Okimoto

Have you tried removing the hard drive tray and plugging it back in again? Also the same with the ram? Also, try ebay for a panasonic toughbook. Since your current is a 1996, you can probably find a 1996 toughbook for cheap.

Watching him work on that maybach is like watching me try to do bodywork on my z car. Only difference is that he knows what he's doing and I haven't a clue.

Unfortunately, I live in an apartment, and park my vehicles on the street. This morning, I had to pick up the piece of mirror that I glued back after someone shattered the one prior (second time my puickup truck's been hit). A few weeks ago, my honda was hit in the back as to cause the wheel to face inwards and leave a metal gash down the side of the car. I had to call that car a total loss and give it away. Two weeks ago, they clipped my grandma's car. I've called the police and all they do is shurg their shoulders. They wouldn't even look at the car. I would go to city council, but the street I live on is a collector street and adding a stop sign probably wont happen. No way for a speed bump either. I park my car totally against the side of the curb, leaving zero room between the curb and the tire. My wheels have spiralgraph curb rash on them because I always park close, yet my cars still seem to get hit. If i lived near the street, I would put a camera up. The culprit has dual tires and white paint. The tires seem to be pretty mid to high profile from the pictures I see. And by the way the totalled honda was crooked after it was hit, it was probably hit at 25 mph. The speed limit on the street is 35mph. So given this, I have an idea: I want to install angle iron on the frame rails under my truck. I want the angle iron to extend out 6" from the side of the truck to be parallel with the side of the mirror. I want the iron to be able to stop whoever's hitting my truck, even if that means sending the culprit thru other cars in the process (so long as her car is not drivable and she's caught). The Z is narrow, so I plan to park the Z in front of the truck. I'm just tired of worring about my cars getting hit. If it pulls the truck and hits my other car(s), I don't care anymore, as long as the girl is caught. My issues are: 1. It needs to be strong enough to severly damage or otherwise stop the culprit's car when her car comes close enough to hit my mirror. 2. It needs to be pedestrian and biker safe. (I had enough of the civil court system). 3. I'm hoping its cheap, but if it does a good job, it's worth the money. 4. it needs to be within the range of the mirror, if it's outside sticking out too much, I could get into trouble, no? 5. I don't mind a stop stick style solution, but it should be a passive system, able to puncture thick ply truck tires. Do you guys have any ideas? I figured I'd ask here, because after reading the chassis threads, I've discovered you guys are quite knowledgable in strenghtening and reinforcing vehicles. I have an arc welder.

you can jam the IAC and unplug it to keep the idle steady until you get the TPS replaced. My dad's 95 had that same idle problem... so we let the car warm up to normal... then unplugged the IAC. It's not OBD II though, so dont know if it will work on yours.

How about an economical 4 cylinder car? http://losangeles.craigslist.org/car/134248840.html It's only a 2.0 litre engine, and it has a turbocharger for efficient scavenging of more power. Your wife will love you for giving her the SRT-4 after you get this.

Does that assume the ignition system and fuel pump will run on the flux capicator while the battery discharges? There's always the emergency brake in that situation... much like if you were to run over a chunk of metal on a car with both left and right brake lines under one side of the body. There's a rail under my dad's saturn... if we jump the curb wrong or land hard on a parking bump stop, it will smash both left and right rear brake lines, and cause a tandem failure. (unless the proportioning valve or some sort of check valve system is installed) I think alot of unibody cars are like that.

Those are awesome. They made my lunch break all the more enjoyable.

I saw state of the union, that was a joke. I remember watching something on TLC on how they made that car though, and thought it was pretty cool how they only had one opening door. But the CG was just way too much!

I have that same problem. Or one very similar to it. What was your solution? Did you chop a parts car up to fix the problem? Any pictures? I'm still thinking about what to do on mine... Should i attempt to botch it myself, or should I take it in for a professional to service? Did you take it in eventually? How much did it cost if you did?

Does it seem anything like this one? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=107071 "918 Orange "

It's true, I use autocad for architecture and engineering (as related to arch). I use it in 2D unless doing a presentation or model. I learned how to use autocad and mastercam in high school on an XT using all text commands. Old habits die hard, and I still use text commands. I don't know. It's just that these new programs out now... you click a 'button' with a mouse, it's like surfing the web or using microsoft paint. When I'm using something like revit or sketchup with no command line... It's almost as if the programmers are mocking me for being too dumb to be able to type a command. Maybe it's just me? I say, try them all. I lean towards autocad because if you ever share files... everyone can open a .dxf or .dwg file. But Solidworks might be the one that makes you more valueble to your employer, and you will be able to treat us out to a hybridz bbq.

Hey, if you're going to part them out, i need new frame rails, cross member, and radiator support. And one fender, and doglegs, and rear hatch rust area repair thingamabob... oh heck, i dont know what I got myself into. Regarding the above, I know how that is. I have 3 saturns in my grandparents driveway. I had 4 before. And my brother owns the fifth. I was driving my dad's 96... the engine blew up after an injector failed. Then I bought a 91 for 300 bucks with front end damage that ran. Drove it and decided to fix it. Fixed it, then someone gave me a car and so I sold it being the engine wasn't compatible. After a few years, finally found a 97 that worked. Now the 97 is sitting in the driveway, the 96 has a new engine, the 95 needs a new TPS, the 93 needs AC parts that were destroyed on the 97, and the 91 is long gone. Get rid of the cars. They will consume you slowly and painfully. I have only one Z and I don't think i can get another. I can't see myself buying another rust-free Z to cut up. And I can't see myself buying another Z to replace the one I have, since this one has sentimental value. Yeah, I need to get rid of the saturns to fund the Z cars.

plot some pictures of what you guys have so far in terms of plans. I'd love to see what you guys are planning to do.

autocad. I use architectural desktop, with express tools, forgot the version, but its about the same as 2002. Learn autocad, because everyone else uses it. you must give in. Join the bandwagon. Become a zombie like the rest of us. On autocad, you can use the menu system as you acquaint yourself with the command line. Eventually you will start to use more and more command line commands and drafting becomes a cinch. after a while, you'll start turning the menus off one by one as you learn more shortcuts until you're left with a pure drafting space. So my suggestion is, learn autocad 2000 or newer.

Be sure you're allowed to build one in whatever zone you may be in prior to proceeding. Just draw a plot plan and take it to the city before getting too deep into this. Sometimes the engineering department may conveniently place an easement thru the middle of your property, or zoning may say that you can't build so close to the property, etc.. the parcel map may have some easements, but you should hire a registered surveyor and force him to show the easements on the map. I know in LA, you don't need an architect if you build to their standard specifications. Basically you snatch their specs, and make your building conform to it... and then you cross your fingers and hope your building gets approved.

my friend, BANG who used to own a Z also owned a truck as a daily driver. I was still a teen when it happened, I think. He had to work on that truck quite often. One time we had it up on cinder blocks. Being the dumb*** I was, I kicked the truck. the brick broke, the truck fell, and my friend almost lost his head, had he not jumped out. Another time... He asked me if i tightened the lugnuts. Being frustrated and wanting to go home, I said yes. Driving to work, he found out the next day what I forgot. This one I should have known better... because I saw him fly across the freeway in his brand new used 240Z with three wheels and one drum a few months prior, LOL. he hadn't even put 10 miles on it before that happened. But nothing really ridiculous has happened while working on a car yet. It will. I'm sure of it. I've owned the Z for 2 years... it's bound to happen soon.

mine is called "Ken's Z". I chose this over "Bang's Z". I think I made a bad choice.

I love the pictures. thanks for posting them, they're getting me motivated to work on my Z again.

I've been lurking for a while, looking at other people's frame repairs due to the situation my car is in. How much would it have costed in comparison to doing it yourself? Did you ever consider getting it done by a dedicated body shop?

you are absolutely right. I tried to weld my creeper using the arc welder... and ended up with gaping holes where I thought I would have filler material. However, the creeper is quite strong on one of the four welds. the other three cracked.

I just saw the pictures you posted. And I think it might be out of my scope of ability to do something like that without altering the suspension in a negative way. I'm going to have to think about this one. On one hand, I want to keep the car, but on the other hand I want to keep my sanity, life, etc...

Ok, I found the lincoln wirefeed in the garage and took some pictures for you guys to analyze the suitability of this device for frame welding. On the back it says "To prevent possible damage to LN-25 with internalk contactor, Do Not Connect to non-Lincoln TIG or Square WAve Power Sources." The back of the unit has some sort of gas connector, a purge button and a giant wire coming out of it. The front of the unit has a weird connector on it, a connector looking like you hook the wirefeed gun to, and a bunch of doo-dads to control the unit. Because of the sticker on the back of the unit, I'm not too sure if this can hook to my arc welder. It does say "Arc welder" on the side of the unit, but i cant know for certain that this thing is compatible... let alone what all the other connectors are for. Its a lincoln LN-25 if the model number helps any. If I went to home depot and got a buzz box, could I hook that up to this? I have some CO2 cylinders in the back of my garage too. (I think it's for the keg machine and beer taps though.) Basically, my question is: Is this suitable for frame welding? And also is this thing compatible with a century infinitely adjustable arc welder? And What the heck is this thing?