bjhines

Im not done, The poster still has not admitted to bad judgement... or bad driving skills. If the poster can not pin down exactly what happened to cause the initial loss of control then he has absolutely no idea what the hell he is doing. When a green student goes OFF for any reason, we pit the car and I ask him, "what did you do wrong?" If he says "I do not know" then we sit there until we can talk through the entire series of events that lead up to the loss of control. My students do not go back out until I KNOW that they KNOW what happened and how to avoid that situation in the future. There is nothing more frustrating to an instructor than a student who blames the tires, marbles, dirt, dust, rain, brakes, suspension OR ANY OTHER INANIMATE OBJECT OR ACT OF GOD. There are very few situations that will put you OFF track without warning of any kind and with such violence that there is nothing that could be done to regain control. As far as forums go, I will not put up with numbskull comments about equipment and conditions being the cause of an accident. It is your job as the driver to understand how adverse conditions affect your vehicle. When the news says that bad conditions caused a multi-car pileup on hwy 95... I understand that what really happened was a bad driver was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are NO ACCIDENTS there are only MISTAKES!!!! Anyone who knows how to drive can pretty easily figure out what lead up to this accident. Leaving that info out of the post only makes him look like a bad driver and a bad learner.

I am someone who knows how to drive, I teach people to drive at the limits on race tracks. I have driven nearly everything allowed on roads and some things that are not. I have loaded bulldozers on and off trailers. I have operated hinged-body loaders and pan scrapers. I have held every motor vehicle liscense class at one time or another. I have driven 70,000 lbs tractor trailers over mountains, through a hurricane, and over bridges that would clip the mirrors on BOTH-SIDES. I have sailed multi-masted boats from Florida to Venezuela and back. I can paralell-park a 50 foot sailboat with wind alone. I was jumping motorcycles when I was 8 years old. I have driven literally dozens of performance cars AT THEIR LIMITS and shown experienced drivers from other countries how to get fast on our local tracks. The poster never admits the OBVIOUS!!!! He made a stupid decision and f@#ked up his car AND SOMEONE ELSE'S CAR in the process.

ok, Sorry for the rant. I don't usually come off like that but I am frustrated at the fact that the poster never includes the critical information that leads up to the loss of control. Fast lane changes in the rain are guaranteed to get you OFF. Some rain HPDE experience would go a long way towards understanding just how little traction you have in a rainy situation. I don't particularly like driving on a race track in the rain. Tires become critical and usually the opposite type than what you have on your wheels. I have managed to have a full tread set of RA-1s on an alternate set of wheels for short periods of time. Having them on a rainy day is GOLD!. That said. You can easily change lanes within the traction limits of just about any car in virtually any condition. If you are in conditions bad enough to get into a slip situation you would have already had plenty of warning to slow down and find high ground. This wreck was driver induced and involved another vehicle, which is taboo on the race track as well. I would suggest taking any insurance money you recieve and placing it in your savings account. Fix the car out of pocket because you will repay the money they give you with interest over the next 3 years. You will need money to fix the car and pay interest.

OK.. I am glad your ok, BUT!!! How do you crash a decent handling sports-car on a multi-lane freeway in a straight line??? That shows a monumental lack of driving skillz... Rain is no excuse, You also had numerous opportunities to gain control even after the first abrupt mistake. A little knowledge and real experience could have allowed you to maintain control at nearly any point in that series of blunders that lead up to hitting another car and the guardrail. Your first error was trying to show off(your skillz???) by changing your direction of travel too far off parallel with the road you were on. Swooshing over several lanes is stupidity on multiple levels. Your mirrors don't give enough view to do that kind of manuever in traffic and I doubt that your mirrors are properly adjusted in the first place. The fact that you did it in the rain is stacking mistakes and bad judgement on top of one another. The fact that you tried to change directions again, in the rain, too abruptly, without proper weight transfer, and completely without any kind of driving skill was your last chance at control. I could have taken over at any point in that series of blunders and regained control, you were lost from the moment a lane change idea went through your skull. Quit this habit of figuring out how bad a driver you really are while on public roads. For God's sake you need an HPDE event more than anyone else I can think of. The fact that you hit another car should be your wake-up-call to get some serious driving instruction. You really have NO IDEA what you are doing. Sell the Z-car and get a 1992 GEO METRO. You are not cut out for anything with more than 3 cylinders. You can turbo the Metro once you figure out how to drive. Then you can work your way up to driving a Civic HF in a few years.

There are LED array drivers available to run large numbers of LEDs from one voltage source without resistors. These take the limiting resistor idea to the next level. They are current limiting devices using "bucking" transistorized circuits to provide enough current to drive very bright displays.

I am not even sure the bolt hole spacing is correct for the 280Z mustache bar. Not that you can't modify that for proper fitment. I looked into that piece and decided to stick with the stock cover. I decided to go with a Tilton fluid pump/cooler with a return port on the front channel of the diff case. I didn't want to reduce the stiffness of the rear control arm mounts with the bent-bar style lower cross-tie. I can add plenty of fluid capacity with a canister filter in the fluid-cooler system.

I am not even going to vote in your poll because it is moot. You can't even figure out how to get to square one. You cannot be very interested in getting your car back if you are still in limbo about how to get it. I have a friend who gets into these situations more than anyone else I know. To hear him tell the stories, he can't find the right person to talk to, he can't get answers from people in charge, they wont listen to him, he doesn't have the time, he doesn't have the money, etc, etc, etc. Over the years I have come to realize that it is his approach that fails him. He simply lacks the communication skills to get things done. I have a very short fuse when people give me the runaround. I don't allow anyone to tell me NO without a sensible explanation. They have your car, they are charging you money evey moment you allow this to go on. DO NOT ACCEPT NO FOR AN ANSWER FROM ANYONE. That means the police, the impound lot, or GOD himself. They had better have a detailed explanation or they are liable in court for any costs you incurr beyond the first encounter you had. You don't walk away from anyone who has told you to talk to someone else without a name, a physical description, serial number, form number, contact information, and the names of supervisors going 3 levels up in rank. You get phone numbers, addresses, maps and GPS coordinates for evey single contact you have in this meatpuppet show. This stinks of ineptitude on everyone's part in this freakshow. Get a freaking grip on life or you are destined for failure. This is child's-play compared to what you are in for with insurance and healthcare issues. Dont take this as an attack on you personally, call it tough love. I just see this as a repeat of the things my friend had been through. It is NEVER that complicated. It is always a matter of life skills.

It looks like the middle area needs some aero devices ahead of the diffuser.

Print that sucker out! Take a picture of the area you parked in from all angles and include any NO-parking signs nearby. Make sure you have someone with you who can help to prove the car was not parked more than the ONE-day(24 hr) period. Take all of your receipts Go to the best lawyer you can find. For God's sake, The PD, City Hall, etc... will keep you running in circles until you give up. Just hire a lawyer and sue the rat-bastards for the towing/storage fees, your time, legal fees, and mental anguish. Your car is one of the most important things you own. You can take the town to the cleaners for stealing your car and then forcing you to pay to get it back.

The reaar ends are easy, The smaller R-180 has a more or less square rear cover and the output shaft seals are in bolted on flanges on the sides. Those flanges are also the way to dissassemble the rear diff. The R-200s are much bigger and have NO bolted-on side flanges. The rear cover is more round and hemispherical. The trannys are pictured in the various manuals and should be easy to identify by the number of shifter positions and the shifter housing design. The only real difference is that the early A-boxes have a unique shifter housing. The 1972 and later B-boxes are the most common and share a great deal with the later 5 speeds. All of the halfshafts fit the same from 1970 to 1978. There are some that use NON-replaceable U-joints but people have managed to replace them anyway. There are some harder to find parts that may be worth keeping, Steering parts including the columns(completely unavailable new) front crossmembers(the later designs are beefier) mustache bars(the diff mounting bar/spring) control arms(easily bent in accidents) driveshafts are endlessly repaiable but some folks are looking for the early short-shafts. The list goes on.

I thought I would bring this up again since I am in the final stages of my project car. I have completed the front suspension parts and installed them all. I figured I would post a pic of the final product. ...

I read somewhrere that you put 1/3 - 1/2 in the intake, 1/3 into the fuel tank, and whatever is left in the engine crankcase oil. I have used it as Redneck says to preserve or "loosen up" gummed up fuel system parts. It has worked to "free up" old lawn equipment carbys and basket case car fuel systems. But I have never noticed any improvement when using it through a vac line in the intakes of several cars. It only helps to free up the varnished lawn equipment. Keep in mind that people will imagine all sorts of improvements and swear that they exist. I have tried it and I can tell you that you won't convince me without an engine dyno.

If everthing that you describe is functioning then the problem would be with the flasher-can, a connection in the lamp housings, or grounding issues in the tail clip. I would take a good look at grounds in the tail clip... below the combo lights. You really must have a good ground there.

Good tech here!!! http://users.apex2000.net/whardie/charg.html You can get them in any configuration here!!! There are great descriptions in the header for each model. http://www.alternatorparts.com/cs130_&_cs130d_alt.htm You have to consider that the new regulators ground out this CHG light pin. The older systems used lower resistance CHG circuits but the older alternators had considerable internal resistance to offset this. Even then they could be burned out without the 6 OHM lamp/resistor. I used 150 OHMs with a 5 WATT resistor that is open to airflow with a series wired 3 AMP diode(overkill but handy). Technically I have a 152 OHM ciruit with the drop in the diode considered. The resistor gets semi-hot to the touch if grounded for an extended period of time. 75 OHMs, 13.8 VOLTS you will be dissapating 2.5 Watts assuming there is no internal resistance in the regulator to this pin. That 3 WATT rating assumes the resistor is open to airflow. If it is bundled into a harness it will get too hot over time. Not a good idea if you leave the key in it, ON in your garage overnight.

I chose the CS130-D series for a lot of reasons. It is not the smallest, nor the lightest, but it has a good mix of overall features. I am not going to use a ONE-WIRE alternator with my rear mounted battery. Those are for people who don't care about battery charge or stable voltage. The CS series has been around for quite some time. The 130-D series is relatively new and capable of putting out full current at lower RPMs. It's regulator and pin configuration are significantly different than previous models. The CHARGE/IGN pin requires much higher resistance than the older models that used a light bulb as a resistor. I am using 150 OHMs in the CHG circuit. DO-NOT install this alternator if you don't understand the CHG-light system. There are ONE-WIRE regulators available for this unit. I am installing it on a 1964 SBC 327 with 461 heads. There are no threaded holes in the heads for accessory mounting. This means I had to fab my own mount based on something the previous owner had done. I used a 7" piece of 1.5" angle steel that I welded 2 tabs on to support the lower mount ears. That piece is bolted to the top 2 fuel pump fastener holes. The holes are 3/8-16". You may have to drill and tap your holes larger to support the custom bracket. I am using an oversized pulley to underdrive the alternator. This car will see mostly track mileage so I don't need full alternator power at idle. This is one of the reasons I chose the CS130-D. It has great power output at relatively low RPMs. anyway here are the pics. ...

Crap!, I only managed a 2:27 in my BSP, L24 powered 240Z. The engine is seriously down on power this year. Been getting weaker every year. I was fast as hell around the turns though. I managed to scare the crap out of half a dozen passengers this weekend. I also managed to sell the car to my green student's father after giving him a thrill. I took him through the uphill esses with my foot to the floor from turn 5a all the way to turn 10(south bend). I swear he made a pocket for his brake foot in the floorboard. I didn't let him out of the car for 5 laps flat out. Keep in mind these guys brought a BMW E46 M3 with the sequential gearbox. They were impressed enough with the Datsun that they bought it for 5k.

That strap stays on permanently. It is supposed to be there. This is the same issue I posted an answer to in another thread. You need to pull the bellhousing and check ball stud height and fork position. You state that the clutch won't engage. You really mean the opposite, the clutch won't release. It is perpetually engaged. Here is my other post about this issue. QUOTE"" You mean it won't release... right. That looks like plenty of movement to me. It only takes 1/2" at the TOB on the other end. You could remove the slave and actuate the fork by hand and see if it is pressing on the TOB. You won't be able to disengage the diaphram spring by hand, but you could confirm the clearances. A broken pivot/ball stud or a worn out fork and stud combination can leave too much slop in the system for the TOB to release the clutch. With everything adjusted properly in the bellhousing... The outer end of the fork should angle towards the front of the car by about 5-7 degrees. This is with hand pressure to remove any slop. __________________

A Question about SBC v-8s.... I have always wondered at the incredibly small size of the bypass hole on the right side of the V-8 SBC waterpump. It is only 1/4" or so. I this enough to allow non-cavitating operation of the Waterpump?

You mean it won't release... right. That looks like plenty of movement to me. It only takes 1/2" at the TOB on the other end. You could remove the slave and actuate the fork by hand and see if it is pressing on the TOB. You won't be able to disengage the diaphram spring by hand, but you could confirm the clearances. A broken pivot/ball stud or a worn out fork and stud combination can leave too much slop in the system for the TOB to release the clutch. With everything adjusted properly in the bellhousing... The outer end of the fork should angle towards the front of the car by about 5-7 degrees. This is with hand pressure to remove any slop.

The Steering rack has been raised. I would love to get another look at the front crossmember modifications. It looks like a vertical, forward-facing upright has been welded to the crossmember and gusseted. A billet split-clamp appears to be bolted to that.

That interior is Ferrari-like^^^^ I love the BMW seats with that wheel. It is stunning. Ummm... Loose the toupee

I think the poly goes on the compression load side. That would be the FRONT side. S130 or S30 does not matter as long as the harder material goes in front and the rubber dangles in the rear. The article that metions the modifications with the nice drawings looks like it wouldn't work very well. The pattern of holes still leaves a stiff supporting outer rim that will continue to bind and flex the rod's threaded end. There is no reason to use a hard material for the rear bushing. It is only there to allow pivoting motion while keeping a little "preload" on the rod mounting point. You should never bind the nut down tight. It is a locknut and it uses a jam nut in stock configuration. The assembly should be able to move up and down through it's range of motion without a great deal of effort.

Is everything hooked up properly? Seriously, there could be a number of issues with the installation or the connections. 1. Intermittant connections, especially to the BATT terminal can really mess up the regulator's simiconductors. Make sure the high-current circuit is in good condition BATT and GROUND. 2. There is also a voltage sense circuit that connects to the main junction near the battery. That can also cause issues with overvoltage conditions. I think that circuit is limited though and unlikely to cause alternator failure or battery overcharging. 3. IGN-ON(CHG) circuit is the field-exiter circuit and is also used to indicate a charge system failure with the idiot light on most cars. This circuit has a ballast resistance that must not be bypassed. A shorted resistor or incorrect wiring can cause alternator failure here as well. ^^^ I think your Z-31 gives this circuit regulated voltage from the ECU. This is probably not the failure point on your car.

John, How far is it from the back of your grip to the closest part of the dash(between the guages)?

Nardi here. I am in the process of finding another wheel for my new track car. I am going with the Momo brand. I have been considering a MOD-78 350mm flat spoke. I am using a bolt on quick release with adaptor. The stack height is quite thick so I need a flat spoked wheel. I have made a few measurements of other cars and seating positions. Most of the S-30s I think fit me well have 32-34" from the column flange(firewall) to the back side of the hand grip. You can do the math. You will need a dished wheel if you use a standard adaptor without a quick release(or arms like an ape)