johnc

Add a short gusset bar from the front header bar to the side hoop past the bend at the top front of the door.

Drill a 11mm hole in the floor pan, weld a 10mm x 1.5p nut to a large washer, weld the washer and nut over the hole in the pan, add a 10mm x 1.5p jamb nut to a 10mm x 1.5p x 50mm bolt, screw the bolt into the welded nut, set to the proper height, and tighten down the jamb nut. Maybe glue a bit of rubber to the bolt head.

Putting tension or compression into a STB is not a good idea. Without some way of measuring and comparing each side of the car you don't know if one side is moving more then the other and introducing asymetry (assuming there's none to begin with). BTW... tightening an adjsutable STB to about 15 ft. lbs. is not enough to move the strut towers.

Move your battery from the right front to the right rear. That will help your cross weights which are off just a little bit.

You need a lug centric spacer. Also, with 25mm you'll need longer wheel studs.

The Borla will be the closest in sound to an open pipe.

Buy it!

One thing people sometimes forgot is that if your car rolls, the fuel cell mounting system needs to handle 100+ pounds of cell and fuel in an inverted position. That also assumes no additional g loads from the rolling impacts. I just removed a fuel cell from a customer's car that was held in place by 4 sheet metal screws. If that car had rolled the fuel cell would have come loose and rolled around in the cabin with the people.

Its only as precise as you make it. If you've got shaky hands, you'll have shaky cuts unless you setup a fence or a fixture. There is also a little bit of slag to deal with after the cut. Don't let the marketing hype fool you. They make cleaner and nicer cuts then a flame cutter but they are not as nice as a saw cut. You also need very dry compressed air or the plasma stream will wander and quickly consume tips and nozzles and give a less accurate cut. I've been using a Lincoln ProCut 55 for 5 years and its good for things like this:

Or maybe it was a Z afficianado checking for rust. Not everyone is a crimminal.

I ran 16 x10s with 5.5" of backspace and 275/45-16 tires. With a 6" ride height and 3" of bump travel I needed to cut the wheel wells and flare the car. Also needed to run 2.25" OD coil overs and a 1/8" spacer on the rear with a 3/4" spacer on the front.

Another point to make regarding recommended rim widths for tires... The recommended rim widths published by tire manufacturers are based on a DOT formula that emphazies safety. If you talk with the race tire guys (Jeff Speer at Hoosier, Rudy at Kumho) they have very specific recommendations for best performance. Rim width should be equal to or 1/2" wider then actual, measured tread width. Ignore the published numbers (275, 245, etc.) and look at the actual tread width. For example: Hoosier 245/30-18 A6S06 has an actual tread width of 9". For best performace out of that tire it should be mounted on a 9 or 9 1/2" wide wheel. Sumitomo 245/40-17 HTR-Z has an actual tread width of 8 1/4". For best performance out of that tire it should be mounted on a 8 or 8 1/2" wide wheel. That's not to say either tire will suck on a narrower or wider wheel. They will still perform but a little (or a lot) of the tires capabilites will be unavailable.

Regarding wheel width and tire fitment... Almost all race sanctioning bodies use rim width limitations as one way to equalize performance between cars. That's why you often see racers running wide tires on narrow rims (225s on 7" rims in SCCA IT, 285s on 8" rims in SCCA Solo2 BS). Its not the best thing to do, but it gives a little better performance then a proper sized rim and tire combination, given the rim width limits. Bart, since you're competing in an unrestricted class, run as wide a rim and tire combination as you can given your self imposed stock wheel well limit. IMHO, some of the gyrations you will have to go through to get the 275 to fit in the rear will compromise autocross performance. But, for the next year or so, those gyrations won't have a negative affect on your course times.

Are you measuring your oil temps before or after the cooler? Given the horsepower numbers and size of the oil cooler you're running, 285 going into the cooler isn't bad if it stabilizes there. A bigger cooler would help. I ran a 12 x 12 stacked plate oil cooler on my L6 when it made around 300hp and the oil temps would stabilize around 250 running at WSIR.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. 1. Park the car on a level surface. 2. Disconnect front and rear anti-roll bars. 3. Measure and adjust the ride height making sure the car is level laterally. 4. Install the STBs without any tension or compression. 5. Rinstall the anti-roll bars making sure not to add any preload. Or, like 99.9% of the people who install these, just bolt them on.

There is no such thing anyway.

+1 Protege'. Echo's are dependable and cheap to drive, but there is nothing fun or enjoyable about them.

I'm betting over $125K...

Often when you start thinking your ♥♥♥♥ don't stink... I'm been doing some repair work on a 1941 Stearman biplane 52 gallon all sheet aluminum fuel tank. It was welded way back when using a oxy torch and the welds are impressive as hell. I'm using a Lincoln Precision TIG 275 and (I'm not proud to say) I cannot duplicate the quality of the welds done 66 years ago using a flame. Absolutely beautiful work.

Happens all the time. A friends hot rod shop is being paid tens of thousands of dollars redoing a bunch of work on a Barry White built car. Little things like coil over springs rubbing through stainless brake lines. Then there are the myriads of stories regarding Coddington cars.

Most people weld with too low a heat setting, fearing burn through. Turning up the heat will solve most of the problems you list above. Try going up one step from what's recommended in the manual that came with your welder, but be prepared to adjust the wire feed. Adjust your gas flow so that you're seeing 30 SCFH when welding.

Kids, adults, old codgers... Owning a shop and knowing the kinds of stupid things I've done with tools and equipment I've paid for myself I just cringe thinking about someone coming in and using a lathe, plasma cutter, cutoff wheel, etc. who has no clue on what they are doing. If you have some process in place to "audition" potential customers, that will help reduce the damage and injuries.

Having experienced a broken right stub axle in a 90 mph left hand turn, I can assure everyone that regardless of what keeps the stub axle/wheel/tire "approximately" in place, having your rear wheel toe change randomly and having that wheel lock up intermittently will make you crap your pants as you try to keep the car out of the dirt. Yes, a broken rear stub axle on a race car can be fatal.

Hire? Is someone getting paid?

New Admins/Mods tend to take the time to Tool Shed threads. Old Admins/Mods just delete the damn things.