JohnCh

A great resource for this topic is the Flooring forum on GarageJournal.com. RaceDeck posts there and does offer a discount for members. -John

There are a few things that I like compared to the traditional style that I used for years. Whether they are worth the premium is a personal decision. For my cars, the flat top fits the underside of the car more securely without doing damage to powder coating or undercoating (this is just like a proper lift) it uses a pin to secure the sliding portion rather than a ratcheting mechanism. Occasionally you hear stories where the teeth weren't securely seated and it releases allowing the car to fall. Rare yes, but this eliminates that concern. The stands use flat feet which are very stable (no rocking) and don't dig into the floor. Not much of an issue if you don't have a floor treatment. -John

Although not cheap, the Esco stands are fantastic. They have plenty of height, a secure locking pin, and a padded flat top that doesn't mar the chassis rails. -John

I've heard Caterham referred to as the Porsche of se7ens, and since you have two of them... Ok, time for me to temporarily ban myself for insulting half the membership. Mike, I'll see you in the Time Out box -John

Once again you seem to be confusing the word "better" for its antonym. :jester: -John

With that laundry list you still think you are somewhat better??? :jester: -John

I used Thackeray washers on all my cars that ran DCOEs. As I recall the procedure was to tighten the nut until the washer fully compressed and then back off one turn. The key is that the carbs can rock without breaking the seal. -John

My Westfield is very sensitive to rake. I chased a handling issue for a long time before discovering that was the issue. It turned out that after the rebuild, the shop doing the alignment didn't consider rake when performing the corner balance. As a result the back was about level with the front instead of a bit higher (+20mm at the specified measuring points). Getting this right made a big difference to turn in and got rid of the understeer. I'm curious about your comment "the way these tires have worn, I know I need to make some adjustments." What wear are you seeing? Is it simply a function of more aggressive settings for corners which is generally at odds with even wear on a street driven car where the majority of miles are not covered under load, or is that wear severely compromising tire life? If the former, setting changes that provide even wear may impact the handling you say you currently love. -John

My advice is to break up into smaller groups of like-minded drivers rather than stay in one big convoy. Speed and stopping preferences differ, and people shouldn't feel forced into an approach that doesn't match their desires or comfort zone. Bigger groups also make passing more difficult as passing zones aren't always long enough to let 8-10 cars by at a time, so the lagging cars sometimes feel compelled to pass on a double yellow or not be as safe as they'd like. Touring should be fun. As for daily distance, sometimes that is dictated by hotel availability. We may be forced into two really short consecutive days that stretch the trip by a day, one really long day, or a reroute that removes a particular point of interest from the itinerary. We don't know what we're up against until we narrow down the options. Who knows, there may be sufficient interest to support two different tours. One shorter, more local event that centers on a basecamp, and another longer point-to-point trip that covers a much larger portion of the PNW and draws in people from much farther away. -John

Randall, missed your earlier response. If there is sufficient interest from folks in CA, we could use Gert's PNW2007 tour for inspiration. Starting point was Vacaville, then the group took the interior route to Whistler, over to Vancouver Island, down the Olympic Peninsula and ended up back in Vacaville about 2-1/2 weeks later. Some people only joined for a portion; I met the group in Portland and broke off again a week later after we took the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. -John

I agree which is why I wanted to create a new thread for the PNW Tour discussion as that could take on a life of its own. We are probably at least 2-3 months away from getting cooperative weather for a weekend get-together, but am certainly up for it. -John

Gert, thanks for the input. I'm familiar with the challenges of cat herding for these events (learned by watching you). You may recall I put together the NorCal 2008 tour that I believe you attended, and I had to flake out at the last minute due to an injury -- if the organizer can't commit, it's not surprising that attendees can't. Ron, I've done the Monterey to Seattle trip twice when attending car week (>900 miles of freeway driving to get there and 5 days of backroads on the return). It could work as a starting point if there is enough interest from folks in CA and it's an extended trip so those of us in WA can join a little closer to home. Weather-wise, that's a generally a great time. Alfonse, 300 miles isn't so bad. Gas stops are usually 100-120 miles apart max, so there are lots of stops along the way, and it makes for a full day. Realistically, the avg. day has been in the 250-300 mile range with occasional days pushing north of 350 or as short as 200. The problem I've seen with short days is that we usually get early starts to ensure unobstructed roads, and end up arriving in a tiny town with nothing to do pretty early in the afternoon. I've gone through the Chelan area on tours three or four times. With a local's help for finding the right roads it's an option, but as you note, it can get really hot there. -John

Revisiting this thread now that we are wellinto Winter (aka Planning Season). It seems there is interest in doing a tourthis summer, so rather than lose that discussion and planning within this Seattle-specificthread, I’ve started a new one here which may broaden the net of interestedattendees. Thanks, John

There was a discussion in another thread about doing a Pacific Northwest tour this summer. Given we would likely go during the height of tourist season when odds of clear weather are best, I want to kick off that discussion now in hopes of mitigating hotel issues. It seems we should come to consensus on the following before spending too much time on route planning, hotel searches or asking people to provide some level of commitment: Number of days Depending on where we choose to start/end many of us will burn a couple of days to join the tour and return home. Based on experience, most people don’t like to use more than a week of vacation time for these events, so I propose 4-5 days of tour time to bring the vacation total to 7 days or less; however, if the route is compelling enough and there is interest, we can certainly go longer. Format I’ve heard three options: Meet at a basecamp and do daily drives that begin and end there. This means only one hotel, and if a SO attends, they have the option of staying in town rather than storming the backroads every day. Do a point-to-point tour that is likely a giant loop comprising multiple hotels and points of interest along the way. Averaging ~300 miles per day is the norm on the tours I’ve done; some days are a little shorter, some are a little longer and dictated by distance between hotel options. This is a great way to see a large section of the PNW, but can be tiring for some. Combine the above. Short point-to-point tour to reach the basecamp. Spend a couple of days there doing day trips, then mini tours home. I’ve done several point-to-point tours but have no experience with the basecamp approach, although I can see the draw with the right town and the right roads nearby. Location The answer to this is tightly connected to the format decision. We have less flexibility on location if we do a basecamp since we need a place that has a few different options for day drives, is interesting enough that it’s worth hanging around the same town for a few days and is no more than a day’s drive for most attendees. Ski resorts seem like a good option and are plentiful in the OR/WA/BC area, but I’m sure there are also quite a few towns in the middle of nowhere that fit the bill. Any recommendations? If we do a point-to-point trip, are there preferences for towns, sites or roads along the way that can help frame the route? E.g. Mount Saint Helens, Victoria, North Cascades Highway, Walla Walla… Is there a desire to remain in the US, or is BC an option? Dates Weather is a crap shoot, but our best bet for dry roads is August and early September. If we do this in Eastern WA or Eastern OR, that window broadens up quite a bit, but those of us west of the mountains may still need to contend with rain to reach the tour kick off. Hopefully this spurs a conversation…and eventually a tour -John

Very thoughtful, thanks; however, I already have a custom dash in my car and prefer shift lights to a red line on the tachometer http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/6515473_orig.jpg -John

Fixed it for you. Great link, thanks for posting. -John

Sorry, but that will take an act of Mazda to implement. I was only trained in the art of banning people. http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/forum/t1203.gif -John

You mean like this one? http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/nysanta/t77101.gif -John

Have you contacted AEM yet to discuss? They may have some unpublished workarounds you can try. -John

I just did a quick search and found some mentions of the AEM causing issues with ECUs. EMI is suggested as a culprit and there was also a statement that the sensor or timing ground shared with the gauge is a "no-no" No explanation of why though. How close is your ECU to the AEM gauge? If they are close, is it possible to increase that distance temporarily to see if it makes a difference? You mention earlier "From measuring and logging, the RPM data disappears from the logs using my SCT device, and the Fuel pump driver module stops sending 8v to the pump, as normally commanded by the ECU." Perhaps EMI is causing that interruption? -John

Another thing to try -- and someone please correct me if this is a bad idea -- is to jump start the car. Hook up another running vehicle like you would do with a dead battery on the se7en and try to start it. I imagine with the other car running and likely a much larger battery in place, a big voltage hit would be far less likely to occur under these conditions. If it starts easily, you have likely confirmed this is the issue. -John

Can you expand on the above? The current conversation is centered around the WBO2 set up, but this indicates that might be a red herring. What USB setup creates the same issue? Thanks, John

You can't possibly make a life changing decision like this before you've put 5,000 miles on the car. Go put some miles on that beast and rethink this. -John

I'm very good at finding Waldo After zooming in to admire the GT2, my jaw dropped. You face a very nice dilemma on weekend mornings when deciding how to best clear your head after a long work week. -John

Glad it's back together and you're happy with the results. By any chance do you have a dyno plot for the engine you can post? I'm curious about the power curve with the bigger engine. And more importantly, is that a Carrera GT in the background? Thanks, John