Ricklandia

Mike, Thank you, Thank you! That's PERFECT! The key element in the recordings for this is to gather as many "steady" sets as possible. What I mean by steady is to get a sample of the engine at idle, for example, as steady as possible for a minimum of 10 seconds [or so]. The longer the sample, the smoother the looping can be made and therefore the more realistic it will sound. Next up would be as long a sample as possible at 1500 RPM [or so]. Again, target length would be around 10 seconds. And so on, and so on, up through the RPM range as much as you're comfortable. No need to redline the engine, the simulation can bend the sound samples to get those upper RPMs. Another set of sounds would be any off acceleration sounds. If your engine backfires under off pedal, all the better! No need to worry about stripping the audio from the video, I can do that. Besides, I'd love to see the video of you Z anyway! If you don't have a means to send or post the video, just let me know and I can send you a link for you to send it to my office. Again, many thanks, Mike!

No volunteers?

Okay, a bit of an odd request but here goes... Would anyone be interested in helping me gather up some sound recordings of their 1st Gen 240/260/280Z? A student in the UK made a nice computer model version of the 240Z for the rFactor2 Racing Simulator program. However he did not have access to the proper sound samples necessary to make it sound right. When I saw his work, I helped him with refining it a bit - getting the 4SPD and 5SPD gear rations correct, tweak the suspension specs to make it handle properly, etc. All that's left is a proper sound pack for it. For those unfamiliar, these type of sound packs are comprised of a few specialized recordings, such as the engine starting up, idling, and a few more. But most importantly is getting a set of good quality recordings of the engine at specific intervals of RPM range. For example, a clean recording of the engine for approximately 10 seconds at 1000 RPM, 2000 RPM, 3000 RPM, etc. Once this is done and the samples are edited into loops, the application can "bend" them together to make a very realistic sounding engine throughout it's full RPM range. Sadly, my Z out of commission and likely to be so for some time [no $$$]. If someone would be kind enough to assist on this, it would at least give me the ability to drive my Z "virtually" on race tracks all over the world. Doesn't driving your Z on the famous Nurburgring sound like fun? If anyone would like to help, please send me a private message or reply here.

I hope that doesn't mean you're "gone". I haven't posted in a while [+2 years - you don't want to know] but you input here was very helpful while I was working on my Z. Rick [still housing the Z in the garage] Stratton - Miami, FL

Glad to know I'm not the only one! I guess being married to an English teacher for 20 years has rubbed off on me a bit. Funny thing is, it doesn't bother her one bit. She points out to me that the English language (as well as all languages I'm sure) is an ever evolving creature. Point in case; 15th or 14th century "English" is almost unrecognizable today. I only wish my grade school teacher had felt the same way, sure would have saved my knuckles from feeling her wrath after turning in less than perfect writing assignments! Then again, I guess that kind of teaching is "old school" now too.

When did the word "ESCAPE" become "ECKSCAPE"? (or exscape if you want to make any kind of effort to use the englick language). Same goes for "ASK" as opposed from "AXE" ... Just a semi-annual rant from an oldtimer...

- my new desktop wallpaper!

We are greatly saddened to hear of your loss - Carrie and Rick

FWIW - I downloaded the file from Google video, plucked the actual link out of the gvp file and downloaded it as an AVI file. I found a little utility on the net called Gvi2Avi which converts the video from a Google "encrypted" file into a regular DIVx encoded AVI file. Wow, what a difference! Can run it full screen now and it looks spectacular - not the blocky, stuttering video when streaming from the Google server. It only takes a few extra minutes but it's well worth the effort.

Keep 'em comin, PLEASE! I could watch that on an endless loop and never get tired of it, especially while mine is laid up for repairs. I've been thinking it would be great fun to gather a collection of videos from the members here, just a few minutes each as a passenger in their Z's. Pick a spot in your hometown, or a favorite place you like to drive, and share it for all to see. As we have members all over the world, and now with places like Google Video or YouTube to post them for free...? Whenever I get mine roadworthy, I promise to contribute. Question: Did you do anything special to eliminate wind noise on the microphones? So many of these incar videos posted on the net, all you can hear is wind noise. I love how with yours you can hear the engine sing, and the tires squeal.

Given how much those Hemi's are worth these days, it doesn't suprise me at all, especially if it's an older Hemi block.

-44- in a couple of months. The restoration has fizzled for a bit while I try to figure out how to put two kids through college. Anyone need a kidney?:nervous:

Wow! No, wait... I think it's more like W:knockedouW!

Perfectly said. It was a hugely common problem back in the mid 70's when mechanics were forced to "de-tune" all those high compression, high horsepower engines of the late 60's - early 70's to deal with the switch to unleaded and lower octane gas. You retarded the timing in an effort to minimize pinging, but the consequence could be dieseling if you went too far. Richening up the fuel mixture also helped to avoid ping, but again exacerbated the dieseling problem. Z-Train has it perfect; timing, idle, mixture

When you find a "mature" car like that, in such good condition, why on earth would you want to change the paint color??? She's a survivor - not only does that make her worth MORE, but it also adds some charactor to the car. Tell Pops if he really wants a silver one, go out and find one that needs rescuing, save one from the scrapper instead of ruining one that is perfectly fine as she is. :stupid:

Uhhh... LeMans (Steve McQueen)?

Personally, I think you are doing everyone a great service to speak up when you see a car being misrepresented on eBay, or any other site for that matter. I think it's one of the attractions for new members here - finding a reliable and trustworthy source of information. I have a serious problem with people who intentionally misrepresent themselves and their autos on eBay, they wouldn't last 2 sec. in the serious car collector world. And believe it or not, we are slowly beginning to approach just that, serious collector car status. Yeah, there are always going to be low dollar Z's to be found, but even they are getting rarer, especially in certain areas.

6 months ago, a new neighbor moved into the rental property a couple of houses down. About a month later, an old Maserati Quattroport III appeared in the driveway. It sat there for a few weeks, and I strolled over to take a look at it. Bad shape, rust everywhere - NYC stickers on the windshield, I figured it to be an obvious road salt victim. Somebody had started tearing it apart with thoughts of a restoration, but if it were me I would have stopped too. Just too much work to make sense, but then again I am doing the same with my Z (love is blind). Sitting around the garage, having a few beers, looking at the Mas sitting just a few doors down... I started to consider what that DOHC V-8 would look like slipped into my Z... Hmmmm Impractical? Yup. Expensive? Likely. But it sure would be sexy! If I can ever catch the owner, I'm gonna ask him what he plans to do with that POS in his driveway.

I could be wrong here, but I believe the Black Pearl cars were (are) fairly rare. You may have yourself a little gem there, albeit a niche gem. The thing about Z cars in the collector car market, they are much like the MG or Triumph: ther are plenty of them to choose from, even after all these years. It doesn't make them any less appealing, in fact it may actually help the appeal. The typical example (as in my case) being; "Jeez, look at that old Z. I used to have one when I was "X". Sure would be fun to have one again..."

I'll chime in with ZBane here and suggest two words: ROAD SALT Evil - just plain evil. Having lived in S. FL for over twenty years now, I still can't get over the fact that when I put my (daily driver) car on a lift and look around, it's as clean as a whistle - no dirt, no clay, no rust, nada. And this car is now 15 years old. Used car prices here in FL (IMHO) are higher than in the majority of the east coast because of that simple fact.

Hmmm... now that's something I hadn't thought of. I just assumed it was on 100% of the time. The steering on the Miata is tight enough (and quick enough) at highway speeds that it's almost a drawback (ie too quick). I'll have to do some research on that but I have a gut feeling it's on 100% of the time. As for the AC clutch, that's something else to consider. It take it your thoughts are that when the AC clutch is OFF, it's not free-wheeling as it should? Something else I never considered, simply because I can feel the clutch cycling on/off during normal conditions but never heard any belt squeeling at all. In fact, with the AC off I still do not hear anything odd, but I hadn't thought to actually look. What makes it so frustrating is that it only seems to happen after the long run TO work, but never on the return, or "around town" driving. In fact, traffic was very light this morning going to work, and it lost PS again but this time is stayed "lost" when I arrived at work. I'm assuming that this was because traffic was light enough that I never really stopped (for traffic) at all. As for the Alfa... "Marcello" is my wife's baby. Ironically, although it's physically larger than my Miata on the outside, it's smaller inside. Enough so that I can't comfortably drive the car. It's not so bad to make a quick trip to the grocery, but any more than that and it might be dangerous. The steering wheels literally presses on my thighs so a tight turn become like a juggling act.

Thought I'd throw this out here as I've had no luck finding an answer anywhere else, and we all know Z-folk are prime with knowledge... My daily is a '91 Miata (1.6L, PS, AC). All summer long, I run the AC with no troubles. Winter has finally arrived here in S. FL (if you can call it that), at least it's cool enough to turn off the AC and roll down the windows. Now comes the strange part... If I turn OFF the AC, under certain circumstances I lose my power steering. What makes it more difficult to understand is that it doesnt happen all the time. For example, I can putz around town all day and it doesnt happen. However, on my drive to work, I put about 20 miles of highway driving (80MPH), followed by 2 miles of slower traffic (40MPH) before I make my first sharp turn (on ramp to another highway). That's when I notice the power steering gone. I then put another 10 miles or so in semi-highway driving (sometimes stop and go, sometimes not). When I get to my destination, most times the power steering has returned, ...but sometimes not. At the end of the day, stroll to the parking lot, fire up the car and... bingo, power steering is working fine. Get this, it has NEVER happened on the reverse trip home! Same route, same distance. Now, just to add a little MORE mystery... this is not new. Last year, the same thing happened. Same scenario, same circumstances. The thing is, I never did anything about it as last winter wasn't much of a winter at all, and I ended up running the AC fairly regularly throughout the "winter". But on the odd occasion I DID turn off the AC, the same thing would happen. This year, from April to this week (Nov 20), the AC has been on consistantly and the problem never appeared. Not once. I have been rattling this problem over and over in my head for over a year now and I still can't figure out why it would do this. No chance I'm taking it into the shop, I can see the dollar signs rolling in the mechanics eyes already; new pump, new lines, new Johnson Rod... you know the story. I'm open to ideas as this one has me stumped. BTW, the power sterring fluid is full, has never leaked, and no signs of foaming. Hoses look fine, belt is fine. Basically, everything appears to be as it should, everything functions as it should.

What I meant was, does your camera have a windows driver that allows HandyAVI to "fire" the camera, much like it would if it were a webcam? I have a Nikon D70 at the office that I know can be fired via USB command. the other software I mentioned (MovieSalsa) I believe can sniff for specific file folders to "add" frames to a movie. this allows for the movies to be made automatically from a still camera. In fact, you can even tell it "make me a movie from 6am - 6pm..." and such.