Mikelly

Yea, Davy it is moving into the "Real Race Car" realm! I'm making a 100% track car out of it. I've got the Vette for street duty. MIke, I was gonna have a second LS1 to put in it, but I blew it up two weeks ago at VIR! The 383 Stroker will have to do for now! Mike

See pics Here: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Check in the New Zcar Project PIcs Folder. Total cost was $2441. It was pricey because of the plate gussets, door bars, sinking the tubing into the rockers, and pulling the cage in tight to the chassis. They did excellent work on this cage and I'm truly impressed with how it turned out. Let me know what you all think! Also gonna post some pics of my new truck and some pics from VIR fathers day carniage in the same link... Different folders... Check it out! Mike

Just FYI, When I went through this back in January 1996, I fought with State Farm over my car being totaled by their company. They eventually settled for $7800. I had a stack of receipts an inch thick and video of my promotional stuff I was doing with the car for advertisers and business development. It also took about 6 weeks worth of fighting with them. Show PROOF that the car is a classic and ANY receipts for repairs. Also, Do NOT settle for a partial payment. That car is likely fixable, but the cost will be to high for the company. They'll want to cut you a check and let YOU keep the car, since it isn't valuable to a salvage yard. These cars are no longer considered desirable in the Auto Parts recycling business. That could work to your advantage, because you could still make a decent chunk parting it out after the fact, and swapping good parts over to your new ride. Mike

Dude Congrats! I didn't know she was that far along! Enjoy them while they are small! They grow up quick! See you in a few days! Mike

Yup, that happened two weeks ago when I was there... Little tidbit of info on that particular VIPER driver... On Saturday evening when we were getting ready for dinner, I ran out to the truck to get something out of it, and this guy in the Black Viper comes up and starts chatting about my misfortune with the blown motor. I told him about my previous offtrack excursion before the blown motor and he stated that two weeks prior he had spun going into turn 17A, known affectionately as HogPen, and he bought two sections of guardrail and sent the car to the body shop for repairs. This guy is now infamous... real nice guy, but should possibly either seek professional instruction from one fo the major schools, or take up golf... Mike

Like, Catch up dude! Seriously, this slang term is no different than any other crutch word every generation has butchered out of context for the last oh century... It's called youth and you were once there... Like, cut the kid a break! I'll be at Massenutten Resort (http://www.massresort.com) biking this weekend from Friday to Sunday, as the wife just sprung this surprise birthday present on me... I'd have to say if I had to give up cars or bikes, Cars would have to go... Mike

YUp, I'm with Pop... I feel much more relaxed, and complete after a 70mile ride around lake anna. After a mountainbike ride, I feel like I've been a few rounds in a boxing ring... Broke both ankles, both wrists, right collar bone, 7 ribs, fractured my skull and had a level two separated shoulder all from Mountain biking. Been hit three times in 24 years of road biking. Each time a car hit me it was close, but I always just walked away with road rash... My stable of bikes has grown with my family... I've personally got two road bikes, two mountain bikes and a TON of gear for each. My stepson has a mountain bike and my wife has one fo each. Three FS bikes in all... I've raced down hill (How I sustained a fractured skull) and it was fun, but not nearly as challenging as XC racing. Most fun racing was a 12 hour endurance mountain bike race where I raced solo and took 6th place overall... 2nd most fun was a one day race hosted by Potomac Pedalers. It was a road race on July 5th 2000. I came in 2nd to my buddy, a semi pro mountain biker... the other 44 guys were all hard core roadies, shaved legs and all... Now days I just ride for fun, as I've put on twenty pounds I can't seem to lose and the house and the cars just keep getting priorety over my time. Mike

Mike, Before you build this thing to "Race it in some vintage" class, check out vintage racing rules first. You might be building something that won't be allowed. Oh, and I give the Cummins Diesel 3 thumbs up! Mike Kelly

You could do whatever you want... There is no way in hell I'D want to "Glass it in" and you won't get as good a finish... Your best bet is to steal a roof panel from another Z and weld it on. Gring the weld seems, fill THAT area for each seam, and be done with it. Glass on that wide of a panel is gonna bow and flex like mad... Just look at most of the aftermarket hoods out there... You won't have much of a finish when the fiberglass spiderwebs and cracks! Mike

No No, What it'll mean is that Tim, Pete and I have run off to start our own "ubber Hybdrid-V8 NO OTHER TYPES OF Zs ALLOWED!" site I constantly send people to this site for technical info on fabrication and all things mechanically inclined... Boy do I send them down a dirt path! Mike

I used to race in my region (mid Atlantic) and rarely entered a race I didn't get a podium on... There is simply NO sport as tough as, or as fun as Mountain biking in My book! Mike

Jon, A cage was always in the works for this car. I had made the appointment before this event (Think I posted it here!) and I decided after putting a hole in the block that I needed the track car "DONE" so I wouldn't abuse the vette, which still has some resale value to it... Don't think I'd ever get $20,000 for the Z... Can't say that about the Vette! The additional bars just grew from my discussions with Jeff. BTW, this isn't the first car I've owned that had a cage and door bars... There have been three others! Jsquared, Jeff is still there! Mike

Bill, as most of the members know, just let me know a day or two in advance and we can throw together something small or something big! If you're in the area, by all means, stop in! Mike

I"m just plain SORRY! I kill me! Mike

The tilt bed option was reasonable... Go to loadhogs.com and check the kit out... $3000 installed... This guy had paid over $5800 from a vendor who marked it up apparently... So far, nice unit! Truck is getting about 21MPG so far as well! :3thumbs: A tonneau cover that locks or folds is in store! Mike

Just say when... I can hang at your place as well as mine... Pete should have his 406 installed soon enough... and Mine will actually be painted by August if everything works out right! Mike

Funny you should mention that Doug... I'm planning ANOTHER shindig for either late July or Early August. This cage is gonna be top shelf... Estimating between 15-25 hours and about $300 in materials at $75 per hour... A basic 6 point cage is about 8 hours. This was just gonna be a "basic" cage, until my spin off T10 last weekend at 100mph... Now it'll have every brace, bar, and gusset he can squeeze in... Gonna be 10-12 points when all is said and done, not including the body to cage gussets! Mike

...And boy am I really gonna be broke. Piper Motorsports really knows their stuff... They are doing some choice work... GOnna have NASCAR door bars, Gussets tied into the A pillar and roof, a diagonal roof bar in the hailo, the X bracing to the rear, then tieing back to the front, triangulations everywhere... Really choice quality work. This guy knows his stuff, listened to my concerns, changed up a few things like footer placement away from the seat pockets (As most cages locate them) and up onto the shelf where the storage bins were, and sinking the front A pillar tubes into the rocker boxes. and bringing the rear X bars in around the cell to give more protection. The owner was also VERY impressed with that ZF Racing Suspension that that hack built... Should get it back by Wednesday or Thursday of next week! Mike

I just bought this this evening: http://www.getauto.com/autolinks_cardetail.html?x_dealer_id=AABke&vinNum=3D7LU38C04G107218 Don't think I'll have any issues with towing anymore... HO Turbo Diesel, LOADED with a DUMP bed... Thing is AWESOME! Got out the door for $32800! Now I need to unload my truck! Mike

"First of all, how the hell is the C6-R win a "romp"? They were losing most of the race and were slower than the Astons, the win was handed to them when the Astons pushed too hard and broke. And they're not really a "Corvette" either (same goes with every car in that class since Chrysler gave Vipers to ORECA so the French would fudge the rules in their favor), they have an LS2-based engine and that's about it." ??? Like the Asten Martins are Stock??? PuHlEASE... It's called an endurance race... You didn't see Chevy boohooing when they lost at Seabring or Daytona... I don't think anyone had ANYTHING handed to them. The Asten Martin is a formidable opponent, but they lost... They broke their cars and that caused them to lose time... That's endurance racing. Mike

I was far more upset that Chevy's ROMP at the 24 hours de' Lemans was over-shadowed by the stupidity that has become F1. I checked out about 6 years ago and just DON'T watch anymore. Now lets talk about those Vettes kickin' arse in Europe! Mike

Pros and cons to both I suppose... I had an engine builder build my first 383 stroker, paid for good parts and ended up with a "Claimer" bottom end. I ended up using a very reputable builder for both the Z's 383 and the LS1 for the vette. He's good, but slower than most. If you buy a crate motor from GM, you order, you plop down the plastic or cash and you get a long block with a warranty. In the end, and after doing this for several decades, it boils down to this: You ABSOLUTELY get what you pay for. Do an internally balanced shortblock, with forged parts, aluminum heads with a roller valve train... Go ahead and price that... But make no bones about it, she'll be the baddest biatch on the block. Mike

Well those are good points... But make no bones about it, having owned 18 Zcars and 2 corvettes in my lifetime, There is no way a guy like me could leave a Vette stock... and mine absolutely kicks AZZ! The vette, modified will keep pace with GT3s, Z06 Vettes, and pretty much anything on VIR, even with my non-driving azz behind the wheel... It is B-I-G! It Weighs 3200#+ and bone stock they S-U-C-K! Guys who come here and truly modify their cars will most likely be like me and have a modified lawn mower, pick up truck, bicycle or whatever else they ride in or on. Owning a "CAR" isn't the point... Putting your personal signature on it IS! Tim's latest truck is an EXCELLENT example... Or Mike's (ON3Go) cars, Or Jamie's Or ScottieGNZs... Point is that it isn't the car... It's the experience... When we lose that fun with "THAT" car, it's time to move on... Maybe switch model, maybe switch platform... And don't even talk to me about emotional experiences... It is quite emotional every time I remove the headers on my vette to pull the exhaust to GET TO the drive train to do something before a track event! It is also VERY emotional every time I drive it on the track. I'll be doing that this weekend in Advanced SOLO group with http://www.mazdadrivers.com Have fun, and remove the blinders guys... Its about you, not the car! Mike

Well my new to me Z71 Chevy is probably not long for this owner... I'm looking at a Dodge Diesel Quad Cab 3500hd with TILT bed... It'll pull stumps and Jimmy Hoffa outto of concrete! 2004 model with 21K miles... Books for $39K and I can have it for $32800! I'm thinking HARD! Mike:cool:

Looks good Tim! You should think about a new busines... Mike