johnc

Exactly, elected politicians don't have to execute, they just have to sound like they are doing something. There's no downside to failure (other then getting recalled). And even then, your failure has to be especially bad to get your butt kicked out the door. The only constiuent they really aswer to are thier donors and the political party they represent. You don't think Bustamante really cares about the California Indian tribes and their problems? I'll bet lots of money that the only part of any Indian reservation he's set foot on is in front a slot machine in an Indian casino. In the corporate world CEOs get booted all the time. Even such disasters as Enron, Worldcomm, Tyco, Adelphia, etc. are the exception much more then the rule. In the political world its reversed. Honestly, I don't have much confidence in Arnold doing a good job. Its just too difficult to get anything accomplished in a state as complex as Caleeeeforeneeia. I'm just hoping he doesn't do as bad a job as Davis.

The CEO analogy never works (whether Republicans or Democrats use it) because governments don't have any competitive pressures. I agree that Governors have little tactical control over what goes on in the state, but that's because the Gov is supposed to play a strategic role - leadership. He's supposed to be the guy shouting, "Take that hill!" while the offcers and men actually do the fighting. Ronald Reagan is perfect example of a good leader. He set a direction and inspired people to move. He wasn't (isn't) an intellectual, he didn't have a grasp of all the facts, but he had a vision and could inspire others to share that vision. Agreement with the direction is not the point I'm trying to make, the ability to lead and inspire is what is needed most in this state. That's my beef with Davis and its something Davis apologized for repeatedly during the campaign. He himslef said that he spent too much time in the last 5 years talking with lobbyists and lawyers and not enough time talking with the people. Its time to try another direction. We need a leader willing to kick our butts and I think a good movie analogy for Arnold's first year will be Kindergarden Cop, not Terminator.

So, chopping the top, frenching the headlights, channelling the body over the frame, etc. on a '49 Merc does not make the car a rod?

Pretty crude if you ask me and its not even a crossflow. Call C&R and order one with an internal Niagra heat exchanger. Much nicer work. http://www.crracing.com/products/imports/

Careful... with identical wheel rates (the Z wheel rates are about 98% of the spring rate) you can get into fore-aft pitching problems. Basically the front and rear have the same oscillation frequency and they will amplify each other. Shocks have trouble controlling this kind of pitch problem.

But we've had a Gov that had a tremendous political resume and was perfectly qualified to lead. We have a Lt. Gov with almost as sterling a political resume. They both f$%#ed up and failed to lead. For the last 5 years California has been a progressive liberal's paradise! An unfettered experiment in liberalism where the Democratic leaders basically had carte blanche (legislative control and a $40B budget surplus) to build their socialist utopian ideal. They spent 5 years and $78B on the experiment and it failed. That's why someone like Arnold (a complete outsider) was elected. That's why someone like Davis (a complete insider) was given the boot. That's why a political hack like Bustamante was basically ignored at the polls - by his own party! Whether Arnold was the best possible candidate or not is irrelevant. He was the only electable candidate that promised change. He was the only electable candidate who's promises we could believe.

The official qualification requirements to run for gov in California: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/gov-qual.pdf To summarize, the candidate must be: 1. a US Citizen, 2. registered to vote, 3. meet minimum political party registriation standards if nominated by that party, 4. not have served two terms as gov. Seems to me that Arnold easily meets all of those requirements.

Regarding 240Z spring rates... In the ITS racing community there is an "East Coast" and a "West Coast" line of thinking. Both work and I think the differences have to do with the types of tracks each group normally races on and how they like to corner and put the power down. An example of an East Coast ITS spring package is: 350 lb. in. front 275 lb. in. rear 27mm front anti roll bar no rear anti roll bar Smooth tracks so bump compliance isn't as important. Give up corner entry and mid corner speed so that the driver can power hard out of the corners. Allows the driver to pass at the end of the next striaght. POwer is king on the faster tracks. An example of a West Coast ITS spring package 275 lb. in. front 300 lb. in rear 25mm front anti roll bar 19mm rear anti roll bar Bumpy tracks so compliance is important. Braking, corner entry speed, and mid-corner speed is important because most passing occurs on corner entry and through the turn. Except for one track (Willow Springs) most courses are medium speed with more technical turns. Handling is rewarded. All the above are just one man's biased opinion and are very broad generalizations.

Just to check, I drove by two polling places near my home around 8:30am this morning. At one, the line outside was about 75 people and the other had the line stretching for about 150 yards! I've NEVER seen lines like that in the 15 years I've lived in this area. Looks like the turnout will be BIG. FYI... I voted a couple weeks ago.

As a shop owner I agree that its good to have the customer in the shop when starting a job. I also like them to come by at critical points after I've mocked things up to get an OK. But, to have a customer hanging around the shop all day while you're working slows things down and, ultimately, the customer pays for that. As I'm working, I measure, cut parts, trial fit, throw that part away, measure again, cut a new part, fit and then go to the next step. My customers don't pay for the parts I screw up or the time it takes me to screw them up but if they are sitting there I feel I need to constantly explain and apologize for goofing something up. That affects my productivity. Doing custom fabrication is a lot like making sausage, the process can be ugly at times.

A 110v MIG welder can weld aluminum if: 1. You spend a lot of time preparing the parts for welding. 2. You use a spool gun. 3. You use a shielding gas. 4. The aluminum parts are small or you do a LOT of pre-heat. 5. The welder's plugged into a 40 amp circuit. 6. You are careful and take your time.

For those of you who knew or had heard of Paul, he was killed yesterday flying his private plane. Mechanical trouble forced him into an emergency landing that went horribly wrong. Paul was the winner of the most recent Sport Compact Car Ultimate Street Car Challenge, two time winner of the OTC Top Gun Award, winner of the Laguna Seca round of the SCCA's Speed GT series, multi-time Viper Racing Series overall champion, multi-time race winner of the AMA Superbike series, and just a great, warm hearted, gentleman racer. Here's a link to a whole mess of pictures of Paul running (and winning) at Laguna Seca last month. http://www.paulmumford.com/laguna/index.html And a press release on Speed: http://www.world-challenge.com/news/03press244.html I'm supposed to go racing this weekend but I sure as sh*t don't feel like it now.

Anti-roll bars turn an indepent suspension into a dependent suspension by affecting both sides when load is applied to the bar. If the load applied is just body roll, then things are OK. But, when the load applied is a bumpy track surface (of which we have lots out here on the West Coast) anti-roll bars reduce compliance and cause conrering/braking problems. With more advanced shock designs moving down to a more "moderate" price range it becomes easier to decouple left and right side suspension with smaller anti-roll bars. Low speed compresison and rebound control on a shock provides better body roll control then anti-roll bars through transitions (corner entry/exit, slaloms, etc.) and working in conjunction with smaller anti-roll bars you can hit the same amount of roll control in steady state corners as a 100% larger (rate, not diameter) anti-roll bar. That's why lots of people are starting to run smaller anti-roll bars. They've just spent lots more money on shocks. FYI... I'm running a 23mm front and a 18mm rear anti-roll bar and I still think they are a little big.

Why? Running a channel on the package shelf between the bottom of the strut towers does nothing to stiffen the chassis and you're basically just duplicating the weak triangulation that already exists between the Autopower rear braces and the wheel well. So, you're just adding weight. If you're going to that trouble just cut out the stock Autopower rear braces and make new ones that run to the top of the strut towers and then add a horizontal brace between strut towers themselves.

There are generally two schools of though regarding springs/anti-roll bars: Stiff springs, soft anti-roll bars Soft springs, stiff anti-roll bars Use the first if you've got good shock control (Penskes, Ground Control AD, Koni 8610s, etc.). If you are running off-the-shelf shocks (Tokico Illuminas, KYBs, Bilstiens, etc.) then soften the springs and run bigger anti-roll bars. BTW... Springs under 250 lb. in. are considered soft springs on a racing 240Z.

JFC! 50 amps to run that fan on high? That must just be a startup load, correct?

Uuuuhhh, while I am just as disgusted with child molestors and am in favor of the death penalty, isn't this guy innocent until proven guilty? Yeah, the newspaper report sure makes it seem like he's the one, and he probably is. But, have we forgotten about the prosecutorial abuses like the McMartin Preschool fiasco? Have we forgotten how the press gets things wrong? What if he's not the one? If he's found guilty, burn him - slowly. Until then, continue the investigation, keep him in jail and keep the bail high, get him his lawyer, and let's let the jury decide. You guys needs to stop dragging out the hangin' ropes so quickly. You might hang the wrong guy and let the real molestor strike again. Its happened many times before.

Used to believe that too until I talked with an engineer at Brembo America. Seems that he figures the torque on the caliper is exactly countered by the torque from the tire contact patch traveling throught he driveline, hubs, etc. That whole "equal and opposite reaction" thing. But I've heard engineers make both arguments so I don't think anyone really knows.

Thanks. What was the question again?

Should just bolt right up.

Just did a complete (from exhaust manifold flanges back) 3" exhaust for a 1994 325is. Used a custom 2 into 1 merge collector, tubing, u-bends, clamps, etc. from these folks: Specialty Products Design 11252 Sunco Dr. Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 916.635.8108 Very happy with their service and products. 25 hours of my labor and about $450 worth of SPD parts turned out a really bitchin' exhaust. Its loud (Borla XR-1 Raceline muffler) but the BMW is a STX autocross and BMW CCA race car.

Not really, my wheel tire combo (275/45-16) is 25.2" in diameter. A 275/40-17 is the same diameter, and a 275/35-18 is also the same diameter if you're running Hoosier R3S03 tires like I am.

OK, I'll take the time... > sorry to piss everbody off What you said didn't make folks grumpy, it was how you said it. Just take the time and make a more thoughtful less emotional post. > what i was trying to say in the first place is that the people > at jtr spent alot of time and money to make a kit that would out > perform a scarab Maybe, but there's a lot more to handling then weight distribution. Its not the be-all, end-all that most people think. A great real world example is SCCA's Speed Touring where FWD and RWD racer cars are about equal in handling. > i was racing curves in california when most of you were in > diapers i have seen what a scarab can do in curves i was > not impressed to say the least with a good driver in a really > tight curve the rear end would pivot on all that weight on > the nose of the scarab and get crossed up alot like a cobra > but less power I think that was a sentence, but I'm not sure. Please, please, please use punctuation and capital letters. You've cited one anectdotal example which was probably true for that car, that driver, on that road. Its probably not applicable anywhere else. > that is why in a repli cobra they have set the engine back > it really does help if my gto could beat one in tight curves > then they really need help (i am talking the scarab not the cobra) > how many of you have ridden in a scarab or a cobra does anyone > remember the corvette gran sport the engine was set > back in that car closer to 50/50 weight transfer and it stomped > shelby cobras The Gran Sport Corvette never won a championship and won very few races. It didn't stomp much of anything during its short racing career. The aerodynamics were so bad that it had horrible understaeer at speed. And why do you keep citing cars from the early and mid-1960s as examples of good handling? We all know Cobras, Shelby Mustangs, and Gran Sport Corvettes were very poor handling vehicles. They made up for their poor handling with gobs of horsepower. > i have never seen a zcar that could come close to beating a > shelby mustang let alone a shelby cobra please In April of this year my L6 powered 1970 240Z beat a Shelby Cobra Replica, five Z06 Corvettes, two Dodge Vipers, a Honda S2000, a Turbocharged Miata, a fifth gen Supra Turbo, and 52 other cars on seven racetracks over seven days of competition. > do not get me wrong i love my zcar but to do what you > guys were talking about would require dump trucks full > money so why waste the money on a theory that has > already been proved Well, most of us here on HybridZ think its still a theory. Again, that goes back to the idea that there's so much more to making a car handle well then just weight distribution. > if you guys want to send me a nasty or mean e-mail my > adress is zeecad500@yahoo.com We don't do that. > zeecad500 because i put 500 cubic inch cadillacs in my zcars stock > 400hp 550 ft lbs of torque and the the distributor is in the front for > better clearance also it weighs only 45 lbs more than a small block > chevy oh one more thing it accelerates like a cobra (yes i have ridden > in a real cobra) so i know what they can do you guys can hook > your chevys up to a r200 rear end the 500 cad vaporizes a r200 > rearend well sory again for pissing you guys off OK, here's the deal. You HAVE to use punctuation if you want to continue to post here. I just spent 20 minutes going through this one message of yours trying to figure it out. If you want to make points here and educate us, you have to make it easier. Your next post needs to be correctly punctuated, capitalized, etc.

I'm running 16 x 10s with 275/45-16 tires and they fit fine with 5" of backspace, 2.25" diameter coil overs, and MSA's ZG Flares.

Its only been in the last year that I've been able to race my Z in a class that lets me make significant enough changes in the front suspension and steering to start thinking about the above items. Unfortunately, it will probably be towards the end of 2004 before I start making changes. I do have access to some modeling software so, maybe when I get a few models done I'll post the results.