Marty Rogan

Ha, this freaked me out when I saw the location as Elkhorn. I thought, this could not be possible. I live in Elkhorn, WI. A small town of 10K people. There was a nice '72 240Z for sale a few months ago only about 40 minutes from me. You just don't see many good ones for sale around here.

Hey Chris, Glad to hear things are looking up for you and you are getting back to working on your cars. The body on 26th looks like it is coming along nicely! Marty

You have quite the stable there! I really like the Viper Dark Green Pearl on a 240Z.

Put me on your list for a set too. Thanks, Marty

Yes. Basically you can put them on anything with a bleeder valve.

I was surprised to see it show HP. Every other dyno run I have seen in Australia showed power in KW.

Since this was done in Australia, it is probably KPH, which is about 109 MPH.

I have never heard of them before. But this sets off all kinds of alarm bells for me. I would never send somebody money and then hope they ship me the car. Nobody will ship a car to you at their expense and then come take it back if you don't like it. Finding a good 240Z for $4K today is also hard to believe. Your signature says you are in California. You should be able to find good 240Z's out there, that you could go see in person. That is the best way to buy these cars. Take your time, and wait for the right one that you can buy directly from the owner.

I have had the 3500 and the 5000 and really like them. I take my 5000 to the track with me all the time. And yes, it is heavy, but I think the added safety it provides over jack stands is well worth it. Plus, the newer design has wheels built in, so it helps compensate for the weight somewhat.

Fantastic work! That 903 paint job is just beautiful. 903 was the original color of my car. You just don't see many in that color around.

If you are in a cold environment, electric heat will bankrupt you. I am probably going to go with radiant tube heating in my shop, like they use in some factories. My buddy has it in his 1,500 ft hanger. He pays only about $40/month, and he keeps the temp at 65 all winter long. When the heat is on, all of the surfaces are warm to the touch. Even the floor. I can see the benefit of being able to take the wheels off with the 2 poster. However, you would not be able to use it for storage. I have been leaning toward the 4 poster, with a jack bridge option to get he wheels off.

That is a very nice shop! What did you use for insulating the roof? What kind of heat do you have? Insulation and heating are next on my list for my shop once the weather starts getting better around here. Why did you opt for the 2 post vs a 4 post lift?

That's some nice driving!. I have seen those at the track. They are just stupid fast, since they are so light. The power to weight ratio is way better than most anything out there.

As long as you are using a redirect up on the C Pillar, you should be ok then. Good to hear.

Jeff, You mentioned in this video that you plan to mount the seat belt retractor on the wheel well. That is a really bad idea, unless you install an anchor point up high on the pillar. If you anchor it down low, so that it just goes up and over your shoulder, then down again to clip into the buckle, you could compress your spine in a crash. I do some racing with NASA (National Auto Sports Association) here in the U.S.. Here is the section in the regulations that addresses this: "The shoulder harness should be mounted behind the driver and above a line drawn downward from the shoulder point at an angle of no more than twenty (20) degrees from horizontal with respect to flat ground. " I hope this makes sense to you. If you have questions, let me know. Marty

First off, I don't know much about 280Z's as I have only owned 240Z's. But this sounds like a problem I had with my first 240Z. It had been running fine. Then one day, I could turn the key, it would crank and fire, then die. I realized that as soon as I let go of the key from the start position it would die. If I held the key, it would continue to run. It turned out the be the ballast resister going bad. Once I replaced that, it was back to normal. If the 280Z has a ballast resistor, I would replace that and see what happens. Good luck!

Ok, I get it now. It just made me scratch my head every time he called it the 680.

I guess I missed something along the way. Why do you call it the "680g"?

I had a contractor out at the house for some other work. I had him look at the barn while he was here. He also talked about the macerator pump. Unfortunately, his plumber blew out his knee before he could come out and work up a quote. I had heard stories about raining inside of a pole barn. The contractor recommended the steel ceiling , with blown in insulation in the attic. He recommended some additional ventilation to keep the air flowing in the attic. Sheet rock might be tricky. The trusses are 8' apart. I am not sure if the trusses are designed for the additional framing that would be required. I am trying to get the company that built the building to come out and discuss my options. I also want to discuss with them the best way to insulate. The walls that are finished so far do not have a vapor barrier. That really concerns me. I don't want the walls sweating and get moisture in the insulation.

It is 36'x64', so just over 2,300 square feet. Up here they call it a pole ban. Build as big of a garage as they will let you. You never have enough space. You need a large space to work on No 26 & 27.

Yeah, that is probably a wise choice. I already have a ton of car stuff in there, but I could paint half of it at a time and then move the stuff over to the other side to finish it up.

It sounds like a large (4'x8??) metal topped bench on casters is the way to go. Right now there are 10 pretty crappy barn style lights in there. I bought some LED light fixtures that I believe are 6500 lumens each. I am going to need more than 10 of them though. If I go with a white steel ceiling that should make it pretty bright, I would think. One of the original plans was to put in a 6'x10' bathroom, with a shower, so I could get cleaned up before going back into the house. My architect student son laid it out for me. I figured the parts mezzanine would go up on top of there. As I start to price things out, I am afraid it would cost too much to put in the bathroom. The barn is 200+ feet from the house. That is a lot of trenching, water and waste pipes. I would also need to tie that into the existing septic tank, if that is even possible. Another car guy down the block wants to do the same. He got a quote of $3K just for a septic tank. I will have to think real hard on that part.

Thanks Jeff, A work bench is definitely higher up on my priority list. My wife was suggesting that I buy a work bench. The ones I looked at seemed pretty sturdy, with steel bases and a 1 inch hardwood top, in either 6" or 8" sizes. However, they were only 24" wide. That seemed too narrow to me. How wide is your bench? I was thinking it may be a better idea to just build one. Then I could make it to any size I like. I was also thinking about making it slightly taller too, so I would not have to bend over to work on stuff. I really like the idea of a steel top and having it on casters. Having a lot of the shop be flexible in the configuration is really desirable. Putting the compressor outside in an insulated box makes a lot of sense. Why put up with all that noise if you don't have too. As a good friend of mine always says "The planning is 80% of the fun in a project". I plan to have a lot of fun this winter!

Thanks for the compliment. I am really getting to like being in the country, away from the congested city. I looked at Exmark, but they were pretty expensive and they would not deal on it. I ended up with a Ferris. The specs on it were about the same as the Exmark. It started out much cheaper, were willing to deal and then they issued a $400 rebate. It was a no brainer at that point.

I bought a 61" commercial zero turn mower. It can do up to 10 MPH on flat ground. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours to cut. I usually do it over 2 days, so it does not feel like lawn mowing is my second career. And with the zero turn, it s ALMOST fun.