JMortensen

You may also want to consider shaving the tires as well, depending on what you decide on. My first set of comp tires were the old BFG R1's. I understand the new Kuhmos come with less tread, something like 4/32", so they don't need to be shaved. If you decide on A032's I think they would benefit from shaving as well as heat cycling. I tried to heat cycle that first set of R1's too, and that didn't work out too well. I went to the local canyon road and drove up and down and up and down, and couldn't bring them up to temp without going way past what was a safe speed on that road. Heat cycling in an oven is more even and is worth the $$$, IMO. Those R1's got the "groove of death" pretty quickly and they had 0 warning before they totally lost traction, so I ended up moving on to slicks, but shaving pretty much eliminates that groove of death problem, IIRC. Jon

I don't have a torque spec for you, but my ex-roommate and Nissan master tech always puts his impact gun on high and blasts away on them. That's how we did mine 6 years ago, probably 150 ft/lbs or 180 ft/lbs. I'm sure there is a torque spec, and I'm sure we did it the wrong way, but that's what he's done for a decade or more, and it seems to work. We peened the nut with a BFH and drift. One thing for sure, 1/2 ft/lb is not gonna cut it... Jon

Thanks. Jon

Dan, how come your hp and torque don't cross at 5252? Just curious. Jon

I don't like the huge tread blocks on the A032's. They are LOUD, especially if you run a lot of negative camber. Heard nothing but good things about the new Kuhmos, and they're cheap. I'd probably go that route myself. If you can fit a smaller wheel on there, that would give you a chance to run a much smaller diameter tire rather than just playing with the aspect ratio, and would also lower your effective gear ratio... Jon

I used to know a guy who's job was to go into the O.R. and tell the first timer surgeons where to cut, and basically walk them through the surgery. I was talking to him about it and he said to me "When you were in high school, how many of the kids that you thought were destined for medical school took shop classes?" I said none. He then told me that I was right on the mark, and that most of the surgeons he worked with didn't know which end of the hammer did what. And yes, the tools they use in the O.R. are drills, hammers, chisels, saws, etc. Every time I think of that it makes my toes curl... I wouldn't trust most of the medical school bound high school students I knew to make a LAMP for me, let alone hack thru my femur with a friggin saw. Jon

I think my second reply addressed that. This guy's chassis was TIRED, he would pull into parking lots and the thing squeaked big time. He is the guy I know who ripped off the A pillar at an autox! When that happened he welded the A pillar back on and added the bar. Made a big difference, and I think most of that came from tying into the roof and strut towers. Jon

OK, I commented on the strut tower bars, and you wanted comments on the roll bar . So I've got more for you: A friend of mine had a bar made which tied into the strut tops and had a plate welded from the map light area to the hoop. He said his plastic panels in the back no longer squeaked when he went into driveways. That's a pretty darn good indication that he had eliminated a lot of flex. Never seen another welded to the roof like his, but that's what I'm going to do when I do my cage for sure. Jon

When I installed my home made strut tower bars front and rear I went for a test drive. There was a turn in the road that I was very familiar with, a 15 mph bend over the crest of a hill, slightly off camber. The car had previously always pushed a little around that corner. When I drove it at the same speed as I always did with my strut tower bars on, I actually ran off the road on the INSIDE of the corner. What a HUGE difference they make!!! No push at all. I had to relearn the car! I never bothered with them because I had a negative attitude resulting from seeing too many Hondas with stock everything and a cold air intake and huge strut tower bar. Needless to say my prejudice against the bars was a little shortsighted. I still think you need to be pushing the car pretty hard to feel them, but when you get to that level, they are a necessity. I made mine from 5/8" ID aluminum tap tube from Coleman Racing. They were cheap to build and lightweight. Made brackets from 1/8" plate, and welded them to the strut towers. I also triangulated to the firewall in the front. Strut tower bars are now HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, IMO. Of course I have a 240, but just by the design of the strut towers I still think they will have a beneficial effect on your 280. I don't really have any comment as to how they will affect the cracking in the B pillar. Jon

FWIW I have yet to see a fast turbo'd Z at autox. I think Sleeper is right. Definitely brush up on your left foot braking. Jon

Stock tire size was 185/87/14 bias ply tire. That should pretty much cover it. Jon

Congrats to Aux for sucessfully using "f#cktards" in a sentence. I lived in Agoura Hills and watched the Malibu fire start about 1/4 mile from where I worked in what was that '95? It's just crazy how those winds can whip a fire. When the Malibu fire started there was a streak of burnt brush not more than 50 yards wide that went straight from the 101 towards the beach. It went as far as we could see from Lost Hills Rd into the canyons and out of sight in about 1 hour or so. Once it got into the canyons, that's when the firestorms started and all hell broke loose. If you live in the area and they tell you to evacuate, get the hell out. It gets crazy when the fire makes the wind that fuels the fire. Good luck CA, Jon

Maybe the "Underpants Gnomes" are diversifying... Jon

Guys, if you use a camber plate then you'll drop the height considerably without sectioning the struts. The rubber insulator at the top of the strut is really tall. I think if I remember properly my Ground Control "road race" camber plates dropped the car 1 to 1.5 inches by themselves. Then you have the threaded sleeve to adjust height on top of that, and apparently you can go about 2 inches from there before you need to consider sectioning the struts, according to the prevailing wisdom. I agree with the shop in the original post that you should get a shorter insert, just in case you decide to go lower at a later date. You then would not need to purchase new struts, just section and reinstall the inserts minus the spacers. I honestly do not know about the valving on the struts being different for different cars. I know that Tokico Illuminas are thought to be good to about 275 in/lb springs, any stiffer than that and you need Konis or better. Jon

Some people you just can't deal with. It happens to EVERY business owner, regardless of the type of business. You might offer to give him his money back if he pays shipping both ways. Barring that if he gives you bad feedback you can reply to his complaints, and give him bad feeback as well. Once that is done, you're both pretty well finished. So he doesn't like you and you don't like him. That's the WORST that can happen. Keep doing your thing. Don't let one @sshole spoil it for you. Jon

I think you're wrong Nic. The volume of a cylinder is not linear, like 2 inches has twice as much volume as 1 inch. So the difference between 2 and 3 inch pipe would be much more than a 50% increase. Think of it this way. Draw a 2" circle, then draw two 1" circles inside. There is a HUGE difference in the area of the 2 inch circle vs two 1 inch circles. More area=more volume in the pipe=more cfm. That's in my non-scientific brain, anyways. Jon

Check the condition of your battery cables, maybe add another ground strap from the fenderwell or the firewall to the engine. Never too much ground. I had a bad cable that looked fine, until you took it off the car and bent it. There was a section about 1 inch under the sleeve on the cable where 90% of the wire had rotted away. Never that before or since, but basically had to check it almost like a fusible link to find it. Jon

Just keep in mind guys that we are, for now, on the top of the economic food chain. Any attempt to level the playing field is going to bring us DOWN, not everyone else UP, at least not to our level. There are those people willing to forego the good things in life to bring up the world's standard of living, and there are rich people who donate all of their money and live a poor life. I am not one of those people. If that is hypocritical or unjust so be it. I don't even want to pursue an economic policy of communism or socialism in this country, let alone the world as a whole. Jon

Oh yeah? Stick a full size grand piano in your butt. That's impossible!!! I've been waiting to use that for like a year or two. A co-worker of mine used to say that all the time. On a more serious note, RUF uses the narrowest stock Porsche body for their top speed cars, because it takes too much hp to push a widebody through the air at 200 mph. Jon

I've always wondered about Supertrapps. Seems like the last thing you want is a cap on your exhaust... Jon

They must have changed the bolts between 240 and 280. Mine has 12mm bolts. I use a long 12mm wrench just in front of the crossmember, and a large screwdriver to keep the U-joints on the driveshaft from turning. When you get it loose, if you have a front mounted rear sway bar, you can pry the driveshaft past the swaybar (scratching the swaybar if you care about such things) and force it back in when reinstalling. I took my rear bar off probably 10 times before a friend showed me I didn't have to. Saves a lot of time to pry the driveshaft past it. I always seem to have to wrench the nuts all the way off to. It's a real PITA in my Z. Jon

I wonder if they have a problem with my Toyota truck built in Ohio. Jon

The liability of blinding everyone else on the road, not to mention yourself (think late afternoon sun on the hood) has to be why you don't see this. There was a guy in a town I used to live in who covered his whole car in tin foil. Not kidding! And he IRONED IT flat. It really looked pretty good, for a couple of years, then the foil started to peel up from stone damage. I never figured out what kind of car it was. I think an old Mazda compact from mid to late 70's. Jon

I agree Lockjaw. Can't tell you how many people I've heard say they BROKE THE SHIFTER! What the heck were they doing??? My tranny doesn't require a 250 lb pull on the shifter to change gears... Jon

A few weeks ago I posted to a thread where a customer was getting screwed by a shop and I said that he should dispute the charges with his credit card. Since then I've seen a couple more people saying they were going to dispute charges, possibly unfairly. I have worked for a number of mail order companies, and also a credit card processing house where I was part of the Risk Management team that assessed dispute and chargeback ratios and CLOSED DOWN accounts on a regular basis. Here are some guidelines for disputing and the consequences of those actions. When you make a big purchase, do it on your credit card. It gives you some recourse should there be a problem and should the merchant be totally unwilling to work with you. When you have a problem, CALL THE MERCHANT. Many times installation issues and problems with products that you are unfamiliar with can be explained or solved with a phone call. 99% of the businesses out there are not there to screw you. They say a happy customer tells one person, and an unhappy one tells 20. This is true, and businesses know it. Many things that I have bought through mail order businesses were damaged in shipping, or were not correct for my application, and this was only realized when the product arrived. THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY THE FAULT OF THE BUSINESS WHO SOLD YOU THE GOODS! Shipping damage happens. Wrong products are ordered. I've seen it happen 100's of times, and that is not always the merchant's fault. The end result of the call to the merchant may be the return of the item purchased. This should NOT make the transaction an adversarial experience. That's simply the way mail order works. The trade off for getting a great deal is that the merchant may be all the way across the country, and shipping charges will cost $$$. Unfortunately, you have to buy based on a description or a picture often times. In some instances you will get your return shipping free of charge, in some you will be required to pay for return shipping. There should be a stated shipping policy for any mail order business. IF YOU ARE IN DOUBT, CHECK THESE POLICIES BEFORE YOU ORDER! BUYER BEWARE! Disputes and chargebacks cost merchants $$$. They should not be done because you don't like what you ordered, or because of damage in shipping. They should be a last resort. If you have called the merchant and they are totally unwilling to fix the problem or accept a return and unwilling to refund you for FAULTY work or for providing products that are FLAWED, then dispute the charges with your cc. All credit card merchants have records on file of how many charges they have made, and how many disputes have been filed. When they get too large a percentage of disputes vs charges, their accounts can be shut down entirely. I've been the person who shuts the accounts down. This is not a pleasant experience for any merchant. I had to shut down accounts that I felt were not owned by crooks, but by companies who didn't communicate effectively with their customers. I also shut down lots of companies that WERE crooks. When your neighbor's dog is barking in the middle of the night, what do you do? Do you call the police, or go talk to the guy? I think that this is a good analogy. Talk to your neighbor, and talk to the business before you call in the big guns. Give them a chance to make it right. It is YOUR responsibility as a customer to let them know that you are having a problem. When you bypass the merchant and go straight to the cc company YOU are the @sshole. Too many people jump to the conclusion that "That guy screwed me, so now I have to get back at him." 99% of the time, this is simply not the case. I only bring this up because I feel at least in part responsible for the discussion that has lead to a number of people saying that they are going to dispute charges. As a business owner and with my prior experience in Risk Management, I want to let everyone know that disputes and chargebacks should be a LAST RESORT. Jon