Mikelly

I've never been a part of this list, although I've been asked to join numerous times... I just did... 'Ole Kimie is gonna have some 'Splaining to do! Mike

What's sad is about 10 years ago I threw away FOUR of them... Who knew they would become desirable! Mike

NOW THE REAL TRUTH IS TOLD! Hahahahahahahaha! Mike

Secrets out Dan... hahahahahahahaha! Good one Tim... Mike

DUH, Now I remember SEEING that in the "HOW TO HOTROD an LS1" book I bought a few weeks back! Mike

John, U R E VIL! Mike

Well it sounds like a design flaw in that SPECIFIC tranny... I can tell from first hand experience that BW makes an EXCELLENT 5 speed and their T56 stands on the legs of many race wins in the Viper, Vette, Mustang, and Fbody ranks... Not to mention the numbers of BW trannies in truck applications... Sorry, but this sounds like a model specific issue... Mike

OK Time out folks... Couple comments here... ALL LS1/ LS2/ LS6 motors came in one configuration or another with returnless systems from 1999 and newer vehicles... They work VERY well. ALL LS1/ LS2/ LS6 motors are drive by wire, which means no throttlw cable. You need to purchase a Computer and harness in order to make the whole "package" work well, but boy it works wonderfully well when you are done... Others who actually have done the conversion should chime in here, since they know all to well what it takes to make this mouse roar! Maichor, The return for the Vette is built into the filter... has the dual nipple on the filter! Pretty slick little design! Mike

Well I recently deleted a BUNCH of private e-mails back and forth where Kim Blough basically threatend me, stating "The community is to small to make such enemies as I"... The man is a legend in his own mind. Far as I'm concerned I have washed my hands of him and anything associated with him. As I stated in my responses to him elsewhere, there will be a few tense moments if he and I ever meet face to face. What some folks may not be aware of is the fact that Kim was sued over something to do with a JTR or Scarab conversion/ install some years ago and he still is smarting from that courtroom loss. Life has moved past the past, but it appears that Kim has not. Mike

ON the question of seats, I'd go directly to a vendor of seats... MSA is Stupid expensive with their prices... On the issue of flares, I'd NOT use the MSA flares, as they were one full inch different in size from the right side to the left side on my last Z and it was absolutely in the mold and NOT the body work... Others here have reported similar experiences... You can get GOOD flares CHEAP from a company named MAS (Look in hotrod, Carcraft or others in their ad section), a company that sells a lot of muscle car glass and for some strange reason has a LOT of Zcar stuff to boot! Spoilers, I've had several of those from MSA and they seem like good quality parts... Go figure... Get what suits your needs and works with the flares from either MSA, Victoria Brittish, or Airzona Zcar, or go Crazy and a get a cool custom kit from John at Reaction Research! I'd add subframe connectors to ANY car you plan to build with a V8. The torque alone hammers the factory rails and floor pans and causes the unibody to twist...Remember, this car was engineered to withstand about 150# torque and 135 WHEEL HP. You're adding significantly more. As to WHY not to use a 78, well it depends on where you live and emissions. As to the tranny... If you stay automatic, I'd use a nice custom 700R4 from one of the online vendors... You can get a custom setup that will be way strong, have an overdrive for fuel and highway cruising, and still be strong enough to hammer! Now for the sarcasem! READ READ READ READ READ! Hahahahahaha! Good luck! Mike

I didn't get that kinda response from the latest great Porsche built... Jim M.'s 2005 GT3 was an absolute blast to drive. I didn't even want to get back in my Vette after climbing out of that thing! Mike

Yup, that is the car we did all the brake and suspension work on and installed the Quaiffe in. The cage in that car is ALL cromoly and is the same exact cage that will be installed in my Z after this one is done. The shop has done a really nice job on fitting the cage to the car on the driver's side to clear the Sparco seats. As of now, The guys at the shop have cleaned the floor pans and paint damage to the roof and cage was removed. The roof was primed to inhibit rust and they were working on the gages, dash, interior wiring, and prepping the cage and floor pans for re-paint. They thought they could make of the time lost in a few days (4 at most), but I knew they would be set back for four days on the wiring alone. Jim's car will be completed mechanically, then we'll sort out his brake/ front hub issues (Ross' new hubs had the 300ZX offset, impacting fender to tire clearance, so we're going with Jamie's front hub 240Z offset design with slip over brake rotor hats.), do his corner weights and alignment, and get it off to the paint shop for the repair to the roof, the cut out of the extra rear exhaust tail pipe port in the rear valance, and a few other minor touches. Then I think (And Jim can chime in here) it goes off for interior install for carpet and such! This whole "Fire" situation has made me re-evaluate my working relationship with people in my garage, and I've got to tell you guys that I probably wouldn't be doing another one of these for someone unless I did it my way. Those seats should never have been in the car, and the shop owner was the catalyst behind their install... he wanted to show Jim the progress they were making, and installing the seats was a final touch... 4 bolts and 40 seconds per seat... Mike

That just looks like he either used flux core wire OR he had a gas mix on a gage that was bad, with an empty bottle... Gage told him he had PLENTY of gas... Don't ask how I might know, but on one of my very first roll cages I burned up a grinder fixing a similar "issue"! Hahahaha! Mike

Hahahahaha! After getting popped for what will likely be a VERY expensive ticket on this past Wednesday, I'll be saving my spirited driving for the track! Mike

Sent Larry a letter about a year ago and never got a reply, and never saw the letter returned... Hope he got out and is doing well... Mike

I'll give Ross Credit for being supportive of the parts we got for Jim McNemar's project, although a lack of communication between us caused a lot of grief, and there was enough blame to go around between the owner of the car, Ross, and I. I blasted him offline and had a few tense words on the phone before we got beyond that and got down to fixing the problems with car and parts... Once the issues were sorted, Ross gave me a direct line to him (And no you can't have it, per his request). I've had no issues since. I can also atest to the fact that it is hard trying to run a parts manufacturer/ supply business and have a life as well as work 40+ hours per week. Life just gets in the way, and no matter how hard you try, you'll never make everyone happy, so you are better off shooting for pleasing yourself... Hence the reason I gave it up! Buy the parts that best suit your needs for your application from who you think you'll get the best service from. You're within driving distance of MSA so maybe you'll have better luck than others. You have been given excellent pro's and con's of both, and some reasonable, if not perfect world (No such thing in the Zcar world) reasons why Ross is hard to get ahold of. You can either live with it, or you can't... that is a personal button for some of us. There are other solutions out there as well... Arizona Zcar is a candidate and Mike Gibson still makes and sells his Outlaw brake kits... There will also be another solution for brakes soon. River City Speed is putting together a brake/ hub combo using the PBR brake caliper, along with a 240Z offset hub with a Over-hub brake hat design. That project is currently in beta test and will be released shortly! Mike

One problem you'd run into immediately is parts sourcing. The big issue GM is running into right now is keeping production lines rolling. The New C6 is selling faster than anticipated and that is driving parts production away from stock and onto assembly lines... There are a number of people who have had issues with warranty work (New model gremlins) taking longer than anticipated. So sourcing all the "replacements" in that chassis is gonna be a hard one... Next question is how you get a Murcielago upside down! That is one interesting story I'd love to hear... Dumb asses abound... Mike

Now that SIR, Well that was funny! Hahahahaha! Mike

In my opinion the only Chevy motor I'd use in this day and age is the LS1/ LS6. I'd also NOTgo with carburetion on an LS1... My LS1 in my vette just was tuned to an amazing 335HP and 353 # ft. of torque at the wheels with some software tuning... with a few simple bolt ons and some long tube headers... That equates to almost 400HP and well over 400# of torque at the crank on a 112K mile motor! The LS1 is an amazing powerplant for sure! Mike

I agree with both John and Alex... I hope for their future as a democratic people, but I fully believe when we are done and leave, the same issues will return... They will fall under another ruler, and we can only hope he is a little lighter handed than the ousted monster. Mike

The manta gets my vote... I'd ditch my project in a hot minute for something like that. BTW, I've got the perfect motor for it if you decide to get it! Mike

I find that no matter what we do, good or bad, opinions of this administration have been drawn in the sand and will never be reversed. If Troops stumble onto a stockpile of WMD tomorrow, and find BinLadden hiding in the pile, the mass of anti-Bush supporters would only shrug and say "Why couldn't you find them sooner?" or "NIce plant GW. How long you had them squirelled away?" I support our troops. And to a point, I support our government. They are doing some things that on the surface seem "Hinky", until you realize that some of what they are doing is to their benefit for throwing off those abroad who are trying to kill our servicemen and disrupt the birth of democracy in the Middle East. Some of these tactics are certainly geared at saving face and making a president look much better in the spot light, but not all of it. God Bless America, God Bless us all! Mike

Beemers aren't to bad as long as you don't get the slush box. We were researching decent used BMWs for the wife and found a host of issues mainly surrounding the auto tranny, so I'd not worry about a manual version.. and the 5 series is leaps and bounds nicer than the 3 series, which isn't a bad ride at all! I was going to mentiong the 240SX or the 5.0 Mustand as another alternative, but other members beat me to it! mike

What amuses me is we have an excellent case study on why banning hand guns in cities doesn't work: Washington D.C. That city has been consistantly in the top 5 for homicide for decades, and usually top 2-3... And they outlawed handgun ownership there decades ago... When will we learn! Mike

I really hate to rain on any parades, but these kits are NOT profitable. They are generally to large to ship economically, and because of the added cost to ship, relatively few kits get sold... In order to make it worth while, the maker must spend THOUSANDS on good, reusable molds, and have a climate controlled space to store the bolds... effectively meaning you need a large warehouse to store the molds and build parts from. I did a bit of research on this little venture a while back when I contemplated buying out one of the larger Zcar glass makers, and it isn't cheap at all, which is why the prices of these parts can be so high! Mike