johnc

FYI... SCCA EP rules limit valve lift to .500 with no limit on duration all the while using slightly modified stock SUs. These 2.4L engines make 250hp and more at the crank on a 12 to 1 CR. I even know of one of these engines, with a sight drop in CR, being run on the street here in SoCal. He tends to irritate a lot of Honda folks, especially when they see the SUs and no forced induction.

I won't comment on your design but just tacking 18mm (almost 3/4") plates won't stop distortion once you start apply beads. The tacks themselves, if strong enough to limit distortion, would cause distortion themselves. You will need to clamp the parts in place while welding and as the part cools to maintain the accuracy you need for an upright. You diagram above is correct in how I described how to prep the parts before welding. I got the information from an American Welding Society steel plate welding specification.

For those in SoCal: http://www.abamex.com/051306/VillageBlacksmith.html

You didn't mention what kind of MIG welder you are using. The type of transfer will determine joint preparation requirements for welding steel plate that thick. Your welder most likely uses short circuit (short arc) arc transfer which is not recommended for the thickness material you're planning to weld. To get around this limitation you will need to bevel the inside of the fillet. Put a 45 degree bevel on the plate butting up against the other plate. Leave a 1/4"root unbeveled. Don't bevel the backside of the filler, just do a face pass over it when you're all done. Try to complete the weld with two or three passes and you're going to have to do something to control distortion of the part.

I don't know what the listing means. All I can relate is that I've shipped probably half a dozen L6 engines and the shpping weight for a long block, on a pallet, and crated with 1/4" plywood is pretty much right at 500 lbs.

Add 80 lbs. to that L28 listing if you are including the 5 speed. The 523 lb. number looks correct for a complete engine based on a typical 490 lb. shipping weight for a long block (which includes the weight of a pallet and crating.)

Yup, less horsepower loss with U-joints but they are limited in the angles they can operate at.

The head in the picture (on the engine, not the girl) looks like a round port head. Are you sure its a N42 head?

If you relocate the pivots and raise it up a bit you might find out how how nice they really are.

What kind of ride height are you planning?

A fully prepped SCCA S2 240Z runs in BSP, the Miatas run in CSP. Raw times are pretty close. On a race track ITS 240Zs are always faster then ITA or ITS Miatas.

This site IS a dictatorship. Its NOT a democracy. The admins and moderators run it AS THEY SEE FIT! Take your free speech arguements somewhere else. What about this don't you understand? We didn't agree with your posting and it was summarily deleted. Keep it up Norm and you will have to return to your ZCAR.COM sandbox.

You shouldn't be concerned until you double the stock horsepower and do drag race launches or road race the car every month for a couple seasons.

As said above, use various sized wire wheels to get most of the seam sealer off then wipe it down with Acetone. I avoid chemical strippers because some remains behind and I would be afraid to breath the fumes when welding. For seams that you know you're going to have a problem with, I make the weld bead in 3 parts: 1. Put a bead below the seam (on the panel that the seam is on - the single layer of sheet metal). Do this for all the welds in the suspect area. 2. Put a bead on top of the seam. Do this for all the welds in the suspect area. 3. Wire brush with a wheel between the all the beads in the suspect area. 4. WIpe the area with Acetone. 5. Put a third bead between and connecting the two you just laid. Do this for all the welds in the suspect area.

Here's why its important to set ride height using something other then the wheel wells: Above is a front picture of the ROD, arguably one of the better handling 240Zs. Notice how the passenger side front fender and headlight bucket is lower then the driver's side. Although the chassis, frame rails, strut towers, rockers, etc. were straight, the car hit a wall in its previous life on the passenger front corner. The front inner fender sheet metal and upper frame horn from the strut tower to the radiator support was pushed down and wrinkled. It was repaired enough to get the front frame rail correct and the strut tower where is was supposed to be. Using the wheel well to measure ride height would make the passenger side of the car 1.33" too high and really affect the corner weights and balance. By measuring and adjusting ride height from the rockers the car had cross weights within a few pounds. The passenger front looked a little droopy but the car handled well.

Even assuming perfect manufacturing quality, these are 30+ year old cars and most have been in some kind of accident over the years. Body shops shim front fenders to get the doors to line up, rear 1/4 panels stretch from body work, and replacement fenders and 1/4 panels are not exactly the same as OEM nor are they correctly aligned before welding.

Get the car out of the shop now! A customer had his NSX at a shop when the cops showed up and arrested the owner - a day after they searched and seized some documents. The shop was locked down and the car owners had to prove the cars were their property and not stolen. Unfortunately for my customer, his engine was out of the car and he had no documents to prove that engine was his. He had to have his car towed and he never recovered the engine. The cops and the DA claimed the engine was stolen property.

Use the bottom of the rocker panels for ride height measurements. The wheel wells can vary as much as 1" side to side on a 240Z.

Hope the surgery fixes things.

That might be a cool engine for my street 240Z. I might have some stuff I would trade for it.

I was thinking the the units sold by Hyperco might be of some benefit reducing stiction in the strut suspension on a 240Z. I was wrong. Erik Messley made a phone call to the inventor and patent holder of the hydraulic spring perch:

You can still buy most of the OEM nuts and bolts for the 240Z from Nissan. Its especially easy if you want to buy more then individual fasteners. Some dealer parts departments are pricks and won't give you the time of day. Others are glad to help if you give them the part numbers (you do have the Z microfiche CD right?) If you don't want to go that route, shop at an industrial hardware store (no True Vale, Ace, etc.). Grade 10.9 is fine for all suspension and driveline components. Although I haven't purchased from these guys, I've heard good things about them: http://www.ultimategarage.com/hmhdwre.html

As Keith and I posted above, there have been a number of camber plates that use the monoball to take the vertical loads from the springs. All the racing applications of the ones I have seen have to have the monoball replaced frequently. Monoballs are not designed to take big side loads so the inner lining fails first causing the ball to bang in the race which either: 1. Further damamges the monball. 2. Pounds out the mounting area in the camber plate. 3. Busts out the snap ring holding the monoball in place. As long as you are willing to frequently inspect and replace the monoball as soon as there's any sign of lining failure, they should work fine.

That's nuts. I paid $850 to get my customer's car blasted at OC Sandblasting.

Did you go to DRS or Superior?