JohnCh

DB6, good to see you back! And good to see you are still banned regardless of your user name. -John

It may sound like overkill, but I’ve been using 100% organic air from the Sahara desert for the last couple of years. Not only is it much drier than the air here in the PNW but it has natural damping qualities that enable the tires to run at lower pressure. It's a little pricey due to the shipping charges, but the handling improvement is noticeable. My tires are also lasting longer, so I'm saving some money there. I’m happy to contact the importer and arrange a group buy if there is sufficient interest. -John

Mazda, in case you are wondering what to do after your se7en is finished... http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/30/vintage-mini-gets-3-500-horsepower-engine-swap-for-goodwood/ http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/06/web-mini-cummins.jpg

Also check out space saver travel bags. They enable you to pack a lot more clothing in a small space and they are water proof. -John

It’s one piece of lexan with two bends (middle and bottom) that can be seen in these photos. I made the final mockup out of MDF and then handed that off to the plastics shop who cut and bent it to match. http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/trans%20tunnel%20015.jpg http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/windwing.jpg -John

I think I used 1/4" but I'll have to measure tonight when I get home. They are shockingly strong though The driver's side unit took a tire carcass hit at 70mph that destroyed the rear wing, but left the deflector unfazed. If the deflector hadn't been there, I might not be here to write this... -John

The mounting points for proper shoulder harnesses should be in the chassis as well. I think in that era Westfield gave people the option of installing three point harnesses to meet local registration regulations. -John

I used a spare set of male sidescreen hinges spaced the same as the female counterpart on the windscreen pillars. Makes it very easy to swap between sidescreens and windwings: lift one out, drop in the other. -John

Crossflow-powered Westfield for sale at WireWheel.com. Looks like a pretty standard car from the Yarwood era with ridiculously low mileage (how can someone drive a se7en only 2000 miles in 10 years?) They are asking $17.9k. No affiliation. http://www.wirewheel.com/2000-Westfield-Lotus-7-SEI.html -John

Great info Dave. I experimented a lot with winglets on my car and discovered that to maximize effectiveness they need to be long, extending below the door cutout, be fairly wide, and sit at a pretty steep angle. The shape below is what I finally settled on after making a number of mockups out of reinforced cardboard. Not the most attractive add-on, but they split the difference between running with and without sidescreens, and unlike sidescreens, they don’t trap cockpit heat at low speeds. Work pretty well in the rain too. http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/windwing%20front.jpg -John

Calvin, the Jenvey TB throttle body has the same critical dimensions as a DCOE/DHLA, so it is a straight drop in for your current setup. Dean, I believe you're thinking of the conversion to a Twin Cam Stromberg head. Calvin's car already has the Weber/Dellorto head, so no machining necessary. -John

Isn't the intake manifold cast into the head on a Lotus Twin Cam? If so, the Weber replacement throttle bodies are as direct-to-head as you're going to get -John

Jenvey makes direct replacements for DCOEs, so that shouldn't be an issue. They also have measured drawings on the site so you can confirm any potential change before ordering. As for people beating you up on the last thread, it seems that they convinced you that your original plan might not have been the optimal path -- think how much money this site just saved you! :jester: What are your goals for the conversion and the engine? Are you planning on touching the internals? A properly set up fuel injection system will improve drivability and fuel mileage, but on its own it won't make much difference in peak power compared to a well set up pair of Webers or Dellorotos. To me the big advantage of going to FI from a performance perspective is that you can run hotter cams yet maintain the same drivability at lower rpms that you would have with milder units. -John

I think Morgan was referring to moral law, not criminal law -John

TWM isn't cheap. If you are looking for something off the shelf, have you considered the Twincam conversion kit from QED? It sounds pretty comprehensive with a DTA ECU, distributor block-off plate, crank trigger setup, and wiring harness. Not sure whose throttle bodies they use, but probably Jenvey which is pretty popular in the UK. At today's conversion rate it's less than $3k. -John

The post-Monterey route is locked and hotel reservations have been made for the three confirmed drivers! If you have been toying with joining us for any portion of the drive, but haven’t contacted me directly about it, then please do so right away so I can give you the hotel details. There is very limited space at some of these places so you need to jump on your reservations now. -John

I think you are chasing a red herring here. Yes, the drag on a se7en is terrible, but even if the total drag was on par with a contemporary car, the lack of hp will still put you at a disadvantage at high speeds. Take two hypothetical cars with identical drag and power to weight ratios, but one car is 2.5 times heavier with 2.5 times the power. Car A weighs 3750 lb with driver and has 600hp, car B weighs 1500 lb with driver and has 240hp. Doing the math, both carry 6.25 lb/hp. Now assume both cars require 100hp to cruise at 100 mph. That means car A has 500hp available for acceleration from that speed, and car B has just 140 hp. Running the numbers for available power to weight from that speed, car A has a still impressive 7.5 lb/hp, but car B now has a far more pedestrian 10.7 lb/hp. Bottom line, if you want to have the fastest car down the straight, you either need a car with a lot of hp, or you need to run at track days where those cars don't show up -John

When I bought my car, I drove it 850 miles by myself in a little over a day to get it home. My wife & I did 4000 miles in two weeks on USA2005 – half of that mileage was done travelling to/from the tour (630 miles was the longest day), so no other cars were along for support. I did about 1400 miles on PNW2007, 300 miles of which were done without any support cars along, and I am planning to cover about 2500miles this summer going to Monterey and then taking the long way back with a few other cars. So yes, I guess I trust it for driving longer distances I carry an assortment of hand tools, a motorcycle tire repair kit, duct tape, a cell phone, and a AAA Plus card. -John

You mean they have forums for things other than cars? I guess I need to get out more often... Westfield Sports Car Club California Caterham Club Flyin Miata's Westfield Miata forum Rennlist Pelican 6-speed Online (just for the regional forum) Grassroots Motorsports Garage Journal Aside from the first two on the list, and of course USA7s, I mostly lurk. -John

Or a reunion from Monterey this summer Once I get back from that trip, I'll have a better idea how my back holds up to longer drives. I'm pretty sure I can still do an occasional 350-400 per day in the Westfield, but the 600+ days are probably no longer an option. BTW I'm sure we can convince Ed to come along as well... -John

Gert, I may be interested as well, but probably only for a week given the extra time it will take me to get there and back. -John

I have the Emerald K3 and can highly recommend it. A lot of guys with Westfields in the UK run a Zetec with the Emerald, so finding a starting map for that combo that was created on a dyno should be pretty easy unless you are using uncommon cams, pistons, or headwork. Having a starting point is particularly important for the ignition map which is pretty difficult to get right on your own unless you really know what you’re doing (I don’t). Mapping the fuel table though is pretty easy. Chris Good created a really cool little app for the Emerald that uses the native datalogging capability and a wideband O2 sensor to fine tune the fuel map. Simply input your target AFR and do a number of full throttle runs in higher gears and then it does the analysis to tell you which cells you should tweak and by how much. It also shows you how many data samples it has at each point to help you interpret the accuracy of the suggestions. I used this on my car and after playing around with it for a couple of weekends it was almost spot on. In fact the dyno operator I took it to afterwards for final tuning was really surprised at how close it was to optimal – it saved me a lot of expensive dyno time. The K3 also has a self-tuning feature that is similar to what Chris Good’s app does, but it actually creates a new table with the recommended changes. When I did my initial mapping I had the older version of the Emerald which didn’t have the self-mapping feature, so I can’t comment how well it works for mapping full throttle. However, I now have the K3 and can confirm that it help in light throttle situations. I just keep it on and over time it recommends changes to the parts of the map where I do the bulk of my driving. As for difficulty, if you are already plumbed for fuel injection, the only hard part is creating the wiring harness. Even that isn’t hard, just time consuming. BTW if you are making a lot of engine changes to increase power, you should ensure that the fuel pump already in the car has sufficient headroom. -John

Shamelessly stolen from another forum: A gynecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and HMO paperwork, and was burned out. Hoping to try another career where skillful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic. He went to the local technical college, signed up for evening classes, attended diligently, and learned all he could. When the time of the practical exam approached, the gynecologist prepared carefully for weeks, and completed the exam with tremendous skill. When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%. Fearing an error, he called the Instructor, saying, "I don't want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade?" The instructor said, "During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark." After a pause, the instructor added, "I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the muffler, which I've never seen done in my entire career."

The big surprise for me is how quiet they kept this until the announcement. Never heard a hint about this on any of the F1 sites. As for who will go, count me in! Austin is a great city with cheap flights from Seattle. Color me a bit skeptical though that they can build a world class facility from scratch in just 2 years. Given that they didn’t show a sketch of the new track as part of the press announcement leads me to believe they don’t even have the design yet. -John

The 25th is Tuesday (tomorrow) not Wednesday -John