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An update for everyone and sorry for letting this fall by the wayside. I exchanged some emails with Tony at the end of May and he told me some horror stories about workers getting injured (outside of work) etc, said the broach blanks were semi finished, and had to go to heat treating after that but did not give any ETA. I emailed him again late last week and have not heard back, which is unusual. I'll keep bugging him for an update. Unless there was a very large setback, I would expect them to be ready very soon.

Hey guys, I finally had a chance to fab up the oil cooler vane that I spoke of earlier. I think it will work well.

Hey Paul, All the compliments, thanks again! The boxed radiator and "sans braces" fenders are it for the aero mods, honest. I've been running the car "boxed" since day one, but this is the 2nd version; a bit more refined as I'm getting more anal as the years progress. The N42 head is actually Rusch version Mrk1, but no matter, still the fastest Z of the bunch. Due to many reasons I haven't had a chance to run the welded head yet, probably towards the end of this year, possibly at Road America.

I could move the cooler back I suppose, and I've thought of Cary's solution too, but the additional duct I had in mind will probably only take me about an hour to fabricate. I'm going to stubbornly stick with that; plus it will look cooler too (no pun intended) As for the grill size, yes, I find it a bit humorous, I've seeled off about 50% the area and it's still too big! The entire project was really an exercise of engineering vs aesthetics; it flowed with the lines of the car better this way. I have not taped anything off yet except for the brake ducts. After seeing the SDI car I had thoughts of doing something like that, I may be able to get away with it in vintage, but would rather not try. In W2W GT2, any additional fender vents are strictly prohibited. I've already removed the inner fender brace as an attempt to help aleviate air pressures already there and am afraid any inner fender holes will only compound the problem. I've always wanted to louver the top of some steel fenders in the same spot as big boys do. It would look really good and be functional too, but again, not legal

jt1 thanks for the compliment. TeamNissan, per my original post: Even though oil temps have never been an issue either, after reading what bjhines posted, I do plan on adding an additional duct within the air box for the cooler NuttyforNissan, that question baffles me a bit. First off,where is the air going to go if the underside of the motor is sealed off? As already stated, a cowl hood taps into the pressure in front of the windsheild, air does not flow out. The only alternative I can see is a top vented duct such as BlueOvalZs which is not permissable with the rules, this is already a stretch.

Hey guys, thought I’d finally chime in, better late than never right? Anyways, outstanding effort! In regards too all of the discussion on the test results thread about a full radiator air box, I agree with Jon and would really like to see a test done with it. I see Bob Smith’s point of view, but IMO because of the radiator’s massive air resistance, a full box best prevents unwanted air from passing through other holes, or beneath the hood, and through the underside the car; on side note also aids cooling. As with Jon said, the sharp drop in drag as soon as the bottom of the air dam was sealed off is testimony. I also feel the air dam tested probably isn’t as “clean†as the older version MSA sold, which jmark mentioned in the other thread as well, and would have much preferred the headlight covers tested after a more desirable airdam/grill was installed. Here are some pics of my setup. I don’t feel it’s very elaborate, though a bit time consuming to fabricate. The temp has never risen above 180 under road racing conditions. Even though oil temps have never been an issue either, after reading what bjhines posted, I do plan on adding an additional duct within the air box for the cooler

The tubing portion of the rack is not thick at all, more or less sheet steel, probably around 18 gauge. IMHO you'll either have to lower the rack or run the engine/trans at a less desirable angle.

Good news guys. I just heard back from Tony at Woodward, he said these WILL be produced, and should be ready in about 3-4 weeks. He also said the first one was mine He's currently waiting for the broach to be returned from hardening. EDIT: I also forgot to add, I'm fairly sure they will be available in both a weldable 9/16 dia, and splined for use with their stock car style racks.

I had a single early and late S30 example, which share the same spline dimensions. If anyone can tell me model/what years also have the same?

Just an update, I've sent the only two examples I have to Woodward, many thanks to lbhsbZ for stepping up. Tony at Woodward said it will be about 4 to 6 weeks until they're produced.

It seems like the majority of the time I post something here it gets repeated later in the thread. How many people actually read all the posts?

My zero offset, 4 lug, 15x7 Panasports clear Dave's kit. The front calipers are placed inboard further than the rears and have plenty of room. The rear calipers need to be "clearanced"; the top outer corner needs to be ground down, but nothing real bad.

I stubled across another GT2 roller goldmine; has quite a collection of parts on his other auctions too: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-260Z-Datsun-Z-SCCA-race-car-widebody-roller-low-reserve_W0QQitemZ230106565536QQcategoryZ6187QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Flaming River sells a 26 spline joint. Nobody to the best of my knowledge sells a 28 spline. I'm still trying to aquire more rack examples to send in. If anyone can be of assistance, please PM me.

Heh, I don't beleive I've ever posted this many times to my own thread..that's a no-no right? Anyways, good news, he has agreed to produce the joint, both with a .560 weldable end, and his .750-20 spline end. I think he was under the initial impression this request was for race cars only, but I told him the majority would be for street. So the hunt is back on for anyone willing to send me a "sample" from a scrap rack.

He treated manual steering much differently than power steering as the forces exerted are greater. With that said, it appears he may still go ahead with it, again, I'll update you asap.

Agreed, I'll keep plugging away, I'd like to see if he would still be willing to make the joint with his typical .750-20 spline end and let us worry about mating the adapter.

Per my IM, I'm terribly sorry, but please hold off on shipping; it looks like we may have hit a roadblock. I think Mr. Woodward got a little intimidated once I told him the Z only has a .560" solid steering shaft from the column. He has liability concerns and is opposed to any type of welding a joint with that diameter. He suggested going with something larger also replaceing the upper joint, but I told him the column shaft is also at the same diameter and at some point welding would be necessary. He went on to suggest retrofitting the steering column with a larger diameter shaft as well, but I told him that would be out of the question. I'm hoping he'll produce the joint along with a disclaimer, but don't hold your breath. l'll keep you posted otherwise. Phil

Hey guys, here to provide an update, it looks like this WILL happen, just a matter of time. I've been in touch with Mr. Woodward himself, and he's inquiring about how we would like to mate the steering shaft to the joint. He suggested welding an adapter, as shown in the link, page 100: http://www.woodwardsteering.com/Cat05/Cat05%20PDF%20100-105.pdf Personally I'd feel much more comfortable with this method rather than welding the shaft directly to the joint, which is always a bit risky, but wanted to get some feedback. The adapter could be butt welded and then a sleeve also welded over it... lbhsbZ has volunteered to send me a sample, but I need MORE! If anyone has a scrap rack lying around all you need to do it cut it off, no need to disassemble. I would like to act as the liason and collect as many as possible before sending them out. PM me for my address, don't worry, I won't flake out on this. As for the upper joint, I've thought about this, it will be a little trickier, but I feel the same joint can be used there as well. I beleive the rack-to-column shaft also has the same splines as the rack itself, although it may have to be lengthened a bit. The column shaft slides right out of the column, the same adapter can be used there too. We can totally do without that spacer/adapter then as well. Phil

Sorry for the tardiness, I've been trying to get MSA to bite on this with no luck. Would you mind sending it to me? I would like to gather as many as possible and ship them together. I managed to dig up a 280 rack, it's a bit rusted, but perhaps will do. I'll PM you with address. Phil

I emailed Woodward's tech department about producing a steering joint for mating the Nissan rack. I told them it's a 28 spline at about .620" diameter. Their response was quite promising: Sure, we can make pretty much anything with a splined hole. We just need a good representative sample (or better yet, several) of the male spline. The original factory spline data is helpful but not always absolutely necessary, especially if we can establish the known variation by examining parts from different production years. I unfortunately do not have a decent example to send them, could anybody "take the ball" and send them a worm gear from a worn rack, possibly a few different people? Another possibility would be me collecting and sending them all at once. Does anybody have a good idea what models came with the same spline dimensions?

Actually I just bought Dave's last set a week ago. He said he would probably produce the next set for use with the standard L28 length rods, as the 133mm ones are becoming rare.

Ok, exponentially wasn't the right word, but it certainly is multiplied. That link only reinforces my statement. Technically one would want the attachment point as high as the pedal throw will allow, and this will also decrease the amount of pressure needed.

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, I have to disagree. By lowering the master attachment point, the amount leverage is being decreased exponentially. Was the other car you drove a Z, with the same size masters, etc?