Mikelly

In the last few months you've posted a couple of these... I'm going to give you some solid advice... DON'T HANG AROUND DRAMA PEOPLE! I have nephew I used to refer to as my little brother... He is my nephew because he isn't worthy to be my little brother. He is 26 years old, has been unemployed most of his adult life and he lives with and leeches off my retired parents. He is essentially worthless and has fallen out of my good graces... I feel I have to mention this because it's importand as to why you need to stop hanging around drama and stupid people. Every since my nephew has had his license, he has congregated around anyone and everyone stupid enough to fight about benchraces. He's constantly going to "show" someone or "prove that idiot wrong". I've always thought that it takes way more time and effort to try to prove the idiots wrong and in the end you eventually get some of that stupid to rub off on you. I pretty much wrote the boy off after this past summer he went to a parking lot looking for a race and ended up on the wrong side of a pair of brass knuckles. Some kid blind-sided him and he never saw it coming... Just what he needed, more head trauma to make him dumber! You've commented a couple times about "racing" people. I hope you're doing it at a track. I hope you get what I'm implying above. You have ZERO to prove to the idiots of the world, unless you're just trying to prove you belong in their ranks. I don't think that's your intent, but you might want to re-think these little rants before posting them. You can't "show" every idiot in Mechanicsville that they are wrong. Otherwise it'll be a full time job. Mike

It didn't unfold like that at all... Pinks was done and over for going on three months when Mike was banned. He was the last of the group banned permanently. Two from that group were banned for the fraudulent raffel they tried to perpitrate. Mike was banned for his conduct in getting the Pinks car back to its owner, and for the parts he stole from the car AFTER it was sold, along with his conduct towards those on the admin staff who were trying to do the right thing and sort out the mess caused by himself and the other two individuals who were banned. Trust me on this one; I don't care who you are or how long you've been a member of the site. Help a banned member get access to the site and you WILL be banned for life. It's that simple. We are not screwing around on this one. Here's the deal on the whole "who gets banned and who doesn't get banned" thing... You guys have all been to enough sites to know that we are much different than any other site out there. We have a GREAT group of admins who generally use very sound judgement on their actions. All oif our admin staff are senrior members who are in their late 20s to late 50s. All are professional people in their careers, business owners, and most have degrees and advanced degrees. We act as a group and rarely disagree or dispute things. We also converse and ask advice from the group as a whole if an issue doesn't seem cut and dried. There are a number of users who HAVE been banned and then HAVE been unbanned because a discussion arose in the admin forum and the consensus was to let the user back into the site after an agreed to time. We're all human and once in a while we do get it wrong. Sometimes we have a bad day, just like you guys. The difference is that there are about 12 of us to watch this site and the amount of traffic that flows thru it. We have a fair number of users and it is sometimes WORK to deal with issues that come up. Here's something else to beware of... We have a watch notice. It has users on it who have caused us grief in the past and are pretty much assured to cause us grief in the future. Some of you have been contacted and advised of your name being on this list... That's because we thought it was worth mentioning and that you were worth steering in the right direction. Others never get that helpful advise, because it's pretty obvious from their conduct that they aren't worth the effort. We give them enough rope to hang themselves before banning them... We have rules, and we expect them to be followed. We also expect our admin staff to be treated well regardless the end of the stick you find yourself at. Without the admin staff, this place would be just like any other website, and would be a place none of you would want to remain at for long. Hope this clears a few things up... Mike Kelly

Should be a very cool project... I'm real interested in that instrument cluster Idea of yours. Mike

Think we're good for the moment... Mike

I didn't get out to look at it... I ended up getting tied up doing work related stuff... Mike

Been riding street bikes for 24 years, never been down and have been to many many track days... This particular bike will be a "daily" rider for me, since I drive low volume country roads. Previously I had ridden up the interstate for well over an hour to and from work... I gave up riding in those conditions due to the idiots on cell phones and putting on makeup and such... I expect to have much less concern riding in the new conditions. Mike

Here are a few pics... Mike

To my knowledge none of Ross' Stubs have had issues with imbalance. If it's a budget/Cost issue, I understand. But it's been my experience, and the history of many of us on this board (I've been here since the beginning and have gone thru SIX different front brake iterations) that you're far better off in the long run to do it right the first time... Just a thought... Mike

You could buy the stub axles from ross for $125 and the aluminum front hubs from Jamie for about $300... Or a set of 300ZX hubs for about $80... So why not do it right and get the parts with the studs already inplace? Mike

Justin, Just sent Dave a note.. That would be a great option indeed... Mike

Yea, I'm using the PBR Caliper/13inch rotor from the Ford Mustang Cobra... I'm tempted to just order the 13inch rear setup from Ross while I'm waiting on his stub axles to ship... But I just bought another motorcycle and $1200 for brakes is well... What the hell, maybe I'll order them... Mike

So I'm looking at the parts I have in the shop and it seems rather clear that my wonderful idea to retrofit Z06 calipers to my setup using some spiffy Mustang Cobra rear rotors may not work... I'm trying to source some rear brackets... May end up baggin' it and going with something off the shelf... Those of you who track your cars, what are you using for the rear setup? Mike

And the bad...

The good...

My M Roadster is sold and waiting for a shipping time and location. I'm buying a motorcycle to drive on nice days while I sort the Z out for track duty. I'm also gonna look at a daily driver to knock around in while I decide what else to buy (looking at Vipers/Vettes/Porsches). I plan to buy something for less than $10K and have as a spare vehicle that can be used if the truck or the wife's car is in for repairs and a nice looking clean older Zcar would fit the bill.. This one has nice lines, and except for the attention getting paint, it looks good on the interior. If it's not a total rust bucket, I may well buy it. Mike

Yes, Jamie had to basically cut and weld his rear strut housing to make it work... And it was never road tested. What I'd recommend is going to MML's website and ordering a set of pre-drilled stubaxles from Ross for $125. http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=64&PHPSESSID=f4467ec62491d73e53b0414149cdadcd Or, if HP is a concern and money isn't an issue, do what I did... http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=62 These options are tried and true and take the fab time and guess work out of the equation. And Ross makes a damned fine part... If Jamie ever does hit the lottery and gets a ton of spare time to fabricate and produce stuff again, I'll bet large sums of money that he'll come up with some very trick parts that will blow your mind. However, right now he's got his hands full with two small children (adorable little girls, I might add! ) and they are priority #1 in his life right now! Mike

Well I'll tell you all how straight that car is and how good or bad the flames look later on... I'm calling this guy and going to take a look at the car... Mike

I've been so busy working on my own Z, doing work for the company (Experiencing some growth the last few weeks) and working on moving the M Roadster (it's got a new home in Calgary Canada in the coming days)... I've forgotten to take pics of his car.. I'll have to get some of his car this week. Not even uncovered it since I rolled it in to the garage.. Did manage to get MY OWN brakes plumbed and rotors/calipers up front mounted. Still need to fabricate the brackets for the Calipers for the rears... Mike

You engineers... It's RATTLE CAN ALUMINUM from Rustoleum... Mike

"nice Bush!" Mike

Pete, You could always bring an overnight bag. I do have two un-occupied spare bedrooms at the momen! Mike

Bill, Country living, Fine isn't it? Yea my driveway, although paved, is long enough that I can get over 50mph before making the 90 degree left around the corner of the house to enter the sideload garage. At over 400 ft. of paved asphault, the thought of snow has me thinking about buying a tractor VERY soon... Gotta love country living! Mike

Tom, YOu can help with ALL of the wiring and electrical... Heck you can help with my own little wiring fiasco as well... Seriously, I'd like to get my own car to a state of completion so it can be fired up, as well as Jim's. His is a hair closer to being fired up though. I'm ording some parts for his car this coming week, and I'm just gonna slap on a carb, unhook the fuel injection and see if I can get the car to start and run, which has been an issue. I'll be buying a FPR and fuel pump for a carburetor as well, so I'm hoping this thing will be an easy fix, other than removing the drivetrain for the Hydraulic release bearing fix. Jim's car is unloaded and in the shop now. I've got it covered up for the moment and won't get to it until next weekend when parts arrive. I'll be running up to Winchester this morning to get some used 18 inch tires one fo the Vette guys is giving me for my new wheels. These tires are just going to be used to help with final brake/suspension setup on mine. I drilled all the holes and mounted the ZG flares this past week, and willl remove the flares and spoilers for final paint. I want to clean everything up on those parts that will be satin black and get some good primer on, then final coats of paint. Getting the garage warm enough for the paint to NOT run has been an issue, but I'll work it out... I'll be working on the brakes and measuring up for a driveshaft for mine this weekend. I'll also install the starter and headers. Mike

Yup, You just hit where I was going here... You might wanty to contact the manufacturer and confirm that what you did is SAFE. I'm guessing they are going to tell you that you can't do that. Those wheels will likely come appart on you if you drive on them like that. Mike

Ford really got it right from a consumer stanpoint and wrong from a performance guy standpoint with the latest mustang. This "concept" car won't survive the Ford boys revamp. Ford knows they are gonna have their hands full topping the latest body style that hit the streets in 2004. Truth be known, I'd own one of the latest if it were lighter. But again, Ford hugely missed the mark. That car should NOT weigh 3600+#. And their GT500 is 3900+#... almost TWO TONS??? I don't get it... Let's make a badass musclecar and make it as heavy as some pickups... Nice going FORD! By the way, number one buyer of Ford Mustangs? Women. Women have ALWAYS been the largest consumer of this car and that's why there are more of the 6 cylinder version available, and those numbers track all the way back to the introduction of the car in the 60s! Mike