JMortensen

Don't race for pinks... Jon

It would be pretty easy to spread the rod ends away from the strut. Just use spacers like you find in bump steer spacer kits from Coleman. Jon

OK, I did just have a glass of wine, but I didn't follow that at all 260DET. You got a picture or something??? Terry, I'm sure using a 3/4" rod end would eliminate the possibility of weak rod ends, but I don't think it would be easy to sleeve a 7/8 hole down to 3/4". That's a really thin sleeve, but it would be great if it could be done. I thought the holes were smaller, like 5/8". Guess I was wrong on that one... I have to wonder if the 3/4" rod ends would interfere with the brakes too. That's a pretty big end to have out there. Good idea, I'll have to look into it. Jon

I'll be interested to hear what people think of that Vashonz. Thanks for the supplier hints, too. Jon

Terry, I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I know that rear drive cars toe out under acceleration, and I figured the stress on the rod ends would result from acceleration more than braking, which takes weight off the rear. Also going over bumps and turning would stress the threaded part of the rod ends (they're already loaded by the g force of the turn, then get sudden impacts from the road surface). I would plan to run about 3/16" total toe in, like I am with the G Machine bushings. That seems to be my happy place with regards to rear toe. Makes it stable under braking. Don't know if that changes anything drastically with regards to the rod ends. Unfortunately for me I'm only smart enough to know that I don't know on this one. Thanks for getting things rolling though! Jon

50 views. No comments???

I don't have any pics of mine, sorry. Here is another member's pic gallery: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=100. The top of the plates that he cut for the strut tops looks basically like my car, but his are plate steel and I cut the factory towers. It's something to drool over for awhile though. Jon

Don't know for sure, but I believe that that style of camber plate is made so that you don't have to cut holes in the body, so it would be legal for SP. I use the GC "roadrace" version, and I think that is similar to the GC "street" version. You'll get more adjustability out of the roadrace version from the looks of it. Jon

Triples can do what you say, but where they really make their presence known is on a road course, more than a drag strip IMO. I don't have a good 1/4 mile time for you to judge that type of performance, although I did do a GTech run just before swapping out my stock clutch which was slipping REALLY BAD, and according to it I had a 1/4 trap speed of 108, with an ET of 15.5... 108 while slipping in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Take that for what it is worth. IMO if you want to build your car for drag, get a turbo. Jon

I've already asked this question of 2 people, and gotten answers. Mike Kelly was especially helpful. Thanks, guys. I'm asking for more because I'd like to get as many opinions as possible before I make a big mistake. I would like to try and make adjustable rear control arms. I have an extra set to work on. Here's the idea: cut the outer ends off of the stock control arms. Weld in "threaded tube ends" from Coleman, part #15587. These ends are about 1.5" long. I have yet to see if they will actually fit into the end of the control arm, but I don't want to buy any parts until I'm satisfied that I'm not going to kill myself. If I can get 1.5" of threaded tube, then I'm not really worried about the control arm side of the rod end. 1.5" should be plenty of meat. What I don't want is the rod ends to be extended more than a few theads out of the threaded tube ends, as that is where the bending load is placed on the rod end's threaded shaft, which takes a pounding. My theory is that if the AZC arms work, then using the stock control arm should too, as long as there isn't large amount of thread sticking out of the control arm. I suppose ultimately it would have to be mocked up to see if the track would be narrowed significantly by cutting the stock ends off the control arm. If not, then I could run the rod ends pretty well bottomed out into the control arm. I've got camber plates, so if I lose a little neg camber I can just adjust it right back from the top. My front adjustable control arms are basically done this way. A machinist made them for me, and he got a thick walled DOM tube, cut the control arm in half, welded the tube into the outer part of the control arm, and welded the threaded tube end into the outer part of the tube. I've got no qualms about the front, but the rear seems to be more iffy from the reactions I've gotten when telling people about this idea. Any thoughts/opinions??? I would like to try this, and I don't want to purchase other peoples' control arms, all of which seem to be controversial from an engineering standpoint and expensive. The stock control arms are obviously up to the loads placed on them, and I'd like to run poly and get rid of the G Machine bushings and still retain some adjustability. TIA, Jon

Double clutching is something that you do with a non synchro straight cut racing transmission, or a REALLY old car that didn't have synchros. My friend used to have to double clutch his '40 La Salle coupe with 3 on the tree. I think lots of semis need to be double clutched too. Here's how you do it: when shifting (in racing trannys this applies to downshifting only), push in the clutch, take the tranny out of gear, let the clutch out. Push it in again, rev the engine to match the speed of the gears in the tranny, then push the shifter into the lower gear and let the clutch out. Some really good drivers can heel toe a straight cut trans instead of double clutching. One book I read, I think it was Driving Faster, had Danny Sullivan saying that he never double clutches, just heel toes on straight cut geared trannys, but he was the exception to the rule. It has the same effect as heel toeing, but is harder to do, and takes longer than heel toeing. If you don't have a full on racing transmission, don't bother. A good heel toe will suffice. It's nice to know how to double clutch just in case you lose a synchro, but that's about it for most of us. I've never driven a car that needed it, but this description is based on what I've read about double clutching. Jon

Cam duration will drastically effect the compression psi. If you have STOCK components, you can check vs the suggested compression in a FSM, otherwise you can't really tell based on a compression test. If you know what you have, ie what head, shaved head, what block, what pistons, bored cylinders, you can figure it out. Anything else is peeing up a rope IMO. Seems like the stock turbo guys are seeing about 145 psi, and thats with something like 7.2:1. I ***THINK*** the FSM says 185 for stock NA, that's with somewhere in the 8.5:1 neighborhood in most years. Jon

That email was refused. Too big for your email account to handle. Any place else I can send it for you? Jon

I just emailed you the 6AL instructions in .pdf format. There was something about clipping wires differently for 4, 6 and 8 cyl engines. You can look through the .pdf and figure it out. Jon

I'm not going to hesitate to cut up my Z, #4396. I used to feel the same way as you, but there are so many early Z's out there that I just don't see them as that special for low VIN's anymore. Now, my friend just sold #476, and that one I wouldn't cut up, but it was built in '69 and was all #'s matching, 60K miles, etc. Jon

http://www.wilwood.com/products/calipers/bndlc/index.asp Another development. The NDL Wilwood caliper has, you guessed it, a .1" shorter height from the bolt holes to the outer edge of the rotor surface. If the Outlaw 2800 works perfectly with an 11" rotor, then the NDL caliper should fit a 10.8" rotor exactly. I think we're making progress here. Can you tell it was a slow day at work??? Jon

I keep editing, better ttt.

http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21819&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105 JohnC says in this thread on page 8 that Outlaw 2800 calipers bolt straight on to a Z housing. The only other thing needed would be proper rotor spacing. John also states in another thread that he is running 11" rotors (couldn't find that one). The 300ZX has 11" rotors, right? Not sure, but I think so. So all that would be needed is a proper offset 11" rotor, which possibly could be a spacer for the 300ZX rotor, and it would be done. Or a Wilwood style rotor with the correct offset aluminum hat. Just thinking out loud... EDIT--just saw in previous post 300ZX has 10.8" rotors. Not sure that the .2 inch discrepancy would cause a problem, but it might not seeing as how that's only .1" on the caliper side. EDIT #2--Here's the thread about rotor size from JohnC: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27121&highlight=brakes+outlaw EDIT #3--In looking at this page: http://www.outlawdiscbrakes.com/2800.html it looks as though almost all of the aftermarket calipers have 3.5" bolt spacing. I think that means that just about any Wilwood caliper would bolt right up to a Z strut. I also checked on the rotors in the Coleman catalog, and John is using .810" thick rotors, which I believe is also the same as the 300ZX Jon

Do a search and you'll find the answers to all of your questions. Here's a quick answer from my experience. First, you'd be better off IMO running the 225's in front and the 250's in back. I am running 200fr/250rear and Illuminas, and I've blown 1 shock in 5 years and 40K miles. I think I blew it going over a bumper on the track. The Illuminas can handle 250 in/lb springs, any higher than 275 and it gets a little iffy. John Coffey says that Konis can fit into the 240 housings, Ross says you need 280 housings. I trust John on that one. He has a FAQ about strut sectioning that will help you out. There are a couple of guys running the stiffer springs in front, but the vast majority run stiffer in the rear. I'd go with the Konis because if you do get serious about the track you will want to up the spring rate substantially. On the flip side, the Illuminas are nice because you can turn them down for street driving. I think but I'm not sure that you can do the same with the Konis, but I know that I drive my Illuminas on the street at 1 or 2, and they don't beat the crap outta you. Jon

Juan at JSK was working on something, or at least talking about it not too long ago. Jon

One last rant on this then I'm done. Starting to get frustrated... If you think your putting yourself in the hands of an idiot, don't let them drive your car. Don't take their advice. Don't let them in the car with you. Period. I've seen ONE instructor who fit this description. He was passing other instructors in his Mustang on the parade laps!!! I didn't let him instruct me, and he was never in my car. All of the instructors I've had at the track were pros. Every one of them had an SCCA license, and was a sponsored racer with at least 5 years experience in roadracing. If you've never been to a big track before, these people will REALLY help your driving. Anyone with no experience would be silly to think that they have nothing to learn, or that the risk of getting on the track WITHOUT instruction is less than the risk of getting the instruction. They aren't perfect, and they can make mistakes, like telling my bro to go for 2nd. I don't hold that against the instructor though. If anything I hold it against my bro for doing it despite the fact that he thought it was the wrong thing to do, and myself for letting 2 people who didn't know my car as well as I do run around the track in my Z. Ultimately I put them in that situation, so I was responsible. If I was asking for legal advice or getting treated by a doctor that is another situation altogether. The driving instructor's job is not to ensure your well being. It is to show you how to push the limits of your car's performance, and your own skill. No one made me go to the track. No one made me ask my brother-in-law if he wanted to go. Every time I've been to the track I decided to go there because I wanted to. Last, if you don't want anything bad to happen to you or your car, I suggest parking it in a concrete garage with a controlled temp, and staying in your house or walking from place to place. You'll be much safer... although as Al Pacino said in Heat "You can get killed walking your doggy!" Also not directed at anyone: I am responsible for me, who is responsible for you? Jon

Thanks Pyro and Mat. That wasn't at all what I was expecting. Jon

No. Everyone is at the track driving and instructing of their own volition. It is a potentially dangerous thing to do for both people, and for the car. They all chose to ignore the risk and do it anyway, so every person should be responsible for what happens to their person or their property. We don't live in a video game, and people need to start stepping up and taking responsibility for their risk taking, not just in this instance but in all kinds of situations we deal with. If you aren't making that conscious choice to put yourself at risk when you go to the racetrack, you shouldn't be there in the first place. EDIT--Should the student pay? It would be a nice thing to do. Should the student be FORCED to pay. No. Just my opinion, Jon

Agreed. Jon

No the incident we're talking about was trying to upshift to 4th hitting 2nd instead. In my case, the instructor told my brother to downshift to second when he should have held 3rd. Jon