bjhines

The problems with fitting you in the car are not related to the simple rollover hoop. The changes the "engineer" made to standard hoop design do not affect the way YOU fit into the car. I think you found a shop that simply does not know what they are doing. I think the guy looked at some poor quality pictures and let his imagination run away with him. What he has told you about fitment is just to cover his own misguided attempts at cage design... The issues you will have are related to headroom(in front of the roll-bar). The S30 has a short roof and tall seat mounts. You would fit much better into a more modern design like the BMW E30 or later models. The BMW seats bolt directly to the floor and the roof is taller.

You are too tall for the little Japanese car. You don't need any kind of bracing to run a car with a roof in a normal HPDE event. You can even use the 35 year old lap belts at your own risk. You will have to use SFI rated high density foam padding because you added risk of head injury. Time Trials and other forms of competition require a main hoop with rear braces and a main diagonal brace. You need straight leg rear braces to run in THSCC time trials. You should be able to place straight tubes back there without affecting seat setback. The seat or your head will hit the hoop first. I don't see why you would have a need for bent rear braces in the first place. The main hoop diagonal brace must be continuous and "in the plane" of the main hoop. You have it cut in two, bent in the middle, and tied to another bent bar for seat belt mounting. That will not pass either. The way you have things, the hoop does very little to stiffen the chassis. It will add some strength in a rollover, but not nearly the strength it could have if it was "by the rules" book. The design rules are well thought out and have been proven to work. What you see as small changes actually defy it's intended purpose.

I'm not sure thats the best approach. Have you looked at the threads about sealing the radiator to the front clip, and keeping air from getting under the hood in the first place? The open inspection lids help but things like cowl induction hoods hurt.

For me the throw on the pedal is just right with the 7/8" master. I have reinforced the firewall and pedal box mounting areas. Given the issues with pedal throw being limited and worn out linkage parts adding to the problems; I don't think anything else would work.

Here is a vid of the engine.

That is what HybridZ is all about. Ear to ear grins in an evil and dangreous kind of way. I love it..

First running video! Hot off the alignment rack at Performance Chassis in Cary, NC. This was a rough alignment and I have not weighed or corner balanced it yet. I did check for binding, clearance, and double checked all bolts for proper torque. There was a delivery truck blocking the parking lot, so I could not drive away for the camera. This is my 3rd 240Z project and my second track and time-trials Zcar. I had a slight detour with a 1997 BMW E36 M3/4/5 which I have decided is not economical for it's level of thrills. The M3 makes a much better daily driver. My previous topics pertained to 2 different 240Zs I have modified for track duty. The V8-HybridZ is the main subject and my new track car. Normally aspirated V8 is definitely the way to go. The thing is incredibly responsive and I have not even done tuning outside of the parking lot. I have driven it around town; yes it's insured and registered as an antique. The police take 2/3/4 or more looks but it seems to pass muster. I would never attempt to drive it hard on public roads. There is plenty of free track time for me as an HPDE/track days instructor. The engine is a 327 SBChevy c.1964. It has slightly modified 461 heads with 2.02"int/1.60"ex, large dia./triple springs, guide plates, hardened pushrods and aluminum roller rockers. The block is stock 2 bolt with mild overbore and thin-metal headgaskets. It has a factory forged crank, flat tappet cam(Competition Cams Magnum 270), with solid lifters. It is mild compression and runs well on pump gas. The cam has mild duration and a relatively smooth idle. A Holley 650cfm 4150 carby on a large runner dual plane intake and digital CD ignition seem to do a great job with this engine. The only complaint I have is the extra weight of the cast iron heads, complete lack of accessory holes, and the short waterpump. The alternator mount had to be fabricated from scratch to get it low and close on the right side. The driveline uses a World Class T5 tranny, lightweight flywheel, Zoom clutch, NISMO R-200 3.54 diff, RT mount, and 280ZXT tripod axles. The suspension(in development) is fully adjustable heim jointed, coil-over, with relatively cheap Tokico Illumina dampers, and 300#F/250#R springs, 1"F swaybar, 5/8"R swaybar. I should have $ponied$ up for the Bilstiens and higher spring rates, but the Tokico stuff was free to me. I have a variety of <300# springs to try and 2 sets of aftermarket swaybars that will allow for some experimentation with the Tokicos. I am using Rota RB-R 17"x9.5" wheels with 245/40/17 tires. I could and should find a way to make larger tires fit under the bodywork. Right now the ZG flares wont allow me to run wider tires with the current suspension set up. The lightweight springs allow too much suspension travel, and the ZG flares are not very wide at all. The brakes are Arizona Z Car's Willwood kit with 4-lug hats, 12.2" rotors, 4-piston front calipers, and Beta Motorsport's dual master cylinder bracket. I am using 15/16"F and 7/8"R dia. bores. The brake pedal is stiff and feels a lot like you would expect with no vacuum booster. The stopping power does not require much pedal effort at all. Once the brakes are warm and the pads are bedded in they stop easily with little pedal movement or pressure. The chassis/unibody was sand blasted, phosphate treated, sealed, primed, and painted using Nason single-stage poly in 2007 Ford Mustang "Lime Gold Metallic". Exterior bodywork will use Nason 2-stage basecoat clearcoat for durability. The entire unibody was seam-welded, reinforced, and fully caged with more points than most classes allow. It is so stiff that it tends to sit on 2 of the 4 jackstands and rocks back and forth. I have it in the garage diagonally across an expansion seam for better access.

I have the same flywheel/clutch combo with the external Wilwood pull-type slave. I am using a 7/8ths master and the clutch pedal takes a lot of effort. I don't mind on track, but manuvering in the parking/garage lot is hard on the left leg.

Door skins YES!!! Roof YES!!! How about headlight buckets that are light as a feather.

The oil cooler and oil thermostat are for the engine. The Master cylinder is from JC @ Beta Motorsports. It is a fabulous design that suffers from a few development flaws. I like the way it works with some "gunsmithing". I have driven it around the block. The 327 engine and X-pipe exhaust sounds GREAT@! It has open chambered mufflers that make it fairly quiet until you stomp on it. It has a cool "euro" tone. I swear I'll get some video posted this weekend. I still have to set up the suspension, double check clearances, adjust bump steer and make damn sure nothing binds. I may have to re-cut the fenders higher and re-install the ZG flares. It looks like 245/40/17 is the tire for now. Though these Rota 17x9.5s will accept much wider tires.

My point was that the "S" wire is not the problem because the system was not properly connected at the main terminal. The volts are high because the main terminal was bad.

It is now running. ...

That is not corrosion in the picture on the main power wire. A crusty crimp caused the wire terminal to overheat which is the problem. I realize that the "S" wire is important in setting voltage. But this problem is SIMPLY a bad connection on the main power wire terminal. This would also cause over-voltage because the bad main connection is throwing the entire system off.

When you see a connection that has burned, You are looking at a bad connection. The wire will usually melt at about the same current rating the connector melts at. The hottest point has the most resistance. Your connection, or the internal crimp on the terminal was bad and is now very bad. NewZed is correct, The sense(S) wire is how the regulator determines what voltage is correct. If the "S" wire is not in order then the system will read too high voltage. The alternator can spike voltages quite high. It can also maintain 16-18V if the sensing wire is not connected properly. In addition, a bad main connection(Your problem) will cause the system to over voltage.

The answer to your ideas on throttle plate setting is; Exactly what the instructions say. Completely covering the first hole to be uncovered. ie. NO open transition holes. This is where various sources diverge on this exact setting. Some say to set plate toward leading edge of hole and others say trailing edge. In most cases they are still telling you to cover the first hole. The differences in these settings probably represent 1/8th turn of the throttle stop screws. The stop screws are notoriously "rough" on the ends. It could be helpful to lathe the ends of the screws for better profile and consistent settings. One screw may be on the rising side of a bump and another on the falling side, causing very uneven settings from adjustments less than 1/2 turn.

MikeZ31ss, The design of these carbys assumes everything with the engine is perfectly adjusted and equal between cylinders. The various adjustments will affect more than one aspect of the mixture and response of the system overall. I was short, but not usless in my response. The instructions offered on several sites and books talk about this in some detail. The throttle stop screws are just that. You set the throttle plates and leave them be. No 1/4 turn to equalize. 1/4 turn to equalize is too much. Achieving idle and off idle quality is more of a parts choice than settings choice. For you guys that do like to reset those screws, sometimes it works sometimes it makes things worse. There were many variations on the transition holes including slots and grooves. Some of them were more finiky than others. Some folks drilled the throttle plates to acheive desired idle and off-idle performance on race engines. This means that the position of transition holes and relative sensitivity to throttle position will vary from model to model. Later DCOE versions had air bypass screws to assist with equalization. These are going to affect idle mixture as well so both adjustments must be performed together. This was primarily a "street" addition to the design.

There is no idle speed screw PERIOD. You are missing the point of the set up instructions entirely.

There is a connector infront of the firewall. from the TC bucket to the front of the rockers. The door bars should be welded to the cage. You can use bolt in connectors but follow the rules for safety.

I might make a few observations. Mayolives could not use that piece. It was highly unstable. Nearly all modern performance cars have a full length, perfectly smooth underpan. They also have many other aero components to go with them. fully housed wheels, Wheel well liners, sealed front clips sealed engine compartments(front engines). The thing to keep in mind is that the term-"diffuser" does not work with these designs and is 80% styling even from BMW and Merc. It neatly ties the underpan into the rear bumper and that is all. ===================================================== If you get into the SUPERCAR category then you begin to see real diffusers that have a real effect. The entire underside of the car and the placement of the suspension mounting points is affected to use a real race car diffuser. I have pics of a Ferrari that I had my greasy mits on a while back. ==================================================== As you can see... That will not work on a "normal" car. So forget performance and realize that what you are doing is for styling. If you really wanted to improve aero then buy a later model car, or follow the Aero threads for hundreds of useful mods. The S30 is always going to be a brick. The trick is making slight improvements without making it unstable at speed.

Bad mount= NVH, but you have another problem. I have to go long on this one. Your tranny description really makes this tough, but it may shed some light. Vibrations are transmitted throughout a mechanical system. You may hear the noise from the rear left, but it's source may be the input-shaft bearing or input-gear tooth in the tranny. Check my logic. 4th gear is worst NVH. 4th gear is straight through, input shaft is locked to output shaft. The other gears run on the counter shaft and are isolating the system(enough). The countershaft would completely isolate axial vibrations. Granted other v-modes will still pass through.

ohh great... and I am going right out to buy a $20,000 vacuum tube amplifier the same day.

I used hex, OPEN end, lug nuts, track rules require open ended. I would not use splined nuts because the tool is rarer than hex, and can be misplaced and screw you out of track time. I also use longer lug studs to ensure proper thread engagement.

You guys should really look into this wheel and tire calculator. It will clear up a lot of questions about fitment, and what various parameters actually look like and how they relate to each other. http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp You can figure out stuff that fits... but you might not be able to BUY many of the combinations you think will work.

Ooops.. I totally missed this one. I'm glad you found the problem. I eliminated all of the stock dash/guage/tach wiring on my new project.

Hmmmm.... You do realize that the stock dual guages are unique. There is nothing Autometer makes that will match them in any way, shape, or form.