capt_furious

Huh, yeah, seen that before. Pretty cool. Drifting definitely isn't my thing(I'd like to see this with full roadrace vehicles and exact physics to build driver skill, much like commercial flight simulators), but man, that's impressive.

I'm not suggesting distilling the water oneself(and definitely not onboard the car), simply using it to avoid scale buildup.

See!? I'm not crazy! I'm not I'm not I'm not!

Ever hear of the Pelland Steamer? Evidently VW had a small subdivision called Enginion recently develop a highly advanced steam-powered vehicle that made 220 hp, but it wasn't researched any further as 'the market was not ready for it'. Saab also had a steam project in the '70s. BMW is working on an auxiliary drive called a turbosteamer. 'Steam stuff is huge' is a common misconception, there are plenty of small-scale steam engines and powerplants. Yes, most of it would be custom fabrication, which is another major hurdle...however, so is taking 3 KA24DE heads and making a working L31DETT out of them. It can be done with the proper inspiration, ingenuity and resources. I've got one of the three, so I'm pretty much just planting ideas and hopefully sparking some constructive discussion here. I'm not so much suggesting this from an alternative/replacement energy standpoint, just a technological achievement standpoint that would create a vehicle that would run on just about anything, anywhere. The current 'green' trend is an annoyance to me, the accomplishments are something that should have been done long ago in the name of technological advancement, instead of a 'sky is falling' environmental hysteria.

Holy pucker value, Batman! Glad you're all right and the car isn't badly damaged. Anyone ever hear of this happening before? Hate to think this might be a hazard on Zs.

Maybe older methods of generating steam, yes, but has a modern solution ever been tried? I'm still not convinced that it's impossible to build a compact high-efficiency steam superheater(insert the obvious Mr. Fusion joke here). I've tossed around the idea of a dual-fuel burner system, on fluid and one gas...you'd be able to burn just about anything combustible(other than solids, of course). Consider that steam superheaters produce steam that is VERY dry, and hot enough to the point that there is little to no condensation(besides warm up and shut down cycles, of course).

Makarovs, TT-33s, and CZ52s are always fun budget guns, as well. 7.62 x 25 is a HOT round, and all three of those can be converted to 9 x 19(Mak from 9 x 18). They'll go with the rest of the Eastern Bloc collection.

Sounds pretty good. He sings, too! Now all you have to do is dance, and the ladies will be all over you.

Aux, you should handle my Witness a bit and see if you like the CZ75 design...ask Don about the Sigmas. And I'd cast a vote for the XD, as well. ...I'm still looking for a cheap pre-'60s Colt Detective Special.

I've been watching WAY too much of Jay Leno's Garage lately. The Stanley Steamer got me thinking: Why hasn't this technology been explored further? Evidently those cars had absurd amounts of torque. So, here's a thread to theorize and maybe even develop a method of steam-powering a Z. My initial thoughts are to use LPG for the burner / boiler. Use distilled water to avoid scale, construct as much as possible out of stainless. Boiler / steam turbine technology has greatly improved due to its use in marine applications in the past century. Electrical power could easily be generated with a small turbine connected to a vent from the boiler and used direct-drive to a common alternator type(GM one-wire would be a good example). Designing a boiler that would be efficient enough and compact enough to make the project worthwhile would likely be the most challenging obstacle in such a project. The most significant downside is waiting for the thing to reach operating temperature, although the original steamers were kept on a low boil overnight. Another major engineering obstacle would be the design / optimization / size / placement of the cylinder(s). One would have to determine the layout, bore, stroke and compression depending on the application. There's plenty of room under the hood of a Z for a boiler, which could sit above the cylinders, which in turn could be mounted low between the frame rails. Do it right and you might be able to use the stock driveline, and eliminate the need for a transmission(imagine being able to go just as fast in reverse as you can forward!). The propane tank could easily sit in the hatch area with a clamp assembly, and the gas tank would be replaced with a water tank. I'm no engineer, but I'm sure we've got a few people here that could figure out a proper layout / sizes / number for the cylinders...maybe even come up with a Wankel-like design. Another possible alternative: skip the cylinders altogether and use a small steam turbine on a generator, feeding to a battery pack which in turn would spin an electric motor on the transmission's input shaft(this stems from putting a jet microturbine or two in the hatch with a firewall...similar to the Allison turboshaft powered ZX, but with a different power delivery method). Go ahead and call me crazy or even stupid, I don't mind.

This is a real shame. I've actually been visiting for years(since aux began his rotary swap), and I've always regarded HybridZ as a true exception among automotive boards, in that the signal to noise ratio was FAR better than most. No posturing, no silly brand loyalty, ego contests or 'all show no go', just pure dedication to speed & craftsmanship. A few bad apples can ruin it for the whole bunch. It would take some serious BALLS for the guilty party to come forward and post a public apology. Better to do that and gain back a little of the respect you've lost than to be outed and shamed. Ernie, sorry to see you go. Wish I could have read some of the stuff you put up.

Calculating the actual speed of the car is a simple matter of knowing the distance between light posts on that road and timing them as they pass during a shot of the driver(perpendicular to the direction of travel). You don't need a shot of the speedo.

Geez, wish I could dig up something worth $300 from my back yard! Congrats!

That alone makes it extremely easy to track down the car. Checking the DMV registry for LP640s and narrowing them down by color should yield the suspect vehicle, or only a few. The 205 mph club site that is featured will likely yield the culprit as well. *edit: surprise, surprise. The site is down.* If you do something stupid, especially something stupidly illegal, don't further the stupidity by bragging about it on the internet. It's a shame that kind of money somehow makes it into the hands of people who don't have the brains to use it responsibly. ...somebody that has enough money to afford an LP640 has enough money to keep the car on a track while attempting those speeds, and there are plenty of tracks in the southwestern United States that would support them. For some reason people think that doing this sort of thing in public makes them somehow more 'legit', more hardcore than they would be if they did it on a track. It was the same thing with the knucklehead street racers of the '90s and early '00s, in their minds, being an illegal street dragger made you hot stuff. Now most of them have forgotten about drag racing and have gone to the new hotness, drifting. I'm not going to say I haven't buried the needle on a car or two. It's tempting, especially when you know you've got the power to do it. It's still monumentally STUPID to try it on a public road where it endangers people other than yourself, and without proper safety equipment or support. At least on a track there's crash recovery crews and EMTs standing by, and no traffic other than people who have accepted the same risks you have, instead of unwitting passerby who are having those risks forced upon them. You're not hardcore unless you take it to a track, where you can develop skill under controlled and safe repeatable conditions and legitimately record your results. ...and I'm by no means hardcore, myself. Probably never will be. *steps down off of pulpit and dons fireproof suit*

Northern Bay Area in California.

A, S, S, H-O, L-E, EVERYBODY!

Wallflowers - Some Flowers Bloom Dead We didn't make it We did not pull through You shouldn't blame me I don't blame you Now what else did you think that I would do? ooooh as if it wasn't hard enough I'm so tired of waking up feeling bad You haven't been the kind of place I have Could it hurt you now to let this pass? oooooh as if it wasn't hard enough You want to make it so much harder Now in another world I could learn to forget But 'til then I'm here making room for new regrets Now some flowers they never bloom And some flowers just bloom dead The way you make me feel I could collapse An epidemic I cannot outlast How could you feel used when I feel trapped? ooooh as if it wasn't hard enough And just as my conscience starts to clear I drag the river and you're still there The way I bring you down could not compare ooooh as if it wasn't hard enough You want to make it so much harder Now in another world I could learn to forget But 'til then I'm here making room for new regrets Now some flowers they never bloom But some flowers just bloom dead Now some flowers they never bloom And some flowers just bloom dead The way I sleep this bed just can't be made I pull the covers up around my head Now when I think of me I think of somebody else instead As if it wasn't hard enough You're gonna make it so much harder Now in another world I could learn to forget But 'til then I'm here making room for new regrets Now some flowers they never bloom And some flowers just bloom dead Now some flowers they never bloom And some flowers they just bloom dead The first one of you mugs to call me emo is going to get strangled with a Deathcab for Cutie t-shirt.

If you're POSITIVE it's a cannonball, call this shop, ask for Wally. If he can't figure it out, then Ed(at the same shop) might. If you're looking to sell, they might be interested. Emailing the photos might be helpful. ....and COOL! (my first thought was to use it for destructive purposes, as well...)

Check your clutch slave if you've got one, if it's going out, first will be difficult(due to not being able to get full extension on the slave), but the rest will be easy since you're moving. Had this happen, putting in a new slave fixed it.

Gimmie a garage and time to work.

More from a cult car movie than songs about cars; The JB Pickers - Freedom of Expression. Blast that while taking 80 through Nevada.

Paul, there are other realms electronic where anything of such absurd and grotesque nature is known as an 'aux post'. It's aux.

My thoughts exactly. Congrats Ron! ...that reminds me, need to get that mount installed!

Wow, that is going to be NICE...killer color combo.

Indeed. Always be 10% smarter than the equipment you're working on.