Jump to content
HybridZ

Mike Kelly's Zcar Project


Recommended Posts

Obviously, this is going to be a big shock to you. That's OK, let it.

 

When that's past, though, let it be the end of it.

 

Trust me, it's true. The one who raised you is your dad.

 

Consider the other side of the coin.

 

Without going into great detail, my relationship with my "Dad" was the opposite of yours.

 

I grew up in a household full of rage, violence, and neglect ....

 

and then there were the bad days.

 

I didn't speak to my "Dad" for over 10 years before he died, and I've never lost a day's sleep over it.

 

The thing that finally made me decide to free myself of him for good was a conversation I had with my sisters, where we really discussed what had gone on in our home for the first time. My oldest sister said: "Well, at least he never f*cked us". I sat there in stunned silence as I watched my mother and my other two sisters nodding their heads in agreement, unaware of the absurdity of being grateful that, at least he'd never raped us.

 

I marched upstairs right then and there, told him exactly what I thought of him, and never spoke to him again.

 

There's no question that my father was my father. I'm the spitting image of him. At least he as a good looking ash*ole. The thing is, I wish he hadn't been my father. I remember a huge ruckus when I went to Kindergarten and told the teacher I was adopted. Even at that young age, I wanted no part of him.

 

Years after I quit speaking to my father, I was sharing with a friend who'd had a remarkably similar upbringing to mine. He said: "That man wasn't my dad, he was just some assh*le who was in the room when my Mom got pregnant!" We laughed, but that joke has become a great truism to me.

 

Dude, where the sperm came from that created you is irrelevant. The man who gave you all that love is your Dad, regardless of whether he was your father, or not.

 

When I read your earlier posts, where you described some of the relationship you had with your Dad, I smiled and was happy for you. I was also very envious of you. You had a great Dad, period.

 

My old Uncle Elmo used to say: "Never leave a question mark where a period belongs." I say treasure the memories you have of your Dad, and let the rest go.

 

Just my .02

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quite the bomb Mike. I won't pretend to say I understand or can even imagine.

 

If you were a good friend of mine, I guess the question I'd ask is, "What does this change about who you are?" Identity is a big deal to me, and people generally don't realize that what they think about themselves makes a huge difference in how they tackle like and how genuinely satisfied they are with where they're at. So to me, knowing who your parents are and knowing what they bring to who you are is very important. All that said, I think as much as this all sucks to be dealing with now, you might end up finding some good in it at the end. You seem like a very solid self motivated man mike, and it seems you're the rare solid rock in your family. By however means, you've done a good job at figuring out who you want to be and have worked hard at becoming it. Unlike many you're not sitting around waiting for someone else to help you get to where you want to go. Usually when I see people like you, who seem to have their head on much straighter than those in the rest of their family, it's because they've done a great job of pulling the best out of those they grew up around and kept a teachable mentality.

 

The man that raised you sounds like a great man, and it sounds like you've taken a lot of good out of him and put him into your life. If you find out your birth father (if it IS a different man) was a lazy bum then it will just help you appreciate the man that raised you. If he IS a decent guy, then I'm positive you'll find a way to take some positive influence from him and be able to draw on that in your own life.

 

And as far as I'm concerned, this is one of the few forums a guy can be safe bringing something like this up without getting hammered too hard and get real heart felt opinion that don't cut down. I know we're not all perfect around here, but I think our cutout of the internet is far and away better than most. Thanks for being real Mike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to cars...

 

I finally got Justin's large carbon flares in. I'll start to fit them, maybe between now and next weekend.

 

I had the car running last night and it got pretty hot while idling. Don't really know "how" hot, since these autometer electric gauges are reading so far off... Probably was at 215-220 when I shut it down. I didn't notice anything "catastrophic" yet. We'll see... Oil leak is STILL present... Dripping off the bottom of the bellhousing. Since I'm pulling the intake for the FI intake system, I may go ahead and pop off the heads and double check all those plugs on the deck of the block... something is def. up...

 

What needs to be bought:

Better valve covers with baffels (*thought these were good?).

Mechanical oil and water temp gauges (Tired of guessing what they really are)

CCW Wheels (wider is better, right?)

FAST EFI system (Computer/harness)

 

I'm also trying to decide on the rest of the panels... I may change out the rear wing for a ZCC ZD/R style rear wing... Need to sort the rear hatch issue... Go fiberglass? Carbon?

 

And John Hines, You're 110% correct.. Thanks to all of you guys for your kind words... Been a hell of a month... Cars and my wife will get me thru this...

 

Mike

Edited by Mikelly
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry, Mike. One of the reasons it is taking me so long to get my car done is that we've had some tragedy here too, granted not nearly as much. We moved my in laws into assisted living fron Mississippi. Mother in law made it about 6 months and died a month ago, (stopped eating, got bed sores couldn't control her spit and basically drowned in her saliva)then two weeks later my father in law has a heart attack, but survives. He's really declined a lot. I spent today cleaning **** out of his carpet where he lost control, then stepped in it and tracked it through his apartment, but he didn't have the strength to clean it up or the confidence to tell us so that we could help. It won't be long before I'm having to physically carry him around because his legs are so weak. We are hoping to move him in with us, but my wife insists on having a room "renovated" instead of just moving him in-she seems to get distracted by trivial stuff. If I don't get the z-car done before he moves in, I'll have to move it to storage and shuttle parts and tools back and forth, because he'll get my side of the garage for his car. Life is not for the weak. I'm a doctor, so I'm supposed to be able to fix this stuff, right? I've seen what you can do with metal, I know you can do it with anything, even family stuff. It doesn't change or fix anything, but you are not alone. Alright, now back to cars....thank God we have that.

Edited by RebekahsZ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting ready to start the conversion back to fuel injection... Going to order the FAST efi XFi2 computer/harness with traction control and data logging. Also getting ready to section a pair of front struts about 2 inches to allow more front strut adjustment. Right now I can't get as much front travel with the current chapman strut tubes. I hope to tackle the cut/welding this weekend...

 

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got motivated today and welded in the tabs for the rear fuel cell surround panels. I should have that whole mess resolved soon. I'll need to order a couple more sheets of thin kydex to finish it off with.

 

Also found that I "think" I know where the oil leak is now coming from... After cleaning off the valve cover the other week and getting it all dried up, I ran the car last week, drove it and then parked it. Today I found the same drip on the lower bellhousing... But now, it's red. I've got to check inside the bellhousing to see if there is fluid inside. If there is, the trans front seal is leaking. If not, I'm clueless here...But hey atleast now I know that the minor oil leak was masking the color of the fluid. The oil leak issue is pretty much addressed, so I'm atleast down to not having to pull a head to resolve the last fluid leak...

 

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just started installing the Carbon "huge" fender flares I got from Justin... Quality is good overall... There are some "rub" marks on them, but my guess is they're going to get banged up on the track anyway...These things are freaking huge...I'll need those 12 inch wide CCWs for the rear!!

 

6e3e7de6.jpg

8c663555.jpg

167b9235.jpg

3dc5e108.jpg

 

Scratches in the clearcoat, will probably buff out...

3988b286.jpg

 

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took a wire transfer in "full" for the sale of the Spec Miata today.

 

So I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to give the datsun this season... This season, in full. I'm spending the money on CCW wheels, and then the efi upgrade, along with a coolsuit box and the fire system. If this car doesn't do two things in 2012, I'll be parting it out and moving on:

 

1. Perform reliably

 

2. Perform respectably

 

I'm down to my tow vehicle, daily driver (97 M3) and the Zcar. And contemplating selling my motorcycle...

 

I know some of you die-hard guys will be like "You have so much time in building it" and "Building it is the fun part". You're certainly allowed to have your opinions. I have morphed into someone who wants to drive their cars... I don't want to always wonder if the thing is going to start, stay running, or fail for yet another unknown reason. I'm a track day guy who wants to be competitive lapping in the groups he runs with. It's less about the car and more about the driving. I also want to be able to continue improving my driving, and you can't do that if you're troubleshooting in the pits... Spending more good money after bad to prove that you can make something work was fun, when I was younger... Now, at 45 my priorities have changed... So the Datsun gets one last season to prove to me that she can be reliable and competitive.

 

Mike

Edited by Mikelly
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm guilty of theft... I stole all four CCW wheels off Jim's Zcar... I couldn't help it... I couldn't look at my car with those beautiful, but empty fender wells...

 

8922720f.jpg

9bf8e021.jpg

37511852.jpg

b0b1554c.jpg

c86f3fd1.jpg

ed9d19e6.jpg

fac56f51.jpg

2edf6bed.jpg

 

Really Digging these CCWs...

 

Mike

Edited by Mikelly
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...