I may not have worked on either of the cars lately, but I didn take a few minutes and purchase yet ANOTHER domain name! https://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...

Looking for something to do in St. Louis this weekend? Here's what I've got planned.Forest Park Balloon RaceRacing at Grandprix Speedways. they'll have a close to 1/2 mile track open this weekend.Rallycross at GIR on SundayBuy my car! posted from...

I'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...

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...

So what could it be that made me purchase yet another domain name? My wedding! Well, that actually made me purchase two. The first one being HorsesandCars.com, which I purchased a few weeks back. The second one however, I purchased and setup yesterday. For the wedding my goal is to weight 200lbs, what I did when football started senior year of high school. So, to reach that goal I need to drop 65lbs, yesterday morning I stepped on the scale at 265. So, what's the new domain name? https://65lbs.com keep track as I track EVERYTHING I eat, all the exercise I do, and my daily weight loss (hopefully not gain). Oh, and as of this morning I had 63.5 to go! posted from...

Whoops, I...

Well, 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...

Well I ended up in an RX8 today. Eric Jones asked me to run in BS today as they lost 3 drivers and weren't going to make a class. So far, damn this car is different. I'm far from a smooth speed maintaining driver. I miss my torque!!!! In 4th, out of 5. Hope to move up this afternoon. posted from...

Well, 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!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKmMYhwZrMU   posted from...

Project 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...

Well, tonight was a special night. We had a double header in softball. We lost both games, that makes us 0-10 I think, we just can't seem to put it together. I however, had a great night. I hit my first home run, ever, in my life. I played ball as a kid up until 13, never ever hit one over the fence. Tonight I wasn't even trying, was just trying to go the opposite way, reached out and boom, off it went. At first I stood there, thinking wow. Then I thought, damn I need to run that might drop over the guys head. Then by the time I got to first it was dropping over the fence! That was our 4th run that game, we ended up losing 14-4. We've got two more games left, HOPEFULLY, we can get a...

Here are my runs from today, except for Run 4, which of course would have been the cool one because I hit cones on the camera side, but of course I checked to make sure the camera was recording right before I ran, and apparently turned it off. For some reason the videos aren't working here, you can view them here.   Posted from...

Here's a quick video of me out in the garage today. Funny to watch, though not much progress to be seen.   posted from...

Well, 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...

This 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...

Well, I got to do another preview for GPS tonight. All I can say is, wow, wow, wow. We got a 5 minute session, with 4 drivers total. I started in the back, Natalie quickly got out of the way because I guess I was annoying her always getting on the inside at each corner. I then caught up to the two leaders, made the pass on 2nd and was inside on Turn One, only to have the guy plow me into the wall. I threw my hands up, he didn't even know what he did was wrong, he later told me he made a good move. 3 Turns later I watched him take out the girl who was in front in a hairpin, plowing them both into the outside wall, I passed as the yellow came out which turned into a red flag. From there I was in the lead. They lined us up for the start again, in the position I stopped for the red flag, the guy behind me had no chance, I put a good 40 feet on him before we finished, 2-3 laps later. I took my Oakley driving shoes tonight, left the helmet in the car. I think I'll have to sell one of my 3 layer driving suits and get myself a cheap single layer so I can wear that instead of their provided gear. I can't wait for this place to open!!!! posted from...