heavy85

ding ding ding - we have a winner. I used the stock Camaro driveshaft and had it shortened to fit. Since the motor is stock LS1 and the car is light (gutted 240Z) and I dont do high rev dragstrip style launches it should have lasted. I finally got a passenger seat installed since my dad and brother visited this weekend. Plan was to let my brother co-drove an autox with me. So took it out to give my brother a spin Saturday afternoon. Got about a block away and punched it. It went wahhhhhhhh tink plunk plunk plunk plunk. Luckily we were only a block away and were going uphill so were able to push it back home. My brother got a one block ride and my dad got nothing. We tried to find a local shop open but no luck. Hoped it was just a half shaft since I have spares but no dice it was the main driveshaft. Broke right next to the half ass weld. As you can see the weld is a MASSIVE tig weld and I think they put in way too much heat. Either way it should not have broken there if built properly and I dont think should have broken at all in this application. So now I'm shopping for a new driveshaft. Needless to say I will not be going back there! The exhaust is tucked up pretty tight in there so it kept the driveshaft from going nuts. Only signs of damage I can find is a small mark on the exhaust tubes. The tunnel, e-brake brakets, etc are all perfect and you cant even see bare metal in there. I'm lucky it happened so close to home since I dont own a truck or trailer. Last time I drove it was to the dragstrip about 2 hours away. I only ran three runs because I got a good ET and thought I would take it easy on her. I'm really glad I didn't run anymore as I'm pretty sure it would have broken at the strip 2 hours away. Cameron EDIT - it really sucks you cant rely on other people. This is literally the only part I farmed out and see where that got me. I wonder how those who dont work on their own cars get by. No I'm not bitter at all!!!

Mine is mounted where the factory battery used to mount. I've run it over this year in a variety of racing and always drive to the track on hots days, in the rain, etc with no problems. Cameron

Hint - it's the ONLY thing I had to farm out Cameron

Can you mock up a LCA out of rebar and eye bolts or threaded rod or wood or something just to get the length you need to prevent CV bind while getting desirable camber? May take a little effort but could save a lot of effort in the end. Cameron

What John said but not sure why the fabbed rear control arms? I have plenty of adjust ability with just offset bushings. Cameron

I have a very similar but not nearly as intricate a design with my LS motor. However at your rear 90 degree turnouts mine keeps going to the side to 14x4" straight through Magnaflows that dump in front of the rear tires. I was worried it would be too loud but it is about perfect and I get many many compliments on the quality of the sound. I think with the full mufflers yours should be relatively quiet. From reading stuff and now my experience I really think the X helps level it out to get rid of the crappy 4X4 cherry bomb noise. Cameron

I have to wonder if the difficulty in getting the air out the first time is related to the speed bleeders. With them you have to build up some pressure to let the fluid/air out. I wonder if this causes the air to want to stay trapped somewhere in the caliper rather than just flowing out like would happen with a std bleeder? Cameron

Had a Craftsman steel jack that only lasted a year or two - real POS. Have had a HF aluminum jack for several years and still works good and it is used weekly at least. Even with the low height it's still too tall to jack the front end from under the crossmember ... have to park on a piece of plywood for that with the race tires. Add to the list ... need jacking pads on the rockers ... Cameron

Which 'kit' did you use? Cameron

240Z, sectioned struts, SA Konis, EMI camber plates, big n little bars, 225/250 springs, 'bump steer' spacers, offset bushings, front LCA pivot moved up 5/8". I know I need a brake upgrade but really debating where to go. I only run 15" rims but for my weight I dont really need anything too huge just dont like the added unsprung weight from the 4x4 conversion. Cameron

Well title says it all. It's my sister in laws Daewoo ... there is a reason they went out of business. I imagine this car will only last another year or two so not expecting significant mileage out of it. The two bent valves cracked the valve guides at the bottom. I'm obviously replacing the valves but how bad would it be to just run with cracked guides? Do I really need to replace them? Thanks Cameron

Yes stock cam. I'm stoked with the trap speed. 8.301 1/8 @ 91 MPH Cameron

Stock '02 LS1/T56, 3.7 LSD, dual 2.5" exhaust, K&N, otherwise completely stock drivetrain. Launch at idle. Gutted 240Z w/crappy old 225/60R15 tires. AutoX alignment with lots of camber and toe. 2.1 60' 12.553 1/4 118 MPH Best thing is with that trap speed high 11's are not out of the question if I could find traction. Cameron

Congrats on the win! It was a really good club to run with and your car looked real good and is obviously well built. I'll definitely be back but need to work on the brakes before I run too many more track events as I was having to brake real early to avoid going off. Despite this I'm stoked with my times. Cameron

... and just ran a 12.553 @ 118 MPH at Gateway tonight - about a 2 hour drive each way

Friday at about 3:00 PM I leave from work with the Z loaded down for a 3.5 hour trip north to Blackhawk Farms Racetrack in far north Illinois. Trip went on without much drama. Realized the Kirkey seat needs a lot more cushion for the tail bone to be happy for that long. Anyway set-up camp for the night. Free camping at the track and they have a nice new shower facility. Met a guy who was racing Sunday in his vintage Datsun roadster. He was camping with his family in their toy hauler across from me. We walked the track and he showed my the line. I spent a LOT of time on youtube last week watching videos of the track so I was familiar but it's always good to see first hand. Forecast was ~80 with very slight (<30%) chance of scattered afternoon rain. Woke up a 5 AM to the sound of rain hitting the tent ... it rained until a little after 8. Drivers meeting at a little after 8:00 then practice started. This was a high speed autocross with 2-3 4 lap practice sessions followed by 4-6 timed laps. Fast cars first down to newbies last so by the time I ran it was mostly dry. First practice was noob conga line style follow the leader. Second practice I was about fourth back. I immediately caught the car next car who pointed me by on the straight (only allowed passing area). Immediately caught the next car ... anyway three laps of this and I finally had some room ahead so I really honked it down the front straight. Estimated in the 120 MPH range mid 5th gear. Come up to turn one and she just wasn't slowin down. Looked straight ahead and there's just a lot of green so I decide to pitch it in for the turn and hope I can at least scrub enough speed sliding sideways that I survive the inevitable off. Made it about 1/3 the way into the turn before the back end came all the way around. Did a nice 360 ending up in the grass. In the end no harm done. Last practice I was behind a very slow spec Miata who wasn't paying attention and wouldn't point me by so no fast laps there. We ended up getting 6 timed laps. One more slight off in turn 7 (last turn before the front straight). Turn 7 is preceded by top of 4th gear (~115 MPH) straight then slight kink then on the binders hard. The kink makes it tricky because it unsettles you just before you brake hard. Again she wasn't slowin like I needed her to. This time I just ran wide a track out into the rocks but stayed straight. Otherwise no drama. Ran a best 1 min 23.3 sec best lap which calculates to 84 MPH average lap speed. I was in "A Race" class which is basically the fasted of the fast full slick >2.8L class. I ran 6th out of 9 with first place down in the 1 min 19 sec range. Total of 109 cars at the event then there was a wheel to wheel race Sunday but I didn't stay for that. I was extremely happy with my time and to be that close to the fast guys. Packed up and drove home getting here about 10 PM. It was a great time. Very laid back but at the same time very organized. Will definitely run there again. This is an old 1.95 mile 1960's track in the middle of a swamp with very little run-off room but it's been maintained very well with new surface, facilities, etc. It is very intimidating to say the least. With such little track time I was really pussy footing around a couple of the scarier turns and couldn't quite ever find the turn-in point on turn 3. This is good because it tells me the car is capable of going a few seconds faster ... into the trophies ... with a little more seat time. Now I just need some brakes to keep up with the power. I still have stock brakes with Hawk pads and good shoes but they just dont grab like I need them too. I dont think I boiled the fluid as the pedal never got soft they just dont seem to clamp hard enough to slow the car down. Regardless great fun and highly recommended. Cameron

Quick update so others who've swapped dont get discouraged. I actually now have MORE rear grip than front on corner exit. When I first started after the swap the rear was always stepping out as mentioned above. It got a lot better after the few tweaks. However, since it's gotten hot and the slicks get much stickier combined with now softer tires in the rear (35 compound front, 25 rear) when I hit the throttle at corner exit the front end tends to wash out instead of the back snapping around. Hope to help fix this with the 25 compound radials all around. They should be going on this week in preparation for a high speed autocross this weekend. Cameron

I can say for a fact I improved the chassis overall torsional stiffness by the fact that it no longer sets on four jackstands. My garage is not perfectly level and it used to just sag and set on four stands anyway. Now it does not and ends up just sitting on three stands. Since we're talking springrates here's another one. For a relatively high hp/torque car (LS1) would ... again in general terms ... you want a softer or stiffer rear than a lower powered car and why? Thanks Cameron

Thanks for the input - that's good news since I still drive to and from on the street. What about tire pressures - I run 16-18 lb with the bias plies (9.5x15 all around)? I'm actually running a high speed autox this weekend which is basically a timed lap on a full track (Blackhawk Farms). Does this camber work for a full track as well as autocross? Cameron

From a very high level I need to get my head straight. I realize there are many variables to consider but would like to focus on one for now ... assuming everything else equal and that's spring rates. Some may remember from other threads that I did quite a bit of work to the chassis to stiffen up the front end while relatively little to the rear. So I would say the chassis is now relatively stiffer front to rear than it used to be. From a high level would I want stiffer springs in front to take advantage of the stiffer chassis or less stiff springs since the realized springrate is now higher relative to the rear and why? This is not a riddle I'm really trying to gain some understanding. Thanks Cameron

I'm about to make the transition from bias ply to radials and am looking for camber recommendations. I currently run 2.75 deg front and 1.5 deg rear with good results but understand the radials like more camber. They seem really soft (25 compound) so would like to get close before I burn them up. Thanks Cameron

I noticed something interesting on the way to an autox this past Saturday. There was a very light mist and I only have RainX - no wipers. I watched the pattern how the tiny (and I mean tiny) drops that formed traveled across the windshield. In the middle the air goes straight up but from there out it's sort of a sunburst pattern where the air goes from straight up in the center to horizontal towards the sides. Since the windshield bubbles out in the middle I guess this shouldn't be surprising but I thought was interesting. So do you want the air to go around the windshield or over it? I assume this depends somewhat on if you are looking for downforce (more flow over the rear wing) or more streamlined. Any thoughts? Cameron

Wheel weights. Better traction that way. Cameron

'02 LS1 in light mostly stripped '72 240Z will light-up second gear at will. I use 6th anytime on the highway. 6 speed is not excessive but then again my DD also has a 6 speed. Main difference between L and LS is the huge grin on your face when you hit the loud pedal. Exhaust smell is identical either way (I recommend cats which I will be adding this winter). Autocross takes finesse even with full slicks. I launch basically at idle and manage wheel spin through first. Started with 3.9 from the L days but that's just silly. I'm running 3.7 now but should probably put in the 3.5. It's really no louder than the L was but that's probably because I have zero insulation or even carpet. No drone or annoying noises. Cameron