Mikelly

Looks like the Crank I was biddingon isn't prefered to be internally balanced with the parts I have. Guy was nice enough to not hammer me for the bid retraction. He also runs an engine assembly house and offered me another crank, and to have me ship out my rods and pistons and balancer and he'll balance everything for me on an eagle 4340 forged crank, and the total cost would be less than $800 for everything, purchase of the crank and balancing... Gonna call him today and sort it all out, but just read their feedback and they have VERY good comments! Mike Mike

Did all the stain of the window and door trim yesterday... Wife was taping while I was spraying. Did the last gable end and back side rake board as well... All that is left to be done on the building is the Corner trim and the gutters and the back side soffit... Should knock out the sheetrock this coming weekend, and then I'll do my electrical and pull the final. Should have the building complete (Downstairs anyway) by last week of January. Mike

Well HELL... Scratch ALL OF THAT! I just made a sale on a set of control arms and TC Rods AND found an Internal Balance 4340 Crank on EBAY for $400! Guess what I'm buying? Mike

Matt, You have mail! Mike

Sorry Guys...Been slow since the holiday. I had the insulation installed on Monday and Just got the temporary electrical service inspection and insulation inspection done 15 minutes ago... I'm gonna go look for a large window and a door for the upstairs over the weekend. Last weekend I did the front soffit and I plan to finish that up this weekend and do some more stain around the trim... We have the sheetrock, but I need to coordinate with a few more people to get that stuff installed... Doug Carrow offered to help, and I'm gonna get at least two more guys to help since I'm using 12 ft. sheets and I've got 12 ft. ceilings... I do have 6ft scafolding to assist though... More to follow...Hope to do the sheet rock by next weekend and then install the lights and the rest of the electrical and pull the final! Mike

Thanks a lot... I'v got an FMU (Vortec Unit) for it already, and was told the injectors would be fine, but I might need an auxilery pump... I'll go to that site and do some research. Mike

Exactly... Guess I didn't make that clear...However, with the abundance of Stroker cranks out there being of the CAST and Nodular type, and most being made by SCAT (Like Mine) you really have to build to the limits or get a good crank... The crank I'd like to get is $800... So it depends... I know a lot of guys out there running 383s externally balanced and doing just fine. Mike

That is too cool! I want a new USB connected Wheel for My computer games!!! Mike

Actually I sold a 6.25 inch HJC unit on this site a while back. I've seen several in Jegs and Summit that aren't larger than 7.5 inches that sell in the $220-300+ Range... Davy, Pete's builder claims that the amount of weight used in balancing the assembly actually puts undue stress on the crank at the #2 and #4 caps and can actually do more harm than good in a 383 application. He swears that externally balancing a 400 Crank is the only way he would go. He was also VERY happy to take money out of his pocket to tell me that, and then gave me an address where I could send the parts to if I still insisted on doing it. Guy seems to know what he is tlaking about... Referenced some technical manuals to double check him with. Mike

Davy is correct. If the Zcar business was so wonderfull you wouldn't have guys like me making parts in our residential garages... We'd be able to pick up our 290 page copy of Muscle Zcars and Fast Nissans every month with tons of vendors and parts inside to order for! Instead I pick up copies of Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, and Sport Compact Car and see the host of aftermarket support... It is THEIR generation, not mine. However, On the UP SIDE, I don't have to worry about outrageous insurance on his Honda, where as if he wanted a Zcar or a 5.0 Mustang... $$$$$$ Mike

After some discussions with Pete's engine builder I have decided to go external balancing on the rebuild of my 383 stroker... Looks like I'll need to get another harmonic balancer (External), a flywheel setup for a Tremec or Richmond tranny, and start assembling. Other than rings and main bolts, and cam bearings, I'm pretty much ready to put this thing back together... Oh, I forgot the new oil pump pickup! Mike

I'd love to see ZFest be T-H-E show for Zs... It needs to be taken away from the vendors hands, and run by a club or association. Allow the vendors to participate, and don't let them take control. If my operation was as big as MSA's I'd do the exact same thing, except I'd have people reprenting my company that appreciated their customer base A LOT more. Mike

Well the Turbo Kit was a big hit. The kid loved it. He is now saving his money for an H22 motor transplant into his 94 Civic. I'm gonna order the hoses and Tclamps from Hoover and I'll get the Downpipe made by Alex... I have another extremely DUMB question... Do we retain a Catalytic converter when we have his exhaust made? If not, what do we do for inspection purposes? Again, these are new waters for me... The kid has $800 saved up to assist in the additional parts to get this turbo on his car, and I suspect we'll be installing it in January, He'll probably toast the motor by April, at which time we should have the H22 motor in house to install... Remember, I did say let the learning begin... I think we may try to snag an SDS for the H22 setup so when can do some standalone tuning around the Honda stuff... Mike

Yea, what Van said is true... Now cops get paid for their court time, days off don't matter. As a matter of fact most of them have their schedules work around their court days so they can get the extra pay for "EASY" Court days. My son was telling me this while reading over my shoulder last night. His (Real) dad is a cop and gets paid overtime for court days, so they don't miss many of them any more. Mike

Let me further explain, and I don't mean to offend ANYONE with the following comments... However, I went the last two years and the first year I was overwhelmed with what I saw, so the second year I was a bit jaded. However, what I saw the second year (Forget about my own vendor experience for a moment) was a LOT of cars that shouldn't have been there. There was more rust on one street than I've seen in some junk yards. Don't get me wrong, Zs need to be restored, and we all need to do it within the confines of budget and need Vs. CC bills and Want. But to "SHOW" a car that has visible surface rust on the roof, hood, and fenders... What are we showing here? MSA doesn't care who enters the event, as long as it fits within the Nissan brand. All they are concerned about is generating business to sell more of their products. They spend a considerable amount of cash, and YES it IS the biggest ZCAR event going, but the quality of the vehicles shown is where I raise my objections. It also seems that the HybridZ members that show up and show their cars have a bit of a higher standard as to what is expected from quality workmanship. Yet they aren't given the proper consideration. However, MSA's staff made clear to me that HybridZ and its members aren't their target demographic for sales. I find it odd that they even host the Saturday driving/ Autocross based on Kurt's comments to me the Monday AFTER the show. I would like to go to the ZCAR national convention this coming year as a visitor and NOT a vendor. Just walk through and see the cars and take pics. I hear it is a cut above the MSA show. I'll have to go and check it out. From a Vendor standpoint, MSA wants to charge me $500 to come back next year. What I did the last two years was have the car I sponsor show up on Sunday for the show and shine, Pop tires off one side of the car so people could see the suspension on the car, and have flyers on the hood of the car for people to take. I'd answer questions about the suspension design and just hang out. I didn't sell anything at the show, and only offered information. This was approved the first year and confirmed in e-mails. It was approved the 2nd year, although final approval came verbally two days before the event. However, Email traffic I have up to the week of the event confirmed my intent and their confirmation that all was good. The day of the event I was approached by Kurt, Buyer for MSA and threatened with arrest if I did NOT remove my flyers and parts on display. This all happened in front of my wife and 14 year old stepson. The man was rude beyond reason, and if we had NOT been at MSA I would have kicked his ass, period point blank and gone to jail for it. I was THAT upset and offended. As it turned out, I was allowed to stay for the remainder of the day, and was made promises by Sal about the fact that they wanted to carry my product in their catalog. Sal lied to my face when he told me that. Kurt eventually called me on the Monday after the event and was rude yet again, making negative comments about our car, HybridZ and its racer "types", and the Performance "ZCAR" market in general. He was stunned when I told him he should be fired and that his conduct in public was beyond reproach. He all but called me a liar when I told him what my gross sales were for the past 11 months at ZF Racing, and when I used Mike Gibson's business as another example of how WELL the ZCAR performance scene was, he scoffed and then told me that MSA sells four sets of coil overs per year... Does this sound like a vendor with expert knowledge on performance parts for your ZCAR? Bottom line was that (And these are HIS own words) MSA is more concerned with selling carpet kits, rivets for interior trim, and hard to find factory replacement parts. I don't go to Zcar.com, or any other Zcar sites unless I am selling Z specific parts. I'm always here at hybridZ, as I kinda think of myself as one of the founding members, so when some a$$hole like this guy Kurt hammers the "HybridZ" guys, I get a little bit offended. The folks at MSA are probably good people with an unsuitable individual representing them. Unfortunately, they have left their mark on me. Will I buy from them ever again? Likely, since they are one of a hand full of places to get a factory Gnose, and I'll likely resort to buying a factory unit. Will I use every option avaiable before hand? You bet. They don't support my market (The racer/ performance set), why should I give them business? Forget about the fact that they won't carry my parts. That isn't an issue for me. I hear John Williams bitch about how they do last minute presure orders on him, and how they mark his custom parts up considerably. Hell I want my parts to be affordable and reasonable. They would crank up the profit margin through the roof... A pair of my rear control arms would go for $1500 by the time they cranked it up. I'd rather not do that to those who deserve the right to buy the parts at a fair price. Sorry for the rant, but you asked... Mike

Well here is something that happened to my buddy Barry JUST LAST WEEK... About a month ago he was on a group sportbike ride. One of the riders stopped on the side of the road without warning... This guy was at the back of the group, so it took about 30 seconds before someone noticed the guy wasn't back there. All the riders pulled ot the side of the road and Barry went back to look for the rider... Barry accelerated down the street for about a mile, found the distressed rider with a flat tire, and hooked a U-turn to pull up to him and assist. Before Barry could get his helmet off a county deputy pulled up. Barry thought the deputy was there to assist, but it turned out that the deputy had clocked him doing 66 in a 55. Barry thought that, although he was guilty, the situation had special circumstances and he decided to go to court. He did this past Tuesday and he met with the County Prosecutor before court started. The attorney heard his explanation and ALSO thought it warranted special circumstances and told Barry that if he agreed to take an online driver improvement course (Takes an hour from home) within 90 days and got no violations before completing the course, that the ticket would be dropped completely, and no court costs or fines... The system does work. Here is the issue: At least in my area, roads are so crowded and law enforcement are over worked that the courts are stacking up and unless it is an extreme case where wreckless actions are called in questions and peoples lives are truly in danger by the accused's actions, the courts are starting to broker down lesser offenses so they can deal with the more serious offenses...Most people just pay their fines anyway without appearing. However, due to the increased population, more folks are going to court. What this means though is you won't get a break for doing 30 over the limit... Of course, this is only my experience, but I'd put on a tie and sportscoat and go talk to the county DA. Explain what happened, don't get emotional, be professional and mature, and you may just get a favorable outcome. It worked for my buddy. Mike

Welcome Bill! We have 26 categories and many members still get confused on where to post what... Happens all the time and many of our moderators spend lots of time moving posts, finding peoples password and login info, and sorting out other problems with the site. Like Aaron mentioned, I'm a fan of merging many of the categories. The last thing I want to see this site become is the be all catch all for Datsun enthusiasts. Don't get me wrong, I love the Zcar, and I'm pretty much a fan of all years Z, But this specific site is geared towards what??? MODIFICATIONS BABY!!! I think we could collapse all the 6 cylinder categories into one, and all the V8 categories into one, and maybe collapse a few more... Boy I can hear it now... We'll leave it like it is, but if I were king... Mike

Dude, I'd get one together for ANY OTHER reason BUT the MSA event... I'd rather come out and organize a BBQ at Van's place or something like that than to do the MSA... Mike

BZZZT wrong answer. Every state has differing laws regarding parking lots and also varying laws in force with regards to maintaining control of a licensed and potentially lethal weapon (AKA CAR) on or off public roads. I had a friend whose dad was arrested for driving his riding lawn mower in HIS YARD while drunk... He got 10 days in jail with 9 suspended. Differing laws in differing states... Fly Yellow, I'd go talk to the district attorney in Marrietta unless you know the whole system to be full of idiots, then just go to court and fight it with the judge... Mike Kelly

Uncle Froggie, Tell it again tell it again... Mike

Welcome And DO NOT call me when you get DTs! My wife will inform you that I can't come to the phone to talk you off the ledge... As I'm likely on the cell phone with Pete, who is likely talking me off the ledge... Sick addiction we have around here... Mike

This weekend I was gathering up stuff to box up that I sold this past week... Camberplates for for Larry, T56 parts together for Tom, and searching for some of the stock to make Dave's TC Rods... When it hit me... I have a LOT of stuff. I mean A LOT... Enough to put two full Zs back together and make them presentable. I started thinking about this while rumaging for these parts, as I passed by my painless wiring harness (Still new in the box), Cuttler Intake and TB, moved a box with Wilwood and Outlaw calipers in it, boxes of AN Hose and fittings, High presure FI Pumps, a Canton oil pan, forged rods, a box of new forged pistons, a box with an MSD 6AL and coil in it, a box full of BRAND NEW GAGES, new Corbeau A4 seats, and on and on... I'm SOOO Close to putting a HybridZ back together I can smell the raw fuel now... I really need to get my damned garage done... It is Killing me... Then Yesterday, while hanging out with my little brother, he commented about the local cruise scene and how all these Honda kids think they know what fast is. He reminded me that I really need to get my car back together because he has continually commented about the baddest ride he has even been in, and how it is now in a million pieces... I gotta get it back together... Mike

Tim, I know you didn't mention this brand, but My money right now would go to a VW Passat or Jetta. Bang for the buck, performance, quality of workmanship, Its all there... The wife and I actually talked about maybe acquiring a used Sedan and ditching the civic, and the 2000 Jetta was the only car I drove that really tickled my fancy for the price range... And the Passat... Oh baby... Nice, roomy, PEP!! Quiet, silky smooth ride... Did I mention pep? Mike

Picked up the lift yesterday... HOLLY Mother of JC... That sucker was soooo heavy... Took 5 of us to load EACH side of the lift onto the car trailer... It is gonna be a bitch to setup! Insulation should be done today...I did manage to get one side of my sofits done yesterday. I'll do the other side this coming Friday if the weather cooperates... I also plan to install a window in the upstairs this coming weekend and maybe the sliding glass door assembly... Mike

Exactly... Jim you nailed it. Taking it one step further, I drive a 1990 Honda Civic as my daily commute box and I drive it because I commute 62 miles each way per day. I build cars to make them fast and to tweek them, and so I can use them when an opportunity arrises to go to the track. For the same reason I now have an extremely fast motorcycle. I build HybirdZs because A: Few people know what they are anymore, and B: 99% of the mods I want to do to a car will kill the warranty. Folks I make some serious money for a living (Serious for me anyway), scratching at six figures, so I don't consider myself to be a dumb guy. Yet there are smarter people out there every day running up to the counter at a dealership and signing a note and throwing their money away... That Civic I drive? I'm the third owner. An old house mate of mine bought it new in 1990, I bought it off him in 1996 and gave it to my little brother to learn to drive in, and now I use it for commuting purposes. I go to work in a suit and tie every day, sitting in rush hour traffic next to $40-50K vehicles everyday getting destroyed in fender benders and I sit there, shake my head and watch my own insurance rates go up along with theirs... No, No amount of convincing will change my mind. New auto purchases (And this includes the 350Z) are just NOT smart money spent. Cars to look at in the used car market... Mustangs are obvious, as are the F-body cars, and Coverttes. The C5 is awesome... I'd also look at the RX7, the MR2, The Miata, The Supra, and a Hand full of Bimmers, as well as the VW Passat and the Jetta Turbo. I've bought two used cars in the last two years, a worthless Blazer S10 model, and now this Mustang. We are car guys on this board, so we should be able to find the lemons in the basket of used cars (My Blazer mistake not withstanding)... For that matter I've NEVER owned a new car. Why? Economics... I took an economics course in college and the professor drilled into our heads what a bad decision it was to buy a new car and broke down the exact depreciating factors an a (THEN) brand new C4 Corvette, I think it was 1986 sticker price... He had obtained a window sticker from one of the other instructors who owned the car... It was Sad to see how much THAT CAR lost value, and it had a higher retention of value at the time than many cars. Point is, If you are going to spend $27,000 on any car, why not buy something that has taken the hit already and step up to something else outside of that class of car. I'm not hammering the 350Z because it is a 350Z from Nissan. This area is saturated with them.. I see them every day literaly. My comments are based on the new car market as a whole... Why not wait a year and buy it after someone else has taken the hit? Next year the market will be saturated with even more 350Zs as they are upping production... My advice is to wait, let some young up and coming Yuppie buy it and outgrow it... They will be on the used car market, trust me... Mike