Mikelly

Not relevant to the current state of the car. Mike Mike

Not relevant to the current state of the car. Mike Mike

Randy, I was actually thinking of you and Tom Harris both when I was looking at the FJR... Tom's had great luck with the FZ6 and I know you've been riding the FZ1 for a long time... I'm only 5'9" so the leg room works well for me... So far I'm very happy with this bike! Mike

Bought a "new" motorcycle... 2008 Yamaha FJR1300...4K miles on it... Bought it for $8K! Its got 145HP and 99# ft. of torque. I'll be selling the ZRX1100 to lighten the vehicle load... 7 cars and 3 bikes has been a bit much for us, and the dirt bike is sold and leaving tomorrow... Mike

Business partner bought a "well cared for" Class C that has required a LOT more maintenance than he expected... UV protectant application for the seals wasn't done properly so the RV had to be re-sealed on the roof, and then he's had other repairs to the generator, the AC, the Converter, and lots of silly small stuff... It's an 05, too. If you can swing it, go diesel... Mike

I've owned several Taurus brand guns over the last 20 years, and had zero complaints about them. I had a 6 shot 38 w/2inch barrel that was a gem, and still kick myself for selling it. Was a great gun. Also had a Taurus PT92 and put at least 5K rounds thru it over the years before selling it. Here's a good read and explains why I have zero misgivings about owning a Taurus: http://www.taurususa.com/history.cfm Excellent home defense and "target" fun guns for not a lot of money. Mike

My situation is different since the company I own pays for all my technology and phone related stuff... We get the best and brightest gear because our business may depend on it... That said, Although we have FOUR iphone 3G or 3Gs in the plan, I put a stop to upgrading to the iPhone4 because we had two 3Gs that weren't holding charge longer than a couple of hours... After 3 months of complaining to Apple, and having "AppleCare" plans in hand, we finally got them replaced under warranty. Since we've upgraded to software vs. 4.0 I've had nothing but problems with the phones... Someone mentioned "switching" plans to another company, like Verizon. This is the absolute worst advice you can give, without understanding where the person lives and if the company will even have "REAL" coverage in that specific area. We currently use AT&T and I rarely if ever drop a call. When we had Verizon, in my area specifically, we had issues with dropped calls. This is NOT the case everywhere and with every carrier. As to the comparison about different phones... My wife didn't think she liked her iphone 3G, so I took her to the store and said Pick out what you like... She wanted something with a real keyboard...So she ended up with an HTC Flip2. I thought it was a nice phone at first... but it is a bit cluncky and the apps aren't as easy to use or as fast. Now she realizes how easy and intuitive the iPhone was and how easy the apps integrated into the phone and were also so intuitive to use. We'll eventually give her my phone and if the iphone4s get de-bugged properly I'll get one by fall... With phones, it really is a "one size doesn't fit all" thing. Somethings important to you, might not be important to someone else... I use the hell out of my 3G, and it's worth the money spent. But I'm a business man and the use of the phone pays for itself. If I weren't having the company provide it, I'd probably be using something less expensive and with less over all functionality. It boils down to how you use it. And WOLDSON is correct. All the fancy gizmos in the world won't matter if the tower isn't new technology equipped. Mike

Yea, Slap in the face to Nissan was what did it for me... Take that chit to Zcar.com. Some of the "old" staff are back on a more frequent basis, here on HybridZ. Refreshing to some, pissing others off by the minute! Don't get me wrong... There are any number of ways to achieve what anyone wants to with their respective "zcar". I'm a fan of everything on the list. But anytime someone wants to give me the cash I have invested in mine, you know the one I've been pushing around by hand for 10 years, then you can dictate what I put in it. Until then, Nissan can suck it! Mike

Clive, I'm booked for the rest of the year instructing at either the NCCAR, Summit Point or VIR. Between the days I've agreed to do, and work, I'm not gonna be able to squeeze another one in this season. Actually had to cancel this weekend (PCA Potomac) and several in August due to proposals for new potential. Mike

This past Monday/Tuesday I had the opportunity to instruct with Trackdaze.com, where I was fortunate enough to have one Peter Paraska as my stuDent. Pete's 73 240Z is a legend in the V8Zcar realm and after all this time, and all that money, it still is... Looks amazing... runs pretty well too...Pete had some ugly old hagg with him, NOT... His Gal Pal Olya is quite the looker, and was in attendance getting tons of attention... My lovely wife was around too, but work kept her in the hotel room slaved to a lap top on the first day. I'd not driven or been in a running Zcar in a DECADE, other than a brief drive of Jim McNemar's Red 240Z that is currently sitting idle in my driveway. So being in Pete's car would serve two fold for me... instructing Pete on track at Summit Point Main circuit, and seeing if these old rust buckets are still something I should be interested in. I brought out the Spec Miata because I'd heard rumor that the pavement had issues... Honestly the pavement was GREAT and as good as I've seen it in recent times... Conditions for the two day affair were Hot with a chance of rain both days. Shoulda brought out the black beast, but oh well... Last time I removed about $5K worth of damaged parts when a groundhog ran out in front of me at over 135MPH... But I digress... Pete showed up in typical "I'm a mad scientest and my hair is on fire and I'm late for my appointments" fashion. Those who don't know Pete wont' get the joke. But Pete always is scrambling last minute for parts, directions, or other details/bits to get something or somewhere... It's who he is and will always be and we love him for it! True to fashion the parts gremlins started showing themselves in his driveway when an alternator siezed up on him, eating the belt and killing the unit... If it can happen, it will happen to Pete. So We meet at the track Monday morning, get Pete teched, get him fitted in the passenger seat of the specmiata, and go out for a reconn session. I'm doing pretty good getting re-acclimated to the course, when I notice the temp gage creeping into semi-hot territory... So I keep an eye on it and keep the pace "moderate". We get back to the pits and I check a few things... nothing noticed initially, I move on to whatever else is going on. Pete goes to class, then we head out... and get promtly black flagged... Smoking guns are a problem, depending on how they're used. Smoked pork is great. Smoking Zcars? Not so much. Pete's got an oil leak dripping onto a header/starter, and a coolant overflow issue. So we park it and de-bug it... And go back out... We get another 6-7 laps in before more concern over fueling and oil leaking drives us back to the pits... The oil leak turns out to be a minor distributor seal and or back of intake leak that is so minor we address it with a "top kill" plan with permatex. It works like a charm. The coolant issue is simply a burp of the system... The fueling issue... More on that later... Then the rains came... and came... and it got wet... So we headed off to showers, a nap, a little rolling in the hay with spouses, and then meeting up for dinner at 6PM-ish. After good company, great food, and fine conversation, we called it a night and each couple headed back to their rooms. Over the course of the first day the miata is growing hotter and hotter and I'm resigned to the fact that I've got a real issue... I adjust the timing back and that doesn't slow the rise in heat... So I buy a sensor for the fan, and a new thermostat, as well as some waterwetter. By Tuesday morning I'm hoping I have it resolved... Olya is ready for a morning run in a real race car... A bucket list check-off if you will, and I want to make it worth the price of admission. She has some misgivings about the mighty miata, but after 7 laps, all that is gone, and she's looking at the little race car with a new found respect... Not enough to allow Pete to buy one, but still... However, the run comes at a price. I notice the radiator is fairly low and the wife notices a section on the block that is wet... Yup, I've blown a headgasket... So we hook up the wench, and pull it in for the weekend... four sessions, I'll take it... A few 1:32s, and a slew of 1:33s-1:35s are shown on the data, so I'll have some stuff to pour thru later for some education on which lines worked and which didn't. So now it's "focus on the Zcar" and let's see how much Pete can improve... His first session doesnt' happen because we take to long adjusting the carb for better fuel management, and someone stuffs a car into a gravel trap, cutting the session short by more than a few minutes. So we take the car out on the roads outside th track to confirm we have good fuel from the carb. All seems well. The next three sessions we manage about 6 laps before the car starts bucking and surging. Doesnt' matter if it's on straight, in corners, whatever... At one point I pull the fuel cap and fill it up with fuel... and see bubbles... Fuel appears to be boiling in the lines! So we manage the issue by driving the car until the signs show up, and then park it... Welcome to debugging a V8Zcar project... Issues like this will only show up in situations like this... Welcome to building a car from scratch! Overall Pete's driving and line are good, and he's getting smooth on brake and gas pedal control, sync'ing them to steering input. He's also driving around issues with the shifter, and a few minor bugs, but braking deeper and deeper and really improving lap by lap. Pete did very well. It had been several years since being on track, and he got back up to pace reasonably well. If not for the issues with the car, I'd have recommended him to move up during the event. Instead, we'll get him into the next group later this year... It was great hanging out with Pete, working on his car, and remembering why these cars are so much fun. It's truly given me a bit of inspiration to finish up my own project Zcar. Yea, I can hear it now... Where's the video, how about pics? Where's the proof? After my Specmiata puked the head gasket we should have put all the data and video junk in Pete's car. Oh well... Maybe next time! Mike

Just back from two days with Pete Paraska as my student with trackdaze.com at Summit Point... Clive, I'm glad you ran with PCA. Most of the groups are fun to run with. A few aren't... Glad you had a good time man! Mike Kelly

Bringing this thread back up as well... Any resolution here? Mike

Bringing back this thread because I'm in the middle of sorting a fitment issue with my driver's side axle... When I originally installed the axles (These were bought from Tim240Z about 9million years ago) they were mis-labelled and I had the longer axle on the passenger side which kicked toe out horribly. So I swapped axles and then ended up with the same thing on the driver's side. The axle is to long to fit within the gap... Instaling the shorter axle on the passenger side allows for plenty of suspension adjustment and more importantly, necessary toe changes to be made. So my question is, how long is the driver's side axle supposed to be? I DO have Ross' axle stops, along with his flanges/stub axles... Thanks in advance! Mike Kelly

I knew that if Lesner could get thru the first round, he'd win. Carwin was trapped in his on legend. 1 minute 8 seconds per fight don't make an "endurance" fighter... Don't get me wrong, I was seriously concerned that Lesner wouldn't make it thru round 1. It was worth the price of viewing. I picked every single winner... Should have put money on all the fights... ugh... Mike

Not relevant to the current state of the car. Mike Getting really close...

Randy, That's the real issue for me... Really love my ZRX1100, and it does everything well... Hooligan bike, sport ride, commutor ride, and comfy ride... But the newer tech Concours is amazing... Mike

Nothing worth saving... Mike

My local shop called me last week and told me they had a brand new Kawasaki Concours in and that I should come check it out... Bastards... So I did... and now my street bike is up forsale on Craigslist... Along with a dirtbike I don't ride much anymore... What amazes me is the technology in these new bikes... Traction control, ABS, and the significant but subtle changes they made to this bike between the 2009-2010 models are just simply smart. Integrated heated grips, changes in the inner body work to duct the heat away from the rider, along with changes to the windscreen design and size all make owning this new ride something special... So, due mainly to space concerns, I have to move at minimum my ZRX1100 in order to bring this bike into our stable... Anyone own one of the new Concours? Mike

http://store.traqmate.com/ It's their traqstudio video editing software... Something I need to purchase... Traqmate is a really solid product I really enjoy using. Now with the addition of a Gopro HD camera, I really need to spend the money on their video editing software so I can integrate the two, as he's done in that video clip. Mike

Alex, You used to ride motorcycles, so you can also relate from that standpoint... It's like the guy who's got about 6-9 months on his first sport bike... same exact thing... Madd Stun-A YO! Mike

Yup... It's pretty sad really... No safety... No helmets, and the guy is sliding it around thinking he is a pro. Sad... We were all there once, but man, posting something like this, I'd be embarrassed... Mike

Richard, That MRoadster I had was one of the funnest cars I've ever owned... I still miss that car... If I could have afforded to at the time, or if Donna would have said "Keep it and I'll drive it", I'd never have sold it... They wouldn't let me track it without installing a rollbar, and installing a bar would have required cutting up the interior... This car was simply in to good a condition with to few miles to do that to... Mike

Not relevant to the current state of the car. Mike Mike

Not relevant to the current state of the car. Mike Mike

Well we have a few... My daily driver when it's raining: My two daily drivers when it's not Raining: My tow rig/bad weather driver: My Wife's Daily Driver: Mike