johnc

Shoot, since an ITS 240Z with my fat butt in the seat can't make the minimum weight, maytbe a 280Z is now an option.

Cam braggadocio: "If you ain't duratin' at 300, you ain't s**t!"

The one that is has been more accurately measured, cleaned, machined, and assembled. The one that the owner spent more time on making sure all the parts matched up properly. The one that the owner assembled, checked, disassembled, adjusted, assembled, checked, disassembled, fixed, assembled, etc. The one where the owner spent 8 hours getting the cam timing exactly right. The one where the owner spent 4 hours adjusting the valves. The one where the owner spent 1 hour properly breaking in the cam on startup. Basically, the engine that the owner cared more about and spent the time to do it right instead of just throwing parts. BTW... doing it right can get you 208hp at the crank on a 2.4L engine using the stock cam, valves, pistons, rods, crank, untouched head, SUs, etc.

Temperature shouldn't affect start but you might get some condensation (water) affecting the weld. If possible, try and warm the metal up to about 60 degrees.

You have an older welder without a high frequency option. To get the arc started you can try one of two things: Lift Start Touch the electrode to the work, hit the pedal and lift up about 1/8". Scratch Start Hit the pedal with the electrode about 1/16" from the work then scratch it lightly across the surface for about 1/8" and then lift up 1/8" Both techniques above require practice. And yes, there's a big difference between an older sine wave machine like you have and one with a square wave power supply.

I don't know where you got your information about welding Ti, but its all wrong. I've welded Ti many times and: 1. It does not become magnetic when welding current is applied. 2. You can weld Ti using GTAW, GMAW, Friction, Resistance, Laser, and Electron Bean processes. 3. And only the Metastable beta alloys (Ti-3Al-13V-11Cr, Ti-11.5Mo-6Zr-4.5Sn, Ti-8Mo-8V-2Fe-3Al, Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn, and Ti-3Al-8V-6Cr-4Zr-4Mo) need post weld treatment. Try these resources: http://www.timet.com/fab-p27.htm http://www.stainless-steel-world.net/titanium/welding.asp http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article28.htm

Misunderstood my reply. I agreed with his statement above and the metal sleeve remains after heating and pushing out the rubber bushing.

Yup. Heat the metal around the bushing and push it out with a length of pipe.

They threw away a lot more then cranks.

If nothing is broken or misaligned, I don't think the suspension is moving forward very much. I think what you're seeing is the normal suspension movement and the tire contact is the result of the large rear slick. Looking at the gap between the tire and the rear wheel well doesn't look that far forward. How tall is your rear tire? Look at the picture below of my old 240Z with the left rear fully compressed with 25.2" tall tires. It appears that the gap between the tire and the rear wheel well is about the same as on your car.

It sounds like your neighbor is being up front about the situation and is talking with you first instead of just going straight to the association. Talk with him and work out a compromise. Maybe grinding only on the weekends. BTW... what kind of work are you doing on the Z that requires hours of grinding?

It is well worth it, although you will need to resist the temptation to solve every fastening problem with welding. The first time you weld something in the house and end up burning a hole in the carpet will be the last time your wife lets you buy any more tools.

Moving the LCA inner pivot laterally would do as you've described if the LCA inner pivot was rotated to match the new LCA arc. If you moved it towards the outside of the car you would create a semi-trailing arm and if you moved it to the inside of the car you would create a semi-leading arm. Both would introduce more toe change as the wheel moved through its arc of travel and it would most likely add lateral load to the strut. If the LCA pivot itself remained oriented perpendicular to the vehicle centerline while the LCA moves in an arc that is not perpendicular to the vehicle centerline you would basically have the same situation as now although you you probably have a much different camber curve and proabably introduce more bind at the TC rod pivot and the LCA pivot bushing.

You can usually tell by looking. Unpolished 6AL-4V looks like steel with a light charcoal/brown color. Should be non-magnetic. Also, check the retainers for some type of coating or treatment. AL or steel retainers will gall Ti so some type of coating is needed (most likely cad). BTW... Delwest also sells stainless and steel valves. http://www.delwestusa.com

Unless you have a lot of experience racing on dirt, I would leave the engine alone and spend money on track time to do testing and chassis setup. I would also spend money on driver training and coaching. He who gets on the gas sooner and stays on the gas longer wins the race. I saw Steve Kinser at LVMS show up for a fun demostration race with a midget and beat a whole field of amateur drivers running 360 cars.

Its like shooting a deer with a 155mm howitzer instead of a .30-06.

I added some more pictures on my Goldenrod web pages: http://www.betamotorsports.com/benchracing/GoldenrodRestoration-1.html

Good to hear. I began bugging the V8 Z guys years ago and its nice to see someone carrying the flag.

Finished up the control arms and now I'm wire brushing bunches of nuts and bolts. All the bolt heads have "SUPERTANIUM ALLOY" in raised letters along the edge of the bolt heads with TV screen shaped symbol in the centers. I got curious, did some research, and found that these were SAE Grade 10 and 12 bolts used until SAE eliminated grades above 8 in 1970 due to hydrogen embrittlement failures. They are also still available so I ordered a catalog. Supposedly these things have 200,000 psi tensile (Grade 10) and 280,000 psi tensile (Grade 12) strength. Grade 8 typically has a rating about 170,000 psi tensile.

That's one of the ones I don't have a good relationship with.

Rick White driving Wayne Mellow's 944T at Thunderhill.

Yes, a V8 powerd 240Z can be made to turn but I have yet to see one on a track keep up with a SCCA ITS prepared 200 hp 240Z. That has nothing to do with the potential of a V8 240Z and everything to do with the desired goals of folks doing V8 swaps. It takes a lot of money and time to properly prepare, setup, and tune a dedicated track car and very few people want to build a single purpose car.

There are a couple that I have a poor relationship with. Funny how over the years you develop a relationship with race tracks and even certain parts of a race track. When Cal Club repaved Buttonwillow they pretty much eliminated the FIA curbing in the esses. The esses were no fun anymore because you could just straddle the curbs and let the belly pan on the SRF take the hit. Used to scare the crap out of the rest of the sports racers during practice because they thought us SRF guys were wrecking, but then here we come back across the track to straddle the other curbs. I guess they received a bunch of complaints because a few months later the curbs were back and stood proud. I spun a couple times going through there trying to figure out exactly how hard I could hit them and I certainly wasn't the only one.

Good part and I've started to change my mind a little bit regarding stock rear LCAs vs. these tubular style. One of the isssues high horsepower 240Zs face is getting the power down. Anything we can do to make sure the rear suspension stays located properly and reduce friction or bind will help. I recently looked at the rear LCAs I ran on my old 320hp track 240Z and noticed that the sheet metal plate spanning the two stamped U shamped arms had popped a couple spot welds. I know they were fine when I first put the car back together in 2002 so my guess is that 35 hours of track time started to fatigue these parts. I haven't seen this problem on lower powered (ITS) 240Zs so I bet the combination of horsepower, 275 width tires, and the constant curb hopping the Penskes allowed probably took their toll.

Flying Miata has a writeup of a battle between a 320hp Datsun 240Z and a 350hp Mazda Miata (2003 OTC). Guess which car won? http://www.flyinmiata.com/projects/OTC/default.asp