AydinZ71

wow...that is gorgeous. I would totally be bidding if I didn't have my hands already full

Honestly, I though 90% of wheels these days were made in China, from crap to the decent quality. on a similar note, how do you guys think “Rota” wheels stack up?

Passenger firewall complete. Also installed the floor pan subframe so I have something to template against as I add back more steel. The smoke is just weld-through primer offgasing from heat. Wear a respirator! @Invincibleextremes gave me two tips that really helped. Turn up the heat on the welder, and don’t grind the welds down flush. I did see some stress cracks in areas I had welded down completly, and subsequently needed to hammer. Unless it’s in the body panels, I don’t see a need to make a flush, seamless metal surface. The added bead height acts as a thickened edge, and helps add rigidity. Especially since I’m using 20-gauge in most places that only need to resist shear force. IMG_5585.MP4 IMG_5597.MP4

hey I really appreciate that! Thank you 🙏 If my rockers were not gutted, I probably would done the same thing as you. I think I got a little carried away. Lol still, she is moving along

Yes you should first be draining the tank from the drain plug. I doubt there would still be gas in the drain plug. It will have evaporated through the needle by now

drain out as much as you can. If the car was outside, you may have some moisture in your gas tank so you will need to flush out. The fuel has definitely gone bad. Change the fuel filter and run the car after flushing. Hope for the best. You may need to rebuild your carbs anyway so try it without. Diagnose any problems and go from there. Modern fuels have detergents that will flush the system overtime, but it may runny a bit crappy until then. You don’t have much to lose.

Given how much you have already cut and rebuilt, you may notice departing from OEM Will free you up to get creative on the routing. One idea is to make a wire model at 1/12 scale. You think some of your ideas through before you do it full-scale. You just need to be super careful on your measurements between body panels.

I feel your pain! I’m in a similar position. I feel like I’m replacing half the car. Naturally you add reinforcement as you build back the structure, but it’s painstakingly time consuming. the tube frame is not a terrible idea! Il be going that route with my next S30.

@Nelsonian to the rescue! I wasn’t aware he had fenders for 12” wheels I just got an OEM FRP hatch from him. Great quality! @Ironhead yep it’s the street tires what get me suspicious. At some point, the added rolling resistance, weight, and inertia outweigh any incremental increase in traction. The tire compound will have a much greater impact bang-for-the-buck than going from (for example) 10-12” with street tires. unless of course this is just for aesthetics...

thanks! Yeah I’m also looking for a stick-on solution I can add tot he underbody. There is just so much Crap on the market, it’s hard to tell what is quality and will last. No one wants to revisit the underbody more than once without a lift. If you find a source, please let me know!

Wow 12” is wild! I don’t know of any standard body kits that will fit tires that wide. just a thought, you will be getting diminishing returns the wider you go for street tires. As in, 12in will not get you much more traction over 10in. Slicks are another story. is this for a drag racing application? Can’t think of anything else you would want wheels that wide on.

Ah! Wonderful I mistakenly assumed they where custom pistons, hence my questions about your lift profile. Low volume and exchange rates mean Japanese A/M pistons here in the US are often more expensive than locally sourced custom forged units. Makes sense that they come standard from Kameari that way. Where did you source them from if you don’t mind me asking? You have a pretty wild profile! Should be loads of fun with 14mm of lift and a -0.4mm deck clearance, those pockets may very well be necessary. What kind of Valve springs did you opt for? If you have not yet looked into beehive springs, I highly recommend them! I just completed my head work, so I enjoy listening to what others are doing on the topic. Thanks for sharing!

Looking good . Any particular reason for the valve reliefs in your pistons? What is your piston deck clearance looking like? Are you running high lift or a wild duration on your cam? What Static CR are you targeting?

Sorry to distract from your main post topic, but what strategies are you employing to manage exhaust heat coming through your console/tunnel? Before I tore down this car, I had terrible issues getting engine/exhaust heat into the cabin. I have looked at so many different materials/strategies but I’m struggling with which one to move forward with. Latest thought is an aluminum heat shield offset from the underbody by 1/4” and urethane spacers. I am running my fuel and brake lines down my tunnel now, and wold hate to forget some bracketing/attachment points before I reapply undercoating.

I purchased them, them sold them before I installed them. They are definitely a low-cost solution. I ended up buying a pair from Ground Control for double the price. The silvermine ones do have a bushing/bearing for the shock attachment, but they do not have a means of keeping your spring concentric with the shock. Maybe they do for the OEM doing hats? I have already sectioned my strut assembly for coilovers. the knowledgeable and incredibly helpful people on this forum @jhm and @JMortensen helped me see those details. The silvermine units may be OK for the street? here is the post:

Looks great! Delrin is pretty hard stuff, but it also surface hardens when friction is applied. We used it as an alternative to brass bushings when temperature was near ambient. If I understand your summary, you essentially raised your control arms in order to add more underbody clearance and lower the car further. How much more lowering capacity do you have on your coilovers? How are you routing your exhaust? Up and over the control arms?

Speaking with Greg Ira a few weeks ago, one of things he would have done differently with the orange car he competes with is more stitch welding and bracing. Not for ridgidity, he said he had plenty of that. Rather, he felt the unibody had been cracking and tearing over time. I must have taken that to heart a little too much 😂 a part of the concern is making sure I don’t have to go back and add metal in the future. Once she is all epoxied up, pencils down!

haha! Thanks Yeah I mean, I kinda do want to stop and start driving, but I’m obsessive and little things here and there keep bugging me. 🤷🏽‍♂️. My neighbor calls me a “perfectionist”, and I think I’m starting to see why... I put a vertical bridge/gusset/rib across from the tower to the roll cage.

Since the previous owner made the mistake of terminating the role cage tot he wheel well (and not the strut tower), I’m working on bridging across. I thought by using the wheel well skin as part of the bridge, I could use less metal overall. I think it needs a verticals flange too, since the tunnel will have tremendous force upwards.

ahh! You know, that does make some sense. I thought it was to keep it from rotating, but clearly it keeps it from moving down its centerline as well. Wait... you don’t have Onstar? How do you live man! I ask them for a drink while I’m in traffic. Amazon delivers with the drone. Now that’s “hybrid”.

agreed. If you keep the diff from going dry, I have not yet experienced ring-pinion combo wear out just from normal use. I have crushed spider gears by getting on/off the gas too harshly with a worn-out diff mount. I ran dry once as a silly kid who forgot to fill the case. Stank to all hell, and got so hot the paint on the diff burned off. It was toast.

With the VQ37, you will be running what? Near 300ft-lbs of torque? You should make getting an LSD a priority. With that much torque you will just be spinning one wheel. Even with an LSD, keeping traction will be a struggle. You can swap the open diff spider gear with an LSD assembly from MFactory, Kaaz, quaif etc. I believe top-of-the-line is adjustable clutch OS Giken, but I think they are near $2,000. if you want to swap it out entirely and go with something bulletproof, look into “invincible extremes”. He sells parts for swapping in a mustang GT diff, axles, and hubs.

speaking of stress on the control arms, my transvers link mount (I think that’s what it’s called?) had a cracks diagonal along the curved surface that is in contact with the bushing. Anyone else experience this? I welded it up and ground it flush. The car already had a racing history before I got it. I also had the control arms sandblasted, stitch welded, primed and coated, but I found a pair of apex ones used for a good deal so now they are paperweights.

Yeah I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the spindle lock pin either. I mean, you have bushings in either side. Why can’t the spindle rotate about its axis? Or not rotate. If the ends have locking nuts, what’s gonna happen 🤷🏽‍♂️ as long as there isn’t play, the control control arm can still rotate bout the spindle, and the thing doesn’t come undone... what can go wrong

My next S30 is going to be an all tube frame chassis. I am lucky in that southern California has plenty of donor vehicles for the skin material. I have done so much rust replacement, chassis reinforcement and reconstruction that I'm stuck wondering "what have I not replaced?" There are some talented shops that can make you the tube frame with some key dimensions from a template S30. I plan to design mine on CAD, and construct it myself. I would still consider myself very much a novice amateur, but I am making mistakes and learning everyday! its fun making stuff from scratch.