johnc

Jeez. I just wasted an hour looking at stuff there. Added to my favorites, thanks.

Exactly. There are lots of other Z related sites for social activity and you should probably join a local club.

Normally I keep my mouth shut... Right now BetaMotorsports (me) is only vendor making real carbon fiber hoods and hatches for the S30 and hoods for the S130. Raceon and other vendors sell a fiberglass hood with a layer of carbon fiber on top. A BetaMotorsports carbon fiber hood for the S30 weighs 5 to 6 lbs. Our fiberglass hood weighs 12 to 15 lbs. A typical fake carbon fiber hood weighs more then our fiberglass hood. We also sell a real carbon fiber rear hatch skin that comes in under 3lbs while a full carbon fiber hatch weighs around 5 lbs. Our fiberglass rear hatch weighs 12 to 15 lbs. You can save 85 lbs over the stock steel parts by installing a real carbon fiber hood and hatch.

Why are you designing for failure?

http://www.wolfcreekracing.com/wcrcvhalfshaftaxlekit.pdf

Yup.

Maybe rethink the weak link plan? Snapping a halfshaft is never good and I've seen them jamb in the LCA and cause a big, lurid spin. They also tend to take out the brake line.

I sell FG rear hatches too: http://www.betamotorsports.com

Sgt. Schultz?

155mm

You don't like the screech of the scraper or the buzz of the wire wheel?

Not me. I do use ear plugs to reduce the noise level and I do keep a stereo running at a medium volume in the shop, but playing music through headphones would mask too much noise. You need to hear what's going on when you're cutting, grinding, sanding, welding, etc. Sound gives you important information about what's going on.

Its a custom installation because there are many different types of fuel cells - from full FIA certified road race cells to cheap blow-mold plastic cells from Summit. Each type requires a different kind of mounting and some require rubber fuel line hose connections and other require AN fittings. You need to be much more specific regarding your intended use, what your budget is, etc. Think this through a bit more and spend more time searching.

http://www.duckyimports.com/servlet/Detail?no=5

My on-line one is here: http://www.betamotorsports.com/legal/main.php

BTW... you need to get him under control immediately and set his expectations. Be very explicit in your discussions and make sure he is explicit in what he wants you to do and for how much. Don't try to work a "deal" with him and don't feel guilty about charging for your time. Give him an honest, good faith estimate but make it clear that every time he adds an item it will cost him an hour of your time to add that item to the project and provide him with an updated estimate and project schedule. Above all, be ready to walk away before this project starts if you have any worries or feelings of dread. A project like this is a relationship between you and your customer. If its bad at the start, it will only get worse.

I'll do you a favor and estimate the work. 20-40 hours on the phone with customer - 40 hours Track down most all parts needed to do the build - 20 hours. install 350 seats - 12 hours. install 2 new rear view mirrors - 4 hours. stereo system - 6 hours. complete polly suspension system front and rear and steering - 16 hours. struts and springs - 24 hours. take car for new tires - 2 hours. trans and rear mount - 8 hours. new shifter boots - 2 hours. toyota brake upgrade with stainless lines - 16 hours. rebuild rear brakes - 4 hours. mount 240z rear bumper - 2 hours. re-key all door and hatch locks - 4 hours. door seals - 2 hours. quarter glass seals inners and outers - 4 hours. disassemble and reassemble turbo motor with all new external parts and some new internal - 40 hours. remove old motor and trans - 2 hours. install new motor and trans - 4 hours. mount intercooler - 12 hours. build and install IC pipes and hoses - 14 hours. clean and paint under hood and engine compartment. It has undercoating all over it - 18 hours. install new 3" exhaust system - 6 hours. mod new exhaust for wastegate dump - 4 hours. install and tune MSD setup - 12 hours. build fuel system complete front to rear - 8 hours. custom add on injector setup and tuning - 4 hours. tune and install all electronics for new motor setup - 12 hours. Detail the entire setup - 8 hours. Drive the car from Knoxville TN to Orlando to deliver and fly home - 8 hours. Pretty close to 330 hours of labor. Figure 6 hours of work each day and you've got at least two months to get the work done if everything goes right and the parts arrive on time. And this is just estimate and a low one at that. Things will go wrong.

Yes.

There's an old racer trick for when the rules don't allow any additional mounting points. Make the main hoop a bit wide for the car and then weld two loops at the bottom on the inside of each leg. Put a come-a-long between the legs hooked to the loops and pull the legs in enough to slide the bar in place. Remove the come-a-long and let the bar press hard against the sides of the car. Make sure the plates are all in place and everything's ready to weld.

You should buy two sticks of tubing (each "stick" is 18 to 22 feet long). That's the cheapest per foot rate. Extra tubing will come in handy for future projects. Pay the bender guy for one hour of his time at his normal rate. You'll get a main hoop that's bent well and all in the same plane. If a shop is busy its not worth their time to stop what they are doing and setup for four bends to get paid for 24 minutes of work. Most likely they will ask you to go somewhere else. And that whopping profit from being paid for one's hour's work and only spending 24 minutes on it doesn't go far toward's the shop owners retirement. We are not getting rich doing this.

Probably the best resource for rod end and spherical bearing informaiton: http://nhbb.com/assets/pdfs/catalog/AstroCat_2.pdf http://nhbb.com/assets/pdfs/catalog/AstroEng_2.pdf http://nhbb.com/assets/pdfs/catalog/Racing.pdf The angle listed in the McMaster-Carr catalog is the total angle so if they list a 35 degree angle that means 17.5 degrees off of center in any direction. A more common way of stating the angle is "misalignment" which is the degrees off from dead center. You probably need to rethink your design if you're looking for a rod end with 20 degrees of misalignment. NHBB does make some high misalignment rod ends but they typically are COM10 or less in size and they go to, at most, 25 degrees of misalignment.

Look for the GL5 rating. Should be fine.

This thread is now an official "Internet Engineering Masturbation Exercise." Keep stroking boys...

Go to http://www.dmv.ca.gov and find out.

What I did years ago was very carefully mark a 180" x 96" x 2" grid on my garage floor. I then carefully made adjustable mounts that bolted to the chassis at the suspension mounting points out of 1.5" .120" wall tubing. The car was positioned over the grid on these mounts and a contractor's laser and plumb bobs were used to shoot straight lines across the grid to measure things.