blueovalz

I wonder what a Z front end attached to a ZX body would look like? We could call it a "hybrid Z". LOL (I just kill myself)

Question: I this the stud that holds the rocker arm down? If so, I am concerned about the strength of the coils only with respect to the length of the threads that HeliCoils have. Helicoils to me are as versatile as duct tape, BUT, I know that with only 1/2" of threads that the coil provides (close guess) that I would be concerned that this may pull out if you have any descent spring strength. Have you thought about stacking two together for the full 1" or so of threads. (am I missing the boat here or does anybody else see this). I realize that the coils are actually stronger than the original threads, but I still would not want to depend on 1/2" of threads holding the stud in, even with iron heads. Terry

What's that height again? Is it truely as tall as it is long? Maybe a truck is the only thing this powerplant WILL fit in if this number is correct. Terry

If you are talking about the cast steel (it might even be forged) bottom of the strut as the upright, then yes, I've welded on it very successfully. I must be a good quality of steel because it welds up just like plain old steel plate. I tried this on some American stuff years ago and it did not work (cast iron), but the Datsun bottoms weld very well. Terry

IMHO I would think that structurally, a weld (splice) at the top, anywhere above the spring support would make the most sense. this way the weight of the car is still on the undisturbed portion of the tube, and the weld need only support the tension/compression loading associated with the resistance of the cartridge. I used an "exhaust pipe" pipe cutter to section the strut. I looks like a tubing cutter on steroids with 4 large diameter cutting wheels that can make a 360 degree cut with only about 90 degrees of back and forth movement. Terry

My $.02 worth is to find the aftermarket fiberglass buckets I've seen, then foam and glass the cover onto them. As I mentioned earlier, the "bonded on" glass onto your steel buckets will most likely not be a permanent fix, but glass on glass will last forever. Terry

It's a pipe thread plug. Teflon or some kind of sealant will allow a good seal, plus allow easy removeal later. This way you also don't have to make it too tight to seal it (no cracked case). Mine diff leaks occasionally, but found it to be burping out the top vent tube. Terry

Before you do anything, make sure the groove at the end of the stub is clean and has no old gunk clogging the groove up. It may be that somehow this groove got filled up with gunk and the clip can't get a good grip into that groove (just a last ditch attempt to keep from doing more work) Terry

The snap ring is inside the carrier, not on the axle stub. The issue of axles being on the wrong side should be very obvious when comparing left and right with both axles inserted into the diff. both should stick out the same amount. Terry

I made one out of plain old angle iron. One long piece has two holes drilled in it so that it can be bolted to the hub using two adjacent studs (does not need to be opposite studs). This piece is at least as long from the hub out (up toward the wheel well) as is any tire size you realistically plan to use. In my case mine stuck up 13" from the hub (so the total length was about 20"). Then I took a piece of strap steel (1/8" thick X 1" X 6") and welded a 1/2" steel tube (about 4" long and with one end of it having a small hole drilled and tapped for a set screw) at a right angle to the wide, flat side so that this piece (strap/tube assembly) could then be clamped onto the angle iron, which is already bolted to the hub, in such a way that the tube is now pointing inward into the wheel wheel. Then I just stuck a pencil (a rod, or anything will work here) in the end of it and rotated the entire assembly throughout a 360 degree arc to find the closest part that the adjustable length (pencil) rod would just touch. Once this was found, I cinched the pencil (rod) down with the set screw and measured the length from the face of the angle iron to the end of the pencil. This gave me the total back spacing of the tire. Of course, some very simple math is required to determine where the bulge of the tire will ride in this arc, so you will have to know what size tire you are wanting first. Then clamping (used cheap Home Depot plasic spring loaded clamp) the tube at a distance up the angle iron this calculated distance from the center of the hub will put the tube (or pointer) in correct relation to a point that will show where the tire may rub. This cost me about $2 is scrap metal, and about 1 hour to build, and allowed me to put 245/45zr16 (on 8" wheels) tires under a stock Z body that had been lowered 1.5", allowing 3/8" on both sides of the tire from any metal or springs.

Those days were indeed "something else". I only missed the war by one year (my number was pretty high anyway, and probably would not have been picked on the first round anyway). But it seemed at that time, "we" were born into a new self awareness that "they" didn't have "our" interests in mind after all. Personally, the '68 convention was a wake-up call, and the Kent state killings was when my rose colored glasses of our government was removed forever. But, this is not a political forum, and life is a challenge at the very least (or should be), and becomes only what you make of it.

Yesss, grasshopper, you have learned well. Reminds me of the good old days when my first pieces were being made. Look's great. Who knows, in a couple of years you may be making the whole car too.

I'm curious as to what the torque ratio will be with an off-axis torque applied to the axle. I realize this may be splitting hairs at only .030", but we're at the limits on strength pretty much here anyway I would think for 200mph? Also, please remind me: run-out is off-axis missalignment? What is the term used for a wobble in which the rotating plane is not perpendicular to the axis? Or have I got the two mixed up.

I realize trial and error balancing is a PITA, but an old drive shaft balancing trick I went with one time was to take two hose clamps large enough to fit around the drive shaft, and install them next to each other, onto the drive shaft so that the wormgear parts were on opposite sides of the shaft (they counter balance each other at this point and do not effect the balance). Then through trial and error, I would incrementally move the gear ends around the shaft toward each other and determine if it helped or hurt the situation, then re-adjust again, and again, until the vibration did disappear. In your case, putting the clamps around the CV joint may work. Or you could just take a chance and put longer bolts on the short side of your run-out (i.e bolts with more mass), and even add washers as counter weights to that side on the longer nuts if you need even more mass.

Just to add a bit more confusion to the string (feeling kinda mean today). Parallelism is not the only issue here. the lateral spacing of the pivot points is important too. Even if the rods are perfectly parallel, the swing arcs will be different from the steering rod swing arcs if the rod's pivot point is more inboard or outboard from the CA pivot point. I ran into this with the Ford rack. I was limited as to how close I could get to perfect (no such thing here), but turned out pretty good with a 1.20" spacer between the rod and the steering arm.

What suggestions are there for sources of new '72 tail light lenses? Thanks ahead

I seem to remember wedging a slotted screwdriver tip between the head of the nut and u-joint boss to keep it from spinning while I was backing out the other side. I couldn't get a wrench on either one side or the other, and this at least allowed me to break them and tighten them back up.

accessing memory, oh yeah, with the car jacked up, put one hand on top of the wheel and the other under the wheel, then try to wiggle the wheel by pulling and pushing oppositely with both hands at once (don't grip the wheel side to side as this will allow steering slack to corrupt your test). Anyway, if there is some wobble, then take the bearing dust cap off, remove the cotter pin, and remove the nut retainer. Then see if you can EASILY tighten the nut. If so, the bearing was a little loose. Tighten the nut to the point where the bearings then have no slack (nut movement will recome restricted at this point and can be "felt" if you pay attention. At this point turn the nut another 60 degrees to preload it, and you should be finished. The re-assemble.

How fast do you figure you need to go to ignite the ram jet??

I'm not sure what spacer you make reference to. A wheel spacer may or may not be required dependent upon your choice of caliper (based on 240 hubs). In my usage of the 280ZX calipers, I only needed a slight amount of spacing (between the strut and the caliper) in the neighborhood of .160" to center the caliper over the rotor (No wheel spacer needed). This spacer was used with "pre-owned" rotors (just wanted to see if this idea would work before spending money on new rotors) that may or may not have been symetrically turned. Anyway, I never did buy any new ones, soooo....

how long did it take to run across the roof on one side only?

Getting closer I see. Looks good.

Sorry Ross, I meant to direct this reply to jhaag.

Ross; the reason I put an inline filler was because I (any system) needed a point at which all the air can be prurged out (the highest point in the system). I thought I could get away without it, but the engine did overheat without it. I have read that steam pockets develop when all the air is not purged correctly, and have seen reference to this in various shop manuels for various cars.

Standard rubber hose (or any rubber I believe) will expand and soften under exposure to oils. O-rings are a good example. If you use a standard oil to lubricate them for placement, the oil used will eventually lead to their demise. This is why special lubricants are used with these rubber parts. Also, some fluids are specifically made for rubber contact (brake fluid in particular) and will not cause the rubber to expand and soften. Test the two fluids (oil or WD40 and brake fluid) with rubber pieces in a cup some time at it will become very obvious. Anyway, rubber hoses will soften, and fail at the fitting end of the hoses by softening and then sliding out of the fitting or, if using a hose clamp, will be cut open by the clamp due to the deterioration.