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johnc

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Posts posted by johnc

  1. I wore out a set of rear struts in a similar way (25,000 track and autocorss miles).  Over time, with large lateral loads, the hub ovals a bit and the bearing moves in the hub.  I tested it and found an inner bearing that took a little more then hand pressure to install spun from its original position in the hub.  1/8 of a turn or 200 turns, I couldnt tell. Suddenly getting end play out of spec when it was in spec before is a clue. I used Loctite Green (Bearing Lock) and it worked for a year but then the end play went out of spec again.  I replaced the rear struts.

     

    And you must have a heavy, hardened washer under the stub axle lock nut.  Without it you will bottom the threads before hitting the preload or end play numbers.

  2. The trick to not twisting the chassis is to tack weld the rear sections in first (both sides) while shooting a last down the chassis to make sure they point toward the center of the front rail structure at the TC rod mount.  Then tack weld the front sections in place (both sides) again using the laser for alignment.  Then weld the front and rear sections together.  Now you can do the full stich/seam welding of the frame rails to the car, alternating sides of the car, front to back, and inner/outer edges of the rails for each weld.  If you get the rails welded together straight while tacked to the car, the stich/seam welding will not affect the chassis alignment if you alternate where you weld.  The won't overpower the rocker panels, closed doors, or the roof structure. 

  3. A responsive, low PMOI car can do things quicker (turn in, braking, accelerating) because it takes less time to transfer weight. These are tiny time differences compared to a high PMOI car but those differences add up with 12 turns and 20 laps. It also makes the car more difficult to drive and requires greater concentration and consistency from the driver. Setup issues are also magnified.

  4. "Uses to charge"

    What do you charge now?

     

     

    I work as a fabricator in a Porsche shop since I sold Betamotorsports in April.  I'm only doing work on a few leftover customers.  We are way too expensive for the Datsun world.  Its simple economics.  We have 22 cars backed up and each car has at least $10,000 worth of work waiting to get done with most over $25,000 in parts and labor.  It would be silly to pull a tech off any job to bill $800 for a day's work.  The estimate 9rider got above is very reasonable if the work is done well.

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  5. I'm a SCCA National Scrutineer and do annual techs on about two dozen cars a year. Two years ago a guy made an appointment for me to do a new annual (detailed inspection, issue the logbook , etc.) on his ITS 240z.

     

    He shows up and gets kinda flustered when he sees the 240zs in the shop that I'm working on. Asks me if he can reschedule which is odd because he was pushing me to get the appointment ASAP. I convince him to go ahead.

     

    He openes the hood and I look at the engine. L28 with 2" SUs on a 1972 240z. I say nothing, go thoroughly the complete tech with him telling me how great a racer and fabricator he is. I stamp the serial number on the roll cage and then fill out his log book (picture and everything.)

     

    I then proceed to fill out two pages in the log book with everything illegal on the (there was a lot) and note that all of this had be fixed before he races with SCCA in the ITS class. He was pissed. Boy was he pissed. Spit on the ground in front of me pissed. Told him "have a nice day and Ill see you at the track - or not."

     

    I heard from an Arizona region tech that he towed the car there to get an annual but they wouldn't do it because he couldn't produce the log book that matched his newly stamped roll cage serial number. He also tried the same in the SFR regional with a newly ground and painted roll cage but the word was out then.

  6. Taka Ano, before his drifting successes, was a very good autocrosser and he ran a turbo MR2 in ASP.  He and I would swap cars (my 240Z ran in BSP) on practice days for fun.  His MR2 would come around in an instant if you were doing something wrong when the boost came on.  I could never really master it.  Conversly, Taka couldn't stand my 240Z and how slow it turned in and how much work it took to get the back end out (in comparison to his MR2).  I know why Taka went big in the drift world.

  7. 60 grit 1.5" drum sander on an extension rod. You'll need about 3 per strut tube and set aside a couple hours. And pray that the strut is welded straight otherwise you'll never get the Konis in. You can also sand the powder coating off the Koni shock and check the weld at the bottom of the shock. Sometimes there's a little extra where the weld finishes that hangs up the install.

  8. Make sure all the components in the steering and suspension are in good shape. The S30 has a lot of bump steer at either end of the front suspensions range of travel. If your car is lowered to where the front LCAs are parallel to the ground you're in that high bump steer zone. Vertically adjustable tie rod ends are the easy fix. You can also raise the steering rack (much harder to do). Relocating the inner mount for the LCA helps.

  9. We just picked up a '62 single cab pickup as a shop truck.  We have looked a the Subie swap but we can do a 180hp Type 4 and 5 speed for about $3500 all in.  That's plenty for a drum braked bus chassis.  You have to do a lot of work to the brakes and suspension to run 300hp in this chassis.

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