Mikelly

Dude, Like i'm gonna get $500 from a 16 year old??? I'll take what I can get... And I can't see to find the PRO model for anything less than $239... I can find the regular Gtech for $99-149 though... Mike

Pop, that was part of it... Cromoly is such a better form of material due to the whole weight/ strength issue.. But as you point out, there is the issue of heat and cromoly... I didn't feel I had enough expertise to be playing with material used in such a critical placement... Mike

... Pro as partial trade... Last fall he bought a new Gtech pro and played with it long enough for the luster to wear off... And he had to have a costly repair done to his belived MR2... Which I picked up the tab for, but have been making him pay back... $550 of it Anyway! So night before last he comes up with Gtech in hand, offering it up for $200 knock off his bill! I've wanted to get one of these for oh... two years now! I'm gonna get me some numbers on the ole' vette, Stang, Truck, Civic, Pretty much everything we own... maybe I could hook it up to the riding lawn mower! Mike

Well one thing to remember is Dave (AZC) has been around probably longer than any other Zcar vendor... He has a lot of time and money in the parts you bought, plus he actually has racing time in his own cars and in support of local customers... You paid a premium for that experience, and you should rest easy at night knowing that. Those control arms are in my opinion one of the BEST DESIGNS for a real racing application... Only issue I had with them, and the driving force behind my three year stint at making my own design was in the adjustment of them... Again, he designed his for REAL race duty only... Those units are ALL Cromoly, which I wasn't outfitted to make, and they are very light weight. My "Best of all worlds" design would have been my setup in cromoly... Don't knock it, Dave's stuff is pricey, but top shelf bits, none the less! Mike

I'm gonna start the clutch replacement on the C5 this morning and I plan to take pics start to finish for a future tech article on one of the Vette sites... However, I will let you guys know where I post the pics... i think there are parts we could use on the Z project cars... Plus, I think it is important from an aerodynamics theory standpoint for some of you guys to see how they achieved the top speed numbers with a production (high numbers produced at that!) showroom car...Lots of interest by some members concerning belly pans, chin spliters and other designs... This will show you how chevy cleaned up the underbody of their "Supercar"... Stay tuned... 8) Mike

Well maybe it was me who had tired springs... That is what this board is good for, comparing experiences... thanks brad. My car rubbed like crazy with a set of traction master springs and 215-65-15s on the swastiker rims... Forced a tire upgrade long before I was ready... that was back in the early 90s and the car was an ealry 74 260Z. Another point you are correct about: Tire size within the same brand can be off... go mixing and matching and you see HUGE variations.. mike

Brad, His car is a 1st Gen Zcar, not the ZX and the tires he has are 205 65 series. These tires will likely rub on an early Z if he lowers it that much... Mike 8)

I don't think you will be able to get by with them... They will likely rub on the inner fender lip... Mike 8)

Hmmm, Dan, Ever been on the beltway in washDC at 4:30 in the morning? It is 5 lanes wide open. There was no traffic, and one other vehicle screwing with me... It is called discretion. Something 21 years of driving experience has gotten me. Pick your spots, and your battles... Guess you've never hit the gas on a public road? Sorry, just seemed a little Preachy... Mike

Denny, I'm picking up one by the weekend... Mike

Yup, I was thinking that right after it happened... (In heavy southern accent) "Boy I Showed him my taillights Butt GOOD, Just like Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" Sheesh! Gonna be a real BIATCH to do this clutch... You have to remove the REAR END and trans, then the torque tube... Mike

Err...NO. No I did Not... it wasn't pretty... Mike

...So on the way to work this morning I have a pickup truck (One of those new Dodge Hemis) that is playing with me... I drop from 6th to 4th and hammer the throttle... and watch the rpms rise... To redline... and I'm only going ....maybe 110... And then the smell comes on... Yuck! I've got a Z06 setup sitting on the bench, and I need to get a new slave cylinder, but other than that... Looks like I'll be swapping a clutch this weekend... Hope I can get home! Mike

Vashe, For that particular swap, plan to blow that budget by a significant amount. There is no "Kit" for that model, which will require some fabrication skills, and you are pretty much forced to go with a FI motor, due to hood clearance issues. With the custom exhaust alone, I'd expect you will spend close to $1000... Good luck. Mike 8)

This is sooooo timely... My 16 year old discovered a site this weekend that does a Supra TT swap into the MR2. Now here is a kid who is making maybe $5000 per year part time baggin' groceries, and he has had his license all of about 30 days and HE all the sudden thinks he qualifies to A: Pay someone to do this OR B: Gee Mike, you did do a ZV8 swap and a civic/ Integra swap and C: Gee I know I've only been driving a few weeks, but I could show you a thing or two behind the wheel... Then there is the phone call I got from the older son Yesterday who wants to go forward with the Turbo swap into his Integra powered civic... ME: Have you ever done one? Him: No Me: Do you know how hard it is? Him: Well I read in Sport compact Car... Me cutting him off: No, No, No... Remember how hard the integra swap was on YOUR wallet and MINE??? Him: Silence.... Me: And you do NOT have a backup car to drive and you can NOT borrow mine again... Him: Guess I need to shop around for a beater... ME: Gee, you're getting a clue... Come talk to me about a turbo swap after you have a $500 beater car to bang around in when you puke the headgasket out the side of the motor... Plan, Plan, Plan.... research... GeeZ, I'll be SOOOO Glad when the search function is fixed so I can go back to being a grade a #1 prick to everyone who doesn't use it... And once you get a plan, STICK TO IT!!!!! OK, I'm done. Mike

Mike, I think $600 is an absolute steal of a price on a 10 point cage welded into your car... almost sounds TO cheap... The beauty of a custom cage it that they can fit it to the driver's size... For others reading this thread, make sure you know what class, and type of cage you need... SCCA cages are NOT NHRA legal, and vice-versa... This is VERY important when considering any mods for performance. Mike 8)

Well I do have some experience in the field, and we did get the G router made by Dlink, and I'll be upgrading this laptop to another "REAL" laptop later this year, so I'll get a G card then... Nothing like surfing the net while on the crapper! Mike

It dawned on me to move my laptop around the garage with the Dlink access port, so I could maybe get better connection in the garage. And wouldn't you know it? I was right... Now I can surf the web and get tech data live and real time while in the garage... Now if they only made a laptop card that worked with my little slow toshiba! Mike PS, I'm just happy to have wireless connection from outside the house! Mike

So, after I bought the new handy dandy CD/MP3 player for the Vette, I just had to convert every CD I might possibly every listen to into a media format I could play in the vette... So I'm a musician, and yes I'm WAY behind the times for technical advances... Until now... I'm finally in the 1990s! WOOHOO! 12+ gigs of data took FOREVER to convert to MP3 and WMAs... But it's done... Now I just have to manage it all! Geez... Mike 8)

Congrats Mark... My game plan was to stay in my house for 2-3 years... 6 years ago! Mike

I have no idea what you guys are talking about... Mike

Pick up a dictionary and look for the word: Discretion... It is what youth lacks... I'll take age and treachery over youth and inexperience any day! Mike 8)

There you go sampling your own wares again Sylicone Boy!... Don't tell me you're sporting your very own set of 36Cs?!?! Couldn't resist... I've been in side all day buring 10+ gigs of music to MP3s and I'm a little slap happy! Mike 8)

Mikie, I"d bet dollars to donuts that you would be surprised and humbled! ...And, Uh... NO. You can't! Mike

Ya, I already HAD that conversation with her mother... For the record, He does live with his real father, who let him get a tattoo at 16, without my wife's concent... Kids.. Now you guys know why I play these little jokes on him! Mike