pparaska

Georgia, thanks for the compliment on my (Jim's) strut bar! Lone, SleeperZ, I like the idea of adding reinforcement to the firewall. If it's tied in a bunch of points along the firewall, it'll help spread the loads well. I wonder if there's room just behind the firewall. That way you could be a bit less finiky on the finish of the reinforcement, but had the stiffness. You could also beef up those two "stiffeners" in the cowl area that are like longitudinal bulkheads. That's where you'd want to tie the strut bars to. I remember someone at MSA said that only one car they saw there had those triangulating strut parts tied there, while the rest just had them bolted to the unsupported parts of the firewall. One car at MSA had two struts per side from the strut towers. One on each side at an angle like you usually see going toward the latch bracket, and another one on each side going straight back. I didn't see if there was any stiffening behind the firewall in that cowl area, but that'd be a nice solution! Lone, if you remember the URL of one of those roundy-round suppliers, I'm all ears!

Welcome Paul! Sounds like one fun car! Of course, once you get used to 300 hp, upgrades will be easy . Cheers,

Grumpy, you had me ROFL with that one! Great response! Let's see, something like "it's easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle than to be a rich hotrodder!" Ever since I saw a 53 Vette with C5 underpinnings in one of the hot rod type mags in the past year, I've been thinking, yeah, a light little sweetheart vette body with a 500hp 383 and C5 suspension/brakes would be very cool. And more exclusive than a kit cobra!

(980mak - ???) Mike, I wish you good luck and I know you'll have all the i's dotted and t's crossed on the business plan. As someone mentioned in another thread, watch the cashflow. With a Dyno (chassis dyno?) you should have business, especially if you can get some expertise to do dyno tuning! If things get busy and you want some feeble help, I might move down to your area and be an employee!

Sano = Hot Rodder term for sanitary installation, bodywork mods, etc. Just read any 20, 30, or 40 year old Hot Rod or Rod and Custom magazine, and this word shows up on every article. BTW, it's a compliment!

I've seen people get their car KEYED for parking in more than one space - in a busy, often filled parking lot. Kind of counter productive in that situation.

John, I'm in MD, but I have family in Butler. I'll be going to a reunion up there around mid summer. I'll probably have my Z with me. Let's hook up!

O.k. I knew about brake fluid. Didn't know about the bologne. How long does that take to work? Does that work on all auto paints, even urethanes? IMRON? I bet there are other household things that would do wonders. Lye, carb cleaner etc. But the bologne is pretty interesting. Hmm. Keep some in a mini-frig in the hatch....

Duh, sorry for the false alarm on that one. I guess I'm just a neophyte (about email address spoofing). But I'm glad you don't have the virus and you now have up to date protection!

I can't remember which one, but I think it's the one Davy mentioned. Mike gets a virus every month or so on his home computer How hard is it to make an email look like it came from another account though - I'd think that'd be pretty tough...

Sorry to use the forum for this, but I felt you'd want to know. The admin@hybridz.org email alias got a virus sent from your account, awd92gsx@hotmail.com Cheers,

Aux, sorry to hear that! That really bites. I'm considering putting an intentional first ding into my car so the next one I get doesn't bother me too much . Kevin, inconsiderate people infuriate almost, just almost, as much as totally nasty, mean, selfish people. I am always telling my kids how to be considerate. Since most parents in the past 20 years haven't done this, my kids are shining examples against a sea of inconsiderate turds. My son (9 today) got out of the car the other day, and I watched him take great care to not open the door into the car in the next spot. I was so proud that he did this without me saying anything to him!

Well, as of just a short while ago, Lone had a Mohawk, so he'd be pretty memorable due to just that! Lone, you did get rid of the Mohawk, no?

Bingo! Thanks for clearing that one up for us. Sure it works, and this is the point of the multiple path induction systems on some newer cars. I guess if you could have 6 or 7 different path lengths, you could have a wide "atmospherically supercharged" engine, but the pumping losses past all those doors/valves/etc. would probably negate it at lower rpm. Just add real super/turbo charger and/or lots more cubes and be done with it, I say.

Anybody have experience adding an O2 sensor bung to an exhaust that's ALREADY coated? I've heard that it's hard to do this since the coating is inside the pipe as well, and the welder won't want to make a good weld. I definitely want to do this mod and use an O2 with the carb and with EFI when I do that later.

I thought a topic with just links found to sites with pictures would be useful. Here are some of the ones I know about. Please followup with others! http://www.zparts.com/events/wcn2002/promo/index.html http://www.zhome.com/~aktar/msa/ http://showroom.floor.palo-alto.ca.us/images/MSA_2002/zbum_pics/MSA1/ http://showroom.floor.palo-alto.ca.us/images/MSA_2002/zbum_pics/MSA2/ http://showroom.floor.palo-alto.ca.us/images/MSA_2002/zbum_pics/MSA3/

Sorry RB30-ZED, I didn't understand that you smiley meant you were joking. I guess saying something like that is akin to making jokes about bombs in the security lines at a US airport. Apologies, Pete

Took me a while, but the original "Scarab" was built by Lance Reventlow in the late 50s/1960. Here's a bit of history: http://8w.forix.com/scarab.html http://www.allamericanracers.com/rem/rem-story.html Here's a picture of a model: http://www.ghostmodels.com/images/d067p06.jpg Olds V8 Engine and then used a SB Chevy!

It takes the same amount (almost) of time to build a 400hp BB as a 600hp BB. With cubes (454) you can have 400hp easily. 500hp for a bit more money and work. 600hp will probably start getting more expensive for parts and require more prep. I was conversing with Mike Kelly over many mixed drinks at the hotel in CA lately over what constitutes "enough" motor. Well, for me, it has to be Normally Aspirated. Just the way I like my street cars. But the most important thing I want out of the car is what Mike Kelly had in his first V8Z rendition: It was scary fast. You see, I've done the performance buildup thing before, and one thing's for sure - you always want more power - until your afraid to apply the gas pedal for fear of your life or license. My next motor will be bigger, and more powerful, no doubt. I built small, and that was a mistake. I'll be driving my Z in days or a week, but I'm sure of one thing: If DD2000 is right, and I have 380 hp at the crank, I'll get used to it at some point (a month, 6 months, a year) and then I'll want more. To me enough is when it's still streetable, but scary fast! The beauty of the early Z is it's light enough to have both (right Scotty?! ) Anything less is a stepping stone! Build it for high 10s and don't look back! (You're money is so easy for me to spend )

No toes stepped on! I hope your's weren't either. I don't like negativity for the sake of it either, nor slamming folks that just like different things. But I can't help shake my head when I see people slam everything but a Honda, when the Honda they drive is all race show, and no race go. That's the problem I have with alot of the ricers - a cocky attitude that their cars are the only ones that are "bad" when they really aren't. To each his own, but that goes both ways... Like I said, my purpose is to nicely show them that other cars can be "bad" as well. Like maybe a Z car on steroids, without the obligatory ricer stickers, etc.

Oh, I remember this trick too. Those M-bars' are hardened steel. I dulled many a bit drillnig those holes. I wonder if drilling the bar heats it up enough to lose it's temper and weaken it? Anyway, use a slow drill motor speed and not too much pressure. Even so, you need really good bits to do this trick, unless you anneal it first (then you should have it tempered again, I'd think).

His name is Mike. I don't know his handle here. He had the car at the cart track, the autocross, and then the show.

Ahem! DOOOHH! Sorry about that Tim. Tim's the nice guy that came BACK to the El Torrito after not finding us the first time, the guy that I hung out with at the cart track (who also trounced me there!) and just a real nice guy to hang out with. (teaches me to name names so late at night!)

Hey Mark, good meeting you - those carts are a blast - I doubt I can talk the wife into THAT hobby though ;D. Mike forgot to mention that I got the drop-top Stang for a song - $35/day! I guess I just got lucky - $27 for a mid-size on Hotwire and the sweety at the counter offered the drop-top Stang for another $8 a day. I don't think they had any V8 versions, and I'd never spent much time behind the wheel of a convertible, and figured that SoCal was THE place to do that! His Alero sure did leave my V6 Stang wanting more power! I think Mike has a binary accelerator foot though. He was either stopped at a light or foot to the floor! My guts are still recovering from way too many Jim Beam and Cokes! I got to spend Friday afternoon talking about Z's, kids, wives, women, Cali, life, etc. as we sat around in two different restaurants before the partially failed El Toritto HybridZ meet. We need to work on that next time. Had a blast!

I was there, and met Owen, Huy, Dave Booth (kc6wfs), Dave Greimann, Miles, ZR8ED, Scott, and Josh. I had met Van (TWO40MUSCLEZ) and Mark (Z-Dreamer) on Friday, and I met Ian and Steve (Drivers of the car Mikelly is sponsoring) and John Coffey at the auto-cross on Saturday. I hope I didn't forget anyone. I got to see Alsil again, and met his incredible wife as well! Unfortunately, when I was looking at some cars, I didn't know who the owners were. I looked for Jumbo280Z (Dave Booth pointed out his car - SWEET!), and SleekZ but didn't know where to find them. Maybe Nametags with HybridZ "handles" next year? Hope to do it again next year - with my Z! Pete