80LS1T Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 WOW nice car man! Love the flares, color, and those CCW'S Mike you are doing my dream job.....having someone pay me to build their dream car Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted September 29, 2004 Author Share Posted September 29, 2004 This project has been a little frustrating, a lot of fun, and should really have some good lessons learned for future builds... I may just make a part time gig of this if enough folks care to bring them in... One thing I'd caution ANYONE doing any of the following mods... Make your list, do your research, and if you are getting a builder involved, then put him in touch with the vendor and let THEM do the planning. Jim isn't up on current technology of Zs and I think a few things got lost in translation from him to Ross and vice versa... Ross didn't want me knowing his business with regards to his prices (Which I can understand), and I was excluded from the parts selection process even after I sent Jim to Ross, and his $$$$ as well... Point here isn't to bash Ross, or kick Jim... This was a new process for Jim and I both. However, In the future, if a builder is invloved in YOUR project, Make sure that he and then vendor are 100% in communication and THEY AGREE on the parts list... When everything comes in, HAVE THE PARTS DELIVERED to the installer. Some things were missing in this shipment of parts, and I can't say if they were lost in shipment, lost between Jim's house and my shop, or if they were just left out. These small items STOPPED our build process... So to make sure to limit the traceability of the parts, have them shipped to where they will be installe, coordinating with the builder first! The last thing is this whole business about the shortened struts. I originally did not plan to shorten the struts on this car. I've never done them, and prefer not to, because you can take a real chance on ruining a strut housing. I prefer to leave that to others... and I said so in an e-mail about 9 months ago... Well 9 months, and a lot of customers later, I'm sure this issue got lost in Ross' inbox, or just slipped from mind... We put everything together Saturday and installed it, and I had to use spacers under the strut cartridges... That seemed funny, but everyone that looked at the strut tubes saw what was thought to be welding around them, giving the impression that the tubes had been shortened. In actuality the ring around the tube was from where someone removed the spring perch. We spent an additional couple hours installing and then uninstalling the suspension because the struts have about an inch of travel... This won't work... So Jamie, at River City Speed and Custom is going to shorten them for me at no charge. This ould have at least been planned for, had there been more communication between... The vendor and the installer... These are all lessons learned and I'm sharing them so you guys can PLAN your builds better. I'm sure the next time around Ross and I will coordinate better. I'd still do this project over again, without thinking twice. This car, and it's owner make this project. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 One thing I've learned over and over in this business is that you cannot let the owner have too much control. It's nothing against the particular person, but they don't have the project management experience that someone that does this stuff every day does. When I let the owner of a said project act as the project manager, it always ends up being an issue for time/part compatability/etc. Like I said nothing against any of my customers, but that part of things should be left to the professionals in my opinion. (and really, it's something that the customer is paying for anyway, so why not take advantage of it?) My 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted September 29, 2004 Author Share Posted September 29, 2004 Customer service is #1 in my mind, and ROSS just hit the mark... I sent him an e-mail Monday with a list of parts I needed ASAP and he held the order up to clear something up for me, and I STILL GOT IT TODAY! That, Boys and girls is CUSTOMER SERVICE... THANKS ROSS! Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 This project has been a little frustrating I personally think the 80/20 rule applies to EVERYTHING! You can plan and map out and diagram and whatever else you want to do for a project till you are blue in the face. But once you get started there is going to be something missed by you or someone else, OR plans change you see something and it's not right or you don't like the way it looks or works. You should expect these things to happen so when they do, it doesn't put a rut in your project or frustrate you and possibly affect the work. Take your time and enjoy it! You are lucky if you can get paid to do something you enjoy I am not so lucky but I would like to change that, I just have to find something that I enjoy and am good enough at that people will pay me for doing it MY $.02 By the way...Mike I am glad you guy's updated that car, it went from a solid 8 to a perfect 10!!! Looks awesome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted September 30, 2004 Author Share Posted September 30, 2004 Well it gets even better... I stopped by Express Auto and took a peek at some of their work. As luck would have it, they JUST finished up work on a cromoly cage in a Honda DelSol! The guy's gonna come by my house Monday evening and look at Jim's car... He basically said they would be glad to do the work, including the rebuild on the 355Chevy motor. So it looks like as soon as I'm done plumbing the brakes and re-installing the suspension, I'll be towing the car to Express and leaving it with them until the cage is done... AS SOON AS the cage is done, I'm taking MY CAR to them and having them put a cromoly cage in it as well... JIm's car will completely done sooner than he thought... I now need to rethink the parts list for the rest of the swap. We need a JTR install kit, and I'm gonna need to mod the trans tunnel and a few other things for mounting. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 3, 2004 Author Share Posted October 3, 2004 Well I'm happy to report that the car is back together and sitting on all four wheels... We have a small bit of brake plumbing left to work on the proportioning valve, but it is mounted and the lines routed through the firewall. We need taller springs for the coil overs, since they were adjusted to the max and we have only a half inch clearance between the fender flare and the top of the tire... Unfortunately Jamie was required to charge me for the strut shortening, since he had to use other facilities and they charged him to use their machines... But I'm glad he was there for me, and able to get the strut tubes shortened. For those who have thought about doing the R200 CV axle conversion, the procedure to shorten the CVs is CAKE... SIMPLE... BUTT SIMPLE... Took Doug and I about 30 minutes to do both.. Have a gear puller handy and remember to remove the snap ring first... More to come in the days ahead! We've now got Jim talked into a fuel cell and maybe a complete induction upgrade! This bad boy is gonna be sweet when it is done! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zfan Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Mike, That is one awsome, good looking car. Congrats on the great transformation. The best of both worlds Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 10, 2004 Author Share Posted October 10, 2004 JIm's car was shipped out to the fabricator's yesterday afternoon. I had a rollback come get it. They should have the car for several weeks doing the cage, rails/ pans, Fuel cell, and motor overhaul... We need to research some heads and cam packages for his 355 SBC... I'm all ears for recommendations. Ross properly educated me on the proper way to section struts for these particular Koni inserts. I was under a false assumption that these were VW or MR2 struts and NOT race cartridges proerly valved for the Z. After venting some of my frustrations on Ross, I had to eat a bit of crow about the whole process of sectioning... Glad he called, because I might well have set this thing up wrong on the struts... More to come in the weeks ahead. For now, I'm gonna throw some more siding on my garaqe to try and finish it off, and I'm gonna wstart working on a custom top hat design I've been researching for a while... I've got parts inhouse now to properly set everything up. If all goes well, i'll have something to take pics of to show you guys in the next week or two! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted October 11, 2004 Share Posted October 11, 2004 Mike you have a PM. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jims ScarabZ Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Gentlemen, Due to a technical snafu this is my first post in over three years... thanks for the help Mike....I have been able to read posts and have followed all of you with interest but not able to post. A brief update on my car featured in this thread, New floor pans and frame rails are almost complete, new Sparco Torino seats ready for installation, interior cage being installed, engine at machinists' for upgrades and refreshing as well as fuel injection, G-force 5speed transmission ready for install and all other suspension/tire/wheel issues overcome and ready for above completion. My dear thanks to Mikelly, Doug, Jamie, Pete, Ross and a host of others who have been giving of their time, efforts and expertise in helping with this project. PS - Mike claims that this car will be able to run away and hide from my 2003 Z06. Hope he is correct!!!!!! We all look forward to compeitive laps at Summit Point and VIR in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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