bjhines

Ohh yes.. The Solid rear mount will allow the use of the solid front mount... Those Arizona Z-Car parts are absolutely STUNNING... but there are other home fabricated options... The little solid front mount is only part of the mounting system it was designed for... Vendors like Arizona Z-Car make the entire front and rear mounting system... Those are the way to go.. but don't blow your $40 on just the front mount and think it is going to help in the long run...

Cygnus.. thank you for the ideas... The fact is.. that everytime i get a list together someone pops up with even more good ideas.. and the testing schedule gets updated... It looks like we can cover all the common parts except the G-nose... it is just too valuable and too hard to mount and dismount quickly... that said.. we are still trying to decide if we are going to put a G-nose race car in the tunnel at the end of the day to just get some old school numbers... this would depend on a lot of things lining up with the sun and the moon... We also have a splitter/underpan/rear diffuser all lined up for testing.. as well as roof mods and hood mods and a pantera deck... The facility has the equipment to gather data on airflow through ducts, pressure at many points, much more can be interpolated later...

The Ron Tyler mount contributes virtually NOTHING to stiffening the tunnel... just look at the design... I'm not sure I follow what you did... I will repeat.. DO NOT leave the rear end of the tunnel UNSPANNED... It is NOT a good idea to omit the diff crossmember.. unless you have added another piece to span the tunnel in back.... which would interfere with exhaust in much the same way as leaving the crossmember in place.... the way you ALL should...

The crossmember is a vital part of chassis support... you shouldn't remove the center section unless you have reinforced the tunnel somehow...

We have been over this many times.. Front solid rear flexible mounting is bigass badass NONONO.... I'll say it again.. The people who sell the solid diff front mounts should be SHOT!!! they are Gaurateed to fail eventually... I have one that went to pieces with less than 200 HP and NO HARD LAUNCHES... Again.. DO NOT USE SOLID DIFF MOUNTS....

ok... You still need the lower crossmember because it is also part of the rear suspension mount... and it bridges the chassis at the back of the tunnel... the front diff crossmember is absolutely neccessary... there is not room for the bottom mount.. this mount was designed to allow the nose of the diff to be lowered for better alignment with the JTR v-8 kit... there is no clearance for both mounts... The RonTyler style mount is much better at holding the nose of the differential still under hard acceleration... while still providing wiggle room for quiet operation and long fatigue life... This over-the-diff mount is a vast improvement over stock.... and it is MUCH more sophisticated than a solid mount... The solid mounts will crack your differential crossmember if you do not also replace the mustache bar/spring with a solid structure...

In a lot of cases it may be hard to beat the modded factory arms... These weigh only 10lbs 9 oz with ALL mounting hardware... they are STIFF and they use no small area butt welds... and they have aerospace quality 5/8" rod ends... The only improvement would be to allow one of the adjusters to be double adjustable... that would not be too hard to accomplish with the current design... I am looking at the blue painted arms and thinking that they would not be as strong as most other designs...

I had stated earlier in this thread that the modifications would add weight to the rear control arms... While the modifications to the outboard end DO add weight... It has come to my attention that some of the tube fabricated arms actually weigh as much as 15lbs EACH!!!! I weighed mine and they come to 10 lbs 9 oz with all of the hardware to mount them including the inner and long outer bolts, spacers, nut, etc.... That aint too bad considering...

What happens past the holes in the race seat is very important... Always remember.. the belts hold you AND the seat in the car... You don't want the routing and mounting of the belts to collaspe the seat in ANY WAY... or you may come out shorter and one with the seat...

ok... the crotch strap has been a point of contention recently... I have used 5 point harnesses up to now... on 240Zs... I always mounted the sub strap to the floor just in front of the seat bottom...just outside the frame-rail extension... using washers or welded plates... That brings it up past the front seat-mount stamping in a straight line to the seat hole... That is apparently NOT the correct mounting point for the 6 point harness... I have been told that the 6 point harness must mount directly under the seat... just in front of the groin position... the schroth site says under or behind groin.. I'll have to clear that up first... The Schroth website confirms that the "old way" was right(for 5 point systems)... but the new and improved 6 point system has updated mounting needs... I am welding in hard points for both positions on my new car...

except for the wheel bearing loading point... hehehe...

It looks like my previous estimates were wrong.. looking at the rule that would allow ~5/8" of extension... but that is still a lot...

Ohhh god.. Can you imagine how hard it would be to find parts for a rare AIRPLANE.... on top of all that.. you need certifications in all types of fabrication techniques... I have several family members that have owned light aircraft.. including one Helicopter... I have heard a lot of stories and opinions on vintage aircraft ownership... To sum up.. It is like owning any big boy toy... The costs of maintenance and storage will break you unless you are made of money... I can guarantee that a Ferrari or a Lambo would be MUCH EASIER TO OWN... Do you really understand how much fuel it takes to get to cruising altitude.. that right there can make it nearly impossible to fly for a college student... If I were to purchase an aircraft in the near future.. I would invest in a nice vintage glider... You only pay for a tow up.. and that is usually around $50-$75 for a tow to 7000 ft... depending on where you live and the weather.. that can keep you in the air for hours...

Now.. I would make room to put one of THOSE in the tunnel...

I am pretty sure what I saw on this was from the designers at Porsche... The discussion was centered around that last point about the inertia acting on hard lock up.. It had something to do with their ABS sytem on a race car...

I fabbed up my new rear LCAs... I did much the same thing that JM did for his outers... I will say that this adds weight... So for those of you who want to keep weight to a minimum... go with the tubular arms... I chose to use the G-Machine aluminum/delrin bushings inboard for fine adjustments and to improve roll center... I made a jig to hold the long 5/8" bolt for the outers and I mounted the inner ends with screws... the new piece matches the original exactly... The arms picked up a great deal of stiffness with the modification... they ring like a bell now and they are MUCH HARDER to twist than the original floppy design... I can extend them nearly an inch.. I can shorten them by 1/4"... Sand blasted, etching primer, silver wheel paint.... I used 1.5" 0.080 wall(14g) square tubing... The threaded tube ends are extended by an internally welded section of 1" pipe... I also welded most of the outside of the joint as well... I welded everything with 2 bolts in the threaded pieces.... I used a die grinder and ran a tap through to clean up the end threads when it was cooled... I went VERY short and slowly with the welding to keep heat to a minimum... The arms were also straightened and seam welded in the jig to ensure a stiff straight piece... These babies ring like bells... ...

Those springs were made to work on a more or less stock 240Z chassis... you can't take all the modifications that individuals make into account... With damn near ANY set of springs a lot depends on YOUR car... I have seen 280Zs with complete interiors and added stereo equipment that looked like they were riding on their bumpstops... I have seen race lightened 240Z owners complain that their ride height went UP^.... In my own experience I have been forced to trim springs for corner weighting... and I have done it more than once as I change and remove things on the car... for instance... Moving the battery to the rear can upset things GREATLY....

I have not used them before.. But I will say that any double adjuster type of rod will adjust far more than any single adjuster type.... There are so many variables here that you need to take it to an alignment shop and then modify the piece if it does not work... Ususally you can order a longer threaded tube for about $15...

I remember an article several years ago that went into this in great detail... It seems that the clocking of the calipers can affect more than just the center of gravity... there was something about the application of braking force and inertia as well... I have been looking for the article... cant find it yet...

Clutches blow up on road race cars too... A good friend of mine miss-downshifted and blew his clutch... It broke several chunks out of the bellhousing and dented the tunnel on his Spec. E-30... The BMW bellhousing was pretty tough and substantial... it was trashed... I have personal experience with driveshaft u-joint failure in 240Zs... I had a rear joint let go and the driveshaft bashed up the tunnel near the inside seat belt bolts... luckily there is reinforcement there from the factory... If a front u-joint goes it can do much more damage before the car stops rolling.... in addition it can jack up the car if it digs in.. It also tends to lock up the rear wheels once it jams and then you go off track spinning like a top.... A driveshaft hoop does much more than protect you from the driveshaft.. It will also help keep the car under control if it breaks at high speed... If you put one hoop in the car.. make sure it holds the front of the driveshaft.. the rear is far less dangerous...

You can replace the entire rear differential and suspension mount assembly with stiffer lighter aluminum pieces... While your at it... stick with the lighter R-180 and hack off all the unused mounting tabs... loose the heavy front mount and chuck the assestor strap hardware in the trash.. Use an alternate style top mount... Ron Tyler mount... loose the spare tire well and the heavy fuel tank.. replace with an aluminum can and sheeting...

aluminum brake calipers vs the cast iron anchors from the Landcruisers... Lightweight race rotors with aluminum hats... aluminum hubs, aluminum steering knuckles, tubular tie rods, tubular TC rods, aluminum control arms, lighter coilover springs, aluminum strut top assys, You can grind off quite a bit of material from the spindle forgings(between the caliper mount ears, and all the way around the circumference for the backing plate... Tubular sway bar with aluminum arms and lightweight end links... That is all unsprung weight... most of it can be had from Arizona Z-car... http://www.arizonazcar.com/ ... I would have used a lightweight racing ball joint in the CNC control arms.. and toss out the heavy Datsun ball joint... Also for really anal engineers.. mounting the calipers as low as possible on the spindles(clocked around to 5 or 7 o'clock to keep center of gravity as low as possible... Reinforcing the chassis will add some weight back.. but most of it will be low in the car...

lol... why don't you just put a 2-stroke in it then... IIRC... the rotarys are not light.. they are compact but dense

Adding the "bump steer" roll center spacers puts the steering arm close to the tires... The short arms are 10mm shorter IIRC.. it was in the description from MSA a while back...

Yes it is the Opera S-2000