JohnCh

CD playback is a bit more modern. I have a Sony S9000ES CD/SACD/DVD player in the main system, although upstairs I have a Sony CDP 707ESD that was modified by Stan Warren (the “S” in PS Audio). That thing is built like a tank and still sounds pretty good. My vinyl setup is another throwback: AR-ES1/Merril sub chassis/upgraded motor/Rega RB300/Benz Micro Glider. I remember that one! Very cool! I think I still have my old NAD tape deck somewhere that is the opposite of that deck. It featured a manually removable dust shield instead of an opening tape door -John

That's funny. The amp in my main system is an Aragon 2004 Mk II. I never really thought of it as vintage piece, but given that it is driving Apogee Centaur Minors, I guess most of the system is considered vintage I convinced my wife to attend a recent Skills Day with our local PCA region and now she is hooked and wants to start doing track events. I think this means that I need to either find a cheap track car we can share (an old Miata would be perfect, except she hates them) or I need to pour some money into my aging 944 turbo. The latter could turn into a money pit, so I need to assess the situation before making a decision. Either way, it looks like I will have another project car soon. -John

Thanks Mazda! :cheers: -John

I built a shroud for the car prior to USA2005 since we would be going through the desert and I was worried about possible overheating. I actually found that the full shroud makes the heat soak a little worse because it elminates airflow through the engine compartment. Removing the top piece of aluminum helped a bit. -John

One of my Winter upgrade projects for Westfield (yeah I know, it’s already Spring) is to replace the cooling fan with something more powerful. Although the engine has never overheated, the temps rise very quickly at stoplights on warm days and the 12” Perma Cool fan struggles to bring them back down. I initially chose the Perma Cool because it is rated at a pretty powerful for its size 1650 cfm. The Spal 12” fan I bought to replace it is actually rated a little lower at 1630 cfm, but the motor draws nearly twice the amps (14.4 vs. 7.7). Today I did a comparison test to see if there was a measurable difference between the two. For the test, I took turns attaching each fan to the back of the radiator and then wiring them directly to the battery. To measure the flow (actually the suction) I used a synchrometer held to the front of the radiator. First up was the Perma Cool. Depending on location, the synchrometer registered between 7 and 9 on its built in scale. After swapping in the Spal and hooking up the battery, it was immediately obvious that it would better those numbers - it was pushing a lot more air out the back. With the synchrometer placed in the same location where it registered 9 with the Perma Cool, it now showed 12! So much for manufacturer ratings ;-) -John

This is going to be fun http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

Sounds good Al. I'll simply satisfy my disparaging comment urges by including a little revisionist history when mentioning the Caterham/Westfield lawsuit http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif -John

"relatively unbiased" and "without disparaging comments" really limits the material I have to work with, but I'll give the Westfield blurb a shot anyway. -John

Al, Don't worry about damaging your Mass Airflow Sensor -- you don't have one http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif You are either running a Throttle Position Sensor (most likely) and/or a a Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor with the Jenveys. -John

My wife is closer to an active participant. She came along on USA2005 and is also riding shotgun on PNW2007. She loves to go out in the car on weekends provided I keep the speeds somewhat in line. After a lot of coercing, I've even convinced her to attend her first PCA Drivers Skills Day next month! -John

The standard Westfield roll bar is good for push starting the car, but that's about it. The factory offers a proper roll bar as an option. -John

My money is on a mapping issue. Cold start is a pain to tune correctly since you really only get one chance per day to make a change and then see if you made things better or worse. I am not familiar with the PecTel, but the Emerald uses a startup enrichment table that affects the timing and fueling based on temperature. My guess is that your system has something similar. You may need to change that, or it could require getting into your main fuel or timing table, or altering the throttle position at idle, or your startup timing, or a combination of the above (like I said, this can be a pain to track down). Hopefully someone with PecTel experience will chime in. -John

A few more questions. Has the car had this problem from the beginning or is this something that has grown progressively worse over time? Is the cold start okay if the air temps are high, or is it a reluctant starter even on warm summer days? If it is okay when the weather is nice, was your car originally setup in a warmer climate than where you now live? Thanks, John

Al, Sounds like a mapping issue. What ECU are you using? -John

It doesn't look like that right now. The work bench is covered in parts! http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif I used the Rustoleum Epoxy kits from Home Depot. I painted it nearly 3-1/2 years ago and it has held up very well. The only negative is that the dirt and grime brought in by the daily drivers has stained it in parts. I live near Seattle, so there is a lot of wet gunk that I pull in almost every day and I think I have let it sit too long at times which has contributed to the staining. The picture shows the back half of the garage which doesn't suffer the same level of abuse. -John

I used to frequently drive with the doors to control the buffeting, but prior to USA2005 I had some very large wind deflectors made locally to my design. They work great and have been tested at, um...rather high speeds http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif I experimented quite a bit with size and shape before finalizing the pattern, and discovered that for maximum effectiveness they need to come down below the door sill. You can (barely) see them >here and >here (sorry, I'm too lazy to resize the photos so I can post them here). -John

One of the vendors in the UK from whom I've bought parts in the past suggested using the Royal Post for light, yet bulky items. Unlike the big boys who charge based on a combination of weight and volume, the RP apparently only looks at weight. For heavier items, I've heard pretty decent things about parcels2go.com. The only downside is that when I was having my transmission shipped, I couldn't get confirmation from them that I could purchase adequate insurance, so I went with Fed Ex. But that's another story http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif -John

I didn't realize I wrote that. I guess I should pay more attention when posting during meetings http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif To clarify, I don't think that someone who isn't used to a powerful car should obsess about power levels. A lower spec, cheaper engine, is still a lot of fun, and still pretty damn fast. The key is that if they think they want a lot of power in the future, then they should pick a powerplant that has sufficient headroom (e.g. if you think you eventually want over 200hp, then starting with a xflow may not be the best idea http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif ). -John

When I wrote that I rebuilt the car, I mean I really rebuilt the car. I kept the frame, driveshaft, some suspension pieces, and a few other items, but everything else was replaced with lighter items: body, engine, interior, brakes, etc. When the car was in R&T, they weighed it at 1409lb. I don’t know how much fuel was in the car at the time, but I have heard that back then (1996) they would typically weigh the cars with ¼ tank. After the rebuild, the car weighed in at 1238.5lb with a little over ½ tank. Key weight reduction areas included the very lightweight radiator, alloy hubs & 4-pot calipers up front, Duratec with alloy bellhousing, titanium silencer, spare tire removal, stripping out the interior, carbon fiber seats, lightweight battery, etc. A 5 lb reduction may not sound like much, but do that in a few areas and the savings add up quickly. -John

Given your desire to have something that can be serviced easily, you might want to look into the new Westfield Miata. It uses the Miata drivetrain and many of its suspension pieces, so nothing esoteric for those of us on this side of the pond. >Flyin Miata is building one right now and is offering donor pallets and pre-built cars. They also are documenting their build. The cockpit of the Westfield is not quite as big as the SV or Ultralite, but it is far roomier than a standard Caterham or Birkin. Might be worth checking out. Regarding power levels, I think there are two absolutes with these cars: it doesn’t take a lot of power to make them fast, and no matter how much power you have, you will eventually want more. In its first incarnation, my Westfield was full road spec (i.e heavy) and had a 120hp xflow. It was a lot of fun and it was reasonably quick (Road & Track clocked it from 0-60mph in 6.1 seconds). After the rebuild, the weight dropped over 12%, while power increased almost 60% thanks to a 190hp Duratec. Driving the car on a windy road is now a much different experience. With the xflow I could really extend the engine and throw the car around with abandon. With the Duratec, the car gets to the next braking point so damn fast that I often find myself reflexively breaking that commandment about not taking the Lord’s name in vain (oh my G**!!). I also have to be far more careful about when and how hard I apply the throttle. Yet even with this kind of acceleration, I have adjusted to it and now I want more. That’s why there is a 30hp upgrade sitting in my garage at the moment http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif My advice is to not focus so much on buying a car with a lot of power, but make sure that the platform has room to grow as you adjust and want more. As you will soon discover, upgrades are half the fun! -John

I made some seat cushions for the USA tour out of a Memory Foam mattress pad. The material works great and is pretty cheap. I purchased a 2" thick King-sized pad from >Overstock for about $75 including shipping. -John

Unfortunately I haven't had time to take any pics yet, but I have one from the ad. It's probably a bit too big to post on the forum, so here is a >link -John JohnCh2007-01-31 22:07:52

Good to know about the trucks. We might encounter those on PNW2007 this summer. Stan, it was finally time to my faithful, but tired 944 turbo from the daily grind, so I picked up a '95 993 in San Diego http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

We have various unmarked cars here in Washington, including Volvos and Suburbans, but what got me with the Mustang was the two huge racing stripes extending from the grill to the tail. Psychologically I never expected something so extroverted to be trolling for speeders. -John

I was picking up a car in Southern California last week and on the way back to Seattle, I saw something very disturbing on I-5 south of Portland. A new, white Mustang with black racing stripes was parked on the side of the road behind another car. The disturbing part was that the Mustang was ablaze with red and blue lights! He even had them hidden in the front of his side view mirrors. I never would have suspected that it was an unmarked patrol car if I had seen him approaching in my rear view mirror. If any of you are planning any trips to Oregon this year, be careful – Oregon State Police department doesn’t play fair! -John