Mikelly

Fortunately I don't have that problem, but still... If you try to rationalize any purchase of anything more than a Kia Rio, the math just kills ya... As transportation alone, none of the cars we're talking about are fiscally responsible "purchases"... Truth be told if I didn't track my 996TT a few times a year minimum, I'd guilt myself into selling it. It's to much car for the street and I don't feel safe leaving it parked many places... Mike

Dave, That 335 was in the upper $40's starting and in the $50s well equipped 3 years ago. In two years that car will sell in the teens. My Business Partner bought his 2005 E90 loaded two years ago for $32K and now NADA is pretty low, considering... My 996TT was $142K new in 2001. So I got it 6 years later for half price with about $30K in mods/extras. Still... Prices are in the toilet. Those prices are the reason we bought my wife a new Hyundai... I'm not complaining because I inherited her E36 to drive daily. But again, it's really hard to move "cars" right now... New cars are much more attractive with some of the incentives... Toyota is offering ZERO financing. Hyundai gave us 2.9% financing. When you look at the cost to own new vs. used on any car, it's just tough in the car market these days! Enjoy your car because it's what you wanted... That's ultimately what matters!! Mike

Probably both, but it'll have to be in July... August is going to be busy and September/ October we'll be at the track for 8 days over three weekends back to back. Mike

Couldn't have said it better... Look when I bought my 996TT in 2007 I paid $71K for it. Two years later it was in the upper $50s. Fortunately the drop bottomed and the Porsche market has stabilized... The comment that caused me to chime in was about how much your BMW didn't depreciate as compared to a relative's Chevy... It's just not true. Enjoy your car because it's what you want. But don't fool yourself into thinking a BMW is going to hold some mystical value. We're getting "charged" the samee exact insurance rate for our 13 year old 328iS as we are the 2011 Hyundai Sonata SE we just bought... The "value" might well be in what your insurance premiums "hold". Don't you hate when facts ruin a good buy? I live it every day! Mike

Don't be so sure about that one... BMWs are not immune to this economy... Resale on my business partner's 2005 5 series was pretty bad when he priced it... And don't even get me started on how much prices dropped on Porsche Turbos... Mike

Thanks! Hopefully the Z will have a real "coming out" here in the next four weeks... Mike

This is the very definition of poser... They don't want to admit on camera that it's a Datsun rebody? Really??? Come on... Who doesn't pop the hood to show what's under it, especially if it's a Ferrari V12. At first, watching the video I was wondering why the "host" didn't ask to see it, then it became more obvious that he's "in on it" or "knew" it was a Datsun Rebody...He let it drop way to quickly in the beginning. That tells me everything I need to know about that "host" and puts everything he will ever say on his "show" in question to me... Mike

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

Thanks Tim! I went with it on the inside and installed everything today... Starting on wrapping up the minimal welding tomorrow... God I gotta get this damned car back to gether... Got two track weekends in a span of about 6 days... Mike

Thanks man, but that unfortunately doesn't show what I'm looking for. On the Q45 Axle adapters (which are 6 bolt units) they come with new CV Axle "endcaps" to keep the grease in. They also have an "axle stop" built into on side of the endcap. Mike

I don't get it. What's the big deal? Everyone knows Porsches are for poseers and wannabees like me... Mike

So I decided that the Q45 adapters I had weren't going to work, and didn't see anything from the competitors out there, so I went online to Ross' site at http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/default.php and search, then found these: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32_53&products_id=65 So on Thursday of last week I placed the order and then sent Ross an email stating "I need these ASAP" for a track weekend I'm registered for... I've been away from the Zcar scene for a while and I'm sure some don't know that we have 3 track cars now, but not knowing his turn-around I figured I'd state my "needs" and "timeline" at the outset. Today they arrived and Ross had followed up with several emails and a note to let me know that the parts were scheduled to be delived today. Now the question... Anyone know how those axle caps are supposed to be installed... indention in or indention out? It's an "axle stop" so I assume it's "IN" but really don't want to have to "do it twice". Any help would be appreciated. Mike

Davy, This is the new place I bought back in 2006 and moved into. We sold the old shop I built, along with the other house in 4 years ago this month. This new shop had to be modified internally to accept the twin post lift. I've had SUVs (Dodge Durango and Jeep Liberty) all the way up without issues. My Dodge 3500 series is rated above the 9K# capacity of the twin post, but I'd have no worries lifting a regular half ton truck. I have $2400 total invested in both these lifts... Shops going out of business are perfect times to take advantage of great deals... $800 for rotary lifts? Amazing... Mike

Ah, Got one of those too! It's actually in the center of the blue fourpost unit! Mike

Over the past two weeks I bought a lift from a long time friend of mine... It's a four post lift made by Eaqle, and it's pretty nice, especially for the price... $1500 It is 2 years old, and it has casters, along with ramps, and a bridge jack and drip pans. For now I'll leave it in the same bay as the twin post lift while we sort out what we're doing next with the shop... Mike

Some pics we snapped when we brought it home... 10 days later and we're still very happy with it... Mike

Update: The car hasn't made progress this week. I had gotten some CV flanges in a trade or maybe they were given to me, at some point, so long ago... Anyway the long and short of it is they won't work. They'd "work" but wont' WORK for long, exposing the shoulders of the bolt puts them at risk to sheer. So I got intouch with Ross at MML and ordered his R230 units. Should be here next week some time. I'll install them and the rear axle issue will be done. Yesterday was lost to picking up a four post lift I'd purchased from a long time friend who had actually welded in the front halo to the first "cage" I ever had in a zcar, back in the early 90s. Dan S. is upgrading to a twin post lift and sold me his four post unit for $1500... It's only 2 years old, and comes with casters to move it around, so I couldn't turn it down... I've already got a twin post lift, and really wanted something that would help in doing suspension setup work. For now it clears the twin post lift, so they'll share the same bay until we do a few mods to our facility. Once I get our current consulting company to our target size, I'm seriously considering a performance shop that will focus strictly on suspension and brake upgrades for high end and unique project cars. Over the last few years I've had a number of Porsche owners ask if I'd consider receiving their cars on shipment to my location and transforming them into duplicates of mine... So we'll see... This would be something that would be able to float on its own without the stress of it "making" money or not...Being profitable would be nice, but breaking even would be just fine... More later... should have the car "running" this coming week... Mike

I'm actually not reving the car to my normal shift points. I'm short-shifting by 700-1000 RPMs depending on the corners, so I was leaving a lot on the table and could have exited key point corners much quicker. I'll easily drop 5-7 seconds at VIR full over the course of this season. His brakes are superior to mine, so he should have been going deeper and later into the corners, but who knows. He's running 380mm setup with the newer caliper design, and I'm using 350mm setup with the old caliper design. They had two days in their car to sort theirs as I did mine, so I really don't know what was up. My power level should have closed the gap and would have, but I "restricted" myself as the grass and dirt was soaked from the storms the night before, and I didn't want to risk putting the car into a wall. Still getting used to all the changes... Mike

My "new" daily driver is my wife's "old" 97 328iS. Although it's a great car and I'm a fan of bimmers, I hate working on it beyond the basics... It's not a hard car to work on, but I don't view it as "simple" either... The porsche, that's pretty simple... the BMW, not so much... Crazy I know, but it's true. Congrats on the new ride. Mike

There are a ton of trans options out there. I've installed the following: T5 from http://www.5speeds.com/ backing a 355 Chevy T56 using the centerforce 153T flywheel from centerforce Tremec TKO All are expensive, but all are pretty well bullet proof. I'd never install another T56 in a Zcar myself. The transmission is way to heavy, and the gearing isn't ideal to me. The T5 (from 5speeds) and the Tremec road race geared trans are durable, light weight and lots of parts to make them work with a wide variety of SBCs. I'm going to use the TREMEC TKO when we install the LS1 in the car next year. Mike

Man, you're not kidding. Sitting next to the E36, it's a foot longer and atleast 6 inches wider. When we testdrove them, we found drastic differences in the GLS model and the SE model. I assumed we would be getting a harsh ride with the "sport" suspension and 18inch wheels/tires. It was just the opposite. It tracks flatter and is more compliant. the GLS handled much more "blandly" and certainly wasn't inspiring. Not that the car is gonna make you think you want to drive it at your local road course, but it does make driving back roads more fun than the GLS would have. Mike

With a 2006 Dodge Megacab 3500 4X4, 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo, 1997 BMW 328iS, 1992 Mazda Miata, 1976 Datsun 280Z V8 car, and Kawasaki ZRX1100 in the stable, we're OK having something "boring" as a new daily driver for the wife. The 2011 model is a complete redesign and I am impressed with what $24K buys... Drove it to a client's location today and enjoyed the ride and features. Since we keep cars until they are "classics", we'll likely have this car for the next decade, unless it starts causing problems... Mike

2011 model... It's an impressive car...They dropped the V6 in the sonata lineup in 2011. The Genesis coupe was also on our list and we drove it... She was leaning that way, but it really isn't practical for her needs. We already have several sportscars in the family, and another just didn't make as much sense. Mike

So the Bimmer is a little long in the tooth. The wife commutes at 0515 in the morning, for about an hour. I'm not to comfy with her driving the Bimmer at that time of day in the middle of nowhere, so I opted to buy her a new car... Planted the seed a while back. She is not one to get rid of things, which is why I'm still around. And Getting her motivated to buy a car is a monumental task that requires planning. So 9 months after I planted the seed, memorial day finds us at the local dealerships. I've never in my life owned a "brand new car". Ever. This is a new experience for me, since I'm not a "new car" fan, in general... But you know, after checking out a number of vehicles, we settled on a Hyundai Sonata SE. The price of this car, with every option except for NAV and the mooonroof is $24200. After talking back and forth with Tom Harris (Tom works at Hyundai!) in text, we finalized the deal and bought her the car. Financing was unbeatable thru Hyundai, and at 2.9%, we opted to finance the car thru the automaker... I must admit that the whole experience has been unlike any I've had, and the wife, who has bought a number of new cars in another life, said the same... She's happy, I'm happy that she's happy, and this car is pretty darned impressive... If you haven't checked one out lately, give them a look... Mike