CruxGNZ

SuperDan is looking for a Z. !M!

You only use Maaco for a car that you just recently fixed and want to send it down the road with a "brand new" paint job. Or that's what we do around here . You get what you pay for. !M!

jt1, Look at this post about equal spring rates: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7663&highlight= !M!

I posted this because I wanted people to look around once in a while. Apparently my story has had just the effect I wanted. It makes me feel good that someone out there has benifited from this. I don't know what to say... I'm just happy I guess. Now Jeff and that man have a story to tell, just like mine. It is good to know there are still good decent people out there willing to lend a helping hand. I wrote Todd back and told him about posting our story and gave him a link to this. I hope he looks at this and feels the same as I do. Knowing how many people have given this story a look see, you just never know who else this has helped. If you see someone in need of a hand and truely deserve it, please just think about this post. It makes you feel good about yourself. Yes, you may wonder if you were taken, like those homeless people you helped that turn out to be driving a better car than you , but just use your better judgement. !M!

For all of your "how does that crap work?" needs, simply go here http://www.howstuffworks.com For info on how a turbo works, go here http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm !M!

Let me set the stage for you... I was on my way to work on a house about 30 minutes from mine, all highway driving, so it's pretty far away. I notice that I am running real low on fuel. No big deal, I usually have at least $50 on me. I check my wallet... crap, I forgot that I had bought a small present for my sister and only had $2 on me. Oh well, I have my debit card and a credit card on me to get fuel for my truck on my way back from work. So, I left the house I was working on and I check the fuel gauge and I'm pretty much on fumes. I pull into the nearest gas station, which is pretty busy, and I just put in $10. I walk in to pay for the $10 with my debit card. The clerk swipes my card... ," Sorry sir, the card is denied." Okay, this doesn't make sense, I have a crap load of money in my checking account, so I tell her to swipe the card again. Same thing happens, the card is denied. WTF! By this time a line has started to for behind me. I think that there is just something wrong with my debit card, so I give them my credit card (I hate using credit cards, but I had too). Now I knew that this card would work, I mean I could go out and buy a fricken car on this thing if I wanted to! Clerk says, "Sorry sir this is denied too." Oh man... what the heck is going on! I can't pay for only $10 in gas... how embarrassing. At this time, I'm telling the clerk to start checking out the people behind me so I wasn't holding them up. I give the clerk my drivers liscense so she knows I won't drive off and I go back out to my truck to use my phone. I call up my bank and the number for my bank wasn't even working! I didn't know what the heck to do. I shut my truck door and was walking in to bargain with the clerk. All I had to leave her was my pouches (I'm a carpenter), a radio, and my Swiss Army watch. If I had left any of these items with the clerk untill I was able to get the measly $10, I was worried that I would return and they would say, "you didnt leave anything with us." So, like I said I was walking in to bargain with the lady and a man that was standing behind me in line was walking towards me. He hands me a business card. It has his name and home address on it. He tells me that he will pay for my fuel. I was taken back... I was like ," you are doing what?" "I'll pay for you", he said. So we went inside and payed the clerk. I got my liscense back and we walked out. He tells me to drop a check in the mail for the $10. I thank him and he drives off. I still couldn't believe it. Well, a few days later I went out and bought a card and a gift certificate to a nice restaurant for a pretty decent amount. I then stuffed the thank you card, the gift certificate, and the $10 I owed him in an envelope an mailed it. A few days go by and I was wondering if he recieved my card. I remember that there was also an e-mail address on the business card he gave me. So, I dropped the guy an e-mail. This is the response I got: Hi Mat! Yes, I received your card and was in the process of sending you a card back - but if it's ok, Email is a lot easier (and quicker). Thank you VERY much for the gift certificate; it was completely unnecessary but much appreciated! Actually, I really wasn't expecting to get anything back - and that would have been ok with me. I'm just glad to be able to make a little positive difference in somebody's life every now and then. It is very heartening to know there are appreciative and honorable people, such as you, still around in this world. Your actions speak volumes about your integrity, morals and upbringing provided by your parents. Please give them a hug for me. You know, I firmly believe that there are no coincidences or lucky circumstances in life. Without getting too "soap-boxy" or "preachy", there was a reason why you and I were at that gas station at the same time. I try to keep my eyes open for opportunities to "get involved" with people or animals in need. It is far too common for people to want to stay within their own comfort zone an not get involved. I don't know your politics or religion, but I think President Bush has properly challenged each of us to help one another through "a thousand acts of kindness." His message is firmly rooted in his, and my own Christian religion. I may never know the true reason why we were met as we did, since events have a way of cascading to points unknown; but I am glad we did and now have a great story of inspiration to share with others. My wife and I love Thunder Bay and eat there often - we will certainly enjoy a nice dinner thanks to you. Thank you again for the card, money and certificate. I'll have to admit I feel a little bad about accepting it, but my wife convinced me it would be rude to return it. If there was anything I would ask in return, it would be to watch for your own opportunities to make a difference. Take care Mat. Your Friend, Todd XXXXXX Now that is cool. Todd is a great guy. So, if you see an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life, please by all means go for it. !M! P.S. I now make sure I have cash in my money clip before I fill up Also, I still have not recieved an explanation from my bank or my credit card company as to why my cards did not work that day.

Polished looks kick @ss on a red car. !M!

I like to be different, so I would get the Bluebird, BUT you will have to look into how much it will cost to insure a Z compared to the Bluebird. That may be the deciding factor for you. You might just want to stick with building a Z though, because parts are easy to find and you have A LOT of help with questions here. FYI- I will have no more than $8k invested in my car when it's all done, and that's including the price of the car. !M!

SWEET! How the heck did you do that? !M!

I'm reusing the stock pistons on my 3.8 and would like to clean them up. The carbon build up is not coming off with degreaser or brake cleaner. Can I use some emery (sp?) cloth to clean all the crap off of the piston heads and then polish the surface? Or is there an easier way to do it? !M!

You guys have any updates on this? !M!

The wheels are the culprit. The tires are actually pretty light. I knew that for the price I got the wheels for, they most likely weren't going to be light weight. I was prepared to take a weight penalty anyhow, because "you get what you pay for". The money I saved was used for parts to get my engine together faster. The good side about all this? (the guys running a turbo know this) All I have to do is turn up the boost to compensate Ain't no thang... the car will be pretty quick regardless. There are other issue's with unsprung weight that I should be concerned about, which I know, so no lectures please Down the road it would be nice to get some custom light weight wheels made for the car, but right now it's just not in the budget. !M!

They are just an off brand I found on Ebay for about $400. The brand is called Zoom and the style is called P32. The wheels and tires combo cost roughly $800. Not bad IMO for 17X7's and some decent rubber. Thanks for the compliments. I can't wait to see what they look like on my white Z. Hopefully the color white on the Z and the white on the wheels aren't too many shades off, it might look kinda goofy if they are. !M!

I thought the same thing when I did my poly bushings and coilovers, but after you play with everything you see it in a new perspective. You end up looking at each piece saying to yourself "this piece goes here and that piece goes there". After you figure out what goes where and what each piece is for it doesn't look that big after all. !M!

You should get yourself a FSM (factory service manual). You will find out that there is a cartridge inside the strut housing, you don't need to replace the whole thing. I'm asuming that the cartridge is what you are talking about when you mention pitting on the rod. You remove the gland nut on the strut housing and pull out the cartridge. I think http://www.shox.com has some good prices on cartidges. You can also go to your local auto parts store and get them there too. If you are going to replace these yourself, you might be in over your head like I found out last year. I just had a lot of problems... I'll look for the post and edit this later. EDIT: Here is the post http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7340&highlight=stuck+strut+cart I just had bad luck with this one and ended up buying a whole front suspension off one of our members here. Don't let this deter you from doing it yourself. Many people have had better luck doing this. !M!

Do you need the strut housing or the shock? !M!

I won't be able to tell you guys how well the tires behave for some time, there is still salt on the roads in Wisconsin. You can check out some of the reviews for these tires at Tire Rack, which weren't bad at all. LOL... hey if my counter is good enough for a top serloin steak, then it surely can be used to present some cool wheels (everything is clean anyways) You know ZR8ED, the guy that mounted the tires mentioned how suprised he was at the what little wieghts these tires took to balance them. !M!

Yup, no link in here !M!

Called Tire Rack for some closeout prices on tires. Guy there said some of the Kuhmo 712's were pretty cheap, so I said what the heck and bought four of them ($93 ea.) at about 1 pm Wednesday. 10 am Thursday morning they were AT MY DOOR! Now thats service for ya! The money wasn't even taken out of my checking account yet. Got them mounted later that day and took some pictures. While moving one of them around for a pic or two, I decided to weigh the whole deal. Ready for this 45 lbs. each!!!! Damn, that's 180 lbs. total. Almost like bolting on the wieght of another person to your car, sheees... Here's a couple pics: 225/45-17 with 17X7 wheel !M!

Hahahahaha! That was great! !M!

Mike, You have any pics of the '44 and the '64?

Get used to it, you can't help it. Like the majority of us here and pretty much throughout the world, we all suffer from a dissability. What dissability you ask? Not being able to tell what she is thinking. Even if you spend a lot of time with a woman and you think you know her, chances are you have no idea. Besides, you just got yourself an "out". You never have to go grocery shopping again, she knows if you go all you will get is stuff for you. Live it up, less crap for you to worry about. !M!

Damn Pete, that's about 4.44 post per day since you joined! No wonder it took you so long to finish your car Doh! ...it shows how many post per day in the members area. I had to pull out the calculator for nothin'. !M!

Mike you have mail. !M!

I still like the idea of mailing them a picture of your money !M!