Quote:
Originally Posted by REAL BOB JOHNSON
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
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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.
Mark
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Mark Stielow needs our help...EDIT: Mark Won!!
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