BTW, header wrap destroys headers pretty quickly. I'd avoid using it, if possible.

Blair, when I set my ride height this is what I used....

Front: From the plate that captures the A arm: 4 3/16



I'm at 5 1/2 from the flat bottom of that plate. I'd raise the car a little. Like Rockwood, I blew a boot off from being too low.

I'm at 5 1/2 from the flat bottom of that plate. I'd raise the car a little. Like Rockwood, I blew a boot off from being too low.

Really? You're that high?

I've run for 2.5 years before blowing a boot. I need to think about this. Thanks very much for taking that measurement..

I got my hub with the new bearing back today. I need a few days to get everything back on the car and buttoned down. Then I'll take new measurements.

-Scott

When you say bottom of the plate are you measuring from the lip on the plate or to the surface where the bolt heads can be seen? It's a small difference but by flat I am guessing you mean surface and not the lip?


http://homepage.mac.com/stracy01/.Pictures/B13/SE-RSusprear.jpg

I doubt if I have much more than your measurement.

http://www.cartct.com/results/05-08-09/050809262.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/stracy01/.Pictures/B13FCSCCAUTOX/ct03.jpg

I never thought about the boots. At autocross speeds I don't see the extremes in change in height but the track is a different story, I scrape the lip under hard front weight transfer and cornering at the same time.

Guess I'll measure, thanks for the tip.

The place that I took my measurements is not shown in that picture. I measured on the flat metal piece that holds the large A-arm bushing. Your picture shows the "front" A-arm bushign while I measured off the "rear" A-arm bushing...the place where you insert the caster-gain bushing. Are we all talking about measuring from the same places?

On the rear I measured from the metal box that holds the forward portion of the radius rod.

Really? You're that high?

I've run for 2.5 years before blowing a boot. I need to think about this. Thanks very much for taking that measurement..

-Scott

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/Nismo76/track/100_1720.jpg

Yeah, it's set up to be at the IT 5 inch at the rocker rule. I did run it lower before, but I had issues with cv's binding up and bottoming out on the softer springs.

I killed 3 autozone alternators during trackdays before I finally said F this and got a full refund. I went with a nissan oem remanufactured alternator. I haven't used my new alternator during a track day, but I did use one that had heavy miles on it. After the trackday I"d say the beat oem unit lasted 6 months. I don't think it finally gave out because of the track day, I think it was just old. It was on its way out when I put it on. The autozone alternators will just die the day of the trackday.

I run a stock setup so my factory heat shields are still in place. Once I get back to tracking I'll have a better idea if the factory rebuild does better during track duty. My suggestion on this topic is to STAY away from the discount alternators.

UPDATE: To prevent future alternator breakdowns I did the following:

- I have installed my header wrap (wrapped primaries and wrapped a section of secondaries under my oil pan with the intention to decrease oil temperatures a bit)
- Installed a heat shield (20ga steel) completely seperating the header from alternator
- Had the alternator professionally rebuilt with 1 year warranty from a reputable shop (they have been around since 1960's)
- Replaced my rotting ground cable between the negative battery terminal and the body and from body to the engine block
- Added additional ground on the alternator (to the body under the coolant bottle)
- Added voltage gauge (previously replaced by my oil temp gauge)

I did a track day a week ago (Shannonville which is 250km from my house) and did two 30-minute sessions, the alternator is fine, the wrap along with the shield works great - I will try to post some pics. Highly recommended for anyone doing frequent track days.

Thanks for all your suggestions, and other topics thrown in into the mix :)

Sounds good. I think heat is the biggest killer of alternators.

One of them I cooked someone commented on: said it looked like it was thrown into a 500 degree oven for a few hours.

I think like somebody else posted before. Increasing Cooling to the engine bay would probably also help. Using ducting to seal a path for air to go directly through the radiator. I'm guessing this would help in lowering temps in that overall front side of the engine bay.