dbski

I'm looking for a medium and an x/small '18 animal. new or used.

About 10 years ago I was on a week long sailing trip in the Apostle islands and when we were leaving the harbor for the first time I was on the helm. I glanced down at the sea water temp gauge and it read 70. I thinking , no way, so I knocked on the glass thinking its stuck or something, doesn't move. So I figured it's broke. We got to out first anchorage later in the day. We all donned our wetsuits so we could go for a swim jumped in and much to our surprise it was right! For the rest of the week we swam in nothing but suits. Had to be one of the few times ever the lake was that warm!

75 ft to the public lake I free ski on occasionally and also live on. 9 miles (10 min.) to the private ski lake we mostly ski on.

Someone explain to me why tires are sized metrically for width (275, 295, 305) but inches for diameter (17, 18, 19)!

When I taught drafting I had my kids do drawings in both cm/mm and inches. Kids would bitch for a few drawings but after a few they would often ask why can't we do them all in cm/mm. If you want to mystify about 90% of high school students ask them to find 5 13/16" on a ruler/tape measure! Saying all that, when I still want to have a true feeling how big an engine is I always convert to cubic inches, 2 litres=120cu. in.

It's so sad that because of a few shitheads the rest of us have to walk around on eggshells. I was a high school teacher for 30 years and was constantly aware of how precarious many situations were. In the 30 years of teaching I physically touched one female student. She was a great kid I had in class for 4 years and her only parent died suddenly. She took a week off school and her female counselor was accompanying here around to get readjusted. When she came to my room I expressed my sympathy to her and gave her a side hug with one arm in front of her counselor and even then I felt like I was taking a risk. It was very common because I taught CAD that kids would come after school to get caught up. I was always nervous when there would be just myself and a female student in the room. I would NEVER have the door closed as I knew all it would take was one unsubstantiated accusation from a female student and I'd be toast. It would have been headline news I'm sure on all the local TV stations. I totally understand and agree with all the precautions that are now in place but it does put a wall to a degree between people. Sad.

I've been a life long race fan. My Dad was a mechanic on a stock car during my youth and racing has been in my blood as long as I remember. Saying that most racing today sucks! I live 5 miles from Michigan International Speedway, went to the first race ever held there, and now rarely ever go to a race. There's maybe 10 -15 laps of a 200 lap race that are interesting and if there are no cautions you can cut that in half. I've always followed drag racing but had never attended a national event. 2 years ago I went to the Summit Nationals at Norwalk. Unf---ing believable! If you've never seen the fuel cars, GO! 0-330MPH in 3.8 seconds. I've watched it on TV numerous times, not even close to seeing it live. One word of caution, if you go take hearing protection and not just foam ears plugs but full ear muffs. The sound is unbelievable. On one pass the sound knocked a half-full bottle of water off the seat next to me. At night its even more spectacular, the flame out of the zoomies shoots 15'above the bodies. Another cool thing is that everyone is welcome in the pits. You can stand 5' next to a car as they strip in down to a bare block and rebuild it after every pass. Don't make the rookie mistake I did and stand behind the car when they warm it up. The nitro fumes will about kill you!

Been having way to much fun working on the Hot Rod! I'm ready to get my state inspection, get my VIN # and plate and start DRIVING! The car is far from done but I have everything done to pass inspection. I'd much rather be driving it while working on it vs. thinking about it. I never planned on painting it this year. I want to drive it this summer to work out any bugs and decide what changes I want to make before paint. I received the kit on Nov. 23 and these pictures were taken on April 19 . Considering I lost over a month of work time waiting for parts I'm very happy with the progress. If any of you are contemplating tackling a Factory Five car I highly recommend it. It's not just straight bolt together, you'll have moments of frustration but with a little diligence it's a whole bunch of fun. Factory Five's tech support is very helpful and taking the Build School is a good way to determine if you want to take the plunge. I've driven the car a couple of times as I live in the middle of nowhere and it's going to be a whole bunch of fun! I hope I still have a license at the end of the summer.

Great story, sounds like a great kid. We had a saying when I was a teacher, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". I bet Luca has great parents who are immensley proud of him.

When I was there no course and I was really surprised how cool the water was.

@Ed_Johnson Does this look familiar?

I'll second hiking in Glacier! In my youth did several 5-6 day backpacking trips. Later with my wife did several day hikes. For my money best scenery in the US!

69 Stang my favorite of all time, wish I still had the one I owned a long time ago. I did post some photos with the body on. It's a Factory Five 33 Hot Rod.

Defintely EFI. Borla has a system that looks just like the 4 Webers that was the hot set up on Cobras and GT 350s. They had a display at the Autorama in Detroit last weekend and it's the perfect setup for the look I'm going for. The only problem...$6200!

Not a lot of elevation changes in Michigan! I took the Factory Five build school and they actually stressed its very easy to overpower the car. The car is designed for the Mustang rearend and width, so the 8.8.

@Orlando76 I bought the engine from Blueprint engines which has an affiliation with Factory Five. I wasn't happy with the service I received but I'm am happy with the product. The engine I bought is just their base small block Ford as I'm a bit budget limited. It dynoed at 237 Hp and 317 torque which in a 2100 pound car should be ample for awhile. It's a carb engine which simplified the build. My long term plan is to upgrade with aluminum heads, more cam, and an 8-stack fuel injection. The engine has very nice dress-up accessories on it such as a 8-rib front drive and numerous polished items. I added the Cobra valve covers and also have the Cobra air cleaner. It's not on yet as I'm having a spacer machined to clear the HEI distributor. It's a complete package with engine and a Tremec T-5 tranny. I didn't want to use any used parts in the build so I bought a new rearend from Moser, expensive but very nice. It's a Ford 8.8 with limited-slip and 3.55 gears.

It RUNS!!!!!!! Fired up the engine for the first time today. Once we figured out the clutch neutral switch it popped right off. If I had the gas pedal in it, it would be drivable right now. Getting to this point has been an exercise in frustration nothing my doing. If you're thinking of tackling a kit car just double the time anyone promises you for delivery of parts. I talked to the crate engine company in the fall and they told me 6 weeks to get an engine. I ordered the engine in November and they tell me 6 weeks. After numerous phone calls from me and excuse after excuse 12 weeks later I get the engine! Then they assure me the engine is set up for the Hot Rod and when we go to drop it in the alternator is mounted wrong. To install the engine I had to remove it and wait another week and a half for the correct mounting hardware. This made waiting 3 months for the rest of my parts from Factory Five a little easier. I'd get a few parts and was able to work a day or so and then back to waiting. Basically for a month and a half the car just sat there frustrating the hell out of me! It looks like it should be smooth sailing from this point forward as I have everything else to finish. Now the only problem is hopefully its going to warm up soon and I'll have to decide between skiing or working on the Hot Rod!

I've only cut a few vintage skis and they were not mine so they are at the owners. They look just like my skis but as I said the lettering and graphics are painted. I attached one of the first skis I ever did with painted graphics. This was before I devised the two layer method to form contrasting graphics.

If anyone is interested I have CNC'd graphics into old skis. Unlike my skis once the graphics are cut they may have to be painted. My skis have a contrasting second layer of wood that makes the graphics pop. Some of the old skis do have a lighter inside which looks pretty good.

Is it possible I'm the hot guy selling skis to women?

Does this mean if I replace the picture of myself in my ad with a hot babe I'll sell more skis?

Everyone is freaking out, it was two cold days. It's winter! My house is still standing. It wasn't blown down by a hurricane or burnt down by a fire. Everyone knew it was coming for over a week and had plenty of time to prepare. You stay inside where its 68 degrees and if you go outside you dress for it. My dogs and I went on our two daily walks with no problems. I walked outside this morning at 20 degrees and it felt like spring! Tomorrow and Monday it's forecasted to be in the 50's.

Another good site to get info is woodyboater.com

@chrislandy Cool car! I'm pretty big gearhead, have no idea what it is. Is it fabricated or Miata based?

Must be winter when we're debating a known design. The frame is really beefy and you have to remember the car only weighs 2100 pounds when its done. Started running the wire today. Initially the pile of wire was a bit intimidating but I just studied the instruction manual a bit and by the end of the day I had most of the wiring loom mocked up. Now I know I screwed up not ordering the engine earlier. Guess I have to call Blueprint and see if I can motivate them to get it built faster!