Anaximander

This 2014 Stalker XL Classic R (Level 6) was factory assembled and delivered to the original buyer in late 2014. The car has a total of 6500 miles since new and has been registered and been street legal in Oregon (a collector), North Carolina (a street driver) and myself here in Florida. The car has never been raced but was going to be part-time purposed by me to do autocross but I decided that I am too old`. The car was assembled from all New Components Including the following: Welded Space Frame Chassis Suspension Control Arms, Uprights and Hubs Aluminum and Fiberglass Body Panels Wilwood 6 Piston Front Brake Calipers, 4 Piston Rear Calipers with a bias control valve Aluminum Pedal Assemblies Coleman Racing Steering Rack and Electronic Assist Power Steering GAZ Shock Absorbers w/Springs Custom Built Exhaust Headers and Mufflers Electronic Management System Flywheel SPEC Clutch Drive Train LS3 New GM Performance Parts LS376/480 Crate Engine (495hp/473 lb.-ft. torque) New Tremec T-56 Magnum Transmission, Close Ratio New GM Limited Slip Differential with 3.23 Final Drive Ratio (factory-rated to handle 551 lb-ft of torque and generally reliable up to roughly 800–850 horsepower) New Custom CV Axles New Kirkey 41 Seats with 4 Point Harnesses Dual Inline Radiators and Racing Fan XXR Wheels Brand New Falken Axenis r660+ tires (front and back) Brand New Braille 17 Lightweight AGM Battery Brand New LED Rear Tail Lights and the front turn signals are LED arrays that were fiberglassed into the underside top of the front fenders Speedhut Custom Gauges Custom Fuel System Including Tank, Walbro Fuel Pump and Fuel Lines The car has undergone a thorough refresh with new fluids (engine/transmission/rear diff/brakes/clutch) and the coolant was just tested and in excellent condition. The tires only have about 350 miles after having been installed and balanced last month. I am pleased to report that there is not one leak or drip from any of the car's components (the rug in the picture is there to lift the hood and keep the paint protected. The car will be sold with a Brunton Auto custom open tilt trailer that was refurbished a month ago with new wheels/tires including a matching spare wheel/tire, new electric brakes with new bearings and the trailer wiring is completely new with a 3500 pound Torflex Axle for a smooth ride. Replacement cost for this entire ensemble would be in the $90-100k range and the car is running like new. I took my neighbor for a ride who is used to high-performance motorcycles and he was blown away by the power to weight ratio and the cars acceleration/deceleration (Weight without passengers is approximately 1800 pounds with 15 gallons of fuel). I am pretty sure that I could get more money on BAT but I hate that they charge 5% and I would rather have a Stalker/Se7enesque lover get it at a more reasonable price. If you ask any of my former Stalker buyers, they will tell you that the cars they bought from me were in superb condition and very well sorted. The engineering and components (i.e. Grade 8 bolts and built from all new parts) that went into the chassis/suspension and drive train make for a car that is extremely quick and very intuitive to drive. Just the parts/components alone to build the car currently exceed a price somewhere North of $70k according to Scott Minehart who is the designer/builder. Scott opined that the XL would be his model of choice for street use and they are extremely successful in full-on track events with the very predictable handling characteristics. One of the truly amazing things about these M-Spec designs is that without all of the "nannies", if you find yourself starting to get loose by over-accelerating, all you have to due is lift off the throttle and the car immediately straightens out. This feature was designed into the car by Scott Minehart and his whole racing family where his brother is the second fastest in the country in SCCA autocross with his 2015 Stalker AXR. The car and trailer are available for pickup in North Florida just South of the Georgia line in Tallahassee. This is my 7th and final Stalker. I have owned 5 M-Spec Stalkers (M-Spec 000, 3 XL's Classic R's, and a (M-Spec AXR that I helped build during the Covid pandemic). Its kind of ironic that if you go to Stalkercars.com, the blue M-Spec and this car are featured on the opening page. Minehart advised last week that he is supplying fiberglass parts for all of his M-Spec cars and has the molds for his 4 different models of Stalkers. The XL's were designed for a smoother ride with a longer/wider wheelbase. The car is titled as a 1962 Lotus 7 Replica. With the adjustable seat and wider dimensions, larger and taller folks with larger feet do not have to squeeze into this car. If you are looking for a custom, hand-built car sourced with all easily obtainable American made parts in the USA in the future, then this is an ideal car for a Seven lover that is a show stopper on the road and at every fuel stop Be prepared to have people giving you a tremendous amount of thumbs up and even folks wanting to video your car because of how unique it looks and how well it performs. Below is a gentle third gear pull to 4800 rpm to show how peppy the car is with a peak HP at 6200 rpm and factory rev limiter at 6600 rpm. 3rd gear video.mp4

Moby65, I plan to drive my Stalker XL up to Moultrie, GA this morning to watch the test and tune of the SCCA National Tour Event happening only 1.25 hours from the house. I finally got my new-to-me Stalker XL dialed in and just want to go up for a couple of hours and watch some of my friends play with their autocross cars. I will plan to give you a call this weekend and provide some information you might be looking for? Anaximander

Here is an old link to a variety of things related to most of the Brunton and Stalker cars: https://stalkercars.forumotion.com/f2-classic-brunton-stalker-chassis or just: https://stalkercars.forumotion.com Anaximander

Scott Minehart of Stalker Cars which is the follow-on to Brunton Auto has the molds for fenders, hoods, etc. He also had a forum and I do not know if it is still operational. It was created for folks that bought Stalkers. I would suspect that if you commissioned Scott to make you some of the necessary parts that he might consider allowing you as a guest on the build forum if it is still operational. Scott's mobile number is 386-931-6437. I appreciate that you are a college student with limited means. However, Scott like all of us has bills to pay so requesting free guidance IMHO is a bridge too far in terms of viability. If Scott can be compensated in some ways for his expertise, then it becomes a win-win situation. Nobody wants to work for free and he is not a charity Good luck with this ambitious build. I too just bought a Stalker XL Classic that had been neglected due to the passing of the owner. I am in the process of bringing it back functionally and aesthetically and it is a lot of fun.

The more I get to looking at the Stalker, without knowing the dimensions from just the pictures, it appears to me to be a M-Spec Stalker Classic R build. Minehart knew that the more purist se7esqe folks preferred the more conventional look of the rear fenders rather than the more aerodynamically shaped rounded rear fenders that he produced in his original M-Spec car to reduce wind buffeting.

Thumper88, PM me your name and phone number and I will give you more information that you are interested in. Anaximander

The manufacturers 4 digit (first two digits are the week of the build year and the last two digits are the year of build) date code on the Toyo R888 tires will give you a good idea of the build date e.g. "3714". I am suspecting about 2014 M-Spec Stalker with a LS3/430 V8 engine, Tremec 6-speed and a CTS-V rear differential. Thumper88, I sent you a PM.

Sent Thumper88 a PM. I guess I know a little about them having owned 6 of them and having helped build my last one during the Covid lockdowns.

Deman USA, That car of yours is practically "used up" However, for us curious folks, how much are you asking for this "gently used" supercar? You have articulated how much they cost, the question is, what kind of money will it take to obtain this brand new car? Thanks, Anaximander

Is the car still for sale after Tall Steve tried his fitment?

If someone is looking for a Stalker XL project car that has an LS3/480 engine, Tremec 6-speed and a CTS-V rear end, there is one available at Copart North Pittsburgh. https://www.copart.com/lot/59782345/salvage-1962-lotus-7-pa-pittsburgh-north?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb&utm_content=link-website

Croc, As per your frequent requests when it comes to Storkers, I weighed in a bit on the listing you just posted. For California residents, these kind of deals are pretty golden because the car comes with the coveted S-100 designation for registration of the car in Caly.

I second MV8's recommendation to consider keeping the rear exhaust pipes. The side pipes make a huge racket and are hot as hell next to the driver and it makes for kind of an unpleasant experience if driving on the street. Because you have the Classic XL version, the rear fenders direct a heck of a lot of noise into the cockpit and some people mount deflectors just forward of the cockpit off of the roll bar area and this makes a huge difference in comfort while driving on the street.

RacerRicke, Congrats on the new Stalker XL Classic. Actually Croc, the car that RacerRicke just bought resided in the town we just moved to 4 months ago and now he will be taking it downstate but only 2.5 hours South of Stalker Cars in Spring Hill, Florida on the same side of the State. The engine is indeed and LS3/430 which is really about ideal for the car. The original purchaser in California had talked Scott Minehart into making it for him with side doors and air conditioning. The air conditioner apparently never worked correctly but the A/C head unit appears to still be installed under the dash. I actually was in Scott Minehart's shop having him work on one of my Stalkers when the car was being built. It has a Cadillac CTS-V rear end that is designed for about 500 lb.-ft. of torque. One thing that you ought to talk with Scott about is if he "hardened" the attachments of the driveshaft to the rear diff. I think this car has the latest mods on that but I am not sure. Scott will definitely know. It has I believe a Tremec T-5 6-speed transmission in it. IIRC, the CTS-V's may have had a rear diff ratio of 3.73? Scott uses a Chevrolet ECU. The car is equipped with a ton of heim joints and the gas tanks usually held about 15-16 gallons of fuel. It will run nicely on 93 octane pump gas. Being NA, there are no turbo lag issues and with the torque of the LS3, you will be getting used to the incredible power to weight ratio with the car probably weighing in at about 1850 pounds. The aerodynamics of the front fenders leave a bit to be desired if you are doing HPDE's at high speeds. You can contact Glen Minehart at 386-931-6435 and he will know Scott's current business phone number and location of his shop. Stalker cars has moved several times over the past 10 years and is likely somewhere near Spring Hill, Florida. Scott knows every nut, bolt and part number on that car by heart and can dial in any level of performance in terms of corner weighting and ECU issues that you may have. He also has vendors who make the side pipes, uprights, etc. and Scott knows how to get the ECU dialed in for different configurations with his preferred tuners. Scott and his whole family, including his mother and father are hardcore autocross folks and his older brother is #2 nationally in SCCA E-Mod in autocross in a Stalker AXR. Scott historically has charged reasonable prices for his work and there is nobody in the country that knows these cars better than him, period. Because they are so uniquely constructed, I personally wouldn't let anybody touch your new baby other than Scott Minehart. That is why they are called M-Spec cars as homage to Scott's design/development. Much good fortune with your beautiful toy! Bob Schilling

I had a recent conversation with "Beardy" who I had sold the car to. It is not longer for sale. It met with a tragic accident but nobody was hurt.

That might be a bit much but say 10-15 in a day would be incredible.

Beardy, Having owned that amazing car, someone is going to get a very fast and beautiful ride. The weight is probably more like 1700-1800 pounds but with that LS3/480, if it had wings, you could take flight. The incredibly smooth power band with gobs of torque makes it one of the most fun cars I have ever owned and I have owned 6 Stalkers over the years. If I didn't own an almost new Corvette C8 hard top convertible, I would be knocking on your proverbial door to get it back. No leaks, no issues, just a very fast and beautiful example of a Stalker Classic XL that is really dialed in. Bob

You might want to put where the car is located, and how many fun miles are on it, and if you had been racing it.

Stalker XL, Consider scratching the use of a torque wrench because there are no standards for how much torque should be applied to the various bolt/nuts. Just check for snugness before each race weekend and you should be fine. Many of the suspension connections require two wrenches to tighten opposing nuts on threaded components and are not even accessible to a torque wrench. Glen had suggested to me what I am suggesting to you and I would only occasionally find one or two nuts that had slightly loosened up. Using a torque wrench without knowing what would be optimal torque settings feels like the potential for disaster in the making? Additionally, what you are referring to in your picture are called cone washers and Minehart has design reasons for using them in some places and not in others. I can't remember what the logic is for their use but Glen would be able to explain the various uses of flat vs. cone washers and where they should be used. Glen helped me build my AXR a few years ago and it was pretty stout.

Stalker XL, With the various Stalkers that I owned (6), with all of the heim joints that Scott uses for adjustability on the M-Spec cars, I would frequently gently test the torque of all of the connecting arms front and back to see if anything was coming loose. The cars have a way of vibrationally, over time, loosening certain nuts, especially on the front end of the car and so I would take a couple of wrenches and without overtorqueing anything make sure that all nuts were secure. When tracking the car, I think it would be prudent to do this before every race weekend and it only takes a few minutes for added piece of mind.

Scott's XL's have experienced several spindle failures over the years. The uprights are custom made to interface with the Stalker suspensions. I would definitely contact Scott Minehart of Stalkers Cars and get his expert opinion on whether or not your fix provides a sufficient safety margin. IIRC, Scott's original supplier of uprights discontinued business and Scott had to source another vendor to make his uprights. He had CNC specs but I am not sure if they went away with the dissolution of the upright vendor's business? Additionally, Scott's brother Jason Minehart has continued to experiment with Stalker suspensions and there may be additional variants that have come out of the real-world race testing that Jason puts his Stalkers through. I think the spindles may have been sourced from Ford parts but that is a long-ago memory and may not be accurate in the least. In Scott's literature, he talks about "custom aluminum spindles" so I am not sure what he was trying to convey with that descriptor? Scott would be your best source for determining the safety parameters of the XL's modifications that you made. He has a lot of real world race experience with his components from some of his racing and he stays well in touch with some of his customers that use his cars primarily for autocrossing although the XL's were primarily designed for track work given their longer/wider dimensions than some of his other models.

yellowss7, I fully agree with your observations about the autocross "juice" not necessarily being worth the "squeeze". For several years and in different cars including se7esque cars, I went to autox events. However, just like yourself, the expenditure of time, effort and the investment in autox specific cars just was not worth the effort for me when I looked back at the totality of the limited amount of driving I was able to do. It did significantly improve some of my driving skills and the camaraderie was very pleasant. However, autox involved too much investment in everything to be worth 4-6 runs of 35-60 seconds. OTOH, some autox'ers have suggested that track driving is like having sex and autox is like having an orgasm during sex. In other words, autox is short lived but very intense which does make some reasonable sense. Another argument reportedly made by a seasoned track enthusiast was that autox which he was relatively inexperienced in was in many ways much more demanding of precision driving than his track time. I have seen Sevens doing very well in autox and agree that if it captures your fancy, the car can definitely be a muli-purpose vehicle that can be used on the street, race track or autocross course with equal aplomb.

Cueball1, That is likely quite true but I had no intentions of using it on the street on this go-around. I built the car specifically to see how well I could build a Stalker and also to see how fast I could get on autocross tracks. It was going to be a x2/month hobby activity. Unfortunately, I aged out and my body just can't handle the g forces comfortably and the long days standing around at an autocross event. OTOH, it would not be a big deal for someone to go through the process of making it streetable. I am not sure why I would have to spoon feed a subsequent buyer? If they wanted to use it on the street, they could simply put on the few things that are necessary to comply with a 1962 Lotus Replica and get is titled and licensed. Not a big deal in some States. There are times, especially when we were in the grips of Covid where I wanted a bucket list project but did not have an eye toward resale. I frankly was amazed at how complex a build can be. I was fortunate to have sorted the car out in less than a year but I understand that some builds take folks several years to get things working properly. Fortunately, I had the expert help of several people that made the project doable. It will forever be an accomplishment that I will remember mostly with great fondness and a bit of pain to make it more memorable

Fellow Se7ens lovers, my fully dialed in Stalker AXR is in the last 3 days of an auction on Bring-a-Trailer. If you car looking for a really dialed in no excuses car that will be uber reliable with primarily new American sourced parts, please take a look at my auction. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/stalker-cars-axr/ My mantra for the day is: "Please Bid and Bid often" Thanks, Capt. Bob, Aka Anaximander

I decided to make the car street legal and am in the process of scheduling the work to make it so. I have had an absolutely wonderful time bringing it to its current level and taking it to the final completion will not be daunting compared to what it took to get the car put together and dialed in. Thanks for all the great advice.