Mikelly

Well I think they simply dreamy and would look wonderful especially on AUx's ride... As only AUx could do them justice! Good one Mr. Griemenn, Good one! Mike

Well on the plus side I dropped my Dart Conquest heads off at the machine shop to be cleaned and fitted with replacement springs for the two that were damaged. Hope to get them back within about three weeks and finish the motor off. On the negative side, I've got to go to a urologist to see what is wrong with the Kidney/ Bladder. I was gonna drop the street Z off at the shop for the cage install, but the guy is going out of town tonight and won't be back until Tuesday. I was starting to feel tired anyway, probably for the best... Mike

Well I'll have to run out and grab a copy of it. I've been buying SCC and Turbo on and off since starting the motor project with my stepson. I think there is good in both magazines, but I find myself having to re-educate my oldest stepson regularly because of the misprints made in BOTH magazines, as well as Honda Tuner, and Import Performance Magazine. In general they all remind me of the Trucking and MM&FF magazines I also buy. You have to dig through pages and pages of CRAP to get to the few real true nuggets of info. I guess that's why the end up in the library, I mean bathroom. Congrats Rick! Hope to have my car in a one of these fine publications some day. Mike

So night before last I finish up a cool little aluminum strut brace for the street Z and get some ugly welds on the clevis brackets onto the strut tower... Kinda happy I'm doing something on the car. But I noticed I'm using the bathroom (#1) way too much. By the end of the evening I'm starting to get chills, body aches and it stings when I pee. Then the headaches and fever hit... I felt like I was hit by a truck by about 4AM yesterday. Went to the DR. and was told I have a kidney and blader infection. I have to go back today to get re-checked. They hit me up with some powerfull meds and I feel 100% better today, but still not ready to run a marathon. So I'm off work again... Great way to start a new job. Mike

Well we were supposed to do an overnighter and have a fun evening aline together after dropping the car off in Chapel Hill, but the UVA vs. UNC game shot that all to hell. We ended up making the 3.5 hour drive back home and just hung out . So I made $500 off the 240SX... Gonna give the cage guy a call this week and see if I can drop the car off for an install.. Mike

Been off the computer more lately and I missed this... Man it absolutely caught me off guard. This guy was just great to watch. Seemed like a real nice person as well... Man this sucks... Mike

Gee, Maybe we should write a tech article with part numbers for those who want NON-ON CAR adjustable control arms... You know, still have TONS of adjustment, but no turnbuckle, just a heim joint... Would cost less than $50 in parts... Any interest?? Mike

Couple of comments and questions... Have you worked with Fiberglass before? Do you have trhe equipment and backing to purchase the proper system to vacuum bag your parts? Do you plan to go at this full time and make a living of it at some point? Plan to go through a LOT of waste before you come close to anything you will sell... Les Heath wasted about a truck full of materials trying to make a Gnose... As for your education in Law Enforcement... Change it to something else... I have one, and went to the federal law enforcement academy (and spent time with multiple LEAs in and outside federal Gov't!) ... Unless you want to make VERY modest wages, get treated like crap by people who will loath you for being the bad man who writes tickets and spoils their fun while you work every screw ball shift and holiday away from your family and friends, all while being a target for those who hate and loath you, change your major and get an education that will be more meaningfull to the family you will one day have... Sorry to the LEOs I've offended by my comments, but you and I know what this young man has yet to see... Mike

When I gutted the doors and cut the excess interior skins away on the track car, I found that what Steve Parmley said is 100% true. My doors don't weigh 10#s each now without glass and door hardware... and that weight includes the hinges. I'm now of the opinion that a glass hood, doors and fenders would be negligable, based on the cost... Mike

FUnny you should mention that... Because of the new job/ house refinance thing, I was strapped for cash and time, so I couldn't use me $300 freebee from Continental. However, Now that I've got 6 weeks leave, I'd like to schedule some time to come out in the spring... Maybe March-ish? PETER, OH PETER!!! Put this in your calander PETER! Mike

I personally like that Urbanskaterpunknewagecountrybluegrassrastahiphopspeedmetalcontemporaryclassicaljazzy blues kinda music... You know, the ussual! Rush, Iron Maiden, 3 doors down, audio slave, P Floyd, Dave Brubeck, Savatage,Billy Cabham, Adres Vollenweider, Tekaro, Van Hallen, Live, lots of country, tons of blues, and Bob Marley. Once in a While a little Buffet. I generally like music. Rap, I can't get into it... Guess I'm too old... Well there is Kid Rock, but he isn't really rap, right? Mike

Alex, You are one sick bastard... Can I buy you a Beer! Man of my own heart... Break them, 'er I mean teach them early! Mike

Over the three year run I had with ZF Racing's On-Car Adjustable Suspension System (Dubbed Intelligent Suspension Solutions) I never had ANY bad press come back to me from them. Not once did either Ross or Mike try to horn in on my business, and to my knowledge neither of them tried to sabatoge my efforts. I was left alone and allowed to make and sell the product. Mike Gibson and I butted heads very early on when HybridZ was formed. However, once we spoke on the phone, Mike was able to convince me that he had no bad intentions. I even bought brakes from Mike, rather than build my own kit. When we combined forces with Super Dan to form the (since closed) HybridZ store, Mike assured me repeatedly that he wouldn't delve into control arms or TC rods, and I assured him that I wouldn't put together brake packages or coilover kits. Again, we worked together to ensure that both businessed would remain viable to the Zcar community. When time came to wrap things up and call it quits, Ross contacted me offline (and out of respect, I really do appreciate Ross doing this) and asked if he could now wade into the adjustable suspension market. Since when does a potential competitor do this??? Nowhere else have I seen such professionalism. I appreciated it beyond words. You simply don't get this kind of cooperation in the Mini truck, truck, Jeep, and Import markets. Next time you are in the market for something, give these two vendors a check before you go reaching for the MSA catalog. Smaller guys could certainly use your support. Again, Thanks Ross and Mike for being ABSOLUTE PROFESSIONALS! Mike Kelly

So on a whim I put the 240SX on ebay to see if I could get something decent for it... I sold it last night with a buy it now price of $700. Down side is I have to deliver it to Chapel Hill North Carolina. But that's OK, I suppose. Gotta love E-bay... Road trip next Saturday!!! Mike

You should be able to find them in any hardware store or look up http://www.fastenall.com and see where one is in your area... The nutsert and capscrew is the same look and is equally nice looking in either black or stainless, although black rusts! Lowes in my area has a wide array of specialty nuts and bolts in stainless... Mike

Rivets work, But I'd look into some nice stainless steel Allen head bolt/ nuts! Saw those on a car at MSA last year (2002) and it was Awesome looking! Mike

Not to bang on Brad-Man, but I'm with Tim on this one. I can't tell you how sick I am of constantly debunking honda-myth in my own household (Teens, gotta love them!). We should ALWAYS want to SEE for our selves, with out own eyes... And not just follow along like the rest of the Sheeple out there... Mike

Two feet deep minimum, three if you can fit it. Also four feet high is standard. I'm gonna say it now so I won't later, That shop is gonna be way too small and you are gonna get majorly frustrated. When you find yourself losing it and get at witts end (Small tight spaces to work in suck!), just take a break and go get something to drink, surf the web, do something fun for a few minutes. People always see me riding one of my various bicycles (We've got 7 high end bikes at the house) in front of the house when I'm greasy and grimmy. Lots of times I'll throw a leg over my bike and go out in the street and do tail whips, endos, and wheelies just to have a distraction for a few minutes. It helps break the tension and sometimes provides that abstract activity needed to think about a problem in a different light. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the middle of an endo or wheelie and the light switch in my brain just flicks on! Mike

Actually Craig that is wrong. YOu go in and take the written test. You will be issued a learners permit for 30 days. At the end of that 30 days you are allowed to go in and take the riding test and then get your M-Class put on it. Last year when I bought the GSXR750 I found out that somewhere along the line my M class fell off. I just said screw it and got the learners permit and drove by myself for the 30 days (Supposed to be accompanied by a licensed driver) and took the skills test (ANY local DMV will give it to you) and you are $20 lighter in the wallet. Get it man, the ticket is just not worth it. It will cost you more in one traffic stop! Mike

Ever told your wife that one? Yesterday I had some work left on the Mustang. Get an upper intake gasket for a GT40 intake, bolt it on, bolt on the new EGR, connect all wires, reset the new fuel presure regulator, and check for leaks after I start it up. Maybe take an hour. I had no idea. Jamie T. had sold me a nice pair of cobra valve covers that were powder coated a nice shiny metalic silver. I had put them on on Thursday before the storm hit. That was when I realized I had the wrong gasket set and got stopped dead in my tracks. So I sourced the new gasket and picked it up yesterday morning, and by 1030 I was turning wrenches. I coppersealed the gasket and had it in place and the intake in place. I bolted the theing on and started torquing it down when I hear CRACK! I'm looking to see if I've cracked the intake and what is the problem when I see the EGR flange resting on top of my nice aluminum valve cover. So franticly I start removing the intake, ripping the only upper gasket in town as I go. My biggest fear was cracking the GT40 upper intake, which fortunately DID NOT happen. However, the passenger side valve cover cracked and split. SO off to the speed shop I go to get a gasket. I'm thinking to myself as I go "I did NOT see when on the wall, I didn't see a gasket there at the display, this is a waste of time". I get to the counter and ask Gary if he has another and he says no BUT I've got a Ford Motorsport upper intake spacer kit which has TWO! Great, had I bought that in the beginning, My nice new valve cover wouldn't be cracked all to hell. $60 later I'm now debating to myself if I should put the spacer in. Sure man, its more ponies! And it should be simple, right? It was. What wasn't so simple was getting the air tube to stretch to the eger valve. The spacer was 3/4 inch thicker and the accordian on the steel air tube did NOT want to move that far. I spent three hours inventing new curse words while I struggled with the EGR. Finally, after some serious prying, the thing is on and the car is bolted back together. I took her for a test spin and then checked for leaks and found none. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and we had a BUNCH of folks coming over at 5PM for an impromptue "Our power is out and we're gonna lose this food if we don't cook it" cookout! Hopefully I'll be able to load the tweecer interface into it this afternoon and start tuning the car over the next few evenings. The goal is to get the parts that were bolted onto the car to perform properly. I'm suspecting there is 25HP to be found in tuning alone, since the computer is taking charge of the components and dumping everything to limp mode when you hammer it hard. The goal of pulling the intake and putting the valve covers on was really a sideline. The EGR and a full fluch of the upper was the primary reason I pulled the car appart. Knowing I had a four day weekend (Thanks Izzy!) made the stress of needing the car back together quickly go away. We've got three cars for two people anyway, but I like having the mustand together. It's our nicest car so... Anyway, the car is now NOT going into limp mode and is making power redline, so maybe the intake or the EGR was the issue. Who knows... I'm still loading up the Tweecer interface and laptop programs. There is HP to be found in tweecing the parameters, so here we go! Honestly honey, it will only take an hour... TOPS! Mike

Corzette, You know there are a LOT of gov't type places here in the DC area... If it wasn't a conflict of interest (And I'm not sure it is yet!) I'll be all over this as a side venture... Mike

What a storm... Yea, Pete, We made it through OK. I was only without power for 16 hours. Most people are still without it. We're having family members come over today to use our shower and to cook food on the grill before it all goes bad. I don't want to seem like I'm gloating guys. I just went through absolute HELL last year, and to have this opportunity drop at my feet, along with refinancing the house and doing soe creative investing and consolitating of existing debt, we're really gonna be set after this first month without a pay check. The arm is sore but I'm using it. DisGUSTING looking bruising on it too! I spent most of the storm tearing down the upper part of the engine to put on some neat valve covers and to re-torque the lower intake, upper intake, and replace the EGR valve. I'm gonna put the Tweecer interface on today and start paying with the laptop and the software to try and tune this puppy to QUIT leaning out on full throttle. Instead of buying a C5, I'm gonna do some work on my truck, body and paint wise, do some work on the mustang (Finally got the Salleen S281 wing painted and trunk damage fixed!) and look for a "Family car" 4 door sedan to drive to work every day. I'm gonna save the C5 envy until I can get the Zs done! Mike

Yup! Our's is getting a heatpump/ AC unit installed over the winter... We expect to live here for about three more years, and I want to be as happy in this garage as possible! Mike

Tim, I realize it matters, but to illustrate the significant difference in performance, I was ready to replace the trans earlier this month... This is NOT the same tranny... I'll be doing this every 50K miles from here on out! Mike

So I'm working for this new company and I cut my arm... VP (CEO's Husband) calls me at work to check up on me and to assure me that anything I need will be covered. Today the Federal Gov't is closed down due to the impending Hurricane Izzy. In my former company I would have been required to take leave. With my new company ANY stoppage of work by the federal gov't is covered. No leave taken, and I get a freebee! So I get a nice invitation in the mail to spend a 3 day weekend in Hot Springs, Va. at a resort, giving me paid leave for the Friday of the week, paying for the rooms, and providing spending money for the employees and spouses, hosting breakfast and a formal dinner all three days... in celebration of 25 years as a company. All this for 300 employees, their independant contractors, and their spouses. THIS is a class act. This company actually treat their employees as if they are of value and worth. On top of all this, I signed a contract with them this week to do business development. Any new business I generate is mine to run, and I get 2% of the contract for the length of the contract. To give you guys an idea of the scope of this opportunity, I generated a 44Million dollar contract for BAE systems and never got a thank you. This could be VERY good for me if provided the chance to generate new opportunities. I'm also very HAPPY with the new position and my new customer. Learning a lot about senior government oversite, as well as the roll of the CIO in any organization! I should be able to take these new skills and apply them anywhere in private industry as well! Except for the little blood bath I took on Sunday, Life is good! Mike