Mark Stielow needs our help...EDIT: Mark Won!!
 

and it's easy to do... :thumbsup:

Spread the word, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Thanks guys!!!

Done!!!

Done - Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

Done

wow I've private messaged him twice needing help with something he could help me with and no response maybe he's to busy for the little guy

Hellfire looks even better in person! You've got my vote!

While visiting Billy from B&B Classics today It was nice to finally meet you Mark, I must say you are very humble too! Keep up the good work.

Check out my ride if you have time

https://lateral-g.net/forums/gara...vehicle&id=440

I'm betting that PM box gets 1,000 pm's a day asking about tech specs on every car he's ever built... and You're a long way from an unknown "little guy". I can't believe you don't have his cell.


Jeff-

No --- he only responds to the REAL Bob Johnson. Maybe if you swore more like Bob does you could trick Mark into a response.

Congrats Mark on winning the contest!!!

I'm not too busy for the little guy but many of the questions are too big for a simple response. It took me 2 years for me to get ABS to work flawlessly in my Red Devil. I hate to try to fix problems over E-mail. Also, no one ever quits with one questions. Once you try to fix one electronic / calibration problem two more pop up. We are chasing a rolling idle problem with Hellfire and this is the 3rd engine I’ve done this way, as an example. With my day job, my personal life and my projects I'm slammed. I'll try to reply quicker and maybe I'll just reply "I don't know".

As an example - The best tech question so far from a guy at SEMA.

“Hey I have a 1971 Vega and I want to install the ABS from a crashed 2000 Camaro. Will it work?” I asked a few basic questions like is a 3 or 4 channel system in the Camaro and the guy had no clue. So…. I could not help him.

I don’t mean to be rude, but that question is a bit open ended. If you want play in this space do some homework.

Everyone also need to understand to fix a bunch of this electrical / cal problems is very hard. At GM a 2013 Corvette calibration guy worked on that calibration 6 – 8 years ago. To find the person who did the BCM (Body Control Module) calibration is next to impossible. To ask a favor to make a one off cal is unreasonable. Because everyone plays with engine cals that is fairly easy. Once you get into the BCM, ECBM, and other systems it becomes very hard. I know there are some guys doing it but I have not tried it.

Also, I hate to give advice if I’m just guessing. I will admit it is an educated guess but I feel real bad when I guess and someone spends a bunch of money and I was wrong. I don’t mind when I do it with my money then it is my fault. I have an attic full of “It should have worked”. I keep some of those parts just so I won’t purchase them again.

The best example of this is wheel offsets. I NEVER tell people my wheel offsets. Every car is a snowflake. I roll fender lips pull fenders and quarters out, all tires are a bit different on sizes. What works on my car may not work on your car. I don’t want to tell someone my wheel offset and they blindly spend $4000 for a new set of wheels and they don’t fit. Then they blame me. No thanks. I keep a library of wheel spacers and junk tires to help get the offset just right.

Sorry to go on a rant but this is a big beef with me on web sites. If I take the time to give someone my advice they just keep asking for more. Or worse yet is I take the time to answer questions and they don’t follow it. Then they reach out to me to help fix their problem when they didn’t do what I told them the first time. This happens all the time. Also I have not tried every combination of parts. I know what works for me on my system for what I’m trying to do.

I get this question all the time also. “I want to purchase company’s “Xs” parts because it is cheaper than company “Ys” parts do you think it will work. Jeesh I don’t know. I use the parts I do because they work for me. Are they cheap no? Do they work, yes, they work for me. Can it be done cheaper, maybe depends on how much development time you want to spend and what you are going to do with the car. I often opt for an expensive solution because I don’t have time to redo a system. Also, at the power levels I’m at now, I don’t want to risk a big mechanical problem at speed.

This is a hobby for me, I do this for fun and fellowship with a lot of great people. I try to be open and pass along things I have learned for me on my projects. I’ll admit my project are a bit over the heads of a lot of people but that is the space I want to play in. I enjoy the creation and driving of new cars.

What I need to road race a 900+ HP 69 Camaro is not what you need to cruise the Goodguy’s Auto Cross. If you are just learning to track drive a lot of the parts I have on my car you will not need until you become better at driving. My cooling systems are way over board for most applications. On the flip side if someone ask me to drive their car on track I tend to over temp their car. This is often why I don’t drive other peoples cars is because I don’t want to break their car. I don't mean to be rude. If the engine blows due to an over temp issues whose fault is it? It is all fun and games until you scatter someone $15K engine or worse yet you lose brakes.

I’ll try harder to reply to IMs and posts. Maybe I’ll be more direct and just say I don’t know or I can’t help you if that is better than not replying.

Sorry for hurting anyone feeling on not giving an answer in a timely fashion.

Thanks for all the support on winning a silly car show.

Lat-G helps keep the hobby fun for me. That's why we do this right? If it stops being fun do something else. :EmoteClueless:

Mark

You suck:peepwall:

But...... but..... wait!!


I want my car to be just as cool as your car.... but I don't want to do any of the work or spend any money. How the world am I ever going to do that if you don't tell me everything I need to know?!?



Good post Mark! There's a name for this phenomena...... we call them "askholes". LOL

Great reply Mark...

I hope the few #DlotHellfire posts I made were the ones that pushed you over the top. It sounds like I feel the same way you do about car shows though. If you make it to KC this summer, I promise to not ask you to drive my car! :D

Mark I wasn't going to comment on this because it's not worth the drama. I personally don't think you needed to reply to that statement. But the fact that you did speaks volumes to who you are. Hell I have your personal phone number and wouldn't even think about calling you , there is plenty of information on this board to answer any question one might have. Your not a vendor here selling anything so I don't understand why someone thinks you owe them a reply. Just ''MY OPINION'' thats all I have to say.

Okay as usual you said it better!:mock:

You know what I like about you..............

It's not a bad name like calling the person something.... it is however a perfect description for what Mark was describing. One question requires 6 more - which requires writing a book.... thus Ask HOLE ..... the hole just gets bigger and deeper... Done in a forum setting - the one question turns into dozens!

Congrats on the contest win Mark and the car looked fantastic. It was nice to finally meet you in person and talk for few minutes. I hope we can catch up at an event. I want to see one of your creations in action!

Exactly.

I have a lot of freinds from this site and I don't mind a phone call, if I can save someone time and money. I have gotten a ton of help from a lot of people over the years and value to help and support. I drive Dave Mikels crazy with questions. But, we have done that for 20 years and he knows when to blow me off. lol Dave is the big part as to why my cars go fast. When someone asks me a question then I have to go ask Dave. So to get to the bottom of a lot of these issues is hard.

I reached out to Jody on this car show #tag deal and he help me.

I do my fair share of asking for help also. Sometimes it is good to ask someone who has done it.

Mark

Couldn't have said it any better myself :lol:

Key words right there.

The number of times that people have asked a question on this forum without even lifting a finger to do a simple Google search or forum search leaves me...........:bang:

Yet they obviously expect others to make an effort for their cause. :lostmarbles:

Will you email me better pictures of the trophy? With dimensions? With the girl in the paper dress (and her number)... How will you get that home? Will you share it with the owner or keep it all for yourself? How many trophy's do you have? Is this a good show to go to? I hate shows - what do you think of them?

Here ya go askhole............

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-G.../i-GK3ChWX.jpg

And Mark and I exchanged pleasantries about you! :EmoteClueless:

Cant imagine the amount of calls and questions you get on a weekly basis. I'd bet your response is way, way long over due.
Keep plugging Mark. Hell fire is my favorite build to date.

No disrespect to the Real Bob Johnson. That man has some serious skills and vision.

http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_9671.jpg

FINALLY, I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED! :thankyou: :king:

Congrats Mark! That is a cool looking trophy to boot!

Hey - any time someone who does this stuff for a living wants to help the rest of us out it is appreciated, or should be. But, it should not be expected.

I work a full time job, have a family, and I try to find time to work on the car on the side. I have a Masters in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Dynamic Systems and Controls. I have spent a better part of the last 18+ years working on multi-million dollar machines making them work, making them better, and sometimes I get to decompress and work on my "simple" little car. Before I wandered off to college I worked as a mechanic. I went through the Army's Light Wheel school, then, as a reservist I went through my local tech college, received an Associates and started working. Before long I was an ASE Certified Master Tech running a shop and helping out a few friends with their race cars. As for the automotive stuff, at least I feel like I know enough to understand the depth of my ignorance.

What drives me crazy is people I work with find out I used to be a mechanic and they want me to work on their car, for free of course... are you kidding me. If I had free time I would use it to spend more time with my kids or working on my own car. I pay people to do maintenance on my daily drivers so I can have the time to do things I want to do otherwise.

The other thing, as Mark points out, this stuff is sometimes a WHOLE lot more complicated than people think it is. It would involve a commitment to answer some of these questions. People, for the most part, don't even know what questions to ask or what they are asking for. If you do not understand the sensors, the control systems, how they interact with the mechanical systems and all the other moving parts involved, if I answered your question would you understand the answer and the other implications - probably not. Would you half understand and make a bad decision - why would someone want to take that risk?