JMortensen

Bastaad, I've taught 5 or 6 people to heel/toe. Best way to start is in the driveway with the car in neutral just idleing. Stick you right heel down in the right corner of the footwell. Put the ball of your foot on the brake pedal, then rev with the side of your foot. You aren't trying to hit a certain rpm, just blip the throttle enough to get about 2K rev out of it. Then take your foot entirely off the pedals and do it again. Do that about 50 times and your brain will start to memorize your foot position, so you don't have to think about it so much when you do it on the street. Also, don't be trying this for the first time in heavy traffic situations. Side story--the cool thing in my autox club was left foot braking. I can do it at an autox when I don't really have to shift, but I was trying to get it down good enough for the track. Finally gave up on it when I was driving down a fairly busy street and went to shift and my left foot was still on the brake. I SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA MYSELF!!! For a split second I thought I'd been in an accident. Huge adrenaline rush... I guess you don't realize how hard your left foot hits the clutch until its on the brake accidentally. Anyway, moral of the story is don't be learning in heavy traffic. Once you get it down, then make it a part of your everyday driving. I heel/toe or just blip the throttle if I'm not slowing down too fast on every downshift on every vehicle I own. Jon

510 guys always switch to Z drums FWIW. Don't know of anyone switching to steel. What is the benefit of switching Tomohawk??? Jon

One more thing. Aluminum hubs are already somewhat of a "known" item. You can buy aluminum hubs from AZC. In the circle track world, there are quite a few out there. JSK is not reinventing the wheel with this. Jon

I don't think there is anyone on this list that made a V8 engine mount, put it in the car, then tested it. Nor a diff mount, nor a tranny mount. Just think of the potential danger of a driveshaft falling out at speed due to a failed tranny or diff mount. Ross's CV adapters were originally advertised saying "So and so had these on his car for X years with 500 hp and no breakage" or something to that effect (they might still be, I haven't checked in awhile). Will I eventually have them on my car? You bet. The Z chassis wasn't designed for the torque of a modified motor, let alone a V8 or a turbo. The driveline parts certainly weren't designed for what we put them through. Suspension, same. Anyone who makes there own parts at home has a lot more to be worried about than JSK, at least their products will be tested before being sold. I'm not saying that I trust JSK implicitly, just that if the testing is done as it should be then I'd be willing to buy the hubs. Also, his stuff is not welded, so we really don't need to be concerned about the quality of the welding. I've seen some really bad birdsh!t looking welds on roll cages from "fabricators". So as long as the design is strong and the material appropriate, it should all be OK. Juan is providing a great service to us, and a lot of us appreciate it. This kind of reminds me of the "driving instructor breaking the car" thread. If you want factory designed parts, drive a stock Z. If you don't want it broken, don't take it to the track. If you want to push the envelope, there will probably be some breakage along the way. How far to push is everyone's own decision to make. My $.02, Jon

Try more than 9 laps. With stock brakes I faded them so bad on a long canyon road that I thought I was going to punch a hole in the firewall standing on them so hard. Butt was completely out of the seat and they still weren't doing anything. Even after switching to 4x4 calipers and early ZX calipers in the back, I've had problems with Porterfield R4S pads chunking and coming off in big pieces at the track. My latest issue is boiling brake fluid. Happened last time I went out in 5 laps, but it was 114 degrees that day. I should have just gone home. I'm thinking I'll end up with JSK's kit on the front and something like Terry has on the rear. For those of us who DO push really hard, I think the drums are definitely a weak link. ITS guys are always replacing drums, from what I hear. That being said, I think you're right with regards to 99% of the street Z's out there, and I think most people DO put on rear discs for looks. Especially those guys who run 17's. Little drums don't look good in 17" rims. Jon

Never seen it myself, but that's what I've read. I think we're talking like 1910 or something. Jon

Yeah. It should be called "ball of the foot side of the foot", but I guess in the REALLY old days the gas pedal was in the center and lower and the brake was on the right. So your heel was on the gas and your toe was on the brake. The name never got changed. That shot of the feet is pretty cool. You can see them doing some other things too. One guy is using the clutch to rotate the car coming onto the straight in one shot. Pretty cool video. The other one is good too, with the higher hp cars. Jon

http://auto.joins.com/upboard/pds/pdst/BestMotoring_JDM_Supercar_Battle.asf This one is also huge. That S15 is winning some points with me. I never was all that impressed before... Jon

I mounted my AutoMeter 5" gauges by using a large hose clamp around the body of the gauge and attaching it to the existing bracket. I think I had to bend the bracket a little bit by hand, but it would sure beat silicone. Jon

Since you are in the area, the 76 off of Chesebro Rd used to have Trick 100 octane at the pump. If you're coming from the Valley, get off at Chesebro and cross the freeway, then take the right down the hill and the 76 is right next to the on/off ramp. Jon

http://auto.joins.com/upboard/pds/pdst/BestMotoring_350Z_tsukubaBattle.asf 50 megs... Skyline camera car, separate AE86 vs Skyline at the end on a rally course Jon

I wouldn't use my member to change a lightbulb

Helical cut gears are standard in production cars for noise reduction. Straight cut gears are easier to engage, but are noisy. So race trannies and motorcycles, and probably snowmobiles and ATVs often have straight cut gears because noise is not a factor. Anyone who has ridden motorcycles for awhile will tell you that you don't need the clutch to shift. Just slam the next gear. This is NOT good for the transmission, of course, but it helps to show that synchros are not necessary with straight cut gears, and it has saved my butt a few times back when I was riding dirt bikes. Slamming into the next gear is faster than waiting for the syncro to speed up the next gear cluster so that the helical gears will mesh. The price paid is double clutching on downshifts, or heel toeing, or as Nic does and I do too, just "heeling". Downshifts usually aren't going to make or break a race. Upshifts are. Jon

Jeromio, That's what I was thinking. I like this idea A LOT. I think I will do it too. Should be even easier than the threaded end on the control arm. I think that the compact turnbuckle that Mike Kelly suggests would be easy to make work with the RH and LH nut idea. Jon

No one has mentioned unsprung weight yet... Jon

Not sure I'm following Terry's idea fully, but if I have it right in my head it is a pretty good one. I don't understand how you would use a turnbuckle in addition to the slotted holes, unless you were to weld a RH and LH nut onto the left and right hand side of the link on the back of the link with the turnbuckle in between, and slot the right and left sides along the flat area along the bottom. Use a very small turnbuckle like the ones used in the Mike Kelly control arms??? I think that would work. Is that pretty much what you guys are saying??? Jon

3/16" toe in is really not that much. If memory serves, it's within factory spec. On the racing Porsches I used to set up, we ran as much as 3/8" total, but as I've said before, driving a 911 is like throwing a dart backwards, so anything that keeps the @ss end behind is a good thing. I can run on one set of slicks for an entire season of autox and about 3 track days. Jeromio's idea is interesting too, but you'd also have to space the turnbuckle away from the back of the diff. I'll have to have a closer look at that one... Jon

Welcome to the World of High Performance. Well, infinite adjustability would be nice. I'm trying not to reinvent the wheel here, but as vashonz stated earlier a turnbuckle in the back would be nice. Lots of cars have rear toe adjustment there with a turnbuckle, and a lot of the front drivers with that type of toe setting have a really spindly looking turnbuckle. Maybe I'll just stick to 5/8" rod ends, which with 18tpi would give a little finer adjustability. If anyone who has AZC arms could shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it. Not sure that I have the skill to mock them up well enough to insure the 3/16" total toe that I would like... hmmm............ Jon

Another thought occurs to me. Run rod end reducers on 3/4" rod ends and use a 5/8" through bolt. That would be easier. Wouldn't be able to bolt to the strut housing, but it would make swapping a strut housing less difficult if I were to bend one. Jon

Well thanks again Terry. I'm going to have to pull my spare control arms and rear struts out of the attic and get going on this sometime this winter. It definitely seems doable, from all accounts. I do like the idea of the 3/4" rod ends too. That would pretty much alleviate any of the concerns that I've heard with respect to the strength of the threaded portion of the end. Jon

Quick disconnect wheels aren't street legal, at least in CA. I had the same experience with wheel diameter though. I switched from a 14 to a 13, and love it despite the 9.5" slicks I run at autox. Leverage is worse, but it is easier to manage just due to smaller diameter. Jon

I've tried a bunch of different settings from 0 toe to 3/8" total toe in (yes really), but I turn the fastest times with that setting. I'm sure that there are more suspension tweaks to do, and this is just one more step in getting them all done. Thanks for the input. Jon

Maybe I phrased that wrong. Didn't a tranny with the same gear ratios, same steel synchros, and 2 piece driveshaft come in a roadster. I gave one just like that to a buddy of mine. Also gave him a second one with a one piece driveshaft and a 3.3:1 1st gear. He used the main shaft from the trans with the one piece driveshaft and put the closer gearset on it. It worked out pretty good. Or did I unwittingly give him a Nissan Comp tranny? Doesn't really matter anyhow, but I'm curious now... Jon

Isn't that really a roadster 5-speed? Jon

Sorry 240zprace, the "don't race for pinks" thing was a joke that apparently was taken seriously by a couple people. Jon