Mikelly

They commented that the Design was still in work and they were not releasing it for a while, if memory serves me... I took pics of it, but they were very blurred, so I deleted them! Mike

As stated above... Click on the "NEW ZCAR PROJECT FOLDER" - Folder #15 Up in the left hand corner click the arrow for the NEXT PAGE (100 of 164 are currently displayed. To get to the last 64 you must click to the next page.) Scroll down to the last 10-15 photos... Mike

Pics are up on my Yahoo site: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Check in the new Zcar project folder, and make sure to select second page on the pics... The paint looks green-ish in the pics but is ABSOLUTELY a perfect color of silver... Viper Silver from the Dodge catalog and the fender flares, front and rear spoilers are bumper black... Car looks very good, and actually to good for a track car... Bought another set of his aluminum front hubs tonight while cutting him a check... I'll go get the car this weekend and take some pics with it out in the sunlight... And so it begins... Mike

Jamie Called and He has the paint on the car. He may shoot one more coat of clear on the roof, but long and short is I'll have pics of it tomorrow to give a clear idea of how the car will turn out when done. I may pick it up this weekend... I'll post pics tomorrow night...Been a long time coming! Mike

I did, And they did... Mike

I remember seeing those in a kit I had too, and don't remember were they went... Hmmm... Mike

Wayne, that's some serious time there... Man-O-man!!! How about some vids? Mike

Not a fan of the EVO at all... Cygnus, Good to know about the STi... Thanks! Mike

Yea but if you read the full article, it outlines what works and what doesn't...They liked the broad useable torque of the V6 and the added gearing of the 5 speed tranny... For endurance racing they liked the power steering and better brakes of the 300ZX. Beyond that, it reads (read the "on the track" article) like they prefered the 240Z in traffic and in driving at 10/10ths... Mike

My wife supports me 150%. She had a previous bad marriage where the idiot screwed around on her for years... He was a marine and loved trips to the Philipines...or the "PI" as some would call it... As long as I'm playing with cars, motorcycles or bicycles life is good... Just no playing with other women... Did I say that? Anyway, I believe that it's very important for the person you have as your partner in life to fully understand and support your car passion. It goes both ways though. You have to be supportive and encouraging of their interests as well... It's balance... Mike

Yup, I took over 1000 pics... And about 250 pics of the Girls of SEMA. I didn't have my wife with me, so I pretty much shot pics of every girl on display. Someone commented about the camera use. They had a section on the form that stated that you could use your camera unless a vendor said "NO PICTURES". Then you had to stand down. I took over 1000 shots in about 11 hours, and walked every booth inside, and all of the displays out front. But I was so rushed that I didn't truly get to enjoy it. Mike, It was good meeting you and your wife... I'll let you know how those calipers turn out on John's Blue C6. We're bolting them on this Sunday! Mikelly

I had to produce a tax ID number, and business cards, as well as picture IDs to match everything. I did not go to Vegas knowing that SEMA was there... It was by chance for me... When I registered I simply said I owned a consulting firm and we consulted to the Federal Government... That was it. It's $50 for the show, and it was crowded. We'd already booked our room and gotten our car rental months ahead of time, and it was a good thing. The Hertz counter guy told my wife that the rental cars at most places were rented out for the week. If I go next year, I'll be taking a group of guys, and Ill just pre-register and get business cards made up for them to display when getting our badges. Between SEMA, NHRA being in town for the race, and the other conventions going on, it was PACKED all week on the strip. Mike

We wanted ours to be adjustable in length to allow for Caster adjustment. Mike

Although I agree that this would be better than "most" of the other adjustable TC Rods out there (Mine included), I have to comment that those I sold were at minimum the same length as a stocker. Our goal (when ZF Racing was in business) was to deliver a bolt-on solution for guys looking for a little more adjustment than came from the factory, which was none... That said, BJ I'll be interested in seeing how this works out for you. I may well copy this on my own track car... Mike

The M3 would be the 2004-2005 model year. I'd possibly consider a used M5 as well... The STi doesn't "look" 100% right, due in no small part to that funky wing, and I'm not sure I want to live with it every day... I'll have to look at the limited edition. I don't plan to mod whatever I buy, and I've heard bad things about the STi drivetrain if power is boosted much beyond about 25%. Not to mention the fact that the warranty gets voided, and I'm not about to void the warranty on a $31-37K new car. I always look at it from two perspectives... - Resale - Cost of total package I'm sure the STi would be fine for a while with an increase in boost, but when that transfer case/ transmission lets loose, it's not a cheap fix at all. Two guys I know that have them have warned me about potential issues...But they are an imrpessive car... I've also got a 2004 Dodge Cummins Diesel 4X4 as my daily driver, so I don't "need" AWD... Don't know... Just glad I'm blessed enough to be in this position. Mike

I had a dealer contact me from Calgary Canada this past week, and we've finally worked out what I believe is a fair deal on them buying my M Roadster. Today I took the car to Crown BMW of Charlottesville Va. and paid $150 to have a pre-purchase inspection done. I'll fax that info to the dealer in Canada and then we'll deal with the tranfer of funds/ title, and shipping of the car. The plan right now is to pay my Dodge Cummins off and sit tight until after we get our corporate taxes ball-parked. Then I'll decide on what's gonna take its place... Right now I'm down to about four cars... Porsche 1995-1997 993 TT Porsche 2001-2005 996 Carrera S Dodge Viper Coupe 2006 New leftover BMW 2004-2005 M3 Who knows... Maybe I'll buy a Subaru WRX STi and pocket the savings to play at the track in the Z with... Mike

Wheels were out... I spoke with a number of wheel makers who simply will not make a US safety certified wheel in a 4 bolt Nissan pattern in anything over 7 inches. This didn't really apply to my application anyway, as I have 5 lug hubs/axles, but I asked a number of custom makers and they said the same thing. Brakes... Wilwood had an impressive display of their products there and I was very impressed with the new line of billet pedal assemblies. I suspect a new pedal setup will end up on my car in the future. Those mirrors I mentioned before were nice AND CHEAP and I'll be getting four of them... Two as primaries and a set to put in the trailer for track mishapps... There are some interesting Chevy bits soon to be released. FAST is making a new LS1 truck intake that will increase volume and runner length by a fair amount. Expect it to hit the market in summer 2007. Fuel Injection Standalone management systems are getting more and more sophisticated. There were a few demonstrations going on, but I was moving so fast and did the whole show in just a tad over 9 hours total that I couldn't attend any of their demos or workshops. Safety gear and seats... There is a LOT of stuff coming out of Japan that is NOT SFI certified. When I asked about the products and their rating, the reps told me it was up to the buyer to get them certified by the appropriate organizations... A LOT of this stuff will end up on ebay, so BUYER BEWARE!!! It was simply to overwhelming to catch everything in nine hours and I'll be planning to do this one again next year, and hopefully with a bigger contingent of HybridZcar guys... Mike

Also failed to mention that I met 2003Z (Mike Golden) and his wife while I was out there. Ran into them on Tuesday and chatted a bit before I ran to find a restroom to evacuate the morning coffee... Before I could hook back up with them, the camera died and I called to let him know I was out for the rest of the day... Didn't get to hook up with 280Zone... He called me Tuesday night while the wife and I were stroling around looking at the sites and sidewalk shows. As much as I dislike Las Vegas, I'd go back next year for this show... Three day trip, maybe four... Pete Paraska YOU OUT THERE? How about you Doug? This would be a good guys "Man-Cation". Mike

Just created another folder for the ExoticCars - Caesars Palace... Did the tour and took some pics on Monday... Mike

It's bare weight... No rotating assembly... Just the block. Mike

So I just got home, time is all out of wack, and I'm not tired... I should be sleeping, but I can't... So SEMA... Why Did I go? I was already there babysitting my wife, who did not want to be in Vegas alone... I lucked out and pulled the whole "own a business" gig and paid the $50 for the three days... Day one I'm about an hour into the gig when the camera starts acting hinky... By about 1230-1245PM it dies... I'm pissed... Wife calls and informs me she's done with class, so I bolt with MAYBE 45 pics... I pick her up, run to the outlet mall and buy a MINOLTA DiMage Z6 camera on sale for $279. It was probably more than I should have paid, but the camera seemed like it did every thing my 3 megapixel camera didn't, so I jumped on it... We run out to RedRocks Canyon State park and play with the camera to get a bit more familiar with it... Day two, I got there before 0900 and started... And I walked... And Walked... And walked... Did I mention I walked about 15 miles? Anyway, I took so may pics that when you go to the link below, you'll notice THREE SEMA 2006 folders PLUS the GIRLS of SEMA folder (Which is NOT work or family safe!). Two major observations... And I had to be there to see both... The Nissan 350Z was one of the major "cars" to mod this year... That car is a HUGE HIT in the aftermarket world. Though many of us feel it doesn't truly represent the heritage of the original S30 chassis, I can tell you that the rest of planet earth in 2006 LOVE IT and are MODDING it BIG-TIME... Not being a huge fan, I had to ask the hard question of many of the vendors there... WHY THE 350z? All of them said that it represented the best value in a sportscar and the sales justified the interest from their companies... This was very much the talk of the show.. There were vendors who were discussing doing parts for the 350Z for next year, based solely on the turnout of the competition this year. If you own one, this is a very good time to modify a Nissan 350Z... Second significant note... The Chevy Camaro Concept looks FAR better in person than in print. I about fell out while looking at it... The car is better looking than the new Z06 Corvette. I'm told the roofline will be raised to the minimum Federal DOT rollover standards, but otherwise it will have the same lines for production... I also saw the new Dodge Charger/ Cuda and that car is absolutely amazing... It is complete and ready for production, so the SRT boys have a leg up on the Bowtie crowd... I got to look at some of the highest end cars from Konigsegg, Saleen, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborgini, Astin Martin, and of course, the Bugati supercar... And I spoke with folks from spring manufacturers, brake component makers, tire producers, and many many asian wheel makers... I also spoke with a company rep who makes PVC encased mirrors that either glue to the lexan/windshield or mount to a pillar cages.. These mirrors were simply amazing in that they had a wide range viewing for the driver and eliminated the need for the five panel mirrors found in most race cars.... The mirrors were simply amazing, and better still... CHEAP.... $30 each with mounting hardware and these have been used in a number of professional racing efforts already. When I get the info from them, I'll be sure and post it... If you go Here: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z I'll be posting pics in the following folders... SEMA SHOW 2006 SEMA SHOW 2006 #2 SEMA SHOW 2006 #3 Girls of SEMA SHOW... This last one is NOT work safe by some standards, so view at your own risk... It was a great show and I'm thinking I may well go again next year... There was way to much to see and do, and this show saved what would have been a miserable time for me in Vegas. I'm in the process of posting pics, so give me a few days... Mike

Just finished up this trip at Vegas and I'm getting on a plane to head home... I'll do a big write up on my take on SEMA, and post all 900 of the pics I took (Including a special "Girls of SEMA" folder) later on over the weekend... It'll be in the yahoo folder... I'll be wheels up at 1235 Vegas time!!! The wife and I are ready to get home... Mike

You guys can't stop can you? Thanks for forcing us to lock what could have been a decent thread. Mike

It's all relative... I worked in the government for a decade and I lived paycheck to paycheck in one of the most expensive cities in the country (washington DC). Sometimes living paycheck to paycheck is a reality. Sometimes it's just bad money management... I can say that I wasn't real responsible with my pay, but couldn't imagine raising a family on that same pay... Mike

Yup, Randy, You're right... This is atleast the 5th time I've been here since 1989. Every time it gets worse... I wouldn't be here this week, except my wife is in training and asked me to accompony her. Had it not been for the SEMA convention, I'd have not had a good time during the day. That said, I did have an enjoyable day at SEMA yesterday, and I'm heading out there again this morning. I'll hook up with two more HybridZers and do some more walking... What amazes me is just how much stuff there is to do away from this place... You drive 30 minutes and get away from the city and you have the dam and lake mead, or Red Rocks Canyon Park, and I'm sure there are tons of other places... And forget about gambling at Vegas unless you bring stacks of cash. I've not found a single poker table for less than $25 per hand... I've got cash to blow and even I find these entry fees NUTS to saddle up with... I'll be 110% happier when my little butt is on that plane home tomorrow. Mike