johnc

+1

BTW... I sell the Illumina shocks for a pretty reasonable price.

That's a Tokico part number so its probably the lowering spring from the HP Advanced Handling Kit. The spring rate is around 140 lb. in. If you go with the Arizona Z Car rear OEM springs you'll be getting a spring rate around 200 lb. in. That should cut your squat in half. Adding in a set of adjustable Tokico Illuminas will let your stiffen the rear the reduce the rate of squat so the car will stay up through most of the first 60'. By doing this and not changing the front springs and shocks, the car will tend to oversteer on corners. If what you're building is a mostly and drag car and you don't drive fast on the street, then its not ann issue. Otherwise, I suggest you get the complete spring kit from Arizona Z Car (185F 200R) and a complete set of Illuminas. The adjustability of the shocks will give you a way to tune front lift and rear squat - at least a little bit.

FYI... I didn't mean to imply that all cheap springs are bad. Just be careful and if you can test them before putting them on the car, you'll be better off in the long run. Aslo, be aware that cheap springs will take a set so when you test them, test them at least 3 times and use the last tested numbers as the rate. One nice thing about Hypercoils is that they individually test them at the factory and then a person scribes the spring rate on the ground end of the spring. When they leave the factory within 1% of rate specified. If you test them later (even a decade later) and they are 2% or more off the factory rate, they will send you a new spring.

While a great idea in theory, it sometimes doesn't work out well in practice. For example, a customer brought me a set of 4 "silver" springs purchased from Summit Racing for $150 total. When I installed these springs and adjusted the ride height the lower spring perches were off by as much as 1.125" side-to-side. I pulled the springs off and tested them. One 250 lb. in. spring initially tested at 272 lb. in. and then settled down to 268 lb. in. then next two times. The other started at 241 lb. in. and settled at 236 lb. in. That's a 12.8% difference between the two springs. The difference between the 225 lb. in. springs was 10.7%. If you were drag racing and running the "250" lb. in. springs in the rear there would be a 12.8% difference in how each side of the car squats under acceleration. You would spend a lot of time trying to tune the launch around this difference and it would be confusing if you didn't know what the problem was. If you were running the 225 springs up front and happened to put the soft spring on the same side and the soft rear spring, you would be pulling your hair out! Its even worse if you're trying to tune a road race car with this kind of spring rate difference.

Total squat is controlled by spring rate. You would want to increase your rear spring rate without affecting your current ride rear height. We need to know: 1. The spring rate of the springs currently installed on the rear of your car. 2. What is the uninstalled height of the springs currently installed on the rear of your car. 3. How many inches of squat you're seeing now on a good, hard launch. From this we can calculate a new spring rate and height and see what's available.

As I've done in the past, you need to weld it bolted on the block, starting from the pan rail up (down). Its a frickin' pain and I understand why Don Oldenberg charged a lot of money for the Nissan Motorsprots racing oil pan.

You'll need to make a carboard template of the top of the dash and use that to determine where and how much to cut. If you cut a "U" shaped section out of the dash with the open end of the "U" facing the A piller and the front downtube, you should be able to angle the dash into position either through the windshield opening or from inside the car. Remove the steering column and all the HVAC stuff first. Keep wondering...

And when loading heavy items, keep in mind the clearance needed for the lifting device. Getting an engine on a lower shelf with a cherry picker means you'll need at least 18" of clearance above the engine.

You're not full of crap, but make sure all these measurements are made with you in the driver's seat. And some perspective: If any of the autocross Gods drove your car the way it is now vs. you driving it the way you'll have it setup with the four different spring rates... you'll be slower. If making these changes reduces the amount of seat time in your car, you'll be slower (compared to them) longer.

And me: http://www.betamotorsports.com

I like the little rear facing scoops on the hood.

There is a lot of discussion behind the scenes regarding banning people. Its not really done on a whim unless something needs to be done immediately to protect the members and the site (porn, spam, racism, personal attacks, etc.) Some argue that there's too much discussion, some argue there's not enough - but that's all part of the discussion.

Shocks control transitional behavior. They can slow down the squat but ultimately the car will squat "X" amount based on the load transfer to the rear and the rear spring rate. On a drag car you get the most load transfer at launch and less as the rate of acceleration drops over distance. The question is: are you trying to control the rate of squat, total squat, or both?

Buy the Mitchell books.

Per the old IMSA rules. Cars had to appear to be current model vehicles so when the 260Z came out, the 240Z guys added the 260Z rear valance.

In a pinch at a race track I JB welded my throttle body on the intake manifold (weld was cracking). It lasted the weekend but I removed it and properly welded the part. JB Weld's max temperature is 500 degrees but that's for a one time hit. Continuous exposure to temps over 300 degrees will cause it to degrade over time. If you ever want to go back and weld the part, ALL the JB Weld needs to be removed and that includes any of the epoxy that soaked into the pores of the aluminum. I had to cut away about .083" of material on both parts to get to clean aluminum for welding.

I thought the Frissell car sold in 2007?

Just buy a set of "spinner" wheels, weld studs onto the outer spinner, mount a wheel and tire combo and you're set.

What do you get when a Datsun, a Camaro, and a Harley get drunk and have a threesome?

Angles have some power now with Hunter in the outfield. If Mathews Jr., Hunter, Gurerro, and Anderson stay healthy they should have a pretty deep middle of the order. As a group they can produce 90+ homers a year and 250+ RBIs. The Angels should also still be able to play a lot of small ball with Figgins, Kendrick, and Kotchman in the lineup. In the AL West it will be the Mariners vs. the Angels. I'll be at all of those matchups at Angels Stadium.

I would be scared to noodle in waters that have fish that would see me as bait. Imaging sticking your hand in the mouth of any of the three fish above and having it clamp down.

You're really going to have to make up your own mind on which car to pick from. I suggest you look at a lot of 240Zs over the next month or two and do a lot of research here and on http://www.classiczcars.com and http://www.zcar.com. You can spend from $50 to $35,000 on a 240Z so your budget will most likely determine the condition of the car you purchase.

Diff temp on a race car is a measurement like barometric pressure to a sailboat. Its important, but a minute to minute measurement is useless. Anyone every get the old sailing joke pulled on them, "You there, go and check the barometer every two minutes and let me know if it goes up or down."

142 mph in turn 8 at Willow Springs (Big Track). Calculated by gearing and the big yellow shift light coming on in the middle of the corner - scared me the first time it happened. For those that may not know what the car was: http://www.betamotorsports.com/products/rod4sale.html