Dick no problem and You must be sneeking into or shop at night with the suggestions you made.
Bad boy.
We are looking at those and trying to get dealership and with different ones. You know the saying buy a PC now and in less than 6 months it will be out dated. This customizing has turned out to be a much harder process than I had first realized. I'm Blessed I found Dragon. He let's Me just roll, take care of other business's and brainstorm ideas, and so does he, but, then He works on figuring out how to make it work. Or I go to Drew who will be with us at SEMA as well as the rest. Sometimes I just call up Dean Specialty Perf. Products who is 15 minutes from Me and I have developed a personal relationship with Him and He is fully CNC'd and he will look at making a test part. He is one of My sponsors and has a new valve cover kit that will blow everybodys minds. He was hoping to have it ready for SEMA but, it is running close but they will have a booth. If they do not have the newest they have the patent and will have a mock up of the next generation of the one I'm usng now i think. He does have a coil cover kit that i'm running now that you will like allot. It hides all that messy stuff. We are a dealer with his company so We will have their stuff on site. But, ask for Dean and tell Him Rick with the Stealth Gray H2 that they sponsor told You to come buy and see the coil cover kit that i had been telling Our national club members about. They will sell some at show i guess and He may give you a break if he knows We are club mates.
We have been accumalating dealership for 2005 since last summer. Motorspsorts has over 6000 parts for rice rockets, truck, SUV's. He has to have His site made allot bigger. Hummercustoms is starting off with allot of room so We do not have to go through a rebuild like MSA did. We are still waiting on manufacturers to send us price list and photo's of the products so, that is slowing us down. We are getting near having to have a CNC shop not to build stuff to sell they can do it cheaper than us and let Us make money on their billet. We need it for the one of items We have to make all the time to make something fit. We are going to need a complete metal shop really with pipe benders, water jet cutters, etc. so We can have a R&D to build things to get patent and find some one to produce as We cannot get big enough and it is just taking us away from what We want to do. Build prototype and get patent and find a factory to produce it. We have already outgrown this brand new bulding Dragon put up during last winter. WE will need to move the Motorsportauthority.com down the road into a building and leave new one for Hummer stuff or vice versa.
These kids blow My mind as to what they will pour money wise into these rice rockets. We had a mustang that We or I should say Drew has been helping with supercharger etc. and building Him a forced ram air. The engine is hard core etc. but, it is running right at 1000HP on the ground. He has His 0 to 60 down right at 4 seconds. He thinks after he builds back his black mustang with twin turbo's he will get it below 3.6. Drew will get it there as they plan to be faster than the 360. If You have a mustang and want special stuff done to it then call shop 1-501-327-MODS and ask for Drew. Drew will give you more than you pay for because everyone has their favorite ride and mustang is his and he will go that extra distance. He will work on his own time because he loves them so much. He took one of those old mustang 2's back in the day and built boxes in the fenders to house the twin turbo setup he added to the car. One turbo in each fender well. Get in touch if you want serious mustang power.
We do anything. Drew rides a crouch rocket that has 221HP at the ground but, He has the clutch so tame that this old man can get on it and it just starts rolling not trying to jump out from under You. We have a guy that We have to tune His ride in about 30 days when My sponsor get's Us the software for it. but, He has a navigator 5.4L twin turbo in His Ford Lighting and he has been to everybody and can not get it tuned. We have a program that We can get it closer than anyone else when it comes in and then we will have program for His lighting in 30 to 45 days wrote for him. Not cheap but, if You are going to mess with stuff that is one of and no one else has it You got to have deep pockets.
Well anyway Dick We will be happy to try and help you in Your situation since it is a little more special and has specific needs. PM me if You would with a phone number and I'll get with You Monday. I would like Our Raytheon engineer to visit with you. But We will have to get Him into shop which is usually on Friday after noon so it could be till then when he calls You back but, at least i will have spoke with you and can have some details on paper and emailed to Him. The guys are finishing paint today on my rig and We get the outside all put back together finally but, then We have to finish inside. Guys anybody that has something special or a situation that is special, that is what We are known for in Arkansas. We will do or try things for people that no one else will try. Our address is the edge of the envelope.
Guys getting dealerships from some companies depending on how special the stuff is, it can cost a truck bed full of money. They do not care how good You are or how much You will do in business. Many get a truck load and if You have not reached a sales goals in 6 months you lose it completely.
Our PC is rugged not like You mentioned Dick but, it will take off road We feel. The trick is not the drive itself being tough enough it is the head seeker or how am I trying to explain it. The arm reading the disk had got to be real stable and not vibrate or it will skip info etc.or scratch the disk. You can see why i'm not the puter specialist. I do know allot as I have rebuilt laptops and stuff for friends for years and never been to a school for it. i just liked messing with it.
We searched and searched and found one that it did not cost us an arm and a leg. You can go out to many websites and get stuff at a good price in fact a real good price but, You will end up with lost data. It really is a tight rope walk to get something tough that is affordable. One dealership cost $25,000 and that did not include anything with it. You started buying after that. The billet and stuff are more reasonable but the electronics is where they rip you a new one. they have allot of R&D and they try to get it back as fast as possibe. Well i'm just repeating things you guys most likely know anyways. It is an expensive process to build a custom shop along with a webstore. We started adding things last summer. Our webmaster finally has it now so We can start plugging product in. We try to do everything close to home as possible to control quality more. I'm going to be the sales/info@HUMMERcustoms.com for a while while I get Our front counter guy up to speed. We jsut got a new guy that is sharp and can build engines ec. and it makes Himwork with customers so well. the first We should Him nothing the computer was on and He walked in and started selling at the counter using the puter and pulling out books and then came and should us what he had done and if that is what We were looking for. WE standing there with Our mouths hanging open like We are catching flies. I'm thinking if it would not look bad I kiss dragon right now for finding this guy. So it has been a week and he has not asked us anything and stuff just flying over the counter with profit on it. I saw His knowledge and I asked Him hey in between you would measure all the lines on the H2 vacuum, water wahtever and order stanless braided. Sure he said do you want blue or red or chrome end coupings. I again stood there with My mouth hanging open and said I think I would like blue. So real quick there were a couple of other items and i told I need this for H2. OK no problem rick I'll get it done ASAP.
While at SEMA We have several lines We need to pick up. You take a bank line of credit with you to see how much they want. There are some that are just great in helping You take their line on, especially again the billet. SMA is still the most outragious cost in My humble opionion for a dealership not counting you can get the master dealership. I was offered and said thanks but, no thanks. I have smaller manufacturers that are building as good and more progressive acc. than some of the big guys resting on their laurels. They are no longer the leading edge that i can see by checking around. BUt, I will have allot of sponsors there and I have to have rig near by so they can show potential dealers etc. My rig and waht there part of the rig has done to make it what it is.
But, Dick the parts from the toughbook would be great but, if You need that kind of toughness i would buy a toughbook as all your screens can have cables run to hook to the laptop etc. etc.
Most of the users are not going to cough up the price of a PC unit with much of the toughbook in it. Some of their parts cost as much as the conplete PC We a building.
PM Me Dick and let's talk.
TAZ
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dick Renaud:
Taz,
For some more ideas you may want to look at the Panasonic Toughbook. They use a gel pack mounted hard drive. The ruggedized units we used in police cars have a nearly unbreakable screen and super rugged case. The laptop could be dropped on concrete from 6 or 8’ feet while running and not have a problem. You might be able to use some of the components.
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/home.asp
Hitachi makes a 6 and 8 GB micro drive if you want removable media that can work into a usb reader to transfer data. They are working on 10, 12 and 14 GB versions.
http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/?epi_menuItemI...6934ab937c27aac4f0a0
I use an 8GB in my iPAQ and it works great.
This is were I bought my microdrive.
http://www.mobileplanet.com/us/product.asp?code=121717
Keep me posted on both your systems. I was going to start looking for a vehicle mounted computer to integrate with my Ham radio to handle packet transmissions. I use a Panasonic Toughbook for my portable radio system. The iPAQ would work but the screen is so small. The Toughbook has a great daylight screen with touchscreen built in and it is tough.
Keep me on the list. Price is not important, I need quality. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>