Risking

In theory yes but it typically works out a little bit more because you TIG weld it which requires much less filler than MIG. per length yes you are right but over all cage would be about 4 kg once you factor in the filler rods etc used to weld it together. I use a speed werxs mandrel bender. You cant press bend the material and get the bends with aceptable deformation. I had an exhaust shop press bend me up a few legs but they were rubbish, so I got a proper bender, the die sets are expensive (600plus) for a pair but well worth it when you do a few. I also have a basic floor mounted press bender that is usless for cage material but good for simple exhaust tube (side pipes etc) There are very few people who have seen my cage in depth or the way it was constructed so im not sure how your mate would know exactly how I did it?? Short on time but ill run through latter basicly what we did with my last cage.

I just read your first post and you say that the thrust bearing has worn?? Is this meaning the actual thrust faces are worn or the slipper surface is worn?? If its the slipper surface then Dave is correct and the oil was probably contaminated. How it got contaminated could be due to oil surge and the far end bearings leaving deposits in the oil perhaps. However if its the thrust faces that are worn, I have seen a few other engines recently at my machinists that have done similar things, over adjusting of the clutch seems to put constant load onto the thrust bearing faces which causes them to rapidly wear away. Especially if your using a very heavy clutch.

I buy my steel through racetech here in Sydney. Their lengths can varry depending on how they were cut at the mills. However generally they are around the 6.2meter mark. So you'd see roughly a 4 kg (over 25meters) gain in using the chromoly. Some people will argue its more but thats what I have weighed from the supplier I use. My current cage is all chromoly simply because I did all the fabrication my self so the extra labour costs were not an issue, I bent it myself so again time was no issue and welding is no problem either. The cage I did I was quoted roughly $9-12,000 by a few places (without the engineering for cams) just going off the the sketches that I showed them and the materials I wanted to be used. The same cage out of CDS mild steel was going to be roughly $6500. Im honestly not sure what the current rate is for steel as last time I bought was in bulk before the dollar crashed. However from memory the CDS was $28 a meter and the chromoly was $39 retail. Dont quote me on those numbers as its mearly off the top of my head from about 6 months ago. Best off calling one of the guys there are getting a firm quote. They have several different grades in stock and providing you know what your after size wise they're very quick at dealing with your questions Race tech steel 02 9680 1001.

true that. Seals can be done with the head on. I have a specificly made tool for changing them if you need it. Just need to bolt the tool down where the cam caps normally go and put compressed air into the bore to hold the valves up when the collets are taken off.

Guard fits perfectly mate! Quick polish and it even matches the rest of the car Thanks..

that would be fine for most road going GTR's. I like mine with 1mm toe in on the rear. An all wheel allignment can cost up to $100 depending where you go. My local bob jane is 70 odd I think.

Just engine managment in ingelburn have a mainline dyno and can perform IM240 tests exactly as the RTA will do. Piece of mind if you get one done prior to going to the RTA

you'd be better off getting intouch with someone who has a bonds cage and having a look because they are actually pretty good. I have one here which your more than welcome to have a look at. For what you want to do with the car id also agree with you and say CDS weld in is for you. Is the car used on the road oftern?? Your next decisions are do you fit a full set of intrusion bars, dash bar or retain the original, how structural do you want the rear half to be. Make a few sketches of ideas you think may be practical to your needs and take them to a cage builder. If you give the car to someone and have them build you a cage of their own design it may not be suitable for your intentions. There are many places in Sydney who can build good quality cages. Bonds do very good work but it does come at a cost, Sureflo exhaust in ingelburn may still do them. Also in the same building as Textralia in ingelburn there is a very very good fabricator who does nice work as well. He helped with the design of my latest cage and is very knowledgable.

My opinions on the questions you asked. Chromoly will always be $18-24 per meter more expensive for the raw material. It is slightly more expensive to bend due to the expensive benders and die sets required to do a nice job of it. It can be more expensive to weld properly as most good welders will purge it so your paying alot more for gas if its TIG'ed. You probably wont notice the difference in materials once its done unless the car is stripped etc the weight will be negligable. Typically a length of CDS (cold drawn seamless) steel is half a kilo heavier than chromoly. Price difference could be up too $2000 plus for a chromoly depending on the complexity of your cage. I would not recommend buying a cusco/saftey21 etc etc. The better option is to call bonds roll bars in Sydney and buy one of their bolt in kits. Once you have the bolt in kit you can then either bolt it together yourself or send it and the car to a fabricator and have them extend the bolt in kit to suit your requirements. The bolt in kits are cheap from bonds so it can work out much cheaper as you are not paying for bending etc or the time consuming part of designing the main hoop. From the basic kit you can add bars where you want fit intrusions and generally build the cage around what they supply. It saves many hours and dollars doing it this way. The only down fall is that the hoop may not be as tighter fit as what it could have been if it was specifically made. You can weld in the bonds kits and they also come with all the bolt in hardware as well. If your putting front legs in dont even bother going around the dash, either do it properly or leave it as a rear half cage, those bent front legs will colapse in a decent rollover and potentially make it harder for you to get out as the fold up into the door jam area. Before you find someone to build the cage you need to determine a budget that your happy with spending as that will be the thing that decides what type of cage you end up with.

replied to all PM's Open to offers id like these gone this week as I have enough spare suspension and no where to keep it all.

you did a bottom end rebuild and didnt touch the head despite it burning oil? Chances are its got dead valve stem seals, or guides.

Both front windows are sold and gone but I do still have the regulators and the window motors yes. They are still in the doors and in storage but if you need them I can probbaly get them out by the middle of the week. As far as im aware the GTR will have the same door windows and presumable regs/motors as the GTS-t Brad...

meh who cares! The RB30 bottom end,is it assembled and if so who did the work etc?? Are you located in sydney??

It may have been overfueling and ultimatly not run in correctly but doesnt that report also states that the incorrect or not suitable enough O ring was installed on the oil pick up?? I have seen many which dont have flat flanges but if you use a suitable sized O ring they seal perfectly fine. Alot of pickups have slightly curved flanges so when the bolts are tightened down it puts tension on the O ring. Whilst it may have not been run in properly it surely would have failed on the track at high rpm due to the oil pick up sucking air through a less than adequate O ring seal..... That comes back to whoever assembled it not using the correct O ring in the correct position. From the way I read the report even if the tune was spot on for running in an engine in the the long run the faulty O ring would have caused the engines demise further down the track anyways, the contaminated oil mearly enhanced the problem???

sold to you then

haha, for you half million should cover it. I dunno what are they worth. Floor brace thing is basicly new, strut brace is off my old GTR.

Have B pillar/floor Brace thing, Front strut Brace, possible a rear as well,

Doesn't sound like you have a choice mate!

Some of the bolt in Jap cages can be reasonable strong but in a good rollover they are utterly useless. A cage thats bolted together without any decent reinforcement is going to buckle under the weight of a decent rollover. The wall thickness of most jap stuff is not overly great either. And the majority of them have one cross support from the hoop to the rear leg mount and thats it. The large type clamps most local builders use for bolt in cages are far better than the single eye bolt jap versions My old GTR had a modified/extended bolt in jap cage, it was decent in that I had added a full cross bar and good intrusions. It was still no where near good enough for the speed the car was capable of.

No problem mate. I have one set all cut up here and I think enough material to do another set. Thanks, Alot of work has gone into it. I couldnt think of anything more it needed and the base is very very strong now. Its almost completed now, need to throw a box in and tidy up the Dry sump gear before finally firing it up. Then ill be re-doing the front to suit a single nut stub axle set-up that ive come across. Hoping to catch up with Boz at oran park in January to get it all up and sorted. Rose joint conversion is a good idea for the lower arms. It can be the easiest way to make decent roll center adjustments. I was considering it but the ammount of work required was about the same as a wishbone lower arm. You could do a lower wishbone and do away with the castor rod and keep the upright/ upper arm the way it is for now. The mounts for the lower arm is fairly simple to do, its only hard part is getting the front to rear offset right.

No fires in this one Duncan, Ive got a proper extingusher system for it from the good guys at revolution (shamless Plug) No mate unforuntatly im not giving anything away just yet. But it is special where it counts. The underside is where the real trickery has happened. Ill send you a few "money" shots tommorrow. Just for your own viewing.

a little something I have been working on as of late. Ive done the whole cage at home in the garage (I make a few of them so no stranger to cages) Its now got an engine and is 75% finished

East coast are in kirrawee Shop 9, Auto Plaza, 16 Waratah Street Kirrawee NSW 2232 AUSTRALIA east coast contacts

If your prepared to travel, East coast suspension are very good. If not then any pedders/bobjane/ tire shop with a decent machine can set the car up to whatever you tell them to do. Just be sure you get a print out of what the results were so you can keep it for future reference.

you can buy a separate thermostate housing from earls for a decent price. They also sell various opening temp versions.