Mikelly

And I'd like to chime in here for a second... I appreciate members like Hanns taking the time to do the leg work on this. As I explained to another member, we simply WON'T start checking out and running down every business to confirm for our members that so and so or such and such is on the up and up. We got our arses burned once on a little project and a television series on Speed. We won't be doing so again. We've got a reputation to defend, and there is a certain amount of moral responsability we take on when we allow vendors to sell their ware here... Bottom line is if they want to do business with our community, they should come here, set up an account and make a post about their products... others have, and so should they. That said, Buyer beware, and again THANK YOU HANNS for doing the legwork and your honest assesment of the situation! Mike

And apparently the S50 S52 and S54 varient L6 BMW motors all weigh the same... But I can't find the exact weight at the moment... Before I'd go through the pain and agony of owning and feeding a V12, I'd go for the S54 with more SAE HP! Mike

First thing your friend should do is swap out the sway bars for the Z06 units, and the shocks as well. That will change the driving characteristics 100% night and day. Beyond that, The Vette is a decent daily driver, gets decent fuel mileage and is a nice car with the host of typical GM bugs. They respond well to header and exhaust mods, typically pulling 30WHP out of a set of LGMs or Kooks headers and Z06 catbacks. Glad I had mine. Glad I modified mine. Glad I sold mine! Mike

UH yea, KEEP IT CIVIL or we'll do it for you... This isn't Zcar.com guys... Mike

Fixed... Long couple of days... Mike

So over the weekend I did a little comparo of factory posted data, and found a few interesting things about the M roadster... 2001-2002 S54 MRoadsters imported to the USA: 1200 Performance specs - 4.5 seconds 0-60 and 13.1 in the quarter This data is very close in comparison to the late great C5 I owned, 4.5 seconds 0-60 and 13.2 in the quarter. This car is a lot easier to drive fast than the Vette was. It also seems to have superior fit, finish and overall quality than the C5 did. Unfortunately some of my former Vette friends have pretty much written me off. This is the price you pay for not limiting yourself, and allowing yourself to look past initial impressions. This car is as awe-inspiring as anything short of my V8Zcar, and certainly as unique. I'm pleased with the lack of seeing others at every stop light, which was what I was looking for in my next car. Seeing another vette at the stoplight, that was not what impressed me about them. The uniqueness wasn't there... But that isn't the case with this car. I'm displeased with the shunning of a few in the Vette car community, but hey, I'll really piss them off when I move up to the next car!!! It certainly won't be another vette anytime soon! Got the t-shirt!!! Mike

I feel this thread has enough technical, yet user friendly info that it deserves to be a sticky... Keep it up guys. This thread will help people trying to understand the compromises you must make in setting up the suspension, and the relationships between caster, camber, bumpsteer, and trail. Mike

He handled that very well... This exact thing happened to me once years ago. Rednecks in a pickup truck too... Except I was in the Z... Nothing like seeing the looks on four guys faces when they realize they brought a stick to a gun fight, and they hear the shots to confirm their worst nightmares! F'n idiots! Mike

It definately depends on the type of work. We have guaranteed work for 5 years worth of contracts. That's the way my business works, and we're always approaching more prime contractors to sub to them, all while preparing to win prime contracts of our own. We also have a strict policy of NOT hiring our own friends and family. It takes away the stress of having to counsil or terminate employment of someone. We hire folks who are in the professional IT and engineering/analytical trades within government service, so we typically don't have a lot of the hand holding associated with blue collar or lower levels of education associated with lesser skilled work forces. This does away with a LOT of those employee headaches that many people experience when managing personnel. Again, it's contract specific and work type specific. The plan is to do this for 10 years and then step back and let one of our employees run it day to day while step back and work it part time...and reap the rewards! Mike

Thanks Guys!!! I've got zero concerns over the IRS, as we spend big bucks per month for our CPA and our bookkeeper. I fully believe that one of the keys to being successful is setting up the company correctly. We recently fired our Insurance broker because he questioned our desire to automate our bill paying for our health care package. His comment was that most companies prefer to pace when they pay, or in plain speak, pay late, or pay whenever for your healthcare. We prefer to pay ontime everytime for our employees to have the coverages we promiss. We set up our company with our CPA to make sure we error on the side of caution. You hear about all the silly things people write off for their companies... Cars, toys, big screen TVs. Trust me on this. Most of those who write off those questionable items haven't been audited... Nope, We'll pay a little more in taxes, keep our clearances, and our customers, and continue to make a decent living! I fully believe there are no shortcuts to making a company successful... Cutting corners will only cut your chances of success in the long run. http://www.bka2005.com For a peek at what we offer to our employees... Someone asked what we do for a living... We consult on government contracts. Our latest venture is working with land developers to scout locations to build a campus for government agencies to use as disaster recovery/alternate work locations, as well as telecommuting. We're hopeful that this particular venture will launch us into a completely new business area for the company! Mike

I'm seriously confused here... WHY would he not expect to get a quality part for the money he paid? If we as a community expect to receive and allow for products that are substandard, that is EXACTLY what we will get... It would be a HUGE deal to me, no matter who the seller of the product was (And no, this isn't a "mikelly" rant on MSA). Guy, I'd send it back "AT THEIR EXPENSE" and ask them to check their stock and make sure the next part shipped is intact. Mike

Yup, Just 10.5 short months ago today we started Brickner, Kelly & Associates with about $15,000 in personal investment, and a bank note from a local bank promissing to fund our payroll, once the invoices started rolling in... Today, We paid off that bank note for funding of payroll ($40,812.00) for our employees. My partner and I officially own the company, with no outstanding debt. We did it, and it feels so great to have turned a $225K Gross company into well over $1.25million in just such a short time... Sorry, but I couldn't keep it in! Mike

Yup... I've seen this in cover letters as well. What amazes me is how little attention these individuals give to the opportunity to sit and interview for a position that is worth $80-125K per year with some of the best benefits in the business... And they wonder why we don't call them in for interviews... Word to the wise: Represent yourself as seriously as you want to be taken, especially if you truly want that defense/ cleared job! Mike

OK Jon, that makes sense... I do agree that the original number was WAY out there... Joe, Being an old ITS racer, I'm sure you have upgraded the suspension tie rods and ball joints, and other hard bits, right??? Mike

He corrected it to 3mm toe in on the front. That's not that much. Mike

You won't even know its the same car... Suspension and brake improvements on these cars make for so much more enjoyment! mike

Honestly, Unless you're drivng a car to the track, adjusting it, driving it at the track, and then adjusting it back to drive home, none of it is needed beyond getting around the inability of the stock suspension adjustments. This was a huge argument I had with my former partner and Pete P. when we were designing the arms I sold... A non-oncar adjustable unit would be just fine. My track car will employ adjustable control arms and TC rods, along with camber plates... Mike

Should be fixed... I moved them to their own folder... "Carbon Panel"... Check them out! The White stuff in the image is something that was on the packaging... it isn't in the panel itself, but I don't have a working comressor to blow it off and didn't have luck wiping all of it off... It was white chalky stuff that was in the packaging. Mike

Brian, I'm sure you build a quality part, and I'm certainly not mocking it... I'm actually glad you broke out the rest of the parts list... That said, You've got a strong solution for a replacement. We chose not to use the Kevlar/teflon ends because people simply weren't interested. I spec'ed the standard heim joint and "recommended" a stronger replacement with time... Good luck to you and it appears you've improved on the original design. 1TuffZ, I sleep well enough, thanks! Mike

I have to disagree with the comments with regards to welding up of these units... I've had ZERO failures of front arms reported... ZFracing LLC farmed out the rears that did fail due to a selection of thinner materials, which did not have anything to do with the weld... The material was simly to thin, but was welded with a much more expensive unit than the one used to weld the approximately 100 front sets I made with... Price them as you value your time, but the materials cost about $100, still. My parts price list was: Two female 14000# 3/4 left Heims @ $15 Each Two Steel Threaded Blocks @ $15 Each Two Custom Turnbuckles @ $15 Each With Jam nuts and spare round stock for spacers, you might have $120 in the parts by today's prices. And you're making a pretty decent profit there! Mike

Pics can be seen at http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Look in the New Zcar Project folder. Mike

I was selling the kit WITH adjustable TC Rods for $425-450 near the end of my production. Just the arms were $300. You can make them yourself for about $100, but they won't be "on-car" adjustable... Mike

I've had my "M" class for 24 years and never wrecked on the street. Be smart, ride offensively, and always assume the idiots will be there to run you down... Now don't talk to me about dirt bikes... And you've picked a great first bike. The guys who pick the sportbike running 10s in the quarter as their first bike are the organ donors... Mike

Dude, it's your car...Set it on FIRE!!! BTW, Nice flames! Mike

Something that can kill you in a bite is an animal (Reptile in this case) that dies if he is aggressive towards me or others in my presence... If it's a rattler sunning itself on a rock in a national park, I'm leaving it alone and detouring my route. If it's something coming at me aggressively, Game on! Mike