Mikelly

So we've met with contracts officers, primary contractors, benefit planners, and a CPA. We have a meeting next week with an attorney. And everyone is telling us there is simply no reason NOT to do this business thing I mentioned last week. All signs point to full steam ahead. Looks as if the profit margin is going to be up there... Gross annual is going to be $225,000 Per employee (2 employees at this time) at a base annual hour total of 1800. That covers all Gov't Holidays and leaves 6 weeks for leave. This is very common in my work environment. At an assumed cost of 32% for all tier 1 benefits/ taxes/ perks/ 401K plan, that leaves about $150K to pay each employee AND put towards the business. Very interesting numbers and my head is hurting. We'll know more once a contract is on the table. Mike

You want me to delete this thread? Sounds like you guys are squared away for now, and no sense in trashing a guy's rep if he's on the level... Mike

JUst so we're all clear on AbsolutePower... He was the nice young man who "claimed" to come from a wealthy family, and was supposeldy such the well of knowledge... Sad to see him ripping off members... Hope no one bought his V8 300ZX project car... I had someone offline tell me they saw it and the ebay auction was a mis-representation of the work "claimed" in the auction! I'd recommend avoiding this azzhat at all cost gang... The guy caused us more trouble than he was worth, then grovelled to Pete and others to be let back onto the board... I say "let them eat cake!" ! Mike

You did something wrong. My 383 stroker had no adverse issues with weight. I was also using an extremely heavy T56 Tranny. My suspension in the rear was MSA springs and Koni struts...And I had the battery in the rear. Didn't even have coil overs at the time. Mike

Two connecting rods let go father's day weekend at the Virginia International Raceway, on the grand east 4.2 mile road course. Catastrophic failure in the extreme. You can see pics of it at http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z ... go to the vette pics folder. New motor is in, and should be a real screamer. Mike

Doug came up on Saturday to give me a hand re-installing the drivetrain on my 1999C5 Vette. We worked for about 7 hours non-stop and finally got the drivetrail bolted in and the suspension back in place. Yesterday afternoon I took about 3 hours and finished up some of the wiring, the front sway bar, the alternator bracketry, and some ods and ends... I had to pull the intake back off to get to some line connections and found one of the gaskets on the intake puckering and NOT sealing properly, so I'll have to pick up a set of gaskets. Glad I could that. Looks like about 8 more hours worth of work before the motor is started. I still need to PULL a header to re-install the starter, and I need to bolt the ABS block back into place, and install the accusump, oil cooler, and radiator/ fans... Mike

The wife and I have decided to sell our place, along with my garagemahal... On the plus side, we're gonna look for a place with enough land to actually build a 40X60. I want as much space on one level as I can stand. Next summer will be quite exciting indeed! Mike

Well good communication goes a long way... This should be a lesson to all of us... If you're doing a deal with someone and they have pre-paid for something, you need to keep them in the loop when "life" happens. Not to hammer Alex specifically, but the BS meter gets pegged when you hear things like "computer is down and phone doesn't work..."! Bottom line is communicate, and NOT thru a 3rd party. Mike

MArk that car is looking good... I'm amazed that it was saved so well... JT, I'll buy it if you'll do one parade lap around VIR's paddock in it and a pair of flip flops next time I'm there... Mike

I think he contacted me once about control arms... Hmmmm... Keep us posted and Goodluck! Mike

John, that's still an impressive test. Shame the machine wasn't cooperating. Refresh my memory, but is this a 383, 377 or 350/355? Have you contemplated a swap to FI? Mike

JOhn C. Should NOT have deleted his post... THAT was entertainment! Alex, You need a hobby! Mike

This is like pulling teeth... Austin, you explained exactly what happened and you are probably correct in your presumtion that had the 350Z in front of you not lost it, you'd have been fine. This is EXACTLY what I stated, and we're not throwing stones. The absolute MOST important thing in this is the fact that you A: Admit you were at fault to the extent you did (And I seriously applaud this! ) and you know what you WON'T do next time. I've got TWO stepsons who will argue that none of the accidents they were involved in were their faults and they will drive circles around me, Jon M., John T., Mark I. or John C. BOTH these kids learned NOTHING from their collective accidents. You have, and in my eyes, you're leaps and bounds ahead of your peers... Congratulations. We're paying you a compliment here, and I hope you take it as such and move on! Mike

That is the only way I'd own a ZX... That is one sweet ride. Mike

Let's not let this get ugly guys... We were all young once. Every single accident I'd been involved with until I was 22 years old (And there were MANY) was indirectly my fault or directly my fault... Driver error. It's called experience, or the lack of it, and the more seat time you have over your lifetime of driving will only make you better. The video clearly shows a number of things that went wrong around Austin. The two biggest mistakes were his distance to the car in front of him, and his speed entering what looks like a blind tunnel. Austin, if you want to enlighten us on this, We're all ears. Otherwise, we have only the video evidence to go by. Inexperience is what it is... Plain and simple. That is a reality. That is NOT a slam on anyone. It is what it is Austin. Your video was posted and people WILL comment on its contents. If you can't handle the questions, my recommendation is simply not to post at all. Your comments early on were the right comments to make... Take it to the track, sign up for as many driver's instructional days, and learn to handle your car. But take the advice the others gave about putting footage of driving on the street seriously. Imagine if you'd been involved in something where someone was injured by your car for some reason... This could have been a LOT worse than it was. It wasn't. No injury, and you and others live and learn from it. Lets make this a positive guys... Put yourselves in his shoes... Mike

God I just want this pig DONE so I can get back to the Zcar... Had to shove it off into the corner so I could finish fixing the vette... The stripper, 'er wife was laughing at me, because I was grumbling and fussing about having to work on the corvette instead of the Zcar... Where's that bottle... Mike

Now THAT is funny! Mike

I suggest you take it offline if you don't want the critiques... Believe me, I took a lot of crap for spinning on track at 100MPh... Thick skin, or else... Mike

OK Get-N-HERE!

That is soooo classic. For the record, When I held the little donation gig for Tom, the 17 year old who was severely injured in a hit and run accident, I made damned sure to track everything through paypal and to also have a cookout where Tom showed up and thanked folks in person. Anyone who was there knows that kid was really messed up after that accident, and it was a miracle he was able to walk again. He was also most gracious and appreciative of his gift from this site and its members, and the matching donation ZFRacing gave along with the funds from the site... Guys like the tool in that thread should be taken out, gutt shot and left in the woods... But then again, I'm a heartless and cruel bastard! Mike

I like Austin, and think he's one of the good "kids" here on this site... That said, that accident could have been avoided, and is the exact kinda thing that keeps me up at night when my 17 year old is out prowling the streets. Running six cars deep at speeds above the posted limit into a blind tunnel is not a good thing... the guy behind Austin shouldn't have been on his Azz, which is probably what totalled the car. The water in the tunnel, that's something you might want to expect, and the cars in front of him losing it caused any number of bad scenarios Austin was trapped in... Giving GAP between yourself and others in a scenario like that is the answer... We see this a LOT in sport bike related accidents... These vids are only fueling the fire for more new Young drivers to go out and act stupid behind the wheel... The Primer 280ZX is a class example of something had waiting to happen. He almost ran over the camera man. Finally, Don't post video online unless you want every monday mornin' quarterback on the planet reviewing and weighing in... Believe me, I know a thing or two about this one. Seen the vids of me at the track? Mike

NOt a chance... Look at the tests done from the 1970s and 1980s... Most cars on average were NOT seeing more than 7-9second zero to 60... Now days a new Mustang GT is weighing in at 3600+ #... A new GTO is closing in on 3800#... ALL these creature comforts add power sapping weight penalties... Your MILLION DOLLAR ENZO only clips along at about 3 seconds to 60. Most exotic cars of this day, 2006 model years looming on the horizon, are only in the mid-4 second to mid-3 second range... and your AVERAGE CAR off the showroom floor is STILL only in the 7-8 second range. In another 30 years we'll still have very few gigabucks cars running in the upper 2 second to lower 3 second range and you'll still have MOST average cars running the 7-8 second to 60 range... Cost to manufacture, cost in passing safety standards, and sales revenue will keep this in check, just as it has for the last 30 years. Mike

Well hell, My next comment was "Why not just offload the Z and drive it over the passes", but I see it had no drivetrain in it, which DOES make a difference! Wasn't kickin' your love for your family, just amazed that you took the chance is all. Mike

Owen, Those guys don't make me mad... It's the guys who look at me like I have a 3rd eyeball when I tell them I do ALL MY OWN WORK on my C5... Those guys are tools. And they drive piss slow for the most part! Mike

We couldn't see it at first, had to pull the head and inspect every inch of all the components before it was found... TWICE! This was in 1994 when we simply didn't have the luxury of the internet and information... Another Odd thing I had on a P79 head... The cam towers were worn out of spec at the base where they mount to the head... That one was a hard one to find on one motor... I have a bunch of these little stories from when I was building and racing L6 motors in the late 80s to mid 1990s. Mike