240Z Chassis prep / reinforcements

[Kurai]

+1 Im getting alot of great info out of this and will def be put to use, just need some clarity on what some of these things are like the seat mounts....Definately great info here tho

[NZeder]

7. That's a brace from the mustache bar mounts to the outer ends of the horizontal brace going across the back of the diff.

Is like the pic attached? The red lines is this what you mean (ripped pic from the internet - it was the best I could find showing this area)

10. You're idea works.

Yes that what I thought - take some of the flex out and hidden in side the fender and not in the engine bay for a street car.

Edited May 5, 2010 by NZeder

[JMortensen]

Is like the pic attached? The red lines is this what you mean (ripped pic from the internet - it was the best I could find showing this area)

 

Yes that what I thought - take some of the flex out and hidden in side the fender and not in the engine bay for a street car.

Not sold on this mod. If you have bushings in the mustache bar (even poly), wouldn't they flex and make the added bar basically useless? If you could isolate the brace from the bushings great, but I don't see a good way to do that. If the mustache bar was mounted with aluminum instead of bushings, then I see this working a lot better.

[johnc]

Not sold on this mod. If you have bushings in the mustache bar (even poly), wouldn't they flex and make the added bar basically useless? If you could isolate the brace from the bushings great, but I don't see a good way to do that. If the mustache bar was mounted with aluminum instead of bushings, then I see this working a lot better.

 

Ideally the additional tansverse link brace as pictured above would mount between the mustache bar (MB) and the chassis. A .083" wall tube whose ID is greater then the OD of the round ends of the MB, notched to clear the bar itself, one end closed with a hole to slip over the mounting studs would work as the chassis mount. This mount could be welded to the chassis or held in place the the MB mounting itself.

[johnc]

John,

 

this is a very interesting thread.

 

I know your the king of modifications and pictures and documenting everything.. can you post up some pictures or describe in a bit more detail on reinforcing the firewall?!

 

It would take me a while to search through my pics, upload them, and then post the links. None of this is rocket science and if you look at the areas mentioned and think about the loads involved it should be pretty easy to figure out what should be done. As you can see from NZeder's post there is more then one way to solve these problems.

[junglist]

I just did tubular seat mounts with some DOM and 1/8" thick spreader plates that I cut holes into for the DOM to fit perfectly into on the ends, and man are they SOLID! Welded the spreader plates to the car and then the DOM to the spreader plates. Soooo much better than the stock seat mounts.

[Kurai]

I just did tubular seat mounts with some DOM and 1/8" thick spreader plates that I cut holes into for the DOM to fit perfectly into on the ends, and man are they SOLID! Welded the spreader plates to the car and then the DOM to the spreader plates. Soooo much better than the stock seat mounts.

 

Any pics?

[johnc]

Any pics?

 

You're starting to get irritating.

[Kurai]

lol sry not trying to get irritating just wondering if he had any pics of the finished product to give me a idea of what is gonna be required to be made.

 

Im just trying to learn here man.....

[proxlamus©]

pictures are worth a 1000 words..

 

sometimes all it takes is a picture and it saves a lot of typing and is a superb visual for everyone to learn from

[NZeder]

pictures are worth a 1000 words..

 

sometimes all it takes is a picture and it saves a lot of typing and is a superb visual for everyone to learn from

I agree that is why I tried to put a pic together - I have a very very large white board at work for just such a purpose. Us IT/IS people love pictures.

[tube80z]

Is like the pic attached? The red lines is this what you mean (ripped pic from the internet - it was the best I could find showing this area)

 

Yes that what I thought - take some of the flex out and hidden in side the fender and not in the engine bay for a street car.

 

Here's an example from a friends car.

[bjhines]

Here is a picture of a street roll bar.

 

 

 

Also... Seam welding is a *****. This is why race car builders order unpainted raw shells. Seam sealer and undercoating are hateful things.

Edited May 6, 2010 by bjhines

[johndaniel.b.coffin]

I too agree with having pictures showing what people are talking about. I was wondering about a few things mentioned as well. Now that I have seen some pictures, I fully understand. 98% of us ask because we really have no idea. I understand that some (2%) probably get aggravated when we ask for something so trivial, But its not to piss anybody off. Its usually because we seek the knowledge of the professional. So, thanks for the vast know how and sharing it with us common folk that seek automotive racing genius.

[johnc]

Isn't it important in teaching to get the students to think about the problem and come up with a solution? Posting a picture here doesn't "teach" anything. No learning involved, its just "monkey-see, monkey-do." Might as well just put it in a spoon and stick it in your mouth.

 

Again, take the time and look at the areas on your car in the list I posted above and THINK about the loads involved.

[johndaniel.b.coffin]

Isn't it important in teaching to get the students to think about the problem and come up with a solution? Posting a picture here doesn't "teach" anything. No learning involved, its just "monkey-see, monkey-do." Might as well just put it in a spoon and stick it in your mouth.

 

Again, take the time and look at the areas on your car in the list I posted above and THINK about the loads involved.

 

You are correct sir. I along with Kurai am in Afghanistan, So being able to go crawl under our cars is a luxury that we just don't have. When I get back to the states, I plan on spending as much time in and under my Z as realistically possible. In the mean time pictures will have to suffice. Again, I will apologize for my ignorance in trying to obtain a visual reference.

Edited May 6, 2010 by johndaniel.b.coffin

[proxlamus©]

Isn't it important in teaching to get the students to think about the problem and come up with a solution? Posting a picture here doesn't "teach" anything. No learning involved, its just "monkey-see, monkey-do." Might as well just put it in a spoon and stick it in your mouth.

 

Again, take the time and look at the areas on your car in the list I posted above and THINK about the loads involved.

 

 

John,

Teaching in school requires 2 basic things.. a professional who has the knowledge in the material being taught and a professional who can properly explain the material in a way that everyone can understand. An effective text book will have a textual description followed by some sort of graphic. (Picture, diagram, chart, graph, etc)Visually this is how people learn. Its a very effective way of observing and understanding the information.

 

After looking at the pictures posted in this forum, I have learned a wealth of information that quite frankly, I wouldn't have been able to without the use of an excellent visual. Imagination is something that can be poorly misinterpreted.

[JMortensen]

After looking at the pictures posted in this forum, I have learned a wealth of information that quite frankly, I wouldn't have been able to without the use of an excellent visual. Imagination is something that can be poorly misinterpreted.

In John's defense, the other guy could look at pictures on the site too. This is not a new topic and has really been covered in a lot of detail in the past few years. Lots of pictures and descriptions here to choose from, even in the stickies on this forum. There should still be some requirement of the members to use the search function and do some looking for the answers themselves. It helps keep posts like this about a subject that has been covered in detail from devolving into a "I need pictures" "So go search for, find and look at some pictures" argument.

 

My retired admin $.02.

Edited May 6, 2010 by JMortensen

[johnc]

Again, I will apologize for my ignorance in trying to obtain a visual reference.

 

No need to apologize for any of this. Most of the folks on this site like to figure things out, otherwise why would they got through the pain and frustration of modifying these rusty old cars.

[junglist]

Any pics?

 

Only this crappy camera phone one. The rear stock mounts are still there, strengthened by seam welding them to the floor and we put a 1" wide x 1/4" thick flat stock bar across them welded & bolted to the stock mounts. You can kinda see the spreader plate on the tunnel of the front seat mount.

 

The rear flat bar is not welded and finished in this picture and the overhang area was trimmed off before welding. The rear mounts had to have the bar so that we could mount the seats inboard enough to clear the door since the Sparco seats we are running are 23.8" wide at the widest.

 

Edit: You can also see my frankenstein floor patches where the stock front mount is, reused most of the stock floors because there was only a few rust areas. They aren't restoration quality but they are in there very solid and have Bad Dogs underneath.

Edited May 6, 2010 by junglist