Whittie

Well, started getting off topic in the other thread so thought I'd bring it here. Basically, I'm looking for 2 race seats for my zed rebuild. Budget is $1000 per seat, but I was looking at the sparco EVO at $1050 so would probably go to that. Really don't want to go over. At the moment I'm hearing good things and like the look of the Velo seats (at $800, they're cheap too!) Also some of the OMP offerings. The seat needs to fit around the roll cage, door and intrusion bar. The hoop was designed so that the top of the seat wont hit it, but the intrusion bar rubs on my current seat. The 'wings' on all the latest seat (look shit btw) seem to be the biggest issue with seats in these cars. The seat must be fiberglass and FIA approved. ADR not required. Preferably as light as possible (-8kg). The seats with the head supports would be awesome, but I doubt they'll fit. So, what have people got and how do they fit? Suggestions and reccomendations all welcome please!

Fairly sure, I told them how much lower I wanted the car to sit, that's for sure. I'd imagine they'd do something like: -Assume weight of car -calculate droop of new stiffness spring -work out how long spring would need to be to sit at original height -adjust length to sit at new height. It's pretty simple maths. You either know how much the spring you have is drooping (also need spring stiffness, being a King spring in the car made this easy, just give a part number) and calculate the car weight, or know the car weight, or just assume (1100kg divided by 4 would be a good start).

If you are going to buy Kings, then they can custom make springs to any size and stiffness that you want. I wanted lower and stiffer springs than the standard lowered king's. I simply told them what model numbre I had, how much lower I wanted them and how much stiffer. They worked it all out, manufactured them and delivered them in a week. They even give you a part number if you want to make another set up the same. Might be worth considering?

Split from Ledge's build thread, when talk turned to seats - Lurch. What seat is that? I'm looking for 2 new ones but having a hard time finding a nice one that fits around a cage!

Hi Gareth, That sounds like a great idea! Unfortunatly for me I didn't actually plan to buy lower control arms. I had the Derlin bushes and the guys at the suspension shop were telling me how great it would be to put heaps of caster into the control arms. They had a crack at it with the standard arms and when I found out what they'd done I flat out refused to drive the car. I then decided that I would just buy some lower control arms, and I've had great experience with TTT so bought theirs. I have found a solution though! I don't have a car or model but I do have a part number of a ball joint with a threaded section instead of a rod. The ball joint has the same taper, pitch and thread length as a Zed ball joint! Instant swap! I will be using that and some chromoly tubing to make custom tie-rods that will have the extra 40mm or more of thread that I need. I'm offshore at the moment but Dad has said he'll get in touch with Pedders to get the car the part comes off for people living internationally and when I've got that I'll post up the part number as well. Available over the shelf ball Joints from Pedders, some chromoly tube, two right threaded rack-end ball joints and some engineering. Maybe $200 total for rully customisable, EASY to make tie-rods for a zed, that don't require modifying the suspension at all, just getting a second (I think drivers side) rack end. How can you lose!

These are the TTT front arms, I don't know how long they are. You can see the photo in my post about 3 up with the TTT arm next to a standard arm, it's fairly long. The crossmember has also been modified to move the control arm mount up about 1 inch and outwards about the same amount. The struts are not pulled in at the top, hence the large 'kick-out' required by the control arms to get the angle on the wheels. With the control arms wound all the way in the car has 3.5 degrees neg camber. The wheels point straight with the tie-rods screwed in about 1 turn. To be safe a thread should have 1.5x thread width to be safe. For the 14mm threads this is 21mm. Then allow that I might want some more adjustment in the future and I might as well get another 40mm of thread purchase in case I need/want more neg camber in the future.

Cheers Zedman, I looked into the 280zx arms, and I already have two right hand thread ball joints for a standard z for the option I'm looking in to, but unfortunatelyt the 280zx tie-rods are only about 10mm longer where as I require about 50mm or more to have 1.5X thread width of arm screwed in and the wheels correctly aligned.... I really wasn't exaggerating when I said 6 degrees of toe-in, you could actually hear the wheels grinding when the car was moving!

27 June 2010 Well, I thought the last 8 day gap between updates was a long one, this one has been phenomenal. A few reasons for that, nothing less than enough setbacks to upset me enough that I couldn’t be bothered to work on the car at all for about 2 weeks. To inform you, the car has been sitting on blocks since just after the last update, about 3 weeks. I didn’t just miss the event that I was looking forward to, things REALLY hit the fan. Dad took the car to Wheels World in the morning after the front suspension was installed and in the afternoon I got the bad news, with the tie-rods wound all the way out the car has about 6 degrees of toe-in so I need new tie-rods... And standard replacement longer tie-rods don't exist... And nobody manufatures a ball joint with enough rotation that will work with standard suspensoin travel... Which means that I'm going to have to custom make something… And the front control arms don't clear the brakes properly and it's gouged a great big groove in the passenger side disc rotor.... That was brand new about 2 months ago... And then the car has had a bit of blow-by for a while and the mechanic rekons it needs a rebuild... And that the crank keyway is so badly destroyed from the harmonic balancer coming loose that I need a new crank..... Oh, and the harmonic balancer is out of round and is 'wobbling' so I need a new one of them, and the BMW solid gold super-dooper harmonic balancers are just super cheap.... And then this all means that I'm going to miss the next regularity round for the series. That I was winning... Right…. Fantastic…. Yup, good excuse for some time-off and a scotch or three in my opinion. But then, after some time off (about 3 weeks, as I said) I finally got stuck into things last weekend. Firstly, it seems I’ve found the limit with the front tie-rods and need to find a solution. In the last week I have spent a bit of time trying to find a solution for the tie-rod and think I have something. I’ll have an answer on Monday about possibly a, VERY SIMPLE, solution to the custom tie-rod issue and I’ll let you know how it goes. If it turns out to be a winner, this could turn the whole custom tie-rod issue on its head. Otherwise, on with other things, I got the radiator installed over the course of the last few weekends. It was a bit of a struggle trying to work out how to mount it, where to mount the fans and install all the wiring. Be prepared or an onslaught of pics, I got a bit carried away… The old radiator: weighing in at 11.5kg, it’s no light-weight. This is with the 16” fan mounted. In another thread I asked about where the thermo fans should be mounted, high, low or in the middle of the radiator. I did a test fit of the radiator with the fans on the engine side of the radiator and this was the result: Yup, don’t think that’s gonna work… I settled on installing the fans on the upstream side of the radiator. I think I fluked it and the fans miss fouling on the radiator mount by about 1cm, this was installed unmeasured, on all sides. I also forget about the mounting washers on the radiator that spread out the force of clamping the fans on. I tried to fit the second fan and the washers over-lapped. Thanks Murphy, now I get to pull the whole thing apart, modify all the mounts and try again. The final result, AMAZING. Weighing in at 6.5kg without fans, its also a fair sight lighter than the old radiator. The new fans weigh in at 2.5kg Give or take the accuracy of the scales and the extra volume (water weight) of the radiator and I would say that there is no weight saving in the new radiator, but with any luck it solves the over-heating. Side-by-side from the top, you can see the extra width and length of the ally radiator. And from the side you can see the extra height of the radiator, the extra size gives me confidence that the new radiator will keep the car cool for a change. All installed the radiator looks something like this: And from the front: So, that’s the latest for now. I head offshore again on Tuesday so the car won’t progress much for the next 3 weeks or so but hopefully I hear back about a ball joint that fits the zed without modification so I can mount the tie-rods and get the wheels pointing straight again.

30 May 2010 Well, a productive weekend after a few cruisy weeks. I got home on Thursday to find these on my desk: They are simply fantastic bits ok kit. Heavy as all hell, but just by looking at them you can tell they are simply indestructible! So, with nothing else to do this weekend (right...) I got stuck in to trying to fit them. In a typical story of a job on the Datsun supposed to take an hour or two it took me two DAYS to finish this one. Mid way through I took a moment to compare old vs new. However, at 7:30pm on Sunday, 30 minutes before grand prix start, I got it finished. The result: Amazing! Please excuse the oily engine; I have a leak at the rear of the tappet cover gasket and possibly a rear seal gone. Engine will be rebuilt sometime this year so at the moment it just means an oily drive way... Fine by me, but getting an ass kicking from dad! Next event for the car is next Saturday. I’m looking forward to seeing how the car goes with new suspension, new wheels and re-adjusted geometry. Also, my sister will be driving the car for the first time so probably a good thing I got the gearbox rebuilt and hopefully the new synchro’s keep it from munching itself... Over the next week I hope to get the new radiator fitted, finally. Keep posted!

I have a mixture of Stanley, Kincrome and Sidchrome (spelled all wrong I'm sure ). http://www.transquip.com.au/ have great specials and this is usually where I get my stuff from.

Those clearances sound about right. There is not 'perfect' setting when you start changing camshafts as everything starts changing. Make sure you set the clearances hot. The metal expands and will reduce clearances when it warms up. Start with an initial setting (the ones you say sound fine) and if it's rattly, tighten till it stops. If it's not rattly loosen till it rattles and then tighten till it stops. This is what I do and it works great.

I'd go with paint. I did all three sets of wheels with paint. First, polish the wheels by hand or machine. This can take HOURS depending on starting condition of wheels, but is worth it! Second, paint entire wheel the colour you want. Third, use thinners on a rag (dampen part of rag), use to remove paint from where you don't want it. Fourth, paint the entire wheel with clear lacquer to keep the polish from fading and the paint from chipping. Too easy!

I looked into buying these for my car about a year back. The reason they don't work, in my opinion, is that the Zed is fairly streemlined in the rear and the 'bump' and 'lip' of the gap between the hatch and roof and then the weather stripping probably do pretty much all the turbulence generation required. For vortex generators to make a difference you really need a steeper gradient change. Think of the Evo 8, the first vortex gen road car, and they have a steep transition from roof to rear window. Creating turbulence before this helps the air to stick to the car, reducing breakaway air and eddie generation. This is what drag is, creating eddies of air in low pressure pockets. By putting energy into the air before the sharp edge (Vortex generators. Energy comes in the form of drag) the turbulent air follows the line of the car. The purpose is that the drag from the vortex generators is LESS than the drag of the eddy currents. It would appear that due to the fact that Zed's don't have such a sharp transition at the rear that this equation doesn't work out. It would be interesting to get data on lift/downforce for a zed with a rear lip spoiler with and without vortex gens. One might think that if the air better followed the rear window it would increase the amount of air reaching the rear spoiler. Did they do a test like this in the tunnel? Did the vortex tested car have a rear spoiler of any sort? A front lip would be good to because that would encourage more air over the top of the car and more to the rear wing. Either way, I concluded that for $80 for 10 or so plastic tabs I could spend my money elsewhere and get better results, such as headlight covers.

Regardless it was still good to see it all put down to paper scientifically. Some of the tests they did, like to non-legit G-Nose, are not very useful but they did deduce that for these cars the best three things you can do to reduce drag and lift (NOTE, Reduce lift does not mean downforce, it literally means reduce lift) is the MSA spoiler, Headlight covers, BRE rear spoiler. You can see these differences when you compare the side-by-side tests of the car in the tunnel with and without the headlight covers. It shows a difference and therefore will make a difference, how much that means on YOUR car is another matter as it wont be identical to the car they tested them on and therefore the results wont be identical either.

Cheers Gareth. About the only thing that the zed can't make look good in my opinion is a ricer spoiler. One on stilts, like this one:

Personally, I don't like those spoilers that wrap around the rear quarter panels on the zed. I have the same 'ducktail' spoiler as you dont like but I think it's great. It's a BRE (??) style rear spoiler. Alfa Fiberglass sell a version of it but so do pretty much all places. I think it looks great with the aggressive front spoiler and no flares.

Interesting. I'll be installing all manner of fiberglass body parts and panels later in the year. I might give it a shot. 240+kph though...

Well, I got out smarted I suppose. With the speeds I do I would not trust Sikaflex, but I can't see any negatives if it's just a street car!

Mine is screwed in from underneath. I imagine it's probably just a few tapping screws into through a hole in the boot into the spoiler.

Wowsers! I'm not even sure how that is possible! Good to hear you and the car are OK though! Imagine if that had happened at Bathurst in the esses or dipper! My brake booster has the same IDENTICAL adapter. I know this because I just pulled it out and put it back in because the 1" master cylinder I bought mounts horizontally and the bolts from the booster aren't long enough. On my brake booster there are 4 bolts coming out of the booster, in the positions of the holes in that adapter. The vertical ones are long and the master cylinder bolts on easily over the adapter with the long threads. The horizontal bolts are short and are long enough for the adapter only. With the way mine mounts there is no way the adapter could burst like that, there simply aren't the forces involved. In fact with my setup (I believe original) I can't even imagine how this would be POSSIBLE unless the two vertical bolts were part of the adapter and didn't originate from the brake booster itself. Any chance of some pics of the brake booster and the bolts to get a better idea of what is happening? This adapter really should only be a spacer, not a structural component. So, is your adapter/booster or mine the original?

23 May 2010 Wow, 8 days between updates, that’s the shortest yet! Well, not much has happened I suppose. I tried to fit the new 1” master cylinder last weekend and in typical fashion of this Datsun (and me) I bench bled the new master cylinder, removed the old one and THEN realised that the new one doesn’t fit without some serious mods. That was a Good days work spent there =P So, I had to put the original back on and I now have a feeling that I will probably need a new booster from a 280zx to fit it easily. I also need to get some new brake lines made up to fit the new master cylinder as the front and rear ports are swapped compared to the 15/16th master cylinder. Brake lines should be sorted out by dad during the week with any luck and I’ll see what happens about fitting this thing. Picked up the wheels I sent in earlier in the week (well, Dad did. And he delivered them... Not sure this is my build anymore... Thanks Dad!) and got them on the car today. I got a bit carried away with the photos, so I apologise in advance, but I LOVE these new rims! So many wheels to choose from now though! I think I have a fetish for hoarding parts in three’s (3xgearbox’s, 3xdiff’s, 3xwheel sets). Too many to choose from! I think I spot a common theme there with the wheels and something like black and silver, but it’s OH SO GOOD! Typical of Perth, I ordered some parts from Melbourne and had them shipped with Australia Post and selected their ‘Next Day Delivery’ service. Turns out that ‘Next Day Delivery’ in the fine print means 3 days for Perth =(. The package finally arrived Friday and I then I got all happy again once I opened it: Davies Craig 10” Thermo Fans and Thermo Switch. That is about it for this week. During the week I am looking forward to some new suspension bits from Techno Toy Tuning that should make the car faster. Then it’s new alternator and gel battery so that the car goes. Period... I’m also pondering the reason I’ve purchased so many things and have fitted so few, so I’ll have to get around to turning some spanners sometime soon and get things fitted. Keep posted.

Welcome! I'm only new to this forum too but seems to be a great bunch, very welcoming, fun and helpful! My only thought would be an SR20 over the RB20. Similar power and less weight, further back too. Why not?

Cool, Although I just realised that reads wrong as I haven't got a standard radiator in my car, it's a Holden 3-core radiator (from some Holden with a 308 in it) and is the same size as the PWR one. I can imagine that it would weight probably double the 6kg, so maybe 10-12 kg? I'll drop it on some scales when I take it out. Tom.

I'll be doing this with my car. The idea for me is cost, weight and sliding side windows!! By shaping the side acrylic windows I should be able to cut it to shape, drill holes in it, and have plastic, sliding side windows. Nobody I know with Lexan has this. Acrylic does go cloudy but all it takes it a bit of a polish and it comes good again. Use a machine to polish it if you have one or can get one and you will never have a problem. Much like headlights on modern cars that go yellow, you can polish it right out. If it goes cloudy in a few years and you can't polish it, just get it redone, it's not expensive!

I thought I was spending some money on my car at the moment, but that link is INSANE!