaking the 280 stubby. Jon

Nice Juan!!! Let me just say that I have been collecting parts to set up my fronts and I can't wait to get them on the car. Maybe this weekend. Excellent parts, even better prices. At some point you'll definitely have more business from me when I buy a set of rears. Jon

Any news here?

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1783&prmenbr=361 Just weld the fitting into the collector and connect to the valve cover. I guess you could connect via a tee to the vent on the side of the block as well, but if you look in the How to Modify book it warns about having too much vacuum. For this reason I was thinking I would put a breather on the side of the block (just a little K&N filter) so it would really just get rid of pressure and not create a huge vacuum. Or vice versa, maybe connect the hose to the side of the block and run the filter on the valve cover. I am going to do this as part of my latest round of modifications, if you want I'll buy this and I can send you 1/2 for $20. You really only need the nipple and the check valve, the other stuff fits V8 valve covers, and the L6 already has a built in baffle in the valve cover. Jon

So cyl #2 is getting air/fuel and oily crap out of the crankcase. Have you considered a catch can, or routing it to the exhaust? I can't imagine that routing the vent to #2 only is doing you any good. Jon

The bigger the brakes the better the capacity to remove the heat generated from the friction of the pads on the rotors, so in that sense bigger is better. There is a point at which it just gets ridiculous though, and you lose out because you have to spin more mass with brakes and wheels. These two (brakes and wheels) are strongly linked. The smaller brakes and the smaller wheels you can get that will still stop the car, the better IMO, because you'll have less rotating mass to turn. Imagine the wheels and brakes as though they were a flywheel. You want a light flywheel on your engine because of parasitic drag, same thing on wheels and brakes. Bling usually means that you throw function out the window in the pursuit of form, so if that's what you're after I suggest the AZC or Modern Motorsports setups, because they are huge, and you need big blingy wheels to fit them. If you want function over form, then the fonebooth setup is probably the lightest, and if it works for John Coffey's race car, it should work for you. If you're like me and you just want it to work in all situations on a budget and you want to run 15" wheels, then JSK is the way to go. EDIT--Looked at the AZC site, I thought they had a 13" rotor and 6 piston caliper for the early Z, looks like their stuff is basically the same as JSK's, so you can get equivalent bling at less cost with the JSK setup. Just as a side note AZC used to advertise their brake kit saying "for Z's that regularly see 200 mph". Still haven't seen that Z.... My $.02, Jon

Chances of one breaking are relatively low if it wasn't exposed to the poly bushings for a long period of time. I've never heard of one breaking on a stock bushing vehicle. You could always shot peen the new one it if you're really worried. Adjustability is nice, and was worth it for me, but it may be overkill for a lot of people. Jon

The age old test for master cyl is to push soft and slow. If the pedal goes to the floor, the master is bad like Pop said. If you stab the brakes, the spike in pressure will make the seals expand and the master will work fine. So hard stab works, and soft push doesn't. Pop is right, replace the master with an early ZX master. Get an adjustable prop valve while you are at it and try to dial in the bias. Rears should lock just after the fronts if you have it right. Jon