Mikelly

Contact me offline... I have several sets and would let them go VERY cheap... Cover packaging and shipping costs and they are yours. Mike

Uh, someone played a cruel trick on you and swapped your doggie photos for that of a small moose. That's one big animal... Hate to feed that thing! Mike

That body is one of my most favorite all time "sexy" cars... Putting the LS1 in it is just soooooo Sweet. That car just looks sooo nice and understated... Wheels look awesome with the black paint... Mike

Guess I was a fortunate fool... I got it siginificantly reduced. Choice is your's, but to plead no contest (nolo contender) is, well... 'er NOT a contest... Mike

The Admin staff is discussing the name, and so far, none of the staff that have weighed in has an issue with the guy's handle... Suck it up and play nice guys. In his opinan drifting is lame... To a lot of guys, this "sport" isn't really a sport, but more subjective... Kinda like a moving car show... I'll admit I know zero about this craze and don't care to...However, it appears to be catching on and isn't just a fad... Mike

I agree with Jmortensen on this comment. Although I think the monoball would be fine, I do believe the GC unit will last longer due to the lack of load placed on the monoball assembly. Mike

I've had so many people tell me the same thing...Get a lawyer... I say this: If you can speak intelligently, dress and look presentable, and come off as legitimate in your explanation of the situation, and have an otherwise good driving record, there is no reason to get a lawyer. I had a buddy get popped doing stupid fast speeds on his sportbike and he got a lawyer... Spent $1500 to fight off a reckless driving ticket and he STILL has no clue what the money was spent on. The lawyer said nothing he couldn't relay himself. In the end, he got a restricted license that allowed him to go to and from work only and he had to pay an additional $500 on top of the $1500 for the lawyer. I rolled the dice and represented myself. It worked out to the tune of $106 including court costs and 3 points on my license. If it was an accident that involved injury or death, or was a DUI, I would absolutely get a lawyer. Otherwise, get a haircut, have your sunday best drycleaned with medium starch, shave and clean up, and practice your "story". Mike

Oh trust me, I'm feeling your pain. I'd almost take a huge loss on the 383 stroker just to get into an LS1 for the Z. I'm taking serious notes on Mark Icard's build up with his drysump and related goodies for road race setups. Mike

I did the same exact thing back in February and I plead not guilty because it was a reckless driving charge and I didn't want that on my record for TEN years. Virginia carries steep penalties for some offenses and that was one. So I rolled the dice, told a cock and bull story and got it reduced to improper drivering which is a 3 point offense that drops off the radar in two years. Never plead guilty. You give the judge no room for error... No contest is just a hair above that. Mike

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. I've got a couple dash caps sitting around, low on cash right now, and have some free time... That is the only reason I'm thinking about doing this... Mike

Those of you not familiar with true four season weather won't appreciate this without images, but like an idiot, I left our digicam at home. The wife and I jumped in the corvette yesterday armed with a Virginia Gazetteer and a wallet. The temps for the day were to be around 80 degrees, and the leaves hadn't fallen from the trees yet, which made for spectacular top off driving. We headed from our home in Fredericksburg, to Charlottesville via Rt.3 to Rt. 29, then on across Rt250 west to the southern end of Skyline Drive, where the Blue Ridge Parkway starts. We jumped on the parkway there, and headed south towards where ever the road took us... Trundling along at 45-50 mph in this hotrod with the top off, the windows half way up, and the heat on for her (Still in the upper 60s in the mountains), it was breathtaking and just one of those "most memorable days" in a while. We stopped in Love, Va. which is a little spot on the parkway where you can rent cabins. We grabbed a bite at the deli, checked out the cabins and the facilities, and decided we'd be back... Nothing like mountain cabins with Jaccuzzis in them! We headed on south until we came to a road I'd previously hit on the motorcycle and knew to be scenic and fun. I don't get squirelly with Donna in the car, but do hit my marks and apexes. We drove across several mountain ridges while we went due east across Rt.56, one of the most beautiful roads in Virginia. As a matter of fact, we took it until it dead ended at Rt.60. So we jumped on Rt.60 and went northeast towards Cumberland, Buchinham, and at Powatan Virginia we hit Rt.522 to go due north towards Mineral, Virginia. We've never been to Cumberland, Buchinham or Powatan, but those under-populated areas of the state were some of the most scenic I've seen in some time. Once we got back to Rt.522, we headed north on familiar roads to Lake Anna, then back home. All in all we drove 300+ miles, knocked down 26mpg (most of that driving was in 3rd, 4th, & 5th) and just had a wonderful "top off" fall day... Best company in the world, and in one of the best escape pods I could think to be in! Not a Zcar, but it'll do for now! Mike

We had a Gtech I sold to a member here... My stepson bought it and he eventually ended up owing me money and gave me the thing in leu of cash... I'd have prefered the $400! Anyway, I took the unit and my trusty old Corvette out to an isolated country road and did repeated runs with the unit. I then tweaked the numbers in the unit, trying to better dial it in to the car, and every variable I plugged in really skewed the results to the point that it just didn't seem worth the trouble. Furthermore, Unless you another method to verify the data (Dyno or going to the track with a timing device/ starting tree), you're just assuming that the thing is working. For me, I had numbers on the car from previous dyno runs and I still couldn't get the Gtech to register the same power. The unit constantly registered more power than we knew the car to make on the dyno... Significantly more. So I didn't trust it. It could have been me. But I boxed it up, sold it and called it a day. I can do dyno runs for about $70 for three pulls, or pay $25 and go to the track for a test and tune night, so why bother. Mike

I've never pulled a Holley out of the box and put it on a motor and had it do much more than (And sometimes not even) idle. The above into posted by Mike C. and others is a very good starting point, but as mentioned early on, how does it do under load? Vacuum secondaries don't open without load. Mike

There's defenitely some BS being posted, and I'm not pointing fingers in specific. I'll leave it at this: Technical information being posted should be accurate. I've posted tech info that WAS accurate at the time, only to have it get outdated 6 months later... So I would go back and post new topics stating "Info no longer accurate" and post a link to the more current "fix" or technical solution. Bottom line is we want people to be able to come to this site and USE the resident expert info with the knowledge that the info is accurate and the solution works. This isn't an age thing. We've had guys of all ages come here and think they were the king of the wrench and the master of the wheel. But trust me on this one, the admins collectively have their eyes open and their meters are being pegged by "some" claims of experience, and of project buildups... Mike

WOW I'm taking notes, since I have two of those diffs sitting in my floor. A custom craddle is a must. What about suspending the differential weight from the bottom, kinda like Jamie's setup? Mike

I have a 383 stroker with a TKO600 for my Zcar, but have the 375WHP/370#ft.Torque LS1/T56 in the Vette. I have less money in the complete LS1 build up and tune and the LS1 will probably outperform the 383 stroker (Although the 383 is rated at more HP) and certainly will be dead nuts reliable. This LS1 pulls like a freight train, should put this 3200# Corvette into the 11.7-11.8 second 1/4 mile range at around 118mph and gets well over 26mpg with a mix of spirited and conservative driving around town and on the highway. I've seen as high as 32mpg. My 383 stroker was in my previous Zcar with a T56 and I never got over 20MPG. It also had tuning/ drivability issues, and the T56 was useless when matched to that particular setup. 6th speed lugged the motor so low, I couldn't pull enough vacuum for the cam I was running, and to get into the powerband on the cam, I had to be doing 90mph in 6th, which put me above the magical 1600rpm limit for vacuum. I'll never own another Gen1 motor when I've either sold or killed this 383 stroker that is sitting on the engine stand, brand new. The new generation smallblock chevy is in my opinion, far superior, far more efficient, and much lighter (almost 100#)! Mike

To Low? I'll give you Treefitty... Final offer! Good luck Tim, the paint and body work is worth more than that. Mike

Couple of things to run through here... But first let me say that there is a wealth of info and I'm gonna make this one a STICKY! to all that contributed... Nice thread! The AZC camber plates include a bit more than just the plate. The monoball is replacable cheaply (pull the number off the ball and replace) and CASTER is really important when setting a car up properly. Steve and Ian have one of the best handling track cars going because of all the caster they could dial in, which required less camber... So keep that in mind... It does require the ability to have adjustable TC rods, but they can be built cheaply enough (Less than $200 in most instances). The AZC units WILL NOT follow ITS rules, so be forewarned... Know the rules for your class. I have a pair of those plates here and can take better pics of them if you guys would like... Unfortunately I don't have Jim's car here or I could take pics of them installed in his car as well. The GC products in general are top shelf, and their camber plates for the Zcar are nice. But they are just that... Camber. I don't consider the minimal amount of caster they provide as truly beneficial. I've had this discussion with their tech staff in the past. On that note, GC has an EXCELLENT staff for tech questions... On the issue of strut bracing, You might want to weld on a clevis bracke to the tower and just run a simple brace across horizontaly or have a flat plate fabricated that will bolt under the GC Camber plate and weld the clevis to the plate (If rules allow). Took me a while to read through all this, but it was good info... Very good thread guys!

Absolutely... 100% of the accidents I was involved in before I was sent to the Federal Law Enforcement Academy in Brunswick, Ga. (at the age of 20) were all my fault. It simply boils down to seat time and experience. I want to comment for a second on something Dr. Hunt posted... There are a number of new members posting a LOT of stuff... Some of these new members are also very young. I'd like to see more reading and less posting unless it is something related to a specific task that has been performed, technical info needed, or something that has been done to a Zcar. We've had discussions about this topic in the admin forum. We are a bit concerned about the increased random postings with little real useful content. We've also started locking and deleting some threads where it is obvious the poster is A:new and/or B:didn't seem to try to search on the topic. Before some of you take personal offense to this, just keep in mind we're trying to keep this site reasonably technical and not like 99.9% of the rest of the garbage on the web. Mike

Man Porkchop is gonna be SEXY! "Smackthaazz 'n watchitgiggle YEA!" Mike

Mark, That is an excellent idea. Every time I suggested it (Remember, I'm a "step-parent") they shrugged it off and the kids always wanted the money instead of the education. As to the damage to the truck, I'm sure what happened was that the u-bolts on the axles were broken on the impact and the weight of the truck on loose axles did the rest of the damage. I haven't seen the car, but the boy was trapped in the car for quite some time. My guess is he won't be driving for quite some time. Mike

We had our own little bit of drama this week with car accidents... My youngest stepson moved in with his father, after dad bought him a 1994 B16/T04 turbo civic. Craig sold the 1990 Civiv I had given him (remember the lambo doors?) to his best buddy two weeks ago. My stepson's friend Scott has had his license for two months. Monday morning he was driving in foggy conditions and he hit a dumptruck that pulled across in front of him. A 1990 Civic Hatch weighs about 2700#. Scott hit the dump truck at the rear axles. He cracked and broke both double rear axles off the truck. He claimed he was doing 65MPH. Miraculously, the boy is of large frame (About 6'2" AND 270#), and his body took the hit well. No airbags and the seatbelt broke OFF the B pillar mount. Scott broke both ankles, shattered his left forearm and wrist/ hand (Had a rod and pins put in today), cracked his sternum, broke numerous ribs, Damaged both knees, and had initial internal bleeding from somewhere internally (they think it was his speen)! The boy will survive, and I'm amazed. However, we got the news today that he will be charged with reckless driving, because a number of witnesses that stopped at the scene stated that he was going much faster than his indicated 65mph, which was already 10mph over the speedlimit. This young man was the one we worried about most in my stepson Craig's group of friends... He was the one encouraging Craig and others to "dip out" and do dumb things. Now he'll have to answer for his actions. He'll likely lose his license and now he won't be able to sue the dumptruck company for damages. To top it off, this kid and his mother are about as poor as poor gets. They live in government assisted housing, and a collection had been taken up to buy him his first car and get his insurance paid. Some things never change... It would truly be nice to see a higher standard for driver's education and more strict licensing standards. I'm happy Scott survived this, as I have mentored him in the absence of a father that abandoned his family at Christmas three years ago. But some lessons are sometimes best learned the hardest way... Carefull out there gang! Mike

24inch. Mike

...Those Gtechs are only as accurate as the data input. There was recently a comparison in road and track or Car & driver that did a shootout on performance meeters. It was a decent read and talked about some of the issues and solutions for measuring HP and torque. Mike

I don't have any pics. But what I can tell you is the LOKAR cable was what I used. I took the gas pedal assembly out of the car, drilled a hole at the top of the arm, and used the pinned attachment from the cable to connect to the gas pedal arm. Then I routed the cable through the firewall and to the intake. It is very simple to do. Unfortunately, right now the car is in pieces and the cable and pedal assembly are in boxes somewhere... Couldn't lay hands on them if you paid me! It really is a simple mod though. Unbolt the gas pedal assembly and look at it on a bench and you'll see what I mean! Mike