bjhines

Ummm yea... I would have made sure the output stubs fit ALL THE WAY IN... grinder works... bandsaw works... A lathe will cut a new ring groove... even removing the insertion spacer in an open carrier will get you some more room to play... Ummm that there is a failure to check for binding on a modified suspension and driveline. Always cycle everything through it's entire range of motion without the springs installed... Of course... then the tires will rub next... If I only had a dollar for every set of brand new tires I have seen cut to ribbons because the owner didn't bother to check clearances...

ok I'm out... I am reading your descriptions of your problems and none of it makes any sense... 1. You say that the rears lock first on dry pavement... well.. that is a big problem.. I can heal toe downshift at the braking limit and still not lock the rears... 2. you say that your front wheels lock first in sandy spots... WTF is that...??? if you drive over sand.. expect the unexpected... how would you know which wheels are locking on such a slippery surface... they will all lock up on sand... 3. You sound like someone who has never driven a car without ABS... nice learning curve there ehh???... LOL...

You have too many variables... ^^^^ Most race car builders START with the wheels and make everything work around that... I would mock everything up and look for the limitations first.. then try to figure out what to do about wheels...

Here is an alternate spring kit... and another version...

Nissan dealership or anywhere else that knows what a Z is... That said... there is usually some slop in the fit between the PADS and the pins... You should not have any rattles as long as you use the anti rattle spring kit... and check that your rotors are good and straight...

Hmmm.... I have tried several brake upgrades on several 240Zs... I am going with Willwoods for my next car... The systems are not that sensitive to these changes... It will make a difference in FEEL... but the MC and the Booster swaps will not fix this if it is a problem... You have bigger problems... Currently I have: LARGEST late model Toyota Landcruiser calipers Stock 240Z rear drums Stock bias valve and lines Stock MC Stock Booster PORTERFIELD race pads in front Nismo Green shoes in rear Multiple cooling ducts feeding the caliper and the rotor vents Racing slicks Here is a video of my brakes ripping some asphalt at 130MPH... Just look at the nose dive even with a track suspension... I have run everything from stock to full race set ups... and the main limitations of the stock set ups are HEAT RELATED... You CAN bias your brakes with good pad material choices... Modern materials have come a LONGGGGGGG WAYYYYY... you can get any friction and heat range you want... ANYTHING...

I have heard complaints about the spiders with the grease nipples in the cross instead of the end of the cups... You might be able to magnaflux it and see where it failed first...

I would LOVE to get enough money for another day at the tunnel... And yes... Some of the bigger body mods could be tested on a second day....

The stock mustache bar IS A SPRING... It cannot be stiff enough... even if you weld the ears to the body...

I have 2 sets... How much is it worth for me to tear down the shortblocks...??? That is going to be a pain in the ass...

Those WILL RUB... and you WILL RUIN your tires if the car is ever driven spiritedly... Here is a good example of a banked turn that WILL FIND YOUR CLEARANCE ISSUES... very quickly...

Well.. What does the inside look like??? can you mount regulator mechanisms??? If they are just "race" doors... then you can get the factory doors pretty light this way... I like the idea of keeping the anti intrusion bar on the driver side at least... ...

Good thought.. I was wondering how to budget time for that part of the testing...

Well there you have it... I have a garage full of 240Z body parts... half a dozen bumpers, numerous front valances... bracketry from all models 1970-1973... The only 280Z parts I have are hubs and differentials... I have a set of early stock 240Z bumper brackets... they are just strips of 3/16" steel.. they bolt to the headlight bucket inner side... Yea they are cheesy... but the early bumpers were just trim... not much thicker than the body...

Well... that is a neat idea... but we need these things drawn on the body plan views... There is nothing about that front end that uses any of the stock body shape... That would have to be a fiberglass one piece tilt front end

Wheel wells: We have some interesting ideas for trying to improve airflow in the wheel wells... If nothing else we hope to improve brake cooling... lowering Cd would be nice as well... We are adding spoiler strips(canards for lack of a better description) to the front of the wheel wells... kind of like this: also... simply adding material in front of the wheel well lips is an option... like this... I have also punched some holes for engine compartment venting that may or may not help once the nose is addressed... This is my car... This is another example.. I dont think the holes in the forward facing surface are a good idea... ...

Hmmmm... interesting... So the 280Z might not fit the BRE SPOOK... we will see what we can do with the stock 240Z then... That may rule out the BRE if the owner of the concourse 240Z objects... Boodlefoof... We are not going into major body shape changes... If I had all the money and time in the world for this... sure... But we don't have enough time in one day to asses all of the currently available parts and designs... If we get the funding for another day at the tunnel there are a lot of possibilities... but changing the roofline was never on the table...

The Z cars would not be the fantasic little sports cars they are if they had any real thick structure.... The entire car is an egg shell of thin metal... The only parts that are NOT STRUCTURAL are the front outer fenders, the doors, and the rear hatch...

A thought about the rounded vs the hard edged front end treatments... The LSR cars are getting into a speed realm that involves shock waves and interesting break off of flow... yes.. even at 250MPH these effects begin to show up... But... we will not be designing for anything more than 170MPH... I am not sure what to make of the various front end options... A new Z-car front end would also count as a major body modification... The G-nose was already offered by Nissan... I would love to see some designs... but we have some decisions to make about the extent of the changes we make to the front end on the first tunnel event... That may be better for a follow up event...

The spoiler thing is going to require mounting several custom pieces... We can accommodate a variety of angles with one piece... but not the entire range of options... I would like to make use of some of the available fiberglass pieces to try the near vertical angles that they all have(see what happens)... Then I would like to try our near horizontal pieces that extend the rear upper surface(4" to 18" extension)... We can try several angles on the side pieces... but that will likely require more than one set of sides to accomodate different angles and lengths for the center section... Here is a LSR Camaro rear lip with the right idea.. but we would incorporate the sides as well.. I can't wait to see Michael's drawings for a new front end... We will do our best to fabricate it... Our initial plans draw a vertical line from the hood to the bottom of the air dam and cover it with cardboard.. all the way across... then cut a 2"x6" inlet for the radiator... just under the front lip of the hood (high pressure??) Here is an example from the Camaro... ^^Notice too that the horizontal edges of the grill lines are SHARP where they meet the hood^^ I realize that these are land speed ideas... but I think these guys have something good going here... LOL... The Moby is EXACTLY what I had imagined from the discussions yesterday... But that is WAYYYY over the top for our needs... And the biplane needs to be swatted off the back... ...

What I would love to see is pictures/sketches of a rear lip spoiler that incorporates side pieces like the 3-piece we all know... but lay it out nearly horizontal to extend and sharpen the rear hatch... These side piece extensions.. but lower on the sides with a little more angle(adjustable?) Here is another example of the sides... but we want a flat(horizontal) rear lip... Look carefully at the side sections on this rear lip..(pic is small I know) Here is the janspeed car... This is interesting... but I think the sides should slope down... and again we are trying to keep the rear lip more horizontal... (and we don't have those wicked flares) we want all edges sharp... in fact we want the entire rear of the car extended enough to give it a good sharp edge that extends an inch or less like a sheet metal lip outlining the entire rear of the car... like a cookie cutter... The upper surface will have more lip... we are thinking of trying several extensions of the rear lip and a few different angles... The idea is that we may be able to extend the length of the car on it's top surface and gain negative lift without adding drag... without using the tall vertical rear lips like a parachute to stabilize the car...(which it seems is what they were doing)

Notice too that the car has flushed windows... and no wipers... and no trim... and no body seams... and it is a small scale model... and we can assume the underside is flat... and the worst part of the flow picture is obscured by the car in that point of view... We are expecting significant improvements over stock by doing just those things...

I noticed that some of my abrasive blades are easier to deflect.... Get a thick blade and use some large table-saw, blade-stabilizing washers from Sears....

yes side markers will be tested on and off the car... About our list... We hope to have our testing parts together in the next few weeks... We may need some donors for certain parts... We would like them brought/shipped to one of our shops... We will take care of the parts... but things do get scratched and dinged in this kind of testing... That is one reason that Mikelly bought a G-nose for this test... Those are the most expensive parts available for our cars and he doesn't mind if we put a little hole or scratch here and there... We would like any potential parts donors to take care of shipping(or transport) both ways... We can arrange times and places to meet for parts drops...

Absolutely... more development is required... Also the suspension set up and ride height are more than most S-30 owners are willing to deal with... We are trying the underbody modifications... but we will be toning them down a bit... NO overhanging front splitter... underbody pan from the floor to the rear skirt... only a minor rear diffuser area.. with a slight upturn... and the rear diffuser will not stick out past the rear valence... that should clean up airflow under the car without causing any dangerous conditions... We might(hope) to see a noticable improvement with a toned down design... Dave... you have hit on some design facts that will make underbody development very expensive.. time wise... We hope to clean up the airflow without getting the car too close to the ground...