after 2-3 years of burning money, the car is road legal (barely..)

As you can see, still needs a hell of a lot of work before it's ready for the track but I think it scrubbed up ok with the 'poo brown' watanabes.

It's running too low at the moment, with maxed out camber to fit the wheels in.

Will go back to something a bit more sensible once the flares go on.

But here's proof you can fit a 8.5J -6 offset wheel under stock guards! (I wouldn't recommend it though). I am running 225/50/15 tyres all round.

Suspension consists of

camber plates on all four, shortened struts and coilovers, adjustable front control arms.

Looks alright Vince. Will the suspension always be marginal with those wheels? What else can you do (pump the guards, add ZG type flares?) to make it a permanently acceptable setup? Is the only problem the offset of the Watties? Nice to see your progress :classic:

Jim.

Yahoo! Here comes some fun seat time.

Looks sensible to me!

I have some zg flares sitting on the floor now, but havent had the time to cut/roll the guards and get some fasteners to bolt them on!

I'd imagine once I do attach them, the wheels will sit a fair way in underneath.

I was expecting a rough ride [replaced all bushings, rose jointed front end, camber plates, and harder springs] but it actually isn't too bad. I can't actually hear any squeaks or rattles since the exhaust is so loud.

It may just be necessary just to get the guards rolled and stretched a bit, using one of those rolling gadgets that bolts to the hub. The point is that once the ZG flares are fitted thats it, they do stick out quite a bit, particularly at the rear.

See this pic, 8x15" wheels.

osella QR 28-5-05.bmp

I think it looks just fine!

God I love Watanabe's..

The look of dark wheels on the Z car is starting to grow on me. Gives a tough racing look. Might have to repaint my new rims.....

Congrats on getting the car registered. I remember how excited I was about mine 11 months ago, which reminds me, better pay the rego.

seats, roll cage in.

stewart wilkins made the cage and mounts. Top bloke and great at finding a way that works to your needs, even if it initially seems impossible.

2jzgte: plain silly buggers

Looking really good well done

a tip for watanabe purchasers- get the proper wheelnuts for them! will save a lot of hassle and expense.

I eventually had to use some special rally nuts with independent concave surfaces and get new studs installed.

Another pleasant surprise was in terms of engine power. Thanks to the fandangled carb tuning machine at SWR, I jumped from 40hp@the wheels(don't ask) to a peak of 125kw@the wheels. It was a bit of a timebomb at those settings so we detuned it to 108kw@wheels due to idle and leaning out concerns.

For a very mild L24 on twin SU's I was pretty happy.

Most of the $$ has been poured into unseen suspension items thus far, so won't be able to give a review on those until the next wakefield day.

Neat seats, they look like side mounts.Did you cut down the floor mounts to fit them?