USED

iTrader: (12)

Ouch! Burn on me. How'd you get so witty? Must be all that Monday Night Football you've been watching.

People are not getting upset. They're getting confused. Just like the theme of this thread.

There was a point to all of this at one time. Let's try to keep it that way.

Navygolf13

iTrader: (5)

Pecora,
If you were to do that you would be extremely HAPPY!!! I can tell you that I have more fun driving this car than anything else that I have ever been in. And, yes to please everyone here I have ridden in plenty of Porsches and Ferraris and the token Viper, I will take this over anything.....except maybe a Bugatti!

Navygolf13

iTrader: (5)

You misunderstood what I said, I said that the shops I talked to did not recommend the oil pressure gauge and the fuel pressure gauge as much as EGT, Boost, and A/F. That is what I said, at the same time from what I know about the way these things work is that if it is tuned right and you are set on wastegate and CANNOT turn up the boost then you do not NEED the gauges. I understand it is recommended that they be there so you can see when something is going wrong, but it is not paramount.
As far as the clutch, I believe I was told that if you are running around 400 at the wheel it should hold, I am not an expert on the clutch or any of this other stuff, I go off of what I am told, see and have been able to research. Obviously there are many people on here that know way more than I do, but also there are many people on here that claim to knwo everything that do not know as much as I do. Just trying to say what I have learned and see what evryone elses opinion is.

pecora55

You've caught me buddy, I love MNF! Im actually pretty happy MNF is moving over to ESPN to be honest.. Who knows what I can learn from that... Get a clue USED... I don't know what is confusing? He said here is what is going on the car for 20k... Pretty simple? I think it is.. Back on topic... SO is there a ballpark date set when the car will be sent to VRT with the check?

mraturbo

iTrader: (1)

Thanks.

This project is fun and as mentioned before, whether USED does this or not, we will have a car and run it with a Modena soon enough with the terms set here. Gauges aren't an issue as long as the install isn't crazy. Something reasonable can be worked out.

NOTE:
Some of our customers will spend thousands of dollars for Just Gauges to make the install incredible. Look at Eagle's car that was in Sports Compact. That isn't $400 worth of gauges and install that is for sure.

M


Nice Gauges...Big $$$

Philthy

iTrader: (3)

Gauges in plain view of the driver is also a good idea, IMO...

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

I agree with USED on getting back on the topic. We need to figure out what the parameters of "daily driver" are. I have already stated my opinion on this earlier and I already know USED's opinion. What about yours Michael?

Hardly anybody runs their car in daily driver mode on the track. If my car were a daily driver with 400whp TT setup, I would bring spare tires and fill up with race gas whenever I went to the track. That doesn't change its daily driver status. Hell VRT's 800whp G35 is Michael's daily driver and it runs nothing but C16 or 100 octane. What about a 91 octane tune, but running 100 octane at the track for safety?

I believe that as long as it fits within the budget R-Compound radials are more than fair. The Ferrari's stock tires are already comparable to R-Compound radials anyway.

nissansource

iTrader: (10)

ok screw it lets just use my car =)

mraturbo

iTrader: (1)

We can build a car that is safe on or off the track. Otherwise it isn't worth anything IMO. We like running 100 octane on the track for safety, cooling, and piece of mind.

Most cars that are at the track fuel up with 100 octane. If that is an issue, it isn't an issue. Won't make a differnece for the 8.5 psi 400 WHP goal anyway.

Question:

Are We Doing This Or Not?

If yes let's sign a contract and get the show on the road...

M

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

I agree. Lets get going on this. I wan't to make sure I can make the event so lets pick a date.

MoodDude

Audiblemayham car only weighted 2850# without spending a dime, yet now he went TT and complained about the difference in the weight.

On track only one component is your wieght to power ratio. The other is your braking and handling (most important). Guess what - shaving off weight help all of these. Adding TT helps the weight to power ratio and kills your braking and handling (because it adds a lot of wieght to the car). That is why I still feel that getting you car to weight as little as possible and putting on some slicks is the best thing you can do for the $.

rookie

iTrader: (10)

^^ Except on the straights where you get smoked. It's like saying a N/A tracked prepped Miata is going to walk a Z06 the entire course unless it's all twisties than it's entirely possible.

SinCity350Z

iTrader: (19)

Yes, but audiblemayham's car is no longer safe for the street. Tampering with the factory airbags is also not legal, so technically his car isn't even street legal. No airbags without racing seats, 5-point harnesses and a roll bar is highly unsafe for the street. Not to mention the fact that he took out his bumper frames leaving only the thin plastic bumpers to protect in an impact. I don't know if he removed the door protection bars too, but I am guessing that he did. If thats the case, he has removed all of the protection from side, front, and rear impact while also removing his protection inside the car with the airbags. The purpose of this is to have a safe daily driver and that, aside from the fact that it is technically not street legal, is not safe.

Furthermore, just as important, if not more, than light weight is weight distribution. Thats the reason that the 350Z doesn't feel as heavy as it really is on the track. With the right setup a 3000 lb. car can out handle a 2000 lb car with a lesser setup.

neo

Do it or otherwise move on... I'm trying to discuss with VRT about a 600-700rwhp machine myself. I'm having a hard time getting a response... maybe from all this BS going on.
Peace

mraturbo

iTrader: (1)

Man, You don't return my calls.

Hit me up.

M

Eagle1

iTrader: (2)

I have been so busy that I have missed all the fun, fluff and dander of this thread. So much work it has been a total drag the last couple of weeks.

Couple of points.
VRT customer service. These gents have been beyond good to me. When I did my car up, and I did a lot more than $20k to my car before they got it, and much more than $20k with them after they got it, I already had a four wheel bbk. Mike and his team said....you need to change your brakes given the way you are going to drive it. I declined thinking that my kit was more than adequate. then at Cal Speedway the first time, I totally cooked the rears, while also proceeding to knock about 12 seconds off my lap times on the 530 BB JWT set up compared to my runs with the supercharger set up I had before. Hmmm.
So what did Mike do? He felt so strongly about it that he sold me a four wheel AP Racing kit at HIS COST and threw in the labor FREE. Because I had spent a lot of money making the car as good as I could...only he knew that it was not going to be "right" for me. I got the old kit rebuilt and sold it for a great price, so the net difference was very affordable. He didn't have to do that. He could have just said "I told you so" and then put in the new one at standard price. But he felt he had made "enough" of a "fair" profit on my set up, we had become friends in the give and take of the build process, and it really mattered to him that the car fulfill the promise and intention of the build which we had conceptualized together. I know that if my car was not run as aggressively on the track as it is that I would not have needed that change, and so did he. And he was in no way upselling me to something I did not need. And when my error was made plain, he helped me with a generous solution. He is not a greedy guy. He deserves to make a profit because this is one tough and competitive business...but he left money on the table when it was his for the taking.

Let us stick with the plan here, can he build a car that will beat the Ferrari? Absolutely. There are a bunch of us with his cars out here that have been doing that with what has become to the Ferrari guys a distressing regularity. (But let us face it, there are bucketloads of guys in Corvettes, STi and Evo cars doing it too!) Can he do it for $20k in mods? Closer call.....the answer I believe is "yes", but the other note that I would make, and others are essentially getting to is....but that is NOT a car that I would build or want for myself. I would want "gauges" or this or that in addition to the spec list posted. But that is not the challenge; the challenge is for $20k can it be done? I would not bet against Mike on that one. Now, can you have the car that you, as an experienced enthusiast or professional might spec yourself for $20k? Probably not. I know that I would not build my car that way and leave it at that. But, as we have clarified, that is not the point.

On pricing. The bundled Happy Meal is the only way to go. If you are going to do this, do it right. You get SCREWED if you buy your stuff, even with retail discounts, one part or one mod at a time. Mike and I have spent HOURS together going over a very carefully thought out menu of parts, to be added in stages in series, which adds BALANCED performance enhancements to the taste and needs of the enthusiast. It also cuts the labor cost WAY LOW. Because you only hoist the car once, you take all the crap of once, you do all the work together and you do it efficiently. Hours and hours of costly labor for a top mechanic team is saved. And when you pull out on the road or the track at each stage you don't get more than a couple of blocks before your eyes are wide and you exclaim that "Holy guano Batman, I made the smartest decision of the month in putting this package in, I can feel the difference immediately and it is fantastic."

And finally, there are some prototype pieces there that come direct from manufacture overseas built to VRT spec, so his margin is a bit different on that than a resale of a Stillen Sway Bar where other folks in the middle of the commerce stream have taken their "cut" and the margin is skinny. So they not only work better...they cost less. Nothing wrong with that picture. The coilover kit, the front UCA, the rear camber links.........there is some nifty stuff that is still prototyping on their cars that is not in the market yet (because you want to run the snot out of it for awhile to make sure it holds up robustly to use and abuse).

Now. To the business before us. I see the cards dealt, the rules agreed, the chips in the pot.....and Michael has called the hand. Time to put up or shut up.

Bullitproof

iTrader: (3)

Wow Eagle1!!!(or should I say Leader1 from the Go-Bots) That was a very informative post, but you could have left out the last line. Mike and Used are in contact with each other and they know their timetables. No need for you to swoop in at the end and start stirring the pot.

Z Quik 1

iTrader: (1)

tag

mraturbo

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Ed.

Hopefully USED and I can come to an agreement on Monday as is our plan.

Will keep you all posted.

BULLITPROOF, when we have this event (If with USED or NOT) I would love to see you here.

Your exchanges are awesome!

M

Bullitproof

iTrader: (3)

Thanks Mike, nothing but love homie!!!!!