My new ugly betty, '84 Maxima, not diesel.

[captaingamez]

I am not going to rant about this, but I can assure you that if you ask any engineer, aluminum is not just aluminum, theres quite alot more to it than that, and safety issue aside I will say this:

 

I am a machinist and I work for an American manufacturer who produces motorcycle wheels, and has their designs continuously copied by south asian companies, I can tell you honestly that every time you buy this stuff you you take money from my, and many others wallets

 

 

 

 

And not being patient enough to save another $200 to buy something that will hold some semblance of value is fairly.......wtf?

 

 

Once the Rays are done, I will be in them $1300(before tires), and I assure you no one else will have a set like them on planet earth, and I also assure you that If I can do it, so can everyone else, and much cheaper if you dont get 3 piece wheels.

[HRH]

I understand your point.  If an American company made the same wheels for the same price, or even marginally more, I would buy them in a heartbeat.  But they don't.  American Racing isn't horribly overpriced but they're not friendly to 4x114.3 lug patterns.  I may well buy a new set of those for the red truck when I get around to it.

 

Cost-benefit analysis though:

 

'84 Maxima - $260

Tires - $530

Steering rack, new parts, Eibach Springs, sway bars, fluids, etc. - $1000ish

Wheels - $500

 

How much do I really want to spend on a $260 RUSTED Maxima?  I've already spent WAY more than the car is worth.  It's not worth putting a $1500 set of wheels on.  If I re-paint the red truck and get it all niced up, yeah, I might save up for some really sweet rims.  But that's a rust free, nice interior vehicle.  Not a rusted shitbox I love beating on.

[captaingamez]

$260? Jezus...............

 

 

Me and _Unkonwn dont have the rust problem, structrually, ours are perfect, mine just has no clearcoat lol. I suppose if it was a beater I was not planning on restoring I would feel different.

 

You should restore it eventually though, their hard to find now, How bad is the rust?

[Power Tryp]

I just read this whole thread last night in my sleeplessness. I love what you're doing with it. The problem solving and general care to make the Maxima an autocross car is just really bad ass.

 

Keep up the good work, from one parts guy to another.

[HRH]

Thanks buddy!  Never know, I might move to Canada one day!  Which place you work for?  I am of course a NAPA whore.  Wasn't sure about that today though, got a brutal ass-reaming sans lube from my ops manager who stopped by for a surprise audit.  Have to change a few things, should be okay, but shitting rocks for most of the afternoon.  Made quota though, that was a good thing.

 

gamez - the rust is bad.  I actually flaked some off the other rocker today.  That side still needs fixing.  The entire underbody is just mangled.  Previous owner probably ran over a few curbs.  B pillar on the driver's side has been fucked over and fixed hastily.  It's a fun car, I love her, but she will never be a restore project.  She will be a drive it like you stole it and repair it to keep driving like you stole it project. ;)  If I find another nice one they don't want to much for, I might do that option.  We'll see.

[Power Tryp]

I'm front counter at a Ford dealer here in Calgary. Lucky for us quite a few years ago Ford backed way off with corporate oversight so now if we do see a ford rep they're usually asking what they can do for us rather than telling us what we're doing wrong.

 

Those autocross courses are serious high speed runs. What class is the Maxima running?

[HRH]

I just moved down to DSP.  Our classes are interesting depending on who's running.  Lots of Miatas in CSP of course, which are hard to beat.  Modified is mostly turbo cars, no hp to beat them, plus we have some really good machines paired up with really good drivers.  I'd have a chance if I spent a boatload of money, but I'm not going to.  I'm going old school.  Going to beat them with a ratty rust bucket based on numbers, not hp!  :)  We'll see if I'm successful.

 

Most of our courses aren't quite that fast, except the Octocross at SRP.  That we use the road course and if you have high hp, you can hit some high speeds.  We actually design the course there with lots of slaloms and other things to slow people down.  Almost had a Porsche GT3 lose it there a few years back from too much stupid pedal, not enough skill.

[HRH]

Well the wheels I want are coming, but they shipped out the other day, didn't arrive.  Somewhat annoyed, but oh freakin' well.  Not much I can do about it now.  Anyway, have to figure out if I want to try and use the current new tires on the too skinny wheels, or have them swapped back tomorrow with the old tires on them.  Think I may do that since they worked well and they're going to have to be dismounted anyway.

[Power Tryp]

Are you guys using the SCCA rule book for your classes? If so I noticed you thought you might want to relocate the battery in the autocross video in the general section. If SCCA rules are being followed section 15.9 Paragraph C states 

 

"Relocation of the battery or batteries is permitted but not into the passenger compartment. If the battery is relocated and the original battery tray can be removed by simply unbolting it, the tray may be removed or relocated with the battery. Holes may be drilled for mounting or passage of cables. Longer or shorter cables may be substituted to permit relocation. The number of battery or batteries may not be changed from standard. The area behind the rearmost seat is not considered to be within the passenger compartment."

 

And section 3.3.3 sub section B paragraph 17 states

 

"All batteries (on-board power supplies) shall be attached securely to the frame or chassis structure, independent of any contaer or cover that may be present. Any wet-cell battery moved from the manufacturer's original location shall be in a non-conductive, marine-type container or equivalent and the "hot" terminal shall be insulated. NOTE:this will allow the use of gel cell or dry cell (AGM) batteries without a non-conductive, marine-type container where applicable.

 

Hope this helps.

[Son_of_a_Datsun_Guy]

So if I pulled the back seats out of my wagon... and put the battery behind the passenger seat (properly stowed and secured)... am I legal? 

 

 

Edit: 

 

I shouldn't thread-jack. I approve of your wheel choice HRH, don't know why people have a problem with knock-offs. 

 

It's really cool watching your videos, and I think it's awesome that you just go out and beat on rust bucket at the autocross. Need to do it someday myself with something that I don't have to daily  :rofl:

[HRH]

It all depends on your club and the interpretation of the rules dependent on class. Autosports Northwest is not an SCCA club, but we operate basically off their guidelines.  I just recently found out it IS legal to run race tires in DSP.  So I'm a little annoyed, as I might have chosen stickier tires, but oh well.  These seem to do pretty well.  One of my problems is the rear static camber is positive it seems.  The 225s seem to make it worse, or maybe it just made it more apparent than the 205s.  Anyway, I think lowering the rear or slotting the crossmember may be in order.  I'm debating cutting a small section of spring out of all the coils to settle the ride without buying coilovers.  Plus that would stiffen the springs up a bit, which might be more helpful.

 

Test-fit the wheels tonight, looks like they'll work just fine!  Sweet!

 

 

[captaingamez]

 

I shouldn't thread-jack. I approve of your wheel choice HRH, don't know why people have a problem with knock-offs. 

 

 

I think I outlined that pretty well.

[Power Tryp]

I guess we're pretty lucky up here then cause even though our autocross's are sanctioned by ASN/FIA Canada they've adopted the SCCA rule book simply due to the fact that it's the most comprehensive rule book and it gets updated every year.

 

As for cutting a rear spring, if you make that back end any stiffer without being able to balance the front end you could end up worse off than before when it comes to the back being tail happy. A cheap and easy way to simulate this would be to install a spring spacer like this http://www.jegs.com/i/Mr-Gasket/720/1287/10002/-1?parentProductId=747385

[HRH]

It only stiffens as much as you remove.  I'm talking like a 3" section of coil, not much.  However, I may just slot the control arm mounting holes and get it back in line that way.  Not sure if that's legal, but considering I'm trying to catch a 300+ hp Mazda 3 with not much more weight and better tires, yeah, I'm not telling them. ;)

[Power Tryp]

Pfft, it's only illegal if you get caught and fuck the bastard that demands that kind of inspection at the club level.

[HRH]

Oh boy, what a day.  So not only did I have to go to AUTOZONE to get a caliper rebuild kit for the rear of the Maxima, (they also had calipers available) because NAPA (ME) didn't have any, but I also had to go to OReilly's!  Fuck a duck.

 

Here's what happened.  The left rear caliper was leaking, just a little.  Noticed it after switching tires the other day.  So since I don't get my good NAPA discount, I check Autozone, they have calipers for $60 or so, with about the same in core.  The rebuild kits were $10-$12 bucks.  So I opt for the cheap way out thinking, well the caliper works pretty well so it should be okay to rebuild.

 

I'm working through this weekend so I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time and consequently, I decided to bite the bullet and get on of my local shops to do the dirty work for me, even at $90/hour.  So he gets the caliper off and calls me.  Yeah, the piston isn't going to accept any new seals, it's fragged.  Fuck.  So I spend 45 minutes solid looking for calipers at all the competitors, no one has anything in stock, no wrecking yards, etc.  I call A1 Cardone and finally get a tech guy who checks the piston number and gives me about 10 different cars with calipers that use that particular piston in the rear.  '95 Sonata is one, 95-98 240sx is another.  More on that.

 

I finally find ONE caliper at OReilly's main store.  In stock.  Lucky.  Too fucking expensive at $70, but oh well.  Drive down to OReilly's (hour trip there and back) get the 240sx caliper and get it to Mike at the shop.

 

Anyway, about an hour or two later Aaron calls me back and says well, the seal kit you gave us didn't fit the caliper.  Put it all together and it pissed out everywhere.  I'm like, double fuck. And then he tells me, but luckily, the seal off the caliper we gutted for the piston did work, and you have no more e-brake mechanism internally but the brakes work fine!  Sweeeeettt!!

 

So the moral of this story is, if in doubt, just buy the whole fucking caliper instead of cheaping out on the rebuild kit.  Not to mention my caliper bill AND the labor bill, I'm way worse off than just buying two calipers in the first place, even if they were duracraps.

 

On the 240sx note.  It looks like the rear 95-98 240sx calipers will work just fine on the Maxima rear.  HOWEVER, a longer rubber line would need to be sourced as the inlet is some 3 or 4 inches down.  And you also have to reverse the right and left sides since they mount differently on the 240.  Haven't tried fully, but I may see if I can get some of those and find a line and find a handy replacement for 3 year run of vehicle.  ;)  Such is the sillyness of a parts store manager with a Datsun bent.

[HRH]

 

 

Going to need to do a little trimming.  Getting with Regy tomorrow to figure out the best way.  They look nice though! :)

[Power Tryp]

Since you're all worked up and everything, how do you feel about rockauto?

[HRH]

I've bought a few things from them.  Great if you know what you need.  On the other hand, the radiator I bought for them for the Maxima came shipped from a second party, and both inlets and outlets were crushed when I got it.  Straightened them out, annoyed me, but didn't return it because I'm not likely to find another.  This one was all brass too, no plastic cap version.  The downside of that is it's also quite heavy.  I would almost rather have an aluminum and plastic cap one.  However, the original heavy one still has the ability to cool better and last longer.

[captaingamez]

You gotta get a 280zx aluminum radiator. They are the shiz. They cool way better than the original brass one.

[Power Tryp]

Well hopefully everything I've got on order will be fine. 

 

The new wheels look good. Hopefully they give you the extra bit of grip you're looking for.

[ArchetypeDatsun]

Hey HRH you might wanna read this guy he autocrossed this 84 maxima with a L28ET swap got good numbers I'm sure if you turbo charge your L24E it would run like a bat out of hell!

 

http://www.graytechsoftware.com/garage/maxima.asp

[HRH]

Finally got up to Regy's house today and he banged out the rear quarters and rolled the front fenders to fit the new wheels!  Sweeeeet!

 

 

 

 

 

[HRH]

Had to roll the left side more than the right, I don't think the rear crossmember is perfectly centered.  No matter!  All works well, now to relocate the battery to the rear and start dinking with the tires and camber settings to get it dialed in right.

[izzo]

i want the turbines