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Re Zerorust. I used that and it seems to work great on the floorboards and engine bay BUT it chips really really bad when exposed to flying debris such as in the wheel wells. And yes I used the primer powder stuff they sell for it.

 

I've had good luck with real hammerite. I put it on with a roller and it holds up pretty well.

 

Cary

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Yeah it seems good for interior and engine bay it just chips easily in the wheel wells. I also found out to make sure you seam seal everything first as rust grows quick between plates if they are painted only.

What makes you think there isn't rust under the seam sealer? My car had tons of rust in the seams (even the ones with factory seam sealer. That's why I'm going to oil the frame rails when I'm done...

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Yeah Jon there is rust hidden inside but it starts to show visible orange rust at the seams if you dont seam seal it.. I would paint first or primer or somehow coat the bare metal then seam seal then paint the seams again.

 

Thanks Cary maybe Ill try the Hammerite to recoat the wheel wells

 

Cameron

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IMO POR 15 is qwite a bit more durable i painted some rusty pices with zero rust, POR 15 and the stuff you can get from eastwood. Banged them around other scrap metal pelted them with rocks from my lawnmower left them outside for about a mounth and POR15 coating looked better than evrything elce. So thats what im going to use. BTW thanks for all the R&D for my cadge, im trying hard to resist, but i think im going to end up doing a full teardown and blast like you did.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Update,

Some old floor pans pics...post-1760-081747100 1330108927_thumb.jpgpost-1760-031463600 1330108930_thumb.jpgpost-1760-042852600 1330108932_thumb.jpgpost-1760-080198400 1330108933_thumb.jpg

 

Repainted and seam sealed...

 

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Suspension Stuff, stripped, painted and installed...I did relocate the LCA pivot point up by about 3/4" I think and slotted the engine mount holes in the crossmember.

All suspension components have hyperflex energy bushings installed as well.

 

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And now the brake stuff...Typical 4x4 S12W vented rotors with z31 hubs up front and Q45 hubs in the back. Honda odysee Studs up front and ARP studs in the rear. (can give part numbers if needed) The front z31 hubs have the same inner and outer bearings as the s30 but they do use the dust seal from the z31 hub. Just slap the hub up there and run it on the spindle with the nut, dont bother trying to "hand" fit the hub to the spindle as it will take more effort.

I will be running a 1" wilwood master cylinder with a rear proportioning valve. I'm changing all my lines over to 3/8-24 threads as its easier to connect to the wilwood stuff instead of having a monstrosity of metric adapters. Also rebuilt the Steering rack with some speedi boots from advanced auto parts. They are universal botos and have to be cut to fit but they work great. I used generalpurpose lithium grease on all the rack componets.

 

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Question about the cage though. My welds dont encompass the entire tube at the mounting plate ebcause of the angle required. It's REALLY hard to get a MIG torch head in there. Im considering getting it TIG'd in that location before I paint it.

Could I leave it alone and spray some paint on it or should I be worried about the weld not going all the way around the tube? The joints on the cage were all Tig welded except for the mounting plates to the car and the bar to the plate joints.

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Any help would be appreciated.

 

Comments are welcome!

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SCCA, VARA and most clubs will require all joints to be fully welded. Some cut the roof off, others cut the floor out, finish all the welds and then put the car back together. I haven't done a full cage yet, so I'm not sure what would be easier or better. I'm leaning towards cutting the roof off at the "A" and "C" pillars. I suppose there are other ways to do this.

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There are other ways, like cutting access holes through fenders and door jambs for the torch.

 

I think in this case he's talking about the main hoop backstays, and I don't think that will work. That is a tight spot. Coffey would be able to tell you if you can tig it where it sits or if one of his adjustable mig tips would work. If none of that works, my solution would be to cut the backstays off, change them so they hit closer to the leading edge of the strut tower, and then you would have plenty of room for the torch on the underside there.

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All joints must be welded 360 degrees. You will fail tech with SCCA and NASA. Beg, borrow, or pay for a MIG welder and use a Tweco #3 gun with a flexible swan neck and .023 wire. You can get to those spots with that gun.

 

In the future, make sure all of your required tubes are completely welded before adding any optional tubes. The main hoop rear brace that is not completely welded is a required tube and is more important then the horizontal brace that attaches to it. Design your welded joints with complete 360 degree welding in mind.

 

Go to the FB BetaMotorsports page and look at how I did the recent M3 cage. I had to allow room between the cage elements to get that 360 degree weld and I had to hole saw the floor and drop the cage after tacking to get complete welds over the top.

 

Again, if you had welded the required tube first then you could have positioned the optional horizontal brace at the mounting plate or far enough above to allow complete welding of its junction with the required tube.

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  • 3 months later...

I haven't done an update in a while so heres my condolences annnnnd pictures :)

 

I've done a lot more than im posting tonight but heres to getting my updates going again. I welded the whole joint on the cage as per recommendations...looks like snot but its a solid weld, Im adding some pics of the car on the ground finally. Rear is way high and will be lowered but here ya go.

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And heres some of my exhaust pics. I got bored toying with the idea of having someone build my exhaust and the added cost, and what the heck I built my roll cage so why not try something as trivial as some exhaust tubing :)

So I made another journey to Summing Racing...If your are unfortunate enough as I am to live with in driving distance of one of these stores go ahead and send your apologies to the bank account...

 

I picked up the universal 2.5" mandrel bent tubing kit, a Narrow X-pipe, some collectors, hangers and clamps. I took my time placing everything up and started from the header flange and worked my way back little by little. I'm usually anal retentive about measuring 10 times and cutting once but I'm ready to drive this things already! I measured one...count it, yes one cut, and eyeballed the rest of em. I deburred all my cuts inside and out and made sure to have no blow through or mig whiskers in the tube after welding. I tacked everything in place before I pulled the whole system out for final welding.

 

 

 

I started off by cutting the flange off of the collector kit and welding it straight onto a peice of mandrel bend, Otherwise with the JTR headers it would have put the pipe too close to the oil pan. After that went into some 90 degree bends pointed toward the rear. A few very small bends were cut to point the straight pipe back. I wanted to keep good access to the oil filter and slave cylinder as well as keep the passengers side away from the starter as far as possible, but in doing so I may have sacrificed about 1/8"-1/4" ish ground clearance. I snaked both sides up above the transmission crossmember. 2.5" is TIGHT in the trans trunnel with a t-56 and straight x-member.

 

 

 

I added some shortened slip joints to the x-pipe and slipped it onto the pipe coming over the trans tunnel. After that I just added bends as needed to keep the pipe as hight and tight as possible all the way to the rear where have them mounted to some 2.25" summit mufflers (dont hate, they were on sale for $10 bucks a pop, too good to pass up simply to get it quiet enought to drive down the road). I added some angled tips made from 2.5" pipe but don't have any pics of those just yet.

 

 

 

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All in all im pretty happy with the way it turned out considering this is my first attempt at any of this stuff. I may need to re-work the front based on how much ground clearance I have when its on the ground but time will tell. It sounds much better than it did in my old truck! My old truck had 2.5" with long tube headers, an h-pipe and glasspacks with LOTS of dreaded drone! This system has a very airy sound to it with lots of tone in the rpm ranges. Not too mbad for some on sale summit mufflers :)

 

 

 

Let me know what you guys think.

Edited by redneck1545
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I am looking into putting a jegs 10point in my 280.  I am in the process of doing floor pans and make custom seat mounts for some Corbeau Forza seats so I can get them low.  My question is how much room is there in these cars with a halo bar?  Will I be able to drive the thing on the street without a helmet?  I am putting a turbo SBF in it and will need a cage to take it to the track.  

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There is not a lot of room for sure. My halo is right up next to the frame around the door and I had to move my seat towards the center otherwise my helmet would interfere and I couldn't hold my head up straight. You might be able to get the seat lower or maybe put the tube lower and bend it out a little farther, but there is a serious issue there either way.

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So do a 8 point and keep it under 10.00 is gonna be my best bet?  I don't wanna ruin the drivability of the car by having to wear a helmet to drive the sucker.  Will keep the car cheaper in the long run I guess.

 

My Chumpcar came out pretty good with an 8 point. The seats are thin racing buckets and they are touching the floor in the back. That way there is enough room to drive without a helmet.

 

Don't know how a pre-built cage would work though. My cage is custom and it was designed to hug the pillars and ceiling, like a max of 1/4" clearance and touching in several places.

Edited by Chris Duncan
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