jonzer12

Well, I just finished watching PINKS, it was a good episode. I won't be foolish enough to post what happened in case some people taped it. It's nice to see HybridZ on TV tho! Congrats to all the members who poured their time into that car.

Lol, I started this thread 11-17-2003!

Please leave the mindless comments for the sandbox. This car has the potential be one of the greatest achievements in traditional car design. We are approaching a peak in traditional automotive technologoy as we are moving towards cleaner and cheaper sources of energy. It may be a while before these new technologies give us this kind of performance. 250mph to 0 in ten seconds! That is simply incredible. I am disappointed that there was no comment on the tires that were on the car!

What a bunch of bull, a 60 mil payout will probably cause a few jobs lost here and there. I am sick of these rediculous claims. There are millions of explorers out there, probably one in an accident every day and they aren't flipping over. I could flip my jeep very easily if I drove carelessly, does that mean that Jeep is to blame? No, its my responsibility to know the limits of the vehicle that I am driving. Not the other way around. I think this year I will sideswipe a pole and sue the Canadian Government for allowing snow to acumulate on my cities's roads. Don't they know that snow can cause a vehicle to have "poor handling characteristics" ????

I posted a thread about my old man's honda powered mini in here a couple of years ago. He has build a fleet of various minis over the years. His vtec mini weighs approx 1250 pounds and I think his last dyno was about 230 hp at the wheels. There are a few honda kits out there but you have to modify the front subframe and the mini does get pretty front heavy. Still the car is insanely fast and you can finally have a fast mini that doesn't go thorugh a gearbox every six months. Nothing handles quite like an original mini!

I want to use a snowmachine motor because they are cheap here and because they are already designed to use a salsbury clutch as was stock in the odysseys. They were 2 stroke stock as well. I would love to use a 4 stroke bike engine with a gearbox but the complexity and cost is just not worth it. I am a fan of the salsbury clutch system too, always keeps the engine in its powerband. Great for hill climbing I found a 377 rotax that is fan cooled and I think I will go with that. Should give me a 40% increase in power over a stock odyssey. Hopefully it can take the heat after some rejetting. Now if only i could find a Z around here!! Thanks for the post guys.

I know this is not Z related but I need to tap into some of the knowledge here. I am restoring a honda odyssey, a fl250 to be exact. It had been modified and butchered over the years but I have it back to bare frame and am fabbing my own cage. I am trying to choose a motor and am having some problems. It has a old rotax motor in it that is done so I am left with nothing. The stock engine (if I could find one) is costly to repair these days and I have no mounts anyway so why not go with something better. I do have the stock salsbury clutch system so was thinking of using another rotax/snowmachine motor. I am concerned however with overheating. Would an old air cooled motor work, of do I have to go liquid cooled? Summers here in ontairo Canada average 25 celsius. I definetly want to stick with the salsbury clutch system. Anyone have any experience with sled motors in the summer? Thanks, Jonesy

There is some guy in my town with a 4 door rusty chevette that runs low 11's. It's RWD, wieghs nothing and I would imagine nobody ever suspects a chevette/acadian. You can also pick one up for probably a few hundred bucks.

I have a 2001 f150 supercrew 4x4 w/ the 5.4l engine. I have burried this truck in mud more times that i can remember, I have towed boats, trailers, pulled loggs anything you can think of. It might still be pretty new at 67k on it but it has never given me a single problem, not one. This truck is my first ever domestic purchase and so far it was worth every penny. I am not a Ford fan per say but so far Ford has yet to let me down.

I did a few years of sat-comm and computer networking as an independant contractor and can give a little bit of advice. I for one prefer working for someone else. I made more money working for myself but I was putting in lots of off the books time to keep it all running smoothly. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to consider this. I spent so much time keeping track of bills and organizing things, purchasing equipment etc that for every hour I was actually working I was spending 20 minutes or so in overhead of my own time. This is an obviious statement that I am sure you have considered but in my case it was much more work than I first anticipated. The earning potential is always greater on your own but keep in mind of the impact it will have on your lifestyle. There is something to be said for the ability to leave the office and actually not have to worry about work. The only other thing I can say is that if you are familiar with accounting and tax practices (like myself) hire a bookkeeper from the start. I went through hell my first year because I failed to do this. It is worth every penny! Also be sure to educate yourself on all the insurances out there to protect your business. You would suprised how many things you need to protect yourself from.

Original mini with a vtec swap or turbo swap, or a austin healey would be a good project too. I can tell you that a 200hp classic mini is actually more fun to drive than a 400 hp Z. Please feel free to attack me on this!

My father in law has one, I used it twice, and it worked perfectly each time, I agree that it definately for lite duty use only but in my opinion it does work as advertised and I would have no problem buying one for myself.

This is a non-Z related post. I recently purchased a 01 F-150 supercrew 4x4 with a 5.4 and a sterling 9.75 3.55 rear end. Only problem is that its an open rear end and living in the Canadian north I am using 4x4 almost 75 percent of the time. I have looked at a few aftermarket options but have not come to any conclusion. I don't want a locker as I am not into heavy off roading or towing, I do some fishing and mild off roading but nothing drastic, just enough to force me into some decent off road tires. I am looking for a relativley maintence free, moderate priced solution that will behave well on the highway and around town but not let me down off road. Anyone have any advice, I am looking around for a stock piece but there doesn't seem to much available in my immediate area. Also the truck just cracked 60 thousand kilometers today. If I do buy a LSD unit, anything else I should change in the rear end while I am at it? Thanks, Jonesy

Your 626 mazda engine, are you refering to a F2T? If so visit http://www.mx6.com. Plenty of f2t info there. I had a 2generation mx-6 a for quite a few years and I helped do some buildups on a couple 1st gen mx-6 with F2T's. Parts are hard to find but they are stout little motors.

The file needs to be "hosted" on a webserver, not your pc, email it to me at jonzer12@hotmail.com and I will send you a link back.

link works for me, looks like they are same video tho.

http://student.lssu.edu/~ujones/aa.wmv Top gear review of said car, worth the dl.

I am interested in your experience with speartech and their harness. I was considering buying a complete engine tranny combo from them but it was too pricey, are you satisfied with the quality of the harness?

I have the damn norwalk flue, I been puking out both ends since Christmas eve, and I missed both meals, for that matter I haven't eaten solid food since breakfast Christmas Eve. On the bright side I got one of those joysticks you hook up to your tv and play old school atari games on. On another note spagehtti westerns are a whole new experience when you are running a high fever. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I wish long HEALTY lives to you all...

The more time I spend looking at trucks the more I feel like buying new. I only have 20k so I would need a decent loan however. It just seems like the latest model trucks are lightyears above their previous models. So far I have it narrowed down to an 04 colorado 4 door 4x4 or an 05 tacoma 4 door 4x4. I prefer the toyota but they are overpriced and its hard to compare toyota's 5.9% financing with chevy's 0%. Unfortunately I have spent my entire life trashing GM products becuase my closest friends are gm employees. On a side note I drove both the 4 cyl and 5cyl versions of the colorado and I was extremely impressed with chev's new 4. Most 4 banger trucks I have driven have been absolute dogs but this motor felt great! If you do not frequent the highway it felt just as capable in town as the inline 5. I still always opt for the larger engine, I thought I would share this.

Thanks guys keep them coming. I went to see my cousin who is a toyota salesman, man I fell in love with the 05 tacoma, 4 door v6, 6 spd. To bad I can't afford it. I am beginning to consider a 3 or 4 year old F150. So far they seem to have the most comfortable interior of all the trucks I have driven and they also seem reasonably priced. I can also swing a brand new 4cyl 4x4 colorado. Anyone have experience with these?

As the son of a complete mini nut, (my dad is now restoring his 5th mini cooper) I can atest to the rediculous performance of a honda powered mini. To be honest the honda conversion requires lengthing the front subframe and as a result the converted mini doesn't handle quite the same as stock but man do they fly. My dad's vtec mini has approx 200bhp and it MOVES. I have not spent a lot of time behind the wheel of it but my only gripe is its hard to get good performance carrying passengers. You throw extra people in a mini and it becomes a completely different car. Still I wouldn't pay 35k for that mini. You can pick up a fast turbo mini for way cheaper and still have all the performance you need on the street.

hey guys, I am looking to buy a fullsize or midsize pickup. I have only ever owned sports cars with the exception of my old cherokee. Anyone have advice, I have 20k canadian to play with am not too picky. What I am looking for is a RELIABLE 4x4 that will see very light duty and the occasional trip off road in the summer to fish and hike and such. It will become my daily driver as I need a pickup for work use. I am just interested in what u all are driving truck wise and what is considered a good buy, especially you fellow canadians. Thanks, Jonesy

Move to Canada, we don't pay a dime of tax on lottery winnings and the like! I do believe that tuner transformation is a canadian show and the suspension guy on it races a yellow 240z, he has quite record I think too. Someone here should apply to the show.

Steam clean your entire interior, 1 hour with a steam cleaner can do wonders for your carpet and any inherent odours. Nothing sells a car like sitting in a beautiful interior. If your seats are totaled buy a quality seat cover and make sure you clean your headliner, I always check that out when buying a car. Another thing is to clean your engine bay area. It says a lot to me when a car is clean under the hood. Good luck with the sale.