bjhines

I keep thinking.... The bias is not very far off. There are several different compounds within each available series of brake compounds from a variety of manufacturers. It only costs $100 for most of the small rear brake pad sets. I could probably nail it in one try. If I had more money/or time I could probably find WORKING cross-combinations from half a dozen manufacturers that would work well under varying conditions. If you brake to within an inch of your life regularly from 120MPH to 60MPH or less the differences become obvious to any engineering minded enthusiast. I like the Hawk Blue/Black compounds because they are cheap and they will work consistently under varying conditions. Sure.. they eat rotors for breakfast. Sure they make a mess out of wheels(and paint). But they throw cool sparks at night. I have some $20, organic, El'cheapos that I slap on for street driving. They work great on the street. I can't imagine why I would need a race pad for street. I can't imagine using ANY streetable pad on track. I have a set of Ferodo 2500s for S12W calipers I will never use again. I don't think there is any such thing as a crossover pad. The Ferodos are not the first time I have purchased a "streetable" pad and been sorely dissapointed on track. The DS2500s have a lot of friction, good initial bite. But they fade fast. The Coeff. of friction is not the whole story. You need a lot more information or a few good laps.

ouch... 750$$$ for a custom 1920s tractor radiator. You should get some temp readings from the aluminum radiator to make sure it is getting as hot as the cylinder head temps before you go with some kind of strange custom radiator. The heat transfer properties of the different metal alone is not going to solve your problem. Copper vs aluminum ain't that different. The radiator ain't yer problem bo.

I would slash the Bimmer's tires for that move. The bike burnout is actually smoking the tires. Awesome!!!! That dude needs a sponsor.

You might just try a different set of pads on the rear. I have several 240Zs. One of them has worked well with the ZX/Toyota fronts and the 240SX rears. I originally used Hawk Blue pads on the front and Hawk Black pads on the rears. The Bias was perfect with this pad combination. I switched to Ferodo 2500 pads for the front and my Bias went all to crap. The rears now overpower the fronts with those pads. BTW the Ferodo 2500 pads ARE NOT SUITABLE for track use, no matter what they say. I am going back to the Hawk Blues.

Ahhh HAAAAA!!!! American: double flare, 45 degree, with SAE 3/8"-24 threads. German: Bubble flare, with metric 10mm-1.25 threads. Japanese: double flare, 45degree, with metric 10mm-1.0 threads. Brittish: Bubble flare, SAE 3/8"-24 threads. I am picking up a really nice flaring tool TODAY, to do my brake plumbing. I am using a combination of Japanese and American fittings all with DOUBLE FLARE 45degree on 3/16" tubing. There are even some AN-3 sized 37degree fittings involved in my brake system(flexible hoses). OK. This is where I have been highly dissapointed with some of the major name-brand suppliers. NAPA, Carquest, Parts-Plus all carry a limited selection of American-SAE(double flare) type brake fittings. They also carry a few pieces of German, metric, Bubble-flare fittings. You can forget about Japanese double flare fittings from these suppliers. I could care less about the Brittish bubble flares but they are not available either. Autozone carries the whole selection with very nice teflon coated tubing for wear and corrosion resistance. Autozone has ALL the different types and sizes of brake fittings. I LOVE Autozone!!!! What the 4uck are the other parts stores thinking. There are enough Japanese cars on the roads to warrant carrying that fitting size. I am done with local suppliers after this experience. Autozone is the only place I will ever step foot in again. It is either Autozone or Mail-order from now on. I have not set foot in a Nissan dealer in 5 years. I don't even bother looking them up online either. Screw the Nissan dealers and their overpriced crap too.

OK... I see the part number referenced. Part number ST201A to fit 0.120 wall 3/4" OD tubing. The column shaft end would need to be drilled with a 33/64 or 0.51562 in order to get a good fit. The actual dia of the stub adaptor would be nice to know. But I figure it to be .51" or slightly less. If you use a 9/16 drill you will have a considerably loose fit between the stub and the shaft. A 0.5" drill would be too tight.

A google search has been relatively fruitless. But here is a guy with some similar ideas http://www.vaportrailracing.com/ . He has made his system far too complex and expensive though. This can be accomplished with minimal investment using the stock thermostat and radiator cap. Here is an aftermarket improvement to the factory GenIII RX7's AST coolant purge system. Keep in mind that the main source of air in the gen3-RX7 coolant system is due to boost leakage into the cooling system. The factory swirl tanks are notorious for bursting. This is an overpriced aluminum version of the tank. http://www.tripointengineering.com/product_info.php?cPath=388_396_425&products_id=1588&osCsid=2448b04e3a091ab2cb9752c1d40767bc ...

Hey, Think about paint application INSIDE the rails if you replace them. I had a local Z-car guy ask for a quote to install Baddog rails. I figured in 10 hours of work to install the Baddog rails. I would remove the old rails and address any rust issues inside. I also included some time for painting inside and out(before and after welding). I also included some time to remove the tar padding on the inside of the floorboards where welding would be done on the underside. Anyway the guy got them welded on at a muffler shop for $50. I can only imagine what was done. LOL!!!

The swirl tank is pressurized with a radiator cap on top. It serves as a high pressure reservior. The differential pressure for flow(purging) comes from the water pump. The constant-bleed points are located at high/hot spots on the HOT SIDE OF THE THERMOSTAT(in the waterjacket). The drainback is plumbed to the water pump inlet(as close to the impeller as possible). This provides differential pressure for a small amount of bypass flow. There is one additional purge port. It functions slightly differently. The cold side of the thermostat housing OR the radiator fill neck may also trap air. It is also plumbed to the swirl tank and will flow intermittantly.

I might add that the inline radiator caps are less than ideal. The problem comes from the fact that there is no dome in the inline housing. The dome catches air and holds it in one place. The filler neck and cap on the radiators act like a dome to catch air and keep it there until it is purged. another good place is the dome on the thermostat housing. Tap it and provide a bleeder there to purge purge air that it has trapped.

stage one: A properly located radiator cap will get rid of big air pockets. If it is not the highest point then it simply will not function at all to remove air. stage two: The addition of an old-school coolant reservior will keep you from having to refill every time you start it up. It also allows the normal heat cycling of the watermass to "intermittantly purge" the system as you drive. stage two point one: The high pressure remote reserviors with the radiator caps on them are just a workaround the fact that the radiator is mounted low. Remember that the cap with the pressure-relief valve MUST BE THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE SYSTEM or it won't purge air at all. There is no functional difference between high pressure reserviors and the old-school overflow tanks. They just relocated the relief-valve/radiator-cap and pressurized the overflow tank. stage 3: A constant bleed system continuously purges a small amount of fluid/steam from the higest point in the engine in the water jacket. The swirl tank returns condensed water back into the suction side of the water pump. There can be more than one purge point in the system. You can bleed off ports on the heads near the exhaust valves to constantly remove steam bubbles from the system. The main purge points are usually on the hot side of the thermostat with the addition of another purge point in the top of the thermostat housing. The purge point in the top of the thermostat housing is ported at the bottom of the tank to allow water to flow back instead of sucking in air. The swirl tank also functions as the reservior.

I have maintained a MkI Toyota MR2 into the 200,000 mile range. You wanna talk about a car with air in it's system and several "bleed" points.? The Constant bleed system is used on all types of high performance cooling systems. I am waiting for TonyD to chime in on some oddball experience with this. Dr. Hunt has made great points. I am still not convinced it is exactly that simple. I would love to get some feedback on the constant-bleed type of system if ANYONE has any experience. I now own Pete P's engine(327 with 461 heads). Pete explained to me that he had cooling problems until the day he mounted the factory 327 waterpump. This was with a very expensive aftermarket pump that simply failed to function properly. I would love a better explanation of the problem but... It is my problem now.

I have been tossing the idea of a "constant bleed" coolant system. The idea is that the system continuously bleeds water/air from a high point in the system. The bled off fluid and air go into a "swirl tank" which drains the water back into the cooling system. The key is finding a suitable swirl-tank/air-separator and plumbing it from a higher-pressure area to a low-pressure area in the system. Other considerations include designing a system that will not overfill the swirl tank and will constantly bleed off the steam. re-condense it and return it to the system.

http://www.mittlerbros.com/ goto punch and flare tools tabs and there are a bunch to choose from. If you have any other questions I can help.

I used 14g(.085?) and some 16g(.065?) for gussets. I used 1/8"(.120) weld plates. I have personally reached a turning point in my build. The chassis is painted and ready to assemble. The exterior paint is not done, but everything is prepped so I can mask off the interior and spray the outside when the car is complete. Don't get too caught up in the details. I had an intervention from a friend to help me get on to the next phase, paint. Paint prep on something like that is a bitch. I also got too caught up in the paint prep. I had another intervention from the same friend to get actual PAINT on the car.

That is a nice set of floorboards you have there!!!!! I can't express how nice those floors really are. You have a one in a million Z-car with that little rust.

Im using 1970s Camaro fender vents on the fenders as well. I have not installed those yet, I am still open to other options. A recent pic of the punched and flared holes.

I have painted the interior, engine bay, and underside of the chassis. It is Ford '06 Mustang "Lime-Gold Effect". I have covered the areas that are essential to assembling the car. It is getting too cold to paint anymore this winter. I covered areas I can mask off so I can go ahead with assembly. I will paint the outside surfaces in the spring or turn it over to a paint shop to complete when the car is completely assembled. I have a heated area that I can paint the hood, doors, and hatch inside. I just have to give it a few days to cure and I get down and dirty with the plumbing, hydraulics, and wiring. Pics: ...

I sandblasted everything(including the tubing) after it was complete. Paint sticks like hell to the sandblasted metal. I am going to cover the wear areas with a clear protective film after the paint dries. Don't forget to weld your window net tabs and the mirror mounts.

Baaaaa... Humbug...

It really is a 5hitty situation. I trusted 3M to provide a useful product. A seam sealer that cracks is NOT a useful product. I am very dissapointed that their prices are premium and their performance is poor. It also requires that I seal AGAIN! with a different product in hopes that the 3M product does not continue to shrink and crack. It advertises "excellent shrink resistance" WTF are they trying to pull? There is a mention on the data sheet that says "acid etching primer is not recommended". It would have been nice for them to say that "Any acid primer at all(no matter how well covered up), will cause complete/miserable failure of this product". The funny thing is... I wiped some on the edge of the trash can and some cardboard, as well as numerous rags. It all has the same cracking.

I should own stock in Everglaze. I like the products. I am also using a glaze called Halftime and Icing.

By the way, temps were in the mid 70s and higher in the daytime, and mid 60s at night for the entire 2 week period. Humidity has been relatively low. I don't mess with the paint supplies when it is raining out(which is rarely this year. Here is the data sheet The only thing I can see is possible is that the sealer was WAYYYY out of date or something. I have to go look at the tube again. ...

It cost $16-17 per tube on reccomendation from the paint store. I put it on top of several day old 2 part urethane primer, after applying OSPHO properly, and after sandblasting FRESH before OSPHO. It got worse after I reprimed 2 weeks later. Here are some choice cracks. They are EVERYWHERE. I am going to LOWES to reseal with a real naptha solvent caulk. I have not had the time to go through all the possible problems with application and suitability for the job. I took it on the sales rep's word that it would be suitable in the manner I intended to use it. It obviously was NOT!

The best example of that kind of engineering cost $12,000 for those non-DIYers. http://www.hdrcoupe.com/pages/Max-G-suspension.php