Guest Anonymous Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 Alright, so it seems that I had my wheel offsets mixed up, so my 15x6.5 wheels with a +25 offset will be needing wheel spacers. After doing a bit of reading here and there, it seems that wheel spacers are kosher and there would be no problem running them. Now here is my question Can I make my own spacers (have access to mill and lathe)? Should I make em out of aluminum or steel? Would any old aluminum work? What ID/OD should these be, and what thread should the holes be tapped? As for thickness, I was thinking of setting things up (at the front at least) so as to minimize the scrub radius/kingpin offset to ease steering/bearing loads and reduce vibration. I want to compensate for the fact that the car has been lowered and I am running wider tires. Has anybody done this before? What is the stock kingpin inclination on a Z car anyway? Are there any adverse effects to doing this? Perhaps Mike, Terry, or Ross can give us some insight on the matter.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 lathe...... aluminum...... match your rims for OD. i use 6" billet normally.... make SURE that they are FLAT. use a runout guage and true the stock in the chuck.. its easy to have a perfect flat piece thats not perfectly the same (ie it tapers- thus wobbles)must be less than .004 runout . or you will feel it. dont use threaded ones. IMO for a small spacer just use longer studs and use a regular spacer - not a adapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Thanks Mike, so what about using the spacers to minimize the scrub radius/kingpin offset? Would I be better off reducing that to a near stock level to compensate for the fact that I've altered the suspension geometry? (ride height, roll center, and tire width) Or are there any disadvantages to doing so? I've done a bit of reading lately on Suspension tuning, and its given me a few ideas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAZU Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 IMO, king pin inclination of z is too big and caster is too little. Bad steerng feel. I will make offset adaptors between ball joint and strut (as you can find it on pic @zdriver.com). Then strut top mount should be moved 'outside' to compensate the negative camber. Then there will be smaller kingpin inclination.. Also, negative offset wheels should be (can be) fitted. Regards, Kazu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Interesting, where in Zdriver is it? Couldn't find it.. Also do you have a bigger pic? This one is too small, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 For anyone who can access an old Datsun 240K sedan, their hubs fit the 240/260 and give about 10mm more out spacing. In other words, fitting 240K hubs gives the same result as fitting about 10mm spacers on the stock hub. And you don't have to fit longer wheel studs. My tip for the week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAZU Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Hydra, the pic is from car of the month of Jun. 2000, no bigger pic, unfortunately. IMO, the suspension of original 240z (Macferson struts both front and rear) was designed for Safari rally. Terry wrote how bad the front alignment of 240z is. Terry's modification He solved the problem by increasing the caster angle by relocating the ball joint foward. King pin inclenation also affects the dynamic camber change. The offset adaptor, you may see in the pic, can change camber, caster and trail in the same time, if designed carefully. Increasing the caster just by inclining the struts rearward causes too much trail resulted in heavy steering effort. The adaptor plate can solve this problem by offsetting the wheel spindle rearward. Regards, Kazu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Adkins Posted December 7, 2001 Share Posted December 7, 2001 Kazu, The Terry you mentioned in your post is "blueovalz" on this board.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAZU Posted December 7, 2001 Share Posted December 7, 2001 John, I know Anyway, thank you telling me about it. Blueovalz, I apologize if it is rude that I wrote by your first name. I don't know much about the netiquette in this country.. Regards, Kazu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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