jhaag

On Friday I visited Ben at his house in a Denver suburb and I was mightily impressed. He has about a 3-4 car garage filled with treats! Besides the twin turbo Z under construction, there was a frame for a 7-type car leaning against the wall, a Hayabusa bike engine on the floor, a shifter cart in another corner and piles and piles of tools and parts. I joked with his wife that she should call me when Ben wasn't around and I'd bring my trailer and load up all the things he no longer 'needs' - all in the spirit of public service, mind you! . He has a Cobra kit roller at another location. Ben, you have a very nice set up and your Z is soooo close to being done. Visiting him was the highly of the week (heck, the highlight of the month). John

I contacted the firm several years ago and, at that time, they did not have a distributor in the US and they thought the shipping from Britain to the US would be VERY expensive. I am fairly certain this is not available through MSA. Let us know if you find that it is available in the US. John

Not sure if anyone posted about this yet - sorry if I'm repeating things. Grassroots Motorsports magazine has a new feature called their Hot Rod of the Month web site. Here is what they say: “Our readers build the coolest cars, and we enjoy seeing the fruits of their labors. To give everyone a place to say ‘look at me,’ we created our Readers’ Ride forum, one of the message boards found at GRM Online: http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com. Just to keep things interesting, each issue of GRM features a car picked from this message board. Last issue we featured Steve Graber’s home-built La Bala (http://www.grabercars.com/Mambosite/index.php), and that trend continues with Kurt Bilinski’s Kimini 2.2. When completed, the Kimini will resemble a classic Mini, although the tube-frame structure supports a mid-mounted H22A1-spec engine from a Honda Prelude. Complete details, including a construction log, can be found at http://www.kimini.com “ I find the build process can be quite educational and entertaining. John

It's really nice to see some more ZX ideas!! Keep it coming! John

Would an anemometer help you? It might be hard, though, to get accurate air flow measurements unless you are measuring the flow in a duct. There might be various paths and speeds of air flow in your engine compartment even when all the radiator air is being ducted over the hood. http://www.electrical-contractor.net/The_Store/EX/Anem_Main.htm I've wondered about this myself but that's all the further I got....just wondering. John

Any chance that a version of the sticker could be made that says "When stock just doesn't cut it" in addition to the standard one? Or "When stock just isn't enough?" John

"I must admit it, it is an illness!" Well, if your illness is communicable, I will be more than happy to catch it! WOW!! Your vent is the best I've seen. John

Well, darn! I went to the MSA show, got back Monday and then took several days off work and didn't look at my computer (and the Hybrid forum) until noon today (Thursday) which is my first day back. I live in the southeast part of Denver (near the U of Denver) so if you are leaving tonight, I'm guessing we're going to miss each other. I don't get off work until 5 - 5:30 pm. I grew up in New Berlin, WI but have lived out here since '81. My car is a '79 ZX and is up on jackstands in the garage while I'm putting a driveshaft hoop on it. Take care John

It sounds like a good idea to me. John

Thanks for responding. I'm using Explorer and my "first party" and "third party" cookies (I don't know what that means) have the "ACCEPT" box checked. On the same page, the "Always allow session cookies" box is checked and the "Override automatic cookie handling" box (top of the page) is checked. I tried unchecking this last item but in then unchecked all the other boxes. I hope the above makes some sense to you. I should be more specific, however, about the problem. When I receive a "Topic Reply Notification" the system remembers me. It's when I try to log into the system from the log in page that the system doesn't remember me even though I've checked that box dozens of times. Thanks! John

Perhaps I'm not doing this right but even though I indicate on the login screen every time that I'd like the system to remember me and to log me in automatically next time, it never does. Am I forgetting something or doing something wrong? Thanks. John

I recently used PayPal to send my contribution to Hybrid. After that I received 7 email requests to do something like the following (I'm paraphrasing): "We have noticed recent activity on your account that may indicate fraudulent attempts to access your information. Please log into your account ASAP and check your information for accuracy." Because I was too busy and because I wondered about receiving so many emails that were the same, I contacted PayPal by email to see if the messages were legitamate. Apparently they were bogus emails from someone hoping to get my log in information and who would then, presumably, rip me off. Here is the response from PayPal which presumably is from PayPal. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that this sounds a lot like the initial spate of emails! I'm not sure what to believe. Boy, sending a money order is looking better and better! "Thank you for bringing this suspicious email to our attention. We can confirm that the email you received was not sent to you by PayPal. The website linked to this email is not a registered URL authorized or used by PayPal. We are currently investigating this incident fully. Please do not enter any personal or financial information into this website. If you have surrendered any personal or financial information to this fraudulent website, you should immediately log into your PayPal Account and change your password and secret question and answer information. Any compromised financial information should be reported to the appropriate parties. If you notice any unauthorized activity associated with your PayPal transaction history, please immediately report this to PayPal." Just FYI John

If you'd like to send him something, I suggest you do a test by sending a very small CARE package of pretty safe things and ask Larry what he can/cannot receive. I'm guessing that Larry will have a very clear idea by now what is OK or not OK. I'm guessing that several small packages end up being a lot more fun for the recipient than one big package. In his letter, he mentioned having several bags of microwave popcorn and it sounded like they had to last until he gets out. I'm sure getting a CARE package would be huge when all you've got to do all day is think about your fight against the system. A note, a letter, some old magazines, a few fun food items, whatever--it's easy to imagine that anything would bring a smile to his face. John

Here is what Larry sent me on March 31 after I asked him if he'd like me to post a letter from him to Hybrid Z. I'm sure he would love to hear from anyone. As you will read, the system seems like it might be having a negative impact on his health. His address is: Larry Johnson 65400-065 Federal Prison Work Camp P.O. Box 6000 Sheridan, OR 97378 "Hello John, I have neglected to write since have been quite busy with the legal work. Your magazines do get thru when you make notations on the outside of the envelope with how many magazines are in the envelope. [several of my packages of magazines were returned to me as undeliverable because I didn't write the contents on the package and because I sent more than three magazines at a time.] I should get out in December of this year. I was sentenced to 33 months. I have served approximately 17 months. The Bureau of Prisons gives an inmate 59 days of good time credit for each year served. I lost 13 days of good time credit for having illegal contraband—another inmate’s legal material.. What I had was a “published case law†memorandum opinion by a Washington, DC federal judge. The other “inmate†was Shauna Lyn Cutler, a female “inmate†who never served time in a federal prison. After the “memorandum opinion†was seized, I was “arrested†and placed in “segregated housing†for four days on investigation for assaulting another inmate. From the arrest, I was transferred to the “hole†which is a maximum security facility located in a medium security correctional facility from a minimum security work camp. Accordingly, this is an illegal transfer pursuant to federal court rules when an inmate has a habeas corpus proceeding in court without the approval of the transfer from a judge. I have three habeas corpus proceedings in court. While at the “hole†my heart medications were not given to me. Upon release at Camp Medical, my blood pressure was monitored at 191/113 on March 18 (Thursday) and the following Friday, March 26th I was hospitalized for severe hypertension and a faulty EKG. The hospital staff, after tests and evaluation, concluded that I did not have a heart attach and released me back to the work camp with orders that I am to return to the hospital the following Monday for further testing. Monday, my blood pressure was 207/114 but this foreign physician’s assistant , who is not even licensed to practice in Oregon, decided due to monetary influences NOT to send me back to the hospital for further testing. The ‘physician’s assistant’ is the same incompetent medical staffer that did not provide me with medication at the “holeâ€. The assault charges were dropped (but I am getting ahead of myself). I was charged with not attending a medical appointment—a blood test for halfway house placement in December. I go to a hearing on Thursday, March 25 and tell them I was too sick and unaware of the appointment for the blood test. They recommended 16 days of my good time credit be removed. The next day I go to the hospital for hypertension in an ambulance. In the meantime, I am reading Alekzander Solzhenitsyn’s The Cancer Ward and now the first circle after previously reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. [i don’t understand what he means here, although I highly recommend the One Day in the Life book]. We have gulag in America and it is underfunded now due to all the police actions in world spreading freedom and Coca Cola. Hey, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and have about 10 bags of microwave popcorn left. I am writing a writ of mandamus to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with more details of this sorry existence. So…you’ve got in-laws in Portland, Oregon? You can come out and see me one day….next year? Hey, I’m off work a week too due to the hypertension and anxiety. Tee Zee" [/i]

Ross: I sent my write up on Wednesday. I hope it helps fight the bureaucrats. John

Thanks for posting the web site! John

Does anyone remember the name of the huge performance equipment store that opened in the LA area recently? I believe it's a branch of a Japanese store. I'm interested in visiting the place while I'm at the MSA West Coast Nationals, at least if it's not too far away. Thanks. John

When I follow his instructions, all that saves is his index page but not the article itself. I tried it again this morning. I'd like to click on what I saved and get the article itself and not have to go through the extra step of having to click on the article in his index and then wait for the thing to load. I'm still missing something here. Any ideas? Thanks. John

A member of the Rocky Mountain SoloII community discussion list was gracious enough to post a pdf of the recent extensive seat article in Sport Compact Car. It's by far the most comprehensive article on seats I've ever seen. I've been able to view the lengthy article but my brain must be dead in that I haven't been able to save it. I have a hard copy of the article so all is not lost. I'm just going to post his whole message so you can view it. I tried to follow his instructions on saving it but all I get is his index saved rather than the article. Here tis: "Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 10:22:15 -0700 From: "Graeme Weston-Lewis" <gweston@lsil.com> Subject: RE: [RMsolo] Racing Seat Advice I have a pdf version of this article. At 11MB it's kinda big, so we warned. http://gwl.rmsolo.org/misc It's called "SCC Seats.pdf". Please right click and "save as" rather than viewing it directly within your browser. Thanks, Graeme" John

Two problems This morning (3/22) when I clicked on the link in a "Topic Reply Notification" email I received, (I was using Netscape 7.1 mail), I was taken to the thread on Donations to the site. I'm guessing that is because last week I mentioned on the site that I sent a Paypal donation ($100) and that I was hoping someone would buy my R200 so I could donate the $ (hopefully also $100) to the site. Anyway, when I clicked on the link this morning I read the new messages in that section. I then clicked on Forums, the first forum (Chevy) had messages from today (3/22) listed. However when I signed out of Netscape and used my regular browser (Internet Explorer), when I went to the same Chevy forum, the latest message posted was 3/19. I had another problem on 3/22 in that when I "tripped" over the "new messages" section (I never noticed it before), I found there were 5-6 messages from three people responding to my R200 offer. However, I only received email (using my normal Netscape 7.1) from two people who were different from the three who left messages for me on the site. I composed a very apologetic message to the three people explaining that I didn't know about this feature. Perhaps you can find my message - I sent it on 3/20 to the three people. I realize this problem is probably due more to my not being familiar with the changes in the new site but I thought I'd let you know in case there is more to it than that. Thanks! John Haag

R200 for sale-all proceeds to the site. I posted this about two weeks ago in the Buy/Sell section but only had one person respond. Help me clear a spot in my garage Here is a link to the original post: http://hybridz.org/nuke/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=32168 John

If you want the book but don't want to buy it, check out interlibrary loan. I looked on the World Catalog online and several hundred libraries in the U.S. own the book. With your library card (free) and the assistance (very easy) of your local librarian, you can obtain almost any book. It might take a week to get it but once you have it, you could photocopy the pages you want. Milliken also published a workbook (1998) and Race Car Vehicle Dynamics: problems, answers and experiments (2003). John

Ahhh…it’s good to finally make the decision to attend the MSA West Coast Nationals in April! I’ve been going around and around in my head about this and finally just said DO IT! Thanks to someone from Hybrid who recommended using Hotwire.com to purchase everything in a package (flight, hotel, rental car). I was pleased by the price and the experience. The Association of Handcrafted Automobiles (http://www.kitcar.com/club-aha/home.html) is the same weekend and less than 10 miles away (at Knott’s Berry Farm). Definitely worth a visit. I think a visit to the Peterson Auto Museum (http://www.petersen.org/) is also in order. I’m arriving on Friday and leaving on Monday so I think (hope) there will be enough time. I’m still considering attending the national Z convention in June. Now I just need to buy a camera. I saved several past threads that discussed the pros/cons of various digital cameras and dug them out last night. I only need a camera for taking close up pictures of cars (or of parts under my own car or in the engine bay). John

I still hear from him occasionally. Someone in the prison mail room has been an absolute jerk in that a number of my packages of car magazines have been returned to me for various reasons: too heavy (now they will only give him packages of less than one pound -new rule, contents not marked clearly on the envelope (if the person spoke English, it was pretty clear), and several were returned for no reason. Heck, it ends up costing more to send a used magazine than it would cost at full price on the newstand. Arghh! This kind of stuff has REALLY been irritating him (and me). You should hear the bureaucratic b*llsh*t he has to go through to buy a stamp! About 6 people need to approve his request. Double arghhh! He has various appeals pending so he doesn't know if he'll be able to get out early or not. John

To make access to everything a little easier, I'd like to cut my tailpipes in several places and weld 3-bolt flanges on the pipes. The flanges are about 3/16" thick and I've never welded something thin, like the tailpipe, to something thick like the flange. I have a Miller 172 with possible voltage settings of 1-4 and wire feed settings of 0-100; I have some .023 wire currently loaded in the machine. What settings would you recommend? At best I'm still a rookie at mig welding so any advice you offer would be appreci,ated. Thanks. John