bjhines

You got it. as long as you can accurately measure your angles. It is harder to check horizontal angles, and they should be correct. Collision damage or broken drivetrain mounts can cause horizontal misalignment in some cases.

Gollum, I like that idea, but it too will have compromises. This design may be a lot harder to actually incorporate into the S-30 bodywork, especially with various flares and such. The well-liners still need to be sealed against the fender/flare outer lip, under chassis, and allow brake cooling ducts. Many wheel offsets will allow the tire to touch various parts of fender, airdam, and framerail metalwork. That won't leave much room for the the liner clearance.

I saw another National Speed video with a 383 V8 powered 240Z in it. Who's car is that? That is also a clean looking build, and race ready.

^^^ I sure hope the harness bar can be bent on the ends for seat back clearance. there are a lot of cars that need a little set back into the hoop.

I might add a few things here that have been slightly confusing to me in the past. The way our local track HPDE rules go... Our S-30 cars can get away with 1.5" tubing with 0.095 thickness DOM as long as you are building a full cage. When you are only building a 4 point hoop then you must use 1.75" 0.095 DOM thickness tubing. The thickness changed recently on the 1.75" tubing. It used to require 0.120 wall thickness for the 4 point hoop, now it is only 0.095" thickness.

For Morex; You have quite a job ahead of you. The old lines are often rusty and unsafe near the battery area. The factory steel lines are relatively small, the return and vent lines are way too small IMO. If you want to use a surge tank you need to replace hardline-plumbing for sure. The filler neck is hard to replace without modifying the exterior bodywork, or resorting to opening up the rear hatch for refills. Safety requires that the tank be behind a bulkhead and removed from the driver's compartment somehow.

Jumpman; you are on the right forum, but you need to post specifics on your car before we can answer anything. A simple description of your car's intake and fuel system would help. Fuel is very dangerous. It also has a way of spreading around before it ignites and engulfs the entire car. Don't get too creative with plumbing. Stick to factory type fittings and use high-pressure-rated, fuel-injection hose for electronic-injection type systems. If you are replumbing the entire car, then there are some specifics to discuss.

I measured 44 feet of wire in the 1972 240Z ignition wiring. It goes from the dash to the front clip back and forth twice to allow a ballast resistor while running and ballast bypass during startup. CRAZY MAN!!!!

The need for this kind of thing varies from one example to another. Some engines have a lot more blowby than others. High RPM/high cornering forces can cause these vents to puke oil on the track. I like positive crancase venting. It was one of the first projects I looked for ideas on this forum. There are a lot of engines that will leak a significant amount of oil from main seals and various other moving parts while the engine is running. Pulling a slight vacuum(at least venting pressure) can greatly reduce the mess under your car. There are other considerations for performance use. Some engines will pump a significant amount of oil into the valve cover areas at high RPMs. This oil can build up and then pour out of the breather vents under hard braking or cornering. You need some kind of catch can to trap this oil and prevent it from getting on the track surface. You can use manifold vac AND exhaust scavenging to ensure a good vac signal and flow volume under all conditions. Tie this into the fuel tank venting system as well as the carbon canister and you have the best possible system. Of course the plumbing can get a bit more complex, and you need more parts than just the can itself.

There is a lot of custom handywork in this build that can take a lot of effort and time. It looks nice and shows the time spent thinking about the details. Good work there.

Ive seen clutches let go on road race courses as well. Mis-shifting can do the same thing. A friend grenaded the clutch in his BMW 325i on track from a mis-shift. The engine never over-reved, but the rapid/uneven heating and high RPMs combined to blow the clutch to confetti.

I was thinking that the small aero dams in front of the wheels were there to keep airflow moving through the wheelwells and assisting in brake cooling.

The fan motor is rated in wattage. The fan switch is simply adding resistors in various combinations to reduce fan speed. The issues that can arise come from the fact that a higher wattage fan can lead to overheating of the resistors. The resistor pack in my 240Z is fairly hefty and they are air cooled in the blower airstream. I used a 90's model Honda blower in mine with no problems. I never ran into any choices between NON-AC and AC models. I live in a warm climate and all cars have AC originally installed. I simply asked the JY for the prescribed fan and they cross referenced from another model and year for the same fan. The JY counter man could not say what it actually came out of.. It fits and works though.

Ahhh.. I see ... The third layer is not included in the drip rail sandwich... It was only welded to the inner channel. There are several transitions in the roof line where the various parts combine differently. That picture shows the rear sail to roof junction. The cuts I made were there and forward of the dash area. There are quite a few extra layers where the roof is joined to the rest of the chassis.

Ohh God. I had a guy bring an S30 to me with this issue. He had the frame rails and pans, I only needed to take his completely assembled, drivable S-30 and install the pans. I estimated ~$1000 and cringed at the thought that I was not going to make much money for my time on this job. This included reassembling and repainting the floor areas, to make his car completely assembled again. Well... My fears were abated. Apparently this fella got the pans installed by a local muffler shop for $150 and thinks their work was great. I have absolutely no problems with people shopping around. The thing I have come to learn is that people's definition of doing something correctly is a vast and wide. If I get another request, I will probably estimate even more money just so I can feel comfortable about making it worth my time.

A plasma cutter will cut them off clean and smooth... through paint, rust, and lead in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. I would like to point out that the drip rails serve a structural purpose. There are several layers of metal sandwiched together over the door openings. The "drip rail is the only junction between the various layers that make up the roof and door perimeter. This is a classic weak point in terms of protection and stiffness. If you see a cross section of a cut roof rail you can see that the channel formed outside the roof is there for manufacturing purposes. It allows welding access and makes a stiff join between the pieces. It also adds up to a hefty chunk of metal(as unibodies go). If you remove the rail you cannot properly weld all of the pieces back together. You could form a cap over the edge for reinforcement but the middle layer of metal would not be joined to the formed cap. Of course if you have a roll cage then you don't need to worry about the factory roof structure. I think there is plenty of room for improvement over the original design, especially for a street rod that needs extra stiffnes in the roof without a full cage and helmet. If I were to modify the factory roof without a full cage installed(a street rod). I would leave the drip rail alone. I would cut the roof skin out. I would leave 2" of metal around the perimeter and fold it down and weld it to the inner C channel to form a "box section" around the roof perimeter. I would add gusset plates(overlays) to the joints at the corners and double seam weld the entire structure. I would fill the A-pillars and new upper box section with structural foam. Finish with a fiberglass cap.

Suede gives the most comfortable grip. For track use I would go suede for it's high friction on gloves. But, It has drawbacks as well. For street I might choose smooth leather instead. I have seen what happens to suede wheels when used with bare hands. They get all gummy and matted. Alcantara might be easier to clean and it gives a similar surface to suede. I chose the OMP wheel as well. I used a NON-Dished wheel with a quick release bolt on conversion. The stack height of the conversion required I use a flat wheel. Even then, it has some dish to it.

^^ It looks like he has the Beta Motorsports Dual master bracket to me.

A switch panel I made to fit where the fan and climate controls were. The center fan and sump indicators are tri-color LEDS, They illuminate green when the circuit is on and ready for operation. The circuits turn BLUE when the fan or sump actually operates. normal operation full on plus oil light A poor shot through the window net. ...

I love that car!!!! What a beauty. I remember when you were just getting it sorted out, and in primer still. It is REALLY nice looking. It makes me wish I went with the IMCA body kit. I hope to get mine finished soon. I am finally working on it again, small parts right now.

My wife has a Honda Pilot.. We LOVE that SUV after having owned Landcruisers and Suburbans. The Pilot is the best damn SUV available in all regards. It is Bigger INSIDE than the Landcruiser and it has more useful interior space than the actually larger Suburban did. The Pilots are a dream to own, easy to maintain, and far better quality than the P.O.S. chevy products. I will never own an American car EVER AGAIN. I am driving a 1997 BMW M3/4/5 which I also track. My 5 year old loves daddy's fast car. It is as big as the 5 series in back. I will warn you that they are expensive to maintain and they need a lot of maintaining at this age. If you find a good example you can still expect to spend several thousand every year you own it.

The stuff cools off fairly quickly. I spread it over a sq. foot section at a time and started lightly banging immeadiately to remove the hardened chips.

If the seats are wet, How is it the car is not wet inside.??? If it is from humidity, then it may have been covered in sealed plastic, That can kill a brand new car in months. If you are serious about rebuilding the thing then you will need look the thing over carefully. Lucky for you the interior is already trashed, so it is easy to remove parts to see what's behind. Bring a stiff brush and a shop vac to reveal the floor problems. You also need to figure out if it's truely straight or not.

The speaker can possibly be rebuilt as stock. I work in the audio industry and I am aware of several manufacturers of vintage parts to recone classic speakers in everything from jukeboxes to Voice of the Theater systems. The small Jap metric cone could be a problem, but I am willing to bet I could get it together so it works and appears stock. It is even possible to remove the ceramic ring magnet, replate all metal parts and then replace the ring and remagnitize the completely replated assembly prior to reconing. We are talking about a few hundred dollars for the full boat repairs and restoration.

I am not sure you understand the options that will fit the S30 cars. There are many different conversions for these cars. This thread pertains to the 1984 300ZX rotors for front and rear. The calipers are the largest versions from the Toyota trucks and the rears are from a 240SX. There are at least 4 different versions of the Toyota front 4 piston calipers. The largest ones use the same brake pads as the Z32 300ZX, and the 2007 Subaru WRX. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=111335 The 240SX rear calipers have 2 variations with this being the most common version.