johnc

FYI... Dan's taking the site down tomorrow AM to move the database to another server.

You should be good.

No point in worrying about it now. If any damage was done having your friends muck about the engine will only make things worse. Let it wait until you get back.

No way. Lots of folks ahead of you in the list and they've been very patient.

With a fixed upper spring perch you'll often get that kind of wear on the threaded collar. Adding a Torrington bearing and two races to the bottom spring perch helps a bit. Otherwise, just plan on replacing the threaded collar every couple years. Despite the looks its not that big a deal.

1. Buy the factory service manaul. 2. Buy Wick Humbles "How to Restore your Datsun Z." 3. Read.

Ignore what people are posting here. Read up: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CARS/RULES/IMPORT/

I'll just shut it off. No reason to ban you.

Yes. But I say that in the context of autocross and track use. On the street you can run lower the lower adjustment numbers but the spring won't be as controlled.

Is he running those spring rates on a S30?

The Illuminas rebound valving is limited to spring rates of 275 lb. in. or less. Ideally you need to say under 250 to be able to use some of the adjustability in the shock.

What Dr. said. Its important to level the car (use the top surface of the rocker panels and the top surface of the rear bulkhead or a bar across the top of the strut towers) first before running the plumb bobs down to the ground. A laser that shoots a horizontal and vertical plane helps a lot. Also, don't let your dog in the shop when you're doing this as he will want to play with the plumb bobs.

Are you referring to corner balancing or front/rear handling balance? If the former, the car has problems if toe changes affect corner weights. if the latter - well... what I'm describing is how you set the car up initially so everything is square. What happens later depends on driver feel and lap times. Asymmetric setups are pretty common for specific tracks.

FYI... in the Smart Strings example above your initial setup should be to the wheel hubs, not a wheel and tire assembly. Later you can check against the wheel and tire but only after centering the front steering and locking it down. For those that want to learn the basic concept of stringing your car, the Smart Strings owner's manual is great: http://www.smartracingproducts.com/pdfdocs/011410_smartstrings_manual.pdf

No, its more then that. Thrust angle is the direction the car travels in relation to the vehicle centerline. You can have perfect toe numbers front and rear and the car can still crab. Incorrect thrust angle increases rolling resistance, creates asymetric handling behavior, affects tire temps, creates bind in the struts, and increases tire and suspension wear. Setting the rear thrust angle is a pretty important thing to do on a S30. The first things is to make sure the rear LCAs are perpendicular to the vehicle centerline at ride height and a couple inches up and down from ride height. Once that's established you can set rear toe. For the front its important to make sure the front LCAs move through the same arc and remain perpendicular to the vehicle centerline at ride height and for a couple inches above and below. Its also important to center the steering rack within its range of travel and then lock it down while toe is set.

E85 should solve all of these compression problems.

The kits sold by MSA and others all use generic Chinese 8.8 bolts. As you can see, they are inadequate. When I install bumpsteer spacer kits on customer cars I toss the bolts and install known (Wurth, Fabory, etc.) 10.9 bolts. You're lucky the ears on the strut didn't snap off. I've see that happen.

Two 1 1/4" square .125" wall five foot long steel tubes welded to a 3" round tube that's welded to a palte that bolts to the rear wheel hub. I don't have them here (someone borrowed them a couple months ago) to take a picture. I bolt them to the wheel hub with the long bars pointing forward, level them, and the measure to a vertical point under the sill pate to make sure the thrust angle is correct. It was a quick way to check at the track. In the shop I just string the car.

Longacre tow plates, Smart camber gauge, homemade thrust angle bars, jack stands, fishing line, plumb bobs, laser level, and a couple tape measures.

Time for a multi-disk setup. I had the same problem and trashed a crank. Went to a double disc and got more clamping power with less spring pressure.

Will be announced publicly at the PRI show. Basically 2 degrees of freedom and some separation of camber change in ride and roll: 100%+ camber recovery in roll with no camber change in ride. Mark Ortiz discusses it here: Here's the patent: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?IA=US2009040033&DISPLAY=STATUS

None.

I think you can do a vent behind the front wheels which can accomplish the same thing if you make a nice fender liner. Just box against the battery tray.

Front wheel wells are a low pressure area and you can enhance that with fender top vents (as in the C5R pictured above) and dive places/wide front spoiler sides (as in the C5R and the 350Z pictures above). Once you turn that area into a very low pressure area then it can be used an exhaust location for the radiator or (more commonly) for front diffusers. You only need so much flow through the radiator at speed. A wild ass guess on my part would be that two 8" ducts, one to each front wheel well would be enough.

Let's do the math: 60,000 miles / 3,000 = 20 oil changes. 20 oil changes * $30 each = $600.00 Rebuilt engine = $$2,500.00 $2,500.00 - $600.00 = $1,900.00 this genius lost.