Mikelly

WOW... All I can say is W-O-W. Mikelly

It seems the "special" session won't happen... Accoridng to Jim Moran, they missed their deadline... Instead, it'll be repealled at the end of the year, or in January. His recommendation was to get a lawyer and have these cases continued until January 2008. Funny thing is, more politicians are upset with this bill than I would have thought... I've met Jim Moran and He's pretty tough when it comes to crime, but his talk on Washpost Radio was enlightening yesterday afternoon. Mike

I'd be surprised if that car sold for less than $30K... And if I didn't have a "Get 100% out of debt while the gettin's good" plan going right now, I'd buy that sucker! Mike

Well, MOST of our members do... One or two of us are lawbreakers... Mike

Yea, it's a $40 fine, plus court cost... They also like to nail you for lazer blockers/detectors as well... Doesn't stop some from using them though... MIke

It won't guys. Actually, had I not published the "other" article here, I'd have been able to use it. I'll have a hardcopy with me at the GRM track event on the 27th where Mayolives will be competing for those who'd like to take a look... I'll also have copy available to read this weekend at the Mid Atlantic Shindig... If I post it here, it would defeat its purposes for the magazine... That said, I assure you all that you'll be very happy with the production of the article, the pics and data. Mike

Thanks guys... Tom H. I'll be using a few of your pics, and you'll get the credit for them in the article! Tom B. I'll see you a week from this coming Friday for the Track Challenge W/ GrassRoots Motorsports! Mike

Other than some minor edits they may have, the article Text is done and submitted. I'll go ahead and organize the photos this week and get them to Nissan Sport. Mike

I'm in the same boat... I'd buy this car tomorrow if I had a spare bay... This car is a S-T-E-A-L... Someone call the PoPo... grand theft occuring!!! Mike

J. I have "previous" experience with that foam spray, and it traps a LOT of moisture... My guess is that where there isn't foam, there's rust and lots of it... You see the pics of the passenger floorboard/ internal rocker panel??? That's what first caused pause for concern... Then that spray foam was the kiss of death... What I'd do is get that car knocked down to primer, have it re-shot after a complete overhaul of the driveline/suspension/brakes and a Serious wheel upgrade. I'd do sectioned coil overs to get it lower, recreate the rear valance a little more "full at the bottom, and put a pedistal mount spoiler at the rear, and find a set of gnose headlight covers... The Gnose, fender flares and wide rear would actually help with aerodynamics, so long as a spoiler and headlight covers were incorporated up front and a spoiler was mounted off the rear to aid in distrurbing the turbulance at the rear to kick the near wake further out past that overhang... If it were rust free, I'd buy that car tomorrow and cuss about for the next 7 years... See, history would repeat itself... thanks rust! Mike

...I had a goal to have Jim's car done and at the exhaust shop this week... I really did... But I swear, the more I work on this car, the more I find that the idiots who worked on it previously hacked it up beyong believe... Today I measured and cut, and welded in a new steering knuckle to avoid JIm's new headers... Except for the fact that the steering column is DAMAGED, and the yoke at the base that attached to the steering rod was out about an inch and NOT event attached at the wheel... AND the steering wheel itself, it was on FINGER tight... They didn't even have the common sense to tighten the STEERING WHEEL down... And jim drove this car atleast 180 miles... I swear, I will suffer no more fools or stupidity when it comes to others working on cars I care about... John Marshal, their "chief" fabricator will end up on his ass if I meet him in public again... Mike

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-Datsun-280Z-500-hp-383-SBC_W0QQitemZ130133793450QQihZ003QQcategoryZ6187QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem You guys are missing out on one hell of a deal on this one... And from one of our own members at that! I know a little something about the work Wayne did on this one and it's well worth his asking price with everything included and the running gear/driveline! Mike

I was within seconds of bidding on this car, until I started reviewing the pics closely... WOW, what an abnormally LARGE amount of rust in the interior rockers and rear wheel wells... Not kiddin', I was gonna bid some coin and go drag it home.. It's a 10 hour tow to Jacksonville, not that far at all, and an easy drive. Mike

THAT'S NOT A PILLOW!!! Mike

Word on the street is that there is another bill that's been drafted to kill this one... Apparently the house was "quietly" devided on this one, and there are some in va. legislature who really fear a major suit on this bill... Mike

This is a great story, and a win/win for all involved... Now, you other guys out there building your "beasts" should seriously consider the amount of force that Jody had to apply to that stub axle to make it fail... Mike

Well now that I drive such an attention getter, I've started using the cruise control on all my vehicles except the ZRX1100... Idon't do more than about 14 over max and I figure I'll make up for it at the track... This year I'll log between 12-15 days at the track and I fully expect to increase that by 1/3-1/2 by next year... I'll get it out of my system there... Oh, FTP!!! MIke

Tim, You're correct... You'd never want to drive on all-threads... It's stating the obvious, but sometimes you gotta do that! All the cars we tested arrived on trailers. I suspect this will be the case for round #2! Mike

No no, It's not me you're disagreeing with... It's what THEY (the folks in the state house) have put IN THE BILL... I agree with you 110%, but THEY are using the "roadway improvement" language as their justification for this "Tax"... Mike

Man, I really have sooo much to say on this topic... But first a warning... Lets NOT FORGET the "rules" of political discussion here on HybridZ... It's like everything else in life, guys... Now you know the penalities. I strongly encourage anyone who has a lead foot to plan on more track events and less on speeding on the highway. Remember, this comes from a guy who has had to fight over 10 reckless driving tickets in the last 25 years. The sole purpose of this "Tax" is to aid in road improvements, since the state house of deligates couldn't agree on "HOW" to improve upon them otherwise. I'm also being told that Va. will start confiscating more cars this year and plans to CRUSH THEM, just like they do in California... So if you get caught speeding in excess, or racing, or running from the po po, you'll lose your transortation along with your license... And Tom, If you get caught running from motorola (And you probably will) then you'll end up in jail, and will spend thousands to get out and stay out... Weigh your options, build a track car, and come play with me at the track! Way cheaper in the long run. Mike

Happy Bday Mike Kz! Mike

Cary, That's one hell of an idea. I've got a bunch of glan nuts laying around and we could run some 5/8th or 3/4 allthread to make this work... Mike

I went back and looked at all the pictures and some video clips. The scales were flush with the floor... What we were dealing with is the "stops" that help the wheels from rolling back and forth... I"ll post pics later, but the scale is DEAD LEVEL with the floor, so throw out that theory... The cars were tall, because they were at stock suspension with larger than stock wheel/tire combos, which in my mind valedates the numbers even more. 90% of guys driving these cars are running around in stock configuration with plus'ed up wheels/tires. Mike

Yes The scales did indeed protrude...We had to use blocks to roll the cars up onto the scales. How much busier and more expensive??? $1000 per hour, and the likes of "all the NASCAR elite" use it. To add insult to injury, that tunnel requires you bring your own engineers to collect the data... I don't know that the "scales" protruded that far, but they were at a level we had to roll the car up and onto them... I asked Bob about the "impact" of the rise and he said it had no real effect... I also don't think these cars were "that" high in the air, but I will double check my data. Mike

Just viewed al the entries and I'd like to commend all the contestants for their efforts. It will be hard to choose a winner in this bunch, since each of you went at it from a whole different perspective... None of the cars is "similar" in appearance... Very Cool! Mike