Mikelly

Guys, My Mustang has an aftermarket alarm that is a royal pain in the ass... I'm not experienced with alarms at all... The plan is to remove the system from the car, since it arms virtually ALL the time and the damned thind is constantly going off when you do ANYTHING to it. Is there anything I need to be aware of when removing one of these, other than removing the battery terminal? Is there a kill switch to the ignition on most of these, for tamper purposes??? I have GOT to get rid of this damned thing... Mike

Actually, No. You don't want to NOT address the rear of the car... The rear also has issues with lift... IF you install a rear spoiler, you will aid in keeping the back of the car more planted. IF you install a rear pan you ALSO aid in helping that air to exit the back of the car more smoothly, and racers have reported picking up several miles per hour on the top end out at the salt flats. You really want to think this through... there is a reason that those channels are made into the rear facsia panels... One thing I was looking at was carrying the whole underbelly out to the rear valance, in essence, covering the exhaust and fuel cell... Getting the car as low as possible would help with minimizing the ariflow under the car. The wing on the rear deck would aid in getting the presure over the rear deck... The Gnose and an adjustable chin splitter would kep the nose in check.... However, at 180mph things change... At 155mph in the white Z I had, the car was VERY stable. However, presure built up along the rear deck and cracked the seem between the whale tail and the hatch...What would have happened over say 5 miles? At 168 mph in an MSA body kit equipped yellow Z (With the MSA Design Whale tail), including side skirts and molded front and rear facsia, the car was a little lighter, as it had an L6 motor in it at the time. The car was stable, but hit a defenite "Aero BRick wall" that wouldn't allow me to go any faster. At that speed the car actually saw the MSA body panels start to pull away from the sheet metal. I also noticed that the windows started to loosen from their seals and the windshield started to leak water a little bit in the drivers upper corner after that experiment. One mirror had started to loosen up, and the door gaskets did NOT hold their seal very well. The runs in the yellow Z were verified via a radar gun. The white Z was using an electronic speedo, which has fairly good accuracy. In the White Z, I felt more stable, and the car was only pushing 3800 RPMs in 6th gear... That was with a 383 stroker... there was MUCH more on tap, but running out of space to top it off, I chose to abort any further high speed exploration. With fewer places to safely test this kinda thing, it gets less and less likely that I'll ever see 200mph in the car. Now on the motorcycle... that is another story... Mike

You guys are killing me... I can hear the sizzle now! Damn I'm feeling old... Took the NOW 15 YEAR OLD out to teach him to drive tonight... In the Mustang! Mike

My Lincoln 120SP Mig cost $570 and did NOT include anything but the unit and some wire, as well as the owners manual. I had to provide the bottle, shield, gloves, and extras. I figure I had about $750 in it. I recommend you shop some of the online welding supply companies. You might find some real nice bargains! Mike

...I'd also consider forged pistons instead of the KB Hypereutectics.... Just my $.02 and my personal experience... Mine didn't do to well... Mike

I think you just hit your road block EvilDave... The sophisticated FMU/ ECU just spent your $2003 budget... My recommendation is to do the Small block BV8 for THIS particular challenge... You are cash limited and that is the major hurdle. 300Wheel Horsepower Won't be cheap anyway you go. Mike

...And based on LockJaws figures, and what you would likely be able to run on that high compression motor (Likely only 6PSI, 8 would be a real stretch), would it be worth it to only make LESS than 50 more HP??? Were talking a pretty sophisticated engine management system AND an expensive innercooler, as well as the turbo and plumbing... Mike:D

ZpeedraZer, It sounds so simple... Trust me, it isn't... This isn't like making a carbon gas door lid... It is MUCH more time consuming, costly, and difficult to work up. However, if you find a way to make them that easy, then you will certainly be able to charge less, since you will have less time involved in making them... Go for it and post some pics when you have a finished example... Mike Kelly`

Well one other thing to consider is what the air is doing when it is under the car. One member mentioned the reason people use belly pans was to get the air that is under the car to go past as smoothly as possible. This is correct. Turbulance causes lift, by gaining momentum and building presure. What many of the Salt Flats/ Open road racer types have been doing is using black garden edging that you can get at hardware stores to run the last 4-6 inches around the front and sides of their cars. I've seen pics of this stuff on Porsches... Anyway, they use this inexpensive rubber material because it is replacable, adjustable, trimable, and allows you to lower the car to its safest (Without bottoming metal on the road surface) and lowest setting, and then running the rubber "skirt" to within two inches (Or less) of the tarmac. Jon C.s comments about the front end mass are true. The Z has this huge gaping hole up front that splits the wind and forces it to go up or down. That pointy hood and raked grill actially do everything imaginable to HURT aerodynamics. The Zcar looks quite sleek, but in fact carries some pretty pathetic CD numbers. Belly pans are usable, but I'd recommend asking your self honestly if they are worth the work IF you never plan to see the high side of 150mph. I've had several Zs over the 150mph mark and if setup properly, they can be quite stable, as in drive with one hand on the wheel stable (Not that I would recommend it). Using a belly pan up front, a trans tunnel pan in the center, with channels formed into them, and a rear pan/ difuser would be my preference IF I could develope them using a wind tunnel. However, wind tunnels aren't cheap. I was actually trying to get time in one of the local Nascar tunnels in North Carolina and it was going to be hellespensive... Just remember, JUST throwing all these aerodynamic aids on your car without knowing the cause and effect COULD cause your car to take flight... Images of Mercedes at Road Atlanta a few years back pop into my head... And those boys HAD the money and research done, and their gigabuck race cars still took flight... Mike

Yea Tim, that is scaring the H-E-L-L out of me... I'm ONLY putting it off because I need to get the garage under roof and shingled before the end of November so I can get the re-finance on my property. I really don't want anymore kids... The HybridZ forum is enough for me to handle! Mike

OH trust me, I WILL be putting the 'Nads on ice... No he man here... I have specific instructions from the wife on what I will NOT do... the short list of what I can do is: Eat Breath Sleep Watch TV That pretty much wraps it up for about 72 hours... However, I just called and had it moved to December... Hope the good lord above doesn't play some cruel joke on us... I'd rather Jamie T. and his wife have that kinda luck! Mike

Jim, My roof is actually roof trusses framed up with a bonus room installed in the center... No barn style for me... I'll have a 32X11 room UPSTAIRS! My 1st floor walls are 12 foot tall to accomodate the lift I'm installing in the spring. Mike

Jim, My roof is actually roof trusses framed up with a bonus room installed in the center... No barn style for me... I'll have a 32X11 room UPSTAIRS! The garage is over 1100 square feet total bettween both floors...! My 1st floor walls are 12 foot tall to accomodate the lift I'm installing in the spring. Mike

...Actually Pete is a closet member of the Anti Turbo movement, a deep underground movement geared at doing away with anything that makes power besides cubic inches! Couldn't resist... I'm a little loopy tonight, on muscel relaxers after my back tightened up today... OUCH! Mike PS, did I mention I DON'T want to sell my Zcar project???? Mike

Foot print is 1st floor 24X32, second floor 11X32 and the ceiling heights are: 12 ft. 1st floor and 7ft. 2nd floor. The pitch is 10/12 and we are gonna max out on power. My brother inlaw is a licensed electritian. I told him I need enough for a tig welder, my mig, my compressor, the lift, a refrigerator, potential for a bridgeport milling machine and laith, and then the average stuff... It will be sweet when it is done... Did some honey-do stuff this morning and quite frankly I'm a bit soar from lifting those trusses up that 12 foot wall... it was a bitch... I took the rest of the day off and went for a motorcycle ride! Nothing like cruising on a nice fall day to relax! Mike

...Yesterday was a rough 7 hour stretch.... But we got all the trusses set and locked in. Now I'm gonna be flooring the upstairs and roofing it next weekend... I was supposed to get a vasectimy next weekend, but I'm gonna put it off until early December since I need to get this thing as far along as possible... I'm fighting my permit deadline, which is looking more and more like I'll have to get an extension on... It is so nice having the trusses in place though... Not too long and I'll have windows and doors in it... I'm calling the power company this week so they can go ahead and put another service in ASAP for the garage itself! Mike

Well again, it all boils down to what parameters you set WHEN bench racing... I know what I was told by folks who produces VERY fast Zcars for a living back in the 90s... I also know that the N42 head worked VERY well for me personally... VERY well! Lets keep it civil guys... Everyone has opinions! Mike

This is actually a good topic... I spoke at length with the folks at Malvern Racing and at Zdr. about this setup years back. Malvern Racing actually HAS (Or had at the time) flow bench data on the heads. Out of the box the N42 is by far the SIMPLE solution. However, if you are prepared to spend the money to have the P90 (Mechanical) head shaved .080 and then shim the cam towers, acquire the proper lash pads, and do the setup, then the P90 is the BEST flowing american head produced for the L series motor. THAT is a BIG However...and expensive too! For what it is worth, the L6 motor I built years back that made 240+HP was using a N42 head with Big valves cut into it and some porting...

'Er...'UH John, I thought you was getting out of VR Engineering??? I noticed your tag line at the bottom... "Former and Future owner" Mike Kelly

Well I was pretty much ALL over the former Yugoslov republic... But my favorite spots were Zadar, Nin, Dubrovnik, Sibenik and Split. I was particularly fond of the dalmatian coast and the Adriatic Sea. However, I also went into Bosnia and Serbia. Unfortunately, the fighting destroyed many of the inland towns I went through. Mike

Right now I've got a Diamondback XR4 with Hayes and full XTR/ XT mix. I'm running a light race fork (Carbon Manitou Mars) up front which Wasn't as good on those three and four foot drops on Porcupine Rim, but it worked... I'm thinking about getting a new Jekyll or soething else with 4-5 inches of travel front and rear... BTW, my buddy has the Avid mechanical discs and they are AS NICE as my Hayes... Less maintenance too! Mike

Just got back from a week mountain biking in Utah. We did three days in Salt Lake area and three days in Moab. I know there are a few other mountain bikers on the board... If you have NEVER done it, I highly recommend you make this a MUST DO on your list of places to ride... All the hype about the place doesn't do it justice... Having mountain biked every year since 1988, I'm a bit hard to impress... I was blown away... If you plan only one trip outside of your local area to ever ride, Make it Moab! 120 miles in 6 days, I really needed this trip... I had no idea how stressed I was... Mike

Make no bones about it, I don't think I'd have any more luck than the cops are having... But I'd feel really DUMB if a shooting took place at a parking lot I was in and I didn't have my gun with me so I could do SOMETHING... I've got a permit and I've got LOTS of federally funded training... Just wish I was in that exxon lot when it went down... The wife and I went over and did a walk through/ drive through of the areas around the crime scene (Both sides of the intersection) this afternoon and I'm pretty sure that he shot this one from his vehicle. FYI, this is the second incident in my town... 1st one was last week at the "Michaels" Crafts store by Spotsylvania Mall. Mike Kelly

Shooting took place less than 5 miles from my home... AS I stated to a news reporter in the Salt Lake City Airport Yesterday, I'm armed, and I'm capable, Let this coward pick on someone who is armed and trained to deal with live fire... I'd been gone ALL week while this crap was happening, and my family is a nervous wreck over it... I pray that I get the chance to put this scum in my crosshairs. Mike Kelly

Well I have a lovely rolling chassis with coil overs, powdercoated suspension, Eibach coils, Tokico cartridges, four wheel disc brakes, a T56 6 speed, Centerforce clutch, Adjustable control arms, five lug conversion already done with 5 star mustang rims and 245-45-17s, and enough parts to put two together that I'd be happy to let go... and it comes with two Q45 limited slip diffs... For $6K... Mike