speeder wrote:Ground clearance continues to be an issue on Tweety. One particularly nasty dry streambed crossing yielded a hard hit to the undercarriage and we were very lucky to be running a good old steel L16 oilpan...
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I had a similar incident a number of years ago, only on a poorly marked road construction zone not far from my house. As I searched for the link to my photos, I realized that the loinks in my old theard had been broken. So I updated that post, and linked it here for you to see. My damages was worse, however I had a good group of friends bail me out that evening so that I could attend the club cruse the following day. I cherish the photo at the end of the thread, it's 1:30 in the morning, we're all tired as hell, and we all got up 3 hours later to do the Oktoberfast cruise that same day! Great memories guy- thanks.
And to Speeder, well it looks like we both need a good skid plate!
Great story Byron! It looks like your cross member took most of the impact and your oil pan was spared.
I searched around a little and wound up reading some of Derek's phenomenally descriptive posts on his Targa Newfoundland prep. He notes a rocker panel static ride height of about 7.25". The other Targa car, the green monster SR equipped one, had a ride height of 8" at the rockers. Mine is currently right about 6" front and rear, from the bottom of the seam lip to ground, measured at the little half moon jacking points. I think I need to put my car up another inch or two and probably add a skid plate. Derek's skid plate is sweet looking too! His car is really cool. I saw last year at an event that he ran.
A nice looking new trans cross member and insulator to match my fresh motor mounts. I'm not sure who the maker is; props because they did a top job. I got if from Rod at Rods Discount Datsun parts, with the new insulator. It adds about 2" of clearance between the crossmember and the exhaust and bolted in perfectly. The exhaust as seen here was actually crushed up against the stock trans cross member that had been dropped with some washer spacers to handle the dogleg trans. Check out that pimp new clutch arm boot- ready for flying gravel and stream crossings at full speed.
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That's the Experimental Engineering trans mount. www.vg30.com.
Because when you spend a silly amount of money on a silly, trivial thing that will help you not one jot, you are demonstrating that you have a soul and a heart and that you are the sort of person who has no time for Which? magazine. – Jeremy Clarkson
After nearly 4000 miles of vicious back road driving, a slow leak in one of my 14" x 5.5" American Racing Libre's became a faster leak and I decided to investigate. I pulled the wheel, hoping to find a leak along the bead or at the valve stem that would be easy to fix. Unfortunately, it appears the leak is at the base of one of the 4 spokes of the wheel, where the spoke connects to the rim. Looking very closely at the area after cleaning, there is no visible crack. When submerged under water there are actually three places where bubbles come up, arranged in a line about 1/2" apart.
A couple things concern me here. First, these wheels are probably 30 years old, maybe more. Second, the leak has gotten worse. Third, I've smashed the hell out of these things at full speed on beat up back roads for a lot of miles with skinny but pretty sticky rubber. At the least, I think I should probably retire this wheel and maybe the others as well although they are actually appear in really good looking shape. Anyone else seen this before? Thoughts?
I bought the skid plate that was on ebay about a month ago. Expensive, but a cool NOS optional part that fits the theme of my car well. It bolted directly between the front rad support/frame rail and the crossmember and the wind deflector/splash guard fits over it perfectly. Unfortunately, it doesn't go back behind the crossmember, so my oil pan is still hanging down low, lower than the crossmember. Cool part never the less.
Porosity through the rim means that is a very weak section of the wheel - I do recommend taking it out of service - spare your car, it's worth way more than the wheel.
A good friend of ours did a huge amount of damage to his competition weekend warrior Trans Am a few years back - he put the car into the wall at high speed. In the end, the analysis came down to a crack in the hub of the rim - it was very obvious because much of the separated area was dirty, with only small amount of are a clear where the final bit finally let get when it was pushed a bit hard one day.
He said the same thing you did - they were old wheels, had many miles on them, and it just let go. I’d hate to see this happen to anyone else – especially your 510. This reason is why I bought a new set of Retro wheels from Dave as soon as they came out - God knows what condition my 40 year old Libra’s are in!
Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
Till I figure out what to do about my leaking and potentially cracked Libre, i decided to rock the stock rims (13 x 4"?) and hubcaps for a while. Nice, skinny 175/70 13" Sumitomo HTR tires on there. I pumped those little suckers up to 36psi and went out for a 2 hour high speed shred session on some of Santa Cruz County's finest mountain roads. My pal was along in his hot rod Alfa GTV6. Yea! The car is a slider with those on there! Early on I got a rude surprise on some wide open second gear full throttle compression bumps with a little bend in the middle. Tweety just kept going straight while the road was bending and I was turning the wheel. Not exactly 200 compound rubber in a stiff casing any more (Dunlop Direzza). Once used to the greatly decreased grip, however, it was a hoot ripping with these wheels and tires, sliding all over the place with the throttle at a little slower pace. The soft sidewall eats up bumps nicely too.
DQ Volume 5 Issue 2 - Tech / Safety Cracked Alloy Wheels - When running older alloy wheels, especially when they have been driven hard, one must take special care to inspect them regularly. Issues to look for can run from stress cracks on the hub mounting area and spokes to misshapen lug holes from using incorrect lug nuts.
Stock caps still look good. What about some widened steelies and stock caps?
Because when you spend a silly amount of money on a silly, trivial thing that will help you not one jot, you are demonstrating that you have a soul and a heart and that you are the sort of person who has no time for Which? magazine. – Jeremy Clarkson
Foam mockup of the new airbox from my pal with the machine shop access. The final product will be CNC aluminum. This should mellow the intake roar a bit and also allow for some cold air channeling. Obviously there will be a hole in the front of this thing...
While investigating a clunking noise in my front strut, I found this, the destroyed bumpstop. This is one of the TEP Foamex bumpstops that has been obliterated. Normally these things are about 2" tall and cone shaped. I guess I was bottoming out more than I thought I was. Sometime this summer I'll do a suspension upgrade with coilovers, longer travel, raise the car 1-2", and probably stiffen things a bit to suit the backroads a little better.
Yenpit, I'd consider those 13" Corvair wheels if there were some good tires available for them. The only high performance 13" tire I can find in a suitable size is a Hoosier R6 with an 80 durometer, $186 each. I'm sure they hook up really well, but I'm afraid they are a little too tracky for my use. I'm still trying to decide wether to go 14" or 15" with a set of VTO Libre's from Dave. Even the 14" size tires are getting scarce but the 15" look big on a 510 to my eye.
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speeder wrote:Foam mockup of the new airbox from my pal with the machine shop access. The final product will be CNC aluminum. This should mellow the intake roar a bit and also allow for some cold air channeling. Obviously there will be a hole in the front of this thing...
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Cool mockup, was that formed on the CNC machine or by hand? Would a smoother taper cause less turbulence? Just seems those transitions for the MC bump are pretty quick.
Joel
2 '68 510 2 door sedans
'95 240SX
“We will either find a way, or make one.” – Hannibal
speeder wrote: Obviously there will be a hole in the front of this thing...
The best place for that entry is actually right thru the cowl below the windshield. That spot has the greatest positive pressure. I don't know if feeding it thru the narrow end would cause too much turbulence and unequal feed.
The mockup was done on the machine, so hopefully the final piece will be the same.
Perhaps there is room for a smoother corner on the final turn in just in front of the MC. I will run this by the designer I'm working with.
I'm sure venting it through the cowl in front of the windshield would be ideal, but I'm reluctant to cut a hole in the firewall between the engine compartment and that area. How about hard rain or a good soaking during a stream crossing sucking water in there? If I did it that way, however, I could potentially run the cold air straight into the top of the box or the side near the coil, centered, rather than on the front. Interesting thought. Many stock airbox designs on cars equipped with factory dual side drafts do it this way (top or side entry, centered), including some Alfa's I think and a Lotus or two.
Sometime this summer I'll do a suspension upgrade with coilovers, longer travel, raise the car 1-2", and probably stiffen things a bit to suit the backroads a little better. 
