JohnCh

What Al said! It looks like a lot of new pavement has been laid down this summer. How are the roads? 107 degrees?? I bet you wish you still had your 1/2 hood yesterday Today is the run down to the sea, so the temps should be much cooler. Looking forward to seeing the next round of photos. -John

Do you still have the Lucas inertia starter (see picture below)? If so, pull it (should be really easy if it is like the setup in my old crossflow-powered Westfield) and see of the spring on the shaft has broken. This happened to me and produced a similar sound. I replaced it with a gear reduction starter from Dave Bean Engineering. Much lighter and worked great. http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/L/1140.JPG -John

Back on topic: I believe 11Budlite lives in Wolcott. If you are nearby, then it might worth a PM to see if you can get together and see his car in the flesh. Back off topic : I didn't realize Scott also has a 951. I must admit that I am a bit surprised there are 4 of us on the forum. Are any others going to crawl out of the woodwork? -John

Welcome CJ! I also have a 944 turbo and can empathize with the upcoming clutch job. For those that don't know, Porsche decided that clutch replacement would also be a good time to take most of the car apart for a thorough inspection. Depending on the year, the book rate is either 16 or 20 hours. :banghead: If you have the skill and equipment, then I think the Locust is a great project. People are doing some very interesting things out there, and you'll find a lot of support on the USA Locust forum that Mazda mentioned as well as LocustBuilders in the UK. Regarding registration, where in New England are you located? Odds are someone here is also from your state and can weigh in with their experiences. -John

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting him at the local vintage races a few years ago. I’m not one for autographs, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have our picture taken with him. Very, very nice guy. Saw him walking around the paddock later that day, and was struck by the fact he never stopped smiling, and was happy to have a word with anyone who approached to say hello. A class act, and a great driver. -John

I have a Safecraft 2.5lb halon fire extinguisher and had to use it once. The fact that I had an extinguisher in the car saved me from certain disaster, and the thanks to the halon, there was no additional damage to anything else under the bonnet. As for mounting location, I initially mounted it to a bracket attached to the front of the passenger seat, but SWMBO didn’t like it there because it made it harder to get in/out of the car. I then moved it to the rear bulkhead between the seats. One of these days I need to replace the stock flimsy mounting bracket with a billet unit that is more up to the task of keeping it in place in an accident. -John

I recently switched from the Toyo T1-S to the R-888. The biggest surprise for me was that they grip better in cold temperatures (mid-upper 40’s) even before they get any heat into them than the T1-S in the same conditions. Prior to the T1-S I had AO32Rs and those did not stick well at all when the temps dropped. Given that I use the car all year round, good cold temp grip is important to me. Regarding noise, the R888 certainly isn’t quiet, but it’s fine in a se7en where the other noises drown it out to a faint whine. -John

We’ll have a spread. Expect low-mid 90’s on the hottest days, and mid 60’s when you hit the coast. I suggest wearing layers I heard on the radio earlier this week that the average August in Seattle has 3 days of rain. This August, it appears we are on track for 9 days of the wet stuff. :banghead: -John

Looks like a great car, but is priced accordingly. From the ad: "I will be only too pleased to answer any qiestions [sic] once the bidding has exceeded $50,000.00 " -John

I have Pilotis and Speedcats. From a width perspective the Pilotis split the difference between the Speedcats and normal athletic shoes. -John

Give Ben at RMSC a call. The stick on emblems for the 13" Motorsport wheels are 1-9/16" in diameter. -John

No kidding. It’s not like it was a new car I think I’ve let five people drive my car since the rebuild. Three are track instructors (no worry there) one is in the process of building a Westfield Miata and was in the area visiting family (he took it really easy) and the fifth was my wife. We were in our neighborhood and she was turning around in a cul-de-sac and forgot that it has a much better power to weight ratio than her Forester turbo, and lacks that car’s all wheel drive. She essentially rotated the Westfield in place. I’ve been afraid to let her drive it ever since… -John

Spa mirrors come in two sizes. The Formula Car model is 4.4” x 2.0” and the GT/Sedan is over 70% bigger at 5-3/4” x 2-5/8”. I have the latter, and think the size is fine. I agree with Tom about the wheel size. Conventional wisdom in the UK is that 185/60-13 work best up front, and you don’t need to move up to 205/60-13s in the back until you are approaching 200hp. Rule of thumb says that a 6” wide wheel is optimal for a 185 and 7” for a 205, so a 6” should be fine for your car. Remember, a wider wheel weighs more, so if you don’t need the extras width, then don’t get stuck with the extra weight. -John

My shocks are pretty standard by se7en standards. The ones in the picture are 12-3/8" long and fitted with 1.9"ID x 8" springs. -John

A friend stopped by today to borrow my in-car camera setup. After seeing the Westfield's new coilovers sitting on the bench, he jokingly said the springs look more like valve springs than suspension pieces. That comment prompted me to pull out the rear coilover units ready to go on my daily driver for a little side-by-side comparison. According to my scale: 4.25lb vs. 12.47lbs. The front setup on my DD is a ride-height adjustable strut so it is even bigger and heavier than the rear units seen in the photo. I think I need a smaller DD http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/2078819699_shocks-800.jpg -John

Oops! Brain fade on my part. Mazda, feel free to move this thread to OT where it belongs. -John

Apologies to BusaLoco for posting in his forum, but I felt I had to do this for Mazda. :jester: Video of the new ZR1 doing burnouts. Yikes!! YouTube Video -John

My personal goal is to have one good idea per year. Glad to hear I can now coast until January -John

I was thinking about this the other day. Perhaps we should rename the Video forum in his honor? -John

Easy enough to do using the signature option in My Profile -John

Just came across this photo taken of a Ferrari 166 MM competing in the 1953 Rallye des Alpes. I guess the fact that race cars in those days didn't have seatbelts is kind of irrelevant http://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/1953_Ferrari_166_MM_Vignale_Coupe_Pre_Oblin_Rebody_Rallye_des_Alpes_Mountain_1.jpg -John

Yesterday I sent out an important e-mail to all NorCal 2008 participants. Please PM me if you didn’t receive it. Thanks, John

The color is in the gel coat on a Westfield and it is pretty thick, so no need to worry about stone chips. Yes, they do show, but they are not a contrasting color. I personally prefer a bright color for safety, which is why I went with red. However, after following my car on a bright day recently, I discovered that red brake lights don't show up that well against a red background. Something to think about... -John

I forgot to check last night, but I am certain that I don't have the wires you describe in that area. When I rebuilt my car, I modified the loom to eliminate unused wires and rerouted everything to work with the Duratec installation (car was originally fit with a crossflow). The only wires now in that area either go to the brake fluid sensor or the battery which is mounted in a non-standard position at the bottom of the chassis directly below the brake & clutch master cylinders. Have you checked those wires with a multimeter to see if they are grounded at the other end, have continuity between them, or carry voltage when everything is switched on? -John

My loom has been modified quite a bit, but I'll see how many black wires come from the main loom to the grounding stud. As I recall the factory loom is conventional and all black wires are grounds, so grounding those 6 wires to see if that fixes things should be pretty safe. -John