clarkspeed

I saw 3 around 5-6 months ago. Haven't been looking much since I ended up buying a partial tube frame tub as my next project. IT forums, SCCA forums, eBay, and racing junk, are all good sources.

I say be patient and buy a car already set up for what you intend to do. Race cars sell for pennies for what it takes to build one. And less risk of a stalled project. I still see decent IT cars going for 5-8k. Easy place to start.

They will actually wear much more driven on street with agressive street pads. And set em up with no runout. Of course your milage may vary.

It's amazing how much those giant finned rotors disapate heat. Just look at the difference compared to stock. On my previous car well under 200 HP, I never ran ducts on open track days. Or changed pads or rotors for that matter for a few years. They are really overkill for most apps.

Why would you cut corners on a piece of safety equipment? Is it just for looks? Do chicks dig it?

With those huge Arizona brakes, you may not even need ducting unless you are REALLY working it on track. I had to plug my ducts for autox. Depends on the pads you run. Full race pads need a little heat.

Yes

Don't worry about leaks. They don't. Probably more depends on where you mount your valve. The tank will need to "fill" the line from valve to engine once it opens. Else it won't be much help on start up. And that's a long length of 3/4 hose, so more oil in the total system. Mine is mounted in floor just in front of passenger seat with manual valve. In operation it gets hot, so I wrapped with a little header tape. The passenger footwell is another option or under the cowl.

Trackmaster is the best one I have seen. I haven't tried it with the Bluetooth GPS but people claim good results. It's not accurate enough with built in phone GPS (neither is Harry's). I has a ton of functionality, even gives you lap times through an earpiece. Kind of like a Traqmate lite. J There are many apps that will give you speed, direction, etc.

They work fine in stock housings if you solve the gland nut problem. Just don't lower the car too much. I'm using 400# springs on the front with no problems.

I had them at 300/100 for a couple years. A little too stiff but I ran them anyway. I took more weight out of car AND went up in spring rates last year and found they were undrivable. I gave Bilstein all my data including motion ratios, sprung, and unsrrung weight. They feel great now. The valving they came back with almost exactly where I would have guessed and strangly enough, the same as I calculated from some equation I found on internet. I like the Bilsteins, it would be nice if they were adjustable, but they are practically indestructible.

I think I paid $80 for my last Bilstein revalve few months ago. And they will surely handle more than 250# springs.

Yes, I've read it before. And I've been using ospho for many years with good results. But especiallly when applying 2 or more coats, I sometimes end up with a black Goo that it highly acidic lurking in hard to reach corners.

I purchased a Thermal Arc 181i a few weeks ago. So far this has been a really nice machine for a little less cash than miller/lincoln. Like night and day different than the cheap HF stuff. As noted, stay away from the 110v stuff.

I have a question. What do you do to clean away the excess leftover ospho before you primer. I have some large areas to treat and there always seems to be some residue in difficult to reach areas.

I raced my Z for 5 years 3-4 times a year. Never missed a race or practice session. 100% reliable. The last 1-1/2 years I don't think I've finished a full 20 minute race or practice. The only sessions I finished were red flagged. And race weekends and not a small investment. I Fix what breaks and move to the next one. I don't dwell on it I know reliability will come back because I build for it. I appears you did also. Sometimes it takes some time get the bugs out. Everyone I know goes through the cycle.

Sam at LNA has dyno tested many NA L6 race combos. He said windage tray helps HP, crank scrapers do not.

I have an old nissan comp oil pan and 3 qt accusump. No problems.

Brakes are all about heat management. It's the tires that stop you. So if you are really driving hard, you have to get rid of the heat. Cooling ducts, high temp fluid, track pads, cyro rotors, etc all help with a stock setup, pad thickness and rotor thickness are most critical. Larger rotors and calipers make a big difference but may be against rules.

Yes to networking! And let everyone know you are looking. Ahhhh, interviewing. All the standard stuff still applies. Appear clean, tidy, engaging, look into the eyes, confident, alert, sincere. Suit, tie, short hairut, no tatoos, are not as important as they used to be (depending on company) but you better look sharp. Give honest answers to best of your ability, never lie about your skills. A better answer is "I'm familiar with it from XX and believe I can learn that skill quickly". Be Professional : I once had a guy tell me he had to end the interview early because his girlfriend was waiting outside in the car. Show some personality, most interviews are for "fit" as much as ability. And remember you are interviewing them also. Some thoughtful questions will help you and show you are interested. The best of all if you can sit with another engineer doing the same job but that doen't always happen. You might take any job right now but at least you will know what you are getting into. Canned interview questions will stil come up, "describe a difficult situation at work?", "what is your greatest weakness?" blah blah blah. Get a book on these, study them, and have your answers ready. I still get these questions sometimes when I apply for a job. There is no excuse for tripping up on one of these. Above all, practice, practice, practice until it is one of your strengths. Remember as a young engineer, you are trying to sell yourself as a hard working, dedicated, flexible, and fast learning employee. That's what every manager wants. And the hard truth is, if you become a really really good interviewer, and have a decent degree, and have some experience at a known company, you will always get a job even if you suck as an engineer.

I'll chip in again. Got a BSME 25 years ago. Been in management for 15. BS degree only means you are trained as a problem solver. You can take that in any direction if you are patient. I thought I wanted to be a designer out of school, but I have been a manufacturing, industrial, and quality engineer. Didn't know I liked it until I tried it. I've never designed anything and use no skills I learned in college. It's all about creating opportunity. You have more than a high school grad. A little lab work or inputing data for a company and you are ahead of the guy with none. You will learn things even doing the most mundane tasks. If you are willing to learn and work hard you will succeed and create other opportunities. Either other tasks, responsibilities, promotion, or other job offers. I feel the market and profession of engineering is still strong. Yes it is harder to get started, but there is still demand for young hungry professionals. Too many old guys are retiring.

I agree. Get a job in your field. Will make your next job a step higher. If you want to work on cars, volunteer for an amateur race team (SCCA, circle track, whatever) and spend your nights and weekends learning.

Love the BSR paint. Looks like you even painted the numbers in. I thought about BSR for my next car, but may do an IMSA pace car tribute instead.

Read the strut thread in the FAQ section.

Do your gland nuts fit the 280 housings? Those struts come with nuts for VW threads.