RebekahsZ

On the way back from AMP, my freshly LS swapped S10 tow truck started to have lifter tick. I did a vitals check and noted that oil pressure had dropped from 40 to 25 at cruise. Did an oil change to 20W50 in Advance Auto parking lot (which brough oil pressure back up to 40) and limped it on home. Took truck back to the builder who did the engine build and swap. Seems engine shit it's THIRD set of bearings and scored the crank. O-ring on oil pickup was cut but technician isn't sure that he didnt cut it when trying to remove oil pan with motor in truck. So, engine is torn down and block is at machine shop to be magnifluxed looking for a possible cracked block with the crack possibly located at an oil passage (?). If no crack, the o-ring gets the blame. Engine swap from hell. Daily driving the Z, but keys to tool box on trailer (which has my jacks in it) is in the truck, so I'm daily driving on my Hoosier race rubber with racing brake pads! Got the bad news on the truck motor today so he's FedEx-ing my trailer keys to me so I can get off these mega dollar race slicks. Looks like I may be daily-ing the Z for another month. Funny, I have no defined memory of replacing the oil pick up o-ring on the Z's LS when I switched to the F-body pan. I sure hope I did!

I feel that the wider tires with low profile (40-series) plays a role too, but why? Scrub radius, as described before?

I was hoping you guys would weigh in. So it's the camber more than the tires! Cool. Thanks!

WHY does my Z wander around, dart, and follow cracks or grooves in the street? The car drives great on a road course at full-tilt boogie mode. I have 9 inches of low-profile tread on each corner and my suspension components are tight. I have 3-degrees of camber, 5-degrees of caster (thought this would make it run true), and 1/16" toe in. With drag racing front runners, the car drives like it is a slot car, almost with hands off the wheel at over 100mph. With wide road race rubber, it feels like it is balanced precariously with each wheel on train rails, constantly trying to slip off onto the tracks, kinda like riding a unicycle. What is the PHYSICAL/MECHANICAL REASON that wide tires make the car so twitchy running down the road in a straight line, requiring constant steering wheel corrections?

I swallowed a chicken bone once-it looked like that when I saw it next. How did my lucky chicken bone get in your transmission?

Clearly a show car, but it's super cool just the same. I like it!

Have you tried a 1/4" spacer?

I wonder what would happen if you took off the knuckles, put them in a vice, heated them red hot with a torch and bent them in a bit....I know we all fear heat stresses, but that's how a hot rodder in the 50s would likely handle this. You would need to have the requisite remaining adjustment threads available on your inner tie rods to absorb the shortening of the system.. .

Thanks for the pic. So, you have both a lateral and a diameter problem. I THINK you'd be golden with the shortened knuckles....I guess you've tried grabbing the tie rod end and twisting it a few degrees to make the zerk point straight down? When I ran 15s, I ground a little off my tie rod ends to get that last few mm of clearance. I will probably be doing shortened knuckles and electric steering assist in 2015 if I can get all the parts I have horded up installed over the winter.

I recommend that you buy uncoated headers (regardless of which brand you buy), test fit them a million times. Dimple them with a ball-peen hammer as needed for spark plug and steering shaft clearance. Install v-bands on the collector, bend them as needed to clear everything. Completely install you engine and have your exhaust built. Have your O2 sensors welded in with the headers on the car, with an extra bung on each side that is easily accessible for your tuner to put a test lead on while dyno tuning. THEN, take them off and have them coated. You will thank yourself a million times if you really take your time on your exhaust. Coating is wonderful. I have "stainless" headers on my truck (the truck that I paid somebody to swap 1 month ago), and they are already brown and they put off a TON of heat. My little Datsun has 2 years on the ceramic headers and they look new. It is $300 well spent. Be sure to give them a wipe with acetone after you have handled them or the oil from your fingers will leave a tatoo on the ceramic when they heat up.

ThunderZ, can you post a pic of the interference? Cast alloy wheels tend to have more room on the back side than steel wheels. I'd like to see where your problem is. Spacers (even a thin spacer) can help too depending on where the interference is.

Whenever I need a good laugh, I just go to misc tech forum!

The locksmith here can make them all the same. I have not done it but a buddy has.

Some outter tierod ends have the zerk on the side and others have the zerk on the top where the wheel rubs. You can remove the zerk and plug the hole or get tierod ends with the zerk on the side.

Remember, it isn't weight that will tweak it, it is weight plus movement; I can remember, is that momentum? Impact is what kills. The droop limiter can sort of hammer away at the chassis.

Looks GREAT! You better wear socks....

Yes.

Also, keep an eye out is Craig's list in AZ, West TX and the high desert of CA. There is still great sheetmetal in those places. Johnc-that's funny. I always figured it had been rusty and you killed yourself fixing it. Just like Rebekah hasn't driven my car since it stranded her on her 16th birthday. Damn side draft carbs + a January birthday. Only good that came out of that day was a fuel injected V8. Daddy's girl has grown up and moved on to other things.

Yes

Wow! You've got a great body shop, your car looks incredible. If that steering conversion is pretty easy, you could probably make a little money doing them. All of us have ancient linkage and it bothers me a lot to think of a steering shaft failure. I may hit you up for info on that via PM in the future. I see an electric steer assist in my future unless I start lifting weights.

Noisy at track, noisy on the street. If you don't like folks looking at you when you roll up to them at a stop light, you should avoid the ST-43s. So far as street performance-they are great. Remember I've only had them for a week and they got one run to bed them and (6) 20 minute track sessions and then daily driving for three days. So my experience is somewhat brief. They are fine at stopping when cold at traffic speeds, but I wouldn't expect to be able to threshold brake as deep (late) into a turn when they are cold as they did hot. (I ran off the track once because of that). They seemed to get better and better the hotter they got. And the AZC kit really sheds heat well, especially the fronts. Brake ducting just moved way down my to-do list. Now that I have brakes that work, I have to learn to drive. I used to be able to be pretty sloppy with my feet. I used to not notice if I put a little pressure on the brake pedal with my toe when toe-heeling or toe-siding the gas for a blip into a lower gear, but now, I really upset the car. I think im going to limit left foot braking to autocross, too-i got my feet mixed up once and luckily i had entered the corner plenty slow enough that it wasnt a problem, but i sure got my instructor's attention. Entering slow seems to be a pretty good policy for this novice. Expect a new thread to discuss best (I know there's no best) positioning of the seat, steering wheel, and pedals (and maybe heel rests) in the future. My feet were a mess at the track, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that something happens now when I push the middle pedal down.

Daily driving this week with the ST-43s. I get a LOT of attention rolling to a stop at an intersection. It's more of a high whistle than a screeeech. Makes me feel like a tough guy racer dude.

It was a serious question, not in jest. Thought perhaps it had to do with taxation per axle or road use fees per axle. But most of the small innovative lighter trailers seem to come from outside the US. Fuel cost? Limited driveway space in the quaint villages? Maybe all of the above?

Johnc-why did you name your race car the Rusty Old Z?

Beautiful run! I love how the front end stays up thru all the shifts. Gotta love an automatic.