Mikelly

UPdate: This morning the car is in the air on the lift... Yesterday I cleaned up the underside of the car, prepped and painted most of the fenderwells, welded closed the bumper strut holes in the rear, as well as the exhaust cutout for the factory location. I'm going to wiremesh the four oval holes in the rear panel... I also trimmed the feder lips on my stock fenders so now the fender has a smooth edge at the bottom of the fender, rather than the 90 degree crimp. Today I'll weld up the holes in the firewall that won't be used, and I'll finish prepping the engine bay for paint. I want to finish paint prep today and get it all done by tomorrow. This three day weekend has been a big help. Once the paint work is done on the underside of the car, I'll start the plumbing. I also need to talk to my neighbor up the street about nocking out the bodywork and paint on the car. Since it will now be a track car, I don't need the body work to be show quality... Just straight and even, with a nice solid paint job! Fun FUN FUN! Mike

Some really good ideas here... I had a note from a guy a while back who said he thought we were to rough on new members, and wanted to know WHY... My explanation was that we are hard on members at first for GOOD reasons. A: We're trying to assess the member's usefulness to the board and HYbridZ environment. If you are going to be a tool in the beginning, you'll likely be a tool two years from now... Bottom line is we want our members to act accordingly... You and I may sit across from each other some day and make no bones (And I've done this), it'll come up (And I'll likely have a copy of your rude comments WITH me, because I'm always prepared!) and I'll ask you to explain your comments from way back when... B: We want our members to CONTRIBUTE. Come, soak up the information, and USE it... Then contribute your own. I've learned as much (If not more) than I've contributed over the last five years. I'd like to surround myself in my private life, just as I do in my professional life... best and brightest in this world. So I DO have high standards. C: We often use the term "Our Home!" when discussing conduct on HybridZ. This is like one of Tim's shindigs, or mine. I've opened my home and shop up to you to enjoy and I expect you to act accordingly. Some of those who have been baned from this site would have been bodily removed from my residence had they conducted themselves in public as they did in text. D: "Relax Man... It's just text...." UTTER HORSE SH!T. You conduct yourself here as you would in person, face to face. Who you represent on this site is who you will be viewed as in real life. If you can live with that, and understand that you are painting a perception, then you should proceed accordingly. But make no bones about it, we are all judged, and we'll all judge based on how we present ourselves... So I take it as seriously as you present it. If you call me (Or anyone one here) an ******* (or some other flowery word) behind text (And the safety of your keyboard and mouse), You might want to plan on doing it face to face, because some of us travel a lot, and some of us might just pop in and say "Hi! Got a minute?" We've built what is possibly one of the most elite sites on the internet. We run a tight ship, and we do so with good reason. Every single person I've recommended to check this site out, in hopes of getting ideas on getting their own sites cleaned up, has come back to me in amazement. The depth of knowledge and level of detail, along with the conduct of our group in large has given us the reputation other websites strive to reach. So when a new person comes on the site and says I'm new to the site but I'm the god of hell, fire and thunder, and I'll conduct myself as I see fit (Like happened recently with one of our middle aged members who had built Zs for years and years...) Then just sit back and watch the fireworks... It is real simple... Do the right thing. If you have any doubt about a negative post you are getting ready to send... Don't submit it. Real simple... And if you did, and then think back on it, then GO EDIT it. Real simple... We make it that way, because we know we all make mistakes or "Have a bad day". We want people to enjoy our site. We want people to feel 100% at home. That is why we do NOT allow flaming, bashing, jokes of prejudice, derrogatory comments about gays or people of ethnicity. We are tolerant of everyone... Except nooBs and rude idiots! If any of this bothers you, the reader, it might be YOU who want to take personal stock... Because I assure you all... We, the administrators and moderators sleep very well at night. I personally like the idea of "Post-it" or Sticky threads, like the Webber tripple carb info on one of the forums... Maybe we need to do that for Chevy V8 swaps... and others... I think we have enough members here that we could farm these topics out to some of our members to write, then send to the admin staff for editing for the initial "Kick-off" and let the members contribute from there. Lets TEM this some more and get a list of topics together that are always asked... So we have some way of directing the newer members... My guess is among the masses that have been auto-nuked by myself or one of the other member staff, there have been some good guys who just weren't aware of our strict code of conduct... I'm fair, and would like to think we can admit when we have over-reacted... We do second guess our actions in the admin forum and seek review fom our admin/ moderator peers, to keep us in check too! Mike

Here's the dilema... I've got the 383 DONE and ready to install, and I've got a complete clutch setup for it and a bellhousing for the Gforce T5. I don't have any of that for the LS1... I've got TWO LS1 motors... One currently making 390+ crank HP w/ 420+ # Torque. The other will be well over 500HP at the crank, making similar figures to the 383 stroker... IF I could sell the 383 stroker (Which is brand new and never fired), then the decision would be easy... But I haven't had a single offer, PLUS my Heads/ Cam LS1 isn't done being built. Should be wrapped up very soon... Goal is to have the car at SUB-2400# with a full tank of gas. The LS1 would get me in under that... The 383Stroker might be iffy! Mike

But Tim, It's a "dry" 90% humidity! HahahahahA! You guys crack me up... weather is weather, no matter where you live... Earthquakes and mudd slides in California, Twisters in the plain states, and Hurricanes on the east coast... Find a place you can be happy and enjoy your life at and call it home... If you aren't happy, MOVE... But whatever you do... Buy land, or buy a house... Kinda like guns... You're pretty hard pressed to "LOSE" money on the deal, and in most places you'll MAKE money... And in the end... It beats the HELL out of RENT, which equals NO return and NO tax write-offs! Mike

I guess what I should have said is I'm accelerating my schedule to complete this car... The escalation of this project took place in 2000 when I had a fuel cell fire at the back of the previous car... minor in scope, but certainly was an attention getter... This new car is a roller on coil overs, and my adjustable suspension, and I've got Corvette C5 calipers for it, along with some 13 inch rotors... I've got the motor, drivetrain and cooling resolved and parts in house, and the game plan is to completely finish the underside and engine bay this holiday weekend. I want to have the car ready for exterior panel paint within the month of April... The cage and all wiring/ plumbing should be done by then. I'd like to take her to the track in May or June. Mike

So after seeing some impressive Zs rule the weekend at VIR, I've made a hard and fast decision to finish my Zcar ASAP. I will likely NOT be very street legal, and won't have much of an interior or Dash. I'm going to finish painting the underside and engine bay this weekend and get it ready for wiring and start plumbing it. The car will go to the installers for cage right after Jim's car is finished up... I worked on my custom isolators for the struts last night and fitted the hood... I have some fitment issues to overcome with the hood, but I'm preparing a second set which is shorter to install to see if the situaition is resolved! I expect to have the motor in this car and the interior (Seats/ Mini-dash/ Gages/ harnesses) installed by April. Mike

Randy it sounds like you are living in a similar situation to me. I make a very respectable living, but drive 62 miles each way to make it. My home is now worth over $200K more than I paid for it five years ago, but if I sold it, I'd be in an inflated market. We're weighing our options and bottom line is I'm staying where I am for a few more years, and then we will leave the area all together. We'll pay off all our debt, and hopefully pay cash for the next home, and just have modest jobs, making a reasonable income for our budget. Mike

And I agree with Matt, ari and Rufus... Finish the Hulk or sell it... I'm first in line... Hahahaha! Mike

Not to mention the fact that upon reconstruction of the fuselage there was no sign of supposed impact damage from artillery or explosive munitions. the fighters that were scrambled were to far away when the plane made impact... but nevermind facts... fiction is SOOOO much more exciting. Bottom line is people want to believe anything BUT the truth. There are bad people in the world that hate America because we are AMORICA... We have the best of everything... We are the ugly, outspoken Americans who supposedly don't help other countries in times of need (Like the latest Tsunami) and we are viewed as the agressors in the world... I say let the world survive without our intervention... Pull up stakes, send the troops home, close our borders, do more for our own, let the rest fend for themselves... It is after all, their world, and we are just a part of it... I'm sure they would be fine... Sorry, got off topic... Yes, consipracy theories are such big fun... Like the lochness monster, UFOs, Bigfoot, and any number of fables being told! I refer to it as the housewive's syndrome. Fiction is, after all more exciting than some people's realities... The rest of us have lives... I guess tha's why we don't buy into such tails and theories... Mike

I hear he is very ellusive, but you might want to try him at dat74z@yahoo.com! I kill me! Mike

Funny you mention that Mark... I've been in a lot of events over the years, and Norb Watts, the instructor I had this weekend was the SAME WAY... These guys really wanted you to push it and learn at speed... Norb was amazing and got me back up to speed pretty quick. I left there yesterday with a huge boost in my driving confidence. Mike

10.98 @ 129+mph... 383 stroker/ T56 w/ LSD... Car was stable at launch... Mike

Alan was there abusing the field as well... You guys want to see w well engineered beast of an L6 powered car run...WOW... That thing is AWESOME! Lot of nice Zs there this weekend... LOT of CLEAN and FAST Zs! Mike

We just got back yesterday evening from the TRIAD ZCAR/ TarHeel Sports Car Clubs Weekend HPDE and TT event at VIR... 2 days, classroom and ontrack instruction, and time trials at the end of each day! These two clubs combined to put on these events, and MAN it was SUCH A NICE event.. some seriously high dollar cars at this event... http://www.thscc.com/timetrial/events/vir_full_course.htm I met up with Jim McNemar, who drove down in his Porsche GT3 and I finally got to meet Mark Icard. We had a good time watching Mark abuse the expert field in his yellow LT1 powered Z. His car was the talk of the paddock! I captured some really good in car footage of me running down a 1999 Ferrari 355F1 on Saturday, and some more footage of Sunday's event! We had a true blast, got to hang with some cool Zcar dudes, and abuse some high dollar rides with our little cheap C5 Corvette... I was running on crappy ceramic pads and STREET tires and passing better equipped cars on slicks... it was a real treat, and I learned sooooo Much from my instructor... I highly recommend attendance at the next event... VIR ROCKS! Mark, check your inbox! Mike

So I guess my question here is Since you have such a nice example ready to go (And I'm in glass house with stone in hand) Why are you spending so much money on other cars? Mike that project is to damned sweet to NOT finish SOON! (Picks up pointy stick and Jabs!) Mike

Does any of our friends in Japan have access to the real deal? If so, What would it cost to get one sent over? What do they sell for over there? Are they still available at all over there? Mike

Also make sure you have a block to chassis ground. Grounding the starter to the battery/ engine is only a part of it. If this is a FI model, also confirm that the computer is getting its feed... Hook up the power wire to it? Mike

Ebay pulled it... DAMN IT! I wanted to see... I wanted to see! Mike

Mark, I'll be there with the C5 in tow. Propane heater is sounding real nice... Mike

Actually having removed the inner fender skirt to intall some bling wire mesh in the gills of my C5 fenders, it is only four screws to get to the inside of that fender without removing the fender at all... BTW, That kit is very trick... Check the link and look at all the pics... Pretty damned slick! I've pretty much disassembled my whole car, minus the dash and the motor (But everything from the bellhousing back and ALL the suspension) and they are quite surprisingly easy to work on! Mike

I just "Unsubscribed". After 48 hours of e-mail filling up my inbox, with lots of "Zcar.com" related dummery, I just decided there's no place like home, there's no place like home... Rags, the beauty of this wonderful land we live in is this: The Scarab idea was a GREAT idea and STILL works. Is it the best? Depends who you ask, as the latest round of discussions shows. However, ANY V8 in a zcar is better than none at all... And I don't care HOW you mount it! Maybe I'll see you at the Glen as well! Mike

Mark, You gonna be ready for the coming weekend at VIR??? I'm swapping out my pads tomorrow evening or Friday morning! Mike

Well I for one am very glad he is no longer on this site... Smells way to much of Zcar.com days and the Ron Stoy wars... I didn't see my reply posted in the IZCC archives... Oh well, guess they chose not to let that one fly! The jist of it was that based on his comments, we should all get rid of our aluminum intakes, water pumps, heads and anything else weight saving, and put all that additional weight, along with the original weight of the motor right over top of the front axis... Nice... I also commented that his little "example of why his mount worked better" doesn't ring true... maybe he was a better driver that day. Maybe he is a better driver in general. The only way to end these debates is to take to EXACT cars with the two different mount types, and have someone like John Coffey drive them on a course. I'm surprised that such and "expert" would make such stupid, ignorant comments like he has... But then again, he DID do soooooo many swaps... I'm just on number FIVE or SIX! Mike

Well lets see how he takes my comments... For such an "Expert", he certainly is making some rather bizzar claims... mike

Do a word search on "Kim" and it will post. It was monday's date! Mike