Mikelly

Mine was cracked after my last track outting... Wonder if it's the firewall/roof flexing. Mine was at the base in the center in the shape of a horseshoe. Mike

Badarse, Matt... Love it. I still think these are the bargain HP racecar of the decade. Mike

There's a reason that NARRA and a couple of other clubs are now changing their contact rules. Matt that was pretty blatant on both instances. If this was pro-racing, I'd be all for it, But it's amature and everybody goes back to their real jobs on Monday. I'd have been more than a little upset over the contact. Mike

Thanks man! Tell your daughter her name is Sasha. Jmortensen, I'm running 500pound springs up front. Def. need a stiffer ride with functional aero. Mike

Well I've decided to sell the shortblock back to the shop and move on. I'll provide a list of all the other parts I have related to the first gen chevy in a long and lengthy forsale ad after I get the shortblock dropped back with them this coming week. Michael, It all depends on what our individual goals are. Having done the SpecMiata thing, I know that's not for me. Having gone thru an M3 within the last year, I know that isn't for me either. So it'll be the Zcar, or I'll sell it and buy a proper racecar. Mike

Mine is easily 5 inches off the ground and yours looks about where mine is... Cameron is right. It needs to be much lower... I'm shooitng for 2.5-3 inches, which I'm sure will give me fits with the car trailer, but oh well... Here's a pic of mine...

Yea but here's where that "Anybody can just buy a porsche" thing doesn't work... I go to driving events to DRIVE at a level that is beneficial to my skill development and to my "worth spending the money and time" to do it. With the Datsun, I haven't gotten that yet. I've caught a glimps at the potential. That's not going to keep my interest for more than next year. If 2013 doesn' reward me with GOOD, no GREAT track experiences, I will re-evaluate what I drive at the track in 2014. I don't know how much of his own work Matt does. But if he's stroking checks for all that work, then He's got well over $100K in that car. At that point, I'm driving something else for sure. You have to add in the cost of fees to do road race track days, the cost for hotels, consumables, towing, all that adds up. I spend $600 or more for a weekend at the track. And because I instruct, if my car breaks, I am still there, committed to my student. So that's the issue with "reliability." For a roadrace platform, it has to be reliable or it doesn't make sense to do it. You will spend large sums of cash and not get any appreciable track time in. Mike

Based on this picture, I think you're going to have the same problem I'm going to have. At 130+MPH in my car it was rock stable. But at higher speeds I'm expecting to have to seriously reduce the height of the front end. I've actually bought a second pair of strut housings and plan to section them about 1.5-2 inches up front. I'd think you need the splitter at least within 2-2.5 inches of the road surface to get function use out of it.

MIchael, Thats price is after I've already paid the $1250 for the machineshop bill. I picked the motor up yesterday and paid for the work. The Datsun is no longer forsale. Hasn't been since late last spring. What's odd is I had several people interested in it at the price I was asking, but finally have the car to a state of performance that allows me to "see" the potential in what I've created. And yet I still can't seem to get a single lap in at "top" performance. Teething and such. You know how it goes... There's a reason I still am in love the Porsche!

...As some of you guys may know, I'm in the middle of swapping from a 1st Gen 383 stroker to a 3rd gen LS1. My 383 shortblock was finished yesterday, and I paid the $1250 bill and picked it up. EB3 had the crank checked/polished, and then went through the block, rebalanced the whole assembly, installing new file fit rings, main and rod bearings, and reinstalled the cam/crank, degreeing it all, buttoning up the timing chain/cover and balancer, then installing the pan and dip stick. When I was paying the bill, they offered to buy the shortblock from me for $2500. I'm trying to sell the complete motor elsewhere here and was going to put the longblock for sale on ebay/craigslist as well. But this seems like it would be painless, load it back up and take it back to them... What would you guys do? I've got the complete motor to finish putting back together (*gaskets and time is all) and everything would be buttoned up. I just don't know if it would be easier to sell an internally balanced and forged shortblock or add the roller valvetrain bits back to it, intake and accessories and see what I can get for it. Little bit confused at this point and I need this motor gone before I dive into finishing the LS1. Mike

I see the incredibly attractive young women my two stepsons pull, and shake my head. You guys ALL have a chance. You just have to TRY, and KEEP trying... It's like fishing... Drop your line enough times, one will bite. Mike

That assumes they will be honest. Then again, some jackarses forget that some of us travel, and actually try to MEET other members... I've called more than one out on BS they've posted on boards here and elsewhere. It's amazing how face to face people turn into "less" confident and "less" skilled. Real like. Ain't it a byatch! Mike

There are some very talented and creative people on this site. They are also some of the worst at helping you deraille your plans, by showing you how you should do it. Don't get wrapped up in it. You'll end up being like me and Pete Paraska with 10 years of your life gone and very "little" driving of said car.

Peej410, I like the front end treatment to the radiator. In the coming months I plan to re-duct my Motorsport front bumper. This was what I had in mind. Mike

John, Keep keeping them honest, man!!! GPS Verified is the only data I believe these days. Way way back I had a buddy who was a cop who would shoot my car with his stalker radar gun. He was CLEARLY off or lying to me. Mike

You know it's actually not "that" expensive in the scheme of things. On my 383 stroker we were limited to using 1 5/8th block hugger headers, and we all know those things joke the hell out of a motor. How much power was I leaving on the table because I couldn't get a properly fitting long tube header with the right ground clearance for my road racecar? Probably a lot. So you have to put it into perspective. Robert, the guy who has done 3 V8 Datsun full exhaust systems for me in the past said he could knock out a complete full custom set of 1 3/4 headers for my car if I was willing to leave the car for 2 weeks. He said he'd fit the work in between exhaust jobs and fishing and would cap the cost at $2000. I was going to do this come spring, but then decided to buy these headers and have the LS1 shortblock I have rebuilt so I can convert over to the gen3 platform and lose 100 pounds off the platform. $2K for proper fitting one off custom headers that will clear my bellhousing, my steering linkage, my oil pan and my framerails, all while making more hp and torque? What a bargain. Mike

I am such a lost soul, because even after so much history, and maybe because if that history, I still begin and end my day checking in here as well... Sad sad life I live. Mike

"I'm BACK... I'm BACK in the saddle again"... Ala Aerosmith... Cutter gave me the thumbs up on my surgery recovery. I can get back to picking up heavy crap. I can tell you guys that this whole surgery thing sucked, and there is nothing worse than being ordered to "rest". Sooo I'm on to planning the build up for the LS1. I really need to move the 393 stroker ASAP so anyone reading this if you're looking for a solid performer, the short block is being re-assembled right now, was completely rebalanced, and has new rings/bearings on all forged bits in a bowtie 4bolt block with all ARP goodness. Everything will be as good as new and this is a solid performing 450BHP/480-490 #ft. of torque. Reading over the various boards on the LS1, and reading the nasa rules for TT1 and ST1, it sounds like I'll need to be at or below 456 wheel hp and everyone is telling me a set of heads and a Patrick-G spec'ed cam will get that, especially with the headers/LS6 intake and an upgrade in injectors which will likely be swapped from the 383 stroker's intake. So right now I am shopping for LS1 ARP shortblock bolt kit (going to do the rod bolts) and then a rebuild of the stock internals. Car is still in the trailer, as I've moved the kid's 240SX track build into the spare bay in the shop. We need to clean up some of the cage work before he takes it home to do his body/prep. Mike

Two things I'd take a look at while you're looking into the valve train are the springs (failures on the OEMs are fairly common) and the rockers. If you have stock rockers, I'd recommend the CompCams trunion replacement, which is a cheap and simple upgrade to the PM rockers that came stock, which are apparently a decent rocker, when you upgrade them. Mike

You guys should look at Kydex. It is really formable under heat or with a sheetmetal break. Mike Switch Panel using a Moroso pre-wired setup and the kydex panel.

Well let me know if you want it. I have it sitting in my crawl space. Mike

Sparco should still make bases and sliders. Also Corbeau sells them as well.

I run Rotella T in my Dodge Cummins and I've been running extended oil changes (6-7K between) and have 110K miles on the truck! No issues so far, and I don't expect to in the future. At 12 quarts per oil change, I don't mind running it a little further between changes. Mike

Here's mine: Links up to my FAST XFi and data logs as well as diplays up to 8 analog sensors, plus everything that is ties into the FAST XFi. Mike

I can see it now... Got TOKYO DRIFT on loop! Hahahahaha Mike