Chris Hammondhttp://www.chrishammond.comRSS Feed for Chris Hammond120Vista Release Installed at homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/653/vista-release-installed-at-homeWell, I spent most of the day today doing a few things around the house. First, I took the good wheels off the Tahoe and put the stock wheels and tires back on. I figured that with Winter upon us I'd rather leave the shiney wheels down in the basement. While I was changing the wheels I had Vista installing on my machine again. I used the same machine that I had RC1/RC2 installed on, but this time I started over, as I had done with RC1, but not RC2. I installed Vista fresh on this machine. Everything is great so far. I installed Office Pro, Live Messenger, and a few other things. One of those other items is Windows Live Writer. I hadn't tried it out before (yes, I know, I'm behind). This is my first post with it, I'm not yet sure how I feel about it, but we'll see. Hope this post works, otherwise I may never try it again. As for the Vista machine, I've made the switch, I imported my 1.1gig PST file over to this machine, and setup most of my email accounts on it, so I'll be using this machine for all my email, development now. What's left? To get ZUNE working with Vista, then I'll be all set! Once that happens I'll also install Vista on my laptop, the 64bit version of course. Technorati tags: Vista, Zune, Office, Cars Posted from...Mon, 20 Nov 2006 02:21:25 GMTe8dbf2c2-311f-4fe7-a1b6-18972aad79f3Lamborghini Reventon unveiledhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/925/lamborghini-reventon-unveiled   Lamborghini Reventon Lamborghini upped the ante on absurd car prices when it unveiled the Reventon sports car in Geneva Tuesday. Volkswagen's supercar subsidiary will produce just 20 of these cars for sale to "friends and collectors" at a price of 1 million euros each. That's almost $1.4 million. The exterior of the 650-horsepower car is made entirely of carbon fiber laid over a carbon fiber and steel frame. Inside, the Reventon's instrument panel, modeled after that in a modern jet, is made up of three customizable liquid crystal displays. a G-force display show longitudinal forces in a 3-dimensional image. The Reventon is named for the bull that killed Felix Guzman, a renowned bullfighter, in 1943.   More photos of the Reventon available from...Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:13:00 GMTda0535d8-3123-47d1-b01b-d50847dd9635Bugatti Veyron in St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1050/bugatti-veyron-in-st-louisSo it's snowing here in St. Louis today, for STL it's quite a bit, the roads are slick, dusted, with more coming down. What better thing to do at lunch then to drive out to see a 1.6 million dollar car! The local Bentley Dealer had a Bugatti Veyron sitting in the building so Rich, Henry and I headed over to check it out. I brought the camera with me today as I had hoped to make the treck out there. Here are some of the Veyron photos I took. Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:59:11 GMT002bb663-60e5-4f68-8cfe-09bee006ca8323 t-bucket for salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1680/23-tbucket-for-sale<p>A friend of the family is selling his 23 t-bucket. I've got some pictures that I took tonight, I'll get them posted over the next few days. Stay tuned if you're looking for a T-bucket that is in great shape with low miles.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157612937676852/">Pictures are available here on my Flickr stream</a></p>Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:15:58 GMT443d35ab-6201-4d52-95dc-3880306073dbWhat&rsquo;s going on this week?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2285/whatrsquos-going-on-this-week<p>So where I Chris at? I’m doing this all week!</p> <p><a title="What I'm doing this week" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17726343@N00/6095588258/"><img border="0" alt="What I'm doing this week" src="http://static.flickr.com/6207/6095588258_11a0abcc25.jpg" /></a></p> <p>I’m at the 2011 SCCA Tire Rack Solo National Championships in Lincoln Nebraska. Stay tuned to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157627551307852/with/6095587688/">Flickr</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/christoc">YouTube</a> for videos and photos from throughout the week!</p> <iframe height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_F6XSXpTM4" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:13:47 GMT22ecd6f2-6a73-4057-814a-1126862edb99A quick personal updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/967/a-quick-personal-updateSo you might have seen all the DotNetNuke posts lately, but what about just a Chris and Natalie post? Well here it goes! (you can follow along with some of the photos here on Flickr) Natalie and I had a blast in Las Vegas this past week. We went on the 3rd, a day before her Birthday. Her parents came out on the 3rd as well so we got to spend time with them for a few days before the DNN conference started up. During those few days we went and saw "KA" at the MGM, took a trip out to the Hoover Dam. After the Hoover Dam we took a quick jaunt North of Las Vegas looking for Red Rock, only to figure out an hour north that Red Rock was actually West of Las Vegas, so we turned around and headed back towards LV. It turned out perfect though, our little detour had delayed us enough to see the most brilliant sunset I've ever seen from Red Rock. Monday I had a DNN Core Team lunch, and then came back to the hotel to go with Natalie and meet Rich and Henry (two owners of Engage Software) and their wives for dinner and drinks. We repeated that process on Tuesday evening after the conference as well. Wednesday evening Natalie and I went to a gathering of people at Mix In Las Vegas, the restaurant on the 64th floor of "THEHotel" which is attached to the Mandalay Bay. The dinner was great and I must once again thank Tracy from www.t-worx.com for the most excellent evening. Thursday evening a large group of us, 17, got together for dinner. We met up in the bar at the Mandalay Bay and then decided to take Taxis down to the Venetian. Somehow we all actually made it to the same place and got to eat dinner together at one restaurant. It was a great time and I got to talk to Erik quite a bit, hopefully talking him into trying to get me to speak at SDC in the Netherlands next September! One can only hope :) Friday Natalie and I took off by ourselves for once. We went to Grand Canyon West, with the main goal of getting out onto the SkyWalk (www.grandcanyonskywalk.com). It was roughly 120 miles from the hotel, though took 2.5 hours as there was 14 miles of dirt/gravel road. The funny thing (well one of them) about the road, this 14 mile stretch was County maintained, as soon as we got to the Indian reservation grounds the road became paved... We were in Minivan for the trip, it was what you might call dirty at the end of the day. Lucky for the Minivan it didn't have a handbrake, just a footbrake/e-brake, otherwise I would have had an easier time getting the tail end of the car to swing out around the corners. We had a good time at Grand Canyon West, even though I have a little beef with the operation they have running there. The SkyWalk is very cool, and you essentially have to pay $79/person to get out on the SkyWalk. They don't allow you to take any personal items out there, for fear of you dropping them on the glass, or worse over the edge into the Canyon below. So you can't take a camera out there with you, they of course will gladly take your photo for you and sell it to you for $25/each. We ended up buying 2 photos, so we got the third one free. But they can only print them, not give them to you on CD, or even email them to you. The prints weren't what I would acll the highest of quality. I'm hoping I can email the staff there and try to get better quality photos from them. Friday evening we returned back to Vegas and went to see "O" at the Bellagio. It was another great show, definitely worth the investment to go see if you're in Vegas anytime soon. Saturday morning we headed back to the airport and flew back to St. Louis. We got home around 7pm and pretty much crashed. Sunday I headed out with Nick and went hunting. It might be deer season here in Missouri but I was hunting bugs, one particular blue one that I hear rumored to still be around Alton Illinois. Our hunt was not fruitful, we didn't find my old Super Beetle, but I will keep hunting. Sunday evening we joined Dominique and Colby for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to...Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:49:00 GMT03edd252-6f14-4467-8170-b3f30c6538d3Developer charity, Collared shirts for Will Strohlhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2282/developer-charity-collared-shirts-for-will-strohl<p>If you don’t know <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/Blogs/tabid/825/BlogID/239/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Will Strohl</a>, you are one of the lucky ones. He’s an annoying guy, a total lunatic when it comes to <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">DotNetNuke</a>, but even that can’t fix his flaws.</p> <p>You can however help fix one of the flaws of the “Mighty” Will Strohl. Will has a problem, he can’t afford collared shirts. Seriously. if you’ve ever met him you know this.</p> <p>Check out this public service announcement for Will.</p> <iframe height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j-6_vr6j7Bo" frameborder="0" width="425" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <p>Now, here’s a challenge for you, two of them actually.</p> <p>1) Bring your un-needed collared shirts (size XL) to <a href="http://dotnetnukeworld.dotnetnuke.com/" target="_blank">DotNetNuke World</a> in Orlando in Florida. Will needs them.</p> <p>2) Make your own video for Will! Actually, provide your own audio track. I created the video and audio in about 30 minutes. I’m looking for people who can come up with a better audio track for the video, come up with something funny, something sad, something crazy, I don’t care! Just <a href="http://cjh.am/strohlc" target="_blank">download the original WMV file</a> (right click, save as) for the video and remove the audio, add your own. Then upload it to YouTube or Vimeo, and tweet the link to the video with #Collars4Will in the message. <a title="http://cjh.am/strohlc" href="http://cjh.am/strohlc">http://cjh.am/strohlc</a></p> <p>Disclaimer: this video was generated out of necessity, <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/25425463" target="_blank">check out the video that Will made for me a while back</a>.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dnndaily/~4/W8czdKEF68w" height="1" width="1"/>Chris HammondWed, 17 Aug 2011 15:53:53 GMTe6ab7408-25d7-4657-9dcf-dca291d2d66dDJ Danger Mouse's the Grey Albumhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/94/dj-danger-mouses-the-grey-albumInteresting mix of Jay Z and the Beatles. A friend of mine pointed this out today. It's available for download at http://www.illegal-art.org/audio/grey.html “DJ Danger Mouse remixed the vocals from Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' White Album and called his creation The Grey Album. He sent about 3,000 promo copies out, and was soon served with a cease-and-desist notice from EMI, who owns the rights to the White Album master. Danger Mouse complied with EMI's order, but Stay Free! (sponsors of the Illegal Art Exhibit) and other fans and activists continued distributing the record over the Internet. EMI sent legal threats to many of us as well but has since backed down, at least for the time being. Just when we think our legal troubles are behind us, SONY/ATV -- who owns the rights to the Beatles' compositions -- sends our internet service provider (ISP) a DMCA takedown notice (3/1/2004). Fortunately, we have secured legal representation from the EFF and Kurt Opsahl, and have moved our website to the Online Policy Group, a nonprofit ISP devoted to free speech. Here is our response to Sony/ATV. Stay tuned!...Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:00:00 GMT1222c4d5-2625-4eac-be71-e3961922e2b3DotNetNuke Daily Tip #11 7/20/06 Upgrade to DNN 4.3.3!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/536/dotnetnuke-daily-tip-11-72006-upgrade-to-dnn-4This will be the last DNN Daily Tip for the week. I'm headed to Denver tomorrow for a race this weekend and meetings with a client on Monday, so I'll likely not post again until I return. What's today's tip? It's a special one ;) Upgrade to the latest version of DotNetNuke, 4.3.3/3.3.3! The 4.3.3 package dropped late yesterday afternoon and DotNetNuke.com was upgraded to this "final release" early this morning. What is the 3.3.3 release? It's basically the same release as 4.3.3 but for the .Net 1.1 Framework, 4.3.3 is for the 2.0 platform. Some of the items that the 4.3.3/3.3.3 release include. If you're not running on the 2.0 framework yet, I'd highly recommend looking into it. I've started moving all of my sites over from 1.1 to 2.0 with the latest few releases of DNN. Membership ManagementCAPTCHA - add the ability to display a small image with embedded text which bots can not read. Prevents brute force dictionary login attacks.Login Redirect - after login there is now a way to redirect a user to a specific pagePassword Generation - the ability for an admin to automatically generate a secure password for a user on account creationHttpContext - eliminate dependence on HttpContextPublic Registration - the system sends an email to the user on public registration ( to prevent cases where another user registers with their email address )Profile Change Notification - when any profile attribute is changed, the owner of the account is notified ( using the original email address ). This is to alert people in the event that an unauthorized user has gained access to their account and made changes to their profile ( password, email ). User Account Creation Notification - when an admin creates a user account they have an option to send the account details to the userForce Profile Update - ability to force a user to update their user profileForce Password Change - ability to force a user to change their passwordPassword Complexity - added the ability to define some passord complexity requirements ( ie. mixed upper/lower case, numeric and alpha-numeric, etc... )Display Name Field - the membership schema stores the DisplayName of the user for demographic purposes - this item is critical for international users where their name is not represented as "FirstName LastName". Modules should link to the DisplayName for audit purposes rather than using FirstName and LastName.Preserve Login Parameters - when a user is directed to the login screen, the system retains the original url ( with parameters ) so that it can redirect back after successful login ( especially useful in nested module UIs like Forum )Logout Behavior - after logging out, the user remains on the same page rather than being redirected to the home page ( the only reason they are being redirected now is because they may no longer have access to the page because of roles - but this is largely unnecessary and is handled other ways ).Automated Verified Registration URL - the email sent to user when using he Verified Registration process now contains a URL which a user can click to very quickly validate their accountUser Lockout Notification - enhance the user lockout ( 3 unsuccessful logins ) to send an email to the admin to notify them of the event Role ManagementEffective Date - effective date is used to specify when a role becomes active ( we already had ExpiryDate which specifies when role access terminates )RSVP code - this is a code which can be assigned to a role which would allow a user to obtain access to thge role if they entered the RSVP value. A use case would be an administrator working with a group of users could send them an RSVP code which they could then enter on the site to get instant access, rather than the admin having to assign the users to roles manuallyAvatar field - the administrator should be able to associate an avatar to a role.Role Groups - administration mechanism to group roles within the same portal to provide a faster, easier way to...Thu, 20 Jul 2006 09:45:00 GMTb59d4867-a4ef-4283-8679-5d21f988109adriving home from el torohttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2157/driving-home-from-el-toroMmm so here I am driving home from el toro and I realize they 100 up by blogging every day this year I need to get a blog post done I don't have a computer handy so I need to go ahead you the audio features on my android phone I meant to get the blog post done today while I was at the event site but I was unable to do so today watch football have to do for day 103 165 I will go back and edit this blog post to accurately convert the proper word on day 101 but for now you have to try to translate what google really thought I meant verses what I actually saidChris HammondSun, 10 Apr 2011 23:00:46 GMT0399a042-fdb7-4959-b43d-b5d8806d76e5Electrical Gremlins solved!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1855/electrical-gremlins-solved<p> So the big scary electrical gremlins in the Audi were an easy fix. The ignition key gets stuck a little too far forward sometimes, so as long as everytime I start the car I turn the key back in the running position everything works fine! Yay for the easy fixes.</p> <div style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.4; "> <p>I thought the car was burning oil, when we got it it was 2qts low, then yesterday the oil light came on so I threw some in quickly. Today I got the oil changed (for free with a coupon, score) and they did a minor inspection of the car, found an oil leak. They want $220 to replace the oil pan gasket. Yeah right, I'm not spending that! I'll do it myself sometime soon. Also need to get that windshield replaced soon too, but I think I might try to last through winter.</p> </div>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 17 Nov 2009 15:47:43 GMT91dc38e7-f05b-484f-891c-f9359d77fc76Interest in Politicshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1125/interest-in-politics<p>As some of you may know, I have political aspirations sometime in my future. I don't know what, or how far I want to go, but I've always managed to keep myself clean and without skeletons in my closet so that I could ultimately run for office some day.</p> <p>The older I get the more I have this desire. Today I'm sitting here listening to CNN.com's audio feed of the Supreme Court's discussion of the ban on handguns in Washington DC. This is some interesting stuff. I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment and believe that it is everyone's right to own firearms. Listening to the discussion about the issue at hand is very interesting. I've honestly never listened to such a debate before, it leads me to think: I probably need to take some debate classes if I really want to pursue politics in the near future.</p>Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:37:31 GMTa6153030-1a56-477d-8ac7-f3d4feaa9c9fIt runs, twice and there&rsquo;s audio/video proof!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1773/it-runs-twice-and-therersquos-audiovideo-proof<p>So tonight after work I came home to get the starter out of the car and took it back to Autozone, fortunately the lifetime warranty was honored! Though I did have to run off to the Autozone Hub to get the replacement starter. The guy at the hub was kind of lost, but he eventually got everything worked out and I headed home with the new (remanufactured) starter.</p> <p>So the last starter started off working, but after a few days just started spinning without engaging the flywheel, no grinding either. This one, once all wired up worked like a champ. I even got the car started up for a minute or so. I did all this without hooking up the computer, so I didn’t want to spend too much time keeping it running. </p> <p>So now was the time, time to hookup the laptop and get the video camera out and record the car actually running! Well I am proud to say it was successful, here’s the video below.</p> <p><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yDbK33E7Tfw&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yDbK33E7Tfw&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></p>Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:37:25 GMTa46b1ac2-aaa8-43ab-b118-38b2aa206258Listen to the El Toro ProSolo Livehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2155/listen-to-the-el-toro-prosolo-live<p>So today I did some testing with UStream and the FM Audio Broadcast at the El Toro ProSolo. I think I managed to come up with a way to broadcast the announce stream out on the internet (audio only) using UStream.</p> <p>I setup a new “Channel” for the ProSolo on Ustream, we’ll see how it works out tomorrow, but if you want, give it a listen by going to (only active during competition, and if it works)</p> <p><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prosolo">http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prosolo</a></p> <p>This is completely unofficial, and if it goes down it goes down, no promises that it will work! </p> <p>Between the live audio and <a href="http://sololive.scca.com">http://sololive.scca.com</a> you might be able to feel like you are actually in El Toro being miles away! The event is supposed to start at 9am, we’ll see how things work out.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 09 Apr 2011 00:44:21 GMTb4d982cf-dc1d-40eb-8bb9-5ce370710db8Movie night? Scratch that, fight nighthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1281/movie-night-scratch-that-fight-nightNatalie and I were planning on heading off tonight to see Indiana Jones, but ran into a wall. We both crashed and fell asleep after a long day. I woke up and now am getting caught up on a the Elite XC fight that I set to record tonight on CBS. This is a first for MMA as they have a national audience on network TV. It will be interesting to see what the response is.Sat, 31 May 2008 22:42:45 GMTbb138fe7-bc5f-4e85-9303-e9960058dd3eSaturday Atlanta Tour Results, short editionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1251/saturday-atlanta-tour-results-short-editionChris Hammond, 5th place after day 1. Woulda been 4th in final trophy spot but had a cone call on the corner sheets that no one knew about till audit. Still not far back from 4th, 2 tenths maybe. Going out to dinner with the guy in 4th tonight, plan, get him wasted.Sat, 24 May 2008 17:46:05 GMTc9b1d478-d3a4-4ee0-a423-c8cdf50fd787Shaun’s Keynote at OpenForce 09https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1914/shauns-keynote-at-openforce-09<p>9:18AM: I’ll be updating this blog post as I can throughout Shaun’s Keynote, so refresh the page to see if you have the latest info! Shaun’s Keynote starts in 45 minutes (10am PST) so I’ll come back at that time and start adding content as he spits it out.</p> <p>10:02AM: Shaun is up on stage getting ready to start. I’m recording, or attempting to, using my recorder to try to post the audio for the session tonight on <a href="http://www.dnnvoice.com/" target="_blank">DNNVoice.com</a></p> <p>Agenda: Project Review, Product Roadmap, DNN Corp Overview, Embracing Industry Trends, Community Choice Awards</p> <p> </p> <p>From here I’m not posting “times” from the post, but everything is in order.</p> <p><strong>Project Review</strong></p> <p>870k downloads (DNN CE) 2009</p> <p>All time downloads 4.95 Million</p> <p>DotNetNuke.com registered users 740k, up from 625k this time last year</p> <p>Production websites running on DotNetNuke (estimate) 500k</p> <p>Estimated 12k new websites deployed monthly</p> <p>Conferences: OF EU 10/09, OF NA 11/09</p> <p>Publications: # of books released in the past year</p> <p>Packt Publishing: 2008 Best Overall Open Source CMS 3rd place, 2009 Results soon</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Product Review</strong></p> <p>12 Public releases in 2009, 7 in 2008</p> <p>4.X platform releases over the past year. 4.X end of life’d in September, all new releases are DNN 5 (personal note, you should be on DNN 5.1.4 now! it rocks)</p> <p>5.X 7 releases in the past year. Working on 5.2</p> <p>5.1 (released 07/09) Feature enhancements, Content Versioning/Approval, web request caching provider, Google Analytics support, Site Health Monitoring, Extended Permissions, Application Integrity checker, Management UI console, Core Entity Auditing (some of those features were specifically for PS)</p> <p>Future current release, 5.2, Module and Page Output caching provider, Scheduler Enhancements, Tab Settings API, Portal and Page Template Serialization Improvements, Module Developer Productivity Enhancements, Content Localization API Foundation, Commercial Web Control Suite Integration <strong>PUBLIC RELEASE NEXT WEEK</strong></p> <p>5.3 Features – Abstract Folder Provider (for use potentially with things like sharepoint, amazon s3, azure, other types of items). Need to enhance messaging, storage, delivery providers. Search Engine overhaul. Portal Groups – allowing portals to share authentication. Content Localization within the UI. UI/UX improvements. Google Sitemap Extensibility, Improved User Profile Display and Field Types Goal Q1 2010</p> <p>Longer term roadmap – Improved install experience. Enterprise Content Staging/Publishing (yay). Social Networking (Tagging, Taxonomy, etc). Document Management. Improved Foundational Core Modules. Contemporary Data Access Layer (ie. ORM). Friendlier URLS and SEO Optimizations. Enterprise Logging Provider. Clustered Caching Provider. New and Enhanced Authentication providers, much more. Planned Quarterly releases schedule</p> <p><strong>Corporation Overview</strong></p> <p>Vision, provide the most deployed, valuable, and cost-effective web app framework in the world</p> <p>Investors AugustCapital and Sierra Ventures, Series A financing 11/08. </p> <p>Business Growth: Multiple office locations, Australia, UK/Ireland, Vancouver BC, Silicon Valley</p> <p>Commercial Product: Needed to provide support to business customers. PE is CE with value added wrapper, support, and features.</p> <p>Professional Edition Benefits: Exclusive product features, unlimited tech support, Network Services, Documentation and Knowledge base, Annual Product Subscription</p> <p>Elite Edition Benefits: Live telephone support, priority management of trouble tickets, guaranteed 2 hours support response time, extended support house. Installation/upgrade assistance, Source Code Access to PE features</p> <p>Elite Premier Edition: Deployments of 5 or more product instances, increased indemnification, flexible contract terms</p> <p><em><strong>Number of licensed customers today 250 </strong></em></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Commercial Roadmap</strong></p> <p>Community, <strong>Express</strong>, Professional, Enterprise. </p> <p>Express, Very small business, less than 20 employees, 2 web based support tickets annually, single portal. same features as CE. Sometime in 2010</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>DNN Corp Strategic Accomplishments</strong></p> <p>Acquisition of Snowcovered, Brice is up on Stage. </p> <p>Partnership with Telerik for use of controls, Rad Controls for ASP.NET Ajax. Rich Text Editors, Grid Controls, bundled with DNN 5.2, more UI overhauls will utilize more features in future releases.</p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Industry Trends</strong></p> <p>Things that DNN wants to do</p> <p>Integrating product and channel, PAAS, platform as a service. Provide a seemless way to integrate DNN and Snowcovered, within your DNN installs. </p> <p>Cloud infrastructure amazon and azure.</p> <p>Empowering productivity developer</p> <p>Mobile devices</p> <p>Rich Internet Applications</p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Community Choice Awards</strong></p> <p>Best Overall and Best Informational Site – Rehab.com</p> <p>Most Creative/Original Site – SilkRoadProject.org </p> <p>Best E-commerce Site- SakeSocial</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>More coming</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dnndaily/~4/W1iWHdaDyqI" height="1" width="1"/>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 10 Nov 2009 12:18:41 GMTf701c940-b520-4ed3-8743-7d6a1b3843ffSt. Louis Day of .Net 2010https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1951/st-louis-day-of-net-2010<p>So last year, shortly after I moved from St. Louis to Denver, I went back to St. Louis to present at the 2nd St. Louis Day of .Net. Now, having moved from Colorado to California I’m headed back to St. Louis again. Once again presenting at the <a href="http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com/Home.aspx" target="_blank">St. Louis Day of .Net</a>, August 20-21, 2010. I will be presenting my crowd favorite DotNetNuke Best Practices session, the same one, possibly tweaked a bit, I delivered in <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/EntryId/2612/Toronto-DotNetNuke-User-Group-Report.aspx" target="_blank">Toronto in May</a>. This session always seems to go over well with DNN people, old and new alike. </p> <p>There are a few other “big name” DotNetNuke speakers who are also rumored to be attending and submitting sessions for this year’s Day of .Net. They are still taking speaker submissions (deadline unknown?), so if you want to present a DotNetNuke session be sure to <a href="http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com/Speakers.aspx" target="_blank">get your submissions in quick</a>! </p> <p>If you aren’t up for speaking at the event you can still attend! What good are speakers if there is no audience? Get working on your boss/employer now, start the thought process of getting them to pay for the event. At the $125 price you are going to see a plethora of great sessions about DotNetNuke and other great topics.</p> <p>If you can get away from work for the event (it’s actually a two day event) I highly encourage you to check out the St. Louis Day of .Net. </p> <p>You can find more info about the event at <a href="http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com">http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com</a>, be sure to check out their website, guess what it runs on? DotNetNuke of course! (Site designed and developed by <a href="http://cuongdang.net">Cuong Dang</a> of <a href="http://r2integrated.com">R2integrated</a>.)</p><br /><a href=http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/EntryId/2684/St-Louis-Day-of-Net-2010.aspx>More ...</a><div class="tags">Tags: DotNetNuke,St. Louis,Day of .NET,STLDoDN,DNN,Conference,Trip,Sessions,Best Practices</div><div class="category">Category: <a href=http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/CatID/14/Default.aspx>Events</a></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dnndaily/~4/zjOcjQt18ao" height="1" width="1"/>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 07 Jul 2010 01:42:55 GMT8e96f7df-eeff-47de-aa2e-43433938daf7Starting up OpenForce 09, Tuesday Morninghttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1913/starting-up-openforce-09-tuesday-morning<p>So OpenForce 09 is starting up. Scott Guthrie (The Gu) is doing his ASP.NET 4.0/VS 2010 presentation, the main keynote for Tuesday morning here in Las Vegas.</p> <p>Most everyone got to Vegas yesterday and immediately those of us on Twitter started to locate each other and get together to say hello to old friends, meet new ones, and get some food! For those of you who have never been to the west coast, you may not have ever heard of In-N-Out Burger. It’s a chain, I believe all owned by the same family, primarily in California, though there are a few locations in Arizona, Nevada and one in Utah. I organized a gathering to head over to the one not far from the hotel Monday at noon. Unfortunately I spent Monday morning here in Vegas at a dentist due to some pain that started as soon as I got off the plane. The rest of the guys met up and caught a cab or two over to In-N-Out for lunch, I was able to catch a cab from the dentist and meet up with everyone who made it over there for lunch.</p> <p>I had a great time introducing everyone to the wonders of In-n-Out, I’m not sure if they liked the food or not, but I sure did. I try to make it there at least once every time I come to Vegas for OpenForce. After that we walked back to the hotel, catching up on everyone’s happenings since the last time we were together. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting checked into the conference and locating people as they arrived for the week. I don’t know how many people are actually registered for the DNN side of the conference but most of my friends are here, so I’m enjoying the people. That is why I actually love the conferences, the people, catching up, meeting new, and just geeking out over things with everyone else.</p> <p>Monday night some of us met up and went to Burger Bar for dinner. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4093223140/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_1821" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/4093223140_b22a0e6919_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a> If you want to see what everyone is doing this week be sure to check out Twitter, you can search for the hash tag #OpenForce as a lot of us are tweeting about events and such.</p> <p>This is the first day for the conference, things are just getting started, as they do I’ll post more (assuming I can get a solid internet connection). I may end up playing with a new toy I got this week, a Motorola Droid, to see if I can use that for my internet connection here at the conference, with 2500 people at the conference the free Wiki right now isn’t holding up to well. Which could become an issue for me during my presentation tomorrow about interacting with Facebook using DNN. We’ll see how that goes ;)</p> <p>Shaun’s keynote starts at 10am PST, so I’ll try to blog again during/after that session to let people know about all the new announcements! Stay tuned for some cool things.</p> <p>You can get more media from openforce at <a href="http://openforce.r2ismash.com">http://openforce.r2ismash.com</a> </p> <p>Also be sure  to check out our DNNVoice Podcast later tonight, I’m going to be doing audio blurbs from people here at OpenForce throughout the day and trying to get a short file uploaded each night. Not a full blown podcast like Tom and I try to do (somewhat frequently). We’ll see how the internet connection holds out for that as well!</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dnndaily/~4/fGcujkgKul0" height="1" width="1"/>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 10 Nov 2009 11:52:38 GMT73705c25-f000-4548-93d3-97e16c98367cTime lapse video from the garage salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1749/time-lapse-video-from-the-garage-sale<p>So here’s the time lapse video from yesterday’s garage sale. No audio, so turn up your Zune software if you need music to go along with it, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dnb%255Fss%255Fgw%26field-keywords%3Dzune%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=chrishammondc-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">what, you don’t have a Zune? You should!</a><img border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; margin: 0px; border-top-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=chrishammondc-20&l=ur2&o=1" /></p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_dkhviAlcw?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span></p> <p>What do you think? I think I need to get a power cord for the camera (if they make one) to prevent the times where I missed video because the battery ran out and I had to switch.</p> <p>UPDATE: apparently I did add audio to it... uhhhh</p>Sun, 10 May 2009 23:58:53 GMT7e8a3d01-ad3e-445c-b84e-f8a2803f5939To blog or not to bloghttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2158/to-blog-or-not-to-blog<p>So here we are at day 101, I have to keep going!</p> <p>Today’s blog is going to be to “correct” the blog posted last night. I used google voice transcription to post, and it didn’t exactly get what I wanted. First you should <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2157/driving-home-from-el-toro.aspx" target="_blank">read the original post over here</a>.</p> <p>And here’s what I really said</p> <blockquote> <p>“Hmmmm so here I am driving home from El Toro and I realize that it is day 100 of blogging every day this year I need to get a blog post done. I don't have a computer handy so I need to go ahead and use the audio features on my android phone. I meant to get the blog post done today while I was at the event site but I was unable to do so today, so I have to get day 100 of 365 done. I will go back and edit this blog post to accurately convert the proper word on day 101 but for now you have to try to translate what google really thought I meant verses what I actually said”</p></blockquote>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:18:38 GMTe7892ee8-794b-4fc5-b5e2-4eb667a5f73eWe made it on TVhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/787/we-made-it-on-tvWell Natalie, Auntie Carol and I made it on TV tonight. We went down to Fenway to get a few Red Sox jackets today. We figured it would be easier to buy them today rather than fighting the opening day crowds tomorrow. After the jackets we went into the ticket office because Carol wanted to try to find some printed schedules. On our way out of the ticket office the guy from Channel 5 news was there, I made eye contact with him and could tell he was ready to ask a question. Natalie ran away but I grabbed Auntie Carol and we reeled Natalie back into the fold. He asked us a few questions about if we had just gotten tickets, if we were big fans, etc. We got home right at 5pm so we turned on the news. After the 5 o'clock news we figured perhaps we weren't going to make it on the air. Well about 25 minutes into the 6 o'clock news we ended up on TV! We did get it taped with the VCR, now the task is to get it digitized, though it'll probably take a few days as i'll have to make a dupe of the VCR tape and take it home to STL, then digitize it there. The clip was mostly me, but also cut to Auntie Carol when she said we went to Game 4 in St. Louis in 2004, then it cut back to me and the sportscaster cut over the audio and said "before you come to any conclusions this is his aunt, and this is his new wife" after going to a shot of Natalie. Natalie's goal for Opening Day is to make it on TV...Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:33:00 GMT305dc46d-7402-46d6-9770-39d67c660e6fSoldering the MakerShieldhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2283/soldering-the-makershield<p><a title="Maker Shield Soldering" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17726343@N00/6058462360/"><img border="0" alt="Maker Shield Soldering" align="right" src="http://static.flickr.com/6075/6058462360_bb045b6b9a_m.jpg" /></a>Back in May I picked up a variety of parts from the MakerFaire in San Mateo. One of those parts (2x actually) was the <a href="http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MSMS01">MakerShield</a>.</p> <p>I don’t think I’ve ever soldered this much on a circuit board before. I did plenty of soldering for the <a href="http://www.project240z.com">Project 240z</a> back in the day, but it was all just joining wiring together for the Megasquirt and the fuel injection system. You can see some photos of the MakerShield here.</p>Chris HammondFri, 19 Aug 2011 02:36:42 GMTf8219ee7-c706-4c52-b49a-e2dfed854b09Hello World, Welcome to BicycleTips.comhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2236/hello-world-welcome-to-bicycletipscomSo here we go, yet another blog for me, but this time for something a little different than what I usually (<a href="http://www.project240z.com/" target="_blank">project350z.com</a>, <a href="http://www.project240z.com/" target="_blank">project240z.com</a>, <a title="DotNetNuke Tips and Tricks" href="http://www.dnndaily.com/">dnndaily.com</a>, <a href="http://www.solo2.org/">solo2.org</a>) blog about. Bicycles! Read the full post for all the detailsBicycleTips.comMon, 27 Jun 2011 02:30:38 GMTc0d81864-5ee8-435d-abc6-ac6be94fc583A new project! 1973 240Zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/483/a-new-project-1973-240zDave and I went and picked up the newest project today. A 1973 240Z, and also a 1983 280ZX motor. Here are some pics. More blogging about this project and its future later tonight! I'm off to take part of the L28ET motor apart and see what it looks like on the inside. http://sccaforums.com/photos/christoc/category1050.aspxposted from...Sun, 07 May 2006 17:10:00 GMT9f490ffe-627f-4e39-912c-a0622230f19dProject 240Z Update for July 8th 2006https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/527/project-240z-update-for-july-8th-2006Well, it's been nearly a month since I last worked on the 240Z, had a few events in there, July 4th, and various other activities keeping me away from the car, but mostly it was just me being lazy. So today I spent a couple hours out in the garage wrenching. I got just about everything left that needs to be disconnected to pull the motor disconnected. Pulled the rusty exhaust out from under the car and threw it into my junk pile outside. Here's what I know I have left to do to pull the motor/tranny. 1. Disconnect the shaft from the transmission. 2. Put the mounts for the hooks from the 83 motor onto the 73 motor. 3. Disconnect the transmission mount 4. Disconnect the engine mounts and lift it out. Hopefully I can get that done next weekend! posted from...Sat, 08 Jul 2006 12:40:00 GMT112284d0-14e4-42b3-a371-6c3b5bc13d3bProject 240Z Engine is almost ready to pull!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/532/project-240z-engine-is-almost-ready-to-pullProject 240Z Engine is almost ready to pull! I got the driveshaft disconnected today and the transmission is free of its mount. I just have a few things left to do, mainly hook the hoist up to the motor so I can pull the whole assembly free. To do that though I need to go buy a new change. The chain I've got now, from Krek, has some huge hooks on it, but the L24 motor doesn't have a good place for a hook on the rear. So this afternoon I'm going to head out and get some more chain, bolts, buts and washers to hopefully get the job done tomorrow. I'm also going to take a look at Autozone for a car cover for the 78. I need to get that covered to keep the birds/sap from killing it. I spent 30 minutes today cleaning it with mcguires cleaning wax to get all the bird crap off the hood. Also, once I have the motor out of the 240 I'll need to roll it into the driveway so I can get started on the 78. I'll definitely need to cover the 240 though, as it doesn't have all the body work and I need not upset the neighbors! posted from...Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:33:00 GMT2186c1ef-459c-43c1-8958-847a10c09f25240Z Ideashttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/570/240z-ideasFound this link to http://www.tunerzine.com/articles.php?id=188 and the build site http://www.geocities.com/projectzt/ posted from...Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:24:00 GMTc252da33-11bb-4bce-aa62-e7b3f6429d30Project 240Z work begins again!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/622/project-240z-work-begins-againI finally got to working on the SM2 project today. I didn't do much, but I got over a big hurdle.I got the 240Z moved out of the garage and moved the 280z 2+2 into the garage so I can start tearing the motor out of it. I also removed the hood and hinges from the 280, fit the hood onto the 240. That was another concern, if the hood would actually swap nicely between the two. So far it looks like it will, though I didn't bother putting the hinges on it and onto the 240 as I will just have to remove it when I go to put the motor back into the 240Z when ready.Hopefully this week I'll get started on pulling the motor out of the 280, though I'm going to have to see if I can get someone to buy the 240Z motor first, It's taking up too much room in the garage.  posted from...Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:24:00 GMT52473ac8-748d-4ac1-84d2-2c6d70297433Project 240Z Update?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/681/project-240z-updateWhat's the latest on the Project 240Z? Not much! With the wedding and Holidays I haven't touched the car much since the last work I did on the parts car in October, I did get the 240Z out of the driveway, moved it to a secluded shop over in Illinois for some winter storage. I'm glad I did, otherwise it would have had a nice coating of ice and snow with the recent weather here in St. Louis. It's currently in a warm dry building under cover as well. Once I get the parts car disassembled I'll bring the 240Z home again to work on. I hope to spend some time over the weekend and holiday next week parting out the parts car so I can bring the 240 home in January. Before I can do too much more on hte parts car I need to make some room in the garage. So if anyone knows anyone who's looking for a 73 240Z motor let me know! posted from...Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:22:00 GMTdb3fa6d1-bb9f-427c-ba9e-e5fffabd2649Launch Dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/707/launch-dayThis past week has been pretty darn busy, actually, so far 2007 has been pretty darn busy. At work we've been cranking away on a pretty large project built upon DotNetNuke. It's like nothing I've seen done successfully with DNN before, so it'll be interesting to see when this latest version goes public how well it does. It's rewarding, but a damn lot of work lately. I can't wait for February. I keep telling myself in February I'm going to start working on my car again, www.project240z.com Posted from...Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:46:00 GMTa8622829-a034-44f2-bcc9-4c0598a2fe91Almost done movinghttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/714/almost-done-movingWe thought we got everything out of the house tonight, but realized we left a BBQ Grill and large dog cage on the back porch of the old house. So, we'll head back there tomorrow and get those last few items. I'm really ready to be done moving, and I know my back is ready for that as well! The garage is now full, with the 78 280z, car parts, appliances, bookshelves, etc. I hope to get it all organized this coming weekend so I can start tearing into the 78 and get rid of that car as soon as I can so I can bring home the 73 240Z that's in storage right now. Check out www.project240z.com for information on my project...Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:16:00 GMTf726bee1-1ac5-4379-8b0e-435f456d8a0dProject 240Z site beginshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/733/project-240z-site-beginsWelcome to the new Project240Z.com. We've thrown the software up, and quickly added a blog. In the coming days we'll reskin the site and get more content...Sun, 28 Jan 2007 01:00:00 GMTd1bdd165-9861-4694-b4af-f611142a27f5You're invited this weekend. Good luck at the 100 Acre Woodhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/735/youre-invited-this-weekend-good-luck-at-the-100Alright, this coming weekend is the time. I'm going to pull the motor out of the parts car this weekend, as well as the transmission, and any other parts I can salvage. If anyone is interested in helping out, I'll provide all the food and beer you desire while over here. What all do we have to do? The parts car is a 1978 280Z 2+2. I need the transmission for the 240Z, and probably will end up needing the motor for when the Turbo motor has problems! Other than that, I want to remove whatever I can save/sell before I scrap the rest of it so I can bring the 240Z back home. Best of luck to the guys/girls that will be at the 100 Acre Wood. Muggy, bring home a win! Jim, keep the Rally truck together for her last...Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:45:51 GMTbe2a2209-239a-4d1e-8260-65217a5d16eaDraining the fluids in the parts car, 2-23-07https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/736/draining-the-fluids-in-the-parts-car-22307I spent a bit of time this evening working on the 280Z.  Here's the video! http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/11/Parts-Car-draining-the-fluids-223.aspx Here's what I got done. Drained the oil Drained the transmission fluid Removed the hood wings Removed the driver's side mirror Removed teh driver's side Z vent cover. Tomorrow: The motor and transmission come...Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:25:56 GMT3e3d5461-b51b-456d-b3ca-ee376bb6284dParts Car Engine Removal Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/737/parts-car-engine-removal-day-1Spent today disconnecting things from the motor so I can get the motor and transmission pulled out tomorrow. Also removed some of the front end body work I need to try to make work on the 240Z as well. http://www.project240z.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=12 Accomplished today Disconnected all wires and hoses from the motor that need to be disconnected to pull the motor. Removed the Radiator Removed the headlight buckets Removed the rest of the front valance Removed Passenger Side Mirror Removed Passenger/Driver side chrome trim...Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:13:38 GMTea363552-d9d6-4005-9b0d-8dc67deddfa0Parts car motor pull Day 2https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/738/parts-car-motor-pull-day-2Thanks to Terec for coming over today and helping me get the motor pulled out of the 78 280Z 2+2 parts car today! http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/13/Project-240Z-Day-2-of-Parts-Car-Motor-Pull.aspx Here's what we got done. Pulled the motor and transmission Disconnected the driveshaft Ruined a clutch line (that was all...Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:32:57 GMTa50e253f-d292-4f0f-b2f8-e8f12e651484Anyone dealt with the Z Store before?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/743/anyone-dealt-with-the-z-store-beforeI emailed the Z Store on Tuesday, and haven't heard back from them. I'm looking at their MSA Type III body kit for the Project 240z. Anyone ever dealt with them, or seen the body kit before? The question I had for them was does the kit require a front bumper, or does it replace the bumper? Other questions I have for anyone who has seen the kit in person, what'd you think? Was the kit something...Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:34:03 GMT5a35f226-8e1d-4811-81e7-98acc8b04c15The 240Z is home againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/750/the-240z-is-home-againThe 240Z is finally home. The parts car is gone, news at...Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:21:59 GMT9180a12b-26dc-4501-a7cb-cff81c13b857240Z, the Journey homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/751/240z-the-journey-homeSo this morning I got up and finished up what I could get done on the project car, a 1978 280Z 2+2, courtesy of our very own Lynn Wilson, Thanks Lynn!!! I had planned to remove the diff from the car this morning, along with the door lock from the passenger door, ignition switches and such as well. I got the switches and locks, but had a hell of a time trying to get the diff out. I got everything disconnected except the axles, without any luck getting the axles removed I gave up, hastily slapped some bolts/nuts back on the diff to hold it in place and I took some wire to tie up the driveshaft to keep it from hanging down to the floor. After clearing off the parts I knew I wanted I had to run down to SoloPerformance to drop off the Engine Hoist that I've had for, oh almost the past year. Dave needed it for a week or so, and all I've been doing with it is using it as a nice engine hanger lately. After that quick trip I grabbed Natalie, hopped in the Tahoe and headed up North. Went to the Elterman's to pickup his trailer so I could haul cars to Egypt and back. From there we headed back home, loaded up the parts car and took off to Speedway (junk yard) in Illinois. They were pretty lax about things, which was nice, I rolled the car off the trailer and headed over to the super secret storage facility. From there we filled up the flat spare tire and rolled it out of the shop and onto the trailer for the trip back home. Both towing trips were uneventful, which was nice, though each car did shift around on the trailer a bit. The Tahoe towed fine, which is great! Though, I still want to see about getting a gooseneck trailer at somepoint to tow with the F350. On the way home from the super secret storage facility I decided to stop and double check the straps, just to make sure I wasn't going to lose my baby. I stopped out in front of this great sign ;)     After getting home, Natalie and I unloaded the 240 from the trailer, though, not before I took the time to sweap the 5lbs of rust that the parts car had deposited on the floor of the garage. After rolling her into the garage and test fitting a few of the interior pieces we headed back up north to drop James' trailer off. They weren't home, lucky for them. Had he been home he might have had a heart attack watching me back the trailer in, I ended up parking it about 6 inches from the front of the STi, that darn slopped trailer, makes it hard to judge distances. Lucky for me I stopped when I did, otherwise I would have felt like a complete ass for borrowing a trailer and then hitting the owners car when returning it. More on the Project240z car later this...Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:11:00 GMT2062580b-3cbb-41ae-a803-479d1a90b874Project240Z.com Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/752/project240zcom-photosI created a photos page last week, and didn't put any up there! Now they're pulling from the Project240z.com Flickr Group and posting on the Project240z.com Photos page for all to see. Nothing too interesting yet...Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:20:14 GMT70a6df6a-3f9e-4768-8029-d0b98912e64bMegasquirt has been orderedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/774/megasquirt-has-been-orderedEven though I'm out in Mormanville I've been hard at work at least thinking about the Project 240z!  With the guidance of Mr. Whittle I've ordered over $700 in equipment to get the motor wired up with Megasquirt. I hope to hit the junk yard on Friday and find a few more random Ford Ignition parts that I need for the megasquirt setup, and hopefully the megasquirt parts from DiyAutotune will be here early next week. My dad will be in town this coming weekend, so I plan to put him to work the next few weeks to help me get this car ready for April...Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:37:47 GMTaa5692f2-4921-49f8-903c-33a10198b2c1Dressed in blackhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/775/dressed-in-blackWell the engine bay of the Project 240Z has a nice coat of black paint. I'll be touching up a few areas tomorrow, as well as doing the following. Hitting the Junkyard to locate parts I still need for the megasquirt setup, including mostly these ford parts: throttlebody from a V8, VR Sensor from a V6, fuel injectors, wires, coils. I'll also be hitting the parts store for some new break and clutch lines, installing the clutch line, and hopefully starting to put the transmission onto the turbo motor. Photos...Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:23:21 GMT399a29ff-a906-43e8-acdd-1348a25302ceJunk Yard Saturdayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/776/junk-yard-saturdayToday, well yesterday now, it's 1am, Dad and I went to Speedway salvage over in Madison Illinois. 3-4 hours later we walked out of there with $120 worth of parts for the Project 240Z. I didn't realize you could spend that much on junk? I got most of the ignition system I needed to complete the Megasquirt setup, some interior plastics I needed, as well as the steering wheel off my parts car that I dropped off at Speedway two weeks ago. I think they even charged me for the wheel. Dad took apart the brake master cylinder and start cleaning it, we'll do the same with the clutch cylinder tomorrow, and reassemble that with the rebuild kit I picked up this evening. I couldn't find a brake mc kit in town tonight, so that will have to be a future product. I also picked up 7 feet of hydrolic line to run a new clutch line and repair a brake line I had to cut last week. Tomorrow (Today) we'll see how far we can get towards putting the 83 motor into the car. I'm going to be working on getting the parts we need off of the motor from the parts car so we can get the motor setup to drop in the car. More...Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:05:27 GMT35a913fe-40d8-4478-b4bb-9082fcc95374The motor is in the Project 240z!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/777/the-motor-is-in-the-project-240zLook out Jeffs, the motor is in the Project 240z! Dad and I spent all day today working on the car, and I even swung by one of Jeef's old employer's to pickup some parts today as well. Dad spent most of the morning working on the clutch master cylinder and brake master cylinder, cleaning them up quite a bit, and using a rebuild kit on the clutch MC. The brake MC has some corrosion inside, so I'll be ordering a rebuilt MC tomorrow that I should be able to pickup tomorrow night. I spent the morning taking parts off of the 78 motor, cleaning them and putting them onto the 83 motor. Over the afternoon and early evening Dad and I managed to seperate the 5spd transmission from the 78 motor and put it onto the 83 motor. From the looks of things the 83 motor was either once powering an automatic tranny, or was prepped to perform that work as we had to replace the driveplate with the flywheel/pressure plate from the 78 motor as well. After getting the transmission together and putting some of the parts I scavanged from the 78 motor Dad and I managed to get the motor into the Project 240z. I must say, removing motors is far easier than actually putting them back in the car. We put bolts into the motor mounts, and also into the crossmember underneath the transmission to hold it all in place, but have yet to tighten anything down just yet. The megasquirt equipment should be here soon, hopefully. I've still gotta find a few parts for the ignition/fuel system. My goal is still to fire up the car next weekend, though I'm going to need a lot of help to do that. I'm still hoping Mr. Whittle will be able to assist this week with getting the Megasquirt setup on the car. Does anyone have a Ford Cobra MAF lying around anywhere? I'm in need of one. Photos have been uploaded and can be found on the photos...Mon, 26 Mar 2007 03:26:00 GMTa1cfb788-0aa3-4e2f-b123-4786c7c92ab3Another night of wrenching on the carhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/778/another-night-of-wrenching-on-the-carDad and I spent a few hours working on the 240z this evening. We got the clutch pedal in, and even got as far as putting the Clutch Master Cylinder in the car. We went to put the 78 280Z brake booster in the 73 240Z, but ended up figuring out that the firewalls on the two cars are different, and the booster out of the 78 won't fit in the 73 with a clutch installed. Sooooo, now we're trying to verify that we can use the recently purchased rebuilt brake master cylinder for the 78 booster, on the 73 booster, without any issue. We'll see how that goes! After work today I ran to Illinois again to hit the Speedway salvage yard up for more parts as well. I picked up 3 wiring harnesses for the fuel injectors for the L28 motors. 1 set was off my old parts car, another off a 78 coupe that was there and another set off an 82 I believe. I'm hoping with all those connectors I can come up with at least 6 that are good enough to use to start the car up. After the junkyard I hit up Carquest to pickup the rebuilt master cylinder, it was actually just about the same price as a rebuild kit, so buying the already built one made too much sense. Hopefully tomorrow we can get that rest of the brake and clutch items squared away. I'm also making an electronics run tomorrow to get bits and pieces of items necessary for the megasquirt install that I hope to tackle this weekend. ...Wed, 28 Mar 2007 02:18:26 GMT3b91c90e-8c82-426a-88eb-7c114c9e741cP240Z Pulleys a pullinhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/779/p240z-pulleys-a-pullinWell we overcame the the brake booster issues from last night. Dad got the Brakeline hooked up to the MC, and we got the booster installed in the firewall and hooked up to the pedal. After that I got the proper tool and pulled the pulleys off the 78 motor and the 83 motor as well. Not likely to get any work done tomorrow as I have a meeting tomorrow night, but Dad took the radiator from the 78 to get it cleaned up and pressure checked at a shop tomorrow sometime. At lunch I'll also hopefully be getting the 37pin plug for the Megasquirt put...Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:48:54 GMT64a142fd-d124-4253-aa83-0f849be6209fFuel Cell timehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/786/fuel-cell-timeI took the gas tank out of the 240Z down to Manchester Radiator on Wednesday. They called me on Thursday to tell me that the tank was in a sad state. They dipped it and cleaned it up to find a lot of pinholes and larger holes in the bottom of the tank from rust. Rather than repair it they asked me if I could get another one from somewhere. Lucky for me SM2 allows for Fuel Cells, now I just need to read up on the rules and figure out where I can mount one legally in my car, and figure out how much that is going to end up costing me. The car hasn't been touched since last Sunday, and won't see any action before at least Thursday as Natalie and I are headed to Boston tomorrow for Opening Day on...Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:43:17 GMTa05906a1-d242-48b7-aa93-2a9312696501Project 240Z status?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/792/project-240z-statusCurrent status: On hold Why? Mainly school. It's nearing the end of the semester and I'm trying to get some class work finished up. I have a large presentation on Monday evening, after that, Tuesday, I hope to start back up on the car. I'm picking up a replacement 240Z Gas tank on Sunday, instead of going with a fuel cell for now I'm hoping to get by with a stock 240Z tank. I ordered a Flux/Gas welder from Harbor Freight on Thursday. It's cheap, but will hopefully at least get me started. I can see how well I can learn, and hopefully repair/build a few things along the way. If I start to use it much (I don't foresee this) I'll look at getting a nicer model sometime. I started putting my new workbench together last night. I'll take some pics of it once it's finished (must install the tabletop still) and moved around in the garage. Right now it's in front of the car as I haven't made room for it on the wall yet. More next...Sat, 21 Apr 2007 00:34:44 GMT3eef3e24-2ec1-4f38-b24b-37b7c5593c4dP240z Time to start againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/794/p240z-time-to-start-againTonight I begin working on the 240Z again. It's been quite a while since I've worked on it, 3 weeks or so, due to work and school and of course, Opening Day at Fenway. Tonight I'll be bench bleeding the rebuilt brake master cylinder that I picked up back towards the end of the month, then i plan to install the MC and bleed the brake system with the help of my father. After that I'm going to work on the interior of the car a bit more, cleaning up the rust and painting over the clean metal with hopes to prevent more rust. Thursday I'll be doing more, hopefully getting to the point where I can install the pulley that Tuxedo Park Racing is currently working on. The pully has a 36-1 trigger wheel on it for the Megasquirt Ford EDIS setup. Once I have the pulley on I'm going to start fabricating the bracket to mount the VR sensor, and hopefully get some wires run this weekend. I was hoping to do some welding, but it looks like Harbor Freight has the welder I ordered on backorder. It sure as nice of them to tell me that when I ordered. I had to call and listen to the automated system just to find that out. If they don't come up with one tomorrow I'm cancelling my order and I'll look elsewhere for a welder, or get someone to do some welding for me. Russ has a welder he thinks might work, so I'll try to drag him over if I can. More tonight after some work is...Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:22:44 GMTbf12664c-4423-4649-91f5-e1ec37c1362dGas Tank update, seat fitting this weekend, harbor freight suckshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/796/gas-tank-update-seat-fitting-this-weekend-harborI ended up not getting another gas tank this past weekend. I had planned on picking one up in Hillsboro but the guy ended up sounding way too sketchy for me. First the tank was perfect, then it had two holes he was going to repair, then there was a gash that needed repair, then, and then, and then. So I ended up deciding not to go get the tank. Back to looking for a Fuel Cell again, unless anyone has a source on a complete, leak free, 240Z Gas tank? I'm picking up a seat from www.soloperformance.com tomorrow to do some test fitting this weekend. I'll probably go with a Corbeau A4, but need to make sure it will fit in the car, and of course with me in it, before I order anything. I'm thinkin the black microsuede sure would look nice! This section of the post should be one for The Mad Blogger, but I'll post it here anyways. Harbor Freight sucks. I ordered a welder from them last week, called today and found out it was on backorder with no expected date of arrival. I'll call them tomorrow, and if it's still not expected soon I'll cancel the order and figure something else out.... Anyone want to come over and weld some things this weekend, bring a welder!!!! ...Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:01:28 GMTf1413786-97bb-4790-94d2-7a09a1f45fabMy Motivationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/798/my-motivationI was digging through some old photos tonight looking for photos of Jeff Krekeler, when I ran across this photo I took back in June of 2004.   When I get bored, lazy, or tired of working on the Project240z, I only have to look at that photo and realize what I'm striving for. That car is beautiful, and I hope my car can one day look that...Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:36:00 GMTc88db3d5-02ed-4a01-b640-225d310acf5a240Z Corbeau Seats came inhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/805/240z-corbeau-seats-came-inThe seats I ordered earlier this week came in today! They look awesome, though they are now in the basement still in the shipping box. I'm not about to put them near the car right now, not until I get the grinding/welding done so I don't cover them in dust/rust and...Sat, 05 May 2007 03:36:00 GMTcd1006d1-0316-49c2-ba60-d594607a9b3aFirst weekend in May, 240Z work!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/806/first-weekend-in-may-240z-workDad and I got a bit done on the car this weekend. I've created two videos, one from Saturday, one from Sunday. Saturday: We ended up running around looking for more plugs for the intake manifold, ended up not having any luck at all with that. We also took some time and found more metal to use on the floorpan. After returning we fabricated a throttle linkage and then i decided it was time to actually see some resemblance of a car, so I partially assembled the front end with the new (new to me) air dam I picked up that afternoon. <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gUx4mhIfb38?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> http://www.project240z.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=21 Photos: Sunday: Welding day. I spent most of the day welding, grinding, cussing, welding, grinding. And now I have a passenger floor pan without any holes in it! Alright, there are a few holes that are supposed to be there, and then there are a few holes that can be filled, but they are tiny compared to what I started with. <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OdNaHEqvKno?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> http://www.project240z.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=22 Photos:  ...Sun, 06 May 2007 21:44:00 GMT857a4da8-45cb-4f22-82ad-15b6bf81a582240Z Downpipe arrived!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/809/240z-downpipe-arrivedWell today a key component of my project arrived, the downpipe for the Turbo showed up. At first I flipped out thinking it was the wrong downpipe. ! = Then someone on Hybrid Z kindly pointed out that I need to remove the stock wastegate housing in order  to install this downpipe, which I believe is off a Z31 motor, instead of an L28ET motor like I have. I'll be testing this out tomorrow, then I hope to try to get it over to Hackman to get it powder...Wed, 09 May 2007 01:41:34 GMTe83e9f4a-06ba-4af7-9dd4-13c67bdcd903Done with class!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/810/done-with-classWell the semester is finally over for me! Perhaps now I can get some done on the 240Z during the week...Wed, 09 May 2007 22:59:00 GMT48f645ad-5285-45db-a069-acc39335696aDoes the 240Z need a cage?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/815/does-the-240z-need-a-cageSince I've decided to change classes, and not bother with most of the interior items, should I go ahead and put a cage in the car? I'll be going to XP, which I don't believe requires a cage, but I'd also like to do some time trials/hpde in the car. Any of the St. Louis cage builders want to work out a deal on a cage in exchange for advertising/promotion on...Wed, 16 May 2007 14:54:01 GMT99d5a57e-df53-4821-9e78-f323dbf937d6May 29th P240z updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/824/may-29th-p240z-updateSo what's going on with the 240Z? Not much. I haven't done any work since last week, though I plan to get some done tonight. I did manage to start putting together a parts list of items I need to purchase, it really starts to add...Tue, 29 May 2007 18:07:20 GMT1dfc03d5-20fc-48ba-a4a5-d55feb1404bcProject240z.com Upgraded https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/826/project240zcom-upgradedI upgraded Project240z.com to DotNetNuke 4.5.2 tonight, no issues what so ever. Posted from...Wed, 30 May 2007 00:10:00 GMT325c810a-48a1-4b0b-9b4e-865da6be848eFuel Cell Ordered....https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/831/fuel-cell-orderedWell I ordered the fuel cell for the 240Z today, as well as 20ft of fuel line and AN fittings, as well as a wiring kit for a fuel pump. Tomorrow I'll probably be ordering a fuel pump. I also entered the DoubleX in Atlanta at the end of June. So now I have a deadline. Though my deadline is actually a few weeks earlier. I'm going to do my best, and recruit my friends, to hopefully help me get this thing running very soon. I'd love to have it together by the Impala event here in St. Louis on the 17th of June so I can try to get some time running the car. Anyone up for some assistance? Here's what I need help with. Installing the fuel cell/lines/pump. I need to come up with some sort of exhaust for the car, as Atlanta has noise requirements that need to be met. Wiring up the MegaSquirt (this will be the biggest step and my biggest fear, as I have no electronics experience) Who's down for some help? Anyone? PLEASE?...Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:34:16 GMT83a76775-90bb-4417-ab28-1f1c4f3b1062P240Z update, broken Craftsmen power toolshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/836/p240z-update-broken-craftsmen-power-toolsSo this weekend was anything but productive. I ended up not getting a thing done on the car this weekend. I did manage to get the drill press together Saturday morning, and I acquired a trailer Saturday morning.   Sunday was a different story. I had planned on getting a lot done, but ended up sleeping all day. While it was nice, it was far from what I needed to get the car going. Tonight I went out with Russ and Matt Melton and Jeff "The Jeweler" Krekler, down to dinner in Soulard. From there I took Russ back to his house, saw his family, and came home with new motivation to get some work done on the car. I changed and went outside, setup the laptop to record video and go to work. I was cutting some aluminum scrap I picked up from the Metal Supermarket last Friday. I started making a new blockoff plate for the AAC valve on the L28ET intake manifold. I cut a rough pattern out with the jigsaw, made from tracing the bottom of the AAC valve with a sharpee and an awl to cut into the aluminum. I then went to assemble my new vertical belt sander that I purchased on Friday. The while taking it out of the box I noticed the darn thing was broken. Not likely broken to the point I couldn't use it, but I decided nonetheless to box it back up and take it back to Sears tomorrow to get a replacement. So that was the end of work tonight, I couldn't go any further on the plate and had some work to do on a few websites. I came inside to try to work on my video I recorded, but apparently managed to hose the video recording on the laptop by unplugging the camera before shutting off the software, so there's a tip, if you're using the lifecam software don't unplug the camera before you shut down the software, you're libel to lose your...Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:54:32 GMT107a21d9-e721-4e39-97e0-5760de0ba656Fun power tools and more 240Z progresshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/837/fun-power-tools-and-more-240z-progressLast night I returned the Vertical sander that I had purchased from Sears that was broken when I removed it from the box. I got a replacement sander and brought it home to install. I setup the webcam on the wall, right above the work bench, and got to work assembling the sander. 5-10 minutes later I was ready to start sanding on the aluminum I had cut with a jig saw the day before to make a blockoff plate for my AAC valve on the intake manifold. I tell you what, a vertical sander is a fun thing to have! Here's the result of what I was making, though I'm still going to drill a hole in it and tap that hole for the temperature sensor I'll be mounting in the intake manifold.   I also got to use my new drill press to drill the holes in the plate, it all worked really darn well. After getting the plate made I decided it was time to remove the intake manifold from the car so I could tap and fill some of the holes on the manifold that I don't need to use. I brough the webcam with me and mounted it directly above the motor on the chery picker. I started removing bolts, then decided to read the haynes, it told me I need to remove the Turbo and a few other things to get the manifold removed, I guess I should of planned things a bit better and done most of this work BEFORE I put the engine back in the car, it sure would be a lot easier to get to. Once I realized how much I had to remove to get the manifold off I decided I didn't want to do all that last night, it was nearly 10pm by then. So I moved to the other side of the motor, bringing the camera with me to the other side. Andy and I decided last week to remove the attachments for the oil cooler for now, I'm going to attempt to get the car running without the cooler for now, and reinstall it down the road as I don't have all the hardware for it. So I started removing it last night, got it removed, and then saw that without the attachment there isn't a way to mount the oil filter to the block. So tonight I'll be attempting to remove the oil filter attachment from the parts motor (78 l28e) to see if I can use it on the 83 L28ET. After all this I decided it was time to head inside and play with the cool video I had shot last night, only to realize that I had click on the record audio button, instead of record video. So yet again, there isn't any video to be had :( Tonight though I promise I'll do my best to get it right and have a video to post of the evenings...Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:51:12 GMT5c913607-e601-443d-aa9b-3f4d987c7f31Importing Video from the Canon HV20 to Windows MovieMakerhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/844/importing-video-from-the-canon-hv20-to-windows-movIf you recently purchased a Canon HV20 you might be a bit surprised when you go to try and use any of the High Definition video you recorded with it. Canon didn't bother to include software on the CD to actually use the video you record. You might try hooking up your camera to your Windows XP machine via Firewire but that won't get you very far either. All I was able to do was to get it to the point where it would transfer DV, which wasn't acceptable to me so I didn't even bother to see if it would work. Instead I installed Windows Vista Ultimate on my desktop tonight. I installed my old Firewire card, hooked up the HV20 to the machine and I had Moviemaker importing video in no time, in HD even! I will let it import tonight and see what all I can do with the video in the morning. I have a tape with about an hour's worth of content on it, some of it for www.project240z.com so I hope to get that posted online tomorrow. Posted from...Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:58:36 GMT183711cc-46ce-4d79-bdc3-b02536943377High Definition 240Z Engine Removalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/845/high-definition-240z-engine-removalI finally got the video working from my new camera. I installed Windows Vista again last night on my home Machine (after 4 months of running on XP again) and with Vista the camera works great! You can see/download the video with the URL below. But please right click and save the file, it is large. 180mb, but I think the quality is well worth the wait for the...Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:52:53 GMT216b4646-bfbb-4eb3-9474-1823a9edff82Datsun Fuel Rail Ordered!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/846/datsun-fuel-rail-orderedI just got off the phone with www.lonewolfperformance.com and ordered my fuel rail for the Project 240Z. Hopefully it will be here next week. Tomorrow I'll get on ordering the other parts I need, a guage, regulator and some fittings. As well as starting to locate some injectors! Thanks for James at Lonewolf for all the help on the phone today, he was great with answering my questions, and guess where they're from? Salina Kansas of all places, I guess I'll have to get the car ready and make it to an event in Salina sometime next...Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:16:37 GMT0db3d7dc-731b-481f-bd00-5493ef4488f0More Fuel Parts Orderedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/848/more-fuel-parts-orderedI just placed another order with Summit Racing dot com today. I ordered the following, which I think will finish up what I need for the fuel system for the 240z.  AEI-13109  FUEL REGULATOR        AEI-15633  FUEL PRESSURE GAUGE         AER-FBM3416  REPLACEMENT HNBR O-RINGS EA         AER-FBM3417  REPLACEMENT HNBR O-RINGS 6EA        EAR-251008ERL  SIZE 8 FLAPPER CK - STYLE 1       SUM-220630  -06 PLUG AN ALUMINUM         SUM-220648  6AN TO 3/8 NPT ADAPTER       SUM-220841  -08 AN FEMALE COUPLE         SUM-220844  -08-06 AN MALE ADAPTER       SUM-220887  -08 90 SWIVEL HOSE END       SUM-220890  8AN HOSE END...Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:18:43 GMTe0ddffb6-3884-469e-b237-1fba02765d2bP240Z passenger seat mount nearly donehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/851/p240z-passenger-seat-mount-nearly-doneI spent another hour or so tonight working on the passenger seat mounts I hope to get some bolts tomorrow and attempt to mount the seat into the car tomorrow night or Friday. I'm still waiting on my fuel rail from Lone Wolf Performance. I hope to hear from them tomorrow and have the part by Friday. If not I'll have to find myself another source for a fuel rail. Goals for this weekend. Mount both seats in the car, though I'll pull them back out until I'm ready to leave them in there for a while, they are too nice to keep in such a dirty car till it gets cleaned up! I'm also shooting for getting the fuel cell all fabricated and mounted into the car, along with fuel lines run to the front of the...Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:52:03 GMT31f5dba0-2fcc-48fb-8db6-ca4a39435d0aFuel Cell frame constructionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/855/fuel-cell-frame-constructionThis morning I set out into the garage to tackle a fairly large task, at least in my mind. My goal was to build a frame that will secure my 15 gallon fuel cell to the Project 240Z. In case you don't want to read the rest of this post, I was successful! I began with a few shots of the car before I started cutting into it (further than I cut last weekend). There are various shots here, above and below.       After taking those shots I got to cutting. Dave (from www.soloperformance.com) and I had discussed how to mount the cell into the car on Tuesday when he came over, so I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I quickly marked some lines to cut with a sharpie, then proceeded to tear up two cutting wheels removing metal from the rear of the car. I don't know why that stock metal tears up wheels, but they sure to go away quickly when cutting on the car. Here are photos of what was left after cutting.   The intention for the fuel cell frame was to bolt a bar on the back of the rear differential mount, weld to 1x1" square tubes parallel to the ground running towards the back of the car, then come up at a 90 degree angle from those tubes with more square steel. Those two vertical posts would weld to a bar running inside the back of the car, this bar would also be bolted into the car, not welded, so that if necessary the whole frame can be pulled out with minimal effort. Here are a few pictures of the end result of the frame, as well as some of my crappy welds! I figured out with all but two welds done, that I had somehow adjusted the wirespeed on the welder in the wrong direction, and that was why I was having a horrible time. I think they''ll hold though, they just aren't very pretty!   This frame easily goes in and out of the car, which should come in handy if I ever need to remove the rear end (which I plan to when overhauling the suspension, after the car runs). Here are a few shots of the frame sitting in the car And here is the end result, the fuel cell sitting in the frame, sitting in the car.   I think the frame turned out great and I love this photo The tank sits just low enough, it is barely visible from the back of the car, I actually had to walk 10 feet back and down a couple feet of driveway incline to see either the tank or the frame itself.  I've yet to bolt the frame to the car, but that can wait. I'll get some nuts, bolts, and washers tomorrow for the various things I need to mount, fuel cell, seats, etc. All in all I'm really impressed with myself, I got a lot more done this weekend than most weekends, though I still have the build the driver's side seat mounts (I finished the passenger side yesterday). What's next? Well like I said, tomorrow night I'll be building the driver's side seat mount, as well as visiting Mr. Whittle's house to test fit some fuel injectors into my new fuel rail that should be arriving and the old intake manifold. If the injectors he has fit I'll be ordering injectors on Tuesday. After that I'll be running fuel lines, and be working on putting the motor back together so I can attempt to put it back in the car next weekend if all goes well. That might be a lofty goal, but this whole project has been lofty for me, so why quit shooting high...Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:50:36 GMT7b0537e5-113f-431d-a19b-ce6175ebf0a5DotNetNuke Tip Modifying your Portal Aliaseshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/857/dotnetnuke-tip-modifying-your-portal-aliasesWelcome back to the DotNetNuke tips! I started doing this over a year ago, though with getting married last fall and working on my Datsun 240Z lately I haven't blogged near as much lately about DNN topics. So here we go, starting up again with my DotNetNuke Tips. Today's tip follows: When you're doing testing locally with a backup for a Production Database and Website one of the things you need to be sure to do is change your Portal Alias for your local URL, instead of your production URL. If you don't do this you'll hit the local URL and it will most likely redirect you to the production URL. This can cause a bit of chaos if you don't notice that you're no longer on the local/testing URL and start modifying the production web site. To change your portal alias you can do the following. Open your SQL Server management tool; SQL Enterprise Manager, SQL Server Management Studio, or whatever you choose to use. Browse to your local/test database, open up the PortalAlias table. You can either Modify your existing Alias, or you can add a new Alias to this table. test.myurl.com for example, be sure to setup the proper portal ID if you're adding a new alias and you have a lot of different aliases in there. You might also need to setup the aliases for the child portals as well if you plan on using those. The next step is crucial. You'll want to reset your website before you try to hit the new alias. You can do that in a couple of ways, I always prefer to open up the web.config file, add a carriage return and hit save. This will cause IIS to reload the site, clearing out the cache and loading the new portal aliases. Look for more DotNetNuke tips coming soon!Posted from...Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:04:00 GMT5dad6d60-4bf8-48c5-86f7-7c4316916759Fourth of July Fireworks and Baseballhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/858/fourth-of-july-fireworks-and-baseballYesterday was a busy Fourth of July. Natalie and Fabien got up and rode in the morning, I slept in, though I had planned on getting work done on the 240z. Around noon we left the house and headed west. We looked at a few properties for sale, two in Wildwood and one down south of Pacific. The good one in Wildwood is amazing, and might just work out for us, so we're going to try to go get a tour of it very soon. It has almost 5 acres, a barn with two horse stalls, a hay shed and various other features. The property we looked at south of Pacific would be very cool, but at only 2.3 acres doesn't look to be a very good horse property. I loved it because it had a total of 7 garage spots! After that we picked up Lindsey and headed downtown to the VP Fair and then to the baseball game. The closer we got downtown the darker it got, and eventually started raining. We ended up camping out in the Tahoe for about 15 minutes while we waited for the rain to pass. From there we walked up to the stadium and then over to the Arch to see the fair. Honestly, the fair sucked. There wasn't hardly anyone there and the only activities we saw were food/beer booths and some band playing on stage. Nothing else going on to make it worth our trek over there. We headed back to Busch Stadium to hang out there until the game. The game was great, the first Cards game I've been to this year that they actually won! After the game we stayed up on the upper deck to watch the fireworks at the fair. I took quite a few photos with my phone, I'll post more later but here's one for...Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:45:53 GMTf4429a94-6f80-429d-8c55-e87143cb0645Project 240z, What's next?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/859/project-240z-whats-nextTasks for the next few days. Thursday: Finish trimming the driver's side seat mounts, weld everything together, install seat for fitting. Friday/Saturday: Receive the fuel injectors from Summit Run fuel lines from fuel cell to engine bay Clean up intake manifold Tap a few holes in the intake manifold to fit NPT threaded plugs Clean up intake/exhaust manifold Install intake/exhaust manifold Clean up exterior of the motor/transmission Repaint parts of the engine bay Put motor/transmission back in the car If anyone is looking for anything to do on Saturday let me know! I can use the help! Next week I'm hoping to recruit Nick Jackson to come over and help me running wires in the car for the...Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:24:52 GMTf696cd3f-7416-4c4d-b52a-08010cddec45P240Z A bit done here, a bit done there.https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/861/p240z-a-bit-done-here-a-bit-done-thereTake 2, stupid internet browsers, I typed this once, I guess that's what I get for not typing it up in Windows Live Writer instead of in the browser. As anyone who has read the blog consistantly will know, I never get as much done as I "plan" to do in a given time frame, this weekend so far is no exception. Thursday I got most of the driver's seat mounts welded into place, but I didn't finish them off, I left the tabs for the actualy mounts off. Friday night I tested some rust remover on the exhaust manifold, no luck on removing any rust with the products I tried. This morning I got up at 9:30am, lounged around for an hour and a half. I went out to the garage and welded in the tabs for the driver's side seat mount. From there I was all over the place, here's a list of things I worked on today, in no particular order Test fitted new injectors in fuel rail/intake manifold Cleaned the intake manifold Cleaned the exhaust manifold Test fitted IAT sensor in intake manifold Cleaned the transmission and bell housing Scraped undercoating off the car around the transmission tunnel and floorboards Removed all the stock fuel lines (3) Mounted the fuel pump and bracket Test ran some new braided fuel line (need to buy more as I don't think 20ft is enough Prepped the driver's side interior for paint (removed paint/primer, will do passenger side and paint later this week) I've gotta try to hit the junk yard tomorrow, also will be racing Jansoon's M3, so we'll see how my first BMW experience goes. Here are photos of the driver's side seat mounts, as well as the prep work for...Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:46:28 GMTaab05a26-5393-4b89-bb82-5b01cadac830P240Z Fiberglass work https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/867/p240z-fiberglass-workTonight I spent some time working with fiberglass in the car. I was hoping to repair a few of the holes in the floorboards. I made quite a mess, but learned quite a bit. Here are some before photos.   The passenger side needed the most work as it was in the worst shape due to rust. I used quite a few pieces of fiberglass matt on the passenger floorboard covering some of the holes. I also covered up a few of the sharper metal pieces of the floorboard. On the driver's side I used minimal fiberglass matting and mainly used resin. The driver's side was in far better shape than the passenger side so I used resin to smooth out the surface on the driver's side. It turned out far better than I could have imagined! You can't really see it in the photos, but it's quite a clean look on the driver's side now. I can't wait to see how all this looks once painted. Though before I paint I'll be cleaning up the fiberglass with some sand paper. I'll spend some time Thursday and Friday night working on the floor. I hope to try to paint the interior this weekend. The interior may have to wait though as I hope to finish up a few other things this weekend, mainly the fuel lines and getting the motor back into the...Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:00:59 GMTc7c5ba8c-da89-449a-95ed-6265138d7486P240Z Sunday Wiring Startshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/878/p240z-sunday-wiring-startsHere's a quick update on the 240. I got up this morning and finished up modifications to the bracket I built for the VR sensor, you can see what it ended up looking like in the photo below. It's not all that pretty, but not too bad considering I made it out of a drill press, vertical sander, and a jig saw. I then ran out and spent a few more hours shopping. I went to autozone and purchased lots of random bits that I needed, another fuel filter (that didn't fit), wires, splices, antifreeze, radiator hose, oil, gear lube, and a ton of other random stuff. I also took the battery I had purchased for the parts car back to get tested, it wouldn't charge so they gave me a credit (it was out of the year's free replacement), so I got a new battery for $9.95. Whittle came over and assisted with a few more wiring questions. From there I tried to get started on wiring. I began by looking where exactly I was going to run the wires, in order to find an existing hole to run them through I got up under the dash and started removing things on the passenger side. The first thing I removed ended up being part of the AC system, which I wasn't actually sure the car had! That opened up two holes, with grommets to boot, that allowed me to start running wires. Terec came over and started assisting with a few things, first thing we did when he got there was make a list of all the tasks left to do on the car. We used a sharpie on the windshield. After that he was visibly more productive today than I was. He actually mounted the sensor up to the motor and made sure that it was within specs to the 36-1 wheel. After that he was able to get the radiator mounted and the hoses attached to the proper locations. He then got the Oil Cooler mounted and the hoses finished up from what Eric started doing yesterday. You can see the oil cooler and radiator mounted in this photo. I was able to get some of the EDIS wiring started, as well as power wires ran for both injector banks, as well as the Megasquirt harness wired into the engine bay, though the MS harness doesn't actually connect to anything yet. I have a LOT more wiring to do this week, hopefully getting most of it done Monday and Tuesday night with a goal of trying to start the car on Wednesday. We'll see if that happens, if I don't at least attempt to start it before Sunday I've vowed to shave my head.... Here are more photos from today. ...Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:34:20 GMT43f27f08-b41b-424d-be9b-6af3d7af4375DotNetNuke 4.5.4 Released!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/879/dotnetnuke-454-releasedOver the weekend (I missed it because I was working on my car all weekend www.project240z.com) DotNetNuke 4.5.4 dropped, you can get it from www.dotnetnuke.com You can see a list of changes on the Gemini site at http://support.dotnetnuke.com I've cleaned up the list a bit and posted it here as well. Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5075 Adding/deleting security roles - notification/date format.  Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5239 Issue with "required" profile properties. Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5433 Redirect after login   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5616 Core code should not reference external images... >Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5646 last lock-out date incorrect   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5765 Sitemap.aspx Including Link to DotNetNuke.com   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5614 Page Quota Not Working in Demo Portals   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5771 Profile Definition Required Needs to be Tied to Visibility   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5715 Install wizard runs when database is missing Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5727 Can't delete default home page after installation/yellow screen of death   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5803 Save stylesheet in site settings clears selected logo   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5855 Upgrade Status Indicator   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5787 Account Login module is not visible to logged in users   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5847 Add Existing Module no longer allows settings change to original   Admin / Host Functions Bug DNN-5862 Module Cache Expiration   Admin / Host Functions Enhancement DNN-5805 short circuit check for known account defaults   Admin / Host Functions Enhancement DNN-5854 Google Adsense Support   Control Panel Bug DNN-1579 Misleading Tooltips  General Bug DNN-5754 Profile Property Names that contain spaces raise js errors   Installation / Upgrade Bug DNN-5853 *.ZIP Packages should be installed automatically   Installation / Upgrade Bug DNN-5605 Password length error string   Installation / Upgrade Bug DNN-5606 Possible incorrect description text   Localization / ML Bug DNN-5835 typo in manage users localization file   Localization / ML Bug DNN-2612 XML Error in Resource Verifier   Localization / ML Enhancement DNN-5778 Inconsistent on page help text on the Account Login module Help buttons   Performance Bug DNN-5852 Add Tab Hangs on Site with large volume of Pages   Performance Task DNN-5714 unneccesary call in BuildDiv method of FieldEditorControl   Security Bug DNN-5802 ReturnUrl - Cross Site Request Forgery Vector   Security Bug DNN-5829 DNN Membership Preventing Active Directory Login   Security Bug DNN-5746 New user registration not working if specific page defined   Security Bug DNN-5734 Roles duplicated on "Global Roles" due to list values   Security Bug DNN-2593 Custom module permissions not deleted   Security New Feature DNN-678 SSL Support Skinning Bug DNN-4590 DNN not rendering link to skins CSS file   Skinning Bug DNN-5618 FixImagePath routine trashing APPIMAGEPATH   Skinning Bug DNN-5672 Pagingtable class made ineffective by hard-coded styles   Templates Bug DNN-5549 CS1010: Newline in constant error after creating new CS module using template   UI / Usability Bug DNN-5628 Assignment issue in HelpButtonControl   UI / Usability Bug DNN-5708 Wrong CSS class specified for "Manage User Credentials" tab   I'll be updating my sites today! Also, check out the "New Feature" of SSL support in the Core! Sweet! Posted from...Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:02:00 GMTd372a607-8d1b-487a-b618-2731cb30a156Monday Monday Monday Progress!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/880/monday-monday-monday-progressToday was a good day! Progress was made! First things first, at lunch myself, Henry, and Eric headed down to High Ridge to SCPRacingparts.com again to get a cap for my Fuel cell, I realized yesterday that I was only 3 of the 4 fitting points for the fuel cell, and I had better get something to cover the fourth one up. After work my Henry (one of my bosses) and his mechanic buddy Ronnie came over to the house, after we made a quick pitstop at Gateway Electronics again to get more wiring items (I also spotted the Rally Bug builders on their way home from work). Ronny runs a shop down south near where he and Henry both live, so he was an EXCELLENT resource to have working on the car tonight. He and Henry got nearly every wire in the engine bay connected and placed in the appropriate areas, leaving just a few things for me to do in the bay. Eric also came over after making a trip to Autozone to get the battery for his 3rd gen RX-7 recharged. He finished up the fuel cell items that needed done. Adding the inline filter before the pump and then attached the vent line with the bulkhead fitting and check valve. I spent the evening doing minor things, mainly being in awe of all the work that Henry and Ronnie were getting done. I did track down some keys to the car, though I swear the keys I grabbed were the keys to the parts car I got rid of, one of them fit into the ignition for the 240z. I also figured out that the ignition has been turned on this whole time, which would explain why we never needed a key to turn the steering wheel when rolling the car around, though I'm not sure how it was turned on and the key removed. I do have the ignition out of the 78, as well as the turn signal and headlight switches from that car to try and use on the 73. Ronnie was able to get the power from the new battery hooked up to the starter, and alternator, which in turn got power to quite a bit of the car. One of the hazards work, the parking lights looked to work as when the headlights were turned on the rear lights lit up. I'll ahve to figure out how to wire up the headlights in the future, but I'm guessing the wiring for them should be somewhat intact based on testing tonight. So I've got more work to do tomorrow night. I'll try to finish up the wiring that is left in the engine bay, as well as wire up the fuse panel and try to mount the Megasquirt tomorrow night. Right now my goal is to try and start the car either Wednesday, or Thursday night! Though, I'm seriously thinking I won't be going to Topeka, though I'm still hoping to at take the car to the local autox this...Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:36:36 GMT822ef00d-80ff-4add-bc64-2a413d65e0cbDotNetNuke 4.5.5 Releasedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/890/dotnetnuke-455-releasedYet again I was headfirst into the Project240z and I missed another DotNetNuke Release! 4.5.5 dropped last week with a few major items fixed that caused probelms in the 4.5.4 release.  You can see those issues, as well as other issues from past releases in the Project Issue Tracker http://support.dotnetnuke.com/project/ChangeLog.aspx?PROJID=2 As for the 240Z, good news, I got the car running Saturday, and even drove it around a bit on Sunday! Posted from...Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:38:00 GMTdf361a44-554a-459e-b616-0f2e18eb28f9Project240Z Audio! New Exhausthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/897/project240z-audio-new-exhaustTonight I told myself I wouldn't start the car, I would get ready for my trip to Chicago tomorrow (going up there to give two days of DotNetNuke training classes). But I couldn't help myself, I had to get the camera and record the new exhaust! It's not quiet, but oh it sounds so sweet! Here's a 2mb WAV file of the car running Here's a large WMV video of the same...Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:51:57 GMT523936f0-23cb-4967-9320-b3588d8c7aa2Project240Z Post Traumatic Stress Analysishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/907/project240z-post-traumatic-stress-analysisI went out to the garage tonight with the hopes of trying to figure out what went wrong on Sunday. I was going to take the valve cover off and see if I saw anything out of the ordinary, then pull the head if I could get to that. Before doing those two things though I figured I should drain the oil out of the motor. Much to my suprise when I drained the oil it wasn't oil that came out first, it was coolant, then oil followed.   Once I discovered that I began to lose hope that I would be able to salvage anything in this motor. Thoughts of a cracked block filled my head. Nevertheless I proceeded forward with removing the valve cover and whatever else I could get to. When I pulled the cover off I started looking around and immediately found something that looked out of place. Ends up I found two things out of place, two of the rocket arm guides were laying on the cylinder, with a little Matlock work I found that both the guides from the #2 cylinder were not in the correct place.     From there I didn't get too far, I did get the timing sprocket and chain removed, and ended up getting the camshaft remove as well, but I was unable to see anything out of the ordinary. I even tried sticking a magnet into the spark plug hole on the #2 cylinder with hopes of pulling some bits of metal out of there, hoping to find something awry. No dice, so I'll have to wait until this weekend to get further on the investigation. I'm going to have to pull the motor out of the car in order to take the manifolds off so that I can remove the cylinder head and see what happened on Sunday. Here's a link to the video of me working in the garage tonight. Notice the...Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:54:26 GMTc280bd5f-e66a-40b0-85b4-7c5a8c34828aWho needs a steering wheel?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/909/who-needs-a-steering-wheelOver the time working on the 240Z we had various problems getting the steering wheel mounted in the car properly. The steering column threads wouldn't allow the Nut that I had to thread onto the column so mounting the wheel was an issue. Last night I found another nut for the column and believed that I got it threaded onto the column with a lot of brute force. Well it ends up that brute force basically destroyed the threads on the column. So... I guess I'll add a new steering column to the list of things I need for the...Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:46:11 GMTca36964b-5b60-4eec-92a3-a7ebb5be0862Why I won't be buying a Cadillac CTS-Vhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/913/why-i-wont-be-buying-a-cadillac-ctsvSo a few days ago I was on this CTS-V kick. I decided I'd get a CTS-V to replace the Tahoe, something fun to drive every day, yet still refined. I looked around, found one I was interested in locally and went to drive it tonight. Driving: The thing is amazing, fun to drive, fast as hell, and stops well. Everything Else: I wasn't impressed. I had hoped with a Cadillac I'd get some "wow", but honestly, I didn't get any wow. The dash had some wear around the navigation screen, the rest of the interior had some wear and tear. Nothing major, but honestly nothing that jumped out at me with a "you have to buy this, wow". I sat in the back seat, holy crap that's not gonna work. I'm 6'3", I'm not sure a 6' person could sit back there. There is NO headroom whatsoever. So, that is that, the car is fun to drive, fast as hell, but didn't give me enough for how much it would end up costing. So the Tahoe stays around. Besides, I should keep the Tahoe and find an LS1 to put into the 240Z, a Caddy might be fun, but I'm not going to find one that fun with room like the Tahoe has for taking everyone to lunch at work. I'm the bus driver posted from...Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:11:00 GMT07bd504a-8347-45e2-8619-772901d67756A day late, dollar short? LS1?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/918/a-day-late-dollar-short-ls1Well, I was excited when I got up this morning. I thought i was going to go look at a LS1 motor for the 240z... But as of a few minutes ago I think the motor won't be there when I go to look at lunch today. We'll see, I may luck out and it may not be sold yet, but I was informed someone was coming to pick it up already. If not, if it looks good, I'll probably be purchasing the next powerplant for the Project240z today. Last night I spent some time in the garage, trying to clean up and get parts ready for an ebay explosion. More on the ebay parts later this...Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:51:02 GMT6cdf3a09-42c1-4655-978b-4360df58a663The 240Z has life?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/936/the-240z-has-lifeSo I'm back from Topeka Kansas, I was there for a week attending the SCCA Solo Nationals. It was an interesting week. I didn't place as high as I would have hoped in the Collins' Solstice, but I had a blast nonetheless. While out there Nick Jackson and I did a lot of soul searching. We've been talking for the past few weeks about what to do with the Project240z, here are a few of the options we've discussed. Buy an LS1 and drop it in and continue to run in XP Buy a 5.3 Vortec out of a Tahoe and continue to run in XP Drop in the 78 280Z motor in the garage and run FP Sell the car and buy one of the following to run C5 Z06 to run in SS 06+ Mustang GT to run in FS Well, I think option 4.1 is leading the pack right now. Though my goal is to have the 240Z running by the end of October. My plan is to pull the bad motor out of the car tomorrow, and start replacing the leaky seal in the motor out of the 78 parts car. Get the 78 motor together, fuel injection setup off the Turbo motor, possibly the turbo, intake and exhaust over as well. Install the 78 in the car, get the car running, paint the car, sell the car. We'll see where I end up, but I'm definitely keeping my options...Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:04:48 GMT7c4632aa-aba6-4252-a083-482ff8dded4aSync your Zune from your drivewayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/943/sync-your-zune-from-your-drivewaySo, you're lazy like me, and hate taking your Zune inside the house because really all that means is that you forget to take it with you in the morning when you leave. Well never fear! With the new firmware update 2.1 it looks like you're going to be able to leave your Zune in your vehicle, and sync up the device! I'm excited about this. My Zune is always in my Tahoe, plugged into a power source, so this should work out excellent for me assuming the Wifi has a strong enough signal in the driveway, which wasn't a problem when I was outside working on the Project240z all spring with my laptop running! This also means it should work well for Natalie's Zune as well! Though, if I buy a Corvette it now means I'll have to wire up the Zune again, as it won't have the connection I already added for the...Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:25:00 GMT9b1b5fef-564d-4fb4-883e-54ab44a1cfd5But wait, there's more... maybehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/968/but-wait-theres-more-maybeThis just in, there may still be life in the Project240z.... It might get saved from the grasps of Ebay and become just a toy/project/wrench on me when you can car. Not a daily driver, not a race car, just something to play with, work on, add to, without worry of "will it make it faster or slower" More information coming sometime, who knows...Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:17:42 GMT955ee702-a98e-4662-9b54-ab8b0925d17eHow many hobbies is too many hobbies?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1003/how-many-hobbies-is-too-many-hobbiesThat is the question for 2008? How many hobbies is too many? Here's a list of the ones I want to do so far.... (in no particular order) 1. Play more golf 2. Get the 240Z running 3. Race the Corvette (alot) 4. Play and Record Music 5. Home Automation 6. Developer more cool DNN modules How many of those have I done so far this year? So far #1, started on #5, and always do #6 Nick and I went to the driving range today for a while. We're hoping to play 18 holes...Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:29:00 GMTcf81555e-8f88-44a3-b1db-9420ea087a6dWhat to do with the 240Z?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1006/what-to-do-with-the-240zRight now I still want to keep the 240Z, though I have someone interested possibly buying the whole package..... What to do what to...Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:15:00 GMT69691275-c444-4de3-a399-72e9c41993b42008, the year of the hobby!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1008/2008-the-year-of-the-hobbyWhat did I do tonight? More than most nights! I got home and decided it was time to tear into the motor that blew in the 240Z. So I did that! I found the piston. Well, I found some of the piston, in 100+ pieces. After working on the car tonight I had dinner with my wife, then came upstairs and was planning on getting some work done. Instead I opened up my Bass case and plugged into the amp. I played for quite a while, far longer than I expected, mostly learning some Green Day tunes. I must admit, I think I was born a base player, not a guitar player. I find it so much easier to just pick up and play a song, though, bass parts are generally...Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:36:00 GMT91a1e811-18f1-4fa8-8be1-b3ea116c41b7Another 240Z for the site?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1019/another-240z-for-the-siteWhat? Another 240Z may become part of www.project240z.com? More information next...Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:36:57 GMTcbf920ef-f9ad-41e9-b169-76d6b69d72b9Road Trip Sundayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1025/road-trip-sundaySunday: 13.5 hours~, 660 miles, 1 1970 240Z in Nick's garage. I can't believe I forgot to take my camera. I can't believe how cold it was. I can't believe he has more work to do on his car than I do on...Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:02:00 GMTba7296f2-ec04-4574-acc3-55e9c65543dfSteve Ewing from The Urgehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1078/steve-ewing-from-the-urgeSo last night 7 of us went out to dinner at Llywelyn's in Webster Groves. I wanted to go see Steve Ewing from The Urge playing there, and I figured I'd drag along a few guys from work so Natalie and I would have some people to talk to. It was a great time, and I must say, Steve is an amazing singer, if you get a chance to see him playing somewhere do. In person he sounds just like the recordings except with a little more crowd enticement there. Check him out at www.steviee.com I'm also proud to say I'll be using some of his music in upcoming videos for www.corvettez06.org and www.project240z.com Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:09:09 GMTb48ddcf7-59aa-4362-974e-4cc15d7e4a9aWeekend planshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1136/weekend-plans1. Wash/Wax the Corvette 2. Put the motor for the 240Z back together. 3. Make room in the garage so I can pull the Corvette back into the garage 4. Sleep 5. Finish getting prepped for the DotNetNuke Training that starts on Monday. 6. Get better Chris HammondSat, 29 Mar 2008 00:24:37 GMT857d114a-b369-4879-8222-c520f8a8bd59How not to sell something on Ebayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1137/how-not-to-sell-something-on-ebaySo last weekend some of the items I sold on Ebay for the 240Z ended. Well I shipped the last item off today, and I'm pretty sure, because of how badly I estimated shipping costs, I didn't make a dime on the deal. If anything I lost money. Tip: When selling something on ebay, always box it up, and weigh it before you start the auction. That way you can calculate proper shipping. Today I shipped off a box of interior parts that someone bought for .99 and paid $15 for shipping. I had to pay $65 to ship the damn thing because the box I had to use was so big. Lesson learned. Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:45:32 GMT02b972ef-a6df-4194-97ae-4f8c10a03fdcWeekend Updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1138/weekend-update<p>Weekend Update from <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/tabid/54/itemid/1136/Weekend-plans.aspx">my post of tasks to do from Friday night</a> (accomplished items are crossed through)</p> <div class="Normal" id="divArticleContent"><span id="dnn_ctr372_ItemDisplay_ArticleDisplay_lblArticleText"> <p>1. <strike>Wash</strike>/Wax the Corvette</p> <p>2. <strike>Put the motor for the </strike>240Z back together. (some done, manifolds need to go back on)</p> <p>3. <strike>Make room in the garage so I can pull the Corvette back into the garage</strike></p> <p>4. <strike>Sleep</strike></p> <p>5. Finish getting prepped for the <a href="http://www.engagesoftware.com/dotnetnuke/training.aspx">DotNetNuke Training</a> that starts on Monday.</p> <p>6. Get <strike>better (still in progress)</strike></p> <p>Not a very productive weekend if I do say so myself. I'm working on #5 this evening.</p> <p> </p> </span></div>Chris HammondSun, 30 Mar 2008 17:47:07 GMT5af09363-505b-479b-9fd7-aa31ff5af9bfHouston we have a problemhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1141/houston-we-have-a-problemWhen is too much? What am I referring to? Tires in my garage. Long ago everyone on Solo2.org did a count of tires and wheels in their arsenal. I think I might win if we did that again, here's a current count of tires/wheels that are in my garage, and does not include tires mounted to any of our 4 vehicles or two trailers. 4 street tires off the 240Z 4 Hoosier tires for the Corvette (good race tires) 4 new street tires for the Corvette 2 new Hoosier tires for the Corvette 8 combination of used race Wheels (3) and tires (8) for the Corvette 1 spare trailer tire 1 inflatable spare for the datsun That's 24 sitting in my garage right now, pictures for proof. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:33:30 GMT86550680-7eef-4b97-b169-e8114febf399Sunday Sunday Sundayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1233/sunday-sunday-sundaySo Natalie and I cut the St. Pat's trip short by about 14 hours. After the fun I had last night, I wasn't feeling up for another night of drinking so we left Rolla around 6pm this evening. Lesson learned, don't over drink yourself the night before your birthday, otherwise you spend your birthday in bed feeling your new age. Sunday I'm looking forward to a few things. I'm going to raise the front end on the Corvette up probably 1/4-1/2 inch, to hopefully stop dragging everytime I come to an inclined driving surface. I'm then going to head to Illinois and stop by the Novice School, try to get the car Annually teched, and then possibly go swing by Tuxedo Park and see how dirty the 240Z is. If Steven is over at TPR I'll do my best to try and talk him into letting me dyno the Z06, I'd like to get a baseline run in before I put the Borla exhaust on this week. Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:15:57 GMT6986cb8c-d9ff-4ec4-8a47-f60a8877f178Another 240Z for the site?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1269/another-240z-for-the-site<p>What? Another 240Z may become part of <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a>? More information next week.....</p>Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:36:57 GMT39e46340-d63b-453f-98a3-a9bc265f2b85A space heater and gasoline...https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1270/a-space-heater-and-gasoline<p>Today Nick and I ran around town, getting some metal for his 240Z, then around to find a few other supplies that he needed.</p> <p>When I got home I was half motivated to work on the car! So I went out to the garage, after sitting on the couch for 30 minutes, and got to working. It's still cold here in St. Louis so I had the garage door closed and decided to plug the space heater in to warm it up a little bit.</p>Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:52:43 GMT55d4a0c5-a9fc-4ae4-82b0-5d91965f0a11Taking apart the new motorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1271/taking-apart-the-new-motor<p>So Nick came over this morning and helped me get the motor off the ground and onto the engine stand so I could begin tearing it apart. After breaking a bolt off in the head trying to get one of the mounts setup for the cherry picker we managed to get the motor up and off the ground, though it took a couple of tries because we tried to get by with "the wrong" parts, meaning bolts in the chain that were too small for what we were doing.</p> <p>Lesson learned, again, use the right damn tools, instead of trying to make the wrong tools work. You'll save time rather than trying to take short cuts.</p> <p>Once we had the motor up on the stand he headed home to work on this car and I started trying to get the motor cleaned up a bit. Here are two before shots, of the front of the motor just caked in dirt and crap.</p> <p><span class="photo_container pc_m"><a title="L28E" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2321885405/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="L28E" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2321885405_288c8607c0_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></span> <span class="photo_container pc_m"><a title="L28E" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2321882971/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="L28E" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2321882971_558c29e1c9_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></p> <p>After spraying it down with degreaser and scrubbing with a wire brush I decided to finish what I started yesterday and remove the manfolds from the side of the motor. That actually went fairly easily, I'm not sure why, perhaps loading up the bolts with WD-40 yesterday before I finished helped, some of them almost seemed loose before I even cranked on them, perhaps Eric or I started to remove them last year when working on the other motor?</p> <p>After getting the manifolds off I took off the last remaining attached item to the side of the motor, but honestly, I'm not sure what it was? At first I assumed it was a power steering pump, but the more I think about it the more I think it might have been the AC compressor?</p> <p>After that I tried to spend some time organizing the garage a bit. I managed to get a few things hung up on the wall and made more room in there for the Corvette. I've still yet to make enough room to bring the 240Z home from storage. I don't think I'll be able to park both cars in the garage until I have the motor in the 240, otherwise I'll never have room in there for both cars and the motor, plus transmissions.</p> <p>Speaking of transmissions, I need to sell the 2 extra ones I have, if anyone is looking for an automatic transmission out of a 73 240Z, or a 5 speed out of a 280Z let me know. I was told the 5 speed needs rebuilding, I have no clue about it other than that.</p> <p>My goal/plan right now is to tear down the L28E and check things over, replace the rear main seal, make sure to clean it out, then try and put it all back together. I don't imagine I'll get that done before May, but I would like to spend time on it over the next few weeks if I can.</p>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:53:36 GMT0a87f6d4-42bc-40e5-919a-6341cf810e56Datsun 240z 280Z L28E parts on Ebay!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1273/datsun-240z-280z-l28e-parts-on-ebay<p>So I took some time this evening to put parts up on Ebay. <a href="http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchristoc">You can see them all by looking at my items for sale page</a>!</p> <p>The current parts include</p> <ul> <li>1978 Datsun 280Z L28E Distributor and Wires</li> <li>1978 Datsun 280Z L28E Exhaust Manifold</li> <li>1978 Datsun 280Z L28E Intake Manifold</li> <li>1978 Datsun 280Z 2+2 Interior Parts</li> </ul>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:11:09 GMTca609a8b-5944-46d7-8a02-9cab77d796e5Into the motor we gohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1274/into-the-motor-we-go<p>So my parents are in town for a few days. Dad and I spent some time working on the motor for the 240Z today. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow.</p> <p>We pulled the valve cover off, as well as the oil pan, to look things over on the motor. So far things look good, though we could see quite a bit of crap sitting above the valves, mostly dead bugs and such. I tried to get them out with a combination of the air compressor and a shop vac, tomorrow I'll know if it worked. We also removed the oil pan and made sure things down there were alright. We'll check the torque on bolts tomorrow and then put the oil pan from the Turbo motor back on.</p> <p>One thing I noticed, the 78 L28E has round exhaust ports while the 83 L28ET that died had square, so I'll have to do some research and see if the intake/exhaust manifolds should work on that 78 head or not. My plan was to take the turbo/exhaust setup from the 83 and put it onto the 78, hopefully tomorrow.</p> <p>Other than that, we tried replacing the rear main seal, though I think the one we put in will probably leak more than the one we took out so I've ordered another one. We did all this with the motor on the engine stand which limited our access to the seal, when I have the motor back up on the cherry picker we'll replace the seal before attaching the flywheel and transmission.</p>Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:40:45 GMT43e6ee53-be20-48d4-83b5-94b804dc2bc5240Z Statushttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1276/240z-status<p>Alright, here's my goal, and I'm stating it here so I can hopefully hold myself accountable.</p> <p>I want to bring the Datsun home from storage in May. In order to do that I need to make room in the garage, which means finding a place for the following</p> <p>16 tires/wheels (headed to the basement)</p> <p>Complete Datsun Suspension (disassemble and then take to basement)</p> <p>Dispose of an automatic transmission for the Datsun</p> <p>Dispose of a 5 Speed for the Datsun (someone is supposed to be picking it up tonight)</p> <p>After making room I need to finish putting the motor together, which I should be able to do in a couple hours worth of work this week and coming weekend.</p> <p>I'll post later this week with how I'm progressing.</p>Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:55:17 GMT92698f90-a223-4853-8143-0a24234254c0Made a few changeshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1278/made-a-few-changes<p>I made a few changes to the site this evening, a few things I've had planned for a while. Now, all my blog posts from <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a>, <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">www.corvettez06.org</a> and <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc">http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc</a> will all aggregate here, so you can pull in my RSS feed from <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com">www.chrishammond.com</a> and get whatever blog posts I make on those sites as well. The links should take you directly to the blog posts on those sites.</p> <p>If you see any problems with this please let me know, I'm excited to get this flexibility built into the site and have another project to be announced later this week that will use this feature as well!</p>Thu, 29 May 2008 01:36:13 GMTc6a2eed3-5333-4be9-88ab-c80fef0f6b31Flywheel thankshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1296/flywheel-thanks<p>While in Atlanta for the National Tour Carter Thompson brought me a gift. He had a lightened flywheel from his 240Z that he had been telling me about for the past two years. At the National Tour he brought me the flywheel. I must admit, at the time I carried it from his truck to the SPS Van I kept thinking, this sure doesn't feel light.</p> <p>Tonight though I was moving things around in the garage and came across both the stock and lightened fly wheels, the new wheel is definitely lighter than the stock wheel!</p> <p>Now, I just need to make some time to get the motor together so I can bring the car home sometime soon!</p>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:11:48 GMTb965faf0-1a88-472b-a751-8d4032f6513fFourth of July Fireworks and Baseballhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1299/fourth-of-july-fireworks-and-baseball<p>Yesterday was a busy Fourth of July. Natalie and Fabien got up and rode in the morning, I slept in, though I had planned on getting work done on the <a href="http://www.project240z.com">240z</a>. Around noon we left the house and headed west. We looked at a few properties for sale, two in Wildwood and one down south of Pacific. The good one in Wildwood is amazing, and might just work out for us, so we're going to try to go get a tour of it very soon. It has almost 5 acres, a barn with two horse stalls, a hay shed and various other features.</p> <p>The property we looked at south of Pacific would be very cool, but at only 2.3 acres doesn't look to be a very good horse property. I loved it because it had a total of 7 garage spots!</p> <p>After that we picked up Lindsey and headed downtown to the VP Fair and then to the baseball game. The closer we got downtown the darker it got, and eventually started raining. We ended up camping out in the Tahoe for about 15 minutes while we waited for the rain to pass. From there we walked up to the stadium and then over to the Arch to see the fair. Honestly, the fair sucked. There wasn't hardly anyone there and the only activities we saw were food/beer booths and some band playing on stage. Nothing else going on to make it worth our trek over there.</p> <p>We headed back to Busch Stadium to hang out there until the game. The game was great, the first Cards game I've been to this year that they actually won! After the game we stayed up on the upper deck to watch the fireworks at the fair. I took quite a few photos with my phone, I'll post more later but here's one for now.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/721048333/"><img height="180" alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1202/721048333_2ec375dcc7_m.jpg" width="240" /></a> </p>Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:45:53 GMTd7805629-452f-4e33-9d07-ee3ff015dd8d240Z Status for July 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1362/240z-status-for-july-2008<p>Well the garage finally has a little more room, though not enough to bring the car home from storage yet. Perhaps later this summer, though with my racing schedule (<a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/">www.corvettez06.org</a>)  I don't have any free weekends until September, and even then I think I have only one weekend that month, maybe 1 in October and then 2 in November if I am lucky!</p>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:43:58 GMT5f1a01b0-f394-4792-83dc-fd8e94626dcbThe 240Z, August 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1381/the-240z-august-2008<p>August 2008, that is the month that the 240Z will come home. Oh yes, it will come home, and hopefully it will run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:57:30 GMT1b6ed14c-2019-4e99-9639-5152c83b81f0Project240Z Post Traumatic Stress Analysishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1411/project240z-post-traumatic-stress-analysisI went out to the garage tonight with the hopes of trying to figure out what went wrong on Sunday. I was going to take the valve cover off and see if I saw anything out of the ordinary, then pull the head if I could get to that. Before doing those two things though I figured I should drain the oil out of the motor. Much to my suprise when I drained the oil it wasn't oil that came out first, it was coolant, then oil followed.   Once I discovered that I began to lose hope that I would be able to salvage anything in this motor. Thoughts of a cracked block filled my head. Nevertheless I proceeded forward with removing the valve cover and whatever else I could get to. When I pulled the cover off I started looking around and immediately found something that looked out of place. Ends up I found two things out of place, two of the rocket arm guides were laying on the cylinder, with a little Matlock work I found that both the guides from the #2 cylinder were not in the correct place.     From there I didn't get too far, I did get the timing sprocket and chain removed, and ended up getting the camshaft remove as well, but I was unable to see anything out of the ordinary. I even tried sticking a magnet into the spark plug hole on the #2 cylinder with hopes of pulling some bits of metal out of there, hoping to find something awry. No dice, so I'll have to wait until this weekend to get further on the investigation. I'm going to have to pull the motor out of the car in order to take the manifolds off so that I can remove the cylinder head and see what happened on Sunday. Here's a link to the video of me working in the garage tonight. Notice the...Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:54:26 GMT3befb976-2a50-49a2-8267-0240b4bfcf35Who needs a steering wheel?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1412/who-needs-a-steering-wheelOver the time working on the 240Z we had various problems getting the steering wheel mounted in the car properly. The steering column threads wouldn't allow the Nut that I had to thread onto the column so mounting the wheel was an issue. Last night I found another nut for the column and believed that I got it threaded onto the column with a lot of brute force. Well it ends up that brute force basically destroyed the threads on the column. So... I guess I'll add a new steering column to the list of things I need for the...Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:46:11 GMTbb43ea15-300a-48f1-9b16-72aabaff14d7A day late, dollar short? LS1?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1414/a-day-late-dollar-short-ls1Well, I was excited when I got up this morning. I thought i was going to go look at a LS1 motor for the 240z... But as of a few minutes ago I think the motor won't be there when I go to look at lunch today. We'll see, I may luck out and it may not be sold yet, but I was informed someone was coming to pick it up already. If not, if it looks good, I'll probably be purchasing the next powerplant for the Project240z today. Last night I spent some time in the garage, trying to clean up and get parts ready for an ebay explosion. More on the ebay parts later this...Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:51:02 GMT619892f5-8c93-4cfe-a948-50683b49fc6cThe 240Z has life?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1415/the-240z-has-lifeSo I'm back from Topeka Kansas, I was there for a week attending the SCCA Solo Nationals. It was an interesting week. I didn't place as high as I would have hoped in the Collins' Solstice, but I had a blast nonetheless. While out there Nick Jackson and I did a lot of soul searching. We've been talking for the past few weeks about what to do with the Project240z, here are a few of the options we've discussed. Buy an LS1 and drop it in and continue to run in XP Buy a 5.3 Vortec out of a Tahoe and continue to run in XP Drop in the 78 280Z motor in the garage and run FP Sell the car and buy one of the following to run C5 Z06 to run in SS 06+ Mustang GT to run in FS Well, I think option 4.1 is leading the pack right now. Though my goal is to have the 240Z running by the end of October. My plan is to pull the bad motor out of the car tomorrow, and start replacing the leaky seal in the motor out of the 78 parts car. Get the 78 motor together, fuel injection setup off the Turbo motor, possibly the turbo, intake and exhaust over as well. Install the 78 in the car, get the car running, paint the car, sell the car. We'll see where I end up, but I'm definitely keeping my options...Sun, 30 Sep 2007 10:04:48 GMTe3474abc-4de4-46a9-afe5-8f0f2d35b40fProject240z.com ToDo Listhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1418/project240zcom-todo-listHere's the Project240z.com ToDo List Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:46:07 GMT240955dd-309a-4c52-af29-c65909a5dc0fBut wait, there's more... maybehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1419/but-wait-theres-more-maybeThis just in, there may still be life in the Project240z.... It might get saved from the grasps of Ebay and become just a toy/project/wrench on me when you can car. Not a daily driver, not a race car, just something to play with, work on, add to, without worry of "will it make it faster or slower" More information coming sometime, who knows when! Edit: I've created a ToDo...Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:52:07 GMT3e663590-4768-4ed0-8e73-f2a8804a1bd1Fall 2008 It begins againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1491/fall-2008-it-begins-again<p>So it's been a while since I've made any real progress on the 240Z, but come the end of October I hope my weekends will finally slow down enough that I can start working on the car again with the intention of getting it running before Christmas!</p> <p>The Corvette goes away in just over a week, which will leave me without a fun car to drive, so hopefully that will motivate me a little bit to work on the 240 after I get done travelling for the month of October.</p>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:47:03 GMTa76b410e-1ba8-457f-a8d3-33de602a587eProgress on the 240Z? Yeah, right....https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1630/progress-on-the-240z-yeah-right<p>Not much progress has been made on the car lately. Since I lasted work on the car I've been pretty much working on work and school stuff non stop, no car work. I was in Vegas at a conference for a week, I started working on my book (work related) and then I've been finishing up a econ paper that I was supposed to do this past summer, and am just now getting finished up.</p>Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:12:31 GMTbf92d3c7-2786-40f9-9393-33a2404921ffIt's for sale againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1681/its-for-sale-again<p>So this time, I think, I am serious about selling the Datsun. With moving sometime in the next 5-6 months I need to start preparing for the move, and with my work/school/book schedule there is no way I will have time to work on the Datsun in the coming months.</p> <p>I'll post up more info later this week on the sale of the car, but if you're interested let me know. As of right now I will likely have everything I own for the car (minus the Corbeau A4 seats) for sale as a package.</p> <p>1973 Datsun 240Z</p> <p>L28E motor<br /> Megasquirt<br /> 2 transmissions<br /> LOTS of other stuff including a spare suspension, hatch, and lots of boxes with parts.</p> <p> </p> <p>I will try to do a full inventory, or at least a more detailed inventory later in the week.</p> <p>Asking price $2500, negotiable</p>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:54:20 GMT3d751f3a-3f86-4210-99bc-2e15436b157cSite Redesignhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1706/site-redesign<p>So I should have been working on the book tonight, and I did get some done, but I took the evening to finally reskin <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a>. I took the skin that <a href="http://www.cuongdang.net">Dang</a> designed for <a href="http://www.dotnetnukeblogs.com">www.dotnetnukeblogs.com</a> and reworked it for the Datsun.</p> <p>What do you think?</p>Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:12:22 GMTf7470e04-fc1d-4171-af2e-f9ab16ab41cbColorado Clean Air testing for Automobileshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1727/colorado-clean-air-testing-for-automobiles<p>Crap, it looks like the 240Z <a href="http://www.project240z.com"><font color="#800080">www.project240z.com</font></a> will have to go through emissions testing if it ever gets running and moves to Colorado with us...</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/mobile.html#auto I/M"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/mobile.html#auto I/M</font></a></p>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:59:56 GMT61577e02-284e-426f-812b-f84b1a966f5cTravelling Againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1732/travelling-again<p>So I'm here in Minneapolis teaching another week of DotNetNuke Training. It's an interesting town, but I'm looking forward to being home again this weekend and working on the Datsun <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a></p> <p>Monday it looks like I am driving to Indianapolis for the day to meet with a new client, then driving home Monday night. That'll make for a long day, but I would rather do that then stay over night.</p> <p>Check out my flickr feed for some photos <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/">www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/</a></p> <p>While i've been here I've been trying to finish up a few chapter reviews from the production layouts for the book. I have one chapter left to review, and Pat has a chapter or two to finish up. After that I "think" we're done with the book, but we'll see what the publisher says!</p>Chris HammondThu, 16 Apr 2009 01:22:44 GMT821a46c4-6fad-49c9-9c29-20d0dfbd6930A weekend of working on the 240Z coming uphttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1734/a-weekend-of-working-on-the-240z-coming-up<p>If you’re bored this weekend give me a ring! I’m going to spend this weekend getting the motor into the 240Z, and depending on how fast that progresses maybe even get the fuel and electronics hooked up to it and attempt to start it! Interested? :D I could use all the help I can get.</p>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:21:12 GMT73eb4a82-e0f1-4953-879b-294ea7919c35Working on the 240Z on a weeknight?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1739/working-on-the-240z-on-a-weeknight<p>I can’t say I’ve really put any effort into the Datsun on a weeknight in probably the past 20-22 months, tonight I spent a couple of hours in the garage working on a few things to get the motor ready to attempt to start it this weekend. I didn’t get a lot done, but the things I did will save the time I would have had to spend on Saturday doing them. I’ve mostly got the fan in place now, with 4 more bolts to put it onto the clutch. I put the single belt in place, and also hooked up the EDIS trigger on the 36-1 wheel for the megasquirt setup.</p> <p>I also put the throttlebody and the intake to the turbo back on the car. I put the battery onto the charger so that it’ll be ready to go Saturday. The more I mess with that thing the more I realize I need to get that moved to the back of the car soon after the car runs again, rather than having it sitting up in the engine bay taking up valuable room.</p> <p>I’ll probably do a few more of these minor buttoning up items tomorrow and Thursday night, leaving for tasks like the radiator and coolant, along with other minor things, for Saturday when Dave and possibly Terec are over to assist.</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Ke7FK0CLHg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Ke7FK0CLHg" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:07:16 GMT02c5c7b8-1e0f-40ab-99db-a23e43050e14It runs again!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1748/it-runs-again<p>So today we had a garage sale, nothing that resides in the garage was actually sold, but we did sell a lot of stuff that we wanted to get rid of before the move. Post sale the 240Z got some love. Here's the timeline, without times.</p> <p>Attempt to start the car as is, no dice, turns over but won't fire.</p> <p>Remove the VR sensor, rewire it the opposite way. Nothing, no signal, looks like the EDIS doesn't see it at all anymore.</p> <p>Remove VR sensor plug, replace with a different plug, from the box of EDIS supplies.</p> <p>Crank, what, what you want me to start? Okay, vroom vroom</p> <p>Run around like a chicken with my head cut off, call Whittle and tell him the news.</p> <p>Put a fan on top of the car to blow out all the smoke from the garage</p> <p>Crank crank, damnit, won't start, flooded.</p> <p>Remove the plugs, dry them off, crank it without plugs to try to get rid of fuel, whoops forgot to turn off the injectors</p> <p>Turnoff injectors, crank it again, blow out the cylinders with air from the compressor</p> <p>Insert plugs, wires</p> <p>Crank crank vroom vroom vroom, turbo whistle</p> <p>It was a successful day!</p> <p>So tomorrow I'll get the radiator back on the car, and put the exhaust system on the car, and we'll see what she does then. The car is nowhere near done, but it feels great to have a car that starts again!!!</p>Sat, 09 May 2009 17:42:24 GMTf883031c-a21f-4c90-b224-ac0a368bf61dPower washing the second suspensionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1780/power-washing-the-second-suspension<p>We got back from Colorado on Saturday night. Sunday afternoon I was out in the driveway power washing the extra suspension for the 240z. I got quite a bit done, it looks a lot better than before, and I also managed to get most of the disassembled so that I could get it sand blasted. I did manage to get grease all over the driveway though, which then go on the dogs when Natalie decided to try to wash the dogs in the driveway while I was out there. Whoops! Lesson learned, grease gets everywhere.</p> <p>I’ll hopefully have some time this weekend to get down to Egypt (my boss, with the sandblaster, lives way down in the sticks of MO) to work on sandblasting some of the parts so they can be painted and then reassembled. I’ll take pictures if any of that happens!</p>Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:36:38 GMT844e03df-996d-4399-a01f-d8f67821fe0cPhotoslide show of the househttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1795/photoslide-show-of-the-house<p>This blog post is going to be shorter than it could be, but for once in my life I’m going to hold back some information. I wouldn’t want anything I might say to jeopardize the closing of our house! </p> <p>So I was playing around online tonight, go figure, and came across this photo slideshow of the house. These are not photos I took. (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/tags/domingo/" target="_blank">here are photos I took</a>)</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/XjWPBOeSjjQ"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XjWPBOeSjjQ" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p> <p>So we are closing on the 31st of this month. I went out to Colorado last Friday and went on the home inspection. I had a good day, this was my rental car!</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3706568895/"><img alt="Oh no I didn't rent this, yes I did" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3706568895_705ec14a75_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>I won’t get into too many details on the inspection for a number of potential reasons, but it went very well. Nothing too major was found, and the one item we wanted inspected is getting replaced! </p> <p>Now we’re in the bind of figuring out how we are going to get to Colorado for closing, hopefully with all of our furniture at the same time. We’re currently planning on loading up the horse trailer and a budget rental truck with all of our stuff, putting the 240Z (<a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a>) on the car trailer, and drive all three rigs out the day before closing. We might leave even a day earlier, but in order for that to happen I have to rearrange a work trip that is scheduled Mon-Wed the week we close (we close on Friday). I hope to know if I can rearrange that trip tomorrow.</p> <p>So we’ve started packing, throwing lots of things out, reorganizing what we have, and want to take with us. We’ve got a long way to go, but I think we’re making good process so far. I’m hoping to get the Datsun back together this weekend and to spend the weekend packing up the garage. If I can get that done it will leave my office, and then clothing. Hopefully Natalie will tackle the kitchen this coming week!</p> <p>Natalie’s last day at the barn working is tomorrow, it’s a big change for her, not working every day. I look forward to seeing more of her!</p>Chris HammondFri, 17 Jul 2009 02:09:56 GMTdc62bf09-aec5-4109-a8c4-31f461900d7bSteering Column for a 73 240Zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1796/steering-column-for-a-73-240z<p>So just an FYI so others don’t waste money like I did. The steering column off a 1978 280Z will NOT fit on a 1973 240Z. I contacted the ebay seller to check before hand and was assured it would, unfortunately upon reciept and attempt at putting it in the car it does not fit :(</p> <p>I guess I’ll just have to rig the bad 73 column for the haul to Colorado and look for another solution in the coming months. </p> <p>Lesson learned, don’t trust ebay sellers to know what they are talking about.</p>Chris HammondSat, 18 Jul 2009 19:51:31 GMT131049e5-9d51-4dcc-b436-75e1c62dfea57 days till we leave Missouri!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1799/7-days-till-we-leave-missouri<p>Seven Days from now we’ll hit the road and head to Colorado, all of our life’s belongings with us, except the horse which should be there at the barn by the time we leave St. Louis. e’ve got a lot to do between now and then, but I do have all the utilities squared away at the new place. I got internet/TV/phone setup this morning, then called the other less important utilities such as power and gas :D</p> <p>We’ve been packing up around the house, there’s still a lot left to do, but hopefully we’ll get it finished tonight and Friday. Tomorrow we’re having a little get together at Dave & Buster’s here in town as sort of a going away bash.  <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103101229567">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103101229567</a></p> <p>Friday Natalie is going to a concert and I’ll begin loading up the trailer. I hope to have an idea if we’ll be able to get everything in the trailer or not, if I can cancel the Budget truck by 10am we won’t get charged. But heck, even if we cancel after 10am, it only costs us $50. In my mind that’ll be $50 well spent, as we have the truck reserved for a Monday pickup if we do need more room for loading things. It’ll also likely tow the 240Z better than the Envoy will.</p> <p>We’re planning on leaving St. Louis some time on Tuesday, driving roughly half way (Salina Kansas or further) and then finish up the rest of the drive on Thursday. I’ll likely need to go down to Cplorado Springs on Thursday to get a bank account down there for our second mortgage, they’ll give us a discount on the rate if we have an account there for them to ECH from. </p>Chris HammondWed, 22 Jul 2009 16:53:04 GMT93e6c024-6293-44a0-9e8c-d8cf1af21370Car is loaded for Coloradohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1802/car-is-loaded-for-colorado<p>So I loaded the car up on the trailer tonight after work (well, between work actually). I’m going to take it to a buddy’s shop for a few days as we get the house packed up and everything loaded onto the moving (horse) trailer. Tuesday I’ll go pickup the car and we’ll hit the road for Colorado on Wednesday. </p> <p>I even drove it up on the trailer under its own power!</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3749868081/"><img alt="@project240z is loaded for trip to colorado. #going2colorado" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3749868081_c4bd798642_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p>Chris HammondFri, 24 Jul 2009 02:10:37 GMT3f7ca1fc-e25c-469d-838a-f15773cdf597240Z update for Augusthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1811/240z-update-for-august<p>So I didn’t actually get anything physically done on the 240Z this weekend, but I did manage to get $40 worth of light bulbs and fuses for the car.</p> <p>I hope to start getting them installed tomorrow night so that I can start testing out the wiring, see what all I am going to have to rewire/fix in order to make the car street legal. Fingers crossed that the stock wiring still works fine!</p> <p> </p> <p>(My first blog post from my fresh install of Windows 7)</p>Chris HammondMon, 17 Aug 2009 02:56:15 GMT21d3b6bb-0c4e-435a-bb46-7ff23106d8c8Out goes the dashhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1812/out-goes-the-dash<p>So tonight after work I got the 240Z off the trailer, both of which had been parked in the Garage since we moved to Colorado a few weeks ago. I had lined up a storage lot for the trailer and wanted to get it out of the garage. Well the 240Z wasn’t easy to start, took a good 5+ minutes of attempts before it finally started up. Later in the day I realized the MAP hose wasn’t hooked up to the Megasquirt, that would explain the difficulty in starting! whoops.</p> <p>So I dropped the trailer off and came home to organize the garage a bit, moved the newly assembled shelves in place and started going through some of my boxes. After I got bored with the unpacking I decided it was a good time to put all the bulbs and fuses that I had purchased yesterday into the car. That was pretty quick and painless, but didn’t produce any fruit! I didn’t see any lights in the rear of the car at all. So what next?</p> <p>I simply decided to pull the dashboard out! The whole thing, gone, removed, not going back in (likely not) along with the blower and heater core. Why might you ask? Why not. The car will hopefully be somewhat streetable, but I won’t be using most of the gauges on the car anyways. For a speedo I’ll have the G2X (GPS data logging), for RPM I’ll likely have the G2X, or even a Netbook running the Megasquirt software to show me all the appropriate date from the ECU. So why do I need the stock dash? I don’t! Though I did realize after I pulled the dash that I left the fiberlass dashboard in St. Louis, and didn’t bring it to CO. Luckily I’m going back to STL next week for work and will hopefully get it packed up and shipped back.</p> <p>I’ll need to do some creative wiring, hooking up a switch for the headlights, a horn, turn signals, and even the ignition, but I think it will be cool to have all those as switchable items on a nice clean looking dashboard, not the big old clunky stock one. </p> <p>Here’s a photo sans dash.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3832794826/"><img alt="Sans Dashboard" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3832794826_2bf00d6e2c_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p>Chris HammondTue, 18 Aug 2009 00:56:52 GMT8f414a97-081c-4931-afee-0b9c788d3a7eOrganizing the garage, and guess what I found?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1814/organizing-the-garage-and-guess-what-i-found<p>So we’ve barely been in the house three weeks and I already lost and found something! <a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/434/Out-goes-the-dash.aspx">So in my last blog post I complained</a> that I thought I left the fiberglass dashboard for the 240Z in St. Louis. Well I was wrong! Tonight while trying to get things moved around in the garage to make room for our two primary vehicles I was up on the loft moving things and came across the dashboard!</p> <p>So all is well again in Project240z.com land, well, as well as it can be! I was going to drive the car around the block tonight, and park it in the third car garage, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen unless I wanted to take the wiring harness out of the old dash and hook up the wires. Right now the ignition wires aren’t going to anything, so that would make it kind of hard to start the car and drive it. Oh well, I moved it around a bit by hand and made room for one of our cars in the garage at least, the F350 will have to stay outside for a while longer.</p> <p>Hopefully by the end of September I’ll either have a new quieter exhaust on the car, or all the paint completely stripped off, or maybe even both!</p>Chris HammondMon, 24 Aug 2009 00:59:55 GMTdf3da4bc-5432-434d-bd7d-cde27b116fc5Labor Day weekend and working on the 240zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1820/labor-day-weekend-and-working-on-the-240z<p>So the Labor Day holiday weekend is coming up, and my brother is coming to town. I’m planning on putting him to work on the car. I’m not sure what the goal for the weekend is, but I do want to at least get something done on the car! </p> <p>I was looking to try another body, one popped up last week on Craigslist but the dude sold it. I emailed, called, etc but the guy wouldn’t call me back, when I finally got in touch with him someone else had already purchased it, just my luck. </p> <p>So as of right now I’m going to keep the current body, unless something better pops up in the mean time.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/Thumbs/240z.jpgChris HammondThu, 03 Sep 2009 22:26:45 GMTe45b2d48-28d2-4d98-970b-e2c204215604Yet another domain name, look out 240z.net is coming!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1825/yet-another-domain-name-look-out-240znet-is-comi<p>So for a month or so I've been waiting for <a href="http://www.240z.net/"><u><font color="#800080">www.240z.net</font></u></a> to go through the expiration process as the previous owner decided to let it expire. Well today it finally came through and guess who got it! </p> <p>Woot!</p> <p>Stay tuned as <a href="http://www.240z.net/"><u><font color="#800080">http://www.240z.net</font></u></a> gets built over the coming months. No sneak peeks right now as to what I plan to do with it. It will not just become a replacement for Project240z.com, I don't plan on this site going away.</p>Chris HammondTue, 22 Sep 2009 23:14:50 GMTbc122f7c-a319-49b4-80c0-10b96640b660Should I make the 240Z Electric?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1833/should-i-make-the-240z-electric<p>Today, while I was hard at work, a buddy of mine sent me a link to a car on Ebay, it was a <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; " href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-GTI-RABBIT-517-ORIGINAL-MILES-ORIGINAL-OWNER_W0QQitemZ130335847774QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item1e589f355e#ht_500wt_1182">1984 Rabbit GTI with 517 original mile</a>s. I was looking at the car in amazement, seeing it was in St. Louis, and more so in Creve Couer, near where we used to live.</p> <p>From there I clicked on another link, I'm not even sure which one, and I came across a list of cars, one that peaked my interest, a <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; " href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Electric-Car-1957-Porsche-356-Speedster-Replica_W0QQitemZ260484651636QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item3ca6185a74">356 speedster replica</a>. I decided to check it out, and then I started reading more realizing it was also local to St. Louis, but get this. It is electric! I thought, oh that's cool, but then I scrolled down and started watching the video embedded into the ebay page. I'm 68 minutes into it, it's a 91 minute video.</p>Chris HammondThu, 08 Oct 2009 18:22:16 GMT58471f05-3b80-4d32-b9e4-5d326667759bWelcome to yet another project! A 1995 Audi A6https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1838/welcome-to-yet-another-project-a-1995-audi-a6<p>So here we are, a new domain, a new project and a new car! This car, while a "project" isn't a project <a href="http://www.project240z.com/">like that other car is</a>.</p> <p>Since we moved to Colorado we figured it would be a good idea if we had AWD/4wd vehicles, so we sold our 2004 F350 and traded in our 2004 GMC Envoy for a 2008 F250 FX4 last week. That put us down to a one (running) vehicle family, I couldn't take it! I'd been looking around for a while for another ride and came across this Audi not even 5 minutes from our house. It's got just under 130k miles.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 15 Oct 2009 23:57:37 GMT5ca98b8b-287d-44a3-91cd-b4f0eb608c8cFor sale again?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1872/for-sale-again<p> For any of you who follow the website regularly you'll notice that I haven't "put" the car and website up for a sale in a while. Well, it's your lucky day.</p> <div style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.4; "> <p>I'm considering putting the car up for sale, as well as the domain names (www.project240z.com and www.240z.net).</p> <p>In the next week or two I'll get everything together, car and website info, and likely get it listed on Ebay. I'll set it up with a reserve auction, if it meets that reserve then I'll sell it all outright, if not I will likely start parting things out. </p> </div>Chris HammondSun, 27 Dec 2009 01:10:09 GMT7d5f24d5-e45e-4bab-8cf0-8e97e96e3e231973 Datsun 240z For Salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1876/1973-datsun-240z-for-sale<p>So I really am looking to sell the 240z this time around. Though, the more time I spend on it, the less I want to sell it, so perhaps I’ll continue working on it while I wait to see if it sells, and then who knows what will happen after that. At this point in time I’m not looking to part the car out, that might change in the future, but for now I’ll keep from parting it out. Basics: Price: $1750 with all the spare parts (storage bins full), $1250 with the car as it currently sits. (add $250 to clean up title) Year:1973 Make: Datsun Model: 240z Title: None (can be acquired at additional cost) Mileage: Unknown Location: Parker, Colorado (delivery available at $1.25.mile up to 500 miles from Parker, CO)</p>Chris HammondSun, 03 Jan 2010 15:56:15 GMT1133fb7e-06a0-4d19-a673-064a63825108This 240z gets aroundhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2222/this-240z-gets-around<p>Apparently that’s the word on the 240z. I sold it in January 2010 (or somewhere close to there) and since then it has apparently changed owners twice (possibly more).</p> <p>I emailed <a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/479/The-240z-Lives-and-it-looks-great.aspx" target="_blank">the guy who sent me photos in October after he painted it</a>, to see how it was, and he tells me it was sold in December <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" alt="Sad smile" src="http://www.project240z.com/Portals/0/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/This-240z-gets-around_C988/wlEmoticon-sadsmile_2.png" /></p> <p>If you are the new owner, drop me a line, I’m curious how things are going.</p>Chris HammondMon, 13 Jun 2011 17:20:26 GMTd54febe0-8d79-41a3-9d76-647a5f79c4f0Project 240Z site beginshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2353/project-240z-site-beginsWelcome to the new Project240Z.com. We've thrown the software up, and quickly added a blog. In the coming days we'll reskin the site and get more content...Chris HammondSun, 28 Jan 2007 11:00:00 GMT4364dfa6-a0ae-492c-b829-d9793a1de7bbYou're invited this weekend. Good luck at the 100 Acre Woodhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2362/youre-invited-this-weekend-good-luck-at-the-100Alright, this coming weekend is the time. I'm going to pull the motor out of the parts car this weekend, as well as the transmission, and any other parts I can salvage. If anyone is interested in helping out, I'll provide all the food and beer you desire while over here. What all do we have to do? The parts car is a 1978 280Z 2+2. I need the transmission for the 240Z, and probably will end up needing the motor for when the Turbo motor has problems! Other than that, I want to remove whatever I can save/sell before I scrap the rest of it so I can bring the 240Z back home. Best of luck to the guys/girls that will be at the 100 Acre Wood. Muggy, bring home a win! Jim, keep the Rally truck together for her last...Chris HammondWed, 21 Feb 2007 11:45:51 GMTbbd201d9-47df-4d7f-8620-29ea7b5c8abbDraining the fluids in the parts car, 2-23-07https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2363/draining-the-fluids-in-the-parts-car-22307I spent a bit of time this evening working on the 280Z.  Here's the video! http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/11/Parts-Car-draining-the-fluids-223.aspx Here's what I got done. Drained the oil Drained the transmission fluid Removed the hood wings Removed the driver's side mirror Removed teh driver's side Z vent cover. Tomorrow: The motor and transmission come...Chris HammondSat, 24 Feb 2007 10:25:56 GMTdf7953dd-0a91-400b-a1e4-c89b12582724Parts Car Engine Removal Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2364/parts-car-engine-removal-day-1Spent today disconnecting things from the motor so I can get the motor and transmission pulled out tomorrow. Also removed some of the front end body work I need to try to make work on the 240Z as well. http://www.project240z.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=12 Accomplished today Disconnected all wires and hoses from the motor that need to be disconnected to pull the motor. Removed the Radiator Removed the headlight buckets Removed the rest of the front valance Removed Passenger Side Mirror Removed Passenger/Driver side chrome trim...Chris HammondSun, 25 Feb 2007 05:13:38 GMT3e4b5384-0a28-4637-840a-cdf3a58171deParts car motor pull Day 2https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2365/parts-car-motor-pull-day-2Thanks to Terec for coming over today and helping me get the motor pulled out of the 78 280Z 2+2 parts car today! http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/13/Project-240Z-Day-2-of-Parts-Car-Motor-Pull.aspx Here's what we got done. Pulled the motor and transmission Disconnected the driveshaft Ruined a clutch line (that was all...Chris HammondMon, 26 Feb 2007 07:32:57 GMT72624f94-fc77-43cc-992c-4f91a99c3ffbAnyone dealt with the Z Store before?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2368/anyone-dealt-with-the-z-store-beforeI emailed the Z Store on Tuesday, and haven't heard back from them. I'm looking at their MSA Type III body kit for the Project 240z. Anyone ever dealt with them, or seen the body kit before? The question I had for them was does the kit require a front bumper, or does it replace the bumper? Other questions I have for anyone who has seen the kit in person, what'd you think? Was the kit something...Chris HammondMon, 05 Mar 2007 07:34:03 GMTb916e64a-466b-4f7b-99f2-64c67e600a76The 240Z is home againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2370/the-240z-is-home-againThe 240Z is finally home. The parts car is gone, news at...Chris HammondMon, 12 Mar 2007 03:21:59 GMTa0e6fe3c-e09b-45b2-98b7-bf9158a3adb0240Z, the Journey homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2371/240z-the-journey-homeSo this morning I got up and finished up what I could get done on the project car, a 1978 280Z 2+2, courtesy of our very own Lynn Wilson, Thanks Lynn!!! I had planned to remove the diff from the car this morning, along with the door lock from the passenger door, ignition switches and such as well. I got the switches and locks, but had a hell of a time trying to get the diff out. I got everything disconnected except the axles, without any luck getting the axles removed I gave up, hastily slapped some bolts/nuts back on the diff to hold it in place and I took some wire to tie up the driveshaft to keep it from hanging down to the floor. After clearing off the parts I knew I wanted I had to run down to SoloPerformance to drop off the Engine Hoist that I've had for, oh almost the past year. Dave needed it for a week or so, and all I've been doing with it is using it as a nice engine hanger lately. After that quick trip I grabbed Natalie, hopped in the Tahoe and headed up North. Went to the Elterman's to pickup his trailer so I could haul cars to Egypt and back. From there we headed back home, loaded up the parts car and took off to Speedway (junk yard) in Illinois. They were pretty lax about things, which was nice, I rolled the car off the trailer and headed over to the super secret storage facility. From there we filled up the flat spare tire and rolled it out of the shop and onto the trailer for the trip back home. Both towing trips were uneventful, which was nice, though each car did shift around on the trailer a bit. The Tahoe towed fine, which is great! Though, I still want to see about getting a gooseneck trailer at somepoint to tow with the F350. On the way home from the super secret storage facility I decided to stop and double check the straps, just to make sure I wasn't going to lose my baby. I stopped out in front of this great sign ;)     After getting home, Natalie and I unloaded the 240 from the trailer, though, not before I took the time to sweap the 5lbs of rust that the parts car had deposited on the floor of the garage. After rolling her into the garage and test fitting a few of the interior pieces we headed back up north to drop James' trailer off. They weren't home, lucky for them. Had he been home he might have had a heart attack watching me back the trailer in, I ended up parking it about 6 inches from the front of the STi, that darn slopped trailer, makes it hard to judge distances. Lucky for me I stopped when I did, otherwise I would have felt like a complete ass for borrowing a trailer and then hitting the owners car when returning it. More on the Project240z car later this...Chris HammondMon, 12 Mar 2007 05:11:11 GMT488b2906-9e57-428c-bfcc-f508b9bdda89Project240Z.com Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2372/project240zcom-photosI created a photos page last week, and didn't put any up there! Now they're pulling from the Project240z.com Flickr Group and posting on the Project240z.com Photos page for all to see. Nothing too interesting yet...Chris HammondMon, 12 Mar 2007 22:20:14 GMT60a37486-1fb6-4665-985d-1740f2cc3c7aMegasquirt has been orderedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2374/megasquirt-has-been-orderedEven though I'm out in Mormanville I've been hard at work at least thinking about the Project 240z!  With the guidance of Mr. Whittle I've ordered over $700 in equipment to get the motor wired up with Megasquirt. I hope to hit the junk yard on Friday and find a few more random Ford Ignition parts that I need for the megasquirt setup, and hopefully the megasquirt parts from DiyAutotune will be here early next week. My dad will be in town this coming weekend, so I plan to put him to work the next few weeks to help me get this car ready for April...Chris HammondThu, 22 Mar 2007 16:37:47 GMT52ee642d-5092-4c87-97b1-e84afb25fb40Dressed in blackhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2375/dressed-in-blackWell the engine bay of the Project 240Z has a nice coat of black paint. I'll be touching up a few areas tomorrow, as well as doing the following. Hitting the Junkyard to locate parts I still need for the megasquirt setup, including mostly these ford parts: throttlebody from a V8, VR Sensor from a V6, fuel injectors, wires, coils. I'll also be hitting the parts store for some new break and clutch lines, installing the clutch line, and hopefully starting to put the transmission onto the turbo motor. Photos...Chris HammondSat, 24 Mar 2007 08:23:21 GMT3355f332-0f12-49e3-8f1a-b93a438ccca8Junk Yard Saturdayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2376/junk-yard-saturdayToday, well yesterday now, it's 1am, Dad and I went to Speedway salvage over in Madison Illinois. 3-4 hours later we walked out of there with $120 worth of parts for the Project 240Z. I didn't realize you could spend that much on junk? I got most of the ignition system I needed to complete the Megasquirt setup, some interior plastics I needed, as well as the steering wheel off my parts car that I dropped off at Speedway two weeks ago. I think they even charged me for the wheel. Dad took apart the brake master cylinder and start cleaning it, we'll do the same with the clutch cylinder tomorrow, and reassemble that with the rebuild kit I picked up this evening. I couldn't find a brake mc kit in town tonight, so that will have to be a future product. I also picked up 7 feet of hydrolic line to run a new clutch line and repair a brake line I had to cut last week. Tomorrow (Today) we'll see how far we can get towards putting the 83 motor into the car. I'm going to be working on getting the parts we need off of the motor from the parts car so we can get the motor setup to drop in the car. More...Chris HammondSun, 25 Mar 2007 10:05:27 GMTc2c60339-aa0b-4e9d-8717-b5bc87bef2d2The motor is in the Project 240z!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2377/the-motor-is-in-the-project-240zLook out Jeffs, the motor is in the Project 240z! Dad and I spent all day today working on the car, and I even swung by one of Jeef's old employer's to pickup some parts today as well. Dad spent most of the morning working on the clutch master cylinder and brake master cylinder, cleaning them up quite a bit, and using a rebuild kit on the clutch MC. The brake MC has some corrosion inside, so I'll be ordering a rebuilt MC tomorrow that I should be able to pickup tomorrow night. I spent the morning taking parts off of the 78 motor, cleaning them and putting them onto the 83 motor. Over the afternoon and early evening Dad and I managed to seperate the 5spd transmission from the 78 motor and put it onto the 83 motor. From the looks of things the 83 motor was either once powering an automatic tranny, or was prepped to perform that work as we had to replace the driveplate with the flywheel/pressure plate from the 78 motor as well. After getting the transmission together and putting some of the parts I scavanged from the 78 motor Dad and I managed to get the motor into the Project 240z. I must say, removing motors is far easier than actually putting them back in the car. We put bolts into the motor mounts, and also into the crossmember underneath the transmission to hold it all in place, but have yet to tighten anything down just yet. The megasquirt equipment should be here soon, hopefully. I've still gotta find a few parts for the ignition/fuel system. My goal is still to fire up the car next weekend, though I'm going to need a lot of help to do that. I'm still hoping Mr. Whittle will be able to assist this week with getting the Megasquirt setup on the car. Does anyone have a Ford Cobra MAF lying around anywhere? I'm in need of one. Photos have been uploaded and can be found on the photos...Chris HammondMon, 26 Mar 2007 10:26:27 GMTb2b8af27-6c9b-4ca3-8372-eadedde98a72Another night of wrenching on the carhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2378/another-night-of-wrenching-on-the-carDad and I spent a few hours working on the 240z this evening. We got the clutch pedal in, and even got as far as putting the Clutch Master Cylinder in the car. We went to put the 78 280Z brake booster in the 73 240Z, but ended up figuring out that the firewalls on the two cars are different, and the booster out of the 78 won't fit in the 73 with a clutch installed. Sooooo, now we're trying to verify that we can use the recently purchased rebuilt brake master cylinder for the 78 booster, on the 73 booster, without any issue. We'll see how that goes! After work today I ran to Illinois again to hit the Speedway salvage yard up for more parts as well. I picked up 3 wiring harnesses for the fuel injectors for the L28 motors. 1 set was off my old parts car, another off a 78 coupe that was there and another set off an 82 I believe. I'm hoping with all those connectors I can come up with at least 6 that are good enough to use to start the car up. After the junkyard I hit up Carquest to pickup the rebuilt master cylinder, it was actually just about the same price as a rebuild kit, so buying the already built one made too much sense. Hopefully tomorrow we can get that rest of the brake and clutch items squared away. I'm also making an electronics run tomorrow to get bits and pieces of items necessary for the megasquirt install that I hope to tackle this weekend. ...Chris HammondWed, 28 Mar 2007 10:18:26 GMT96b7294e-bc28-4448-b863-e2bf40630f3aP240Z Pulleys a pullinhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2379/p240z-pulleys-a-pullinWell we overcame the the brake booster issues from last night. Dad got the Brakeline hooked up to the MC, and we got the booster installed in the firewall and hooked up to the pedal. After that I got the proper tool and pulled the pulleys off the 78 motor and the 83 motor as well. Not likely to get any work done tomorrow as I have a meeting tomorrow night, but Dad took the radiator from the 78 to get it cleaned up and pressure checked at a shop tomorrow sometime. At lunch I'll also hopefully be getting the 37pin plug for the Megasquirt put...Chris HammondThu, 29 Mar 2007 08:48:54 GMT11b4a6ab-1b43-4f46-a230-8d0601ad364dFuel Cell timehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2383/fuel-cell-timeI took the gas tank out of the 240Z down to Manchester Radiator on Wednesday. They called me on Thursday to tell me that the tank was in a sad state. They dipped it and cleaned it up to find a lot of pinholes and larger holes in the bottom of the tank from rust. Rather than repair it they asked me if I could get another one from somewhere. Lucky for me SM2 allows for Fuel Cells, now I just need to read up on the rules and figure out where I can mount one legally in my car, and figure out how much that is going to end up costing me. The car hasn't been touched since last Sunday, and won't see any action before at least Thursday as Natalie and I are headed to Boston tomorrow for Opening Day on...Chris HammondSat, 07 Apr 2007 08:43:17 GMT8fef191e-b054-418c-8672-6284a51f723bProject 240Z status?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2384/project-240z-statusCurrent status: On hold Why? Mainly school. It's nearing the end of the semester and I'm trying to get some class work finished up. I have a large presentation on Monday evening, after that, Tuesday, I hope to start back up on the car. I'm picking up a replacement 240Z Gas tank on Sunday, instead of going with a fuel cell for now I'm hoping to get by with a stock 240Z tank. I ordered a Flux/Gas welder from Harbor Freight on Thursday. It's cheap, but will hopefully at least get me started. I can see how well I can learn, and hopefully repair/build a few things along the way. If I start to use it much (I don't foresee this) I'll look at getting a nicer model sometime. I started putting my new workbench together last night. I'll take some pics of it once it's finished (must install the tabletop still) and moved around in the garage. Right now it's in front of the car as I haven't made room for it on the wall yet. More next...Chris HammondSat, 21 Apr 2007 08:34:44 GMT571578e3-53fd-4d5d-b335-1ce50fd4652eP240z Time to start againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2385/p240z-time-to-start-againTonight I begin working on the 240Z again. It's been quite a while since I've worked on it, 3 weeks or so, due to work and school and of course, Opening Day at Fenway. Tonight I'll be bench bleeding the rebuilt brake master cylinder that I picked up back towards the end of the month, then i plan to install the MC and bleed the brake system with the help of my father. After that I'm going to work on the interior of the car a bit more, cleaning up the rust and painting over the clean metal with hopes to prevent more rust. Thursday I'll be doing more, hopefully getting to the point where I can install the pulley that Tuxedo Park Racing is currently working on. The pully has a 36-1 trigger wheel on it for the Megasquirt Ford EDIS setup. Once I have the pulley on I'm going to start fabricating the bracket to mount the VR sensor, and hopefully get some wires run this weekend. I was hoping to do some welding, but it looks like Harbor Freight has the welder I ordered on backorder. It sure as nice of them to tell me that when I ordered. I had to call and listen to the automated system just to find that out. If they don't come up with one tomorrow I'm cancelling my order and I'll look elsewhere for a welder, or get someone to do some welding for me. Russ has a welder he thinks might work, so I'll try to drag him over if I can. More tonight after some work is...Chris HammondTue, 24 Apr 2007 22:22:44 GMT4cb5111f-b91a-486b-9b58-4513bd253247Gas Tank update, seat fitting this weekend, harbor freight suckshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2387/gas-tank-update-seat-fitting-this-weekend-harborI ended up not getting another gas tank this past weekend. I had planned on picking one up in Hillsboro but the guy ended up sounding way too sketchy for me. First the tank was perfect, then it had two holes he was going to repair, then there was a gash that needed repair, then, and then, and then. So I ended up deciding not to go get the tank. Back to looking for a Fuel Cell again, unless anyone has a source on a complete, leak free, 240Z Gas tank? I'm picking up a seat from www.soloperformance.com tomorrow to do some test fitting this weekend. I'll probably go with a Corbeau A4, but need to make sure it will fit in the car, and of course with me in it, before I order anything. I'm thinkin the black microsuede sure would look nice! This section of the post should be one for The Mad Blogger, but I'll post it here anyways. Harbor Freight sucks. I ordered a welder from them last week, called today and found out it was on backorder with no expected date of arrival. I'll call them tomorrow, and if it's still not expected soon I'll cancel the order and figure something else out.... Anyone want to come over and weld some things this weekend, bring a welder!!!! ...Chris HammondWed, 25 Apr 2007 09:01:28 GMT9540cb8f-c6cf-46f7-aa95-2d4e4e5fcc66My Motivationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2388/my-motivationI was digging through some old photos tonight looking for photos of Jeff Krekeler, when I ran across this photo I took back in June of 2004.   When I get bored, lazy, or tired of working on the Project240z, I only have to look at that photo and realize what I'm striving for. That car is beautiful, and I hope my car can one day look that...Chris HammondSat, 28 Apr 2007 08:36:49 GMT41d808a3-10e0-4471-b8d4-0cf7833816cf240Z Corbeau Seats came inhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2393/240z-corbeau-seats-came-inThe seats I ordered earlier this week came in today! They look awesome, though they are now in the basement still in the shipping box. I'm not about to put them near the car right now, not until I get the grinding/welding done so I don't cover them in dust/rust and...Chris HammondSat, 05 May 2007 10:36:47 GMTe6e37ac0-eee6-4495-a4ed-47fea36ad2eeFirst weekend in May, 240Z work!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2394/first-weekend-in-may-240z-work<p>Dad and I got a bit done on the car this weekend. I've created two videos, one from Saturday, one from Sunday.</p> <p>Saturday: We ended up running around looking for more plugs for the intake manifold, ended up not having any luck at all with that. We also took some time and found more metal to use on the floorpan. After returning we fabricated a throttle linkage and then i decided it was time to actually see some resemblance of a car, so I partially assembled the front end with the new (new to me) air dam I picked up that afternoon.</p>Chris HammondMon, 07 May 2007 00:44:12 GMT0d603775-b8e9-495a-a064-5cbaafa7f21a240Z Downpipe arrived!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2395/240z-downpipe-arrivedWell today a key component of my project arrived, the downpipe for the Turbo showed up. At first I flipped out thinking it was the wrong downpipe. ! = Then someone on Hybrid Z kindly pointed out that I need to remove the stock wastegate housing in order  to install this downpipe, which I believe is off a Z31 motor, instead of an L28ET motor like I have. I'll be testing this out tomorrow, then I hope to try to get it over to Hackman to get it powder...Chris HammondWed, 09 May 2007 09:41:34 GMT9a596bd1-ae29-41a1-af36-95c2a2049f76Does the 240Z need a cage?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2397/does-the-240z-need-a-cageSince I've decided to change classes, and not bother with most of the interior items, should I go ahead and put a cage in the car? I'll be going to XP, which I don't believe requires a cage, but I'd also like to do some time trials/hpde in the car. Any of the St. Louis cage builders want to work out a deal on a cage in exchange for advertising/promotion on...Chris HammondWed, 16 May 2007 22:54:01 GMTc8e1d013-f944-486c-aa48-eb65cb6b0a78May 29th P240z updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2399/may-29th-p240z-updateSo what's going on with the 240Z? Not much. I haven't done any work since last week, though I plan to get some done tonight. I did manage to start putting together a parts list of items I need to purchase, it really starts to add...Chris HammondWed, 30 May 2007 02:07:20 GMT8b509e54-0571-43b8-8d11-ba784269de0cFuel Cell Ordered....https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2401/fuel-cell-orderedWell I ordered the fuel cell for the 240Z today, as well as 20ft of fuel line and AN fittings, as well as a wiring kit for a fuel pump. Tomorrow I'll probably be ordering a fuel pump. I also entered the DoubleX in Atlanta at the end of June. So now I have a deadline. Though my deadline is actually a few weeks earlier. I'm going to do my best, and recruit my friends, to hopefully help me get this thing running very soon. I'd love to have it together by the Impala event here in St. Louis on the 17th of June so I can try to get some time running the car. Anyone up for some assistance? Here's what I need help with. Installing the fuel cell/lines/pump. I need to come up with some sort of exhaust for the car, as Atlanta has noise requirements that need to be met. Wiring up the MegaSquirt (this will be the biggest step and my biggest fear, as I have no electronics experience) Who's down for some help? Anyone? PLEASE?...Chris HammondTue, 05 Jun 2007 07:34:16 GMT76981d30-9601-4a69-9bf0-98473a93aca4P240Z update, broken Craftsmen power toolshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2405/p240z-update-broken-craftsmen-power-toolsSo this weekend was anything but productive. I ended up not getting a thing done on the car this weekend. I did manage to get the drill press together Saturday morning, and I acquired a trailer Saturday morning.   Sunday was a different story. I had planned on getting a lot done, but ended up sleeping all day. While it was nice, it was far from what I needed to get the car going. Tonight I went out with Russ and Matt Melton and Jeff "The Jeweler" Krekler, down to dinner in Soulard. From there I took Russ back to his house, saw his family, and came home with new motivation to get some work done on the car. I changed and went outside, setup the laptop to record video and go to work. I was cutting some aluminum scrap I picked up from the Metal Supermarket last Friday. I started making a new blockoff plate for the AAC valve on the L28ET intake manifold. I cut a rough pattern out with the jigsaw, made from tracing the bottom of the AAC valve with a sharpee and an awl to cut into the aluminum. I then went to assemble my new vertical belt sander that I purchased on Friday. The while taking it out of the box I noticed the darn thing was broken. Not likely broken to the point I couldn't use it, but I decided nonetheless to box it back up and take it back to Sears tomorrow to get a replacement. So that was the end of work tonight, I couldn't go any further on the plate and had some work to do on a few websites. I came inside to try to work on my video I recorded, but apparently managed to hose the video recording on the laptop by unplugging the camera before shutting off the software, so there's a tip, if you're using the lifecam software don't unplug the camera before you shut down the software, you're libel to lose your...Chris HammondTue, 12 Jun 2007 08:54:32 GMTc6e1aa2b-1539-4eaa-8554-1d654ffe6702Fun power tools and more 240Z progresshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2406/fun-power-tools-and-more-240z-progressLast night I returned the Vertical sander that I had purchased from Sears that was broken when I removed it from the box. I got a replacement sander and brought it home to install. I setup the webcam on the wall, right above the work bench, and got to work assembling the sander. 5-10 minutes later I was ready to start sanding on the aluminum I had cut with a jig saw the day before to make a blockoff plate for my AAC valve on the intake manifold. I tell you what, a vertical sander is a fun thing to have! Here's the result of what I was making, though I'm still going to drill a hole in it and tap that hole for the temperature sensor I'll be mounting in the intake manifold.   I also got to use my new drill press to drill the holes in the plate, it all worked really darn well. After getting the plate made I decided it was time to remove the intake manifold from the car so I could tap and fill some of the holes on the manifold that I don't need to use. I brough the webcam with me and mounted it directly above the motor on the chery picker. I started removing bolts, then decided to read the haynes, it told me I need to remove the Turbo and a few other things to get the manifold removed, I guess I should of planned things a bit better and done most of this work BEFORE I put the engine back in the car, it sure would be a lot easier to get to. Once I realized how much I had to remove to get the manifold off I decided I didn't want to do all that last night, it was nearly 10pm by then. So I moved to the other side of the motor, bringing the camera with me to the other side. Andy and I decided last week to remove the attachments for the oil cooler for now, I'm going to attempt to get the car running without the cooler for now, and reinstall it down the road as I don't have all the hardware for it. So I started removing it last night, got it removed, and then saw that without the attachment there isn't a way to mount the oil filter to the block. So tonight I'll be attempting to remove the oil filter attachment from the parts motor (78 l28e) to see if I can use it on the 83 L28ET. After all this I decided it was time to head inside and play with the cool video I had shot last night, only to realize that I had click on the record audio button, instead of record video. So yet again, there isn't any video to be had :( Tonight though I promise I'll do my best to get it right and have a video to post of the evenings...Chris HammondWed, 13 Jun 2007 19:51:12 GMTb8d3ff16-177d-453b-ad15-3e89aea55bd7High Definition 240Z Engine Removalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2410/high-definition-240z-engine-removalI finally got the video working from my new camera. I installed Windows Vista again last night on my home Machine (after 4 months of running on XP again) and with Vista the camera works great! You can see/download the video with the URL below. But please right click and save the file, it is large. 180mb, but I think the quality is well worth the wait for the...Chris HammondTue, 19 Jun 2007 20:52:53 GMT14dcb022-3adb-442d-a79e-ab59643d4e70Datsun Fuel Rail Ordered!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2411/datsun-fuel-rail-orderedI just got off the phone with www.lonewolfperformance.com and ordered my fuel rail for the Project 240Z. Hopefully it will be here next week. Tomorrow I'll get on ordering the other parts I need, a guage, regulator and some fittings. As well as starting to locate some injectors! Thanks for James at Lonewolf for all the help on the phone today, he was great with answering my questions, and guess where they're from? Salina Kansas of all places, I guess I'll have to get the car ready and make it to an event in Salina sometime next...Chris HammondFri, 22 Jun 2007 02:16:37 GMT8da8a5a1-d657-4724-95c6-6a8c2c348a3fMore Fuel Parts Orderedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2412/more-fuel-parts-orderedI just placed another order with Summit Racing dot com today. I ordered the following, which I think will finish up what I need for the fuel system for the 240z.  AEI-13109  FUEL REGULATOR        AEI-15633  FUEL PRESSURE GAUGE         AER-FBM3416  REPLACEMENT HNBR O-RINGS EA         AER-FBM3417  REPLACEMENT HNBR O-RINGS 6EA        EAR-251008ERL  SIZE 8 FLAPPER CK - STYLE 1       SUM-220630  -06 PLUG AN ALUMINUM         SUM-220648  6AN TO 3/8 NPT ADAPTER       SUM-220841  -08 AN FEMALE COUPLE         SUM-220844  -08-06 AN MALE ADAPTER       SUM-220887  -08 90 SWIVEL HOSE END       SUM-220890  8AN HOSE END...Chris HammondFri, 22 Jun 2007 22:18:43 GMT8f48ca1f-5405-4099-bfe4-076bc1b05a48P240Z passenger seat mount nearly donehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2415/p240z-passenger-seat-mount-nearly-doneI spent another hour or so tonight working on the passenger seat mounts I hope to get some bolts tomorrow and attempt to mount the seat into the car tomorrow night or Friday. I'm still waiting on my fuel rail from Lone Wolf Performance. I hope to hear from them tomorrow and have the part by Friday. If not I'll have to find myself another source for a fuel rail. Goals for this weekend. Mount both seats in the car, though I'll pull them back out until I'm ready to leave them in there for a while, they are too nice to keep in such a dirty car till it gets cleaned up! I'm also shooting for getting the fuel cell all fabricated and mounted into the car, along with fuel lines run to the front of the...Chris HammondThu, 28 Jun 2007 08:52:03 GMT9dc2cf51-389b-4b30-aaeb-d0df12640f75Fuel Cell frame constructionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2418/fuel-cell-frame-constructionThis morning I set out into the garage to tackle a fairly large task, at least in my mind. My goal was to build a frame that will secure my 15 gallon fuel cell to the Project 240Z. In case you don't want to read the rest of this post, I was successful! I began with a few shots of the car before I started cutting into it (further than I cut last weekend). There are various shots here, above and below.       After taking those shots I got to cutting. Dave (from www.soloperformance.com) and I had discussed how to mount the cell into the car on Tuesday when he came over, so I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I quickly marked some lines to cut with a sharpie, then proceeded to tear up two cutting wheels removing metal from the rear of the car. I don't know why that stock metal tears up wheels, but they sure to go away quickly when cutting on the car. Here are photos of what was left after cutting.   The intention for the fuel cell frame was to bolt a bar on the back of the rear differential mount, weld to 1x1" square tubes parallel to the ground running towards the back of the car, then come up at a 90 degree angle from those tubes with more square steel. Those two vertical posts would weld to a bar running inside the back of the car, this bar would also be bolted into the car, not welded, so that if necessary the whole frame can be pulled out with minimal effort. Here are a few pictures of the end result of the frame, as well as some of my crappy welds! I figured out with all but two welds done, that I had somehow adjusted the wirespeed on the welder in the wrong direction, and that was why I was having a horrible time. I think they''ll hold though, they just aren't very pretty!   This frame easily goes in and out of the car, which should come in handy if I ever need to remove the rear end (which I plan to when overhauling the suspension, after the car runs). Here are a few shots of the frame sitting in the car And here is the end result, the fuel cell sitting in the frame, sitting in the car.   I think the frame turned out great and I love this photo The tank sits just low enough, it is barely visible from the back of the car, I actually had to walk 10 feet back and down a couple feet of driveway incline to see either the tank or the frame itself.  I've yet to bolt the frame to the car, but that can wait. I'll get some nuts, bolts, and washers tomorrow for the various things I need to mount, fuel cell, seats, etc. All in all I'm really impressed with myself, I got a lot more done this weekend than most weekends, though I still have the build the driver's side seat mounts (I finished the passenger side yesterday). What's next? Well like I said, tomorrow night I'll be building the driver's side seat mount, as well as visiting Mr. Whittle's house to test fit some fuel injectors into my new fuel rail that should be arriving and the old intake manifold. If the injectors he has fit I'll be ordering injectors on Tuesday. After that I'll be running fuel lines, and be working on putting the motor back together so I can attempt to put it back in the car next weekend if all goes well. That might be a lofty goal, but this whole project has been lofty for me, so why quit shooting high...Chris HammondMon, 02 Jul 2007 08:50:36 GMTb0cf9a29-c96a-4690-9ebb-643e4977431aProject 240z, What's next?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2419/project-240z-whats-nextTasks for the next few days. Thursday: Finish trimming the driver's side seat mounts, weld everything together, install seat for fitting. Friday/Saturday: Receive the fuel injectors from Summit Run fuel lines from fuel cell to engine bay Clean up intake manifold Tap a few holes in the intake manifold to fit NPT threaded plugs Clean up intake/exhaust manifold Install intake/exhaust manifold Clean up exterior of the motor/transmission Repaint parts of the engine bay Put motor/transmission back in the car If anyone is looking for anything to do on Saturday let me know! I can use the help! Next week I'm hoping to recruit Nick Jackson to come over and help me running wires in the car for the...Chris HammondFri, 06 Jul 2007 00:24:52 GMT807c646c-3677-47b4-a45e-03784ced55feP240Z A bit done here, a bit done there.https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2420/p240z-a-bit-done-here-a-bit-done-thereTake 2, stupid internet browsers, I typed this once, I guess that's what I get for not typing it up in Windows Live Writer instead of in the browser. As anyone who has read the blog consistantly will know, I never get as much done as I "plan" to do in a given time frame, this weekend so far is no exception. Thursday I got most of the driver's seat mounts welded into place, but I didn't finish them off, I left the tabs for the actualy mounts off. Friday night I tested some rust remover on the exhaust manifold, no luck on removing any rust with the products I tried. This morning I got up at 9:30am, lounged around for an hour and a half. I went out to the garage and welded in the tabs for the driver's side seat mount. From there I was all over the place, here's a list of things I worked on today, in no particular order Test fitted new injectors in fuel rail/intake manifold Cleaned the intake manifold Cleaned the exhaust manifold Test fitted IAT sensor in intake manifold Cleaned the transmission and bell housing Scraped undercoating off the car around the transmission tunnel and floorboards Removed all the stock fuel lines (3) Mounted the fuel pump and bracket Test ran some new braided fuel line (need to buy more as I don't think 20ft is enough Prepped the driver's side interior for paint (removed paint/primer, will do passenger side and paint later this week) I've gotta try to hit the junk yard tomorrow, also will be racing Jansoon's M3, so we'll see how my first BMW experience goes. Here are photos of the driver's side seat mounts, as well as the prep work for...Chris HammondSun, 08 Jul 2007 08:46:28 GMTc5a9f63d-34a5-4096-afc7-f972c7a42b5eP240Z Fiberglass workhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2422/p240z-fiberglass-workTonight I spent some time working with fiberglass in the car. I was hoping to repair a few of the holes in the floorboards. I made quite a mess, but learned quite a bit. Here are some before photos.   The passenger side needed the most work as it was in the worst shape due to rust. I used quite a few pieces of fiberglass matt on the passenger floorboard covering some of the holes. I also covered up a few of the sharper metal pieces of the floorboard. On the driver's side I used minimal fiberglass matting and mainly used resin. The driver's side was in far better shape than the passenger side so I used resin to smooth out the surface on the driver's side. It turned out far better than I could have imagined! You can't really see it in the photos, but it's quite a clean look on the driver's side now. I can't wait to see how all this looks once painted. Though before I paint I'll be cleaning up the fiberglass with some sand paper. I'll spend some time Thursday and Friday night working on the floor. I hope to try to paint the interior this weekend. The interior may have to wait though as I hope to finish up a few other things this weekend, mainly the fuel lines and getting the motor back into the...Chris HammondThu, 12 Jul 2007 09:00:59 GMT4b127c74-f9ec-41cb-8d40-3f0892d39018P240Z Sunday Wiring Startshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2430/p240z-sunday-wiring-startsHere's a quick update on the 240. I got up this morning and finished up modifications to the bracket I built for the VR sensor, you can see what it ended up looking like in the photo below. It's not all that pretty, but not too bad considering I made it out of a drill press, vertical sander, and a jig saw. I then ran out and spent a few more hours shopping. I went to autozone and purchased lots of random bits that I needed, another fuel filter (that didn't fit), wires, splices, antifreeze, radiator hose, oil, gear lube, and a ton of other random stuff. I also took the battery I had purchased for the parts car back to get tested, it wouldn't charge so they gave me a credit (it was out of the year's free replacement), so I got a new battery for $9.95. Whittle came over and assisted with a few more wiring questions. From there I tried to get started on wiring. I began by looking where exactly I was going to run the wires, in order to find an existing hole to run them through I got up under the dash and started removing things on the passenger side. The first thing I removed ended up being part of the AC system, which I wasn't actually sure the car had! That opened up two holes, with grommets to boot, that allowed me to start running wires. Terec came over and started assisting with a few things, first thing we did when he got there was make a list of all the tasks left to do on the car. We used a sharpie on the windshield. After that he was visibly more productive today than I was. He actually mounted the sensor up to the motor and made sure that it was within specs to the 36-1 wheel. After that he was able to get the radiator mounted and the hoses attached to the proper locations. He then got the Oil Cooler mounted and the hoses finished up from what Eric started doing yesterday. You can see the oil cooler and radiator mounted in this photo. I was able to get some of the EDIS wiring started, as well as power wires ran for both injector banks, as well as the Megasquirt harness wired into the engine bay, though the MS harness doesn't actually connect to anything yet. I have a LOT more wiring to do this week, hopefully getting most of it done Monday and Tuesday night with a goal of trying to start the car on Wednesday. We'll see if that happens, if I don't at least attempt to start it before Sunday I've vowed to shave my head.... Here are more photos from today. ...Chris HammondMon, 23 Jul 2007 10:34:20 GMT872df19a-6593-4f8a-9501-aa837b9fe154Monday Monday Monday Progress!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2431/monday-monday-monday-progressToday was a good day! Progress was made! First things first, at lunch myself, Henry, and Eric headed down to High Ridge to SCPRacingparts.com again to get a cap for my Fuel cell, I realized yesterday that I was only 3 of the 4 fitting points for the fuel cell, and I had better get something to cover the fourth one up. After work my Henry (one of my bosses) and his mechanic buddy Ronnie came over to the house, after we made a quick pitstop at Gateway Electronics again to get more wiring items (I also spotted the Rally Bug builders on their way home from work). Ronny runs a shop down south near where he and Henry both live, so he was an EXCELLENT resource to have working on the car tonight. He and Henry got nearly every wire in the engine bay connected and placed in the appropriate areas, leaving just a few things for me to do in the bay. Eric also came over after making a trip to Autozone to get the battery for his 3rd gen RX-7 recharged. He finished up the fuel cell items that needed done. Adding the inline filter before the pump and then attached the vent line with the bulkhead fitting and check valve. I spent the evening doing minor things, mainly being in awe of all the work that Henry and Ronnie were getting done. I did track down some keys to the car, though I swear the keys I grabbed were the keys to the parts car I got rid of, one of them fit into the ignition for the 240z. I also figured out that the ignition has been turned on this whole time, which would explain why we never needed a key to turn the steering wheel when rolling the car around, though I'm not sure how it was turned on and the key removed. I do have the ignition out of the 78, as well as the turn signal and headlight switches from that car to try and use on the 73. Ronnie was able to get the power from the new battery hooked up to the starter, and alternator, which in turn got power to quite a bit of the car. One of the hazards work, the parking lights looked to work as when the headlights were turned on the rear lights lit up. I'll ahve to figure out how to wire up the headlights in the future, but I'm guessing the wiring for them should be somewhat intact based on testing tonight. So I've got more work to do tomorrow night. I'll try to finish up the wiring that is left in the engine bay, as well as wire up the fuse panel and try to mount the Megasquirt tomorrow night. Right now my goal is to try and start the car either Wednesday, or Thursday night! Though, I'm seriously thinking I won't be going to Topeka, though I'm still hoping to at take the car to the local autox this...Chris HammondTue, 24 Jul 2007 09:36:36 GMTb0a00173-dfcc-4fb3-8dc6-2a2dbe2312c5Project240Z Audio! New Exhausthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2440/project240z-audio-new-exhaustTonight I told myself I wouldn't start the car, I would get ready for my trip to Chicago tomorrow (going up there to give two days of DotNetNuke training classes). But I couldn't help myself, I had to get the camera and record the new exhaust! It's not quiet, but oh it sounds so sweet! Here's a 2mb WAV file of the car running Here's a large WMV video of the same...Chris HammondTue, 07 Aug 2007 06:51:57 GMTd982e997-9c4b-4853-9c13-5f8615934b63Prepping for pulling the motor out of the Datsun 240zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2445/prepping-for-pulling-the-motor-out-of-the-datsun-2In this video you'll find me prepping the 240Z for the motor pull.Chris HammondMon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT78cba8c2-afc8-4a09-9798-cc63d1ad588dPulling the motor out of the Project 240zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2446/pulling-the-motor-out-of-the-project-240z<P>Here's the video of the motor removal. Watch carefully as the motor comes out, you'll see the car falls off the jackstands, actually making it easier to get the motor out. Thankfully I had the wheels still on the car.</P>Chris HammondTue, 30 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT71eb7368-cc69-4823-bc10-31ff70a8f94cProject 240Z Day 1 of Parts Car Motor Pull 2-24https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2449/project-240z-day-1-of-parts-car-motor-pull-224Spent today disconnecting things from the motor so I can get the motor and transmission pulled out tomorrow. Also removed some of the front end body work I need to try to make work on the 240Z as well.Chris HammondSat, 24 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT7c340716-5ad7-4ebe-ac99-74ad64abbb75Project 240Z Day 2 of Parts Car Motor Pullhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2450/project-240z-day-2-of-parts-car-motor-pullThanks to Terec for coming over today and helping me get the motor pulled out of the 78 280Z 2+2 parts car today!Chris HammondSun, 25 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT21fc784f-c1a0-48f8-8c2e-f7412971f96b240Z Engine Bay Cleanuphttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2452/240z-engine-bay-cleanupI spent a few hours on Sunday the 18th of March cleaning up the engine bay of my 1973 240Z.Chris HammondSun, 18 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMTd190005b-776f-4fad-8aef-82aaf8c45a5aBondo and Gas Tank Removalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2453/bondo-and-gas-tank-removalI sanded the area that I bondo'd yesterday on the 240Z. I also then cleaned and sprayed it with primer. Now the Project 240Z officially consists of 6, count them 6, colors. Blue, orange, white, black, brown, and grey. After that I removed the gas tank so I can have that cleaned up like we had done with the radiator last week.Chris HammondSun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT91f6eece-72f1-4633-99b6-315af681dc4bProject 240Z Brakes and Unecessary itemshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2455/project-240z-brakes-and-unecessary-itemsRuss helped me yesterday afternoon and last night with quite a few things on the car. We removed all of the brakes so I can get those turned. Then we started fabricating blockoff plates for the various vacuum and emission lines that will be removed from the car.Chris HammondSun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMTb449b79b-2bb7-4f1a-8d5c-12900e1c9cf0Project 240Z Rally Bug Welder Arriveshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2456/project-240z-rally-bug-welder-arrives<P>Mark from The Rally Bug (<A href="http://www.321govideo.com/rallybug">http://www.321govideo.com/rallybug</A>) stopped by tonight and dropped off his welder for me to borrow for a week. He was also kind enough to give me some brief lessons as it's been a while (proly 10 years) since I've welded anything!</P> <P> </P>Chris HammondTue, 01 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTafb45f91-63f8-4056-b9d3-fe58e35b4254240Z Throttle Linkage and Bodyworkhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2457/240z-throttle-linkage-and-bodywork<p>Dad and I spent some time creating a new throttle linkage as the old one off the parts car wouldn't fit on this firewall. After that I had to put the front end together just to see it start to look like a car.</p>Chris HammondSun, 06 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTcaa1772e-2657-427c-b3ba-c69c5b77fb77240Z Floorpan workhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2458/240z-floorpan-work<p>Dad and I spent today working on repairing the floorpan in the Project 240Z. It was a learning experience as I haven't really welded before, just a little practice here and there. After that we put the thermostat a backtogether.</p>Chris HammondSun, 06 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT97fd6f39-e084-44b8-8dde-bd9f6c85b9d3240Z Intake Manifold Bolts...https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2459/240z-intake-manifold-bolts<p>I spent tonight removing 3 bolts off the turbo (of 4) and one intake manifold bold, as well as two heat shield bolts and the destruction of another heat shield bolt. This weekend the motor comes out again...</p>Chris HammondFri, 15 Jun 2007 01:37:36 GMT04e05a42-d2a9-424f-871a-d66d4fcc97e8240Z Seat Mount Fabricationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2462/240z-seat-mount-fabrication<p>Dave from <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/">http://www.soloperformance.com/</a> helped me out today. We started cutting and fabricating new seat mounts for the Project240z, 1973 240Z</p>Chris HammondWed, 27 Jun 2007 02:59:20 GMT0987deb1-8af6-4057-be40-45e3e4e8c310Electrical Gremlins in the Audi A6https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/a6/itemid/1839/electrical-gremlins-in-the-audi-a6<p> So this weekend was the first weekend with the car, lots of effort put into it, 250 miles driven today, and lots of Gremlins found! So let's start in order.</p> <p>Friday afternoon Natalie and I headed down to the DMV to get the title and registration taken care of on the Audi, we also hoped to take care of our licenses as well. First thing we figure out when we walk in the door is that you can't do your license and registration in the same place. What? Colorado, hello, what's the deal? (we learned why later).</p> <div>(read the full blog post for A LOT MORE about this weekend)</div>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 19 Oct 2009 01:11:22 GMT2d9390c3-d74b-46e2-929a-4a0938c11bb2My 1973 Super Beetle, where are you?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/vw-super-beetle/itemid/1939/my-1973-super-beetle-where-are-you<p>So back in 1994 my dad purchased my brother and I a car to drive. My brother wanted a bug, I actually wasn’t a big fan, but I wasn’t one to turn down a free ride. Long story short, my brother never drove the thing and the car became mine. I had the car for 7 years, it got me everywhere, it came to Missouri for college, it made it through most of college unscathed (except for a few drunk fraternity brothers of mine who decided to role a tire down the driveway right into the door), side note, they never did fess up to that one.</p> <p>In the summer of 1998 the car got some love, it went to Sedalia Missouri and got a complete body overhaul, with wide fiberglass fenders and a new paint job, it also got some new wheels and eventually seats, headliner, and carpeting.</p> <p>It was my first car, but it was sold on Ebay back in June 2001, my parents were moving on from Missouri and I was driving a 94 Golf (for another week or so before I got the Z-28) so the Super Beetle wasn’t getting much love back then. I couldn’t afford to keep it and my parents wanted to sell it.</p> <p>So it went on ebay, and someone somewhat local purchased it, a guy out of Alton Illinois. I’ve always wondered what happened to the car after that, I always kept an eye out for it when driving around Alton, even as recent as last year when Kevin and I rented Harleys for the weekend, but I never did spot the car.</p> <p>I’ve also always tried to dig through old emails, but I was missing a chunk of emails from November 1999 to sometime in 2002, I pretty much have every email I’ve ever received or sent since 1998, possibly even earlier, except for that missing window. Well, tonight I found those missing emails! I was going through old hard drives and finally located a PST with the missing emails, I was able to figure out who I sold the car to! At least, with an email address.</p> <p>Well, that email address, @hotmail.com, no longer worked, but with a little more digging I found the name of the guy, and I think I even found him on facebook tonight! I sent him a message, we’ll see where it goes. I don’t exactly have the means right now to purchase and ship the car to California, where we now live (about 80 miles from where we originally purchased the car), but if I could get it purchased back from the guy I am sure I could find a place to store it in Missouri until the time came that I had a place for it out here.</p> <p>I’ve owned a lot of cars since this Super Beetle left my life, never one as long as this car was in my life. We will see, I would love to get the car back, I only hope I have the opportunity to do so!</p> <p>Here’s a photo of what it looked like after the restore back in 1998/1999 (photo from April 2000)</p> <p><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4322039247_eed0cff801_o.jpg" /></p>Chris HammondTue, 15 Jun 2010 02:14:29 GMT8ea61a76-38fd-44c6-afda-2a6df28c2de0A slow Sunday, more cleaning on the motor.https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1524/a-slow-sunday-more-cleaning-on-the-motor<p>So I woke up this morning, <a href="http://www.project240z.com/Home/itemId/399/Little-progress-little-time.aspx" target="_blank">earlier than yesterday</a>, but still not as early as one would have liked. First things first I ran to Radio Shack to get an AC power source for my <a href="http://www.chasecam.com/" target="_blank">Chase Cam</a> so that I could use it to record video today. </p> Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:44:15 GMTdde03e93-c29a-43ce-9072-60e22b98a8e4Another boring Project240z Video!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1014/another-boring-project240z-videoSo I setup the toolbox last night in the garage, though I haven't put anything in it yet, I did take video of the process. Check it out over on...Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:29:00 GMT6b60d9b4-3df6-42d0-adab-ee5ce621ca65Back in the Saddle Againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/843/back-in-the-saddle-againWell... I'm back onto Vista yet again. I started running Vista on my main desktop back in the fall, sometime right around the RTM date. February came and I was getting sick of it. I was having a horrible time with Vista, I reinstalled XP and came to find out that most of my problems weren't actually Vista, but my network in my house, my domain controller was down, but up, and killing the network. Once I got that cleaned up XP was flying again. So this past weekend I got a Canon HV20 camcorder, and XP just won't handle it with Windows Movie Maker, which I use for all the videos I put together for my Datsun 240Z over at www.project240z.com. So tonight I reinstalled Windows Vista Ultimate. I just finished reinstalling Office 2007, and now have some more things to install, configure, and play with. Hope to try to transfer some video later tonight.... More on that if it happens! Technorati Tags: Vista, Videos, Windows Movie Maker, Canon, HD, Camcorder, HV20 Posted from...Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:20:50 GMT4842b9e6-209e-4dbb-be99-b4613e0834c3Bondo cleanup and Gas tank removalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/782/bondo-cleanup-and-gas-tank-removalI sanded the area that I bondo'd yesterday on the 240Z. I also then cleaned and sprayed it with primer. Now the Project 240Z officially consists of 6, count them 6, colors. Blue, orange, white, black, brown, and grey. After that I removed the gas tank so I can have that cleaned up like we had done with the radiator last week. Check out the video http://www.project240z.comhttp://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/16/Bondo-and-Gas-Tank-Removal.aspx For now, I think Krekeler is safe, the car most likely won't be ready for the first St. Louis region event on 4/15. So..... anyone looking for a codriver in SM2 for the first event??? :) I'm still hoping to have the car running, and street legal before my deadline of May 6th, or 9th, whatever the date of the bet with Seelig was. Though, we'll see if I make that one or not. There's still a lot left to do on the car. The more I dig into it, the more I wish I had done all this crap back in the fall! I really should of stripped the car to begin with and sent it off for paint and body...Mon, 02 Apr 2007 01:33:22 GMT170cbfcb-695a-4a33-aecd-988f87096d56Bondo cleanup and Gas tank removalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2381/bondo-cleanup-and-gas-tank-removalI sanded the area that I bondo'd yesterday on the 240Z. I also then cleaned and sprayed it with primer. Now the Project 240Z officially consists of 6, count them 6, colors. Blue, orange, white, black, brown, and grey. After that I removed the gas tank so I can have that cleaned up like we had done with the radiator last week. Check out the video http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/16/Bondo-and-Gas-Tank-Removal.aspx For now, I think Krekeler is safe, the car most likely won't be ready for the first St. Louis region event on 4/15. So..... anyone looking for a codriver in SM2 for the first event??? :) I'm still hoping to have the car running, and street legal before my deadline of May 6th, or 9th, whatever the date of the bet with Seelig was. Though, we'll see if I make that one or not. There's still a lot left to do on the car. The more I dig into it, the more I wish I had done all this crap back in the fall! I really should of stripped the car to begin with and sent it off for paint and body...Chris HammondMon, 02 Apr 2007 09:33:22 GMT109388ff-c2b4-47d5-85f5-2c7906e2b06aBrakes bledhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2386/brakes-bledDad and I spent a few hours this evening working on the brakes on the 240Z. You have to be able to stop before you even start on the motor right? That's what I keep telling myself, though they brakes still need a lot of work! We did get the new (rebuilt) master cylinder installed, and bled, and apply braking force on the discs/drums! We ended up with a hodgepodge of brake/clutch systems. The vacuum boost is from the 73 240z, the master cylinder is a rebuilt cylinder for a 78 280Z, the clutch is from a 78 280z as the 73 240z was originaly an auto. Catch all that? Both systems are bled and semi ready. The brakes need to be pulled off the car, probably get the discs turned next week, and see what I need to do with the rear drums/shoes. Eventually I'd like to go to a 4 wheel disc setup, but that will have to wait until I have the cash to do a full suspension setup, most likely a setup from www.arizonazcar.com. Not much else accomplished on the car tonight, hoping to get the garage a bit organized on Thursday and start shooting video again, it's been too long since I did a time...Chris HammondWed, 25 Apr 2007 08:56:23 GMTd7471362-5824-4e9c-8597-1bd532ba34d3Brakes bledhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/795/brakes-bledDad and I spent a few hours this evening working on the brakes on the 240Z. You have to be able to stop before you even start on the motor right? That's what I keep telling myself, though they brakes still need a lot of work! We did get the new (rebuilt) master cylinder installed, and bled, and apply braking force on the discs/drums! We ended up with a hodgepodge of brake/clutch systems. The vacuum boost is from the 73 240z, the master cylinder is a rebuilt cylinder for a 78 280Z, the clutch is from a 78 280z as the 73 240z was originaly an auto. Catch all that? Both systems are bled and semi ready. The brakes need to be pulled off the car, probably get the discs turned next week, and see what I need to do with the rear drums/shoes. Eventually I'd like to go to a 4 wheel disc setup, but that will have to wait until I have the cash to do a full suspension setup, most likely a setup from www.arizonazcar.com. Not much else accomplished on the car tonight, hoping to get the garage a bit organized on Thursday and start shooting video again, it's been too long since I did a time...Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:56:23 GMT95b5ee15-d137-4fce-b812-116e61db2f35Garage Workhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1108/garage-work<p>So I spent most of the day today in the garage. I'll blog about it more on <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a> later this evening. Photos and video coming!</p>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:56:47 GMT0c0cf056-9e87-445c-ac8e-1bd95f4cae9dHeat gun on a hot nighthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/827/heat-gun-on-a-hot-nightTonight after work Eric and I headed to Creve Couer park to do some skating. Kendra met us there to bring Eric socks and skated with us as well. As a group we went around the park once, they called it a night after that lap but I decided I'd go around one more lap before heading home. I had a big lunch so I figured I could definitely use the exercise. After that I came home and recovered for a few minutes. I had said I'd do some work on the 240z though so I felt i must get something done. I went out into the garage and grabbed 4 things. A pair of latex gloves, a shop light, a paint scraper and my heat gun. I went to work on the interior of the car and got most of the remaining tar board out of the floorboard of the driver and passenger sides. That should allow me to do a little prep work later this week and then get to painting the interior to clean it up. I'll take some pics and video as I start doing more work inside the car. That's all for...Tue, 29 May 2007 22:14:08 GMT9b34eacc-b850-4537-be05-8a7738b3d2e1Heat gun on a hot nighthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2400/heat-gun-on-a-hot-nightTonight after work Eric and I headed to Creve Couer park to do some skating. Kendra met us there to bring Eric socks and skated with us as well. As a group we went around the park once, they called it a night after that lap but I decided I'd go around one more lap before heading home. I had a big lunch so I figured I could definitely use the exercise. After that I came home and recovered for a few minutes. I had said I'd do some work on the 240z though so I felt i must get something done. I went out into the garage and grabbed 4 things. A pair of latex gloves, a shop light, a paint scraper and my heat gun. I went to work on the interior of the car and got most of the remaining tar board out of the floorboard of the driver and passenger sides. That should allow me to do a little prep work later this week and then get to painting the interior to clean it up. I'll take some pics and video as I start doing more work inside the car. That's all for...Chris HammondWed, 30 May 2007 06:14:08 GMT179ad732-b8b4-4c5b-97be-c147cbffc110I've got nothing on this time lapsehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1364/ive-got-nothing-on-this-time-lapseThis time lapse makes my time lapse videos for www.project240z.com look amatuer (hey wait a minute, they are). This is apparently GM Engineers assembling an LS9 for a ZR1 (View the full blog post for the video. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:12:38 GMT2b6ac8ec-aa3d-49b0-a6bf-466fb33bc63dMark stops by with a welderhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/802/mark-stops-by-with-a-welderSome of you have kept up with my blog posts, first Scott got on me about using Bondo on the Project 240z, so he said to have someone come over and weld on the car instead of using bondo. So I started looking for a welder, might as well do it myself right? Well I didn't have much luck in the price range I was looking for. I had originally ordered something from Harbor Freight, but they suck and I cancelled the order because it ended up being on backorder. Mark Huebbe from 321GoVideo.com offered to let me borrow his welder for a week as he isn't going to need it this coming weekend due to the Rallycross event. I jumped on the offer and he brought the welder over this evening. He took the time to give me some quick lessons, of which I was in dire need. Thanks for all your help Mark, and most of all thanks for the use of the welder! Everyone should be sure to stop by Mark's build site as he puts together his Rally Bug! Now for Tonight's Video! It can be found...Tue, 01 May 2007 01:54:16 GMT0380ffcb-9c80-40f6-926a-b054ac90b985Mark stops by with a welderhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2391/mark-stops-by-with-a-welderSome of you have kept up with my blog posts, first Scott got on me about using Bondo on the Project 240z, so he said to have someone come over and weld on the car instead of using bondo. So I started looking for a welder, might as well do it myself right? Well I didn't have much luck in the price range I was looking for. I had originally ordered something from Harbor Freight, but they suck and I cancelled the order because it ended up being on backorder. Mark Huebbe from 321GoVideo.com offered to let me borrow his welder for a week as he isn't going to need it this coming weekend due to the Rallycross event. I jumped on the offer and he brought the welder over this evening. He took the time to give me some quick lessons, of which I was in dire need. Thanks for all your help Mark, and most of all thanks for the use of the welder! Everyone should be sure to stop by Mark's build site as he puts together his Rally Bug! Now for Tonight's Video! It can be found...Chris HammondTue, 01 May 2007 09:54:16 GMTb4865db4-73d6-4b8a-a52c-fd62feabd36bNew Project240Z Videohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1422/new-project240z-videoYesterday I spent an hour or so working on the motor in the garage. I only got one thing finished, and hopefully it is finished and doesn't need to come off again, I got the cover and gasket installed on the head. After that I got the oil cooler connections on the side of the block and then spent some time cleaning up other items on the blog. It's amazing how much crap is on that block, I wish I had a pressure washer to clean it off. Video on the full postFri, 15 Aug 2008 23:06:11 GMT629358d6-08bf-4452-aade-74e4e15c86e9New URL for the Project 240Zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/688/new-url-for-the-project-240zI may not have worked on either of the cars lately, but I didn take a few minutes and purchase yet ANOTHER domain name! http://www.project240z.com I hope to actually track the project's status over there with a place to feature all the videos and other information about the car. posted from...Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:49:00 GMT64bdd5a2-0d4a-423e-9caf-58f9041e73dcP240Z fabricating a seat brackethttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/850/p240z-fabricating-a-seat-bracketTonight was a semi productive night on the 240Z, which is always a good thing when some productivity happens during the week, it's hard enough being productive on the weekends. More on tonight in a bit. Summit Racing kindly sent me all of the fuel part oddities I had ordered last week. I had a 12x12 box sitting at the office when I returned from lunch today. I was dissapointed to find such a small box, after spending so much money! But I guess I did order "small" parts. After work I headed home and met up with Dave from http://www.soloperformance.com/ who came over tolend a hand. First we hypothesized on how to mount the 15 Gallon fuel cell I have for the car. I think we've come up with a good plan, and I hope to start fabricating that later this week. After going over that plan we started cutting and fabricating new seat mounts for the Project240z. We got quite a bit done on the Passenger side of the car. I started on that side just incase I were to screw something up, I can always drive without a passenger seat if needed, but I'll always need a driver's seat! Here's a link to the Video I took tonight. Towards the end you'll notice a small camera issue, the tape came loose and the camera basically inverted, which made for some kinda cool video as well. I also took some pictures of what we accomplished on the seat mounts. Tomorrow night, or Thursday I plan to finish up the passenger side brackets and get started on the driver's side brackets, as well as to start cutting for the fuel cell. I'll have to pick up some more 4.5" cutting wheels though, I've gone through 3.5 of them in the past two days of working on the car and have plenty more cutting left to do. I say tomorrow or Thursday, because I'm not sure I'll get any work done tomorrow (Wednesday) because I may head off and play roller hockey with some guys I used to work with at The Sporting News (www.sportingnews.com), they are in the process of relocating the "online" side of TSN to North Carolina and I think Wednesday night is the last night for Ray Slover at the pickup hockey games that have been going on for the past 5-6 years now. More later this...Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:15:00 GMT1a781f90-b453-4f9f-8c90-00c7847c96bdP240Z fabricating a seat brackethttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2414/p240z-fabricating-a-seat-bracketTonight was a semi productive night on the 240Z, which is always a good thing when some productivity happens during the week, it's hard enough being productive on the weekends. More on tonight in a bit. Summit Racing kindly sent me all of the fuel part oddities I had ordered last week. I had a 12x12 box sitting at the office when I returned from lunch today. I was dissapointed to find such a small box, after spending so much money! But I guess I did order "small" parts. After work I headed home and met up with Dave from http://www.soloperformance.com/ who came over tolend a hand. First we hypothesized on how to mount the 15 Gallon fuel cell I have for the car. I think we've come up with a good plan, and I hope to start fabricating that later this week. After going over that plan we started cutting and fabricating new seat mounts for the Project240z. We got quite a bit done on the Passenger side of the car. I started on that side just incase I were to screw something up, I can always drive without a passenger seat if needed, but I'll always need a driver's seat! Here's a link to the Video I took tonight. Towards the end you'll notice a small camera issue, the tape came loose and the camera basically inverted, which made for some kinda cool video as well. I also took some pictures of what we accomplished on the seat mounts. Tomorrow night, or Thursday I plan to finish up the passenger side brackets and get started on the driver's side brackets, as well as to start cutting for the fuel cell. I'll have to pick up some more 4.5" cutting wheels though, I've gone through 3.5 of them in the past two days of working on the car and have plenty more cutting left to do. I say tomorrow or Thursday, because I'm not sure I'll get any work done tomorrow (Wednesday) because I may head off and play roller hockey with some guys I used to work with at The Sporting News (www.sportingnews.com), they are in the process of relocating the "online" side of TSN to North Carolina and I think Wednesday night is the last night for Ray Slover at the pickup hockey games that have been going on for the past 5-6 years now. More later this...Chris HammondWed, 27 Jun 2007 11:15:00 GMT316f0e72-82bd-44b7-8587-6e5128b45208P240z Motor outhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2408/p240z-motor-outI came out to the garage an hour ago. The motor is once again removed from the 240Z. HD video with my new video camera will be posted tonight. More work to do out...Chris HammondSat, 16 Jun 2007 23:31:21 GMTa4e08c88-2fdb-4fd3-bc49-b194127645c9P240z Motor outhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/841/p240z-motor-outI came out to the garage an hour ago. The motor is once again removed from the 240Z. HD video with my new video camera will be posted tonight. More work to do out...Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:31:21 GMT55045640-36f2-46c0-b3f7-55c68d5fde16P240Z Rollin until the wheels fall offhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/849/p240z-rollin-until-the-wheels-fall-offThe 240Z once again stands on its own! Eric and I put the brakes back together on the car, put the wheels on and roll her out into the driveway. Spun her around, and rolled her back in. Then we procede to begin on the fuel cell installation (read cut shit out). Tonight I'll be working with Dave and Eric to cut more, and start fabricating the mounts for the Fuel Cell which I hope to have mounted by the end of the week! Here's the video from Saturday's...Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:50:07 GMTbbe863f4-7a13-4cf4-b279-08de4f27e3fcP240Z Rollin until the wheels fall offhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2413/p240z-rollin-until-the-wheels-fall-offThe 240Z once again stands on its own! Eric and I put the brakes back together on the car, put the wheels on and roll her out into the driveway. Spun her around, and rolled her back in. Then we procede to begin on the fuel cell installation (read cut shit out). Tonight I'll be working with Dave and Eric to cut more, and start fabricating the mounts for the Fuel Cell which I hope to have mounted by the end of the week! Here's the video from Saturday's...Chris HammondTue, 26 Jun 2007 18:50:07 GMTc76c2050-d889-49a8-8490-3696e999723eP240Z two new videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/799/p240z-two-new-videosI've posted two new videos for the 240Z. Yesterday I spent some time finishing up the work bench and organizing the garage a bit. http://www.project240z.comhttp://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/17/New-Toolbench-Setup.aspx And then Russ came over and we spent a few hours doing a few necessary things. We removed parts for the brakes and cleaned up items so that I can get everything turned this weekend. I installed the new Rocker arm cover gasket. Russ started fabricating block off plates for the various items that will be coming off the motor, you know, all those inhibiting emissions items! http://www.project240z.comhttp://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/18/Project-240Z-Brakes-and-Unecessary-items.aspx...Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:17:31 GMT5c719940-f72a-4181-b28c-e4c9d15fdf9cP240Z two new videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2389/p240z-two-new-videosI've posted two new videos for the 240Z. Yesterday I spent some time finishing up the work bench and organizing the garage a bit. http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/17/New-Toolbench-Setup.aspx And then Russ came over and we spent a few hours doing a few necessary things. We removed parts for the brakes and cleaned up items so that I can get everything turned this weekend. I installed the new Rocker arm cover gasket. Russ started fabricating block off plates for the various items that will be coming off the motor, you know, all those inhibiting emissions items! http://www.project240z.com/tabid/54/itemid/18/Project-240Z-Brakes-and-Unecessary-items.aspx...Chris HammondSun, 29 Apr 2007 21:17:31 GMT21c540be-a4ca-4b74-a3df-5dd7e05ccdcePacking up the Garagehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1797/packing-up-the-garage<p>So this weekend’s goal was to get the Garage packed up and ready for the move. I didn’t get much done in there yesterday, mainly just a few things assembled on the 240Z (<a href="http://www.project240z.com">http://www.project240z.com</a>) today however was a whole different story. I spent 9 hours in the garage, packing, cleaning, assembling, and throwing things out. I managed to get the car running, and even drove it around the circle (check out the 240Z site later for the video).</p> <p>I packed up the things in the garage that I could get into a box or container. There are a few more things to pack up, but mainly it comes down to getting the boxes out of the garage and onto the trailer next weekend. I have quite a bit of stuff to throw away or scrap. A load of metal I don’t think I want to move, so I’ll try to find a scrap yard this week where I can go and maybe even get some $$$ out of the deal?</p>Chris HammondMon, 20 Jul 2009 00:32:31 GMT9e4a72ca-a007-491b-b68e-1ba29c53ce6fParts car is almost gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2369/parts-car-is-almost-goneToday I spent some time trying to get the parts car all finished up. I removed a lot of the rear interior with hopes that some of it will work out in the 240z, we'll see if it will or not tomorrow. I also completely removed the dash, pedal assembly, the master cylinders for the clutch and brakes. I also removed the hatch lock, and driver's door lock with hopes that I can reuse those in the 240 since I have a set of keys for the 280. Tomorrow I have to pull the diff out of the rear, and remove the passenger door lock, then it'll be time to load it up on the trailer and haul it off to the scrap yard. No video today, I wanted to just get some work done without going through the hassle of setting up the camera. Perhaps I'll use it tomorrow when I finish...Chris HammondSun, 11 Mar 2007 05:36:48 GMT3832eed5-3b2d-4849-b6e0-ce4b328b23baParts car is almost gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/749/parts-car-is-almost-goneToday I spent some time trying to get the parts car all finished up. I removed a lot of the rear interior with hopes that some of it will work out in the 240z, we'll see if it will or not tomorrow. I also completely removed the dash, pedal assembly, the master cylinders for the clutch and brakes. I also removed the hatch lock, and driver's door lock with hopes that I can reuse those in the 240 since I have a set of keys for the 280. Tomorrow I have to pull the diff out of the rear, and remove the passenger door lock, then it'll be time to load it up on the trailer and haul it off to the scrap yard. No video today, I wanted to just get some work done without going through the hassle of setting up the camera. Perhaps I'll use it tomorrow when I finish...Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:36:48 GMT9cde4f00-9d06-4fa3-abcc-36720001b061Project 240Z - Starting on the Parts Carhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/624/project-240z--starting-on-the-parts-carI got started on the parts car this week, a 78 280Z 2+2.Yesterday I put in about an hour's work in on the car, it may not seem like much, but between that hour and the hour I spent on Sunday, that's 2 hours this week, prior to this week I hadn't put more than 2 minutes in over two months.So yesterday I started disassembling the 280Z. In an hour I got the bumper and parts of the front body work off the car. Hopefully some of those parts will be reusable on the 240Z unless I find something else to do for front end body work on the Project 240Z.Check out the video from the work yesterday!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk2g8DB8lDo  posted from...Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:09:00 GMTf2c81df7-0435-415a-84b2-5801670ab972Project 240Z The Motor Is Pulledhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/533/project-240z-the-motor-is-pulledWell, it's been just over two months since I picked up the Project 240Z from Krekeler. Today I successfully pulled the motor and transmission from the car. It took me a few hours today, in some of the hottest weather of the year. If you watch in the video below you'll see I aim the fan at me whenever I move around the car :) Also in the video, you may not notice, but before the motor comes all the way out of the car the front end of the car gets lowered. I had intended to lower this manually when I was ready, but the car decided it was ready to be lowered while I was pulling on the motor. Luckily I wasn't near the car, and I left the wheels/tires on it so the car just slipped off the front jack stands and onto the ground. It worked out perfectly, dropped the car down just enough to everything free and clear. Enough banter, here's the video!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKmMYhwZrMU   posted from...Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:29:00 GMT6ccd28ca-7a4b-4d93-9b67-70d937a6bcb8Project 240Z Video from 7-8-06https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/528/project-240z-video-from-7806Here's a quick video of me out in the garage today. Funny to watch, though not much progress to be seen.   posted from...Sat, 08 Jul 2006 14:07:00 GMTf3e0e206-6822-4b2e-b303-b80d0a94e752Project240Z Videos, she's back!!!!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2471/project240z-videos-shes-backSo it has been a while since I've posted any P240Z videos, too long in fact. Well here are two, one that i failed to post back in March, and one that I just made today!Chris HammondSat, 09 Aug 2008 23:31:43 GMTa6732062-7b0d-47f9-b72f-09ef57d114c9Project240z.com and the car are for sale!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1417/project240zcom-and-the-car-are-for-saleWith my recent acquisition I'm going to have to clear out the garage of all of my Datsun parts and cars to make room for a few other vehicles. I'm going to start putting together information on what all I have for sale, but here's a rough idea. 1973 Datsun 240Z (sans motor) Megasquirt Ford EDIS ignition Brand New Corbeau A4 seats 1978 280Z 2+2 Motor L28E Ran when removed from parts car, currently needs some parts from the L28ET installed to use the Megasquirt, needs rear main seal replaced. (2) 1979 Datsun 5 Speeds, one needs rebuilt 1973 Datsun 240Z Automatic Transmission 1983 280ZX L28ET (#2 piston blew up, head can be repaired and turbo system should be usable) Downpipe and custom exhaust  Complete second sport suspension for the car, ready to be cleaned up to be powder coated and installed. New Fuel System 15 Gallon fuel cell High Pressure Fuel Pump AN hose and fittings front to back Custom fuel rail Ford Lightning Injectors Website Project240Z.com domain name, and 1 year of website hosting, training of use of website. The site gets a lot of traffic from search engine results. DVD of the original video files of all the video recordings I have that I used in Project240z.com videos I'm not sure what all I want to ask for this, it could be a very fun project, with the most expensive parts already purchased and installed. If you're interested start making me an offer, if I consider it reasonable I'll respond. Currently not looking to part things out,...Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:09:58 GMTe416d9d5-e4d9-4353-9a18-08ecfaff2b9cProject240z.com and the car are for sale!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/952/project240zcom-and-the-car-are-for-saleWith my recent acquisition I'm going to have to clear out the garage of all of my Datsun parts and cars to make room for a few other vehicles. I'm going to start putting together information on what all I have for sale, but here's a rough idea. 1973 Datsun 240Z (sans motor) Megasquirt Ford EDIS ignition Brand New Corbeau A4 seats 1978 280Z 2+2 Motor L28E Ran when removed from parts car, currently needs some parts from the L28ET installed to use the Megasquirt, needs rear main seal replaced. (2) 1979 Datsun 5 Speeds, one needs rebuilt 1973 Datsun 240Z Automatic Transmission 1983 280ZX L28ET (#2 piston blew up, head can be repaired and turbo system should be usable) Downpipe and custom exhaust  Complete second sport suspension for the car, ready to be cleaned up to be powder coated and installed. New Fuel System 15 Gallon fuel cell High Pressure Fuel Pump AN hose and fittings front to back Custom fuel rail Ford Lightning Injectors Website Project240Z.com domain name, and 1 year of website hosting, training of use of website. The site gets a lot of traffic from search engine results. DVD of the original video files of all the video recordings I have that I used in Project240z.com videos I'm not sure what all I want to ask for this, it could be a very fun project, with the most expensive parts already purchased and installed. If you're interested start making me an offer, if I consider it reasonable I'll respond. Currently not looking to part things out,...Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:09:58 GMT6e617324-9d90-42ed-996d-a0c8cdc08279Say it isn't so! We've found the piston!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1007/say-it-isnt-so-weve-found-the-pistonWhat? Chris actually worked on the 240Z? Impossible! It tis true, it really is. Tonight I got home and decided it was time to tear into the motor, so I did just that. I even recorded the whole process, so hopefully I'll have video up soon. For now you can check out the photos of what I found, be warned, it's not...Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:35:34 GMT9d0eee54-3c65-4e89-a594-db67a5519157Say it isn't so! We've found the piston!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1268/say-it-isnt-so-weve-found-the-piston<p>What? Chris actually worked on the 240Z? Impossible! It tis true, it really is. Tonight I got home and decided it was time to tear into the motor, so I did just that. I even recorded the whole process, so hopefully I'll have video up soon. For now you can check out the photos of what I found, be warned, it's not pretty!</p>Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:35:34 GMT57d52d7b-7768-4a24-86e0-a993d2fbeb8bSay it isn't so! We've found the piston!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1555/say-it-isnt-so-weve-found-the-piston<p>What? Chris actually worked on the 240Z? Impossible! It tis true, it really is. Tonight I got home and decided it was time to tear into the motor, so I did just that. I even recorded the whole process, so hopefully I'll have video up soon. For now you can check out the photos of what I found, be warned, it's not pretty!</p>Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:35:34 GMTa26d4b15-91fd-4045-8d31-dd5aeda31248Starting on the suspensionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1774/starting-on-the-suspension<p>With the <a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/424/It-runs-twice-and-therersquos-audiovideo-proof.aspx" target="_blank">success last night</a> I decided I had to work on the car this evening a bit. The first thing I did was get it up on all four jack stands so that they were under the frame and not under control arms of the car. This would allow me to begin working on the suspension pieces. </p> <p>When I got the car from Jeff, uhhh over three years ago now, it came with a second suspension that had been pulled off another car. This other suspension has springs (yellow), new(er) struts, a larger front sway bar, and also the addition of a rear sway bar. It also is a lot cleaner then the current suspension. So tonight I started pulling off the front suspension, starting with the sway bar, and moving on to removing the rest, at least what I could, of the right front.</p> <p>I got stuck at the tie rod, but I did manage to get most of the other bolts removed. I came to a conclusion though, I’m going to likely just drop the whole front suspension out, including the cross member as the second suspension has one as well. In order to do that though I am going to have to dismount the motor. I will attempt to do that by lifting the motor up off the mounts with the cherry picker, hopefully without having to disconnect the transmission and not removing the whole thing from the car.</p> <p>Before I do that though I will likely fully disassemble the other suspension and take it to a friend’s house to sandblast everything. I’m heading to Tampa for a conference tomorrow, so that will have to wait until the evenings next week. I’ll try to get everything disassembled during the week, both front and rear suspensions, and then probably go down to his place Saturday if he’ll be around.</p>Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:17:08 GMTce0d2911-e4e0-4250-9613-97c41cd74fffThe Returnhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1402/the-return<p>The car is finally back home, within reach of me actually working on it and hopefully getting it running in the next few weeks.</p> <p><a href="http://www.project240z.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=128">I've posted two videos, you can find them on this page</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157594465585463/">I've also posted some photos to flickr</a></p> <p> </p>Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:42:32 GMTcd6d8148-9777-44e8-8e28-f4e4ff4541d0Updated the videos againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/730/updated-the-videos-againAlright, I have all the videos updated now. So every video that I've created thus far on the Project240z is now online with youtube and listed here on the videos...Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:00:00 GMTa80388b7-4ee5-40a3-836b-88dff03c8654Updated the videos againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2356/updated-the-videos-againAlright, I have all the videos updated now. So every video that I've created thus far on the Project240z is now online with youtube and listed here on the videos...Chris HammondTue, 30 Jan 2007 11:00:00 GMT8ec192f5-5a98-425f-99d8-14ba540c8096Wiring up the engine and attempting to starthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1741/wiring-up-the-engine-and-attempting-to-start<div class="watch-video-desc description"> <p><span>I spent the morning with Dave and Terec helping to finish buttoning up items on the 240Z so we could attempt to start it today. We were successful in getting to the point of attempting to start it, though we weren't successful in actually getting it started, there's an issue or two that I need to track down. Likely issues with timing and firing for the Megasquirt. Because the last time I had the car running was back in August 2007 I've now got a new laptop and don't have it configured for the Megasquirt. I'm hoping to get it setup tonight and try to hook it up tomorrow to see what I find.</span></p> <p><span>Here's the video from today's work.</span></p> </div> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/Plj8ZyVgPuQ"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Plj8ZyVgPuQ" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:59:13 GMT5a32a707-dddf-412e-9d65-15ac135a72c9Working on the motor againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2472/working-on-the-motor-againTonight I spent some good time working on the motor for the 240Z again. Here's the YouTube video!Chris HammondFri, 15 Aug 2008 00:41:05 GMT589a32a5-7409-4017-a743-d5a6c1aa6ba4Little progress, little time!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1517/little-progress-little-time<p>So my weekend of working on the 240Z started off quite slowly today. I ended up sleeping until almost noon this morning, it was nice to catch up on some much lost rest from the travelling the past few months.</p> <p>So after my restful morning I had a few errands to run to get my costume ready for a party tonight. Once those were completed I was able to spend some time in the garage. First things first getting the months of piled on crap off the top of the car. That led me to assembling the 2nd craftsman stool that I had purchased probably 10 months ago now, it was in a box on the hood of the car.</p> <p>Once I could see the top of the car I made room at the back and rolled her back a bit in the garage, this allowed me to get to the motor which has been on the stand for quite some time sitting in front of the car. Without the Corvette in the garage (*sheds a small tear*) I had plenty of room to move the motor over to the free side of the garage to work on. The next step for the car is to get all of the motor bits back together, the manifolds, turbo and all other accessories need to be put on the car so that I can put it back in the engine bay. I spent some time this afternoon cleaning off some more of the grease/dirt that covers the motor. I think Lynn, the previous owner, took it to a rally cross based on all the dirt and grime I’ve pulled off this motor over time.</p> <p>I didn’t get too far today, but I hope that tomorrow I can get all of the parts back on the motor, if I can successfully do that I should be able to get the motor back in the car next weekend. The biggest problem I have working on the car is staying focused, if I’m by myself I tend to stray from the task at hand, and I never seem to get anything done. Case in point today, at some point while working on clearing off the car I got out the angle grinder and wire wheeled the hole where the FM antenna was at one point, I thought it looked like it might be rusting so I took the paint off then sprayed some primer on the car. Now it looks worse than before, but I had fun! :) </p> <p>More updates tomorrow, hopefully with some video. I tried using the Chase Cam today to shoot some video but apparently the PDR doesn’t really care for normal AA batteries as it only stayed powered on for about 5 minutes before shutting off, without me knowing.</p>Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:24:26 GMT1dc2f34d-45ca-46e7-a5de-2c03a7367dbbP240Z Rollin till the wheels fall offhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2461/p240z-rollin-till-the-wheels-fall-off<p>Eric and I put the brakes back together, got the wheels on the car, roll it out of the garage, turn it around, roll it back in, then start cutting out the rear to mount the fuel cell.</p>Chris HammondTue, 26 Jun 2007 10:39:06 GMT3baf1096-b7c9-4722-be44-3bfd55e346d7Eaton developing charging systems for electric vehicleshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/1922/eaton-developing-charging-systems-for-electric-vehInteresting news found as I read through the Autoblog Green today (I'm a changed man reading Autoblog Green now, the thought of getting a Leaf has me all sorts of weird).<br /> <br /> There was an article from Monday posted there about Eaton developing fast charging systems for both home and commercial use electric vehicles. That strikes me of interest because I have a buddy, one of my former codriver's in the CorvetteZ06.org car, that works for Eaton. I've already sent him an email to see what kind of discount I can get :)<br /> <br /> <a href="http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/03/eaton-developing-faster-electric-vehicle-charging-system-for-hom/">Check out the full Eaton writeup at Autoblog Green including the press release</a>. Chris HammondWed, 05 May 2010 23:50:31 GMT249c6b09-b5df-4e9e-a764-09ea2ca36c90Seeing the Nissan Leaf in Person (w/ Photos!)https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/1927/seeing-the-nissan-leaf-in-person-w-photos<p><img alt="" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4614059467_972ee98fc9_m.jpg" style="float: left;" />So today my wife and I headed up to Sacramento (110 miles or so from where we live). In case you hadn’t heard there’s this little thing going on in the state this week, called the <a href="http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/" target="_blank">Amgen Tour Of California</a>, only the largest bicycle race in the United States. While I have attended a bike race or two in the past, and taken quite a few photos at them, the race itself was not the reason we headed up there.</p> <p>On Friday we received an email that Nissan would be travelling around with the bike race with a Nissan Leaf in tow, setting up at the finish festivals letting the public see the car. Since I registered for the opportunity to purchase a Leaf on 4/20, I’ve been stoked about this whole process, and I just had to see the car in person. So the wife and I hopped into the <a href="http://www.project350z.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Project350z</a> and drove up to Sacramento for a few hours.</p> <p>We got up there, found a decent parking space and headed off to walk around the various vendors trying to track down the Leaf! We ended up seeing all the vendors and finding the Nissan booth last. I spent probably an hour or so there, taking various photos, looking the car over, and talking to various reps who were there. Unfortunately the car was pretty much on lockdown, you could get close to it, but couldn’t open up any of the fun parts! The windows were up on this sunny beautiful day, and unfortunately that caused for some glare problems with trying to take interior pictures. I took 152 photos, but after trying to filter through some of them <a href="http://www.leafowner.com/Pictures/view/setdisplay/setid/72157623951240207.aspx" target="_blank">we’ve uploaded a large number of them</a>.</p> <p>Hopefully by taking a look at some of these photos you’ll see different things on the Leaf that you might not have seen in other photos that have been published elsewhere. </p> <p>We didn’t learn too much different from the event, but it was nice to see the car in person. The only major thing I learned was that in addition to the $7500 government tax credit, California residents may be able to get a $5000 tax rebate, as well as the rebates for the charger installation. That could really make the Leaf a no brainer!</p> <p>Here are some of the photos, <a href="http://www.leafowner.com/Pictures/view/setdisplay/setid/72157623951240207.aspx" target="_blank">though be sure to check out the full listing of photos from the Amgen Tour Of California Stage 1</a></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4613965352/in/set-72157623951240207/"><img alt="Control Center" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4613965352_4d5bbdfee8_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" style="border-width: 0px;border-style: solid;" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4614673178/in/set-72157623951240207/"><img alt="Nissan Leaf Underbody" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/4614673178_884af58815_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" style="border-width: 0px;border-style: solid;" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4614673918/in/set-72157623951240207/"><img alt="Nissan Leaf Underbody" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/4614673918_61b95f1726_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" style="border-width: 0px;border-style: solid;" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4613924784/in/set-72157623951240207/"><img alt="Driver's Side Rear of Nissan Leaf" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4613924784_40cf9bcd7c_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" style="border-width: 0px;border-style: solid;" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4613302391/in/set-72157623951240207/"><img alt="Nissan Leaf Roof and Wing" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/4613302391_a56aea8e48_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" style="border-width: 0px;border-style: solid;" /></a></p> </blockquote>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 17 May 2010 02:28:35 GMTf4703038-4b3b-4992-81fc-b25293079b1fReaching out to your Nissan Dealer in Regards to a Leafhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/1937/reaching-out-to-your-nissan-dealer-in-regards-to-a<p>So there has been some discussion here on LeafOwner.com about the potential that dealers will try to price gouge when the Leaf comes out. I recently went to visit a local Nissan Dealer, Boardwalk Nissan in Redwood City and will admit I didn't have the best of experiences, they didn't have ANY info on the Leaf at the time, I am hoping that has changed, so I just reached out to a sales guy who contacted me due to the previous sales guy I was dealing with having left.</p> <p> So here's what I emailed the guy, I'll post back to this thread later when I hear back, assuming I hear back. </p> <blockquote> <p>NAME REMOVED,</p> <p>Thanks for the phone call last night. I do have a few questions that I could use your assistance.</p> <p>I have money down on a Leaf (I paid $99 back on 4/20), I realize they aren't going to be available until December, but was wondering if you had any more info about them?</p> <p>Here's what I currently know. By the end of this month Nissan will be contacting me to give me more info. Sometime this summer they will send out an electrician to the house to see if installing a charger is possible or not, and to give an estimate of what that cost will be. This fall they are going to be doing some driving promotions where you can test drive a Leaf. This fall those who are interested will work with a dealer to purchase the car. Then sometime starting in December a lucky few who preordered the Leaf will get them delivered, I am hoping because we are in the bay area that I have a good shot at getting one of the first, also because I preregistered very early on.</p> <p>I am looking for a dealer who is going to sell me a Leaf at or below MSRP, I am not willing to pay a markup cost for this car, and I will find a dealer that will sell me one at a good price, even if I have to tow the car home to do it. I would hope that Boardwalk Nissan can do this, but I have never purchased a car from you guys so I don't know what to expect yet.</p> <p>I'm a Nissan kind of guy, I have a 350z currently (my second one) and I've owned a 240z and 280z as well. My wife and I were in at Boardwalk looking at Jettas, that was for her as a replacement for the F-250 she drives right now (for that horse trailer we talked about). The Leaf would be my commuter car if I get one.</p> <p>Thanks for your help,</p> <p>Chris</p> </blockquote> <p>Have you reached out to a dealer? Had any luck? </p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 10 Jun 2010 11:14:47 GMTedefa827-648f-4859-ab58-dd71dcec5f39Viral Marketing? Banned Corvette Adhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/73/viral-marketing-banned-corvette-adNews has been going around the net about the Banned Corvette ad. Maybe it's just viral marketing, and if it is, it's working. Here's the ad in quicktime format. Pretty cool, but the quality leaves more for the wanting...Thu, 26 Aug 2004 17:37:00 GMT39cecbf9-984e-43ad-a49d-4f079eea5dd3Corvette St. Louis, are you looking for a used Corvette?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/938/corvette-st-louis-are-you-looking-for-a-used-corIf you're looking for a used Corvette in St. Louis Missouri you've come to the right blog post! I'll be updating this post  with used Corvette information for the St. Louis, Chesterfield, St. Charles, Wildwood and other surrounding areas in Missouri! I am myself in the Market for a used Corvette, and live in the St. Louis...Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:20:00 GMTa796be1a-a85b-4e83-982f-52a34f838fdaRed Corvette, Red Sox? I think sohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/944/red-corvette-red-sox-i-think-so  I've been trying to decide if a Red vette is a good choice or not, then I though. Red Sox... I think I sold myself posted from...Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:25:00 GMT05942a44-3c89-41b5-9e73-3f9a4d1673f8What's so special about today?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/945/whats-so-special-about-todayWell, I'll tell you late tonight if this all goes down. But if all goes as planned I'll be driving a Corvette around very soon! Oh yeah, Natalie's also showing this weekend, today around 1pm, it's the regional championships for her and I know she's very...Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:47:00 GMT380cfd76-14e7-493b-b156-551c32eec4acIt's Friday!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1065/its-fridaySo it's Friday. The end of a busy but short week. This weekend, I'm going to automate our house.... Well, I'm going to start at least. I have some controls and software from Smarthome to start working with, along with a paper to write for econ class, and shocks to install on the Corvette. Sunday I'm hoping to head off to Grafton Illinois to photograph some Bald Eagles. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:08:16 GMT2123a0c0-aeef-4f22-8323-23a48ba7b0cbLazy Saturdayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1068/lazy-saturdayWell I got up bright and early this morning to head off with Nick to pick up a 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra. We dropped it off at his house then headed back home. Now I'm sitting here watching TV. No motivation to work on the shocks for the Corvette. I may go out in the garage and do some organizing as it really needs it! I may also head to Creve Couer park and rollerblade for the first time in 2008. Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:33:05 GMT9e948307-fe80-4302-ae45-698d11f8f072Fitness Tuesday and a visit to Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Des Pereshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1073/fitness-tuesday-and-a-visit-to-tropical-smoothie-cTuesday is always a good day. I was born on a Tuesday. I went to the YMCA this evening after work, I ran/walked for 40 minutes, and covered 3.3 miles in about 40 minutes. I think I'm going to have to start extending my exercise a bit more, I started doing 30 minutes, and am up to 40 minutes, perhaps I'll go for 45 minutes tomorrow night. I also weighed myself while I was at the Y and weighed in at 252.5 lbs! Another pound and a half in the next two days and I'll be down 10lbs for the month (1/14-2/14). So we'll see how that goes. For lunch today I went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Des Peres. I always go there, I easily eat there 3-4 times a week, sometimes more. It's a fairly new place, only been open a few months now, but we love it at the office. I eat a King Ceaser wrap without tomatoes everytime I go, along with a selection of smoothies that I will also have. If you're looking for a smoothie in Des Peres Missouri be sure to check it out! It's right by Trader Joes. I eat there enough I've though of asking Terry, the owner, if he'd like to sponsor a race car. Terry, if you read this, I'm looking for a sponsor! www.corvettez06.org Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:07:41 GMT616a5751-2205-4593-8a4c-f6707b6a496bLazy Sunday Againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1079/lazy-sunday-againSo I got up around 9:30 this morning, because Nick called. We worked on the Corvette, fixing the problem we had last night, then doing some alignment settings on the car. Finished that around 2pm, took a shower, and I just woke up from a nap.... There's so much left to do today! Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:33:15 GMT43cd402b-53de-4e7e-916a-fdfc7ae919d4A long day in Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1087/a-long-day-in-georgiaToday started out alright. Breakfast at IHOP, headed to the event site to unload the car and mount tires. Car up on the jack, tires off the driver's side. Time to adjust the shocks. That is when it all went to hell. Head on over to www.corvettez06.org to find out...Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:52:05 GMT272579c6-946d-4bb0-ade4-2125b781de4eBack from Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1090/back-from-georgiaA quick post as I have way too much work to catch up on! Dave and I made it back from Georgia early in the morning. Natalie came and picked me up and I think we made it to bed around 3am. Much earlier than I had expected. We made the trip back from Adel Georgia in 11 hours, the trip down took 13 hours with the ice storm and rain most of the way. More on then race later tonight when I get to blog on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvettez06.org</a>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:44:39 GMTcd665787-4f4a-42a1-b69f-60c729bbe742DotNetNuke for your Ridehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1097/dotnetnuke-for-your-ride<p>Does your car run on DotNetNuke? Mine does!</p> <p><a title="DotNetNuke Corvette" href="http://flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="DotNetNuke Corvette" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2291945232_3f7d42f74a_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></p>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:27:32 GMTd631f15c-d0ee-4a61-9f09-18e6c9c16808Home from St. Pat'shttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1122/home-from-st-patsWell, we cut the trip short and came home Saturday evening from Rolla. After feeling like crap all day I decided there would be no more drinking so we headed back. Sunday -> Corvette day. www.corvettez06.org Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:11:01 GMT84768aa6-d616-47bb-890f-eb99874f4848Once in a lifetimehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1139/once-in-a-lifetime<p>A few weeks ago at St. Pat's some of my fraternity brother's were giving me trouble about owning the Corvette. They thought if I owned the Corvette I also needed to have a Mustache.</p> <p>Well here it is, probably the only mustache I will ever grow.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2376445672/"><img class="reflect" height="333" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2227/2376445672_8c554aa142.jpg?v=0" width="500" onload="show_notes_initially();" /></a></p> <p>Natalie loves it (not). I think it looks great (not). It is coming off in the morning (so)!</p>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:02:32 GMTe917d334-b33d-45a3-b100-71cdd0739792Evolution School Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1144/evolution-school-day-1The trip out to Kansas City was uneventful. The car and truck made it here without trouble. Ran today, had a blast. I'll try to post some info on www.corvettez06.org later this weekend. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:49:02 GMT66fcd9f0-c9de-416d-be56-b25638f3037dNewport ProSolo Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1154/newport-prosolo-resultsA quick personal post, I'll do a full writeup tomorrow night on www.Corvettez06.org Jeremy finished 1st and I finished 3rd in SS (I lost second by .080 Sunday). We both made it into the Hawk Super Challenge that ran on Sunday afternoon. Though, somehow, out of 32 drivers we managed to get paired up head to head. So I went out and warmed the tires up for him, hoping to give him an edge going into the rest of the challenge. He smoked me with his fastest run of the weekend, though couldn't recreate it on his next bracket against a fricken Chrysler Crossfire.... Great job nonetheless. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:30:18 GMT552a2c03-02ae-492b-b5b5-44e643e006aaMade it homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1162/made-it-homeI'll do a full writeup on www.corvettez06.org later this week along with some video. For now I've got a lot of work to do. I have to submit my topics for OpenForce08 as well as work on a few other DNN modules tonight.Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:32:42 GMTd7aef5c1-6844-4a8d-bae7-f2e85190ad3aFishing Followuphttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1169/fishing-followupWell I had planned to do a fishing follow up today, but it's 11:30 and I really don't feel like typing one up now! Basically, we fished Lake of the Ozarks on Saturday, I think I caught 4, 1 blue gill and 3 crappie, no bass whatsoever. Today I slept till 11am and then washed/clay barred/waxed the Envoy, it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Now, if I could just get the Corvette done in the next week or two. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:25:03 GMT494a9dea-e7fa-4924-94c3-5c5e315ebd7bClay start for the weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1175/clay-start-for-the-weekendSo after what I would call a long and painful week I came home this evening and put in some elbow grease time on the F350. I clay bar'd most of the truck, the hood, the sides, and the rear. It got dark so I haven't gone and waxed the truck yet but I hope to do that first thing in the morning, after giving it another quick wash. Then I will wash/clay/wax the Corvette, it's in dire need of a good wax. Hopefully tomorrow before the Derby I can get myself out to a range and do some shooting. I haven't fired a gun in quite a while and I could use the release of some stress right now. Sat, 03 May 2008 01:36:30 GMTc2fc840a-fee7-49ae-bd95-aff3ab95df0aBack to stockhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1230/back-to-stockToday I went over to Nick's house for a while to work on removing the motor out of his 1995 Cobra. That took us FARRRR too long, stupid mustangs. We actually didn't get it all the way out before I left, the ram on the cherry picker died on us when we were probably 95% done. He ran off to Cummins Tools to look for another one, I went home to work on the Corvette. I took the Monroe Sensa Tracs off the front end and put the stock Z06 shocks back on the car. I figured out, thanks to a tip from Alex, the easy way to mount shocks is by compressing them and holding them closed with a zip tie. That made things a lot easier! Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:38:57 GMT2afd4996-4a4a-47e6-895f-7ff14ed431ccCorvette CV Boot, still leaking...https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1231/corvette-cv-boot-still-leakingSo I got up this morning, washed the F350 before Natalie took it back to the barn, where it will live until it gets used to tow again. (Good planning on my part sending it back to the barn with a winter storm supposedly hitting St. Louis tomorrow). I then washed the Z06 to get the travel grime off it from the trip back from Atlanta last weekend. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:23:37 GMTc64f6fb6-e24d-46a2-89b0-85ca19eea390DotNetNuke Module for Youtubehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1232/dotnetnuke-module-for-youtubeI started working on a YouTube module for DotNetNuke this evening. I have a very basic first version up here on Corvettez06.org. You can check it out on my corvette video page.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:06:12 GMTb7813109-d1bf-42e7-bdb2-5b0bf415a305Borla Stinger Exhaust Installed, Testing out Vimeo for HD Video Uploadshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1235/borla-stinger-exhaust-installed-testing-out-vimeoNick and I got the Borla installed tonight and also raised the front end of the car up a bit more. Testing Vimeo Video:   Corvettez06.org Borla Exhaust Before/After from Christopher Hammond on Vimeo.Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:21:19 GMT9907b584-91be-4e8d-91c4-588954b42002Hardbar installed in the Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1237/hardbar-installed-in-the-corvetteI finally took some time to install the Hardbar harness bar into the Corvette this evening. Pictures tomorrow.Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:58:25 GMT4cccfa93-d882-4a53-bdb7-b512fbbdac77A nice new coathttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1243/a-nice-new-coatSo I finally got around to cleaning up the Corvette yesterday. It really needed a coat of wax and a good going over with the clay bar so after a round of golf in the morning I came home and gave the car some love. Here's the order of things on Sunday. Wash Claybar Wash Polish Wax RainX I spent 4.5 hours or so cleaning up the car. All the marks are removed from the paint, though there are still some cone marks in the clear vinyl that I had troubles removing. And now for the results Mon, 05 May 2008 14:34:43 GMTd95c8cac-e0bf-4fd9-8313-80ba9d8966caOff to Atlanta with a new Sponsorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1244/off-to-atlanta-with-a-new-sponsorWell, less than 24 hours from now Nick and I will be on the road to Atlanta. We're planning on pulling out of St. Louis around 3am, but we'll see how that goes. I will have a lot to do tonight to get ready. Load the car on the trailer, pack the van. Yup, VAN, I'm taking the SoloPerformance.com Church Van down to Atlanta. Much thanks to Dave for the loaner tow vehicle! I mounted up the tires on the old street wheels last night. New Hoosier rubber for this weekend, hopefully we can get down in time to do some practice starts and get some of the new tire mold off. It should be a fun weekend, and hopefully I'll have some great videos together. A big thanks to CorvetteZ06.org's Newest Sponsor, Chase Cam, www.chasecam.com. I've used Chase Cam equipment many times throughout the years and now get the chance to work with some of their newest equipment, needless to say I am stoked! See you all in Atlanta!Thu, 15 May 2008 12:05:14 GMTa432ba86-d0c1-46d7-92d2-e59d66587ba7Corvette got a new coat of painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1283/corvette-got-a-new-coat-of-paintFriday when I got home from work I noticed my windshield was extremely hard to see through, and couldn't figure out why. I got out of the car in the garage but couldn't see much, though it did not feel it's normal smooth self. In the garage I couldn't see much of anything, though it appeared something was also on the paint. Fast forward through the weekend, Sunday evening same thing, windshield in the sunlight hard to see through. This morning when I head off to work I look a little more closely at the paint, and find lots of little black dots, all over the car. They've been doing work here at the office on the outside of the building, and it looks like I got a nice coat of paint all over the car, tiny little dots, almost too small to see, but if you look close enough you can see them everywhere. I'm off to the body shop here over lunch to get a quote on what it will take to fix.Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:59:24 GMTc4428601-0c29-408d-a379-6dfb3f36e9c6Koni Shock Install on the Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1289/koni-shock-install-on-the-corvetteSo after heading out to Natalie's horse show today I swung by the car dealer to say hello to Trigger, the guy who sold me the Corvette. After that I came home and worked on the Corvette for 4 hours. The first thing I did was remove both rear shocks. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get them both to adjust, the adjusters were stuck, as they were when I originally got them. I made sure they were both set to full soft then I put them back on the car. I made sure to tighten everything down. Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:02:57 GMT93632b21-9ddf-4a7f-bc74-d7dfecf89deaPaint on the Corvette Update, 1 Week Laterhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1294/paint-on-the-corvette-update-1-week-laterSo here we are a week later, and the Corvette still has paint on it. I got a quote from the Lou Fusz body shop to have the paint cleaned up and the car rewaxed. I then had 4 other cars here in the parking lot do the same, as they all had paint on the vehicles. Right now the paint guy is trying to have some guy come in from out of town who will do a mass cleaning on the cars on Thursday. At this point I'm not down for this game, I would much rather have a shop I know working on my car than some random guy from Springfield Missouri touching it. I've put a call into the painting company to tell them this, and if they have a problem with it I will simply get my insurance company started on this claim. I'm pretty confident that they will cover the cost of getting the car cleaned up with the company I want to clean it, then they can deal with the painting company and that company's insurance. We'll see how this turns out, but right now I am thinking this might quickly turn into a post for The Mad Blogger to handle if things aren't taken care of.Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:41:20 GMT7a9a788e-ea6c-4f2b-b21d-c8edb6709736Finally progress on the painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1310/finally-progress-on-the-paintSo after way too much time spent on this whole deal I believe that this paint fiasco is almost behind us. The word I got today is a check was put in the mail today, so I have Saturday morning (and afternoon and evening) slated for a full detail job on the Corvette. It will most likely take all day, but the car always loves a good rub down. I think my boss is going to come over and do the same to his Minivan, though I am sure he will give up about half way through the process realizing he's clay barring and waxing a minivan! Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:19:03 GMTaa5cd9cd-a1a3-4cc6-b559-9d309f7c8375Washington DC ProSolo Registration Dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1320/washington-dc-prosolo-registration-dayThis morning I got up and went to the Udvar Hazy exhibit of the Smithsonian Air and Space Musuem out in Virginia. It was well worth the trip, I got to see a Space Shuttle, that had to be the coolest part. I took a couple hundred photos, I'm going through some of them this evening and should have them posted on my flickr page later. After that I headed over to Fedex Field to see how the setup for the ProSolo was going. I spotted the Purple Beast (1982 Camaro) that I will be driving on Saturday and Sunday and headed up to introduce myself to Eric, one of the owners of the car, I'm his codriver for the weekend. I walked around a bit and said hello to a few folks and then got some tickets for the practice starts. Eric took a few starts and then I took a couple to see how the car felt. To be honest, it definitely doesn't have the power that the Corvette does (one wouldn't expect that), we will see though, that might not be a bad thing. The clutch is the one thing that I think will take some getting used to, that and not having ABS. The ABS thing will be interesting based on my normal style of slamming on the brakes hard. I don't think that will be necessary on this ProSolo course here in DC. More tomorrow.Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:33:58 GMT380243f0-6254-4633-bb37-b965e2394364Another ProSolo Trophy!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1322/another-prosolo-trophyIt might not be in my usual class but it is a ProSolo trophy nonetheless! I placed 4th in the Washington DC ProSolo this weekend in ESP. It was a fun class to run in with the positions changing quite a bit both days. Now I'm working for a week here in Baltimore then fly to Indy to rent a car and drive up to the Peru National Tour to find my Corvette and hopefully see how well I do against the top level competition that is lined up for Peru. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:11:50 GMTa653bc97-60a2-409d-85d9-39f6ff3c75b9Peru National Tour Day 1 (Cones)https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1331/peru-national-tour-day-1-conesSo the CorvetteZ06.org Team took 9 runs today at the National Tour here in Bunker Hill Indiana. 2 out of those 9 runs were clean, the rest were DNFs and coned runs. Here's a quick overview of what I can remember Dave  Run 1 (Cones) Run 2 (Cones) Run 3 (DNF Cones) Chris Run 1 (DNF Cones) Run 2 (Cone) fast enough for 5th or 6th if clean Run 3 (Cones) Beth Run 1 (Cones) Run 2 Run 3 I am sitting in 9th, Dave in 11th, Beth in 3rd in SSL. I've reviewed my video from Run #1, and I don't see anywhere that I DNF'd the course, I did spin through the finish and hit a cone or two, but it sure doesn't look like I left the course at anytime. Right now tomorrow for Dave and I is just for fun, to see how well we can do in the car after a bad Saturday. I've got video from all the runs today, though it looks like the audio didn't record, I will have to check that out in the morning to make sure we get audio of tomorrows runs.Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:06:49 GMTc5273610-54e1-4bae-a4b7-fec18acc41bcOff to the Toledo ProSolohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1342/off-to-the-toledo-prosoloI'm headed to bed, hoping for 8 hours sleep, though if I want to leave at 6am I'm not going to get it! I've got the car loaded, but still have to do a bit of packing of clothing in the morning. The Corvette should get a workout this weekend, 2 drivers in SS and 1 driver in SM2! I'll post from Toledo later this weekend. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:02:28 GMT74df56aa-6992-4f02-9529-315e8d6f557eToledo ProSolo Updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1346/toledo-prosolo-updateQuick update: Got home about an hour and a half ago, 8 hour drive, the POS Ford check engine light came on again. The Corvette Z06 team filled in the top bottom two places at the Toledo ProSolo... Not much good to be said of the weekend, except I got some good spin footage to add to the White Tornado collection. I'll be working on video from last weekend and this weekend over the next few days to get all the runs posted.Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:51:11 GMTed732eaf-ab71-4b48-9eac-6b78e930ce90All lubed up and ready to gohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1383/all-lubed-up-and-ready-to-goDave and I spent the day working on the Corvette. Here's what was accomplished drain the rear end and replace with Redline gear oil removed the rear Konis from the car and replace with the stock shocks drained the transmission and replaced with redline drained/replace oil and filter, both with Mobil 1 hack the stock radio to add a line in wash the car, clean off all of Dave's cone marks #5 and #6 were done by myself, Dave had left by then. #5 involved splicing into the CD input line and wiring up a minijack input, I actually wired this into the back of the radio, I thought it was ingenius, but I figured out the error in my ways. The jack I used was one that when nothing was plugged into it would allow the CD audio to pass through normally. When a line was plugged in the jack input is used and the CD Audio is bypassed. Anyone see the err of my ways? By mounting the jack in the back of the radio I effectively disabled the CD audio from working until the radio is removed and the minijack wire unplugged. This actually isn't a big deal for me, I never use the CD player anyways, and now I can listen to my Zune! Though I will most likely need to rewire or just unplug this before I sell the car, otherwise the next owner won't know WTF is going on. Now it's time for a http://shirt.woot.com party, I'm meeting some guys from the office there. Race on Sunday!Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:40:28 GMT6df0d62e-ec95-43ed-8206-ccd14a1fdf4eAnother Local Eventhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1384/another-local-eventAnother local event down, and another reminder of a couple of things 1) St. Louis in the summer sucks 2) Racing in the summer in St. Louis sucks Heat and humidity! Nonetheless, it was a good event, I still need to drive faster, but I did manage to take FTD (fastest time of day) as well as the top Index position, and first place in Super Stock. Dave finished 2nd in SS. Beth took first in SSL and also took the top Ladies Index spot. That makes two local events that the CorvetteZ06.org team has taken the top index and ladies index positions here in St. Louis. Next stop, Topeka Kansas for the Midiv Championships next week!Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:27:49 GMT6a5396b5-1932-463e-a055-2c9d924bf4e2Corvette loaded up for Topekahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1389/corvette-loaded-up-for-topekaDave and I loaded up the car on the trailer tonight, we're leaving around 4am on Friday morning and he has plans tomorrow night. Before loading it we took the wheels and tires and flipped the tires around on the wheels for the practice session on Friday. We'll run the test & tune friday on the old set of wheels and tires, then on Saturday and Sunday we'll run the good set of tires, the set that were new for the Milwaukee National Tour two weeks ago. We did all of this tonight in the rain, so we were soaked by the time we changed tires on the car and loaded it on the trailer. I'll post an update Friday night. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:55:13 GMT7f3e9066-376e-4264-b223-09d8b74cfd24St. Louis Event #7 Another good onehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1403/st-louis-event-7-another-good-oneAnother class win in SS and SSL for the CorvetteZ06.org team, as well as another overall index win, that makes 3 local events in a row for the team. Videos and data coming later this week. Anyone who watched my fifth run today also witnessed the return of the White Tornado to St. Louis. Photos of the aftermath can be found on the full blog post.Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:35:26 GMT8c240c03-fd2f-4d6b-862f-f391cebb6b33Nationals Mockup?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1407/nationals-mockupWhat do you think of this as a possible look for the Corvette for Nationals? Check out the photo on the full blog post.Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:06:28 GMT733ec56d-25ad-4d0f-88a3-595b5b9e9bf82004 Corvette Z06 For Sale!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1409/2004-corvette-z06-for-saleAfter the Solo Nationals this year the Corvette (available mid to late September) will be for sale as I have other plans for the next year. This car has been exciting, and if I didn't have some big things coming up in the next 12 months I would be keeping it and running it all next year. I wouldn't be opposed to someone buying the car and me co-driving it next year at National events, and some local STL events. Any co-drive arrangements would be made seperate of the sale of the vehicle. Get yourself a car for a great price that is capable of winning trophies at National Tours, ProSolos, and to take the top Index and even FTD at local events. (Currently located in St. Louis, MO) Here are some of the specifics: 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 ~18k miles currently 3M Clear Bra 1 Set of Koni Sport shocks (currently the fronts are installed) 1 Set of OEM Shocks (rears installed on car) 1 OEM Sway Bar 1 Adco (sp?) Sway Bar 1 Borla Stinger exhaust (on car) 1 Hardbar Harness Bar 1 Corbeau Harness in car 1 Set of Street Wheels/Tires, C6 Z06 look, in C5 size 3 Sets of C5 Z06 wheels, not sure what tires will be left/included with sale. The car has been well maintained and cared for, all fluids changed recently, transmission and diff using Red Line, Mobil 1 Synthetic used exclusively in the motor. I’m looking for $31k for the car and all the above parts. The www.corvettez06.org website might also be for sale but is not part of the price of the car. If you're interested in the car feel free to get in touch with me. -ChrisChris HammondThu, 14 Aug 2008 00:53:13 GMT2e1bf6dc-642f-40bb-959b-4949ec5d13c6New Look and New Videohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1424/new-look-and-new-videoI spent the day today cleaning up the Corvette and then setup the new look of the car for the upcoming Solo Nationals. A big thanks to Dave at www.SoloPerformance.com for getting the vinyl cut yesterday. It took me pretty much all afternoon to get this done, with washing the car, clay barring a few parts of the car, polish and wax, applying the vinyl then another wash. I think the car turned out great, you can check out the flickr photos to see what it looks like. Now for the video, music from Steve Ewing (www.steveewingmusic.com) Check out the video on the full blog post. Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:57:48 GMT4d2283bd-b04b-40fc-ae0c-4c86ed972973So what comes next?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1433/so-what-comes-nextNow that the Corvette is pretty much sold, I will have it for a few more weeks, but John will get it some time after the Solo Nationals, I am trying to figure out what comes next? I was thinking something along the lines of a used BMW barge, maybe a 5 or 7 Series, but Terec reminded me that I have to stick with the Z in whatever I purchase, so if I want a bimmer that pretty much leaves me to a Z3-4 or 8, and I really don't want a convertible. Here's how my Z fetish has panned out since 2001.Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:04:32 GMTfbebc0b6-0900-4573-86ab-77a2017a86eeKansas City National Tour Short Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1448/kansas-city-national-tour-short-results3 of 5 drivers in the CorvetteZ06.org team finished in 3rd this weekend. Natalie finished third in SSL, Dave finished Third in ASP, and I finished third in SS. Beth finished 2nd in SSL and managed to win the only tire this weekend, Tom ended up having to deal with some family business in KC after taking his runs on Saturday so he was unable to run on Sunday. Hopefully his father-in-law is doing better. More detailed updates and video later this weekend/week.Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:57:00 GMTf3faeece-fed0-4328-969e-a6a21ce03d77Cone Curse of the Whitworthshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1450/cone-curse-of-the-whitworthsA heads up to anyone who codrives with the Whitworths anytime in the future... They hit so many cones, that these cones start to haunt the other drivers in the car! A funny thing happened on Natalie's last run on Saturday. I was filming the run and saw something pecular. After a short time on the course I noticed a cone under the back of the Corvette, I was pretty sure that Natalie didn't hit a cone at the beginning of this run so it had to have come from Beth's previous run in which she blasted into a cone right before the finish. I hadn't bothered to look under the car when Beth got back from her run and we were prepping the car for Natalie, had I looked I am pretty sure I would have found a cone somewhere near the rear diff.Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:49:29 GMT860134ed-7e85-4071-9172-f4f4038db300A quiet weekend? I think nothttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1457/a-quiet-weekend-i-think-notSo this was supposed to be a quiet weekend, the first weekend off of racing since the 14th of June. While it is true that we won't be racing this weekend, it doesn't mean we won't be working. There's something wrong with the Corvette, something pretty massive, though thus far untraceable. Something is going on with the suspension, or drivetrain, causing it to feel very unsafe under acceleration, but fine when cruising down the road. This evening it started throwing errors about "Service ABS" "Service Traction Control" and "Service Active Handling" which I have seen before, but a quick reset of the car has always made these go away. Well not tonight, so, this weekend I'll be thoroughly going through the suspension of the car to try and track down WTF is going on. Hopefully I find something, otherwise I'll be taking it to the dealer first thing Monday morning. I hate to have to resort to that, but I need the car repaired ASAP as we leave on Thursday to head to Topeka for 10 days of racing!Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:38:08 GMTfbdc93cb-7862-4126-9560-5836f549abeaLeaving Amsterdamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1499/leaving-amsterdam<p>So I am sitting at Schiphol airport waiting for my flight at 1:40pm to Dubai. I’ll be there for 10 days, then finally flying home to St. Louis. </p> <p>Natalie and I had a great time here in Amsterdam, the OpenForce Europe conference was great, and getting to meet more DNN community and team members, as well as other speakers that do a LOT MORE speaking than I do was educational. I look forward to applying for sessions for the conference next year!</p> <p>Natalie is on her way back to St. Louis, she’ll be home Thursday evening and then will be picking up John from the airport Friday morning. He’ll be driving the Corvette back to Washington DC tomorrow, so when I get home the car will be gone :( </p> <p>Hope everyone back home is doing well, I’m going to get ready to find my gate, the flights here have the security screening at the gate, rather than when entering the terminal, so the lines for the gates seem to be rather long.</p>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:44:31 GMT59a0f118-7e01-4670-a9c8-522e387b1421Made it to Dubaihttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1500/made-it-to-dubai<p>So I made the trip to Dubai fine this evening. The three of us in my section were all American, I was next to two guys, my guess is they were oil workers heading off to Baghdad, but they weren’t too talkative so that I could find out.</p> <p>It’s hot here, I’m not gonna like that part. So far I can’t get to <a href="http://www.flickr.com">www.flickr.com</a> and some TV show on BBC was blocked. I am going to miss the freedom of America these next 10 days.</p> <p>The first car I noticed here in Dubai, besides the hundreds of taxis, a Corvette of course.</p>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:20:23 GMT0a267b70-b7c3-49e6-a7e0-c44950771965The Corvette is Gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1502/the-corvette-is-goneI just got an email from Natalie, John is on his way back to the DC area with the Corvette, so we no longer own a Corvette..... Have fun John, enjoy your ride! Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:55:34 GMTef8d6e6e-2086-4c82-b22f-419f6abefaa4Welcome to the first blog post for CorvetteZ06.orghttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2329/welcome-to-the-first-blog-post-for-corvettez06orgWelcome to the CorvetteZ06.org blog!Chris HammondWed, 17 Oct 2007 20:03:23 GMTac090720-bb87-4d33-bafa-f55ba72655dcLooking for a Clear Bra in St Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2330/looking-for-a-clear-bra-in-st-louisWe're looking for a clear bra for the 2004 Corvette Z06 here in St. Louis Missouri. If your business is interested in sponsoring the CorvetteZ06.org car please contact us asap as we need to get one install very soon!Chris HammondSun, 21 Oct 2007 22:43:09 GMT56ac0b2a-bac7-4369-a7a1-d72b4a04c6caLet it snow, let it snow, let it snowhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2338/let-it-snow-let-it-snow-let-it-snowJust not on my Corvette! So I came out after work today to head off to school to turn in a test, and what do I find? White stuff all over my car! And not all the white stuff that is pooring off our building as some crazy construction workers reface it, the cold whitestuff! Snow! I swear I checked the weather yesterday and I didn't see any snow anytime in the 10 day forecast. I guess I'll have to start checking it in the mornings!Chris HammondThu, 06 Dec 2007 23:41:57 GMTc50437cf-e482-495a-81d0-7a716408a8feHow to break a Corvette in 1 simple stephttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2339/how-to-break-a-corvette-in-1-simple-stepHow to break a Corvette in One Simple step? Leave your Microsoft Zune plugged in and "playing" music all weekend, in 32 degree weather (garage was probably 50's) I have a habit of just leaving my Zune on play when I get home, it's plugged into the car, so I figured no harm done, the Zune surely couldn't drain the car battery......Chris HammondMon, 10 Dec 2007 00:17:17 GMT4ad645f0-4c29-495d-8870-db49b89fe88e2008 Solo Schedule for The CorvetteZ06.org Teamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2341/2008-solo-schedule-for-the-corvettez06org-teamCheck out the schedule of events we hope to hit in 2008. There are quiet a few National Tour and ProSolo stops that we think we might make the trek to.Chris HammondTue, 25 Dec 2007 21:12:52 GMTc88647e2-740f-45cb-9f40-94f3c1da4368A Corvette Christmas!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2342/a-corvette-christmasChristmas was good for CorvetteZ06.org checkout the list of useful items for the 2008 season.Chris HammondFri, 28 Dec 2007 23:09:35 GMT60508de8-f3d8-47db-871f-1179fdbdd697Race Technology DL1 on the way!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2345/race-technology-dl1-on-the-wayA huge thanks going out to Al Seim at Race-Technology.com, with his help we have a DL1 coming for the Corvette. There's a lot to do on the car here in the next few weeks before the Dixie National Tour in Georgia. We'll get the DL1, Koni Shocks and hopefully the new swaybar installed next weekend, two weeks prior to the Dixie tour, that way if we run into any problems we'll have time to get them resolved. I'm also hoping to get the windows tinted next week.Chris HammondWed, 30 Jan 2008 21:32:56 GMT481f08dc-25d7-4d4d-bce0-c11792765c6eCorvette Z06 Koni Shock Installhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2348/corvette-z06-koni-shock-instal<p>So today Nick and I spent most of the day working on the Corvette. We got the Koni Shocks from <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com">www.soloperformance.com</a> installed, the sway bar from <a href="http://www.stranoparts.com">www.stranoparts.com</a>, and the Hawk brake pads from <a href="http://www.jscspeed.com">www.jscspeed.com</a>. Everything went rather well except for the following.</p> <p>The shocks were a tad difficult to get installed because of the configuration of the suspension.</p> <p>We lowered the car with the OEM ride height adjustment bolts. Well..... we thought we lowered it. Nick actually lowered the rear, I managed to raise the front. So I'll be correcting that tomorrow, and then we'll work on aligning the car. I hope to also work on getting the hoosiers mounted tomorrow.</p> <p>I've got a TON of video from today to go through, perhaps I'll get it done after we finish watching "Miracle" on ABC tonight.</p>Chris HammondSat, 16 Feb 2008 22:38:21 GMT33007081-1c30-4221-991d-d4ed103a47f2Day 1 of the Dixie National Tourhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2351/day-1-of-the-dixie-national-tourSo today was the first day of the Dixie National Tour in Cecil Georgia (south of Adel). Dave and I ran the Corvette in Super Stock, with 18 other competitors. We had a blast. Dave had a blast killing cones, I had a blast trying to drive fast :)Chris HammondSat, 23 Feb 2008 21:10:49 GMT8017fc49-89c6-4a45-ad50-47502601f7eeThe first National event Trophy for the CorvetteZ06.org Teamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2352/the-first-national-event-trophy-for-the-corvettez0What I hope will be the first of many was achieved this weekend. I placed 6th at the Dixie National Tour in Cecil Georgia over the weekend. There were 18 drivers that I believe finished, and 20 drivers entered for the event, so the trophies filled out to 6th place. After day 1 I was sitting in 10th place. I wasn't too disappointed with that considering the troubles from Friday.Chris HammondMon, 25 Feb 2008 23:03:28 GMTb43b24da-aeee-4a08-b42a-5be33878f8192018 Year in Reviewhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2756/2018-year-in-reviewHere we are, January 1st (or 2nd) 2019, and I haven’t done a year in review for 2018. This post will have to suffice, it’ll be abbreviated, 2018 was a busy year, lots of change, lots of excitement, far too much to cover in the 10 minutes I’ve allotted myself for this post tonight. This post won’t cover family items, for those you can check out all my Facebook posts.Wed, 02 Jan 2019 05:37:06 GMT7258ae5d-b95f-46bf-8c0f-390932cdd4ec2020 Solo Spec Coupe (SSC) Falken RT660 Tireshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2969/2020-solo-spec-coupe-ssc-falken-rt660-tires<p>New tires from Falken!</p> SpecFRS.comTue, 23 Jun 2020 15:21:04 GMTe958fccc-fc8e-4d16-8bcc-b9d167b473f5The 240z Lives! and it looks great!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2029/the-240z-lives-and-it-looks-great<p>So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged here on Project240z.com, reason being that I sold the car quite a while ago. Back this summer I got an email from a guy telling me he was the new owner, having purchased it from the guy that I sold it to. Then, a couple weeks ago I got these in my inbox (see full post for photos):</p> Chris HammondSun, 14 Nov 2010 01:50:22 GMT559c1585-9728-4771-b925-53cfc5cf2c6bProject240z Lives Againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1973/project240z-lives-again<p>Yes, it's true folks, the Project240z lives again! Check out the latest incarnation!</p> <p>PHOTO REMOVED</p> <p>So what if it is in a web based video game.</p> Chris HammondSun, 15 Aug 2010 18:24:10 GMTa08f5092-41b6-45db-84d2-1a5f08620c72Cherry 240Z in Manchester Tennesseehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1277/cherry-240z-in-manchester-tennessee<p>So I'm stopped in Manchester Tennessee tonight on my way home and to Lynchburg tomorrow. I went out to check on the car out in the parking lot and saw a 240Z parked out there in tow behind a frontier. The car looks cherry, orange, straight and without a single spot of rust from what I can tell. I took a photo, once all my Atlanta National Tour photos finish uploading I will post the photo I took with my cell phone.</p>Sun, 25 May 2008 23:01:30 GMT4db76f09-05e1-4ba0-b6a1-112a161ae514240Z First Autocross Run, Last Autocross run of 2007https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/903/240z-first-autocross-run-last-autocross-run-of-20So I got up bright and early this morning, well it wasn't bright, the sun wasn't up yet. Headed out to Gateway Raceway in Madison Illinois for Event 7 of the St. Louis Region SCCA Solo Series. My parents came out in their large RV so I wanted to get out there early and be sure to get them a spot to park it. After getting worker assignments squared away I took the car over and got it teched. All went well in tech and then Whittle came over and started messing around with the megasquirt. By the time the second heat came around, the heat in which I was running, it was getting rather warm out. More on this post coming tomorrow as I updated it, short notes until then: Car starts, car ran, car dies, and it's all vanity Two quick photos, a lot more still uploading And part of the reason the motor no longer runs, it doesn't appear to even turn...Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:27:56 GMT640fb39a-3a9f-43ee-82fd-c854f199e929240Z First Autocross Run, Last Autocross run of 2007https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2443/240z-first-autocross-run-last-autocross-run-of-20So I got up bright and early this morning, well it wasn't bright, the sun wasn't up yet. Headed out to Gateway Raceway in Madison Illinois for Event 7 of the St. Louis Region SCCA Solo Series. My parents came out in their large RV so I wanted to get out there early and be sure to get them a spot to park it. After getting worker assignments squared away I took the car over and got it teched. All went well in tech and then Whittle came over and started messing around with the megasquirt. By the time the second heat came around, the heat in which I was running, it was getting rather warm out. More on this post coming tomorrow as I updated it, short notes until then: Car starts, car ran, car dies, and it's all vanity Two quick photos, a lot more still uploading And part of the reason the motor no longer runs, it doesn't appear to even turn...Chris HammondMon, 13 Aug 2007 19:27:56 GMT056b2f85-b163-47a4-8978-3ff5fb656316240Z First Drive!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2438/240z-first-driveThanks to everyone who helped on the car I was able to tow it out to Gateway yesterday for the SCCA Autocross. I didn't plan to compete the car, but I brought everything with me that I needed to get it put together enough to try driving it for the first time. After I installed the driver's seat with the help of Phil Cline, Whittle and I bled the brakes on the car. From there it was a matter of hooking everything up and getting her off the trailer. Below is the link to the video page, thanks to Dave for filming the first drive. First Drive Video I can't thank everyone who has helped me get this far enough. I'm far from done with the project, but the biggest hurdle in my mind has been cleared. My biggest fear was that once together the car just wouldn't run, and now it runs! Thanks to the following, in no particular order: Russ Melton Dave Whitworth Eric MacKenzie Terec Willson Andy Whittle Andy Hohl Bill Hammond (my dad) Ronnie Baker Henry Kenuam Everyone of those guys' wives! And of course my wife Natalie for letting me spend the past few months dirty and greasy! This will most definitely not be the end of the project, just the beginning of a running car! Edit: I knew i'd forget someone! Thanks to Mark and John Huebbe for the use of the welder, and inspiration of the...Chris HammondWed, 01 Aug 2007 01:10:41 GMTd954516a-83a5-4959-a463-319926eca1a5240Z First Drive!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/888/240z-first-driveThanks to everyone who helped on the car I was able to tow it out to Gateway yesterday for the SCCA Autocross. I didn't plan to compete the car, but I brought everything with me that I needed to get it put together enough to try driving it for the first time. After I installed the driver's seat with the help of Phil Cline, Whittle and I bled the brakes on the car. From there it was a matter of hooking everything up and getting her off the trailer. Below is the link to the video page, thanks to Dave for filming the first drive. First Drive Video I can't thank everyone who has helped me get this far enough. I'm far from done with the project, but the biggest hurdle in my mind has been cleared. My biggest fear was that once together the car just wouldn't run, and now it runs! Thanks to the following, in no particular order: Russ Melton Dave Whitworth Eric MacKenzie Terec Wilson Andy Whittle Andy Hohl Bill Hammond (my dad) Ronnie Baker Henry Kenuam Everyone of those guys' wives! And of course my wife Natalie for letting me spend the past few months dirty and greasy! This will most definitely not be the end of the project, just the beginning of a running...Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:40:09 GMT3e322544-f41f-4abc-ad82-16a32f920a71A Project Epiphanyhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/812/a-project-epiphanyLast night I spent a few hours sitting in the car. I had decided over the weekend I needed to take out all of the interior, or at least most of it, and clean up the inside of the car. I can always get the outside painted later, but the inside, if I'm going to be in it, needs to be cleaned up, and painted. It's orange, or red, I can't tell which, and though most of the interior items cover the orange there are gaps that show through. So I took out all the diamond plate looking black vinyl, and then started removing the tar board and furry coating over the transmission tunnel. I've removed all that I think I can remove right now, and eventually will also pull the dash out and replace the dash with a fiberglass dash I acquired when I purchased the car. While sitting in the car I had a lot of time to think, and based on the state of the car (old, rusty, partially assembled) I have decided that I won't be building the car up to SM2 rules anymore. I'll be aiming for the new XP class in SCCA Solo. By going to XP, I no longer have to worry about a few major things that I was concerned with. I don't have to deal with the interior anymore, I can do whatever I want (I think), so I can do something custom inside, without having to worry about SM2 rules about interiors. Moving to XP also frees up my options with mounting my seat. With SM2 mounting my seat like I plan to mount it may not have been legal, it'd have been a grey area, but within the rules of XP I believe I'll have all sorts of options for mounting the seat and remaining in the rules. So, XP here I come. I still plan to compete in SM2 for St. Louis region autocrosses this year, at least 4 more in SM2, then I'll try to run the 240Z in XP, unless of course I just talk myself into running XP for enough events to qualify for a year end class championship. Photos of the interior after last night's...Tue, 15 May 2007 08:23:46 GMT6fbb1c5e-00ec-4ef0-8975-cf3b08a6de3cA Project Epiphanyhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2396/a-project-epiphanyLast night I spent a few hours sitting in the car. I had decided over the weekend I needed to take out all of the interior, or at least most of it, and clean up the inside of the car. I can always get the outside painted later, but the inside, if I'm going to be in it, needs to be cleaned up, and painted. It's orange, or red, I can't tell which, and though most of the interior items cover the orange there are gaps that show through. So I took out all the diamond plate looking black vinyl, and then started removing the tar board and furry coating over the transmission tunnel. I've removed all that I think I can remove right now, and eventually will also pull the dash out and replace the dash with a fiberglass dash I acquired when I purchased the car. While sitting in the car I had a lot of time to think, and based on the state of the car (old, rusty, partially assembled) I have decided that I won't be building the car up to SM2 rules anymore. I'll be aiming for the new XP class in SCCA Solo. By going to XP, I no longer have to worry about a few major things that I was concerned with. I don't have to deal with the interior anymore, I can do whatever I want (I think), so I can do something custom inside, without having to worry about SM2 rules about interiors. Moving to XP also frees up my options with mounting my seat. With SM2 mounting my seat like I plan to mount it may not have been legal, it'd have been a grey area, but within the rules of XP I believe I'll have all sorts of options for mounting the seat and remaining in the rules. So, XP here I come. I still plan to compete in SM2 for St. Louis region autocrosses this year, at least 4 more in SM2, then I'll try to run the 240Z in XP, unless of course I just talk myself into running XP for enough events to qualify for a year end class championship. Photos of the interior after last night's...Chris HammondTue, 15 May 2007 16:23:46 GMT43c23420-2018-4111-9edb-0b759fd836efAutocross runs, how many this year?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1463/autocross-runs-how-many-this-yearSo I've been meaning to do this for a while now, I added up the number of runs I've taken this year in the Corvette, it comes to somewhere near 130+ runs, I'm not exactly sure how many runs I got at the Evo school in Kansas City, but assuming I took at least 15 that puts the total around 133 considering the reruns at events I remember. That also doesn't include the Test&Tune in Topeka before the divisional in August. That is a lot of runs on a car, but if you take into account the number of runs that codrivers have had (around 195) that brings the car's total up to over 300 for this year alone. No wonder the rear control arm bushings are worn out! By my rough count I should have another 18 runs in the next week and a half assuming the car is repaired, plus codriver runs (18) that will put the total over 350 for the year without T&T events, we're also doing the Test & Tune this coming Sunday in Topeka. Sometime I will go back and find results from all the events to get an accurate total, as well as a cone count for all of Dave's runs!Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:29 GMT7043bc2e-956c-42eb-9b8c-70055b25efa2Autocross Videos from July 13th, St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1357/autocross-videos-from-july-13th-st-louisBecause I slept for 5 hours after the event yesterday I was up until about 4am this morning, working on video from the autocross. I didn't get all of it processed but I did get quite a few posted. I'll try to get more posted later this week. All the video posted (except for one inserted video) was shot with the Chase Cam and PDR, we are proud to have Chase Cam as a sponsor here at CorvetteZ06.org You can find them on the Corvette flickr set, or by watching the videos below.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:38:31 GMTdfcc14d1-5598-40dd-81a5-a3170895cfaaBye bye motor, thanks for the memorieshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2442/bye-bye-motor-thanks-for-the-memoriesOn the Project240z's maiden autocross voyage today the motor decide to depart the living world. More to come, but it looks like another winter project may involve and...Chris HammondMon, 13 Aug 2007 05:57:17 GMTbe9673bd-869d-40bc-ba9d-da6a61bd3167Bye bye motor, thanks for the memorieshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/902/bye-bye-motor-thanks-for-the-memoriesOn the Project240z's maiden autocross voyage today the motor decide to depart the living world. More to come, but it looks like another winter project may involve and...Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:57:17 GMTd57c3e1c-fac9-42d0-9d5f-18681cc7f823Corvette Videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1091/corvette-videos<p>So I got 3 videos posted from the autocross this past weekend in Cecil Georgia. I've yet to get a chance to setup a good way to view the videos on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">www.corvettez06.org</a>, so until I do I'll link to them from here</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/tabid/80/itemid/65/The-first-National-event-Trophy-for-the-CorvetteZ0.aspx">Here's my blog post about the event</a></p>Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:27:41 GMT33fb07e4-9dda-4475-b983-f5ff8d0b5d8aCorvette Z06, the first autocrosshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2334/corvette-z06-the-first-autocrossSo last week Nick and I (mostly nick) ran around franticly got the Z06 ready for our first autocross in the car. The event was the last official event for the St. Louis region for 2007. It was the somewhat annual Index Challenge. The competition was team format, teams were put together with "performance potential" numbers based on driver's highest finishes on local index results throughout the year. Nick and I were both team captains, covering 2 of the 14 teams.Chris HammondThu, 01 Nov 2007 11:35:03 GMT252d87a1-129f-445b-9485-c7be0983f6faDenver Pro, Day 0 (Friday)https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/538/denver-pro-day-0-fridayWell, the trip to Denver wasn't half bad. I flew Frontier Airlines and was surprised to see TVs in all of the head rests! Sure, it was $5 for 24 channels for the flight, but they had a free channel I watched that played some interesting short films. I got to Denver, after one of the bumpiest flights I've ever had, but who cares, I got to watch TV :D Went to Hertz and got my rental car, get this , I picked a ............ FORD......I'm driving a V6 Mustang Vert, automatic to top it off. This thing has NO power. I tried revving it in neutral and it stops at 4k, if you drop it into drive the motor revs down and then shifts. For a short time I was entered in GStock in the Mustang. I got here and all the classes I was hoping would need a 5th driver to make a complete class had filled up before I got there. I was fairly down, figuring I was going to be stuck in the stang for the weekend, which would have been against my Hertz agreement :D Chris K offered up his IS300 in DS if I didn't find another ride. I ended up putting up a sign on the registration trailer with my cell phone number. Thankfully Adam (from www.autocrossforum.com) came up to me and told me about the car he's driving. He told me the car owner was open to having someone run the car in another class, so I spoke to Aaron Boltman. I'm now signed up to run his 2004 Corvette Z06 in ASP tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, I think there are 8 drivers now entered in ASP, I'm looking forward to see how I fare! Aaron and Adam will be running the car in SS. Thanks to both Aaron and Adam, I look forward to running with you guys tomorrow! posted from...Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:32:00 GMT275f332a-07f5-4f34-a021-3523c60a0f88For Sale No Longer?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1427/for-sale-no-longerIt looks like the Corvette Z06 has found a new home, John V will be taking it back east sometime after Nationals. John's a good friend of mine from back in the day when I used to beat him in B-Stock! :) I'm starting to get sad that the car will be going away, but I am glad it is going to a good home, someone who will autocross her just as much if not more than I have. We've still got a month or so together, so I will enjoy her while she's here!Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:12:22 GMTc47f3657-9396-411a-9ed9-cafb4f005828Good news on the Project front!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/742/good-news-on-the-project-frontToday I spent a short time working on the parts car, working on removing the interior. You can check out the video here. Notice the flannel pants, and sweatshirt. I really didn't want to do any work today, but I forced myself to at least do a little. After doing that little work I started trying to figure out how I can get rid of the parts car. I drove over to Hall Street, and found no one over there to take it. So I headed to Illinois and Speedway said they would take it. So next weekend it's making a trip to Illinois for it's final resting place. After that I headed to Sauget to do some inventory on the 240Z, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! I had forgotten how much of the stock interior actually remained in the car. I was very happy to find that the headliner, center console, dash, and some of the tunnel interior still there, which makes my life a WHOLE lot easier to get it legal for SM2 in SCCA Autocross. So I only have to order a few things, rather than a complete interior which I was having trouble finding! More work tomorrow, I need to finish up the 280Z tomorrow as I'm going to be on the East Coast all of next...Sat, 03 Mar 2007 22:16:23 GMT1e9cc087-f28f-4ac1-8943-c5707dc846e8Good news on the Project front!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2367/good-news-on-the-project-frontToday I spent a short time working on the parts car, working on removing the interior. You can check out the video here. Notice the flannel pants, and sweatshirt. I really didn't want to do any work today, but I forced myself to at least do a little. After doing that little work I started trying to figure out how I can get rid of the parts car. I drove over to Hall Street, and found no one over there to take it. So I headed to Illinois and Speedway said they would take it. So next weekend it's making a trip to Illinois for it's final resting place. After that I headed to Sauget to do some inventory on the 240Z, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! I had forgotten how much of the stock interior actually remained in the car. I was very happy to find that the headliner, center console, dash, and some of the tunnel interior still there, which makes my life a WHOLE lot easier to get it legal for SM2 in SCCA Autocross. So I only have to order a few things, rather than a complete interior which I was having trouble finding! More work tomorrow, I need to finish up the 280Z tomorrow as I'm going to be on the East Coast all of next...Chris HammondSun, 04 Mar 2007 08:16:23 GMT484ce38a-19e6-4d7e-97a9-792efd0924d0I purchased and sold a 2011 Nissan Leafhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/2098/i-purchased-and-sold-a-2011-nissan-leaf<p>So here we go, this post has been a week coming, I just haven't had the time do get it together. About a month ago, perhaps a little more, I did something that seemed to upset quite a few people, even apparently some people at Nissan! I posted the opportunity to buy my Nissan Leaf on Ebay. That lasted all of a few minutes, I’m not even sure how long the auction was up 24 hours before I was asked to (or really it was suggested that I ) remove it. So down it came, along with the posts that I had put up announcing it.</p> <p>What people didn’t know was that I had been posting the Leaf on craigslist here in the bay area for a month or more before it was ever listed on Ebay. I had a few inquiries from the Craigslist ad, though many of those inquiries were just your typical internet trolls complaining. Some even took the time to email me and call me an “Idiot” I appreciate that someone took the time to do that.</p> <p>So back to Ebay, I pulled the ad, I removed the blog/forum posts, I cleared most of my tracks at the threat of losing the right to purchase the Leaf. I even quit posting the ad on Craigslist. After the ad came down from Ebay people started coming out of the wood work asking to buy the car. Fortunately for me I had lined someone up before I even pulled the Ebay ad down. In fact the ad didn’t even have anything to do with getting rid of my car, the Craigslist ad came through.</p> <p><strong>What? I thought you purchased the Leaf last week?</strong></p> <p>Well, technically I did, for a little while anyways. I had a guy fly in from Detroit on Monday of last week, we drove from the airport to the dealer, then the bank, then the dealer again. The dealer wouldn’t take a cashier’s check, so we had to go to the bank and have the money wired from their bank, to the dealer’s bank, which was all of 1 block away. Unfortunately the dealer’s bank became a problem and wouldn’t show the transfer as posting until the following day. So in order for us to drive the car off the lot that day I ended up having to take a loan out on the car as a fall back contract, in case the transfer didn’t go through.</p> <p>After about 4 hours of things we finally left the dealer, I in my 350z and the new owner in the Nissan Leaf. I didn’t even get to drive the thing! Though I did sit in it a few times</p> <p>So there it is, I no longer own a 2011 Nissan Leaf? Why might you ask? Well it really doesn’t matter what I say, people are going to hate on me. But here goes my explanation with a little backstory.</p> <p>Back in April of 2010 I got an email from Nissan announcing the preorder process for the Leaf, I jumped on things and signed up, immediately preordering as soon as I could. Shortly after that I setup <a href="http://www.leafowner.com/" rel="nofollow">www.LeafOwner.com</a> with the thought of creating a website dedicated to the Leaf. I got some good traffic, with the help of some key features on Engadget, AutoBlogGreen and even two different tweets from Lance Armstrong!</p> <p>I was thrilled at the idea of getting a Leaf, I have an 8-9 mile commute, so it was going to work out perfectly for that. I was one of the first people to get the Aerovironment charger inspections, I asked my landlord if we could get an install going. From there things actually started to sour a bit. I got the charger assessment back and it was for $2200, roughly $800 for the charger/shipping, and then the rest for the installation, for about an hour’s worth of labor and maybe $100 worth of equipment.</p> <p>As the summer progressed I kept up with the Leaf, attending events to see the car when I could, and then went through the ordering process, that is when things really went south for me. I went ahead and ordered the car, as a lease option, but when I started thinking about it, the lease was going to be $420 a month. I started thinking, 420 a month could go towards a very nice car payment, rather than “renting” a very expensive Nissan Versa. </p> <p>I’ll take some hits for that, but to me that is what the car ultimately became. It’s an economy sized hatchback, that when fully priced out last week was $38k. While there are lots of cool geeky features in the Leaf, the only real addition above and beyond a Versa was the batteries, the electric aspect. So I decided that the car most likely wasn’t for me.</p> <p>In October I went to the driving events that Nissan was doing, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I drove the car, and after driving corvettes, camaros, and 350zs I just couldn’t see myself driving the Leaf, not at the cost.</p> <p>I’m a car guy, I always have been, and the later it got into 2010 the more I had the itch to start racing cars again. I am now actively autocrossing my 350z (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.project350z.com</a>). Heck, for the price that the Leaf ultimately cost I could have purchased a brand new 2010 Nismo 370z! Though I didn’t want to do that either, spending more money just wasn’t in the cars right now. My 350z cost me $12k, and that’s a lot smaller car payment than a new Leaf would be, and the car ultimately becomes more useful to me as I can autocross it.</p> <p>So in the end, to sum things up. The price of the electric car killed it for me. I’m not saying I will never own another Leaf, or an electric car, but right now it just didn’t make sense to me. In the future I do hope to own an electric car, heck maybe I’ll build an electric VB Bug for <a href="http://www.projectvw.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.projectvw.com</a> in the future. But for now, I’ll let the early adopters help to bring the price of the electric car down.</p> <p>For those of you who choose to hate me for that, I am sorry that you feel that way, but that’s the beauty of our wonderful country, everyone gets to have their own opinion.</p> <p>(if you’re interested in purchasing LeafOwner.com let me know!)</p>Chris HammondTue, 15 Feb 2011 00:45:51 GMTd2bde49d-e485-46ab-af3b-576879fabc92I will miss herhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1490/i-will-miss-her<p>So the final days are now ticking down. I have two, maybe three days of driving the Corvette left before we leave for Amsterdam. Natalie will be flying back from Amsterdam and meeting John (the new owner) at the airport next Friday so he can take posession of the car.</p> <p>I was getting the mail tonight and saw the car sitting half in the garage and half out, where I had parked it, in the light, it looked beautiful. It really is an amazing car, I will miss it, I already do.</p> <p>You might ask, why are you selling the Z06? One main reason. Natalie and I plan to move to Colorado (even though we are rumored in the horse world to be moving to Germany) next summer, and while I love the car, the car payment and insurance could be used for more grown up things than racing, like buying our first house, and planning for the move. I don't imagine I will go long without a fun race car though.</p> <p>So what will come next? That is undecided at this point. I will most likely buy a $2-3k ride/beater for the winter so I don't have to drive the long ass F350 all winter, and hopefully spend some time working on the 240Z to get it up and running soon. I need something fun to drive, that is for sure, but even if the 240 runs, it would take a lot of work and money to make it anywhere near as fun as the Corvette.</p> <p>I don't know what I will race next year, perhaps I'll try to find a nicely prep'd codrive, perhaps I'll take it easy for the year. This year in the Corvette has been fun. I think I've put something in the range of 150 autocross runs on the car not including test and tune runs, on a whole the car has seen well over 300, maybe near 400 runs this year.</p> <p>Hopefully John and Clyde can put that many runs on her next year.</p>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:25:10 GMT393e2f8d-ab87-420f-a839-957947889f4fLast local event for 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1437/last-local-event-for-2008Today we ran the last local event of 2008 for the CorvetteZ06.org team here in St. Louis. It was another successful day today, the car taking FTD, Top Pax, 3rd on Pax and top on the Ladies Pax as well! This is the fourth time this year (out of 6) that I was able to finish on top of Pax. I'm pleased with this result, though I won't win overall Pax for the year, had the points been normal this year (6 events counting, with all events being equal) I believe I would have had a shot. Natalie did very well today, taking a win in SSL as well as the overall ladies win. This was just her fourth autocross ever, and only her 3rd in the Corvette so I am very happy with her performance!Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:38:48 GMTf593563c-ebd7-472f-b974-c0b9ed339038One week after ignitionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/896/one-week-after-ignitionSo it's been over a week now since I drove the 240Z for the first time. What have I gotten done in that timeframe? Not much! I basically didn't touch the car until Thursday, and all I did then was take a few minutes to inaccurately measure the requirements for the flange on the downpipe. Friday I picked up a header collector flange from my buddy Russ' place. Sunday morning I went to work on that flange, it needed some help to make it fit. Sunday afternoon I spent some time in the sauna, I mean garage. I managed to get the coil pack and EDIS module mounted to the fender. I then started trying to clean up some of the wiring in the engine bay. I got some plastic loom a while back so I started running that to cover up the mess of wiring in the engine bay. I also ran the loom in the passenger compartment around some of the wiring in there. It's not finished, but it's definitely starting to look better. Dad helped me to put a switch inline for the main relay. Luckily with the car not idling yet I haven't had problems turning the car off, but with the way things were wired if the car was idling properly you'd have to pull a fuse or disconnect the battery to shut off the car. Now that I have a switch it's easy to do! After that Dad and I put the hood and hinges on the car, the first time since I've owned the 240 that it has had a hood attached! From there we loaded the car up onto the trailer later in the evening. This morning I got up early (a rarity for me) and took the car/trailer over to the Carx on St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Rick was extremely helpful over there and by 12pm today I was back up there loading the car up on the trailer with Eric's help. Carx put a 3" pipe from the downpipe back to the rear axle, with a turndown on the end. It's still quite loud, but if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty damn sweet! Eric and I brought the car home, and before trying to push it off the trailer I finally got it started. I'm having starter issues and will probably try to replace the starter Thursday or Friday of this week. I drove the car off the trailer and into the garage, it's a beautiful sound! I'm still aiming to compete drive the car at the Autocross on Sunday. Before I can do that I have quite a bit left to do. 1. Fix the idle (longer idle screw) 2. See if there's any fluid in the transmission (can't get the fill plug out so I've not pulled the drain plug yet) 3. Build a bulkhead/firewall for the fuel cell 4. Finish up wiring for the O2 sensor 5. Get a harness squared away 6. More stuff I'm sure I've...Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:20:24 GMT7a7cbfa7-2116-4604-9efe-d7ab74f81f28One week after ignitionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2439/one-week-after-ignitionSo it's been over a week now since I drove the 240Z for the first time. What have I gotten done in that timeframe? Not much! I basically didn't touch the car until Thursday, and all I did then was take a few minutes to inaccurately measure the requirements for the flange on the downpipe. Friday I picked up a header collector flange from my buddy Russ' place. Sunday morning I went to work on that flange, it needed some help to make it fit. Sunday afternoon I spent some time in the sauna, I mean garage. I managed to get the coil pack and EDIS module mounted to the fender. I then started trying to clean up some of the wiring in the engine bay. I got some plastic loom a while back so I started running that to cover up the mess of wiring in the engine bay. I also ran the loom in the passenger compartment around some of the wiring in there. It's not finished, but it's definitely starting to look better. Dad helped me to put a switch inline for the main relay. Luckily with the car not idling yet I haven't had problems turning the car off, but with the way things were wired if the car was idling properly you'd have to pull a fuse or disconnect the battery to shut off the car. Now that I have a switch it's easy to do! After that Dad and I put the hood and hinges on the car, the first time since I've owned the 240 that it has had a hood attached! From there we loaded the car up onto the trailer later in the evening. This morning I got up early (a rarity for me) and took the car/trailer over to the Carx on St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Rick was extremely helpful over there and by 12pm today I was back up there loading the car up on the trailer with Eric's help. Carx put a 3" pipe from the downpipe back to the rear axle, with a turndown on the end. It's still quite loud, but if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty damn sweet! Eric and I brought the car home, and before trying to push it off the trailer I finally got it started. I'm having starter issues and will probably try to replace the starter Thursday or Friday of this week. I drove the car off the trailer and into the garage, it's a beautiful sound! I'm still aiming to compete drive the car at the Autocross on Sunday. Before I can do that I have quite a bit left to do. 1. Fix the idle (longer idle screw) 2. See if there's any fluid in the transmission (can't get the fill plug out so I've not pulled the drain plug yet) 3. Build a bulkhead/firewall for the fuel cell 4. Finish up wiring for the O2 sensor 5. Get a harness squared away 6. More stuff I'm sure I've...Chris HammondTue, 07 Aug 2007 01:20:24 GMTff79a4e2-1f21-49b8-9e31-7b82fc681a49P240Z Passenger Seat!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2417/p240z-passenger-seatWell, after figuring out that the seat mounts I had made earlier in the week wouldn't fit I went back out to work on the 240Z this morning with a bitter taste in my mouth. I started off with a few quick pictures of what I had put together the other day. From there I removed the Corbeau brackets and started grinding the welds down on the tabs that I had added to the cross braces. I removed all four tabs with little trouble. Being that I haven't welded much before, this was the first time I'd had to remove a weld, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Here is the end result after removing the tabs. From there I got smart, I decided to do a bit more test fitting of the seat before I did any more welding. I attached the Corbeau bracket back to the seat and put it in the car, using towels to keep the seat clean. For the new positioning I decided the seat brackets basically needed to come forward in the car 4 to 5 inches from the original tabs I had made. With the two cross braces in place I wasn't comfortable making tabs that long and with little support, so I installed two more cross braces into the car, in front of the two existing braces. These two new braces were each welded at the body, and then to the original (from earlier this week) brace in the middle, actually reusing the tabs I had recently removed to add some support in the middle. I then welded on new tabs, this time spanning both braces on each half of the seat, adding support to the tab, as well as making the tab 2" wide instead of 1.5" as I had originally made. This should create for better support of the seat brackets. Here are the photos of the newly created tabs and cross braces. I position and drilled holes for the Corbeau bracket in the new tabs, visible in the latter photos above. After getting all of this setup I was anxious to get the seat in the car and see how she fit. To get the seat in the car I had to mount the Corbeau bracket directly to the seat with 4 bolts that will go through the new tabs in place. I wrapped the seat in towels and put on some clean latex gloves so that I wouldn't get the fabric dirty from all my gunk. In order to actually thread the nuts on the rear bolts I have to tilt the seat backward, for now this is alright, but when I actually go to use the seat this won't work well. What I think I'll do is get a combination of some rubber and metal washers, which I think will allow me to tighten the rear nuts down and still be able to tilt the base of the seat back a bit, once tight, lower the front of the seat into it's tabs and tighten up the bolts there. The front tabs are easy to access, the rear tabs, not so much. Anyways, here are the photos of the seat in the car.   Tomorrow I'll be installing the driver's seat, most likely in the same manner as the passenger side, I'll also be starting on mounting the fuel cell, cutting out sections of the rear floorpan, and then fabricating a frame for the cell to sit in. The ultimate goal for this 15 Gallon cell is to build a frame that will allow me to easily remove the fuel cell and install a smaller cell. Using the larger cell for Time Trial and HPDE events, and having a 5 gallon cell to use for autocross events, saving weight in the rear of the car. More...Chris HammondSat, 30 Jun 2007 22:42:00 GMTa2439f0a-0b8a-40d3-9418-ad6ff1a5c10dP240Z Passenger Seat!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/854/p240z-passenger-seatWell, after figuring out that the seat mounts I had made earlier in the week wouldn't fit I went back out to work on the 240Z this morning with a bitter taste in my mouth. I started off with a few quick pictures of what I had put together the other day. From there I removed the Corbeau brackets and started grinding the welds down on the tabs that I had added to the cross braces. I removed all four tabs with little trouble. Being that I haven't welded much before, this was the first time I'd had to remove a weld, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Here is the end result after removing the tabs. From there I got smart, I decided to do a bit more test fitting of the seat before I did any more welding. I attached the Corbeau bracket back to the seat and put it in the car, using towels to keep the seat clean. For the new positioning I decided the seat brackets basically needed to come forward in the car 4 to 5 inches from the original tabs I had made. With the two cross braces in place I wasn't comfortable making tabs that long and with little support, so I installed two more cross braces into the car, in front of the two existing braces. These two new braces were each welded at the body, and then to the original (from earlier this week) brace in the middle, actually reusing the tabs I had recently removed to add some support in the middle. I then welded on new tabs, this time spanning both braces on each half of the seat, adding support to the tab, as well as making the tab 2" wide instead of 1.5" as I had originally made. This should create for better support of the seat brackets. Here are the photos of the newly created tabs and cross braces. I position and drilled holes for the Corbeau bracket in the new tabs, visible in the latter photos above. After getting all of this setup I was anxious to get the seat in the car and see how she fit. To get the seat in the car I had to mount the Corbeau bracket directly to the seat with 4 bolts that will go through the new tabs in place. I wrapped the seat in towels and put on some clean latex gloves so that I wouldn't get the fabric dirty from all my gunk. In order to actually thread the nuts on the rear bolts I have to tilt the seat backward, for now this is alright, but when I actually go to use the seat this won't work well. What I think I'll do is get a combination of some rubber and metal washers, which I think will allow me to tighten the rear nuts down and still be able to tilt the base of the seat back a bit, once tight, lower the front of the seat into it's tabs and tighten up the bolts there. The front tabs are easy to access, the rear tabs, not so much. Anyways, here are the photos of the seat in the car.   Tomorrow I'll be installing the driver's seat, most likely in the same manner as the passenger side, I'll also be starting on mounting the fuel cell, cutting out sections of the rear floorpan, and then fabricating a frame for the cell to sit in. The ultimate goal for this 15 Gallon cell is to build a frame that will allow me to easily remove the fuel cell and install a smaller cell. Using the larger cell for Time Trial and HPDE events, and having a 5 gallon cell to use for autocross events, saving weight in the rear of the car. More...Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:42:00 GMT81f9def9-4998-46d4-96d5-9c4442ffb1f8Removing the busted motorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/2468/removing-the-busted-motorOn August 12th 2007 the P240z took it's maiden autocross voyage, and promptly killed the motor. On 9/30 I removed the motor.Chris HammondWed, 03 Oct 2007 10:55:31 GMTa01c523b-89d9-4026-aeb2-14a95566d8eeSaturday Autocross Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1198/saturday-autocross-results<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=90">Check out the blog post on www.corvettez06.org </a></p>Sat, 24 May 2008 17:47:05 GMT6d387c01-69b2-45b1-bd46-65e0be96c7cdSo Long Tahoe, Thanks for the memories!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/946/so-long-tahoe-thanks-for-the-memoriesThe Tahoe was a great truck. It was a great price, had all the comfort one could ask for, heated seats for those of us getting older with back pains. But it just couldn't cut it on an Autocross course, so the Tahoe was replaced today, but a car much smaller, lighter, faster, and much brighter than the Tahoe. Say hello to my Little Red Corvette More pictures at my new domain name www.corvettez06.org More photos coming...Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:20:00 GMTc8a00332-562c-45be-92b8-a9f8d9e980e4St. Louis Autocross on 7-13https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1356/st-louis-autocross-on-713A great showing for the CorvetteZ06.org team at the July 13th 2008 event for the St. Louis Region SCCA. The car finished first on Index overall, first in SS and first in SSL, as well as a 2nd place finish in SS as well. Videos later in the week with a more detailed writeup of the events happenings.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:12:14 GMTb1436a99-c841-4c68-bfdd-8fd2fe0127c0St. Louis Event 5 Autocross Reviewhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1363/st-louis-event-5-autocross-reviewSo this past Sunday was the 5th event of the St. Louis Autocross season, really it was only the 4th event held this year due to rain/blow out of what was supposed to be event number 3. The region has changed their event structure this year, back to a three heat format, with the attempt to get 5 runs each heat, that worked out on Sunday. Beth ran the Corvette in SSL during the second heat, there were two drivers in the class, Beth ended up taking first, and also taking first on the ladies index challenge. Dave and I both ran in the third heat. I managed to take the win in SS, as well as the win on the index results for the event, I even managed to get the fastest raw time for the event, though I took out a single cone before the starting lights on that run so it doesn't count for anything! Dave managed 2nd in SS behind me, and 6th on index for the event. I've posted some of the videos from the event in a post a few days ago. I did come to realize there is no need for me to attend any more local events this year, as I have no possibility of winning the class championship, or the index championship due to the fact that the solo board decided to screw up the points by making the divisional worth a single event but double the points, so now, unless people just don't attend 6 events in SS I have no shot at making up 10k points. That doesn't mean I won't continue to show up though, I'll be doing my damnedest to win every event, both class and index for the rest of the year (cept 10/6 when I'll be in Europe). I might not have a shot at winning based on points, but I'll be damned sure to make people know who the fastest mofo in St. Louis is this year. This weekend the CorvetteZ06.org team is headed to Milwaukee Wisconsin to take part in The Tire Rack SCCA National Tour event, videos of that to come next week!Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:32:44 GMT92c41b25-9bf1-4738-910c-04bcedf6d38fThe hunt for the perfect Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/940/the-hunt-for-the-perfect-corvetteToday I went to Lynch Hummer here in Chesterfield, MO and test drove a black 2004 Corvette Z06. I forgot how much fun those cars are, last year I drove Krekeler's car at our last Autocross event of the season. You can see some of those runs in the videos below. I got to meet Jim Lynch, the owner, and a fellow SCCA Member. He's headed off to the Runoffs this week in Topeka, Good Luck Jim! Anyways, the Corvette I drove at Lynch just didn't quite fit me, black is a hard color to keep clean, and that kind of made me not want to buy the car they had on the lot. So I've been looking around, seeing what I can find online. I've looked ALL over! I think I've found a few options, but we'll see, heck, I might even end up in a blue commemerative edition car just like Krek's was. Road trip this weekend? Perhaps, we'll see..... my first run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tXzCG7dC6j8?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> my only clean run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g7ET3Zm827c?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> a compilation of the fun <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A6IrbQa6seA?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> posted from...Chris HammondThu, 04 Oct 2007 01:00:00 GMT73e42dd4-3783-464c-a3ce-fae2a74f4b74Time to starthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1420/time-to-startSo I think the time has come. I hope to begin work on the 240Z again this week. First step, finish taking apart the blown motor and find the missing piston! Next step after that, start to take apart the L28E motor sitting on the floor. It's been sitting for almost a year now, and I've learned my lesson about not taking a look at what you have (see previous "First step" above). So I hope to get the L28E motor somewhat apart so that I can replace the seals on it, and hopefully see what shape it is in. I'd hate to put a bunch of time into it only to find it's toast already. I know it ran, I drove the car it came out of, and I'm sure Lynn took good care of it, but I should really take some time with the motor this time so I don't get 40 seconds of time out of it! Now, to be fair, the old motor ran for probably a good 25 to 30 minutes total. It just got to drive for about 5 minutes, and 40 seconds of an autocross run. (Why oh why didn't I have the wife shooting Video instead of pictures?) Nick, if you're reading this and you aren't working all weekend I hope to see you and the new friend over here this weekend! At least on Saturday, Sunday I should really spend time with the wife for our first Wedding...Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:27:12 GMT2f0f36a9-9059-40e4-91c7-3b45b014ae14Time to starthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/972/time-to-startSo I think the time has come. I hope to begin work on the 240Z again this week. First step, finish taking apart the blown motor and find the missing piston! Next step after that, start to take apart the L28E motor sitting on the floor. It's been sitting for almost a year now, and I've learned my lesson about not taking a look at what you have (see previous "First step" above). So I hope to get the L28E motor somewhat apart so that I can replace the seals on it, and hopefully see what shape it is in. I'd hate to put a bunch of time into it only to find it's toast already. I know it ran, I drove the car it came out of, and I'm sure Lynn took good care of it, but I should really take some time with the motor this time so I don't get 40 seconds of time out of it! Now, to be fair, the old motor ran for probably a good 25 to 30 minutes total. It just got to drive for about 5 minutes, and 40 seconds of an autocross run. (Why oh why didn't I have the wife shooting Video instead of pictures?) Nick, if you're reading this and you aren't working all weekend I hope to see you and the new friend over here this weekend! At least on Saturday, Sunday I should really spend time with the wife for our first Wedding...Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:27:12 GMTbc8287d4-2261-4ceb-8d21-7c42a2e3d7bbTwo years agohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1810/two-years-ago<p>Two years ago today was the day that the Datsun toasted Motor #1 on it's first autocross run! Here’s a shot of that first competition run.</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3199 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/1099890831_dece40264a.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then a short time later (same run) here’s my getting out to push it</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3242 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1095/1100954876_fabcf871a6.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>Here’s what we found when we just happened to pull plug #2</p> <p><img title="" alt="This isn't good by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1408/1099448933_14d8ebae20.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then this is what it looked like when I went to drain the oil from the motor</p> <p><img title="" alt="Drained by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1107/1121489208_b95723354c.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p> </p> <p>A few things have happened in the two years since that fateful day. A few months later I purchased a <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org" target="_blank">2004 Corvette Z06</a> and autocrossed that for a year.</p> <p>I sold the Corvette.</p> <p><a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/430/Packing-the-garage-driving-the-car.aspx" target="_blank">I got the Datsun running again with another motor</a>, same turbo setup. </p> <p>We moved to Colorado. <a href="http://www.going2colorado.com">www.going2colorado.com</a></p> <p>In the next few weeks I hope to get more of the 240 back together, starting to work on the electrical system and such. Then during the first week of September the car goes to <a href="http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com">www.hanksvillehotrods.com</a> for a new exhaust, maybe I can talk them into a cage too ;)</p>Chris HammondWed, 12 Aug 2009 23:00:10 GMTcf632f14-38ba-4b85-ad5e-30086455b590Week number 2 in our first homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1809/week-number-2-in-our-first-home<p>So here we are, it is now week #2 in our new home here in Colorado, and we are still loving it!</p> <p>Even though the past few afternoons we’ve had some brief storms, the weather here is amazing. Here’s a result of yesterday’s storm</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809994973/"><img alt="Hail from Today" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/3809994973_c029995be0_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>The hail didn’t appear to cause any damage to the cars thankfully, it was definitely interesting to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3810807564/" target="_blank">see it all coming down</a>, and then <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809992353/" target="_blank">a result of the gutters</a>. We were our furniture shopping yesterday, and while we almost bought something I quickly learned that getting a second mortgage instead of doing PMI hits your credit pretty hard. To be frank, my credit score dropped 50+ points in the past week! Oh well, I’ll just have to work harder to pay that portion of the mortgage off quickly. We were going to do no interest financing on the furniture, but I think we’ll just pay cash for it now, so hopefully by Friday we’ll have living room furniture! </p> <p>We also stopped by the local mall, Park Meadows, holy cow that place is fancy! We hit the Borders to check out the computer book section, thankfully I <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809995977/" target="_blank">found a copy</a> of <a href="http://bit.ly/dnnbook/" target="_blank">my book</a>!</p> <p>Tonight we figured out that a garbage disposal will not handle everything. So I had to clean out the pipes under the sink, lesson learned :) <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10981363" target="_blank">We also went skating for the first time in Colorado tonight</a>. Natalie is not as comfortable on skates as I am, of course I’ve been skating for 18 or so years, so it' is understandable why. We went just over 7 miles tonight, if you look at the <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10981363" target="_blank">heart rate on the graphs</a> you can see some data about the skate. We figured out it was mostly downhill the first 3.5 miles, then we turned around and boom, uphill into the wind. You can see my heart rate jumped and pretty much stayed up the whole way back.</p> <p>On Sunday we got to meet the neighbors behind us, they also closed on their house on the 31st, but they’ve not fully moved in yet as they have a lease until the 24th of this month. They are a couple, around our age, no kids. I think we’re going to get a long great, we must of spend an hour or two talking to them on Sunday, it was nice. The house they purchased was one of the short sales we were bidding on, I think it worked out best for everyone right now, they got a great house, and so did we.</p> <p>The rest of the weekend consisted of me driving around looking at furniture stores, electronics stores, and a VW car show! That was fun, nothing like the bug shows in California, but way better than any VW show I went to in Missouri. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/tags/vw/" target="_blank">Here are a few photos from the show</a>. I also got the <a href="http://www.project240z.com" target="_blank">Datsun 240z</a> started up for a bit on Sunday. I’m hoping to get it to a muffler shop this week so I can get it quieted down and then maybe be able to run it a bit more frequently as I try to get it tuned up and drivable. Natalie spent most of the weekend at the barn watching a dressage clinic, though we did go out to dinner with a number of the people from the barn on Saturday night, that was great fun and a good time for Natalie to get to know some people.</p> <p>This weekend coming up we have a lot planned. Saturday we’re going to go up to Leadville to watch the mountain bike race. A few of my fraternity brother’s are racing in it, as well as Lance Armstrong! That should be fun, we are looking forward to being up high in the mountains for a while. On Sunday I am going to head down to Colorado Springs to the SCCA Autocross down there. I’m thinking I might tow the 240z down there and see if I can’t drive it around on an empty space in the lot for a while to use the area to tune the car while driving, we’ll see if I can get everything together for that!</p> <p>So that’s our update for now, hopefully everyone is doing well. We are really loving it here in Colorado, and look forward to lots of visitors this winter!</p>Chris HammondTue, 11 Aug 2009 23:51:36 GMT4f0c5002-3c7a-4695-83ed-d42350a7d79e350Z front end damagehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/26/350z-front-end-damageHere's a photo of some damage I found on the 350Z this morning. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get it popped back into place, nothing too major, just annoying...Fri, 23 Jul 2004 12:42:00 GMTbebd7dcd-013d-44fd-aac1-f2ed45f3499aTopeka Kansas, 2004https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/92/topeka-kansas-2004For the fifth year in a row I am in Topeka Kansas this week. It's the SCCA Solo II Nationals. The Nationals are broken up into two groups. My group runs on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are only 2 350Zs here this year, 4 drivers. Andy Hohl is driving mine. Hopefully one of us will do decent! We (SoloPerformance.com) showed up Friday and setup the store. We've been selling like mad, doing a lot of custom Vinyl for folks, far more than I expected! Hopefully more posts later this week. Thursday I drive back to St. Louis and fly to Phoenix for Faye's...Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:52:00 GMT4c8ec501-bb31-4f3f-aea2-e5ee6fe3cb0eReferral logs are funhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/170/referral-logs-are-funI was looking through my site statistics for solo2.org today and came across an incoming link to the site that has brought 30 people to the site in the past couple of days. So I go to check it out. http://350zuk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4904 Harsh! Oh well, I liked the stripe while I had it on the...Chris HammondMon, 06 Dec 2004 15:54:00 GMT81624f24-34f6-4b22-8d5a-8b3899fb50bbTGIF SCCA St. Louis Region Awards Banquet this weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/199/tgif-scca-st-louis-region-awards-banquet-this-weeTomorrow night is the annual St. Louis region of the SCCA's awards banquet. It's almost always guaranteed to be a good time! I'll be picking up my B-Stock Class championship tomorrow, then drinking heavily and heading out to who knows where afterwards. The party usually goes well into the morning hours. See some of the photos of my 2003 Nissan 350Z...Fri, 14 Jan 2005 08:59:00 GMTa948e080-29f1-40ac-822d-88737c1cd8f3Arkansas National Tour was very productive! My first National trophy, and it came with a Win!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/246/arkansas-national-tour-was-very-productive-my-firA quick (longer than planned) writeup, from a BS perspective The surface was concrete, VERY rough on tires, kinda slick but still not a bad surface over all, a little breakup after day 1, patches before day 2. The weather was pretty windy on Friday, not as much wind on Saturday, by Sunday the wind has switched and was blowing form the east. Not near as strong as Friday though. Both mornings were chilly, saturday was 36 degrees when Heat 1 started at 7:55am. By 1:30 it was ~60 degrees out, Sunny, with a light wind.The event ran very smoothly, great job by the Arkansas Region and SCCA staff. Only two event recommendation I would have, the front gate didn't appear to be staffed very well during the non-heat times (not sure during heats). The other being the choice of Saturday night dinner locations. It was a little too small for the number of folks we had at the event, just a thought for next year There were 185 drivers, I worked first heat in the trailer doing radio, which was nice because I got to stay inside where it was nice and toasty BS ran Second heat both days, there were 10 drivers (2 M3s (4 drivers) 1 RX-8, a Red 350Z, a Brickyard 350Z and my Daytona Blue 350Z with myself and Andy driving). Andy and I were trying out some Kumho 710s, some very large Kumho 710s! We managed to squeeze 275s on all four corners, including the 7.5" front wheels, I ended up installing a spacer up front just to be sure we didn't rub, I don't think it would have been an issue though even without the spacer. After first runs on Saturday I had a mid 46, with Ashir (sp?) running a 46.8 though I thought I had about a 1.5 second lead on the class. Andy, my codriver, I believe had a cone on his first run. Second runs Andy ended up with some car troubles. Just before the big sweeper (turn around) the car died. We're not sure how, or why, but it wouldn't start back up right away. The first though people had (course workers) was that it ran out of gas, which wasn't really an option as it had 1/2 tank of gas. I generally run with little to no gas in the car, but didn't plan so well for this trip and filled up before making the 240 mile drive to Walnut Ridge, which left me with over half a tank. I tried to burn off some gas driving through town, and then hoped to use up some at the practice event on Friday. Andy got the car started back up and came off after his 2nd run with a DNF due to the mechanical difficulties. We looked the car over, revved id, smelled it, looked underneath, nothing appeared out of place or missing/broken. I went out on my second run and the car ran fine, though I was a bit slower, I think due to worrying about how the car would react. Andy went out for his third run and jumped in front of my first run by about .15 seconds. I went out on my third run hoping to best his time, which I was unable to do. I knew this would happen, as I seem to have problems improving runs at big events, I almost always have my best run up front and then I guess over think everything else. Ashir ended up dropping some more time on his third run and finished behind me for the first day by .066 seconds. Sunday brought a new day. I went out on my first run and put about a second on the field, but got a late cone call in the final slolom to put me back into 2nd or 3rd I believe. Andy's first run was one of the fastest in the class, and unfortunately for him was his fastest clean time of the day due to other difficulties. 2nd run he went out and blew the course away, he knocked off 2 seconds from his time and about 1 second from mine, but yet again, a late cone call came into play. Ashir didn't quite seem to be able to get a good handle on the car on Sunday, I believe due to some changes they tried making to the sway bar the night before. My second run I went out, sped up a bit, and cleaned up my run, enough to actually take the class for the day. Andy went out for his third run intent on whiping the floor with me, and he may very well have,...Mon, 21 Mar 2005 06:21:00 GMT6d8baeed-c2a8-4010-91af-5edd3028590eWhy I don't want to go to PDC 05https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/303/why-i-dont-want-to-go-to-pdc-05Well, I was going to do this blog post as my entry in the “blog your way to the PDC” but after doing a bit of research, I actually don't want to go to PDC 05 in LA. Here's why. The PDC is being held September 13-16th 2005, which is exactly the time frame I will be in Topeka Kansas at the SCCA Solo Nationals. Andy and I have a good shot at performing well in the car there this year, so I would hate to miss a trophy (hopefully) at Nationals to go to a developers conference! So, I challenge Microsoft to move the PDC to the following week! Then I will re-enter myself in the “blog your way to the PDC“ with my original intention of using the PDC as an excuse to road trip from St. Louis to California in my 350Z, blogging and taking photo graphs along the way! ...Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:51:00 GMT44bacd39-704f-4f68-8c2c-fe6ae7380bcdTwas an audio Christmas!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/405/twas-an-audio-christmasChristmas was good this year! Natalie and I both spoiled each other rotten! I just installer her new car stereo into the F350. The stock stereo was hurting! It only had AM/FM, no CD or Tape! I got her a nice Sony CD Player for the dash, two new kicker speakers for the front doors, and an XM Roady2 for the must have Satellite radio. There's no Sirius in this household, down with Howard Stern and Sirius Radio! I installed the CD player this evening and made sure everything worked. It's a very clean install, you have to love Crutchfield for including everything you could need to install a radio ordered from them. The new CD player went right in the old unit's place courtesy of the Crutchfield mounting hardware. I also picked up some fine jewelery from Krekeler Jewelers for Natalie's Christmas gifts. Thanks to Jeff for all the help picking a few nice things out!  Natalie spoiled me with some new Oakleys, a cool North Face Jacket, and the Klipsch floor speakers I'd been asking for! The new speakers sound amazing in front of the 50" plasma! I've ordered the Klipsh C-3 center channel speaker from Best Buy using some great gift cards I received. Sometime later this year I'll get the new receiver and 4 surround sound speakers to complete my new and improved home theater setup. My parents sent me money to purchase an aircompressor and some tools for the garage, so I was out looking at Sears today. I did realize however, I'm going to need to take the truck next time I go, as the air compressors won't fit in the 350Z! Thanks to everyone for the great Christmas. Natalie and I spent our first of many Christmas' together, hopefully next year we'll be able to see our parents though, it was my first Xmas away from my family :( More to come in...Mon, 26 Dec 2005 23:05:00 GMTc66797b8-68b9-4ff7-bd69-540716639287Autocross Project 350Z Specifications B-Stockhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/461/autocross-project-350z-specifications-bstockSince I seem to post this information on the web over and over I figured I'd solidify it here. The following information is how Andy and I run my 2003 Nissan 350Z Enthusiast model in SCCA Solo Competition in the B Stock Class. ShocksDA Konis available from Nissan USA Motorsports Division(SA Konis in the garage just in case Full Stiff (r)) Front Sway BarHotchkis (full stiff) ExhaustRemoved the stock muffler, drop 35lbs, put a pipe to aim exhaust down and out from under the car. BrakesHawk HP Plus(F) HPS (R) WheelsEnkieSpacers up front TiresKumho 710s, 275 45(or were they 40) 17Tire Pressure 36-37 (f) 31-32 (r) Chris HammondSun, 12 Mar 2006 21:02:00 GMT2a20e448-ff94-49ce-9dd5-6f952db67f7e350Z Seat Bolt Failedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/465/350z-seat-bolt-failedI spent this morning with Steven at www.tuxedoparkracing.com fixing my 03 Enthusiast Nissan 350Z. Sometime early last year we, Andy and I, had a seat bolt fail, driver's side rear. We had to provide a quick fix and rigged together a drywall anchor to try to get the seat to stay in place, we were out of town with limited tools and only a home depot for parts. That rigging worked alright for a few events, but had to be redone a few months later. The problem caused by a mount bold mount failing is that the seat mounted at only 3 points twists and causes the track to come free and the seat will move forward and back while driving, not a fun experience when competing. Today we found the cause of the bolt mount failing. I removed the carpeting from the driver's side of the car, and underneath this carpet found that the nut that used to fill the hole had broken free of the four spot welds. We ended up welding it back into place, and as I reassembled the car I actually found that the passenger side rear bolt on the drivers seat wouldn't thread. So I had to take the car apart again and found the same thing to have occured. I'm glad it occured right there, and not during a 2006 event. Steven welded the the nut back in place and the seat is amazing now! No more squeeks! How did this all actually occur? I'm going to have to assume that one of the dealers who had worked on the seat in the past didn't properly tighten the bolts down, and the seat was able to move around causing extra stress on the welds. Hopefully for 2006 we've got all of our seat issues squared away! posted from...Chris HammondSun, 19 Mar 2006 21:05:00 GMT82511078-1a51-45d5-ad81-ebace31c1ae0My Driver's School Experience....https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/467/my-drivers-school-experiencePhotos from Sunday I attended the St. Louis Region Club Racing Double Driver’s school this past weekend at Gateway International Raceway in Madison Illinois, just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. I arranged to rent a Nissan 240SX from PFM Racing (www.pfmracing.com) for the two day school and for the regional race on Sunday. I met Jude and Jennifer from PFM at the shop Thursday evening to head over to the track to get the car and my new racing gear teched, as well as get checked in at registration for the school and for the race. Registration went well, though I hadn’t brought a passport size photo for the novice permit, so I had to have two Polaroids taken, one for my novice logbook, and one for my SCCA Membership card.   I went home Thursday evening and had dinner with my fiancé Natalie and my mother who flew into St. Louis Wednesday evening. Friday morning I got up bright and early and went out to Gateway to check out the Fox2 broadcast from the track in their short spots from 6am to 8am. I took some photos for the St. Louis region website (www.stlscca.org). The driver’s school started at 9am with a two and a half hour classroom session, covering the basics of GIR, and the SCCA basics for safety.   After the classroom session we went out for a stint with instructors on the course, looking at various parts of the track and learning some of their suggested lines for the course. The majority of the rest of Friday consisted of multiple track sessions with the car, progressing from 55mph in the first session up to 90 mph for the last session. What did I learn during these sessions? Quite a few things, the largest one being I’ve been spoiled by ABS in the 350Z I autocross and drive every day. The first time I really hit the brakes in the 240SX I got both fronts locked up and a skating sensation in the car, until of course I realized that I had both wheels locked and released the brake, lucky for me the flatspotting wasn’t too bad (yet). After all of our sessions on Friday we had another quick classroom discussion and overview of the day.   Saturday began at 7am with a quick meeting with all of the students and instructors, followed by our first open passing session; each track session was scheduled for 25 minutes. I went lined up outside the grid waiting for the rest of the group to fill in so I wouldn’t have to go out first. Though I was one of the first ones ready in the group and noticed that those who had already lined up were gone from the grid and were on course. I figured it was as good a time as any to head out there so I threw on my helmet and headed into the grid.   My first session was interesting, I had made myself pretty comfortable on Friday, pushing the car a bit, but not too much as we were always under yellow. This first session on Saturday we were given the green so we could take the track full on and practice our passing. I ended up catching up to a black C5 Corvette on the track. I was able to keep close with him in the turns, but on the front stretch coming out of Nascar 4 he would pull away. I usually caught up to him going into turn 1 but couldn’t work up the nerve to try to pass him anywhere on the course. After a few laps of playing catch with the vette we caught up to a pair of white Porsches. The pair was going at a much slower pace than we were, the C5 took the first Porsche with, and quickly overtook the second with the same ease. Now it was time for me to take my first pass, once I had made it, I was much more comfortable, and passed the next one without a second thought.   Now it was time for the Corvette! I caught back up to him without much issue even though he had put a lead on me while I was playing with the 944s. The rest of that session I spent chasing him down, but he must have been getting more comfortable on the track as well because I couldn’t seem to get close enough to make a pass before he would pull away from me. Just prior to the end ...Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:42:00 GMTb98809bc-5233-47ee-936b-68af25fd23e6Project 350Z, First Autocross of the Seasonhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/469/project-350z-first-autocross-of-the-seasonIn a few short hours we'll be departing St. Louis for our first autocross of the season. Well, it'll be my first autocross, Andy (my codriver) already has a few events under his belt! He's an Evolution instructor, so he's had the luxury of getting plenty of seat time already this year. We're headding to Walnut Ridge this afternoon to be ready for the practice event tomorrow morning, I hope to use it to get all the rust out of my system prior to Saturday and Sunday's runs. The car is all ready to go, trailer is packed with the most tires I've ever taken. We've got 12 tires loaded up ready for Walnut Ridge's rough surface. One set of older tires to use during the practice. One set of Hoosier Rain tires just in case, and our competition set of tires mounted on Enkie RPF-1s. B-Stock has a strong field in Walnut Ridge, we'll see how Andy and I fair! More blogging this weekend with results! posted from...Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:08:00 GMT146447e7-f031-4952-a3dc-4345d2da61dfThe pain of the Walnut Ridge Prohttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/473/the-pain-of-the-walnut-ridge-proIt's been a long few weeks for me. It all started with the St. Louis region driver's school three weekends ago and culminated today with the Walnut Ridge ProSolo. The driver's school went well, the Walnut Ridge National Tour went even better. The Walnut Ridge ProSolo though was far from good. The event itself was great, organized and run very smoothly. The 350Z's B-Stock performance however was far from desired. It's late, and I have a lot of things to catch up on, but in short the Z's drawbacks were most apparent this past weekend. The two drawbacks being the very flakey ABS, resulting in ice mode too many times to count this weekend, and the lack of a real LSD in the Z. What is Ice Mode? Well, it's hard to describe, but once you hit it you know exactly what it is. Basically if the Z isn't completely level when you hit the brakes the brake peddle gets rock hard and the car doesn't want to stop. It doesn't pulse like ABS, it can be quite disconcerning, luckily for me I've only hit it once or twice on the street, but it's a frequent problem on the non-brembo 350Zs, made prior to the 2006 model year. As for the lack of LSD, the 350Z models above the base model are equiped with an LSD, limited slip differential, which is supposed to limit the amount of wheelspin in the rear tires. The problem the Z has is that on corner exit with the throttle pressed for acceleration the car spins the inside rear tire in a nice smokey haze. A limited slip should actually transfer that force properly to keep the tire from spinning. At least, that is my understanding of how a LSD should work. It would be lovely in the Z had this feature, but it's something we must drive around. As you can see, nothing really good to say about the weekend. Andy finished 4th, myself in 6th, the three trophy positions were all filled by Mazda RX-8s.  I came home from Walnut Ridge this weekend and started looking at RX-8s on the Mazda website to see how much one would lease for..... Not likely that Andy and I will be switching, but I will be looking for an RX-8 at a local event to flog around the course and see what the competition feels like. I'll have some video of our runs up later this week. I've now gotta pack. I'm headed to Boston Monday afternoon for Opening Day at Fenway on Tuesday! posted from...Sun, 09 Apr 2006 23:06:00 GMT3f60e589-cfae-4d00-833f-3f3d263c9220Project 350Z on the Dynohttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/504/project-350z-on-the-dynoAndy took the 350Z out to Tuxedo Park Racing today to put her on the dyno and get a baseline for performance. Will post results of the dyno tonight! Why do we need a baseline? Well we're hoping to see some improvement from the Nismo Ypipe and custom 3" exhaust we'll be putting on later this week. Also need to do a few other things before the DC pro, such as possibly new plugs and wires, and of course an oil change. posted from...Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:57:00 GMT3aee5d07-9c4c-40cf-bbb4-9a1b6877b233350Z GT-Shttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/526/350z-gtsThis looks pretty darn sweet. 2007 Nissan 350Z GT-S Concept revealed: production possible A small team of Nissan development engineers working in their spare time have transformed a 350Z into a highly tuned 'Saturday Special.' Called the GT-S, the supercharged super coupé is a performance-focused version of Nissan's acclaimed 'Z-'car' and is designed to appeal to enthusiastic 350Z owners who simply want more. Although boasting a power hike and a substantially modified chassis, the GT-S is far from being a stripped out racing car with a rock hard ride and a peaky power delivery. "The GT-S has been created as a real car not an ornament," says Communications Director Wayne Bruce. "We wanted to build a 'Club Special' that could still be used to commute to work during the week but would provide added thrills at the weekend: a weekday workhorse and a weekend warrior in one distinctive package." More info and gallery after the jump…   The project's technical leader Steve Robbins — who during the week is a senior engineer in the new vehicle evaluation team at NTCE — gathered together half a dozen like-minded enthusiasts to work on the project. Working after hours and at the weekend, the team members came from within NTCE and also from outside suppliers and was known internally as the S-Club Seven… Most of the changes center on the car's engine and chassis. Using a supercharger installation from Swiss manufacturers Novidem, power has increased by more than 25 per cent from 300 hp to 382 hp, while torque rises from 353 Nm to a heady 425Nm. Performance gains are expected to include a one second cut in the benchmark 0-60mph time (5.8 seconds for the standard 350Z) with 2.5 seconds slashed from the 0-100 mph time. And it sounds better, too, thanks to an electronically controlled by-pass valve that enriches the exhaust note at a pre-determined engine speed. NTCE engineers — the very men who tuned the original 350Z to suit European roads and our higher speeds — have undertaken the suspension changes. Working closely with specialists from Bilstein, the changes concentrate on optimising road performance, with improvements in both handling ability and ride comfort. Wider wheels and tyres complete the chassis alterations. A wind tunnel developed body/aero kit from German firm Strosek not only gives the all-black GT-S a distinctive look, but also improves the 350Z's aerodynamic performance with increased front and rear downforce at speed. The package is completed by a NVH pack which makes the GT-S even more civilised than the standard 350Z. Steve Robbins said: "We could have produced a balls-out racer with huge power outputs and very little suspension movement. But while this would have created a superb racer, it would have been virtually unusable on the road. Instead we approached the GT-S from an engineering stand-point with a view to creating a 350Z that provides more of everything… performance, handling, looks, comfort and excitement. "We also looked at the possible marketing potential of such a project and have designed the improvements as individual 'packs' — an engine pack, a suspension pack, aero pack and so on — and kept a close eye on costs." So will the GT-S ultimately become more than a weekend project by a group of mavericks? Nissan is saying nothing officially, though insiders point to its appearance at Goodwood as a sign the company is giving the GT-S concept serious consideration. posted from...Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:45:00 GMT9830426b-92b6-416f-ac80-310a4fd44f68My Denver experiencehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/540/my-denver-experienceWell, I'm finally back from my trip to Denver, it was a long weekend, but lots of fun at the same time. I'll start at the beginning and try to cover all of the events. A few weeks ago a client asked if myself and Brian from Engage Software (my employer) could come out and give them some assistance with DotNetNuke, as well as begin to cover a few large projects they wanted to get started on. I requested that we arrange the meeting around the time of the Denver ProSolo. They were kind enough to fly me out on Friday instead of Sunday, so that I could attend the ProSolo, and then Brian and I could meet with them on Monday. Friday afternoon I flew from St. Louis to Denver on Frontier Airlines, it was a bumpy flight, but direct into Denver and on time. I arrived in Denver and picked up my Hertz rental car, a convertible V6 Mustang. I immediately headed over to the event site, also located on airport grounds. After about 2 hours of walking around talking to folks I found a ride in ASP, in a 04 Z06. Aaron Boltman was kind enough to let me drive his car for the event. I walked the course far more than usual with Chris K. and Matt G (The STL Boys). Friday evening we (Me, Chris and Matt) went out to the little diner near the Airport. They had what looked like the greatest milkshakes ever, but dared not try one, being that when I'm out of town I seem to develop a lactose intollerence. Saturday morning I got out to the event site early, met up with Aaron and then walked the courses a time or two. Come 7:30am I hear an announcement over the PA that BStock is nolonger making a class, they had 7 drivers originally but it appears only 4 showed up. Around 8am, right before the deadline Eric Jones asked me if I'd switch to BStock and drive his RX-8 so that they could have a complete class. With the thought of getting to try an RX-8 and run in BS, my usual class, I jumped at the opportunity. Apologies for Aaron for not driving his car, but I really do appreciate the kind offer. Having never driven an RX-8 I was hoping to see what all the hype was about. Saturday runs weren't all that interesting. Out of the 8 runs I took, 4 were redlights. Dan Pedroza was announcing and was on me about RL'ing all the runs. So my last two runs I managed to not RL and get decent times, after both the morning and afternoon sessions I managed to stay in 4th place, out of 5. I was sort of dissapointed in the RX-8s, I have become addicted to cars with Torque, and the RX-8 definitely lacks that. Though, driving an 8 was, I believe, good experience and hopefully training, as you have to drive them and try to maintain as much speed as possible. I have the bad habit of overbraking and powering out of corners, which a car with torque allows you to do. So hopefully if I got anything from the weekend it was the ability to maintain more speed when I'm driving the 350Z, thus making me faster! Saturday evening the STL boys headed to Denver for dinner at the Wyncoop Microbrewery and then spent a couple hours walking around the downtown bar area. We had a few drinks at a place I believe called the Sports Club. We ended up heading back to the hotels around 11pm Saturday evening to get some rest for Sunday morning. Sunday morning I improved quite a bit, I think I picked up nearly a second overall on the two courses, but not nearly enough to catch Jones who managed to take the win in BS. I barely held onto 4th as Mauro (sp?) got close to me, and I came fairly close to BJ in 3rd position. Brian took second just a few thousands back from Eric if I recall correctly. Late Sunday morning I started trying to figure out what I was going to do Sunday afternoon. I needed to pick up Brian at 7:50pm, so I had from about noon to do whatever I wanted. I was talking to Adam Breakey from www.autocrossforum.com and he mentioned he was in town until he got his flight Monday morning. After deciding I wanted to head to Pike's Peak I asked Adam if he wanted to ride up with me. We...Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:56:00 GMTdf5673f0-9a4d-4866-8082-a0fe71fcac32My 350Z Trailer Hitch is Available!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/561/my-350z-trailer-hitch-is-availableWell, it's not really "mine", but the company who developed the hitch I use on my car is now selling them to other folks. http://www.tuxedoparkracing.com/350zhitch.html If you've got any questions please feel free to ask, I'll try to answer any that I can. I've towed my 6x8 trailer with this for well over a year now. Even hauled THREE sets of wheels/tires down to Walnut Ridge Arkansas earlier this year. I generally take two sets, tools, chair, cooler, bike, etc on the 6x8. I've hauled some weight with this thing. We've even taken the time to remove the hitch for events, though most of the time I just leave it on the car and run with the extra weight in the back. posted from...Chris HammondTue, 15 Aug 2006 22:52:00 GMT09d71f68-0e5f-44c5-ab84-3eb62669c9f9Time for a change?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/563/time-for-a-changeSo I've seriously been considering changing vehicles. Now that I have a 73 240Z I don't quite know if I need the 350Z to drive everyday. I've been looking at Tahoe's for a few weeks now, and somehow got it in my head yesterday that a Hummer H2 would be fun... I think I'm going to go out doing some test drives this weekend, see how things work...Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:13:00 GMT5aa5835c-7543-474a-a609-760cab2fd4b9Pontiac St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/566/pontiac-st-louisIf you're looking for a Pontiac in St. Louis you've come to the wrong place!If you're looking to buy a Nissan 350Z then you're in the right place! I'm selling a 2003 Nissan 350Z. Stay tuned for more information!Posted from...Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:51:00 GMT0761fcc5-a7ca-46e9-9e24-0ffc1ddb62a4Why not to buy from Southtown Dodge, AKA Southtown Dodge Suckshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/577/why-not-to-buy-from-southtown-dodge-aka-southtownWell lets begin the story with a little background.The Mad Blogger was in the mood for a new ride. He's been driving a 2003 Nissan 350Z for 3+ years now, and wanted something up off the ground, a bit more visible and much larger. So he began by searching for used Chevrolet Tahoes. Why a Tahoe? Why not, The Mad Blogger can afford gas, even as prices rise, so why bother with trying to be "green", The Mad Blogger is not PC.It didn't take TMB (The Mad Blogger) long to find what he was looking for. A 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71, 4x4, every option on it except for a third row seat, and navigation. The Mad Blogger has no kids, he needs not a third row seat, he's also a man, he can find his way out of a pitchdark room with no doors, navigation is not a necessity.He found his new ride at Southtown Dodge on Lindbergh Blvd in south St. Louis County. Now it was time to deal. The Tahoe had been sitting on the lot for over 90 days when TMB found it, so this meant he should be able to get a good deal. Priced out on KBB.com TMB found it to have a value of roughly $34k, asking price on it was $26,903. First offer to the dealer, Southtown Dodge, salesman was Mike Wall, was 25,500. The dealer wouldn't budge, they said they were at their clearance price and wouldn't come down. $26903, plus a BS fee of $97 dollars for paperwork.The Mad Blogger would have none of this, he came back with another offer of $26,500 a day later, the dealer still wouldn't budge. They did know what the truck was worth, and weren't going to move on it. Fine, The Mad Blogger knows when to jump on a good deal. So he calls the dealer up this morning to tell them he'll be there at 4:30pm to give them his pre-approved loan information, and pick up the vehicle. Good ole Mike Wall comes back and says, sorry, we can't clean it up for delivery till we have a deposit or have started on the paperwork. So The Mad Blogger agrees to go down there over his lunch break and get the paperwork started. TMB doesn't really care if they clean the Tahoe, it's going to rain today, all he wanted was them to put the Brush Bar back on the front which they had removed between the first time TMB looked at it and the second time he went back.TMB arrives at the dealer shortly after 11:30am this morning, good ole Mike Wall is there with the paperwork already started. Mike looks over The Mad Blogger's preapproved loan information and tells him that he won't be able to turn the Tahoe over to TMB for 7-10 days. WTF? Excuse The Mad Blogger, did you just tell him he can't pickup this truck today? TMB comes in with a loan check that he's been told is as good as cash and Southtown Dodge won't let him take the vehicle for 7-10 days? TMB don't think so.After 15-20 minutes of no progress The Mad Blogger decides it's time to leave. The first thing TMB does it call up his lender to verify that the check should be good as gold with a dealer. They confirm this and say that they don't have problems with dealers accepting their checks, they did offer to talk to the dealer and have them a check mailed next day to arrive on Saturday. TMB declines, he's done dealing with Southtown Dodge. TMB decides he'll check for himself and jumps off the highway to stop at another dealer, Sunset Ford. The sales guy at Sunset Ford (sorry TMB didn't get his name to give him props) said they would have no problem accepting the TMB preapproved loan check and selling him a vehicle on the spot. Unfortunately for The Mad Blogger they didn't have a used Tahoe on the lot.So, what's the moral of The Mad Blogger's story? Don't let a dealer like Southtown Dodge jack you around. If the sales guy, Mike Wall, or whomever your sales person is, EVER acts like a *** to you, walk out of there. The Mad Blogger took a little crap from Mike hoping he'd still get a good deal on this truck. He got nothing but a weeks worth of wasted...Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:44:00 GMTdc77914f-f98a-4fa1-bfec-e3cf3a0d7e6dNational B Stock 350Z rides available for rent at Nationals https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/582/national-b-stock-350z-rides-available-for-rent-atDue to the fact that I'm not going to Nationals this year (wedding/honeymoon in december and I'm out of vacation) I'm open to the idea that someone else competes my car at Nationals. My usual codriver has taken an excellent opportunity in a BSP STI, so he won't be driving the Z this year. I believe this car to be the most well prepared 350Z in the country. Not to knock Carter Thompson's car, but I think the 2003 Enthusiast model 350Z is the car to have in BStock if you're going to be driving a 350Z. I've managed to keep up with Carter a few times this year, finished in 10th place last year, and I'll stand up and say I'm not anywhere near the driver that Carter is. With someone who has some skill I'm sure this car could finish at the top of the class, even against the lemmings, err I mean Mazda RX-8s. Stats about the car. 2003 Nissan 350Z Enthusiast ModelTC Kline DA KonisHotchkios FSBEnkei RPF-1sKumho 710sHoosier Wets (for the rain)6 SpeedNismo Titanium Y-Pipe with custom 3" exhaust system This is the only 350Z that has competed at Nationals every year since the model was made eligible for BS, I'd love for someone to keep that statistic going. Rental Price negotiable, also an option to Purchase the vehicle and all my spares is available as well. Delivery to Topeka Kansas is also an option. Contact me for further information. posted from...Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:58:00 GMT37195a35-dfa9-4cdf-8f5a-a2716fd734a4Lots of Parts for sale, 17&amp;quot; RPF1s Bstock Legal, 240Z Carbshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/594/lots-of-parts-for-sale-17ampquot-rpf1s-bstockI've been putting things on ebay this evening, Here are my 350Z Enkei RPF1s, 17" wheels, BStock legal for 17" 350Zs. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=150032437137 Also listed a dual weber setup off the 1973 240Z. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=005&item=150032411962   posted from...Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:19:00 GMT8483ec26-04e7-4aaa-a11b-58c0d2013ad82003 Nissan 350Z For Salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/597/2003-nissan-350z-for-saleI'm selling my 2003 Nissan 350Z. It's currently on Ebay. You can find it by following this link. Details, a 2003 350Z with just under 79k miles on it. I'm selling it in stock form, but have other items I'd consider selling to set it up for BS in Solo if there's interest. Contact me for more information! posted from...Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:29:00 GMT7eb0ffa1-aef7-45dd-aa71-1a9b75f962cbThe Project 350Z Has Soldhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/603/the-project-350z-has-soldIt went up on Ebay Today for $14500. I owe 14537 or something, so I'll take a $40 loss on the car to get rid of it.I'll miss it. It's been a GREAT car. Here's to hoping I get the 240Z finished! If I can get it done before May of next year I'll get $50 from Seelig, that'll cover my $40 loss. posted from...Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:27:00 GMT1db6a9f2-248c-46b6-94e1-f422c2e22e14Why hasn't the 350Z sold?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/604/why-hasnt-the-350z-soldWhy hasn't my car sold? Some of you will get a kick out of this story.link here Summary, don't ever deal with the ebay id Nemofang, or the person by the name of Hsing-Yao Fang!posted from...Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:06:00 GMT96239a9e-9203-4982-8c3b-597865421e6dTake 3, the Project 350Z is sold yet again!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/605/take-3-the-project-350z-is-sold-yet-againAlright, my good buddy Dozzle is purchasing the car! Dozzle, otherwise known as Jason (sp?), is one of my fraternity brothers who lives in Kansas City. Dozzle is getting two extra sets of wheels, 1 set of shocks, and a few other goodies to get his Stock class autocross career kickstarted. Thanks again Dozzle! I've got a week left on the car till Dozzle picks it up. posted from...Chris HammondSat, 23 Sep 2006 19:34:00 GMT637ca19e-172c-40a2-93ad-c395d264c8d9Sold, and gone....https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/607/sold-and-goneWell, my 2003 350Z Enthusiast model is officially paid off. It is also no longer my car!My buddy Jasyn "Dozzle" Randazzo took a train from Kansas City to St. Louis last night and drove the car home today. I talked to Dozzle this afternoon, he made it back to KC and was out and about showing the car off to friends.Have fun with her Dozzle! She's a good ride! Now that the 350Z is gone I hope to spend more time on the 240Z to get that going soon. posted from...Sat, 30 Sep 2006 20:54:00 GMT30630ae1-2cc4-441c-a204-774b14c81079Thanks for 4wdhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/727/thanks-for-4wdDays like today I'm glad I don't have the 350Z anymore and get to drive around in the Tahoe. I love the...Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:00:00 GMTfe451b60-2ed4-43a3-9c50-7f4eb8030fdeCleaning out the 350Z Partshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/741/cleaning-out-the-350z-partsIt was time to get rid of all the parts I still have taking up space in the garage from the 350z! They're all on ebay. SA Koni Sports F/R (used) #150097486225 350Evo Front Sway Bar (used) #150097461781 CT-1 Front Sway Bar (new) #150097477452 Hotchkis Rear Sway Bar (new) #150097479242 If anyone wants to buy them off ebay, let me know, I'll make a St. Louis deal for...Thu, 01 Mar 2007 23:39:04 GMT6b37604e-4796-4343-862b-ca275a19a1eaI&rsquo;m selling it, I&rsquo;m not selling it, I&rsquo;m selling it, I&rsquo;m not selling it?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1703/irsquom-selling-it-irsquom-not-selling-it-i<p>I don’t know what I’m doing with the Datsun just yet. I should sell it, but I couldn’t sleep the other night because I was thinking about what fun it would be to spend a few weekends in March working on the 240Z.</p> <p>Well, I don’t know if it’s a sign or what, but month or two ago when I was trying to put the new motor back together I couldn’t find the bag of bolts for the intake and exhaust manifolds. Well guess what I just found today!</p> <p>Now, I just need to get my book done, and hire my good buddy Terec for a weekend to help me get the motor back together and in the car. I find that if someone is here helping me on the car I get 10x the amount of work done as if I am by myself. So, Terec, what do you think, first or second weekend in March good? If we got it running on 3/15 that would be awesome, as that’s my bday :D</p> <p>Happy Belated Bday to Terec as well, 2/18.</p> <p>So, am I selling the car? I don’t know. I want to buy another 350Z, but it would make a lot more sense to not do that and try to get this datsun running.</p>Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:29:17 GMT99ba3fc7-aacc-49af-967e-1ac55130c99bNo seats! and check out our sister sitehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1856/no-seats-and-check-out-our-sister-site<p>So I don’t know why I didn’t think of this a month ago, would have saved me some money on shipping, but the Corbeau A4s for the 240z are sold. John V, the guy who bought the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvette</a> has purchased them for use in his RX-7 that I bought and shipped to him a few weeks ago. Would have made sense to pack the seats in the car then, but I didn’t realize he was going to be interested in them, oh well.</p> <p>On an unrelated note, have you checked out our sister-site, <a href="http://www.project350z.com/">Project350z.com</a>? You might ask, but you don’t even have a 350Z? True, but I will, at least that’s the plan, to get another one in early 2010 so I can have a car to race next year. I’ve spent a few hours over the past few sick evenings sorting through photos of the old car, which just makes me miss not having a 350Z that much more. I posted photos and got a site design together, though I don’t have much other content up there yet, it will take a few months to get it all together, hopefully just in time to get myself a new (used) ride.</p> <p>Dozzle, if you read this, I still want to buy my old car back!!!!</p>Chris HammondThu, 19 Nov 2009 17:10:59 GMT185432ce-8c37-4950-ae66-81f39cafb279350Z Autocross Car Setuphttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1881/350z-autocross-car-setupRunning in BS (B-Stock) for three years I learned a lot about the 350Z and the setup for the car. While I don't currently still have that car, I will go ahead and create a post about the setup of the car for BS.Chris HammondWed, 18 Nov 2009 00:40:01 GMT7e3f93b1-56da-40c1-81a9-a323d6877398Shopping for a 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1883/shopping-for-a-350zSo the 2010 Autocross season is starting up soon, and here in Colorado the winter series is running strong. I had a little incident with the projectquattro a few weeks ago, which also has spurred along the motivation to get a 350z.Chris HammondMon, 18 Jan 2010 01:26:31 GMTb5be0a57-5f2a-4086-80e7-df5344e5cac8And so it begins, Project350z.com now has a projecthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1884/and-so-it-begins-project350zcom-now-has-a-projecSo begins the latest project, Projectquattro.com has been disposed of, after the incident a few weeks ago, where it took out a light pole, it was time for the car to go. I ended up not getting it repaired, it was actually going to cost just less than we originally paid for it, so instead, we traded it in tonight!Chris HammondSat, 23 Jan 2010 01:20:49 GMT5efb19a1-9c67-4e92-ba83-abe5de31025aPrepping a 350z for STR (SCCA Autocross)https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1886/prepping-a-350z-for-str-scca-autocrossMy initial intentions with this new (to me) 350z is to run in the newly formed STR class. This is a street tire class, meaning 140 treadwear or greater, which differs from the Stock Classes, which technically run “street legal” tires, but are often treadwear 50 or lesshttps://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 23 Jan 2010 21:59:33 GMT4068d77c-78bd-41aa-9c64-d63079ffd171Wheels for a 350z in STRhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1888/wheels-for-a-350z-in-strSo I’m slowly starting to figure out what I need to do to get the car ready for the 2010 Autocross season. I’ve been looking around, reading the 2010 SCCA Solo rules, covering the details of the class. I’ve got some more research to do, but for now I’m starting to figure out which wheels I am going to run on the car.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 27 Jan 2010 23:45:20 GMT0015923e-aca1-47ed-83f4-1827b0cf78f5Always good after a wash and a waxhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1900/always-good-after-a-wash-and-a-wax<p>It has been quite a while, over a year, since I really spent some time washing a waxing a vehicle. My how time has flown, last year we spent time prepping for, and moving to Colorado, during that time I was without a “fun” car, having sold the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvette</a> back in October 2008.</p> <p>Today, for the first time since likely 1995 I spent time washing and waxing a car in California. And the weather was beautiful! I spent the yesterday evening and today up at a friend’s house in Fairfield, the town I went to high school in. We had dinner with friends from HS last night, and then this morning I spent the day cleaning up my the 350z for the first time since picking it up, and boy did it need it, especially after the 1200 mile road trip (on the back of an open trailer last week from Colorado to California).</p> <p>I washed the car, clay barred the various marks and such in the paint, washed it again, and then waxed the car. It looks mucho better now, if I do say so for myself. Here are some pictures of the beauty after her bath.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416388858/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2159" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4416388858_f5a350d3ec_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416379820/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2158" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4416379820_e0b8e238f7_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>The rest of the afternoon I hung out and had a BBQ with friends, and new friends. I had a great time, but had to head back down here to San Mateo so I can work tomorrow. I made the drive in 1hr and 10 minutes. If only traffic were that nice all the time I might consider buying a house in my old stomping grounds and commuting to work. But I can only imagine that most days that would be a 2+ hr drive during commute times. Some day, perhaps later this week, I’ll get around to blogging about the Project350z’s first autocross which happened a few weeks ago.</p>Chris HammondMon, 08 Mar 2010 01:24:46 GMTe655c682-54fa-49d5-9111-10b9b5f7a864Buying a modded carhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1906/buying-a-modded-car<p>Don’t do it! Unless you buy it from a friend and know exactly what they did!</p> <p>The 350z failed the smog test tonight. Time to find some OEM cats to put on the car and hope that it helps to make it pass!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 01 Apr 2010 00:27:05 GMTe7a25a57-c6b0-4718-9c44-bd97c3289841On the road again, temporary tag for smoghttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1907/on-the-road-again-temporary-tag-for-smogSo this weekend while my beautiful wife was in town (haven’t seen her for three weeks!) I rented a car for the weekend? Why? Well, to be honest, the 350z wasn’t legal to be driving around on the roads of California! The temporary tags expired on the 1st, and I had planned to hit the DMV up on the 2nd, only to figure out that California had state employees on furlough so the DMV is closed the first three Fridays in April. Welcome to California! So I rented a car for the weekend, a Mid-sized from National (via Hotwire) and we picked out a black New Beetle. It wasn’t a half bad ride for the weekend, the windshield felt like it was 10 miles away, and I would hate to try to sit in the back seat, but for the two of us it worked out fine.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 06 Apr 2010 09:32:07 GMTaff1041b-537b-491d-a2b7-b4c784344c25Where&rsquo;d the 350z go?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1934/wherersquod-the-350z-goSo it’s been a while since I’ve done any updates here on Project350z.com, so here’s a quick update. The car has been doing well the past few months but at this point has been relegated to strictly commuter duty, and it will likely be that way for a while now. Though I do hope to hit an event or two here in the coming months, hopefully on towards the end of June and another 2 or 3 in July.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 31 May 2010 02:07:15 GMT408220f8-1020-4482-8592-91a411ff01dfNismo Cold Air Intake for a 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1958/nismo-cold-air-intake-for-a-350z<p>So when the Project350z was purchased in Colorado back in January it had a Nismo Cold Air Intake on it. Shortly thereafter I moved to California, and guess what? The Nismo isn’t CARB legal, which means it isn’t legal for use in the State of California, so off the intake came.</p> <p>And there it sat. and sat. and sat some more. Until today, I finally decided to pull it out of the box and put it up on <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150469355328&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:MOTORS:1123" target="_blank">Ebay. So there it is, sitting on Ebay, have at it</a>!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 18 Jul 2010 23:39:34 GMT19779846-1ce5-45fc-8e4d-479294c10ee3Ingen Super SES Exhaust Leak on Nissan 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1970/ingen-super-ses-exhaust-leak-on-nissan-350zSo I spent the afternoon yesterday trying to repair a leak in the Injen Super SES Exhaust system that was on the 350z when I purchased the car back in January. Sometime in March the exhaust started leaking and it has slowly gotten worse. Normally I would of just scrapped it and put something else on, but with all the life changes (new job, moved to California, trying to sell the house in Colorado, prepping for our first child) we’ve been going through the budget hasn’t allowed for that at this point.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 10 Aug 2010 00:47:03 GMT6c885267-ee77-4e7d-885b-d8d8b562ee73Injen Exhaust for a 350z, Still Leakinghttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2006/injen-exhaust-for-a-350z-still-leaking<p>So I still have an exhaust leak in the Injen Super SES System on my 2004 Nissan 350z. And I must say, I’m not too happy about it. <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/473/Ingen-Super-SES-Exhaust-Leak-on-Nissan-350z.aspx" target="_blank">I blogged about this over a month ago</a>, almost two months now. I actually emailed Injen at the time, and I got a fairly quick response inquiring about photos of the system so they could try to figure out what replacement parts I need.</p> <p>Since then there has been radio silence. I emailed them the photos, I’ve emailed them since, and have heard nothing back. At this point in time I’m going to have to suggest, if you’re serious about your ride, stay away from Injen Systems. For cold air intakes, exhaust systems, whatever they sell. If this is the customer service they provide I can’t suggest that anyone ever buys a product from them.</p> <p>*disappointed 350z owner*</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 29 Sep 2010 01:40:09 GMT562e724b-cf15-4bf7-9a33-45e177dabe52Injen Super SES exhaust removal, OEM 350z exhaust installationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2034/injen-super-ses-exhaust-removal-oem-350z-exhaustIf you’ve followed my struggles here on Project350z.com you know by now that my 2004 350z came (when I purchased it in January 2010) with an Injen Super SES exhaust system. This system was a true dual exhaust setup from the cats back. Read the full blog post for more details, and the YouTube timelapsehttps://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 06 Dec 2010 02:52:21 GMTf9ccd95b-8806-4709-a876-3cabadb24084Buy a motor to build up?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2044/buy-a-motor-to-build-up<p>So I am not sure where the 350z is ultimately headed. I think SSM in SCCA Autocross could be fun, though that will take some time and a lot of money to do.</p> <p>I was thinking, perhaps a motor build up would be a place to start. And rather than build up a turbo motor from what I currently have, keep it as is and find another motor to build up.</p> <p>There’s a guy selling one on My350z that is somewhat local, could be an interesting thing to pull into the garage. Though, considering we got rid of the pickup truck last week it might not be a good idea to acquire a new motor just yet <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/Buy-a-motor-to-build-up_14372/wlEmoticon-smile_2.png" /></p> <p><a href="http://my350z.com/forum/norcal-marketplace/467754-fs-rev-up-motor-w-spun-bearing.html">http://my350z.com/forum/norcal-marketplace/467754-fs-rev-up-motor-w-spun-bearing.html</a></p> <p>I may email him and tell him I’ll give him $150, see where that goes.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 27 Dec 2010 02:00:48 GMTbfef5922-c38d-4bd1-a58e-b3c52daeab0cUnable to get any customer service from Injen Systemshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2045/unable-to-get-any-customer-service-from-injen-syst<p>So I’ve been trying for 4+ months now to get some customer service from Injen Systems for the Super SES Exhaust on my Nissan 350z that has a massive leak in it.</p> <p>Back in August I received a response from Injen</p> <blockquote> <p>Hi Chris,</p> <p>Can you send me a picture of your exhaust? I guess we had a few different ones made for that same vehicle and a photo would make it much easier to figure out what part and get you the correct part.</p> <p><strong><b>Thank You,</b></strong></p> <p><strong><b>Natalie Ornelas</b></strong></p> <p><strong><b>Injen Technology </b></strong><strong><b>C</b></strong><strong><b>o., LTD</b></strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.injen.com/"><strong><b>www.INJEN.com</b></strong></a></p> <p><strong><b>(909) 839</b></strong><strong><b>-</b></strong><strong><b>0706 Ext. 214</b></strong></p> <p><strong><b>(909) 839</b></strong><strong><b>-</b></strong><strong><b>0427 Fax</b></strong></p> <p><strong><b>AIM InjenNatalie</b></strong></p> </blockquote> <p>I responded with photos of the exhaust and what I needed. I have heard nothing back. I’ve emailed them multiple times, even emailing their tech and info email addresses, but so far I have not received a single response from them since that email quoted above.</p> <p>I sure wish I could get some help, I actually liked the exhaust on my 350z, but this has to be the worst customer service ever!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 27 Dec 2010 23:48:07 GMTcee897b0-3457-4b72-9d64-36e96e292ad7Look out, Vinyl Boy is backhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2046/look-out-vinyl-boy-is-back<p>So it has been over 2 years since I’ve had vinyl on a car, that will be changing in 2011. Look out for the upcoming transformation of the Project 350z! Early in the year I will be doing a minor overhaul, with the goal of doing a full wrap on the car later in the year.</p> <p>I just need to find someone local who can do the wrap for a reasonable cost, and make sure that they don’t damage the car in the process. I’ve not had anyone apply vinyl to my cars before, I’ve always done it myself, but I don’t have visions of being able to do a full wrap myself. </p> <p>For a refresher, here are some photos of some of my past vinyl experiences (all self applied)</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2768918509/"><img border="0" alt="The new look" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2768918509_72f218deef_t.jpg" width="100" height="40" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/"><img border="0" alt="DotNetNuke Corvette" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2291945232_3f7d42f74a_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/1282983712/"><img border="0" alt="My Old 350Z" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1207/1282983712_98de77fd22_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3257269658/"><img border="0" alt="350Z Autocross" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/3257269658_078fbcd902_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4116230997/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_8435" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4116230997_ebe11d2719_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2063988267/"><img border="0" alt="My Old Camaro" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2232/2063988267_51055763a0_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4142941262/"><img border="0" alt="7G9X4944" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2659/4142941262_30e670dbc7_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a></p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 30 Dec 2010 14:00:01 GMT76f52368-ce66-405d-b4a9-5e1ee67e6939Decking out the Project350z in DotNetNukehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2068/decking-out-the-project350z-in-dotnetnuke<p>I don’t have an Autocross event coming up for a couple weeks, but I couldn’t wait, I had to do something to the car.</p> <p>So here she is, <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">DotNetNuke</a> logos on the front and the back of the 350z.</p> <p><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5362427932_1cd99da6c9.jpg" alt="Project 350z"/></p> <p>and</p> <p><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5210/5361818753_2fe8c12a32.jpg" alt="Project 350z"/></p> <p><strong>What is DotNetNuke?</strong> DotNetNuke is an open source platform for building web sites based on Microsoft .NET technology.</p> <p><strong>Why would someone put a DotNetNuke logo on their car?</strong> This website runs on DotNetNuke. My personal website runs on DotNetNuke, my wife’s site runs on DotNetNuke, my daughter’s website runs on DotNetNuke, <a href="http://www.SCCAForums.com" target="_blank">SCCAForums.com</a> runs on DotNetNuke. I work for DotNetNuke Corporation. I’ve used DotNetNuke for 8 years now. My life revolves around DotNetNuke, and has for a long time, and hopefully will for a long time as well.</p> <p>So I found it fitting that I should try to help promote the product in any way I can. That includes putting the logo on my car, front and back. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/" target="_blank">I’ve done it before, on a different car</a>, so why not on my current car!</p> <p>So what do you think? Am I crazy? </p>Chris HammondWed, 19 Jan 2011 01:48:43 GMTba1acafa-8747-43d3-be71-927ab71152a6Injen Customer Service Update! It rocks!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2070/injen-customer-service-update-it-rocks<p><a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/483/Unable-to-get-any-customer-service-from-Injen-Syst.aspx" target="_blank">So a while back now I complained</a> that I wasn’t able to get any customer service from Injen Systems on the Super SES exhaust that was on my 350z when I purchased it.</p> <p>Well I am happy to say that I no longer have that problem! Injen contacted me and apologized for the lack of responses previously. I was still somewhat cautious, but they did say that they could help me by sending me the parts I needed to fix the leaking system (at a cost, but I didn’t expect them for free).</p> <p>The parts showed up today! So, to Injen, thank you for your help!</p> <p>I’ll be installing the exhaust this weekend, taking the OEM setup back out. I’ll have to try to weigh everything before I put it in, and then the OEM one when it comes out to compare.</p> <p>On an unrelated note to the exhaust. In the 2011 February Fastrack the SCCA is proposing moving the 350z from BSP to ESP. I’m  going to have to write a letter, or 3, in support of that move!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondFri, 21 Jan 2011 00:40:31 GMTa064d672-ebf2-41d5-8595-b5629acda9d6Injen Super SES Installation on the 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2072/injen-super-ses-installation-on-the-350z<p>If you followed the blog post earlier this week you already know that Injen came through and got me the replacement midpipes for my Super SES Exhaust which I removed late last year. </p><p> Today I took the OEM exhaust off the 350z and put the Injen exhaust back on. The job itself is easy, probably could do it all in about 25 minutes if I really pushed it, but I didn’t. I took my time, cleaned up in the garage a bit, cleaned up the exhaust a bit as well. I also managed to weigh both the Injen exhaust and the OEM exhaust to see what the difference was. I was hoping it would be more! </p><p> Read the full blog post for photos and video!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 23 Jan 2011 01:07:18 GMTe5cba2f5-0cae-4847-964d-aa0097ffc5c9350z Trailer Hitch, Take 2https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2075/350z-trailer-hitch-take-2<p>So for my 2003 350z I had a custom trailer hitch built by a friend in St. Louis. It was hefty, mounting with ubolts through the bottom of the bumper and then a bar running forward to the differential. It weighed quite a bit, but was somewhat easy to remove at autocross events if I was concerned about the weight. </p> <p>I just spent the last hour and a half trying to dig up an old photo of the hitch, but have so far been unable to do so! I’m hoping to get some photos from the company who made the hitch (no longer produced or sold, but we’ll see if they still have them). I did finally locate a photo of when the hitch was being built! Though it really isn’t useful for much, here it is. This is the mount at the rear diff.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5389655042/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_1674_JFR" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5220/5389655042_505eb6623c_m.jpg" width="240" height="159" /></a></p> <p>Then of course there is the car actually towing at trailer. This photo was taken in the parking lot at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee in April 2005, just a few days after the hitch was constructed. I always loved this photo</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5389048109/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_1711_JFR" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5389048109_3d9c0c77bd_m.jpg" width="240" height="159" /></a></p> Read morehttps://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 26 Jan 2011 01:09:16 GMT32ee3690-0071-44e6-a26a-e0763ac95ea9The 350z goes on a Diethttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2080/the-350z-goes-on-a-dietOn Saturday the 350z went on a diet, losing (rough guess here) about 3% of it’s total weight. When I purchased the car in January of 2010 I knew a few things. The stereo in the car was aftermarket, and so were the two 10” subs in the back of the car. Beyond that I also assumed there was an amplifier somewhere powering the subs, but I wasn’t really sure what else there was.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 31 Jan 2011 00:49:00 GMT47d79990-0e7f-4065-b730-b44c504d2096Dropping Weight in the 350z, for STR (now BSP)https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2081/dropping-weight-in-the-350z-for-str-now-bspThis blog post will be gradually updated over time as I figure out how to drop weight in the 350z prepping it for STR in 2010 (now BSP for 2011).https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 27 Jan 2010 23:53:21 GMTd43e267a-447b-4a1e-8c8f-004cc1e9291f350z BSP Parts Configurationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2086/350z-bsp-parts-configurationThis post will be a continually updated (on project350z.com) list of parts (to buy) and configuration for the 350z preparation for SCCA Solo’s BSP (B street prepared) Class. If you’re building a 350z for Autocross I hope that this page provides of some great value. Each part will be marked as Planned or Installed depending on the current status. In no particular orderhttps://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondFri, 04 Feb 2011 03:16:23 GMT6e55ada6-ea6c-4171-9bae-2580ebb2d5e6Wheels for a BSP 350z, ARP Studs, Sway Barshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2088/wheels-for-a-bsp-350z-arp-studs-sway-bars<p>So now that wheels and tires (used) are taken care of, at least for part of the season, I need to locate some longer/stronger wheel studs for the 350z. </p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5419830808/"><img style="display: inline; float: right" border="0" alt="Enkei RPF1 18x10 +38" align="right" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/5419830808_08eb37234e_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>On my 2003 350z I had Nismo studs, though they were only on the front, I never got around to putting them on the rear. For this one I could go with the Nismo studs, but it appears a lot of people use ARP studs. So I started looking into what was available there.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 05 Feb 2011 23:07:21 GMT68eac0a1-eb72-41bb-a4c2-2a422713402b350z Tire/Wheel Fitment 18x10 inch 305 V710shttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2092/350z-tirewheel-fitment-18x10-inch-305-v710s<p>This evening after work I came home and cleared out the garage so that I could get the new wheels test fitted to see what all I was going to need to do on Saturday.</p> <p>Here are the details, the wheels are Enkei RPF1 18”x10” +38 (offset). The tires are Kumho Ecsta V710 305/30/18s. The car currently sits on a stock suspension (2004 350z Enthusiast)</p> <p>With that in mind, I wanted to see what I was going to need to do to make them fit on the car so I can run them at the SCCA Autocross this weekend. The good news is that the wheels/tires fit on the rear perfectly, no changes necessary (at least as of right now on the stock suspension).</p> Chris HammondWed, 09 Feb 2011 01:06:57 GMTfe8d33b4-ca83-402f-8615-9af8d7bce02eNope those lug nuts won&rsquo;t fithttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2094/nope-those-lug-nuts-wonrsquot-fit<p>So I ran around Redwood City today over lunch, I needed to find some spacers and lug nuts to go along with the new studs that arrived today from <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com">www.soloperformance.com</a>.</p> <p>I went to Kragen first, they didn’t have any spacers but were kind enough to point me towards <a href="http://www.fivepointtire.com">Five Point Tire</a> in Redwood City. Five Point was great, service was awesome and the guy was very helpful. I picked up 6 spacers, with the intention of only using 2 or 4 of them for now.</p> <p>When I got home I wanted to make sure that the lugs were going to work. They were Gorilla Lug nuts, designed to go through the holes in the wheels to help position them on the hub. Unfortunately when I test fitted them though the wheels they don’t actually fit through the holes <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" alt="Sad smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/62ecb0783f7c_127C9/wlEmoticon-sadsmile_2.png" /></p> <p>Looks like I will need to run to Five Point Tire again Friday or Saturday and see what their options are. I will likely take a wheel with me this time to make sure things work out. </p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondFri, 11 Feb 2011 00:08:16 GMT369cf33e-c334-4e3b-b708-1dccb5541d7fPrepping for the 350z Stud Installhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2095/prepping-for-the-350z-stud-instalI was going to do a blog post on ChrisHammond.com tonight with a video embedded that I took at the NASA Ames Research Center tweetup, but unfortunately the video I produced came out at 800mb and between youtube and my connection it doesn’t look like that video is going to be ready for the public to view tonight. So instead I’m going to post here on Project350z.com. Why? Well in last night’s post I mentioned that the Lug Nuts I picked up from Five Point Tire Imports wouldn’t fit in the wheels for the car. So today I went by there again (after the tweetup) and replaced the lug nuts with ones that should fit on the car just fine.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 12 Feb 2011 01:52:45 GMT52f7ccc8-2002-44ff-befe-db86f89a5e94San Francisco Region SCCA Boondoggle 2011 Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2097/san-francisco-region-scca-boondoggle-2011-resultsSo today was the first day for a few things It was my first time running an autocross with the San Francisco Region of the SCCA. I must say things went fairly well, even with of the normal first event hiccups. It was my first time running this 350z on RComps, and any 350z on 18” tires on 10” wide wheels. Overall I was impressed, though I long for 315 Hoosier A6s! Today’s event was held at California’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA. I started out slow, but finally kicked it in gear a bit on my 4th and final run. I realized today that I used to drive balls to the wall all the time at an autocross, I guess in my old age I’m not doing that as much, so it took me a while to turn that switch back on.Chris HammondSun, 13 Feb 2011 23:58:50 GMT0c0ed9cb-692d-4017-8b04-d7562697b222Night before the Project 350z&rsquo;s first divisionalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2102/night-before-the-project-350zrsquos-first-divisiSo today was a busy day, I had a lot to catch up on at work, training to provide internally, and a final to take this afternoon. After that I ran home and grabbed the set of Falken Azenis RT-615s that were sitting in the garage and ran to Les Schwab (the same place I bitched about a few weeks ago) to get them mounted.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 19 Feb 2011 00:52:11 GMTb932ef62-00f5-4a1f-8e43-2fb8ca8201bdSFRSCCA Divisional 2011 Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2103/sfrscca-divisional-2011-day-1<p>How was today?</p> <p><font size="7">COLD AND WET!</font></p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5458127935/"><img style="display: inline; float: right" border="0" alt="Hard to see but there is snow on them thar hills #autocross" align="right" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/5458127935_f28fd5c35f_m.jpg" width="240" height="179" /></a>Beyond that? Very cold and very wet. I went to Great America today for the SFRSCCA Divisional Autocross. I got there around 7am and put the Kumho tires on the car, big mistake! I was sort of drying out, the sky was almost clear, but the drive down there was rainy, and there was snow! You can’t see it very well in this picture, but yes, there was snow in the “hills” around the Bay Area.</p> <p>So I installed the wheels/tires and walked the course a few times. The driver’s meeting got delayed, then the start of the event got delayed. Then the rain started back up <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" alt="Sad smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/SFRSCCA-Divisional-2011-Day-1_10487/wlEmoticon-sadsmile_2.png" /></p> <p>Let me tell you this, Kumho V710s don’t work well when it is <40 degrees and raining. My first run I went out and it felt horrible, I turned a 66.*, I wasn’t too thrilled about that. Here’s a video of that run.</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/WV9E75Gkc-Y&hd=1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WV9E75Gkc-Y&hd=1" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p> <p>But I was too lazy to go get my street tires (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/502/Night-before-the-Project-350zrsquos-first-divisi.aspx">freshly mounted the previous night mind you</a>). Big mistake, I went out on my second run and decided I would take things slower, expecting to actually go around the course faster. I slowed down and ran a 69.*. That broke this camel’s back, I ran off to get my street wheels, drill, and jack so that I could swap to the Falken Azenis RT-615s.</p> <p>Thankfully Grant (in a Nismo 370z) followed me over and helped me bring 2 of the tires back to my grid spot. I don’t think I would have gotten them changed in time had he not helped! Thanks for the help Grant!</p> <p>The Falkens were MUCH better, not perfect, but way better than the V710s in the rain. I managed to run a 60.*, a big improvement over the first two runs, though I just wish I had put them on before my second run, or even to begin with!</p> <p>Here’s a video of the third run</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGIZVNTaNbU&hd=1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGIZVNTaNbU&hd=1" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 19 Feb 2011 21:42:29 GMT764f040b-36ec-41de-8993-a4e700f13c04Weighing the 350z at the Divisionalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2104/weighing-the-350z-at-the-divisional<p>So there’s been much debate (or really just many people telling me I am crazy) over on SCCAForums in the thread I started to discuss the proposed move of the 350z from BSP to ESP in SCCA Autocross classing.</p> <p>Ever since the 350z was released I thought it was the perfect F-Stock car, though others have always seemed to think otherwise and it was relegated to B-Stock where all but a few events it became an also ran behind the RX-8. It was also classed in BSP (b street prepared) where it hasn’t faired any better for the last 8 years. Last month the SCCA posted a proposal to move the 350z from BSP to ESP, I’m all for the move, most of the ESP folk apparently aren’t, “A Japanese car in our American Car Class? How dare you!”</p> <p>Alright, so no one has made that complaint, but the way they “defend” their ground they might as well be drawing lines in the soil. There’s much debate about what a 350z will actually weight in SP trim, my car isn’t fully SP prepped yet (and to be honest that will likely take 2-3 years due to budget) but I figured I would go ahead and weigh the car at the divisional event today.</p> <p>First things first, here are the details of the car itself (if it's not mentioned it is stock) <br />2004 Nissan 350z "Enthusiast" package <br />18x10" RPF1s <br />305 V710s <br />No stereo/speakers <br />~2 gallons of gas <br />Injen Super SES dual exhaust (weighed at 15lbs lighter than stock) <br />HFCs <br />K&N CAI <br />Plenum spacer <br />Hotchkis F/R sway bars <br />No spare tire, tools, or rear carpeting/mats(not fastened down from the factory)</p> <p>And what did it weigh in at?</p> <p><strong>3062lbs</strong></p> <p>That matches up fairly closely to my 2003 Enthusiast I had from 03-06 in b-stock trim. A few other mods on this one, though the old one had a lighter exhaust setup. The 2003 weighed 3075lbs.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 21 Feb 2011 00:09:56 GMTfe5168d8-fc61-4030-a25c-1285790cdc02350z Autocross Tire Pressureshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2105/350z-autocross-tire-pressures<p>So with all the blogging I’ve done over the years I have been unable to find any posts where I mentioned tire pressures!</p> <p>So here it is, a thread that I will continually update with tire pressure information for my 350z. As I change configurations I will move settings to an archive down below.</p> <h2>Current Tires</h2> <p>Kumho V710 305/30R18 <br />(as of 2/20/2011)</p> <h2>Current Pressures</h2> <p>Front: 25psi <br />Rear: 23psi <br />(as of 2/20/2011)</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 21 Feb 2011 00:18:38 GMTf63b2446-fe7b-4bc7-96b3-1b8bb87d8170350z Traction Control and Square Tireshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2115/350z-traction-control-and-square-tires<p>So I experienced something while driving the 350z yesterday that I haven’t experienced in quite a while. Typically the 350z comes with a staggered tire setup, meaning that the front tires are usually a smaller size than the rears. A week or two ago I got some new street tires put on the car, the new tires are “square” meaning the fronts are the same size as the rear.</p> <p>This actually gives you the ability to rotate the wheels/tires (assuming the wheels are the same size), which can go a long way in making your tires last longer. The old set I had taken off were actually okay in the front, but the rears were bald, being able to rotate could have helped prevent that.</p> <p>The downfall of having a square setup, at least with a 350z, is that the computer isn’t setup for that, not having the stagger causes the front tires to run at a different speed in relation to the rear tires. This causes the computer to freak out, though most of the time it is fine, where it will freak out is typically when you are accelerating on an onramp.</p> <p>I had this happen for the first time since some time in 2006 (when I sold my first 350z) last night. It wasn’t a huge shocker, but it was a bit of a surprise. You can avoid the computer issue, but it requires turning off the traction control, something you can’t do when it is activated by the differing speeds. So for now, I will continue to turn off the traction control (tcs) when I get in the car.</p> <p>I’m curious to see if there are any ways to disable the TCS by default, and only have it turn on when you press the button. That would be extremely useful in autocross as you NEVER want traction control in a 350z enabled when autocrossing.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 02 Mar 2011 23:05:49 GMT162be84a-28a6-4756-bd2c-f230b061afd2Excellent customer service from GoProhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2118/excellent-customer-service-from-gopro<p>The night before an autocross, and I’m stoked for tomorrow, even if it rains (as forecasted). I got a replacement GoPro HD camera today in the mail.</p> <p>For those of you who don’t know, I had a problem with my GoPro camera, which I use a LOT! I use it for <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Videos.aspx">autocross videos, and time lapse videos of working on the car</a>. A few weeks ago I was working on the car doing a standard time lapse, but the camera freaked out. I came to find out that there was a bug in the camera software that would show up with time lapse mode after 10k (I think) photos were taken. It was a known bug though, and there was a firmware update for the camera to fix the bug.</p> <p>So I applied the firmware update, but something during the process failed and the camera ended up “bricking” which basically means it wouldn’t work. You couldn’t power it on, you couldn’t use it, nothing, it was as useful as a brick. Since I got the camera for xmas it was still under warranty so I contacted GoPro about getting it fixed, while it took a bit of back and forth via email with their customer service reps, they provided me with an RMA number to send it in.</p> <p>This was a couple of weeks ago, right before a 2 day autocross and right before we were heading out of town for vacation, so I didn’t get the camera mailed out until Tuesday of this week. On Thursday I got an email from them saying that they had a replacement camera ready to mail out, but I hadn’t included a return address. I replied with our address, and then on Friday I got an email saying it would go out. It is nice that we live about 15 miles from their headquarters because the camera showed up today via USPS.</p> <p>I’m not positive that the firmware fix has been applied to this camera yet, but I’m going to leave it as is for now. I want to use it at the autocross tomorrow, so I don’t want to run the risk of bricking it again!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 05 Mar 2011 23:02:50 GMTeb3d1bab-988b-4953-bc05-f7b3f82d41bfThe suspension is here! Now to fix ithttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2124/the-suspension-is-here-now-to-fix-itMy birthday gift (early) from my wife showed up today (I have the best wife ever!), a new suspension (well new to me) for the 350z. There’s only one problem (and not her fault, as I ordered it) the control arms that came aren’t legal for the class the car is being built for. The problem with them is that the arms use spherical bearings in place of bushings, and the BSP rules read (read the full blog post for all the details, and photos)https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 10 Mar 2011 02:18:56 GMT5636f5ab-e08a-454c-9622-2fd73953923fAlignment done, at least for the road triphttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2144/alignment-done-at-least-for-the-road-trip<p>So I didn’t figure I was going to have time to do the alignment on the 350z over the next couple of days, and I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to do an alignment myself after just lowering the car. I mean, I want to do it, but driving down to San Diego on Thursday isn’t the time I need to press my alignment skills.</p> <p>So today I took the car to the local Firestone dealer to get an alignment done today. Here’s what I told them.</p> <p>“I want to know what the specs are, and I want the toe to be within factory specifications.”</p> <p>No problem they said, then they upsold me on the lifetime alignment. I told them, oh that won’t work for me, I’m gonna be making lots of changes, you guys won’t honor it. He assured me that they would, and even double checked with the manager. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m hoping they will honor it going forward! Really I will just want to use them here or there to verify that what I do when I make adjustments and try to align it myself.</p> <p>Less than an hour later I got a phone call saying that the car was ready to go. Here are the specs that I came away with.</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="473"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133"> </td> <td valign="top" width="133">Left F/R (in degrees)</td> <td valign="top" width="205">Right F/R(in degrees)</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133">Camber</td> <td valign="top" width="133">-2.3/-2.4</td> <td valign="top" width="205">-2.5/-2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133">Toe</td> <td valign="top" width="133">.05/.12</td> <td valign="top" width="205">.07/.09</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p> </p> <p>Friday I plan to do some adjustment to the Toe, getting some toe out in front and toe in in the rear. We’ll see if I can get that adjustment squared away using my longacre toe plates.</p> <p>If I come up with some additional settings for autocross alignment I’ll create a new blog post for the specs.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 29 Mar 2011 01:37:22 GMT7bcf4999-12f1-40bc-a47e-217d641ac364GoPro Firmware Upgradehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2146/gopro-firmware-upgrade<p>So if you read my postings a month or two ago you know I had trouble with the GoPro firmware last time around. Ended up bricking the camera and having to send it in.</p> <p>Much better luck tonight! I got V 1.1.5 upgraded without any trouble. I wasn’t sure what the camera had on it that they sent me in exchange for my repair, so I wanted to make sure I was on the latest firmware for the trip to San Diego. I’m hoping to timelapse the drive.</p> <p>We’ll see if the batteries (2 of them) last the trip, I doubt it, but we’ll see. I have the camera set for shooting every 5 seconds and plan to mount it facing out the windshield.</p> <p>Thanks for all of you who “like” <a href="http://facebook.com/project350z" target="_blank">Project350z on Facebook</a>! We’ve seen some good growth the past couple of days!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 31 Mar 2011 01:07:16 GMT549ea777-64bd-444a-a188-05c0448a85f6San Diego National Tour Practice Dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2148/san-diego-national-tour-practice-day<p>Today was a practice day at the San Diego National Tour. This morning I took part in the Evolution School advantage program, basically you get a ton of seat time in the morning before the practice course opens up for the rest of the entrants for the National Tour. My r-comps were on a truck otw to the tour, so I ran my street tires for the morning session. I also had the car set at full soft (bump/rebound), most definitely not the configuration needed, and my evo instructor Brian let me know.</p> <p>He knew me (not to be cocky, a lot of autocrossers do because of my involvement with <a href="http://www.SCCAForums.com" target="_blank">SCCAForums.com</a> and announcing at events throughout the years), but he made the mistake of assuming I knew what I was doing <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile" alt="Open-mouthed smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/San-Diego-National-Tour-Practice-Day_12E28/wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile_2.png" />. He assumed I knew about suspension setup, I corrected him, and asked for help! He was very helpful and provided me some guidance to try things out.</p> <p>In the morning sessions on street tires (Azenis 615s, decent tires) I got down to 30.0*, not bad, but nothing near the 27.* that a SS Z06 was running. </p> <p>I also had a horrendous knocking coming front the front end of the car, though that wasn’t new, it was happening all week. When I put the new bushings in I failed to apply any grease to them (other than when they went into the control arms).  My father is here in town to watch me run at the tour, so we headed over to autozone to get some white lithium spray grease to try to help with the knocking. I thought, there was no way that it would help, but geez, it’s amazing how much quieter the car is now.</p> <p>When the tires showed up I got them put on and adjusted the Konis a bit, then went back out and ran a few more practice runs to see how the car felt.</p> <p>I got faster on each run, finishing with a 28.555. Still not up to snuff against that Z06, but definitely better than I had been doing in the morning.</p> <p>I ended up going with the following settings on the Konis</p> <p><strong>Front Double Adjustable Truechoice Coilovers <br />Rebound:</strong> 1 full turn from soft (2.5 turns is full stiff) <br /><strong>Bump:</strong> 6 clicks (12 or 13 clicks is full stiff)</p> <p><strong>Rear Koni Sports (single adjustable) <br />Rebound:</strong> 2.5 clicks (10 clicks available)</p> <p>I’m still trying to get the time lapse video from drive down to San Diego yesterday together. I can’t get Windows Live Movie Maker working very well on my laptop. I’m hoping it finishes up here soon.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 02 Apr 2011 00:49:20 GMTb4a7cb13-f223-4b2f-baad-bd13ae60de4bEl Toro ProSolo Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2156/el-toro-prosolo-day-1<p>I just don’t have the energy to do a full writeup for the ProSolo today, and to be honest, it won’t happen Sunday, and likely not Monday either <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile" alt="Open-mouthed smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/086ec53de232_13331/wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile_2.png" /></p> <p>So what happened? Well, I’m sitting in 5th out of 8, 2nd in the Kumho class. I’m still hoping to get up to first in the K Class <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/086ec53de232_13331/wlEmoticon-smile_2.png" /> With the contingency available that would mean a set of tires.</p> <p>Jodi Fordahl is driving with me as well. She’s doing great, I have a feeling she’ll be faster than me on Sunday.</p> <p>Random note: This car really needs a diff!  I am going to try to find the OS Giken guys if they are at the Pro tomorrow and talk to them a bit.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 10 Apr 2011 01:01:13 GMT682b6abf-11d7-494b-9187-efd0746133edNaked and famoushttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2164/naked-and-famous<p>So the car is naked, well about as naked as it can be.</p> <p>Saturday evening I took it to the car wash and removed all of the vinyl. I plan to put it back on, but it’ll be a while before that happens. I figured it was a little too much right now to attract attention. I’d post photos, but there really isn’t much point, right now the car is just a blue 350z that is a little lower than normal.</p> <p>In honor of the occasion here’s some President’s of the United States of America, with Naked and Famous</p> <iframe title="YouTube video player" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GHPkLuVBQ1Y?rel=0&hd=1" frameborder="0" width="425" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 17 Apr 2011 23:52:43 GMTa07a7360-a676-47f0-9f4d-c7ccd40ba2c7What color should I wrap the 350z? You get to decide!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2174/what-color-should-i-wrap-the-350z-you-get-to-deci<p>So I’ve wanted to do this for a while, and now I’m getting ready to pull the trigger.</p> <p>I am going to wrap the 350z? What does that mean? I am going to take a solid Vinyl color, and wrap it around the entire painted surface of the car. Effectively changing the color of the car, and covering the paint in a protective vinyl coating.</p> <p><strong>Why am I wrapping the car?</strong> Because I can? Or well, because I want to. I don’t know yet that I can. I’ve applied quite a bit of vinyl in my life, but never to an entire car.</p> <p><strong>Why not have someone else wrap it? Why not have a designer wrap done? </strong>Both of those options cost money, and I really would rather spend money elsewhere on the car. That being said, if you own a car wrapping business in the San Francisco Bay Area and you want to sponsor Project350z, fill out the Contact form on the <a href="http://www.project350z.com/About.aspx" target="_blank">About page</a>. </p> <p><strong>What color are you going to wrap it?</strong> That’s where you come in. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=question&id=125772814167499" target="_blank">We’ve setup a "Poll" on our Facebook page</a>, where you get to help us decide. The options are "Matte Black, Matte Green, Don’t Do it!" If you have a Facebook account go ahead and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=question&id=125772814167499" target="_blank">answer the question</a>! The Poll will stay open until 5/4/2011.</p> <p>And while you are at it, don’t forget to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/project350z" target="_blank">"LIKE" our page</a>!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 27 Apr 2011 02:04:19 GMT691c2317-ecfa-4feb-8ac0-b7897637bc60350z Stereo For Sale, Stealthbox Subwooferhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2185/350z-stereo-for-sale-stealthbox-subwooferI took all of this stuff out of my car a few months ago and am just now getting around to selling. To the best of my knowledge here is what I have, you can find all the pictures from below (and more) at a higher resolution at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157626520108688/with/5628927973/ All equipment is used, but was in working order when removed from the car.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 07 May 2011 03:54:25 GMTfd031572-3cac-4027-9570-d68d6018e369Color for the wrap has been decidedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2186/color-for-the-wrap-has-been-decided<p>A week ago I posted a “question” on Facebook to see what color we should wrap the 350z in. </p> <p>Well it looks like the final tally is 31/13/13</p> <p>31 for Matte Black <br />13 for Matte Green <br />13 for Don't Do It!</p> <p>So Matte Black it will be! Time to order the vinyl! I would hope to have it done by the end of the month, but realizing we are moving before then, we’ll set a goal of the end of June to have this completed. Of course we’ll have a time lapse video of the process!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 07 May 2011 04:00:29 GMTe7677878-6e16-4801-b578-73c82daf5488Project350z on Hiatus?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2189/project350z-on-hiatus<p>So things have slowed down for the Project350z, at least for a month or two. After running quite a few events in February, March and April, I haven’t run an event since the El Toro ProSolo on 4/10.</p> <p>I plan to run more events this year, but life has put autocross to the side for a month or two. We’re getting ready to move, so autocross has been the last thing on my mind.</p> <p>This weekend there’s the Dual at DeAnza, last year I was hoping to run this year’s event, but due to everything going on I ended up not registering. It looks like Grant (ShamuZ) has lost his car for the event, due to losing a rear diff (He’s got an OS Giken diff as far as I know, I need to find out what happened as that is the diff I was hoping to put in my car later this year). I’ve asked Grant to see if he can get me into his entry position for the Duel, if he can I will try to run the event.</p> <p>If it doesn’t work out, so be it, but I think it would be cool to run. The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy, so an autocross before all of that would be a good release!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 11 May 2011 00:51:44 GMT8942cdee-bb94-49d1-9ed4-f70b7716a297Autocross 350z Modifications Listhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2195/autocross-350z-modifications-listI realized recently that I didn’t have an ongoing list of modifications for the 350z. So I figured I should create one. The idea is that this will be continually updated, with the list of current parts. If I end up removing parts I’ll strike them through on the list.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 16 May 2011 03:04:29 GMT511a1033-2269-474f-bca1-481acdbe4c9fLet there be sound, and I&rsquo;m going to Nationals (not in the 350z)https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2224/let-there-be-sound-and-irsquom-going-to-nationa<p>So I finally had it with listening to my Motorola Droid (Google Music and Pandora) for my commute. Why don’t I have a stereo? Well back in February I ripped it all out. Not exactly the best choice, but hey, I was in the hear of the moment thinking I was prepping the car for a fully competitive 2011 season. That has changed, (more on that later).</p> Chris HammondWed, 15 Jun 2011 00:58:01 GMT9c13ea39-f9e5-4be1-ab20-e2fadadb2784Old Project Z postshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2233/old-project-z-postsI’ve been doing some work on SOLO2.ORG the past two evenings, working on restoring a bunch of my old blog posts from over there from the early days of the site. There was a lot of content that went missing over the various conversions of the site the past 4-5 years. I managed to bring a number of the posts back, and found a lot of old posts about my original 2003 350z (the current one I have is a 2004), at which point in time I just called it Project Z (rather than Project350z).https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondFri, 24 Jun 2011 01:35:12 GMTc46319c7-7f4f-456d-a678-013f2ae50cbdVideos from AAS Round 8https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2247/videos-from-aas-round-8Here are the photos from the American Autocross Series Round 8 from 7/3/2011. The car is of course our 2004 Nissan 350z in half prep for B Street Prepared. Unfortunately I don’t have times, but let’s see if I can recall the order of the runs.https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 06 Jul 2011 00:49:51 GMT71df4e45-2ea2-490b-9294-df42abd0a1f5Installing the 350z Trailer Hitchhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2265/installing-the-350z-trailer-hitch<p>So the time finally came, or I finally got around to it, the hitch is now on our 2004 Nissan 350z.</p> <p>The hitch is a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BROASA?ie=UTF8&tag=chrishammondc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000BROASA" target="_blank">Curt Hitch for the 350z, available via Amazon</a>. I purchased it quite a while ago, but haven’t taken the time to get the car apart and install it. Today that all changed.</p> <p>To get the hitch on the car, you first have to remove the rear bumper fascia from the car, that’s fairly simple to do, remove the rear tail lights, remove 6 or so screws, 4 clips, and pull. The 350z Service Manual is helpful for this.</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 23 Jul 2011 20:27:15 GMT8ccdadc2-2566-4ac7-a093-f619b3af67deInstalling the Hitch on the 350z, Time Lapsehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2266/installing-the-hitch-on-the-350z-time-lapse<p>If you want to read the details, <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/544/Installing-the-350z-Trailer-Hitch.aspx" target="_blank">check out yesterday’s post</a>. If you want to see the video, you are in the right place!</p> <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ISWWwr0KpRc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 24 Jul 2011 23:12:02 GMT81cbf17f-b6aa-4086-b855-a1f6a1931651350z with a white stripehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2290/350z-with-a-white-stripe<p>I was looking around at Flickr today and happened to check out my "photo stats". The most viewed photo for the day (having just started according to the Flickr servers) was this photo</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4116932158/" title="350z with the white stripe by chrishammond, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2660/4116932158_8e616e230c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="350z with the white stripe"></a></p> <p>I kind of liked the white stripe on my old 350z. I’m still thinking I will wrap this one, but the stripe got me reminiscing.</p> <p>What do you think of the stripe? Yay or nay? Add a comment below and let me know!</p> <p>You can find a number of photos of the car during the striping process at <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Photos/view/setdisplay/setid/72157622833814994.aspx">350z White Stripe</a></p>Chris HammondWed, 14 Sep 2011 01:10:33 GMTcc45c908-18f8-4d7c-93da-339f6bfdf07aUndoing the BSP 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2312/undoing-the-bsp-350z<p><img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6656781633_02f0927064_m.jpg" />This morning I began the process of converting the 350z back to stock, or close to stock. Mike Lane over on the east coast requested the control arms/custom bushings that I have on the car, so he sent me his original OEM set. A couple of months ago I actually tried to remove the arms on my car so I could lube them up and try to get rid of some of the excess noise in the car, but I wasn’t able to. One of the nuts on the upper strut mount was stuck and no matter what I tried I wasn’t able to get the nut removed.</p> <p>I picked up some tools from the local Ace Hardware in Half Moon Bay to get that pesky nut off, and this morning when I got started, things didn’t go well. I managed to  break an extension I was trying to use, then I managed to break the bolt extractor as well! I was not a happy camper, though I decided to try one more thing, a better quality extension and turning it by hand. After that nut was removed replacing the control arms was nice and easy.<img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6656782531_814820e325_m.jpg" /></p> <p>So the first parts of the car are back to stock, I’m shipping out Mike’s new control arms early next week, and hopefully they will see some autocross action soon!</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 08 Jan 2012 00:04:51 GMT459e8b9e-5854-4811-9594-014bab33aa52Undoing the modifications to the 350z, suspension and exhausthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2315/undoing-the-modifications-to-the-350z-suspension<p><img style="width: 200px" alt="Project350z Garage Work" align="right" src="http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/C5CMvuvCwac/0.jpg" />So what did you do this weekend? Did you spend two days under your car? I basically did, well more like 1 day, but it was broken up over an afternoon/evening and then the following morning after I ran to get a new “nut” that I needed to finish things up.</p> <p>Why was I under the 350z? Well, removing the fun parts of course. I planned to remove the front and rear Hotchkis sway bars, along with the TrueChoice Phase 4 Konis (front) and the off the shelf Koni Sports (rear) along with springs/perches. Though in order to deal with the rear sway bar I also ended up pulling the Injen Super SES exhaust system off the car as well and put the OEM exhaust back on.</p> <p>Read the whole blog post for the time lapse video</p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 19 Jan 2012 02:00:07 GMT70fb7aee-f385-4daa-9cb1-052e34360092BSP 350z Suspension Parts and Exhaust for Salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2321/bsp-350z-suspension-parts-and-exhaust-for-sale<p>Alright the time has come to part with the parts. I took some time this evening to take photographs of what I have and what I am trying to sell. Right now I am trying to sell everything locally so prices don’t include any shipping. If I don’t have any interest locally I’m willing to ship the coilovers/springs/shocks but only as a package. </p>Chris HammondSun, 22 Jan 2012 23:59:54 GMT4985e94b-ab80-4112-93b5-9bbb434d312eThanks for 4wdhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2359/thanks-for-4wdDays like today I'm glad I don't have the 350Z anymore and get to drive around in the Tahoe. I love the...Chris HammondTue, 13 Feb 2007 11:00:00 GMT8b911037-6e84-46f6-930a-9f40e2de57e0Cleaning out the 350Z Partshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2366/cleaning-out-the-350z-partsIt was time to get rid of all the parts I still have taking up space in the garage from the 350z! They're all on ebay. SA Koni Sports F/R (used) #150097486225 350Evo Front Sway Bar (used) #150097461781 CT-1 Front Sway Bar (new) #150097477452 Hotchkis Rear Sway Bar (new) #150097479242 If anyone wants to buy them off ebay, let me know, I'll make a St. Louis deal for...Chris HammondFri, 02 Mar 2007 09:39:04 GMT7d3c90de-a95e-455a-bc41-441ce26b4c132004 Nissan 350z Enthusiast model for sale, Half Moon Bay, CA (SOLD)https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2607/2004-nissan-350z-enthusiast-model-for-sale-half-m<h2>(SOLD)</h2> The time is nearing for when the 350z must be sold, so if you are interested hit me up 2004 350z Enthusiast, <75k miles, currently sits stock other than a K&N CAI and a Plenum spacer, and a grounding kit (installed by previous owner).<br /> <br /> Also has a receiver mounted to the rear bumper that I use for a bike rack.<br /> <br /> The car is well maintained, looks great with lower than usual wear and tear of an 8 year old car.<br /> <br /> I also have the suspension still in boxes, see previous posts for more details, but TrueChoice Koni DAs up front and SA Koni Sports in the rear with springs/perches for the rear. This will be sold separate from the car, unless the buyer wants it for additional $$.<br /> <br /> Car is located in Half Moon Bay, CA, and available for purchase at $9,000, if you want the suspension throw in another grand and you can have it all.<br />Chris HammondFri, 02 Nov 2012 14:24:16 GMT6078a312-c2b2-40c4-b55b-2040111d8951All in a day's painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/870/all-in-a-days-paint<p>After yesterday's fun Eric and I spent some time in the garage today. I was awoken this morning around 8:00am by the doorbell, the Dish Network guy showed up right on time, more on that topic tomorrow on http://TheMadBlogger.org. After I got the Dish guy going I sent Eric an SMS to let him know I was out in the garage working. The first thing I need was to lay some fiberglass in the passenger floorboard. I had missed a few spots on that side earlier in the week, and layed some extra resin in the floor to smooth out the pockmarks from the cleaned up rust.  While I let that dry I pulled the extra rear end that I had in the garage so I could start cleaning it up. As soon as I saw the rear end/suspension sitting in the driveway I immediately noticed a difference from the rear suspension that is on the car currently. The current suspension doesn't have a rear sway bar, the spare does. That's fine and dandy, I'd prefer the rear sway bar, the problem though is that the fuel cell frame that I fabricated fits right where the sway bar goes on this spare suspension. I'm not sure what I'll do with that aspect, but Eric and I spent the rest of the morning taking apart the spare rear suspension. We cleaned a lot of parts, figured out that the shocks (at least on the rear) are KYB's, they do look to be fairly new (or unused as that may be more correct). We got just about everything apart, and came up with plenty of parts to clean and paint (Powdercoat for Rande?) later in the project. Before I can use the rear swaybar I'm going to have to figure out what I'll need to change on the fuel cell bracket to make it work. I might be able to move the mounts for the bar a little higher to allow me to use the cell as currently fabricated. From there Eric and I started to prep for paint the interior. We cleaned up some of the dust that had gathered, drilled some pilot holes for the seat bolts in the floor (to get to the rear brackets for the seat mounts we had to cut a whole for a socket to fit through). We brushed, vacuumed, wiped and scrubbed the interior to try to get it ready for paint. We lowered the car down off the jackstands and spent the rest of the afternoon painting the interior with a nice satin black "Chassis Saver" paint that I had picked up on Saturday morning. I had purchased a gravity fed spray gun back in 2003 when I had the 350Z, previously using it once to spray some waste of money wax on the car, the gun hadn't been used since then. I think the paint this time around turned out great, an easy low cost solution that is WAY cleaner than it was prior to all this work. It was a bit laborious, but I think well worth the effort, Eric agrees. Here are some before pictures   And here are some after shots.     There are more photos in my Flickr set for Project240z.com We ended up painting a few coats over most areas of the interior and then let the car sit for a while to dry. Once dry we rolled the car back into the garage and started running fuel lines. We ran both the feed and return lines for the fuel cell, mounted the pump again after removing it for paint, and fixed the fuel lines to the transmission tunnel. Tomorrow I'll be working on the motor again. I hope to get the intake and exhaust manifolds back on the motor so that we can put it in the car Tuesday or Wednesday night. From there it'll be time to start wiring up the...</p> Chris HammondMon, 16 Jul 2007 01:02:45 GMTb3334ee5-f6be-462c-a294-bc93901a87f5All in a day's painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2424/all-in-a-days-paint<p>After yesterday's fun Eric and I spent some time in the garage today. I was awoken this morning around 8:00am by the doorbell, the Dish Network guy showed up right on time, more on that topic tomorrow on http://TheMadBlogger.org. After I got the Dish guy going I sent Eric an SMS to let him know I was out in the garage working. The first thing I need was to lay some fiberglass in the passenger floorboard. I had missed a few spots on that side earlier in the week, and layed some extra resin in the floor to smooth out the pockmarks from the cleaned up rust.  While I let that dry I pulled the extra rear end that I had in the garage so I could start cleaning it up. As soon as I saw the rear end/suspension sitting in the driveway I immediately noticed a difference from the rear suspension that is on the car currently. The current suspension doesn't have a rear sway bar, the spare does. That's fine and dandy, I'd prefer the rear sway bar, the problem though is that the fuel cell frame that I fabricated fits right where the sway bar goes on this spare suspension. I'm not sure what I'll do with that aspect, but Eric and I spent the rest of the morning taking apart the spare rear suspension. We cleaned a lot of parts, figured out that the shocks (at least on the rear) are KYB's, they do look to be fairly new (or unused as that may be more correct). We got just about everything apart, and came up with plenty of parts to clean and paint (Powdercoat for Rande?) later in the project. Before I can use the rear swaybar I'm going to have to figure out what I'll need to change on the fuel cell bracket to make it work. I might be able to move the mounts for the bar a little higher to allow me to use the cell as currently fabricated. From there Eric and I started to prep for paint the interior. We cleaned up some of the dust that had gathered, drilled some pilot holes for the seat bolts in the floor (to get to the rear brackets for the seat mounts we had to cut a whole for a socket to fit through). We brushed, vacuumed, wiped and scrubbed the interior to try to get it ready for paint. We lowered the car down off the jackstands and spent the rest of the afternoon painting the interior with a nice satin black "Chassis Saver" paint that I had picked up on Saturday morning. I had purchased a gravity fed spray gun back in 2003 when I had the 350Z, previously using it once to spray some waste of money wax on the car, the gun hadn't been used since then. I think the paint this time around turned out great, an easy low cost solution that is WAY cleaner than it was prior to all this work. It was a bit laborious, but I think well worth the effort, Eric agrees. Here are some before pictures   And here are some after shots.      There are more photos in my Flickr set for Project240z.com We ended up painting a few coats over most areas of the interior and then let the car sit for a while to dry. Once dry we rolled the car back into the garage and started running fuel lines. We ran both the feed and return lines for the fuel cell, mounted the pump again after removing it for paint, and fixed the fuel lines to the transmission tunnel. Tomorrow I'll be working on the motor again. I hope to get the intake and exhaust manifolds back on the motor so that we can put it in the car Tuesday or Wednesday night. From there it'll be time to start wiring up the...</p> Chris HammondMon, 16 Jul 2007 09:14:37 GMT5426e4b7-dad5-45a2-ad14-8d4d128ff885Corvette Z06 Tinthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2340/corvette-z06-tint<p>Well it is about that time! I think I'm going to have the Corvette windows tinted shortly after the holidays. I guess this time around I'll make sure to get a legal tint done on the car. The 350Z had illegal tint for over 2 years and I only got questioned about it once by a Rolla cop. It also didn't have a front license plate EVER in the 3+ years I owned it, and only got stopped once for that by a podunk Farmington highway patrol officer. The Corvette didn't have a front plate for a week or two before I was kindly told by an officer that if I didn't put it on he would stop me the next time he saw me (that time he talked to me as I was leaving 7-11).</p> Chris HammondFri, 14 Dec 2007 00:55:47 GMT9688d4f5-90fa-4e0d-8f41-b30b97e217f3Using jQuery in your content to add some flare to your DotNetNuke websitehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2295/using-jquery-in-your-content-to-add-some-flare-to<p>With all of the changes to <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/" target="_blank">DotNetNuke</a> 6, a lot can be lost in the fact that you actually maintain the content of your website, and while the maintenance UI has changed, the content that you present is still up to you. A CMS can only do so much for displaying you content, if you want to do some fancy things, branch out of your standard HTML.</p> <p>I recently wanted to do a couple of things for my <a href="http://www.project350z.com" target="_blank">car website</a> (yes, I’m a car guy, so it is easy to use the website for examples).</p> <ol> <li>I wanted to have a random image loaded in the top portion of the pages of the website, changing, or randomly loading, on each page load (not rotating live on the page).</li> <li>I wanted to display a list of recent photos on the home page, and when you click on one of them I wanted them to open up in a light box.</li> </ol> <p>I could have done this in any number of ways, but I chose to implement some simple jQuery for each, below I will show you how.</p> <p>First things first, the website uses my <a href="http://multifunction.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">free DotNetNuke skin, MultiFunction, available via Codeplex</a>. I have some example documentation on how to customize the CSS for the skin to make your site unique, feel free to check out the <a href="http://multifunction.codeplex.com/documentation" target="_blank">Documentation page</a> for those examples.</p> <p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dnndaily/~4/qXnz8ogDGXs" width="1" /></p> Chris HammondTue, 18 Oct 2011 00:59:29 GMTcdabed26-9cf0-4519-b9d2-08c9d4ff02f4DotNetNuke Sitemap integration for your moduleshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2199/dotnetnuke-sitemap-integration-for-your-modules<p>I have thought for a while now that I should do some SiteMap integration for a couple of modules, but I honestly never got around to getting it done.</p> <p align="left">Something triggered my need yesterday, and I got rolling with things rather quickly. <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/EntryId/2666/Creating-a-Sitemap-Provider-For-Your-Module.aspx" target="_blank">Chris Paterra has a great post on how to implement a sitemap for your modules</a>, I ended up implementing one for the <a href="http://dnnsimplearticle.codeplex.com" target="_blank">DNNSimpleArticle</a> module which powers the homepage of Solo2.org and <a href="http://www.SCCAForums.com" target="_blank">SCCAForums.com</a>. I also implemented it for the module that powers <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com" target="_blank">ChrisHammond.com</a>, <a href="http://www.dnnblogs.com" target="_blank">DNNBlogs.com</a>, <a href="http://www.project350z.com" target="_blank">Project350z.com</a> and <a href="http://www.domoticsblog.com" target="_blank">DomoticsBlog.com</a></p> <p align="left">The basics are pretty straight forward for getting a SiteMap integrated with your custom modules. I won’t recreate Chris’ blog post here, but basically you need to create a new class, and populate a list of SiteMapUrls. Depending on your module, and it’s content, that may or may not be difficult.</p> <p align="left">I think I’m going to implement the sitemap for the next release of the Wiki module, should be fairly straightforward.</p> Chris HammondSat, 21 May 2011 00:36:51 GMTca466626-bc42-4b7f-8eb3-1cb62bee729aWorking on a new skinhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2168/working-on-a-new-skin<p>For the past few days I’ve been working on a new <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/" target="_blank">DotNetNuke</a> skin for <a href="http://www.nataliehammond.com" target="_blank">Natalie’s website</a>. I’m nearing completion on it!</p> <p>I’m hoping to have it up over the weekend, and if all goes as planned, I’ll be using the layout (with color/graphic modifications) for <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/" target="_blank">ChrisHammond.com</a> and even an overhaul of <a href="http://www.project350z.com" target="_blank">Project350z.com</a>.</p> Chris HammondFri, 22 Apr 2011 02:34:52 GMT9d105d74-f6bd-4b73-8736-89fffd7a2cc3Upgraded to DotNetNuke 5.6.2https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2145/upgraded-to-dotnetnuke-562<p>Have you upgraded your website to <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">DotNetNuke</a> 5.6.2 yet? I’ve upgraded a few of mine. ChrisHammond.com being one of those.</p> <p>More to come next week, doubtful that I’ll get to them this week with the National Tour in San Diego this weekend!</p> <p>Project350z got enough “likes” on facebook today to get our own URL <a href="http://facebook.com/project350z/">http://facebook.com/project350z/</a> head on over and like us there! Most of the likes actually came through facebook ads. I ran an ad campaign, with a $5 max. I’m rather impressed with the results and the number of impressions the ad saw, and even the click throughs from the page to the site!</p> Chris HammondWed, 30 Mar 2011 00:55:44 GMT0e023a20-1660-456f-8989-01be11e18b362011 So Farhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2084/2011-so-far<p>So what’s gone on so far in 2011? Let’s recap on this 33rd day of the year.</p> <p>So far I’ve kept up with my blogging commitment, every day, You can find a list of all the blogs at <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/">http://www.chrishammond.com/</a></p> <p>I’ve managed to post 33 photos of myself for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157625593520079/">#Flickr365</a> and 33 photos of Jacqueline for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157625597966645/">#Baby365</a>. The baby is growing! She’s up to 13lbs 13oz last time she was weighed and in the 95th percentile for height at her age, a jump from her last measurement.</p> <p>I’ve managed to <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/494/Autocross-Video-from-NorCalUFO-13011.aspx">autocross the 350z</a> once already this year, and have at least 2 more events coming up this month, with a possible 4th as well.</p> <p>The Super Bowl is coming this weekend, I’m ready for it, we’re going to finally get up to Fairfield and see some friends we haven’t seen in probably 8 months!</p> Chris HammondThu, 03 Feb 2011 01:21:11 GMT63cbbf75-6c36-46c6-86e6-1fe1cfda2d49Tis soldhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1887/tis-sold<p>So this won’t be the final post here on Project240z.com, but we are likely coming close to the end. This weekend the car sold, an airman from the local Air Force base in Denver came by and gave me a deposit for the car. I’m going to try to get the title cleaned up this week and hopefully get it to him this weekend if he comes up with the rest of the money.</p> <p>I’ll post again when the car is gone. Thanks for all the interest in the car lately, unfortunately 99% of the interest came after I sold the car, not before, but oh well. For now check out my new toy, <a href="http://www.project350z.com/">http://www.project350z.com/</a></p> Chris HammondWed, 27 Jan 2010 08:55:48 GMTaf4e40a0-8629-47be-9951-7e955c388010Long weekend, and an even longer week coming up!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/947/long-weekend-and-an-even-longer-week-coming-up<p>Well Friday night I picked up the Vette, so far it's great! You can see pictures of it over on www.corvettez06.org. Don't ask me how I got that domain, I'm not sure, somehow it expired in August and no one else had picked it up, I purchased it Friday morning for $6.99! Saturday I spent the day driving the Z06 out in the rain, yes, I know, I'd probably get kicked out of a Corvette club for driving it in the rain, but lucky me, I'm not in a club! It was probably also good throttle modulation practice. I took the car over to Andy's, and took his wife for the requesit new car ride (she got a ride in the 350Z before Andy as well). Then I picked up good ole NJack (my new name for Nick Jackson) and we cruised around St. Charles for a while. From there I ran down to South County and took Russ for a ride, over to his brother Matt's and showed off the car there as well. On the way home from Russ' I stopped by the carwash and gave her a quick spray down. Sunday morning I got up and hand bathed the car. I put two coats of wax on, Rain-X, and then headed out to Natalie's show. On the way to the show I took some pics, and then on the way home I stopped again and tried to get some cool shots as the sun was going down. I've decided, I really need to take a photography class, I take a billion photos, and 99.9% of them suck! Now, for the rest of the week. Monday night I'm speaking at the St. Louis DotNetNuke User's Group meeting. Thursday night we (9 of us from Engage Software) are headed to the Tulsa Tech Fest in Tulsa Oklahoma. I'll be giving three presentations in Tulsa, and leading a roundtable question/answer session for DotNetNuke topics as well! More on the presentations later this week, if I find time between writing...</p> Chris HammondMon, 15 Oct 2007 02:07:00 GMT270abf9e-0b21-442f-bde8-5bb6b62596ebRollin on Dubs!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/583/rollin-on-dubs<p>The new ride is now rolling on 20s! Why you might ask? Because they were a great deal at the time of purchase. I have these wheels and the stock set of wheels/tires to put back on when the weather turns for the worse.Between the 5 cars in the driveway/garage there are 20 wheels and tires on the ground, that's in addition to the 12 extra wheels for the 350Z all with tires on them, plus the 7 extra tires for the 350Z and 4 wheels/tires for Tahoe.That makes for a total 36 wheels and 43 tires in my household. Add 2 more to each of those if you count the wheels/tires for the Scooter! posted from...</p> Chris HammondWed, 30 Aug 2006 10:39:00 GMTaa7259d5-7d55-494b-9ea3-eb5c9766b549Window Tint in St. Louis from Wicked Stickershttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2347/window-tint-in-st-louis-from-wicked-stickers<p>This morning I had to head out to St. Peter's Missouri for a doctor's appointment, before the appointment I dropped the Z06 off at Wicked Stickers in St. Peters to get the windows tinted. As usual they did an excellent job! Wicked Stickers has tinted my 350Z and now the Z06, both looked great. When I got back to the office I was happy to see my Hoosier tires showed up! The Koni shocks showed up yesterday.</p> Chris HammondWed, 06 Feb 2008 15:48:03 GMT1f5800f7-a16d-44b0-a29c-898db068b096What is it with me and Koni shocks?https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2350/what-is-it-with-me-and-koni-shocks<p>Dave brought this up today, every car I've put Koni's on I have had problems. The Z28 I had all sorts of issues with the upper shock mount. The 350Z I was unable to get the Konis off the car when I went to sell the car. The Z06 things went on alright, though when we put them all I found one of the shocks hard to adjust. I thought I had fixed that and gotten it to adjust fine. Well today in Georgia at the Dixie tour I was unable to get the left front shock to adjust on the car.</p> Chris HammondFri, 22 Feb 2008 19:56:02 GMT8286e0dc-af46-406a-87f1-bce2f6edb685St. Louis and St. Charles Missouri Window Tinthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2346/st-louis-and-st-charles-missouri-window-tint<p>The Z06 is headed out to Wicked Stickers in St. Peters Missouri to get Tinted on Wednesday morning. If you're looking for window tint in the St. Louis or St. Charles areas be sure to stop by Wicked Stickers. They also tinted my 350Z a few years back, an awesome job and it held up without any issues whatsoever. If you head out there, be sure to tell them CorvetteZ06.org sent you!</p> Chris HammondMon, 04 Feb 2008 11:19:29 GMTa82cd543-1330-4d70-af45-044286f43cc2The Mazda gets no lovehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2287/the-mazda-gets-no-love<p>I can’t believe it, but tonight after work I came home and washed, rain-x’d and waxed the Mazda CX-7. We’ve owned it since December, and this is the first time I’ve put wax on it.</p> <p>I’m so ashamed, I don’t know if I have ever owned a car (<a href="http://www.project240z.com/">besides the 240z</a>) that ever went that long without getting waxed. Even the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5389647720/">Turbobird</a> got waxed and it was a huge mess.</p> <p>The CX-7 was a mess, as is the <a href="http://www.project350z.com/">350z</a> right now. One of the downfalls of living in Half Moon Bay, if you don’t park your cars in the garage (we don’t currently have room) they WILL be wet almost every morning.</p> <p>Perhaps this weekend I can get the garage cleaned and come up with room for at least one of the cars.</p> Chris HammondThu, 08 Sep 2011 00:30:50 GMTf44ec332-d6ed-4e9a-84b4-0d6f49210cc3Mazda CX-7 Trailer Hitchhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2202/mazda-cx7-trailer-hitch<p>This evening, after work and taking Pylon to the vet (he’s got a ulcer or something in his eye) I took 40 minutes to put the new hitch on the Mazda CX-7. I ordered a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EP0GTA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=chrishammondc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B001EP0GTA" target="_blank">Curt trailer hitch</a> for our 2010 Mazda CX-7 from Amazon on Thursday, it arrived today.</p> <p>Why would we need a trailer hitch on the Mazda? Bicycles of course! A couple of weeks ago we got Natalie a new bike, a hybrid, a Cannondale Quick CX-3. I wanted to get one as well, but we decided to hold off a bit as we planned for the move. Well, my wonderful Auntie Carol sent me a graduation gift! Which I am going to use to buy myself a bike!</p> <p>The problem we have is that the Mazda isn’t big enough to put a bike, at least comfortably inside, much less two of them. Of course we could get a roof rack for the CX-7, but I really didn’t want to stick a rack on top, for the aesthetics and the noise. I also want to be able to take a bike or two behind the 350z, and I sure as hell couldn’t (wouldn’t) put a roof rack on it! So a trailer hitch attachment is our best option.</p> <p>I’ve got a trailer hitch for the 350z (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/490/350z-Trailer-Hitch-Take-2.aspx" target="_blank">though it is not installed yet</a>), so it was just a matter of getting the hitch for the Mazda. The installation was super easy, basically the process was to. 1) Remove the 4 rubber hangers for the exhaust to let it move out of the way (resting it up a jack stand as to not put too much pressure up stream. 2) File a frame hole on each side of the car to be side enough for the bolts and spacers to fit into the frame. 3) Fish the bolts and spacers in. 4) Tighten the nuts (75 ft/lbs) 5) Reattach the exhaust.</p> <p>Pretty simple, I didn’t clock myself, but I can’t imaging it took more than 40 minutes. to get on.</p> <p>Tomorrow I’m hoping to go get the bike and a trailer hitch bike rack. I’ll post more when that happens.</p> Chris HammondTue, 24 May 2011 02:03:22 GMT37de4cfa-760f-40c7-9fa7-a9b68ba71fddA year has come and gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1834/a-year-has-come-and-gone<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/Blog/itemId/397/The-Corvette-is-Gone.aspx" target="_blank">So today marks a year since the 2004 Corvette Z06 left our stable</a>. In the past year I’ve autocrossed exactly once, back in March or April of this year in St. Louis. We’ve since moved to Colorado, bought a house, and traded/sold most of our vehicles. We are in the process of trying to build up our stable again, lots of changes going on!</p> <p>Yesterday I went up to Boulder Colorado and looked at and RX-7 for John, the buy who bought the Corvette. It looks like I will be heading up there next weekend and picking it up. It may require a tad bit of work to get it ready for shipping, but John is going to arrange to have a truck pick it up for the haul to DC.</p> <p>I hope to start autocrossing again next year with a new ride, probably another 350z. In the mean time be sure to keep track of the progress on the <a href="http://www.project240z.com/" target="_blank">240Z</a> at <a href="http://www.project240z.com">http://www.project240z.com</a></p> Chris HammondSat, 10 Oct 2009 12:18:30 GMT630c655a-fad9-44fb-9a53-5c374d5ee96dAutocross Schedulehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1882/autocross-schedule<p>This post will be updated over time to include the autocross schedule for the Project 350z.</p> Chris HammondSat, 28 Nov 2009 02:17:21 GMT0d44f9f6-a151-498c-97a2-f1749684f4ebDropping Weight in the 350z, for STRhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1889/dropping-weight-in-the-350z-for-str<p>This blog post will be gradually updated over time as I figure out how to drop weight in the 350z prepping it for STR in 2010.</p> Chris HammondWed, 27 Jan 2010 23:53:21 GMTf300f62e-7b14-44fc-81cc-7f6a1edbadabAutomotive ADHD, I sufferhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2040/automotive-adhd-i-suffer<p>For those of you who have known me for a while this won’t come as a surprise. I suffer from Automotive ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder),  and it is just getting worse!</p> <p>oyNatalie and I are in car shopping mode, we’re looking to downsize from our 2008 F250 FX4, while we love the truck, it is just far too big for our lives in California. We recently sold our horse trailer that we had been trying to sell for a while now. Now that the trailer is gone, we are ready to part with the truck.</p> <p>So we’re looking at what to get. Natalie would like a 4 door wagon, with room for a stroller (or the dogs) in the back, the baby in the back seat, and us up front. We’re thinking that we would like to find a used BMW 5 series to fill that role, though figuring out what year/mileage is something we haven’t decided yet.</p> <p>One thought we are having is that perhaps it might be a good idea to trade the Z in on a 4 door car for myself as well. I test drove a 2011 Mitsubishi Evolution today, oh boy, daddy like!</p> <p>I wouldn’t buy a new Evo, they are far too costly, but I would considering getting a used one and then perhaps an  older (2000-2003) 5-series for Natalie. I went to check out a couple of used 2008 Evo’s at a dealer down in San Jose today but immediately noticed that they were both modified, which totally turns me off. I don’t want to get into a modified car again, I’d rather buy something that is completely stock and if I want to modifiy it do it myself.</p> <p>So we’ll see where this bout with my latest batch of AADHD takes us.</p> <p>Don’t believe me that I have a problem? Here’s a list of the cars I and Natalie have owned over the past 5 years.</p> <p>2003 Nissan 350z<br /> 2004 Ford F350<br /> 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe<br /> 1973 Datsun 240z<br /> 1978 Datsun 280z 2+2<br /> 2005 Chevy Tahoe<br /> 2004 Chevy Corvette Z06<br /> 2005 GMC Yukon<br /> 2008 Ford F250<br /> 1995 Audi A6<br /> 2004 Nissan 350z</p> Chris HammondSun, 12 Dec 2010 22:18:17 GMT489c2425-c45a-4506-9957-83b2372306f5SiriusXM on the Android Phonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1941/siriusxm-on-the-android-phone<p>So I was kind of stoked, Sirius XM finally has an Android Application. I thought cool, now I can listen to Sirius in my 350z which doesn’t have satellite radio at the moment, while our F250 does. So I went to the Android Marketplace, and guess what? It is nowhere to be found, nowhere.</p> <p>So then I thought, okay, I’ll look it up online, found it, and if you want it you can simply go to <a href="http://www.siriusxm.com/android">http://www.siriusxm.com/android</a> but before you visit that URL check out the rest of this blog post and read why I won’t be using SiriusXM on the Android, at least not anytime soon.</p> <p>So I’m a Sirius subscriber, I have been since October when we got the F250, and prior to that I was an XM radio subscriber, since 2003 or possibly earlier. Well, I went to download the Droid app today, and see that you can get a 7 day free trial, I thought, okay, that’s cool, they are trying to get new subscribers, a valid endeavor.</p> <p>But then I started to realize, after digging into SiriusXm.com (and spending 30 minutes trying to get into my account) that my subscription that I have, doesn’t include internet service! Crap, so I went to add it, $3/month! What? I’m already paying $15/month for a car that we barely drive here in California and barely touch the service, and now I have to pay another $3 a month? I’m already paying $15 a month to Zune for the Zune Pass (well worth the investment in my personal opinion).</p> <p>I’m also paying $40/year to Pandora for access to their streaming application for my Droid, and I gotta say, that rocks as well! I drove across the country a couple times this spring using the Pandora app as my source of media in the 350Z and the F250 and it was awesome!</p> <p>So, Sirius, I highly doubt you will see an additional $3/mo from me, a long time subscriber. In fact, when that F250 gets sold or traded in we will likely drop your service all together. I’ll get by just fine with my Verizon 3G service and Pandora, and use my Zunes to fill in the gaps where the service goes away, though being off of AT&T has definitely improved our cell phone coverage!</p> <p>Alright, that’s it, this post probably should of gone to TheMadBlogger, but I posted it here on my personal site nonetheless.</p> Chris HammondThu, 24 Jun 2010 01:53:34 GMT2947b479-4f7e-4379-8846-f624f6a60110Project350z #2 is gone :(https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2606/project350z-2-is-gone-<p>Well, the car was in my hands for almost three years (2 months shy), that is longer than I've owned any car since the first Project350z left my hands in September 2006.</p> <p>One day perhaps I will own another 350z, it isn't in the plans right now, but never say never I suppose.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/8212015143/" style="font: inherit;" title="the last car photo of #project350z by chrishammond, on Flickr"><img alt="the last car photo of #project350z" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8212015143_91b72d00ac.jpg" style="font: inherit;" width="500" /></a></p> Chris HammondFri, 23 Nov 2012 22:34:03 GMT7951af8b-9e87-4142-b291-4b8dd27c6d1b350Z Koni Shock Installhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2047/350z-koni-shock-instal<p style="margin-top: 0px;"><em>This post was originally posted on Solo2.org in <strong>June of 2004</strong>, but the site has gone away (it'll come back) so the post was lost. I think I’ve corrected all the links and am posting it here. I will be doing the same with other old posts.</em></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px;"><em>Disclaimer: This article is just an example of a task we completed on the Project 350Z. We do not recommend you try this yourself unless you are a trained professional. We can not be held liable for any damage to your vehicle or harm you cause to yourself while working on your vehicle. Please use safety equipment, our work was done on a vehicle lift, if you use a jack, use jack stands for safety.</em></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px;"><em>All images in this article are just thumbnails, click on each image to load a larger version in a new window.</em></p> Chris HammondFri, 31 Dec 2010 03:00:36 GMT131a0957-2f07-4b39-b7d6-01a46a561656