clarkspeed

Gauge panel looks great!

I just googled a Toyota Marai is car? No you will not tow with that. Best to think big picture here. Race school to see if this works for you (using a school car). Then set your goals. If hooked and comitted you will find the best path forward. Could be sell and find something faster? Could be finish for another class? Could be EP for me baby. And could be ronoffs, then pro. Or could be this is so expensive, not worth it. Alternative is start doing open track days with someone. Drive to and from. But that will be such a nice car I suggest the former.

Another cool product I have found is the "Steel it" stainless steel spray paint. I think i will use it on some suspension parts. Kind of a dull silver finish, but durable as hell. A can is Expensive and does not last long but it is a great coating. I bought mine from McMaster Carr.

Dont worry, you are on right track. I'm just trying something different with the paint. Experimental for me where you are doing what I usually do. Think about that paint blowing right back in your face when painting and you get the drift. Runs on the near parts, light fog on the far parts. I use safety glasses that I immediately throw away after. It's tough. But I am finding brush is tough also. It came with the cage when I bought it. 3 horizontal on both sides. But so little left of this car, I look at it more for rigidity than safety. REALLY not much left of the original shell. Maybe 250 lbs?

Of and I use the Novus cleaner and polish on polycarbonate. Expensive but lasts forever. Only problem I ever had was dropping some goop solvent cleaner on it one time when I was cleaning tire marks off the roof. It stained immediate. Yes tire klag gets kicked all the way to the front roof line.

Been there, done that. been doing bodywork for a long time and have lots of equipment. . I am trying something different this time on interior. I saw a lot of cars online with this hammertone paint that look pretty good. So I have it a shot. Pretty durable after a week cure. Goes on over most anything. No brush marks and super easy to repair. Plus I decided to coat the cage a different color. And there is no hell worse than spraying the interior of a race car! But so far I have a mixed review. This stuff lays so smooth and looks incredible on the roll cage tubing. Looks decent on all the square tubing. But it gets pretty damn funky on flat panels. Not sure I like it. May try another coat to see if it evens better. And brush painting is pretty damn difficult also, but at least the paint is only in my hair this time, not my eye lashes. Here are some pics from tonight.

Yea, dumb idea. Just kidding, its been done many times. A drag race friend of mine pushes car out to highway and callsAAA for a tow If something beaks at track. I suggest renting an open trailer from Uhaul when you go. Really not that expensive in the big picture. Me and feiends rent them to transport cars around. You might be able to find someone who will rent out cheaper. Yea, I can do some more stacks. I print in either nylon or carbon nylon so the heat is not a problem. I will get you a price. I'm glad my photo inspired you! Not that hard. You could weld up some sheetmetal if you like. Every scca car has some custom fab thing in there. The box is easy, getting air filtered from a high pressure zone is not so easy.

Some of the final welding of ground lugs, tie down brackets, and some mounts in engine bay.

Oh and the Bob car I have been racing for the last few years is for sale on Facebook.

Finally got the chassis outside for some vitamin D and a good pressure wash. I quickly found out the grey Por15 is NOT the same as black. I used it over a number of parts to protect from rust and pressure wash blew it all off. The black held firm except a few spots where it covered some red rattle can primer. Over grey primer, bare metal, and light to heavy rust the black held fine. I tried plenty of different things during assembly, but I think ospho first to etch bare metal and convert any rust is still best way to start. So now back inside for painting and panel installation. Rolling and off roterssere soon!

That is becoming a seriously nice looking race car! And I have seen quite a few. My suggestions to your questions: 1. No one really runs a speedo (more weight, doesn't make you faster.) Could be a data point to check if you have improved on corner exits, but tach does the same. 2. Dash and gauge design can be whatever. Just sit in the seat and see if you can read it. Tach doesn't have to be in center. 3. I just googled around for local plastic/composite suppliers. No shipping needed. My local guy has 4x8x1/8 in stock and can order anything else. Just get straight polycarbonate, no special coatings needed as long as you take care of it and use proper materials to clean it. Not a bid deal to cut and mount. 4. I could not find anything either. I designed a 3d printed "kit" design if interested. And a SU velocity stack also. Pretty simple, uses 3/4 aluminum angle from HD and aluminum sheet which you probably already have. Attached is a pic. Let me know if interested and I will see if I could put another together and what it would cost. I have a ton of shit like this I intend to sell some day when I get more time.

I have never found a need for the blade style bars. And that is a direct statement to my level of driving and sensitivity. I normally adjust with 1/2 holes until I feel oversteer, then back off one adjustment. And never touch again unless something else changes. There are a lot of suspension details burried in above statement, but it's a pretty good start point. Maybe I am naive, but it doesn't seem you need to be so close on on roll spring rate to justify the added expense of a cockpit adjustable bar.

That is a beautiful install. My experience with bars is I usually use about a 3/4 hole spacing on adjustment. I start with front light setting and try to induce oversteer. Then gradually stiffen front until it disappears. If you can't get oversteer, then reduce bar size. If you run f/r bars you obviously have 2 choices on adjustment. Once I adjust past that oversteer threshold I stop. 3/4" hole spacing on the arms is actually a fairly large change in spring rate. It's a simple math equation to check this. A blade style adjuster gives an infinite adjustment but I have never driven with one and not sure if the cost is justifiable.

He'll yes, looks amazing. They didn't even disturb the anodizing.

Man don't try that. As soon as you start jacking and hear it creaking you will think man this thing can kill me fast if something slips. I get scared pressing bearings sometimes with a sketchy socket jammed in there. You could probably design some tooling to make it safe, but that will also be a hassle. I'm still thinking sledgehammer with it secured to something solid. Unless you can find a way to bend the aluminum, I think you have 3 options and they all involve a steel arm. 1. John's welded up arm with a splined steel stub cut from another arm. It's a real cool idea. Another take on this is the Speedway Motors stubs. They are pretty cheap and you can weld to them. This is what I used in rear of mine. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Complete-Torsion-Bar-4130-Rear-Arm-Kit-1-Inch,2141.html They sell just the stub in a few 48 and 49 spline sizes. The pipes are rather large and a little heavy, but they fit up perfect on rear of mine. The stub is quite heavy also, but that can be fixed. 2. Get a steel arm and apply torch. From what I can gather, most every circle track car does this. 3. You might be able to find a steel and maybe aluminum arm already bent. Google offset sway bar arm and you can find some new options. Sprint car guys call them torsion bars. And I bought the set for my last car off of eBay. They come up often for sale used but it can take some time to find a matching pair the right size.

It looks like it will work so far. Everything is a compromise. The longer the arms are, the more leverage is applied. Which means heavier bar to resist. Spring rates are tricky. That is where I digress from Greg. I think I can engineer this "new" car or any new race car to about 90% of where it needs to be. I am confident on what all the measurements should be. And I know exactly how to test to improve. Greg comes from 20 years of testing every damn combination you can think of on a Z car and has a fixed formula that is 98% there for a S30 chassis. But being perhaps an old but still naive engineer, I am using a somewhat blank sheet of paper., I am taking everything I know, plus improved version of everything I know he runs, plus everything I can improve for control, ergonomics, grip, low Cg, efficient aero, driver comfort, weight savings, and applying to a much looser rule book. Best part of it all, Greg will get to evaluate at some point. And hopefully co-drive somewhere if I get comfortable with reliability. But my car is not a no compromise or all out build. It still has a very strict budget limitation and has hopefully "smarter" solutions rather than money is no object.

Yes I have a rear bar. It is in my thread somewhere. Reasoning is my Z is pretty far from a stock unibody and should be a stiff enough platform. I plan to control roll a little more aggressively with bars than my other builds. Relatively medium to stiff springs with no rear bar and a light front bar is a proven combination on S30 Zs. Science will tell you lifting a front wheel on corner exit is lost traction, but getting power down earlier can compensate for that. When all is balanced, it just works and makes for benign handling at the limit. If you are unsure of spring rates and sway bar rates on your build I may be able to help. Or if Greg gives you something, you can run with that. His recipe based on vast testing experience.

Your solution is valid. You don't need a lot of support around that bearing.. many of the comments above reference putting a standard "clamp" bearing to the stock frame rail, which is a little sketchy, but a reinforcement plate solves that. And the aluminum heating info sounds like what I researched. That is how I ended up thinking about a sledgehammer. If you read the internet, you will find various opinions recommending steel arms due to flexing. That all depends on how stiff/thick your bar is of course. I figured my bar is not 400lb or above so I opted for aluminum and 3/8 rod end arms. I will put a camera in there at some point during testing to watch it. So in the end I think press is the best way to bend them. But my un tried sledgehammer should work also.

My long ass 14" end links came today from Coleman.

That sounds about right since I just bought the same. I got my bar used on Ebay and built my own bearing bearing holders to save a few bucks. But compared to other options it's really not that bad. I just got my end links and will post on my page. Let me know how you bend the arms. I wasn't sure heating the aluminum would be good..I thought about putting mine in my press but that scares the hell out of me. I was just going to brace them and hit with a sledgehammer. But with my new mount it doesn't look like I will need to.

Man you get things done before I can even post examples for you! Greg runs a bearing like you selected on all his cars. Those end links should be fine. With the straight arms you may need to mount a little higher to try and keep them close to parallel. I think Greg runs the 30 degree.

Boxed sheet is probably the way to go.. I went with aluminum arms. I'm not sure that is the best answer, but similar to you, I may come back to that another day. I have with steel stubs with a cr- Molly bent pipe in the rear and that worked pretty well. Another place I may stick a camera when testing just to see what is going on. But not a lot of real estate available if I want to change it up.

My recomendation is a multi piece bar from Speedway Engineering like your picture. Reasonably priced and more importantly, you can swap out bars of you need to. Plus you can find them used on ebay depending in the size. I would not try to lengthen one or bend one myself. On the other hand,, I would not be afraid to weld on some angle iron brackets or similar to the existing OEM style bar you have if that can make up the difference. OR an offset bracket attached to the control arm.. I have some examples if I can dig up the pictures. And yes, adjusters and rod ends for the links.

Yes, yes, and yes. I have a big surprise reveal for my struts. But you will need to wait for that.