JMortensen

After driving the car for a couple hundred miles yesterday, the placebo effect wore off. I had to drive home from the oil change with the top up. When I put the top down, the click noise that I thought had been fixed going in 2nd and 3rd when engaging the gear suddenly reappeared. So basically, it feels like SWEPCO but at twice the cost. Still want to try synchromesh, but not going to drain perfectly good fluid again to try it.

Ford dealer.

I've run SWEPCO mixed with ATF in my Nissan transmissions for a long time and it really cleans them up and makes them shift super smoothly. I've converted quite a few people over the years. Recently I got a Miata with a 6 speed and it was pretty notchy going into 2nd. First thing I did was change to SWEPCO, no difference. Then I adjusted the clutch and the problem was fixed to the point where I really didn't think it was going to get any better. There was just a hint of notchiness, but the 6 speed is known as a notchy transmission and it was so mild I didn't think it could be improved upon. I was on the Miata forums and there were A LOT of people saying to use Ford's synthetic MT fluid. Curiosity got the better of me and I tried it today, and honestly it really is better than the SWEPCO at least in this transmission. Notchiness is totally gone, the thing is smooth as silk. $45 for 2 quarts after tax, or about twice the cost of the SWEPCO, but if the first impression is the right one, I think it was worth it. I would guess that this would be the same for any Nissan transmission that takes gear oil, so there you go. Give it a shot and see what happens.

That's the Stage II cam IIRC, and it's a pretty small cam. I agree that it shouldn't die just revving in the garage.

One thing to note is that the larger your cam is, the smaller your jets will be. Are you running a small cam?

This sounded off to me, because Modifieds are a full size car. I had to dig a bit to find some rules, but it looks like the class min is 2625 lbs. http://www.raceofchampions.net/rules.htm

L28 sorry. Didn't catch that. My symptom was the hesitation at 2500 rpm. I chased it quite a bit and going bigger on the pilot helped a lot. I think a smaller choke size would have helped too, at the expense of top end. I mostly posted because you were talking about having the adjustments out 2.5 turns, which was pretty much verboten according to the people who taught me how to tune them.

Exactly. Preload is just that. But our limited slips are torque sensitive, and they can lock up quite a bit harder than the preload. They need some traction to do it though, and stepping on the brake simulates traction and gives the LSD something to work against.

I started with pilots that were 52.5's and ended up in the mid/high 60s on 44s. I was told to turn the screws out 1.25 or 1.5 turns, and then if you needed more, go to a bigger pilot.

Matt, I don't know if you're asking for opinions, but I'll give one anyway. I'd do the wing with appropriate bracing from it to the chassis, add a splitter, think more about that diffuser, the whole nine. I really have to wonder what kind of lift you're generating at speed now. Get yourself a decent aero package, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if you could keep up with the WC cars. Besides, it's not like anything else on the car is vintage appropriate anyway.

Found out about some asphalt modified tires on miata.net. They have close to the same sizes as Formula Atlantics, so you have 10" for the fronts and 13" for the rears. The rears come in several different diameters so you can adjust gearing a little bit. The prices are pretty incredibly low, $115 for the fronts, looked on ebay and saw new rears going for $100 each. Apparently they're turning times about the same as would be expected from a Hoosier R6 with the medium compound, there is a softer compound as well. Here is the Miata.net thread: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=462522 Here is the manufacturer's webpage: http://www.americanraceronline.com/Asphalt-Track/modified.html

To make an equally stupid generalization: automotive journalists are retarded.

One tire in the air = no drive on an LSD, unless it's shimmed super tight. You could have applied some brake and that would have allowed you to move.

There are V8 conversion kits, and that would be the way to go, with the turbo transaxle (which also has an LSD IIRC). I think it would be tough to fit the RB up front, but the V8 manages.

I don't have any pics of my old setup, but I can tell you that if you route the duct underneath the frame rail it is likely to drag on the ground and get ripped off, and if you put it on the side of the frame rail it will get hit by the tire at full lock. I routed mine up above the airdam and just left the opening of the tube in the airstream to the radiator (not very good) and then had it come back along the side of the frame rail to the area where the tire would hit it at full lock. At that point it curved up and over the area where the tire would hit in an upside down U shape, then I used a hose clamp on the strut housing and another one through it to hold the vent tube and pointed that at the front end of the caliper. I just used sheet metal screws to attach hose clamps to the fenderwells and then clamped the ducting in place. If I were to do it again, I'd do it differently:I'd attach the tubes to a radiator box or the airdam near the center of the car to get a better positive pressure spot for the tube. Then I'd route the tube through the engine compartment, and back out of the engine compartment after the area where the tire would hit just forward of the strut tower. By doing it this way you would have less bends than going up and over the interference point as I did before, and a much shorter tube as well. I think this would make for better cooling. Also if you've got vented rotors, I'd suggest making a backing plate that bolts to the strut where the stock backing plate did and fits inside the hat so that air from the ducts gets sent directly into the middle of the rotor veins instead of blowing on one side of the rotor or the other, which is known to cause problems. I know bjhines made such a backing plate for his brakes. Here is a similar idea for a Bimmer, should help if you haven't already got the idea: http://www.hardmotorsport.com/Hard-Motorsport-BBK-Brake-Cooling-Duct-Kit-Bmw-E36-M3-HMSE36BBKDUCTKIT.htm If you've got stock brakes you can try to find some pictures of ITS ducts and copy that, but they usually require 2 or 3 vent tubes and I don't think they'd last very long on a street car.

Where I used to run in CA it was 3 runs, if you were lucky you got 4. This time was 5, so I was already feeling pretty good about the number of runs I got in. What are the OR guys typically doing? Would be cool to get 6 or 7 runs at an autox, but that kinda sounds unlikely.

Love the guy spinning the tires at 1:50. I've actually done that in my Z at a reasonable ride height, but in my defense the driveway was ridiculously short and steep.

That's a good story John. Apparently Packwood is an old lumber mill, and there are lots of 4 inch long spikes hanging around and it's not too uncommon for someone to pick one up. Nobody knows WTF happened to my tire, I suppose it could have been a spike that just went in at the perfectly wrong angle, but it was right where cars had driven through several hundred times already that day. It was a pretty freakish thing. Still managed to have a great time though!

First autox in 10 years today, in a 10th Anniversary Miata that I bought because the Z build was taking too long. Brand new set of Toyo R1Rs on it, alignment, other than that it is BONE STOCK. Weather was supposed to be rain Sat, good Sunday, we got the reverse, but I was already signed up so I was going regardless. Drove a long way to the event at Packwood, WA. I see now why they autox there. HUGE area to work with. The course was pretty fast, it was raining, and average times were in the mid 60s. I walked the course twice and worked on the course, but it was so long that I had a vague idea of what was happening on the other end but couldn't remember any specific. Being so rusty I asked for a ride along and got a nice guy named Dieter. Dieter helped me find the line and I pulled a 74 second first run. Not fast, but not the slowest. The plan was for him to ride with me again, and then to set me loose on my own. Second run was a 69. Much better, but the seat back actually disconnected from the bottom on one side. Luckily this is a Miata so it could only move back about 1/2". Fix that, get staged again, jump out and adjust tire pressures, driving to the start line and I hear a weird noise. Jump out and my LR tire is flat. Completely flat, and I had just moved maybe 200 feet from where I did the tire pressures. Pull back around and Dieter offers his air tank. Put air in and you can hear it rushing right back out, FAST. Uh oh. I took my spare out and left it at home, and just brought a can of fix-a-flat. We're running out of time to run the cars, so Dieter asked if I would like to drive his Cobalt SS. SURE! So I drove his car (very different than a Miata, FWD, turbo lag, torque steer, much higher center of gravity, much bigger car) and did a 69 and a 67. Last time around on the second to last turn I went for the brake and hit the clutch and the brake at the same time. At the last turn I moved my foot further left thinking I had hit the gas and brake, and got just clutch. Missed the turn completely, sent a course worker running, but didn't damage anything. I think I probably could have pulled a similar time in the Miata, but just never got the chance. Grabbed my fix-a-flat and put it in the tire and the hole was so big it just ran right back out and was flat in about 2 minutes. Told others what was going on, had a guy with a plug kit offer assistance. A couple more guys swarmed on my car, and pretty soon I'm standing there holding a flashlight while 3 guys are pulling the tire off. That didn't suck. They pull it off and the tire has a gash right in the middle of the tread. It looked like someone slashed the tire with a knife almost perpendicular to the tread. We tried a plug. No luck. Tried another, no luck. 3 plugs got it to a slow leak. Turns out the gash was about 1" long! The guys put the tire back on, torqued my lug nuts and sent me on my way. I went to the gas station to fill up and it was full serve only (weird). I figured I'd play it safe and bought another can of fix-a-flat and. The gas station attendant said he could hear my tire leaking, so I put it in right away, but now it had the 3 plugs in there and it actually worked instead of just pouring out on the floor. I was quite thankful for my successful 2 1/2 hour drive home. It would have sucked to have to call AAA and wait out in the middle of nowhere for a tow to next to nowhere and a motel room to get the car fixed. Saw one of the guys from the autox on the road home, turns out he lives relatively close to me, so he stuck with me just to be sure I didn't have troubles. Luckily these tires had about 300 miles and 2 autox runs on them, so I think if I replace the one tire it's not going to be a big deal. Kind of a bummer, but the help from the folks at the race was much appreciated. I owe some people some beers. Autoxers is good peeps.

Thanks! I'll bookmark that and use it for sure if I start building these myself.

That must have looked a lot like my pic from the previous page!

I'll put you on the list. You don't pay until I get the shafts in. I'll PM you the coupon code, and then you purchase them through the site and apply the coupon to get the discounted price. I'm not actively trying to sell those shafts, so I may still have them if you can't find any locally.

You can get in on the group buy. I expect to have shafts very soon, so you're asking at the right time. The CV's are getting hard to come by. I just picked up a set at my local Nissan dismantler. I haven't actually figured out if I'm going to try and get them when I can and then build the CV and sell it all assembled, or just sell the parts and hope the buyers take a set of shafts at the same time. Basically I'm not sure what to charge for my labor for assembling the things and I feel like I should be installing new boots and all that and I don't have sources for all the miscellaneous small parts. I haven't had time to figure all that out, so if you want I'd sell this set for $175. I think that's about the going market price right now. They're in decent condition the boots aren't torn but they do look their age.

I did all my measurements on my own heavily modified Z, but from what I measured, I don't see how you can put 300ZXT shafts in an S30 without binding unless you have longer than stock control arms. You'll want the 280Z stub axle anyway, because it is stronger than the 240 unit and you'll need it at your power level.

My business has a solution too, it uses 84-89 300ZX Turbo CVs. You need the CV adapter, shorter CV shafts, 280Z stub axles, and the 300ZX CVs. If you're starting with a 280Z, you'd probably spend about $150 on the CVs, and about $900 for my parts. You might want to upgrade to chromoly stub axles too. I don't sell those, but Chequered Flag Joe does and they're compatible with my parts. Link to installation: http://forums.hybrid...-differentials/