Mikelly

Took this thing out for a little shake down run on Saturday and drove it through some less populated back country roads for about 45 minutes... This car is making so much more usable power now that it is amazing... 335Whp is what, 385FHP? THink is pulling like a freight train! Mike

Hope to get an update today from Jim on the status of resolution of the issues on his car... Mike

I'd go ahead and proceed. S&S's stance is it has more to do with how the motor is placed and less with their header, which means they aren't as interested to me... I'd be up for a better design and I could pretty much guarantee that JIm would be interested as well as Pete P. Mike

No need for apology. My point was to reference that even with the right equipment, things can go wrong! We appreciate the offers of donation... If we can't get hands on the parts, I'll let you guys know and you'll be compensated. Mike

They have extenguishers for every bay in this shop. That didn't matter. The spark hit under the seat and smoldered for several minutes. Guy put the car up in the air, started plumbing the lines for the fuel cell and holley FI pump and filter and had no idea there was an issue... By the time they got the lift lowered enough to get the extiguishers (four of them!) to the source of the most heat, the damage was done... By the way, this whole fire started because John tack welded a single STUD from the inside of the car, through the rear deck to hold the bracket for the filter to the body of the car. A tack weld... A very simple and small tack weld... The interior was done and the engine bay was complete. They were within a day of testfitting the motor and trans, and putting things back together. Mike

I found a Dash in my stash of parts, so I think we're good to go from that standpoint... Pics of the damage can now be seen at: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Select Jim McNemar's ScarabZ pics and scroll through. You can see the intricate Cromoly cage work, and of course the damage... Pretty extensive damage to those helespensive Sparco seats... interesting note is that the Corbeau harnesses did NOT suffer any damage and could be used had other stuff NOT melted onto it. Mike

Yesterday, While Express Auto was setting Jim's car on fire, I went up to Frederick, Maryland to MSP Motorsport Performance, where the local F-body club was hosting Jeff Creech for some custom tuning. The mods I made to my car were simple bolt ons that a lot of folks claim will make XY&Z power... I posted on another board last week that I'd be happy to see a nice flat torque curve from off idle to redline and about 330WHP. I had a couple of guys PM me and tell me I was shooting TO LOW... But I knew better. Anyway, We put my car on the rollers after the following mods: LGM 1 3/4 LTs SLP Cats Hand farbicated Xpipe Volant CAI LS6 intake Shaner Ported Tbody full 3inch exhaust Borla Stingers I wanted a SAFE tune for extended periods at Wide open throttle. Last September when I was at Summit Point, by half way through the session I was getting popping in the exhaust and I had thought it was a lean condition. But now we think it was raw fuel being dumped into the exhaust and igniting! The car was pig rich on the baseline run, before the tune! Anyway, I had Jeff get my tune safe (According to him the 99s have some issues that need to be cleaned up anyway!) and in the process he got my broad torque curve, which really was amazing... I'm pretty much making 300#ft. of torque everywhere from about 900RPMs to redline... My peak was bouncing between 350-353# from about 2000-4400RPMs! Great for road course stuff! I made a peak of 334.5HP and the tune is now such that as the temps increase, the car will dial back and slow down a bit, but I can run a full track day without worry of damaging it. I also got to take a ride in a 544WHP supercharged Z06... Holy Crap... That thing was a BEAST! I want one! Jeff is only about 30-40 minutes south of VIR if anyone wants to get their car tuned the day before the VIR weekend. I had originally booked time at his shop for Friday Feb. 11th, but he was closer to me yesterday (And this weekend) so I took advantage of the time... So now there is time available! Carolina Auto Masters 113 S. Elizabeth St. Durham, 27701 Tel: 919-680-3966 And Jody (JBC3) came up to hang out for a while, which was good for me to hang out with familiar faces! Good to see you Jody! Mike

Doug, We're gonna need a dash and door panels ASAP... Like IMMEDIATELY... If you've got some, contact me today! Mike

I don't have all the details, but apparently the Z went up in flames today... They had assembled the interior seats (Sparcos) belts, new dash with gages and wiring, and it was done inside. John, the Fabcricator was under the car in the engine bay with the car in the air, and he was welding closed a few small holes in the floor board when apparently a spark got into the interior and hit a seat... Car caught fire and by the time it was caught, the whole interior was engulfed. The dash is toast, the seats are toast, the windshield is gone, and apparently the roof paint is blistered... This is going to be a nightmare and I'm quite sick to my stomach... I'm going to inspect the damage tomorrow. More later... Mike

Here is the info.. I CAN'T SEEM TO POST IN OUR WONDERFUL FORSALE SECTION... Admin Meltdown over... This 383 Stroker is built on a BOWTIE Four Bolt Main block loaded with a DAVE WILLIAMS internally balanced and assembled rotating assembly to include: Eagle 6inch Hbeam Forged Rods w/ Cap screws Wiseco ProTru Forged Pistons with mathing rings (File fit), Scat 9000 Internal Balanmce crank, Canton Balanced oil pump, scaper, windage tray, Pan, stud kit, ARP pump drive and rubber re-usable gasket on a Canton Road Race oil pan. The TC is a double roller Cloyes chain and cogs, edelbrock aluminum waterpump, and Summit Steal pulley drive the accessories. A March asseccory bracket holds the 130AMp alternator (Billet pulley cap). The CAT 153ring flywheel is also balanced to the crank assembly. The induction consists of Dart Conquest Aluminum heads loaded with 2.05/1.6 valves, Harland Charp 1.5 roller rockers, Comp Cams Chrome Moly Pushrods, Springs Matched to the Cam, Roller Hydraulic ISKY Cam and Lifters (294/292 dur. 530-550 lift) and Large screw in studs with Guide plates. The heads are topped off with sheetmetal billet formed covers. The induction starts with a BILLET MEchanical pump blockoff plate. From there we move to the Cutler aluminum MPI INtake topped with 42# matched injectors on billet fuel rails, 1000CFM TB, and all electricals... This setup comes with a Holley System Commander 950 NEW in the box. All internals are buttoned up with ARP bolts/ hardware and no expense has been spared. I've also got a Centerforce DF clutch brand new in the box to go with it, as well as other extras... Build book, and software included... This motor is a TRUE 500+HP Motor... $6000 and I will deliver within 300 miles. Pics in my Gallory! http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=7797 Mike

Check it out! Mike

The sad reality is that people NEED to be regulated... I see every day where people just BLAST through intersections without care for colors of lights... Mike

Magnum, I'll give you a Buck to find a PIc of Aux and Chop him in his clown car! Hahahahaha! Mike

So after replacing the following: Z06 Shift tie rod end Ball joint Solid Torque tube bushing seals in Rear Differential Magnet in rear differential LGM Long tube headers SLP Cats 3inch custom pipes I finally got her back on the road... W-O-W.. Forgot how much fun this thing is to drive... And the new pipes are SO Much louder above 2K rpms, but WAY quiet below 2Krpms... Going tomorrow to an F-body get together to have a custom LS1-Edit tune done on the car... we're also upgrading to the Z06 MASS meter and some 42# injectors in anticipation of the new motor and running WOT at the next VIR two day event! Mike

I've done tig, Mig, and stick welding, along with Brazing, and Hands down Mig with 75/25 Argon is the poop. I LIKE working with torches because you can work with the metal to anniel (SP?) it and get it soft to work with, and it burns the crap spray lubes off the surface really well, but unless you're forming metal, go with a GOOD mig with adjustable potentiometers... I've been using a Lincoln SP 125 For three years and I love it. Very user friendly, and will do nice welds on everything from 22 gage sheet to 1/4inch plate. Mike

YUp, steveO is correct... RIF "Reading is Fundamental"! You can edit your posts these days fellas! Mike

See, we can be helpful once in a while... Glad you hung in there! Oh, And you've got mail! Mike

The CR1 won't mount in the Z well... We had them in Jim McNemars car and they hit the door upon closing... Most of the aftermarket race type seats aren't going to sit low without some cutting... the other issue is that ANY affordable reclining seat isn't going to be FIA approved. If they don't have to recline, then you can find a BUNCH of FIA approved seats... I've got the Corbeau A4 and I'll be cutting my car up some more! Mike

John, I just saw that our friend Tony has been a life long member since MAY 2004... He'll become calous and elitist like the rest of us uncaring souls, Just give him time! "I thank you very much!" I kill me! I'm here all week folks, and don't forget to tip your waiter and bartender! (THIS IS all in good fun...) Mike

Yup, Excellent read and I enjoy all his! We found with Steve and Ian's 2000# 240Z that less negative camber and more positive caster worked wonders for handling. Steve and ian eventually ended up with 6.75 + Caster up front with .75 -Camber and zero to 1/8th toe. On the back, they were running around -2 degrees camber and 1/8th toe. Those boys are SMOKING Quick! Mike

...And again, All this info, Including similar ribbing to other new members, can be found... In the S-E-A-R-C-H! Mike

Excellent Response from John C. Step up and DO YOUR HOMEWORK is the message ALL members should recieve. We're all busy, all donating time, and working on our own projects/ have lives/ and jobs... Meet us half way and do a search, or go off and start your own website on how HybridZ and the elitist snobs who run it are just bad bad bad! Mike

I posted part numbers in the drivetrain section in a thread about the Gforce T5. Check with online vendors, but cheapest i found the Tremec for was $1490, brand new. Mike

That isn't a good deal at all... And as Magnum mentioned, couple of guys here have bought T56 trannies that were junk, and BLGMGK can tell you the nightmare he dealt with on getting TWO bad T56s... Anyway, When I bought mine in 1998, I got it shipped with everything for $1230. Then you need to account for an expensive flywheel and clutch setup. You'll have about $1000 invested in the flywheel, clutch kit, slave and master setup when all is said and done and when you're done you will have a trans "KIT" that weighs over 200#s... Think about that one for a moment... Look, I wrote a tech article back in 1998-99 and stated that this trans was the absolute best trans to use... And I was wrong. If you are installing an LS1 or LT1 motor, I'd say sure, go ahead... it'll work well with the computer programing, cam choice, and fuel injection. If you're throwing it in behind a standard 3XX with a Carb, Look into something else like a Tremec. BLKMGK doesn't post much here anymore, but he and I chat almost daily via other means and he wants to swap his 383 stroker equipped T56 our for a.... TREMEC or Modified T5. At the time, when I wrote the article, We had ZERO info on doing this install and this trans was about the strongest chevy bell housing equipped tranny you could get in an OEM configuration... But by 2001 there were other options, making my info obsolete. I can't stress enough that you go back up and look at that 200# plus weight on the T56 combo... The Flywheel is about 40#, plus the weigh of the clutch kit (Which all trannys carry, so that's a push) and the weight of the trans when topped with fluids... The Gforce Equipped T5 I plan to use will be about 85# less on the total number because the trans weighs about 75# and the flywheel I'm using is about 25#. And when all is said and done, on a carb equipped T56 drivetrain, you won't be able to use 6th gear. It is a pretty useless ratio to use unless you're trying to get 20mpg... My $.02, but I'd seriously look at other options! Good luck! Mike

Another thing to remember to is that what kills the stub axle is abuse over time... I'd plan to do one of three things: Upgrade to 280 Stubs, Upgrade to 280Stubs that are kryo'ed, or Upgrade to Ross' setup when they come out. Those 240s won't last... I've been through the traps at over 100mph (1/8th mile track) with a broken axle, which also took out the rear brake... I ended up through a fence and in a gravel trap... It was NOT pretty! Good thing it wasn't my car! Mike