johnc

And don't use 1/2" thick steel. You're not stopping a 747.

C'mon dude! That's such a BS statement. How many 400K Chevy and Ford pickup truck engines can I find in a quick Internet search? How long a particular engine lasts has much much more to do with how its cared for over its life then the basic design. I know of three 1900's hot air engines that have over 500,000 hours of continuous operation in oil fields near Taft California. Geez man...

I guess that covers it.

No sub forum. Build your car the way you want.

You're assuming we want more members. HybridZ is not a business and we haven't sold it out to Internet Brands, although Dan gets offers pretty much every month. The ad revenue from Google is just fine with the membership we have and is enough to keep the site running. We are not interested in growth. Often we feel that having more members is a negative. For everyone: This site has a huge emphasis on performance, why else would someone throw a SBC into a rusty old piece of Japanese tin? You can slam your S30 all you want but if it doesn't perform, it can't be driven at speed, and is basically a garage ornament, then you won't get much respect here. If its important for you, the car builder, to earn the respect of HybridZ, then you have to build your car to perform as a car. But, if a car as art is what you enjoy, why do you care if you earn our respect? There are dozens of other sites on the Internet that will give you mad props for a slammed ride done well. There are individuals on this site that will also give you mad props and they might be someone you least expect. But, HybridZ as a whole is dedicated to performance, not art.

You don't need preload on the springs for a S30. Pull the shock boot out of the Megan unit and adjust the ride height so 2" of shock shaft is showing above the top of the shock and before the bump stop. Tighten your two lock nuts down at that point. That's as low as you can run the car on the street and still have a decent amount of bump travel.

Get taller springs if you want to run preload.

Exactly. If you're designed "function" for your S30 is art, then you're on the wrong site. Ratsun.net is a better place. S30s were designed as cars and function well in that role.

Ageed.

FYI... I wont sell the bracket for street driven car. Too much liability.

I've flagged the last couple MotoGP races at Laguna Seca and the race director tells the flaggers, over the radio, when and what corners to show the blue flags. As a flagger you can only make decisions on yellow and debris flags. In all other cases you're told what and when to display. AMA leaves it all up to the corner workers. They tell the race director what's up and what flags to display including the red flag. They call other corners to ask for standing yellows, warn of a blue flag condition, and can have riders black flagged.

I want the white storm trooper suit. No if I can figure out how the modify my Shoei RF1100 into a storm trooper helmet.

Part of correcting some of our database size issues.

I was disagreeing with the above statement. I was not implying that we can make the S30 into a supercar. Although, my racing 240Z with the Penske 8760 triple adjustables was described as having a ride like "little cat feet" by more then on person. And that was with 350 and 375 lb. in. springs. It was very noisy, but had a supple ride. I stand by my statement that the S30 can be made to ride well and pull over 1G lateral. And Rick Johnson (of Nissan NVH fame) has proven you can get Camry like quietness out of a S30 with a 383 SBC installed. The issue is that few, if any people are willing to put in the hundreds of hours needed to accomplish this. Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.

Nope. If you spend money, real money, on the the shocks you can have a reasonably good ride and greater then 1G lateral acceleration. Custom valved Bilstiens or Konis will do the trick for from 200 to 350 per corner.

Database size problems. Dan is working on it.

I don't look at it exactly that way. Increasing track width at one axle doesn't cause something to happen at the other axle. Again, in a simplistic way of looking at it, increasing track width increases overall grip by reducing weight transfer. It has the same effect as lowering the CG. Increasing front track increases grip at the front. Increasing rear track increases grip at the rear. If your car has a tendency to understeer, increasing front track will reduce that tendency. If your car has a tendency to oversteer, increasing rear track will reduce that tendency. I don't think about reducing track width unless I'm at some kind of limit (rules, mechanical) and its the only way to restore some balance to the chassis. For the S30 we tend to run more front track width as an easy way to reduce some on the built-in understeer in the chassis and help turn-in. We also run into mechanical limits (fenders) in the back regarding rear track width.

Actually, increasing track width reduces the load on the outside tire. The further the tires are from the CG the less affect the CG moment arm has on them. A simplified version of the weight transfer calculation is: Weight transfer = (Lateral acceleration x Weight x Height of CG ) / Track Width. The wider the track width, the lower the weight transfer.

Search in the Fabrication section. There are a couple topics covering exactly what you're asking.

Since it was an open practice the FA drivers I talked with said they slowed down when approaching us SRF drivers because were so slow and our sports racers were such tanks. They still were 20 seconds a lap faster then us at WSIR and almost 30 seconds a lap faster at Buttonwillow. I remember one passing me on the outside of turn 8 at WSIR and he was at least 40 mph faster then me (I was topped out at about 125) and he waved to me as he went by.

FYI... When I raced Spec Racer Fords back in the day, Friday open practices had us and the Formula Atlantics on the track at the same time. That's exactly what happened to me lap after lap. You spend a LOT of time looking in your mirrors before each corner, at corner exit, and any time you think about moving off the racing line.

S30s typically ground to the chassis (firewall) from a second, smaller wire off the negative battery cable.

I would have had a talk with the Lotus driver after the session.

Generator power is also pretty dirty. TIG welders like steady, consistent power output.