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Mike Kelly's Zcar Project


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Awesome news, Mike!   Don't worry about the people who are downers or doubters.  They're probably not doing just sitting.

I agree - a stock block should be fine for 600HP.

Are you doing the teardown/assembly yourself?   That's my favorite part of this "hobby"

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I've been following for years as well. You do great work and this is probably like feedback in general....if no one says anything you are doing well but then it just takes those one or two knuckle heads to ruin it for everyone else who enjoy seeing your updates here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Brief update on the motor fiasco...

 

The LS motor that was sold to me turned out not to be what I bought and what the company stated as being delivered.  When we opened up the motor to disassemble it the Callies Compstar crank and rods were NOT in the motor.   Further evidence of something being amiss and something I clearly overlooked was the block.  Turns out it was an LS2, not what was sold to me as an LS3.  The block was shipped to a company in Texas who agreed to take it as a core for $400, assuming it was an LS3.  Once they got the block in and inspected it, they were able to confirm that this block was a remanufactured piece and that it had lived a hard life before it even got to me.  They were able to show small cracks throughout the block.

 

So what does all this mean to me?  The company that sold me the motor has owned up to the rod/crank swap.  They are sending me new crank and rods in exchange for the EAGLE components that were in the motor.  They will not make amends on the block, claiming that was not their issue and that they have no idea how the motor was treated when it left their facility. 

 

So I'm now out $100 shipping on the block to Texas, plus $400 savings for the core, along with now needing pistons and rings.  I don't anticipate having a motor put together before May at the earliest and that means we won't have this car sorted and being on the track until later this year. 

 

I have had several members ask me offline the name of the company.  At this time I am not prepared to disclose that information.  I would prefer to have all dealings with them complete before I get to the next chapter in this saga.

Mike

Edited by Mikelly
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This wasn't an EBAY purchase.  Not even close.  And that comment/assumption right there, that's the kind of thing that gets me fired up...Thanks for the reminder of why I have avoided posting for the last 3 weeks!!

Edited by Mikelly
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I'm glad to see you posting again, i'm sorry for your troubles. I wish I could pitch in and help somehow. If you ever need some obscure bolt or part for an LS let me know I've been saving left over parts from the ones at work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Block is being machined, Pistons crank and rods are allegedly being shipped out this week.  I hope to have all parts in house within the next two weeks so I can get moving on putting this motor back together.

 

Mike

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...or a thick wad of cash.  If the car can run well and be reliable at the track, I will move to sell it by October.  My run with this one is over and I need to move on with the rest of my short life.

 

Mike

Edited by Mikelly
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Mike, I am looking forward to seeing you get happy about your dedicated track car, once you get back with your true track love - a dedicated track Porsche!  I doubt very much that you'll miss the Z once you are behind another P-car steering wheel!  The S30 is a cool platform to mod and build.  But it's nothing like starting with a good Porsche platform that was meant to be tracked when it was first being designed.  The S30s seem to be going up in price, even the modified ones.  The idea of selling mine and buying Sasha Grey (not the porn star) and having a dedicated built-for-the-track S30 is enticing, but I'd need to come up with too much coin to make it happen.

 

Just wait until Porcshe figures out what is causing the 2014 911 to spontaneously combust!:  http://blog.axisofoversteer.com/2014/02/991-gt3s-are-so-hot-they-are-catching.html

Edited by pparaska
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  • 2 weeks later...

It has nothing to do with GM/Chevy motors.  I've owned Datsuns (22 of them) since 1987 and I've had Datsun motors shyte the bed too.  There are a whole host of LS motors that have run many many thousands of miles.  My C5 Corvette was a fine example of a car will with over 120K miles on it when the motor finally let go on the racetrack due to a broken rod bolt.  120K miles of hard driving... No this was a different kind of failure.  Much like the last motor, it boils down to assembly.  Both were assembled by people I "trusted" to do a good job, and both failed me.

 

Bittersweet seeing it cone together for me. Glad you'll be happy but sad to see you go. Maybe staying away from Chevy/GM motors if you ever venture back over.

Edited by Mikelly
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Mike I want to let you know how much I appreciate the content you have added to HZ. 

 

I too have noticed this shift in this thread. It seems like every time you make a post you are then defending or justifying everything you have done. It is the sort of internet culture where people make snap judgement that they "wouldn't have done that", "this is the right way", "What you need to do is (insert unsubstantiated opinion)". I believe that this culture is partially responsible for the nose dive in content here on HZ. Building a car is hard enough, taking the time to photograph is and then post it with such detailed descriptions is nothing short of amazing. Then to receive negativity form people is just silly. HybirdZ is supposed to be about taking the alternate approach, making it work and sharing your results. We have a lot to lean from each others successes and failures. The arm chair critics should withhold comment. Actually doing something is a lot harder than you might imagine, give it a try. Mikelly is not the first content adder to be pushed away. If this board that is more than 300 duplicate posts of "will these wheels fit, I'm too lazy to figure it out", we need people like this. 

A bit a rant, but these is some truth in there. 

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I can only second what LLave has expressed.  I've been following Mike Kelly posts  for over 12 years now, including that period of time he went dark on us :-), and have learned a lot. There's that old saying: "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all."  Wise words.

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