Mikelly

No Worries man! I'm finally up and connected. So hit me up when you need more funds for the work! Mike

Looks awesome Jamie... The only reason I always talked about the Vette was because it was RUNNING... Pushing a Zcar around forever just takes the enthusiasm right out of it... But don't fret... When the Viper arrives, You'll not hear another peep about a Vette! Jamie, How about some pics of the paint? Also, I believe I need to pay you, no? Mike

Sorry dude, but I've posted repeatedly about spare parts I had that were free, except for shipping... One guy took advantage of some of them (Mainly door parts too) and the rest I just pitched, along with all the window glass. There probably will be other items, as I'm moving over the next two weeks. If I get time, I'll post a list of items as I find them. But I'm also gonna be pretty busy in that period of time. Mike

I just threw about 10 doors worth of hardware and 8 windows away. Wish I'd seen this sooner... Mike

BJ, Trust me, We WILL Be hangin' out in this thing at the track... Heat and A/C are already in the works, as is a sub-panel for electricity and other "amenities! Now I just need to get the car finished up.. maybe Jamie will post a couple of pics for you guys! Mike

The specs on it... http://www.pro-lineperformance.com/enclosed_race_edge.htm This unit is 28 feet, which is the only difference in it and the unit I bought, which is 24Foot... I could have saved a few bucks more if I'd decided to go to Roanoke or further away. But I simply didn't want to drive that far, as time is at a premium lately... Mike

Just picked up a new Haulmark 24 ft. trailer w/ dexter 5200# torsen axles and 6 lug 15inch D rated tires. The trailer came with a few upgrades, stoneguard on the front and corners, white interior walls, two lights, vent roof, a four fuel can holder, strap hanger for the car straps, hitch ball lock, and spare tire. I got it for just a hair over $7K brand new (2006 model) and it rides great behind the Cummins Diesel...It's 24X8.5 and it's got decent interior ceiling clearance... We'll add a few more things to it, like a generator, roof mounted ac, a subpanel for electric, work bench and tool box, and a section for tires hopefully... Depends on how it's laid out... Insurance is going to be $10 per month for theft and collision on the trailer... Might have to get a rider for anything stored in side it... Mike

My Vette's w/ a new owner now... And I'm not sure what I'm replacing it with... But it will be more stout than 450Crank HP... That's for sure... Sorry to see the damage Viola... Mike

We close on our house on the 30th or the 31st of May. We'll be moved in and organized and ready for guests by the 3rd weekend in July... You guys want to do the "shindig" the weekend of July 16th??? Mike

My normal early Summer Shindig will have to be moved out guys and gals... We'll be in moving hell from first week of June until we "GiT-R-dOnE"! I suspect we'll probably have something in July at the new house, and you all can give me grief for turning the big FOUR OOOOOOHHHHH! Mike

Right now, My company. I hope to get back to my bicycles... I mountainbike and road bike when I'm not focused on growing this little company of ours... And moving into my new house... Guns aren't a hobbie to me. I use them as a tool, much like all my other tools... I defend myself and my family with them. Beyond that, I no longer (haven't for more than a decade) consider them as a hobbie. If you ever have to use one for real, your perspective on them changes radically... Mike

Well I finally sold the Vette today. It's been a fun car, had a lot of great times in it, but it was time for it to go to someone who had the patience and desire that I was losing with it... I've fixed all the problems with it, installed a carbon fiber drive shaft in it, and got it to a point of being a decent daily driver... But I'm just tired of working on it. If something major goes on these cars, It's a major ordeal... It must go in the air, or to a shop. I've got a lift, and I can fix things on it, but I hate losing the time from my life working on it... 386 WHP and 382#ft of torque has been fun... And the fuel mileage is decent at 27mpg. But it's time. DOn't know what I'll be replacing it with, but something is in the not so distant future. We're moving into a new home in less than four weeks (Closer to 2 weeks actually) and I've got the other place to sell... So I'm gonna do that first, then maybe buy a decent daily driver, or a race car... Not sure which yet... Mike

Doug, You'd get off at the Rt.3 West Exit and come out Rt.3 about 13 miles and turn left on Rt.613. There's a fastmart located there. I'm a 1/4 mile down that road (Brock Road) on the left. Yasin, Sure, we'll have spare room! Sparks, I never thought I'd be spending this money, and believe me, this was moderately priced... other places we were looking at were over 1.2 million dollars with about 10 acres land... I simply can't justify buying more house than we need. It's a waste and heating/cooling/ cleaning is a Biatch... There's me, the wife, the dog and the cats... No need for 6000sqft.! Mike

Well on the plus side, we're only going to have about $508K in it, and the economy supports the inflation, due in large part to the government work here. If everything else works out as planned, we'll walk away with about $75K in our pockets after the exisitng home sells. I'll dump about $10-15K into the expansion of the exisitng shop at the new home, and get my BIG shop... I'm thinking 26X50 should hold us for a while! Mike

Well tonight we signed a contract on our dream home... http://www.fredericksburg.com/Homes/detail?list_numb=SP6022744&prevList=http://www.fredericksburg.com/Homes/Listings?subdv=KINGSBURY Take the virtual tour and check it out... The detached garage is gonna need a separate service and an additional bay will have to be added for the lift, but we're getting into it with some equity built in, and we're gonna make a bit of cash on our existing home when it sells... Overall the place is perfect for Donna and I, sits in the center of 5 wooded acres, was built in 2001 by a builder for his personal home, and has a lot of features... It's 2780SqrFt. and has a 26X20 attached garage as well. So along with that little project, I'm moving the vette this weekend as well... A friend of mine from work is taking delivery of it this weekend. Had a few issues crop up with the front seal leaking and the A/C belt getting cut, and I'm short own time, so off to the shop it goes... I'll honestly be glad to see this car sell. My latest insurance bill has increased, due to them auditing my record, and me having a few "close encounters" with law enforcement... We hope to close and move into our new place within three weeks, and then put ours on the market shortly after... Once it's sold, we're pretty much debt free, except the mortgage. Plans are to add a 26X20 additional bay onto the existing 26X36 garage. I'll also need to re-wire the place for proper lighting, outlets, and 220 power for the lift and compressor... I'm thinking about selling my car trailer and buying an enclosed unit. It'll help with the move, and I'm really wanting one... Fun FUN FUN!!! Mike

Jamie, You've got a plan and priorities (And my car now! ) so don't let some lame smack talk get you derailled. Stick to it. You've owned and driven 9 second quarter mile cars, and you don't need to prove yourself to anyone on this board or elsewhere... Mike

Glad we've all kept our "humor" during this trying episode. Guys, we don't want to lose anyone who wants to stay and play by the rules, but as Pete P. put it in another offline discussion, We've always run this like a big party and everyone is invited until they break the rules of the hosts. Hell, I've even lifted a ban of a member who came clean and just apologized for his actions in the past... We work a whole lot more behind the scenes than most of you would probably realize, and we put in a LOT of hours collectively to police this site and try to keep it as close to its roots... Thanks for the support to our Mods and Admins. Mike

I believe the "shocker" they are refering to also is refered to as "two in the pink, One in the stink", or something along those lines! THE SHOCKER!!! Mike

In October, 1986 I was at the Federal Law Enforcement Academy in Brunswick, Ga and the guys from Glock came over from Smyrna and gave us a day long demo on their product line... I've never carried anything but a Glock Since... It's one fo the most durable and concealable weapons made and the accuracy is top shelf. Mike

Time out. Let's get one thing straight here guys. When someone leaves this site and goes elsewhere to talk trash about how we sent them packing, I'd like to know. However, when it comes up here on this board and the actions of the moderators are called in question, It deserves discussion. L28ET, Did you know that over the last 6 months Norm was warned REPEATEDLY to curtail his posts? Did you know that there were a number of mods/ admins (myself included) who were chatting with him offline and trying to get him to knock it off without banning him? No, You didn't know that, because Norm isn't going to tell you that... We gave him MANY more chances than any other member in the history of HybridZ, because of his status here and his technical knowledge. We gave him more chances than he deserved, and certainly more than is fair to the rest of you. Maybe Norm's come under a lot of stress in his personal life, or maybe there are other factors at play none of us are aware of... Bottom line is we tried countless times to work with him before we put foot in arse and tossed him. I like Norm. If he came to one of my shindigs, I'd hand him a beer and shake his hand. But we CAN'T allow his behavior on this site and then hammer everone else. We tried to work with him and he SIMPLY WOULDN'T adhere to the rules that ALL of US have to. Here's a tip for ALL reading this. Read the stickies. It's that simple... Read the rules of THIS SITE. If you feel that you have to rant or rave about a topic that can OBVIOUSLY go political, Like the discussion about oil and gas prices, then GO SOME WHERE ELSE to do it. NONE of US wants to pay $3 a gallon for gas, and ALL OF US feel it... We ALL have an opinion on the subject, and I bet WE'RE MOSTLY in agreement that IT SUX. Beyond that, discussing who is at fault or what our government should or shouldn't do is WHERE the discussions lead and WHY we locked the threads and warned those who started them to just post else where on those subjects... THERE ARE MILLIONS of other sites to go RANT about any topic on... BUT NOT HERE. If this bothers you, THEN LEAVE before you get so upset that you post something that WILL GET YOU BANNED... It's that friggin' simple. THIS IS NOT FREE SPEACH on HYBRIDZ. NEVER HAS BEEN, AND WILL NOT BECOME. If this bothers you THEN LEAVE and start http://www.ihatehydridz.org or http://www.normforpresident.com or whatever unbunches your panties... But don't bother posting it here... And as to the comment about a moderator or admin sending someone a PM and then that member going elsewhere and taking that PM and turning it into a slogan or signature on another board... Well again, Norm is making his point about his delicate feelings being hurt... Oh well. Much like methane gas, this to shall pass... John C. did NOTHING to make HybridZ look bad and I applaud him for his repeated attempts to WORK with Norm and try NOT TO BAN him. Anyone caring to discuss this further offline, lets discuss, otherwise, SUMO did nothing wrong in posting this here... I would like to know when people are badmouthing the site, and let me clarify, The Site, Not about me. (*I could give two steaming piles of poo what some spineless coward says about me on a site. If they don't have the stones to come face to face with it, then I don't need to care). However, When it comes to this site, I'd like to be able to fully explain WHY we've done something. Most time we've had an excellent reason for doing something and you guys just aren't given the details... So I'm glad to see this thread and we're not locking it... Norm wants to go to Zcar.com and cry about being banned, that's ok... But I'll be more than happy to explain the TRUTH here. Mike Kelly Administrator at Large

Bootlefoof, I'm staying in the Fredericksburg/Spotsy/Stafford area... My business is located here, and I like it here. I also need to be within a reasonable distance to the greater Northern Va. area, since I still have potential to be there weekly for meetings and recruiting... Mike

Yea yea yea, Michael, Here's a tip from Sam Kinisan... If you're ethiopian, and you're in the desert, and you can't grow anything because you're in the desert... MOVE. The house we made the offer on at the beginning of this thread fell through... Seems the owners are upside down on the mortgage and can't go below $519K. It's a $500K home and we were prepared to write a no-contingent contract at $500K, but they simply can't sell it for that... They were having to pay $12k+ out of pocket at $519, just to get out of the mortgage... Cost them less than $350K to build that house, which tells me that they pulled ever dime of equity out of their home and have now moved out, bought another house, and overpriced this one... They won't move it for a dime over $510K, as their own agent admitted that it wasn't a $520K home... Stupid people abound... On the other note, I have gone and looked at probably 6-8 half million dollar homes and I'm amazed how people let their homes go... I know, I'm not mr. Lawn dude, and there are things that needed done to our house. We're addressing them as I type and will have new interior, exterior paint, new sidewalk, and a completely finished second level to our garage before it goes on the market. We went into a home today that one year ago was appraised at $640K. Today we walked in and it smelled like a bar at closing, and had a list of broken items a mile long. Forget the fact that there is a 32X32 detached and 24X22 attached garage and its on five wooded acres... So we're looking... We've been pre-approved to keep our house and buy up to $650K worth of home, which will ease the pain of moving, and listing the existing home. More to come as things progress, but right now I'm finishing up the repairs on the vette and will hopefully have it sold next week. The Zcar is taking a trip to Richmond on Saturday morning and will be with JamieT while he finishes the electricals, paint, and whatever else he's up for doing, and I hope to get ahold of Jim's Red Scarab in the next three weeks so I can fix the clutch problem and get it to Jeff in NC for some tuning. And I won't even go into how crazy busy we are with the company right now... I really wish there were two of me! Mike

Best move you'll ever make is buying/building a house. Sure, it'll slow the toy purchases, but you'll be saving so much in the long run... No more rent burning up your money... And the equity will be worth it! Now I'm waiting for Michael to chime in on how horrible a deal buying a house was for him... Mike

We've countered the offer and are waiting to hear back... I'm really dreading the thought of packing up and moving... Just the effort in it... Not to mention listing and selling our place... Mike

After taking a specmiata and beating up on some serious HP cars, I can't say a single bad thing about those little cars... you'd never be able to wipe the grin off your face with that car... Yea, you'll hear stupid comments about it being a "girl" car, until you wax their arses on the first cloverleaf on/off ramp. Camaros are big and heavy (Over 3500#) and don't brake well at all... Mustangs aren't bad, but again, big and heavy... If the MR2Spyder is as noisy as the older 1st and 2nd generation MR2, I wouldn't give you a plug nickle for that pile... I drove my step son's car to work once, and never again. The noise coming from the engine compartment, sitting right at your ears was enough to give me a headache and I'm a drummer, Really hard to give me a headache with noise... If/When I sell the Vette, I'm considering buying an E36 M3 to knock around in for the rest of this year until I decide on what I'll buy next year. And I'm also looking at M Roadsters. That would be my pic, or a MazdaSpeed Miata. Mike