heavy85

This is a generic question as to what are the benefits of one type vs the other not specifically one brand vs another but ultimately I'll need to pick a brand. Looking at a Kirkey aluminum for example and they recommend four mounts at the bottom and two at the back just below the shoulders. This complicates things a bit with my current set-up (no rollbar yet). Other thing I seem to notice is that the aluminum ones are NOT FIA approved for whatever reason. Is this really a big deal I'm not sure. For now it will mostly be autox and HPDE but may eventually want to hillclimb or similar ... eventually. The tubular seats tend to be FIA approved but also are at the bottom of the price spectrum. Price does not really tell me anything in terms of performance though. They seems to be a good bargain but the only one I've ever sat in was a Sparco Sprint I think and it was horribly uncomfortable. Other than price not sure what the benefits or penalties are for the tubular seats other than being FIA approved. Moving up the price spectrum are the composite seats. Not sure if this reflects manufacturing costs or do you really get a 'better' seat for the more money you pay. Obviously the $2k seats are 'better' but I'm not talking about those. I live in BFE relative to any speed shops for trying out seats so I'm forced to buy from other's experience. I dont care about looks or if it rubs the door panels or any of that crap. All I'm looking for is good support, safety, and reasonable comfort on potential ~2 hours drives to the track but mostly limited to ~1 hour at a time. I would like to stay under $500 if possible but may be willing to up that some if I can see some real value in spending more. So after all that babble I would like to ask those with direct personal experience with racing seats used for racing if you could help shed some light on the various pros and cons of the different types of seats. Thanks Cameron

But wires for what - obviously the LS1 wires dont work? Several of my wires are touching hard against the tubes .. and beyond the metal sleeve. In other words I'm header to rubber with very hard rubs. Those socks are expensive and IMO just a bandaide that will wearout. I need 45 degree plugwires instead of straight fbody ones to fix the problem. I know they make them just can't figure out which ones to get like what part number or what car they come from. Like I said above JTR stated Mustang ones work but they dont. With so many people running the JTR / LS1 headers I cant believe nobody has found the right plugwires to use? rwwisnesky - are your Trans-Am boots straight or angled? My '02 Z28 wires are straight and hit the JTR headers very hard. Thanks Cameron

I must be ignorant as I can find though searching what plugwires fit with the JTR headers on the LS1. All I could find is a comment that 90's Mustang plugwires have 45 end on it. Well I bought a set thinking I could shorten them but the coil end had a tiny boot that does not fit the coil. Several of the fbody straight plugwires touch the header and are going to melt fast. So what are you guys using for plugwires that fit the JTR header? Thanks Cameron

wait4meperformance.com - for $75 tune instead of the usual $300. If you have it you can use the fbody throttle cable but only if you have a welder which sounds like you dont. Fuel injection hose if very expensive and adds up quickly. Fluids as they add up as well if you use good stuff (antifreeze, oil, tranny fluid, brake fluid, etc) if you're trying to account for every $. Battery and alternator cables. Add at least another $1-200 in crap like bolts, hose clamps, zip ties, etc, etc, etc. Air filter. Cameron

That's where they were in the factory manifolds so I just duplicated that .. OK well actually one side was IN the manifold itself. Cameron

Before I had an air compressor I used my little 5 gallon (or something like that) air tank that I use at the racetrack to fill tires. Just go to a gas station to fill it up. Granted it does not last forever before refill but at least you could hit the crevices with it. Cameron

Like John says ... if you mean competitive them count me out but otherwise here's where I've been 1) a)FSAE b)autox FSP '84 GTI c) Briggs road race go-kart d) FP now EM 240Z autox but this year will add a track day and a trip down the strip if all goes well 2) a)go to a good engineering school b)new college grad with no $ and a decent autox daily driver & a need for speed c)a few promotions later and some disposable $$ wanted some wheel to wheel action d)got tire of karting and bought the Z 3) a)sponsors pay everything - pretty sweet deal b-d) zero zilch nada 4) a)only one that counts plus a boatload of middle of the night practice (only time lots were clear) 6-8 a year c) 10 a year d) 10 a year but missed last year 'cause of the LS swap 5) a)remember the sponsors - very little out of pocket b)pieced out of a $700 and a $400 both not running cars including race tires c) $4-5k a year and still was not even close to being competitive which is mostly why I quit d) Not sure but too much but that's mostly in upgrades like the LS, koni's, etc. Used slicks at $75 per go a long way to saving $$ & I dont travel far (<1.5 hours), and I drive it there so no tow rig. PB&J & granola bars for me. 6) a)car in the back of someone's truck & fuel b)race tires, jack, misc tools, food & water, sunscreen, hat, etc c) see without jack but add in spare parts, gears, oil, & the best karting 'tool' I ever bought other than the 9.6V Makita cordless impact - an EZup d)same as b Cameron

Is that MIG or TIG? Thanks Cameron

It's tightsky but fits Cameron

Those stretched out tires remind me of my old go-kart racing days. Cameron

If you want to save some $$$ then you can take the fuel fittings off a junkyard GM whatever and reused them by carefully (the fittings are plastic) removing the factory hard plastic line and using some fuel injection hose. Or just swap to an entire fbody tank like I did so the regulator, pump, etc is all already there. Again would save some $$$ but eliminates the spare tire well if you care. Cameron

I like this one. Full racing suit with gloves and all but no helmet and limited other safety gear (like a harness). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juA5x4RNiWY&feature=related Cameron

These pumps have very poor efficiency. It's not like there is a seal or something so the water would just flow through the mechanical pump. Maybe not as well as with the pump spinning but at least quite a bit would get through. Take a look at an impeller water pump (or turbo) and you will see this pretty easily. Cameron

Remember the thing I kept saying? Flow is a function of pressure in a NON-LINEAR fashion. In the example I gave it was a square function but in reality its probably somewhere between depending on the pump design. Keeping on the square function if you cut the flow in half the flow will go up by 4 times for a given speed. Power = 1/2Pressure*4Flow = 2*The original power. So by lowering the pressure you are disproportionately increasing the flow and therefore increasing the power. The electric pump is then running at a HIGHER load (power). The point is you can reduce the pressure to save power but ONLY if you resize the pump to operate in that lower pressure range. Using the same pump could hurt you. Cameron

I assume the point here is to reduce parasitic loss by reducing the pump pressure? If so impeller pumps are not fixed displacement and vary nonlinear with output pressure. This means for a given speed the flow varies as a function of pressure ... and in a non-linear fashion (this is important so remember this). Power is flow*pressure. Now remember that non-linear aspect I keep saying? For example if you cut the pressure in half you dont get double flow (constant power) you may get three or four times the flow. So the resulting power will be 1/2pressure*4flow = double the power you started off with. So reducing pressure is not necessarily the answer to saving power with these type of pumps. You really need to properly size the pump to meet the system demands. OK so real world example. Electrical motor driven fuel transfer pumps for relatively large engines (think commercial marine stuff). They have to calculate the pump discharge line losses and to make sure the pressure is HIGH enough to not burn up the electric motor. Kind of not intuitive but that's how it works. Cameron

At least he was wearing a 'seatbelt' .... makes me want to wire two batteries into the kids power wheels. Hmmmm Cameron

You want to know what really sucks ... at least for me ... my driveshaft shipped today & will probably be here tomorrow or Friday at the latest. That's all I need to take the LS powered 240Z on it's maiden voyage this weekend. Well except the fact we are SUPPOSE TO GET 4-8" OF WHITE STUFF LATE THURSDAY! Yes I meant to YELL!! Erg. Cameron

Depending on where the battery is at you cannot make the positive terminal short (no pun intended) and still have access from the outside or near the window (SCCA type rules). Also, the 'problem' would require a double failure on the ground where only a single failure on the positive side would cause major issues. Hence why I say it's more robust. For example if there was an accident and the positive battery cable before the switch got damaged and shorted to ground. This has nothing to do with the quality of installation but has bad side effects if on the positive side. If the same thing happened except the ground shorted to frame then (one failure) then the switch still does not work but you are also not shorting the battery so there is really no issue unless the positive cable simultaneously shorts (two failures). True you cannot 'cut-off' power but at least you can use the ignition switch to turn everything off. Understand the alternator concerns but still overall see the ground and more reliable again taking into account possible failure modes and their effects. Cameron

Our power went out for a few hours this fine evening. 10 degrees (F), ice, heavy sustained winds.

I think your missing the point. Sure you may need to kill the alternator somehow but otherwise the ground is the more robust way to isolate the battery. If you look at all the failure modes where you might need to kill the battery the negative side will take care of many more than the positive side would. All it takes is a short from positive to ground ahead of the switch to make the switch worthless. Those of us who have experienced this on the Z with it's close proximity to the hood will attest to this being a fairly common. Cameron

OK so I was halfway though typing a reply when the power went out. Ice followed by sustained high winds which are still howling in the background. Any ... I used Energy Poly SBC mounts. They seem easier since they have ears that go around the frame mount as oppose to the fbody that require the mounting ears to be on the frame if you know what I mean. I bought generic adapter plates that bolt on with the factory LS four mounting bolts but use one of the front mounts to also attach the SBC mount. The plates have two tapped holes for the other two SBC mounting bolts. The look like a square with a triangle attached to the front. Anyway I used them pretty much as is on the drivers side. If you are using the JTR headers you will quickly figure out the passenger side the the tricky one and the mounts have to be far forward of the stock location. For this side I slid the adapter plate forward so it only used the two front factory LS mounting bolts then welded on ears to the plate to pickup two additional mounting holes near the front of the block similar to the John's mounts. This also require drilling and tapping a couple extra holes in the plates. Here's a front shot: If you look up several posts you can see the headers come with a nifty 2.5" adapter that is mitered at a fairly sharp angle. These were key in getting the 2.5" exhaust through there. This is also pretty good pic that shows the exhaust and mount. Ha Ha - fast progress ... only a year behind schedule. My target was May '07. Looks more like March '08. It's running and only a driveshaft away from being drivable which if all goes well should get it back by end of this week . Cameron

So probably the last installment to this thread. Added a rear strut & harness bar. That rollbar tubing is heavy stuff! It's also a lot easier to weld than the thin sheet metal on the rest of the car. This is all I'm doing to the rear at least for a while until I have a rollbar installed ... some year from now. Obviously I'm anxious to see how all the works out on the track but I'm sure I'll have future posts on that. Cameron