toedrag

Been a productive few days on the windshield: Drilled & tapped the mounting holes for the windshield. Rounded off all 4 corners of the windshield with a 2.5" radius Remembered to trace the final windshield shape & hole locations onto some cardboard just in case I ever have to do this again Installed the weatherstripping around the windshield. Test fit the rear view mirror bracket, which also functions as an upper support for the middle of the windshield. I'll attach it once the hard top work is complete. The windshield still looks more or less the same as a previous picture, so I didn't see the point in posting another one. Once the hard top is done, I'll post some more pictures. I started work on the hard top hinges. What I decided to do was start with some 1/8" thick 2" wide x 36" long aluminum angle. I cut it in half to make two 18" long pieces. I chose to use 18" long pieces simply to give some longitudinal support to the hard top when opening/closing since the pivot bolts will have some tension on them. Then, on each 18" long piece, I cut most of one side off, leaving a small tab at one end. The tab will later hold the pivot bolt, which will act as the hinge when paired with the roll bar clamp. To bend the aluminum to the proper profile, I made a template out of cardboard to get me in the ballpark, then just used good ol' trial & error until the fit was satisfactory. After all the trial & error fitting of the windshield, this part was eeeeaaasy. To attach the bracket/hinge to the hard top, I got to use fiberglass mat & resin for the very first time. Thx to jevs for his guidance on working with fiberglass. I only did some small fiberglass strips for now, just in case something goes horribly wrong and I need to remove the aluminum. If all goes well, I'll fill in the middle with more fiberglass mat. The driver side bracket is fully cured in place, so that's one side down and one to go. I've already cut & shaped the passenger side, just need to glass it in maybe tomorrow if time permits. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28378&g2_serialNumber=5

Well, to clarify...the included particle board template in the kit is a good starting point, but it's not quite plug & play in my experience. It really served me as more of a practice piece rather than an actual template. That's mostly because there is a thickness difference between the particle board & the Lexan. Plus there is some difference in how the Lexan bends vs the particle board. Those differences are significant enough that it necessitates adjusting all of the edges of the Lexan, including the bottom edge. As an aside, with the particle board template, the curvature could easily be adjusted by just pushing or pulling the sides of the template. With the Lexan, it wasn't that easy...the bottom edge of the Lexan played a much more significant role in determining curvature. It took me a while to figure this part out. Once I did, I spent a fair amount of time shaving the bottom edge trying to reduce the curvature of the Lexan so that the top edge ended up where it needed to be. I talked to Scott a couple of times during this process, and his advice is that you just have to mess with it to get it right. There's no secret sauce or trickerations, other than: start with the bottom edge, then do the top edge, then do the sides. It's a test of patience. You just have to dig in.

Sure thing, got a few more in my gallery here: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=28356 Let me know if you want more and/or different angles.

Making some progress on the windshield and hard top. I can say that, without any doubt, this has been the least pleasant task on this project because it's so ludicrously time consuming. The challenge introduced with the hard top is that the front edge of the hard top is profiled in both the horizontal & vertical planes. If I hadn't chosen the hard top option, fitting the windshield would be much, much faster. I think I'm somewhere north of 15 hours on it, and I still need to drill it and figure out how to finish the corners. On the upside, the windshield to hard top junction is pretty darn perfect, the bulk of the profiling & shaving is complete, and I still haven't destroyed the Lexan yet Close-up of the top edge: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28366&g2_serialNumber=3 Below shows how the windshield sits right now, which is ready to be drilled. The black things around the perimeter are short stubs of weatherstripping. Once it's drilled, I'll figure out the corners. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28372&g2_serialNumber=3

One thing to keep in mind is that roads are influenced by/constrained by the geography. Many (most?) roads in the States are essentially straight and flat b/c that's what the terrain allows. Contrast this with the geography across the pond where Se7ens have more mass appeal. IMO, this is why folks in the US tend to gravitate to straight line G's vs lateral G's. It's kind of the only way to have fun on a boring straight road, unless you do those sideways wheelies in SUV's as seen on the youtubes. In terms of a Se7en, a street car made solely for twisty roads is pretty benign on straight roads, which is why it's mostly a track/auto-x market here. Obviously, the exception is the mountain areas; you'll find a general population there that can enjoy a twisty road going street car.

Hi Jim, I'm not entirely clear on what you're asking...are you suggesting that WCM, Stalker, or others need a lower performance flavor with better fit & finiish? I'm also a bit confused on your pricing estimates...Caterham's current US inventory shows a 360 for $57k, and the 280 looks like it starts at $34k. WCM S2k looks like it starts at $38k. Stalker has various kit offerings that range from $11k to $47k for a turnkey car, and if you want the 3.8L V6 NA, a turnkey Stalker is $37k. Over the long term, I expect that the Total Cost of Ownership for any of the US-based Se7ens will be lower than the TCO for the Cat. Besides that, both the 280 & 360 aren't really in the same league, performance-wise, as either the WCM or Stalker. As an example, when I was making my buying decision, the conclusion I came to was this: Here in the States, if you want the best fit & finish and the Lotus pedigree in a Se7en, you buy a Cat. If you want the most bang for your buck, you buy something else. That's really not an insult to Caterham; I very much wanted a Cat when I began my search, but my brain simply cares about value & performance more than fit, finish, & pedigree. Agree on the comment above about demand being limited here in the States. Buyers of a 3-season car are few, and only enthusiasts understand and care about power to weight ratios. It's just a niche market.

I revisited my parking brake lever brackets over the past week, and I'm quite pleased to report successful completion. Now, keep in mind that this is a bolt on approach because I don't weld. Later, I may or may not have a welder either weld together some of what I have or have him re-do it completely. Just depends...If I do have anything welded, I think it would only be the right-angle brackets that attach the assembly to the chassis. I like the idea of leaving the majority of the bracket removable. Here's my first version: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28344&g2_serialNumber=3 Once I finished with version number 1, my elation quickly turned to one of those...."uhhh, wait a minute...." moments. As I'm staring at it, I started thinking about how the seat back panel would mount with it, and it occurred to me that the bottom bolt heads would be visible, which wasn't a deal-breaker by itself. Then, it occurred to me that I'd need a giant trim ring for the boot to hide the 4 upper bolts. I felt like such a large trim ring would look a little goofy up there. So, I set version 1 aside and began version number 2. I used 1/8" thick 1" & 2" steel angle. The major difference with version number 2 is that the mounting points are all hidden behind the seat back panel. Since none of the hardware will be visible, I can use a normal sized trim ring. This method also requires some steel spacers on both sides of the lever due to my usage of Lokar's electrical switch which mounts to the side of the lever. You can kind of see the back of the switch in the last picture; it's the fuzzy white-ish rectangle near the top of the picture. Without the switch, I probably could have just used a couple washers. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28352&g2_serialNumber=2 http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28348&g2_serialNumber=3 http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28350&g2_serialNumber=3 As a bonus, I figured out how to route the cables. In the last picture showing the rear view of the assembly, you can see both cables heading to the lower left. That's intentional & necessary with this installation due to the geometry of the differential casing. If the passenger side caliper cable exits to the right, there is no way to secure the cable without it making contact (a lot of contact) with the differential casing. By having both cables exit the left, it's easy to secure the cables with adel clamps to the frame and leave at least 1/4" of clearance to the differential casing. The passenger side cable travels around and under the differential. The bend radii are well within the capabilities of the cable, and the action on the lever feels good. My next task is to secure the cables & cut them to their final length.

That's greatness! You should probably plan on making more of those for future Stalker builders :cheers:

Kudos for giving it a try! Glad you found it useful. You're right that it's exhausting at first, but it gets easier with practice.

As to the specific question of 'How does Xcarguy's accident impact me personally?' Since it appears to have been caused by a yet-to-be-named mechanical issue, it's a matter of me understanding the root cause of both the mechanical failure and the root cause of the injuries, and addressing them preventively, if possible. It may or may not be applicable to my m-spec build, but there are always lessons to be learned from any incident. My risk tolerance varies, but in general, I now describe myself as a [somewhat risk-averse] adrenaline junkie....I'm a conflicted individual, obviously. One certainty is that you'll never find me on a motorcycle (unless it's something like a Morgan 3-wheeler or T-Rex that's classified as a motorcycle, but has more than 2 wheels). On public roads, I feel like there are really very few true accidents. People like to call them "accidents" even if it was caused by someone making a choice to not pay attention to the world around them. Perhaps an accurate name would be "ignorances". My & my occupants' safety begins with awareness and the healthy paranoia that everyone else is trying to kill me. I don't trust anyone on the road; I don't trust that anyone will obey traffic signals, stop signs, or really any other rules of the road. For example, if I'm first through a green light at an intersection with full visibility, and if I don't see the car running the red light, I feel like I'm partially at fault. The reason being that I should have paid attention and noticed that the car wasn't slowing down for its red light. On the other hand, if it was a blind intersection, there's not much I can do, other than not be first through the intersection. Another example: a 3-lane frontage road, let's say I move from the left lane to the center lane, but I didn't realize that the right lane was ending and merging also into the center lane. Even if I had done everything correctly and even if the other person didn't see my blinker and hit my car, I still feel like I'm at fault for putting myself into that situation by not noticing what was happening in the right lane. I suppose you could call this a more intense form of defensive driving. I credit HPDE schools for hammering home the idea of awareness while driving. Increased awareness helps mitigate the risk of driving, in my opinion. Over the years, I've avoided plenty of "ignorances" this way.

Been a while... All the convoluted tubing is now installed. It's nice to finally have the engine harness buttoned back up. I'm really happy with how the engine harness turned out after all the modifications I did. Lower engine harness secured to the engine with some simple aluminum brackets I made. Also shown below is one of three 8 AWG wires that connects the engine block to the frame. There is a corresponding one on the passenger side, and the last one is located at the rear of the engine, near the firewall shelf cross-member. They are all longer than necessary to allow for engine movement. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28330&g2_serialNumber=4 2 AWG & 8 AWG battery cables are done, except for the starter's lug for the 2 AWG cable; I'm waiting on a right angle ring terminal from Digikey. The alternator's 8 AWG power wire is also sorted as shown below, and I added an 8 AWG wire from the alternator back to the block to ensure a good return path. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28332&g2_serialNumber=4 I'm also happy to report a few revelatory moments that have helped me move some tasks forward with which I had been struggling: Problem: As various elements (brake line, clutch hose, fuel hose, transmission harness) exit the engine bay and head into the tunnel, it was driving me a little crazy how I was going to keep these parts from rubbing each other, the frame, and/or the transmission. My "Ah-Ha!" moment was to fab a simple aluminum bracket that straddles the block & cylinder head. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28318&g2_serialNumber=2 Problem: Hard top hinges. Brunton welds on some tabs, but as I've said previously, I don't weld yet. I can't fit the hard top without having these tabs or something similar. Thankfully, I found a suitable tube clamp. It will clamp to the 1.25" diagonal support tube at the back of the roll bar, which is where the Brunton weld's the tab. The bolt acts as the pivot point. The clamp is a Kuryakyn 1003. http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDQ1MA==/z/WjAAAOxyVPJSKBvz/$(KGrHqN,!nsFIIr7yUp5BSKBvztOpQ~~60_35.JPG Problem: The uncompleted items on my growing welding list were creating some roadblocks for me. It occurred to me that I needed to temporarily fabricate whatever I could to help me move forward, and then the welder can quickly weld them up later. So, I bought some flat & angle steel and will be revisiting things like right angle brackets for the throttle linkage and the parking brake lever supports. And if you're keeping score at home, this is calendar day 213 since the kit's arrival with roughly 255 build hours thus far.

Print out a flyer and drop it off at a local track? Head out to some local car shows like a Cars & Coffee and display a 'For Sale' sign. List on SCCA forums, any local car forums, trackjunkies.org, depending on the restrictions in their respective marketplaces. Just spitballin' here.

Fantastic! Happy to hear it, Shane.:cheers:

Glad to see you're in good spirits, Shane! Thx for the update!

Curiosity is eating away at me...wondering if this happened @TWS with TDE and whether or not red mist from another driver played a role.

Here's to a fast recovery, Shane!

Placed some orders with Aircraft Spruce for adel clamps and McMaster for sheet metal screws, windshield weatherstripping, hard top latches, and high temp convoluted tubing for the engine harness. On the rear chassis wiring, I poked holes in the rear body for the STTR (Stop/Turn, Tail, Reverse) lights, license plate light, and license plate. Originally, I had planned to put the STTR lights in the rear fenders, but after a wifey consult, we liked them on the main rear bodywork. Mostly, it was aesthetics from wifey's opinion, and for me, it simplifies the wiring plus there is less worrying about debris kicked up from the tires. Filed under 'happy accident' with the position of the STTR lights, the inner of three mounting screws lined up in front of a frame tube, which meant each light gets a solid mounting point and the body gets another solid mounting point. Neither is really necessary, but it doesn't hurt. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28317&g2_serialNumber=2 In the middle of routing the wires: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28310&g2_serialNumber=3 I wired the aforementioned lights into the chassis harness, ran & terminated ground wires, covered the bundle in the convoluted tubing, and drilled mounting holes for clamps/ground points. Did the same for the remainder of the rear chassis wiring: fuel level sender, fuel pump, and parking brake switch. Very happy to say that the rear chassis wiring is done, except for the 3rd brake light because I have to get some mounting tabs welded to the roll bar before finishing it up. Looking at my build log, it looks like everything described in this post took about 10 hours. Here is the completed harness all buttoned up inside the convoluted tubing. I would have shown the completed harness all routed nicely with clamps, but the larger ones I ordered to fit around the tubing haven't shown up yet due to the inclement weather in TX. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28314&g2_serialNumber=2 I'm really getting close to having all the *known* holes drilled in the chassis, which is a wonderful thought to have. Up next, I'll take a break from electrical and will work on the prop rods and windshield + hard top.

Thx for sharing. Watching now. I hadn't seen this How It's Made episode before. I dig that show, even moreso now

Looks great! I know you must be happy to finally be doing some easy bolt-in work

Picture of previous work showing driver side engine harness re-routing. Note that the ECT wire on the left actually comes from the upper engine harness bundle. It's hanging down low because the upper bundle is just laying askew on top of the engine. The ECT wire doesn't come from the lower bundle, as this picture might lead you to believe. I wish I had noticed it before snapping the picture, and I would have tossed it out of the way: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28294&g2_serialNumber=3 I also cut the hole for the main wire bundle to pass through the tunnel top and encountered a happy accident. (Background: I'm sure no one remembers, but due to my car being an XL and the build video I was following targeted a standard M-spec, my tunnel top ended up too short; I added an extension which meant the tunnel top was then a two-piece element. I had been toying with the idea of re-doing the tunnel top as a single piece). The happy accident was that I was able to cut an opposing u-shaped notch in each of the two tunnel top pieces so that when they come together, they form a nice circle around the bundle. I made the hole 1/8" larger all the way around to accommodate a grommet, weatherstripping, foam, etc. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28296&g2_serialNumber=3 Thx to a child-less Sunday morning, I tested my lights & wiring before I close up the wire bundle with convoluted tubing, aka split loom, aka corrugated tubing The two big circular lights are 3-function from Maxxima: Stop/Turn, Reverse, and Tail lights. The long skinny rectangular light is the 3rd Brake & Tail light, also from Maxxima. The small light between the cleco pliers & wire stripper is the license plate light, from ebay. The Stop/Turn function is driven by the Penta-Star turn signal module. The turn signal inputs to the module are driven by two buttons mounted to the steering wheel. Yes, those are wire nuts you see connecting the wires together. I'm only using them temporarily for this test. Wires will be terminated the proper way for the final installation.

Over the last several days, I've been making additional changes to the engine harness to clean up the routing. All of the engine harness wires are now exposed. Thinking back to when I test fit the engine harness for the first time, for whatever reason, I had assumed that the harness was custom-fit to the Stalker, mostly because the harness was created by Custom Performance Wiring, who can do custom harness builds. Now, I realize that's not the case, and I'm really not sure for what vehicle this engine harness was designed. When researching this build last summer, it was readily apparent that I'd be on my own with chassis wiring, based on the lack of any build videos or write-ups on the electrical system. It just never occurred to me that the engine harness would follow suit. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been upset or discouraged by this at all. Quite the contrary, I've thoroughly enjoyed all the electrical work, despite the tired legs, back, and occasional wrecked fingertips. I bring this up to hopefully set the proper expectations to others out there. If I were to do it again, the only real time and/or comfort savings might have been to go ahead and remove all the corrugated tubing from the engine harness before the first test fit; it's a bit annoying to do it in-situ. I suppose it might be also be possible to re-route some of the wires with the harness on the floor, but obviously trimming or extending various wires would require the harness to be on the car or jig. If I remember, when I remove the harness during disassembly, I'll trace the various wires on some cardboard for future reference. Here's the list of what I've changed on the engine harness so far. I wish I had a good 'before' picture: To get a little more slack between the driver & passenger bundles, cut & extend a black wire & a pink wire. (Once the big split loom has been opened up, it should be obvious which wires need to be adjusted). Reverse Lockout harness --> Extend 12" VSS harness --> delete Delphi Metri-pack connector and wire in Ford connector Backup lamp harness --> Extend 12" Throttle pedal harness --> delete 6-pin junction connector, re-route, and shorten Engine Control Breakout (Tach, Speed, CEL, etc) --> delete 6-pin junction connector & extend ECU Pwr, Starter Solenoid, Crankshaft sensor, passenger side Knock Sensor --> re-route and shorten. As the harness comes from Current Performance Wiring, this bundle runs along the passenger side cylinder head along with the injector wires, and then exits on the front side of the engine where it then loops and runs rearwards to be connected to the target device. I re-routed these down behind the engine on the passenger side. The engine harness's main power wire is an 8 gauge with a 3.0 sq mm fusible link (slightly smaller than 12 gauge) prior to a ring terminal. By re-routing this line, I should be able to trim off about 3' of the 8 gauge wire and can likely re-use it for either the alternator feed or my main fuse panel feed. The starter solenoid wire appears to be a 12 gauge wire, and my starter's solenoid terminal is a #10 stud (the *one* ring terminal & gauge combination I didn't buy...back to Digikey) [*]OBD2 harness --> re-route and extend by ~3 feet. Had to twist the High & Low data wires; a drill comes in handy here. [*]O2 harness (passenger) --> re-route & shorten [*]O2 harness (driver) --> re-route. Shorten the engine side harness. Extend the sensor harness. This allows the junction connector to sit in a spot where it's out of the way of the brake pedal linkage. Note that the sensor harness was a little tricky. The insulation seemed to challenge my wire strippers on occasion. The bare wires had a finish that prevented solder from sticking, but after applying a tiny bit of flux, all was well. [*]MAF harness --> shorten [*]Oil Pressure harness --> re-route & shorten. [*]Camshaft sensor, driver side Knock Sensor harness --> re-route & shorten. Similar to the bundle on the passenger side, this bundle runs along the driver side cylinder head along with the injector wires, and then exits on the front side of the engine where it then loops and runs backwards to be connected to the target device. I re-routed them down behind the engine on the driver side. [*]Alternator Excite --> re-route & extend. I've said it before, but I really mean it this time: I think I'm done with wiring changes to the engine harness. At this point, the only reason I should have to dive back in will be to rework an error (knock on wood). Passenger side view of the main chassis wiring bundle. The ECT label you see is for a sensor that I added to feed my dash; the hole in the head is plugged from GM, but it's easy to remove to add another ECT sensor. The ECU's ECT sensor is in the usual LS location near the front of the engine on the driver's side. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28290&g2_serialNumber=2 Test fit the speedometer in the dash. The arc on the left marks the top of the steering wheel as seen by the driver. The steering wheel looks funny in this picture because the heim joint isn't connected, so the steering wheel is hanging low: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28292&g2_serialNumber=4

While fitting a metri-pack GT 150 connector onto the Miata brake master cylinder's brake fluid magnetic float switch, I noticed that the resistance was different than the expected Normally Open behavior. Instead of being an open circuit when the switch was inactive, the resistance was 500 ohms. When the switch was active, it was a short circuit. This wouldn't have worked with my dash because it would result in the indicator being lit all the time. Not to be deterred, I found the easiest of workarounds: simply take apart the switch and remove the 500 ohm resistor. Sorry about the over exposure from the flash. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28288&g2_serialNumber=2

I've ended up using the electrical tape in the same way. Lots of taping, cutting, & re-taping. My floor is littered with little tape fragments. I thought I had some spare velcro straps to use as temporary ties, but I could never find them and wasn't motivated to buy some. In retrospect, I wish I had simply because it would be much faster to make adjustments to the bundle. I need to make a trip to the HW store for a hole saw for my speedo, so I may look for some.

Took a few days' vacation to the Everglades National Park & Florida Keys and had a wonderful time. The Anhinga Trail in the park has a tremendous amount of wildlife. We also did a guided backcountry boat tour (pontoon boat, not an air boat) from the Flamingo visitor center. Lots of manatee at the Flamingo marina. That Manchineel Tree that they have in that area is one crazy dangerous tree - wikipedia link Our favorite meal in the Keys was at a restaurant called Lazy Days in Islamorada - great food and a great view. Great beach at the Bahia Honda state park. Back to car talk... I'm mostly done running wires on the chassis & under the scuttle; I finished terminating wires at the fuse panels & terminal blocks. The ring terminals I'm using throughout the car have a brazed seam and have internal serrations to hold the wire, and the heat shrink is adhesive lined with .06" thick wall after shrinking. Both the ring terminals & heat shrink are higher quality and less expensive than what you can usually find at the local electronics shop. Got 'em from Digikey. I've also been trying to organize the rat's nest of loose wires under the scuttle into nice looking bundles. Man, that takes a long time and is pretty tiring on the legs and back since the car is on the ground and requires constant bending over. Got the Penta-Star turn signal & brake light module wired in; I chose to just hardwire it instead of using a junction connector. A trick I found when splicing multiple wires is to stagger the splices by 1/2" or so; this minimizes the bulge created by the heat shrink (9 wires on that module to hook up). The module is hanging skewed in the picture because it's currently only supported by an adel clamp on the wire bundle. For final install, I'll use the supplied double-sided adhesive pad. At the terminal blocks, I'll remove the blue painter's tape labels after testing each circuit. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28282&g2_serialNumber=2 More electrical in the coming days. Have more to bundling to do under the scuttle and then will move onto terminating & testing the various devices.

Not sure if you saw where I'm planning on putting mine, but I'm going to mount it vertically on the seat back panel between the two seats. Just need to get some steel strips welded in to hold it.