Zeddophile

I've been using an arc welder for panels lately..... With a Tig torch attached to it

LMAO at the typo in the heading - perhaps a Freudian slip? Good to hear the car survived the drive (dive?)...

That's shocking....

I use Penrite Sin brake fluid, costs me about $12 at trade price, and haven't had any issues with it.

We have a winner! Lol.

So, who's going to ask the obvious question...

I assume you've checked the obvious, being tyre pressures? A couple of PSI can make a huge difference on non P/S cars. Try running around 35-36 PSI if you aren't already (assuming road tyres)... A wheel alignment may also help, increasing castor on an Alfetta definitely makes the steering lighter, even on 225 race tyres... An increase in negative camber may also help, given that it will reduce the tyre contact patch. Too much negative camber will make it heavy again though... However, while all this seems to make my Alfetta steering reasonably light, Zed front ends are completely different design, and may want different setups...

Forgot about this one - Snap-On don't do the older style like I have anymore, only the type that Katokid showed pictures of. Which looks like it should work very well, and possibly won't hole right through both panels like my one does with its pilot drill...

I would have thought the Brembos off an R32 or R33 skyline (GTR?) would have been the obvious answer... I've got 4 pot Brembos off an Integra Type R on my Alfa, inside 16" wheels, and they take the same brake pads as the Skyline Brembos. From what I've seen (fitted a few sets of calipers to race cars lately), most of the Brembo calipers are pretty much the same, regardless of whether they were originally fitted to an Alfa 147 GTA, Mitsubishi Evo, etc etc. The discs I'm using are 305mm, don't think I could go any bigger with the wheels I have. The clearance on the inside of the wheels is always the biggest factor. They may all be 16 inch, but the inside shape and dimensions can vary hugely. Whilst trial fitting some 305mm discs up for someone the other day, we tried about 6 different 15inch wheels over some AP racing calipers, none of which fitted without needing about an inch of spacing out. Then someone dug out the ugliest wheel we'd ever seen, but the bloody thing cleared no problems...

I don't think a lot of 240's had hazard light switches, and I doubt it would be required for roadworthy? If they weren't fitted as standard, why should you have to add one? Vicroads VSI26 (april 2009, may have been revised since, but doubt they'd change this bit), while not relevant to you up there, says that "Hazard warning lamps are required on certain licensed buses and late model vehicles.." That's all they say, so at least down here hazard lights on a Zed aren't required (IMO)....

Its a bit hard to say, without seeing more of the race. On the face of it, with the fairly agressive blocking being done by the Corsa, and the angle you get, it looks deliberate. Looking at it closer though, I reckon the Corsa may have known he was actually faster through the corner (would love to see how he took the same corner earlier in the race), but didn't have the grunt to keep in front over the finish line. And with the 370 on that line, if the Corsa could turn in and crossover right behind the 370 he would have had a much better exit speed, possibly enough to carry him over the finish line in front. Great plan, until he misjudged how much the 370 was braking. If you watch just before the hit, the 370 comes flying past till its actually completely in front, then brakes hard and drops back a little to have its back corner alongside the Corsa again, just as the Corsa tips it in. Corsa probably thought he'd be on the inside line before the 370 could get on the brakes... The 370 from incar certainly looked a bit dicey, hard to see the track very well, but he certainly looked a chance to end up in the grass on his own with the speed he was doing on a bad line. Whether it would have copped as much damage, who knows.

Again, depends on your struts (and possibly your tyre size, depending on where the clearance issue is). And don't forget, backspace still won't tell you how much clearance you have to the guard at the outside edge of the wheel Personally, I see no reason to use backspace over offset for calculating your theoretical clearance, the important thing is to understand what the two measurements mean, how they differ to each other, and what effect increasing rim width will have with relation to them. And the ultimate test is to actually try and fit the wheel you've selected. Rim widths are not usually measured to the very outside edge of the rim, they measure to the outside of the vertical surfaces at the edge of the rim (the part the tyre pushes against the back of when inflated). The horizontal lips can be different sizes depending on manufacturer and style, likewise two tyres of the same size from different manufacturers can actually be different sizes. Hmmm.... I wonder if anyone has written a calculator like the Miata.net tyre calculator, but for rim widths and offsets? *edit* The answer is yes http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp Gives a bunch of notes down the bottom on the effects of the wheel and tyre sizes you've chosen versus the original. Won't let you select too wide a rim for a tyre, so if like me you are trying to enter a 195 tyre on a 10 inch rim, and wondering why it won't work properly

I just added a bit more while you were reading it - the last paragraph is new, it explains backspace which I suspect you may have been confusing with offset. Incidentally, given any two out of backspace, width and offset, you can work out the other, if you wanted. Probably only useful if looking at American wheels though, as they seem to be the only ones who still use backspace instead of offset.

Its been asked a few times, and the big factor in it all is what struts does your car have? There are 3? different struts, all of which have different limitations on rim size. There is more information on the struts and which widths/offsets will clear in the big sticky thread at the top of this section (240Z & 260Z Wheel/Tyre Options, Offset, Backspace). Original offset may well be +20, but remember this (I think you may be getting confused with backspace, more on that at the bottom): Offset is a measurement which specifies the location of the mounting face of the wheel (the part in contact with the hub when you fit the wheel) with respect to the centreline of the wheel. Positive offset means the mounting face is outboard of the wheel centreline (effectively pushing the rim's edges inwards to the centre of the car), and negative offset obviously means the mounting face is inboard of the centreline (rim edges move outwards). With that in mind, assume you have a 14x6 with +25 offset, and a 14x10 with +25 offset. In this situation, your rim now sticks out an extra 2 inches either side (as in, the outer face is now 2 inches closer to the outside of the car, and the inner face is also 2 inches closer to the centre of the car. If you now change the 14x10 to have 0 offset (approx 1 inch less), you now have a rim that sticks out 3 inches more on the outside of the car, and 1 inch more on the inside of the car (compared to the 14x6 we started with). Getting the right offset is a juggling act which involves change in rim width, clearance to the strut and body on the inside, and guard clearance on the outside. When you start playing with rim widths, original offsets have no use other than as a reference point to calculate where the new wheel will end up from what you currently have on the car. Backspace, however, is somewhat more useful in respect to zeds. It specifies the distance of the mounting face away from the BACK EDGE of the rim. Lets pretend now that we have a 14x6 with a backspace of 4 inches, and a 14x10 also with a backspace of 4 inches. The back edge of the rim stays in exactly the same place with respect to the car (the hub that the wheel bolts to hasn't moved, has it!), and all the 4 inches of extra rim width protrudes toward the outside of the car. For the sake of completeness, let's now change the 14x10 to have 6 inches of backspace. Now your rim sticks out 2 inches to the outside of the car, and 2 inches to the inside. Clear as mud?

Only with an LSD. Shouldn't really have much effect on an open diff, but LSD's tend to wear out the clutch packs faster than they would otherwise, since they are always slipping a little (instead of only slipping in corners) in that situation. Not that I'm encouraging different size tyres left to right, silly idea anyway (handling effects mostly).

I've found that type to have very fragile teeth on it, it seems to be very easy to break them off. I bought a solid type one from Snap-on, which has a small drill bit (replaceable) in the end of it, and that lasted for ages, until a mate borrowed it and managed to break it Can't find the same one on the Snap-On website, they have a different type on there that doesn't use a pilot drill Snap-on comes past tomorrow, will see if I can find out if they still do the other ones (can't remember if mine has been replaced or not now!)

I think I still have two window winders, one window roller thingo, and a passenger footrest kicking around (all out of 260Z 2 seater.) Not very helpful, I guess!

Not possible to cable tie the weights into place so they can't advance the timing? Thats all I did with my Rangie dizzy to give timing control to the ECU.... Or do you only want to limit the advance, not remove it completely?

Correct on both counts, to the best of my memory. Definitely don't need the two auto cooler lines, but only have a vague recollection of a vacuum hose needing blocking off.

Have you checked out the MS Extra code version which is available for both MS1 and MS2? Adds many many features to both. I'm running fuel and (dizzy based) spark on an MS1 in my V8 Rangie, and fuel and spark (wasted spark with coil on plug) with an MS2 on my V6 Alfa. Both are running versions of the MSextra code. Memory tells me MS2 Extra accepts VSS inputs, but I stand to be corrected - its something that hasn't interested me. As for MS3, to be honest I haven't checked it out. MS2 with extra code gives me more than enough for what I need in any situation so far, and the MS3 is considerably more expensive. Some cool features, but getting to a price point where it needs to compete with comparable aftermarket ECUs. As far as DIY Autotune go, never dealt with them, but as you say, they are active on the MS sites, and very supportive to users. I would imagine they would also be excellent to deal with, just that I bought my first kit from Glensgarage, and it arrived very quickly, hassle free at one of the cheapest prices at the time. Hence I continue to use them.

http://www.glensgarage.com/catalog/index.php http://www.megamanual.com/mtabcon.htm http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms1extra/MS_Extra_Manual_Index.htm

Depends on whether you want the car original or not, I guess.... Either option is good, although new lines will likely be the more expensive option (unless you get ripped by the plater), simply due to the amount of metres you need. Plus you need fittings for the ends, do you destroy your old brake lines, or find something else? Are you or someone you know any good at doing double flares? If not, add on the cost of having the ends flared. The flipside is, fresh lines are generally much easier to bend and run, and can be done very neatly, whereas original lines tend to be rock hard, and have funny wiggles all over the place (partly from being removed and refitted). Hard to put them back even as neatly as they came out, let alone any better. Ring up a Better Brakes (the one in Bayswater definitely has the hard line for brakes) and ask them how much it costs per metre - I really can't remember how much it costs! That should help you work it out...

That sort of crap drives you mad.... My epic fail is not something I did... Cleaning up the milling machine I bought, and sorting a few small issues - I fired up the electric powerfeed (which had been put on just before I picked the machine up, as the old one was cactus), and ran the table across - it hit the limit switch and kept going. Fortunately I was quick enough to hit the off switch before any damage was done, it just slid the adjustable bracket around a bit. But as far as I'm concerned, for a sparky to wire in a new powerfeed and NOT check that the switches which automatically turn it off at the end of its travel work is an epic fail...

Heh - yeah, I'd tend to agree with that. Apart from the very poor design that some of their cages have, the fitting could best be described as 'rough'. A 4 inch slot cut in the dash to fit a 40mm bar is not really necessary... Unfortunately, Mark at Eastern Race Fab has now moved on to other things, which is a great pity. Did very nice cages for a very reasonable price - nice solid 6 point cage was about $3000. He may start doing them again at some stage in the future, but not at the moment. Fabraications in Braeside I've heard decent noises about, but haven't checked out one of his cages in person, and I'm fairly sure he's quite a bit more expensive. Meridian Motorsport I believe also do acceptable work, but at perhaps an unacceptable price. Maybe I should invest in a bender, steal some of Marks' knowledge, and put my TIG to yet more use.... Just because I'm not busy enough trying to keep up with my own to-do lists Completely off topic for a moment, Lurch you Smeeeee....... heeeeeee...... How long has Kryten been your avatar? LMAO.

The rims are wider than the tyres..... 8 inches = 203mm, 8.5 inches = 216mm. I think you'd get away with it, but it's not ideal - why do you want skinny tyres on such wide rims? For clearance I suppose.