DrSideways

Also check Cornwell. Many of their tools are made in the US. Check out their site and see what you think. I also go along with JohnC. No debt for school tools. You can make it on Craftsman. It won't be in your hand all day as you will be in class too. As Tony mentioned... pawn shops. Great for deals. You must stay abreast of what stuff costs from the trucks so you know a deal when you see it. These days pawn shops are bound to have good stock. Alan

Cool. Very cool. Can't wait to hear a sound clip. Alan

Make sure the metal backing plate of the pad is not binding in the caliper. You can use the bench grinder to take a bit of metal off of the backer plate on the fore and aft edges. I have seen the pads bind here and while you are exerting good pedal pressure the pad may not be squeezing the rotor. Another thing you can do before putting the pads back in. Take a sheet of 100 grit sand paper and put it on a smooth flat surface. Then put the pad side down on the paper. Move the pad in a figure 8 pattern. You will take the glaze off evenly. Put the pads back in. Flush with new fluid if you haven't. Bleed all four corners. Then bed the pads again. There may be bedding instructions in the box they came in, or the Porterfield website. Hope this helps. Alan

Race tires are like bread. There is fresh bread, not so fresh,stale, then moldy. I like fresh race tires and fresh bread:) Alan

Check Crower for a spring set that meets your spec. You are in the right ballpark for rates. Just like suspension....you want to use the lowest rate possible to do the job. Less wear, less heat, easier on the valve seats. It is stuff like this that where a Spintron would be helpful. Alan

The foam filters will harden on the inside from heat and fumes. It can significantly block flow over time. The signs will be a richer and richer condition. If you must spend the money on the ITG unit then check the back side when doing maintenance. The K&N units I referenced have the velocity radius made into them. When you mount them on a modified Mikuni stack it works well. Over the years I have spent a fair amount of $$ on just air filter set ups. These K&N units are the best street/track combo I have seen with out going to a full air box with remote filter. Alan

You might try these: http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=RD-0450 They have an internal radius that replaces the radius of a velocity stack. Look for some damaged stacks or some that someone replaced using a full radius horn from TWM. Cut the bell off of the velocity sack and clamp this on. Make sure and measure the O.D. of the cut stack to order the correct K&N part. Alan

Glad you can make the trailer work. Still need a real truck. http://www.race-cars.com/trasales/ford/1296534579/1296534579ss.htm Alan

In racing it isn't the cars that kill the wallet. It is the trucks and trailers. Look around for a used 2001 or back Power Stroke F250. You need a CAR trailer. A boat trailer isn't even good enough for lawn mowers. Why risk all of your hard work and money with the wrong tools for the towing job. Everyone who has towed a trailer more than 200 miles has a trailer story. Even the ones who buy the right equipment. Do yourself and everyone who has to share the road with you a favor..... save up... buy the right thing.... be careful. One more thing..... you ALWAYS have more crap that weighs more than you think going to the track. Alan

I've been wrong on worse. I wish you had the the $$ too. Alan

That would be a Toyota 2-TC. These were used in early 1970's Corollas. What did I win?? Alan

Totally sealing is a tough deal. I used some white aluminum to replaced the whole rear deck. It bolts to the cell frame using all of those 1/4" bolts. Along the edges I used Dzus fasteners..... not too many though. On the edge of the aluminum I used the push on channel molding like used to be used on door jamb frames. Having the exhaust exit past the back of the car a bit seems to help on the CO problem. I've been gassed in Z Cars twice pretty badly. Never had a problem with mine:) Alan

Winner, winner.... chicken dinner? Alan

This is one of those tasks that too often get out of control. The cell needs a cover. No problem. You need a way to get to the filler. I made a 4.5" tall riser out of the same aluminum I used for the cover. The riser is shaped like the oval found on top of the cell. I cut the oval out of the flat cover that goes from side to side from the strut towers back. I left two tabs to attach the riser. On top of the riser I put a lid with one simple hinge and a wing nut Dzus fastener to keep it closed. I have seen what looked like enough metal to build the side a of a Greyhound bus covering fuel cells. Just seems to be adding weight for zero gain. If needed I can snap a photo later. Alan

Hope it goes well. Alan

Yep. That is the spot. In the upper photo you can see where the grease has been pushed up the tube due to the shaft/tube/control arm moving fore/aft. Since this is a known knock causing source I would make a repair or re-engineer the part. Then move on to the next item. Getting a tap is easy. If you do go that route you would be advised to tap it in a lathe. The tube also looks to be a bit too long. You will also need to weld the large flat washers on the tube so you have something to tighten against. Look at this end of the stock unit. Duplicate and install. Dave makes some cool and appreciated contributions to the Z Car community. Sometimes the designs need some help to function well in real world applications. You know why they call them Sports Cars? Because stuff like this will make a "Sport" out of you. Take it in stride and work along to the next thing. While I'm on the wisdom horse...... Motorsports is a study in desire and problem solving. It will test your desire to solve problems. If you don't desire to solve problems, then motorsports may not be for you..... Alan

I noticed you have the new AZ control arms. In the photo of the control arm mounting tube there is a bushing, but the stock bolt is missing. It looks like there are not any threads inside the tube. You can check this on the lift with a hefty pry bar. You will be trying to move the inner control arm mounting tube fore and aft. This would be part of the original control arm when stock. If this moves fore or aft you will need to do some engineering to get it acceptable. Back in the day when the offset bushings were the hot tip we ran across a clunk as you described. The bushing was sliding fore and aft while driving. In the photo of yours you can see where the grease from the bushing has left a witness mark on the tube. Stop this for/aft movement and see what you get. You can tap the tubes for the stock bolts. You may end up making another set of bushings with a shoulder on it to get where you want to go. An Energy Suspension rear kit may have what you need:) You can use some VW or Porsche fan shims to make sure and load the tube instead of just tightening the bolt into the hole. Nice car. Good luck, Alan

Want.

One thing to think about is an isolation system for the dash. I used the #3049 for mine and some stainless allen head button head screws to attach. http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp?GroupID=HARDVIBRATE As for switch placement could you mount it with some duct tape and sit in the car to see what feels good? Sitting on a case of beer would do good:) Keep making progress!! Alan

A racing harness for the street is not the hot tip. Just watch what you are doing while driving as others have said. You might try and enroll in a teen driving clinic too. The loose nut behind the wheel affects car performance more than almost anything else. Alan

Google is your friend. http://www.classictube.com/ I think others have used these folks. Alan

Over time I think you will find that the strongest and smartest do much better. The object of the exercise is not to survive. The object is to be better than the other guy. It is to invent something revolutionary...first, or at least put it into action first. Think of Bill Gates. I would suggest that university study most certainly is a "tournament ladder". Why do you think they award a Valedictorian? Competition is what the human race is all about. They don't call it a "race" for nothing. Maybe some universities do want to "weed out" less than spectacular performers. Is that bad? I would submit not. Other schools would like you to "feel" good. I like to "feel" good too. But my $$ doesn't come from "feeling" good. It comes with making the right decisions at the right time. If I make the wrong one and stick with it I pay real $$ immediately. The world did not come from cave men that wanted to bring home less meat and have less women. Nor was ther someone in the forest waiting to make them "feel" good about what they were doing which was killing things. Alan

This sounds mighty familiar to me. I went to NCSU and got herded like that. I felt just like you do. You need a end game goal. Like John said it may pay to speak with some upper class folks to see what the end game looks like. You must also understand that the first two whole years are a weeding out process. Calculus is the engineering school's English 101. All you get are papers with red ink all over them. Weed, weed, weed... Also understand that you are a customer. As such you should study the course of study from first Freshman class to your last Senior class. My daughter graduated UNC-Chapelhill in '09. The first semester during her spare time she studied the university catalog. She planned out the rest of her time there. When she got into a class where the Professor was a **** she dropped it. She would say there was no way some egotistical moron was going to mess up her GPA. She also takes things very seriously. Don't know where she got that from... Before she left for the first semester I told her about the university trap. They want you there for five years. They will "advise" you as you go along and then when you "have to have" that last class that only one professor teaches he/she is on sabbatical. That is where the you are a customer fact comes in. That being said... are you doing your job? Are you treating college like a job? I mean getting there on campus at 8:00am and staying there, doing work until 5:00pm or until it is done. By being done, I don't mean leaving at 2:00pm just because you think you are done. If you can approach this school or your next course of study in this fashion the work will come easier and the grades will be better. Another aspect is that when you leave school you are pretty much done. There are folks who would say you are there for social engagement. That is fine, but you won't get a job by your list of buddies. I can understand the "who you know" program, but when the rubber meets the road your grades, aptitude, and attitude are what win the day. Now I did not stick it out at NCSU in hindsight I wish I had. I did find a school where I could fit and things came easier for me. Even though I did not end up staying in that profession I got a degree with honors. That put the family to rest. I also used the knowledge gained from then on. Remember.... your family won't be living your life for you. You must find your niche and work it. One more thing.... does a 90% failure rate for a particular class...ongoing over time reflect on the students, or the instructors? Fair question indeed. Maybe a five year plan?? Hope that helped. No matter what you decide, get after it and treat school as a job. Do year long studies if you can. I think the French get six weeks off in the summer. Look what that is getting them. Alan

So many of the non-belt wearing crowd have had stuff handed to them their whole lives. Not one single kid in my neighborhood even mows their own grass, much less any others for spending money. They don't need spending money....they have Mommy's card. They don't know how to spell because it may hurt Johny's "feelings" to point out he misspelled something. Then they get to where there are real hard working adults are in the room and their "life training" wheels fall right off. Competition makes anything stronger. Without it things got to pot quickly. If you know more than the next guy it is a good thing. Being better is OK. We don't need Japanese company softball where they won't keep score. Taking away the need to try and gain knowledge on one's own seems to be a downfall of the internet. What would JohnC or TonyD have done if they had wandered into a shop before the internet and stood around all day asking which way to turn a nut to get it loose? Loose nut upside the head, that's what. If someone gets their feelings hurt maybe they should take Mommy's card and get some additional counseling. This whole thing reminds me of the original Z Club mailing list. Some young fellow was asking questions that would lead a normal experienced Z Car mechanic to realize he was fixing to make a mess of things. I pointed out that he would be better served to "call the man". I got reamed for even suggesting such a thing. That was the last of those emails for me. If you want to go swimming and don't know how, you might want to stick to the shallow end where the water is "warm". Alan

Jon, Thanks for the kind comments. I will probably still be around. If it doesn't sell maybe I can find a good street tub to transfer a lot of the parts and systems over to. I probably thought about the cage for the early Z Car since college. (long time ago) When it came down to buying steel I did not have a PC much less a CAD program. I made a 1/16 scale brass model of the floor pans and strut towers. Using 3/16" tubes I made a basic cage you see in the SCCA rule book. Then I soldered in the tubes I knew I wanted like for the front sway bar to ride in and connect to the front of the strut towers. IT grew back from there with the idea of keeping tubes straight and transferring load. Seems to have worked. Have you thought about just going with one of the small all in one boxes? If not for the vintage look of the dial gauges I would have done that. Less weight. The downside in my eyes on that are the electronics. The reason modern cars weigh so damn much are the wires. I wasn't going to get sucked into that. Anyway you could mount a box right on the steering wheel. The gauges will hide small imperfections from your cutting. Take your time and do it early in the day when you are fresh. In house = faster, and cheaper. Then again the box just screws on:) The right thing to do will become apparent as you work along. Alan