Anaximander

Henry, I am really concerned how ridiculous the used car market has become for se7vens. Just a couple of days ago, a 2016 Stalker XL sold on BAT for almost $20k more than you could get a brand-new copy of the same car. The person had set a reserve of $33k and ended up selling it for $77k plus the 5% fee that BAT charges. This just does not make any sense to me. It may be that there are a multiplicity of reasons why people are abandoning traditional metrics and I suspect that the pandemic has had some impact on people's psychological outlooks and willingness to throw care to the wind in these trying times? For sellers, this is a terrific time to sell. For buyers, I sure don't think so. Just my $.02 on the matter.

OMG, Less Suave here. I thought I had lost contact with my long lost relative, Suave. He always went for those bright colors where I am choosing to put sedate STOP ME RED (nope, not street legal, hehehe) on my almost completed Stalker AXR. Unlike Suave's caretaker, I don't plan to do any jumping in this new autox car if my caretaker has any sense when he starts pressing the loud pedal in anger.

Bruce, Your points about the lack of upper longitudinal bars supporting the front portion of the roll cage seem reasonable. Last week, I had an HVAC replacement and the fellow that did the work jumped monster trucks for fun over an 8 year period. He pointed out to me that very same concern and said that in the monster truck world, they enacted some different structural requirements because one of their participants died in such a manner as you describe. He also showed me a picture of one of his monster trucks that did end over end flips and crushed the driver's side of the roll bar encased cab. He reported that he had to crawl out of the passenger side of the truck. Of course, our se7ens are not designed to get 15 feet of air over jumps but your observations do not seem to have missed the mark. The one thing we Stalker owners and other se7ens have going for us is the low center of gravity that seemingly would make it very difficult to roll these cars in most circumstances. Again, if one is overly focused on the inherent dangers of the cars we drive, then they likely should drive cars that have 5-star crash and roll-over ratings.

Bruce, Isn't it wonderful to have a car that you can admire to the enth degree! Enjoy the ride! It is the embodiment and the fruits of your labors that brought it to you.

What a great honor and recognition of a very special design and a very special car. Congrats on the award. It makes the cost of all those carbon fiber bits and R500 upgrade not hurt as much.

Bruce, Interesting observations. Since our Stalkers and most other se7ens do not come with airbags, about the only thing we can do is make sure that we have at least up-to-date 5-6 point 3" racing seat belts. If you strap in really tight, I am not sure that the rake of the windscreen would make any difference in terms of head injury? If you are concerned about head injuries in a collision which is a real possibility in any of these type cars, then I would suggest using a helmet that allows us to use a Hans device so that we minimize the risk of serious head/neck injury in a collision. Short of doing that, all of these types of cars, especially kits that are Cobra replicas can put a person in a world of hurt due to their old-school crappy handling characteristics. If we also look structurally at the chassis of a Lotus/Caterham, we have to be aware that we have even less structural integrity surrounding ourselves than a Stalker due to the smaller gauge of metal that is used. Colin Chapman likely wasn't too overly focused on safety issues when he designed his Se7ens and was concerned with every extra pound of weight. I guess life is all about weighing the risks and rewards and determining for ourselves what level of safety we hope to achieve in our lives. For me personally, Covid was a wakeup call that a tiny non-living organism could have taken me out as it did a couple of acquaintances as easily as getting in a wreck with one of our cars. Frankly, I would rather flame out in a se7esque car than die from a virus I can't even see I have made a personal decision to wear a Sparco neck brace along with my Sparco carbon fiber lightweight helmet when I race my Stalker AXR in autocross events. The likelihood of needing the neck brace it is probably on the low side but I am keenly aware of the fragility of our spinal columns and the attachment of my 10-11 pound bowling ball of a head sitting atop just a few sinewy connections to my spinal cord. On top of that, a normal brain weighs about 3 pounds and can suffer contrecoup injury in a sudden deceleration. Thankfully, my brain is so small that it would fit up a gnat's butt and roll around like a BB in a boxcar .

Cueball1, Stalker cars raised their prices a bit recently but I can tell you, being in the process of building an AXR, that the price of the components has skyrocketed. I paid $103 for an LS dipstick that cost $55 two years ago. I have been stunned at how much money I have had to spend to get a car up and almost close to running that supposedly just needed wheels, alternator, starter and a few assorted parts. That car on BAT would now cost closer to $63k to build in today's economy and it is highly unlikely that things are going to be getting cheaper anytime soon? The nice thing about Stalker cars is that all of the parts are basically USA sourced which makes parts finding and replacement much easier in this supply chain horror show we have going on worldwide.

Mike, That 2016 Stalker XL on BAT is likely the most stunning example of Minehart's work that I have seen to date. He even had the aluminum interior metal panels powder coated. The seats look uncharacteristically comfortable and supportive as well. Somebody is going to get a beautiful Stalker but I doubt it will not be pretty pricey when the hammer drops on the auction block.

Car_Guy, It looks like the width dimensions on that trailer might be too narrow for your XL? The rear end width on an XL is 76" wide. I ended up having to buy a brand-new 14' Aluma ( Aluma 7814 sa tilt trailer) to haul around the Stalker AXR (66" wide) I am in the processes of completing. Sadly, they are now about $7-8k due to the price of aluminum skyrocketing. Actually, just found a heck of a deal in FL and Iowa on what would be OK for your XL. The bed is only 77.5" wide so you would have .75" clearance on each side for your rear wheels.

Vipergeek, You communicated to me that you recently hardwired the fan because the relay did not seem to be activating it. FYI, because of the peak amp draws, it is recommended that you use at least a 12 gauge wire to not experience any overheating. A 10 gauge would be a bit of overkill but you would also be flowing a ton of electrons through that large a gauge of wire.

Vipergeek, Where is your intercooler located? Could it be that it is right in front of your radiator shedding hot air onto your radiator while cooling your turbos?

Vipergeek, I am using a Maradyne High Performance Fans M142K Champion Low Profile Series Fan that is 14" and reversible in front of a custom radiator sourced by Stalker Cars. Since I will be using this for autocross, I will be installing a 160 degree thermostat to get my engine warmed up quickly for autox duties. I am not sure what your EcoBoost needs for cooling? The nose area of a Stalker is fairly small and cooling is a bit challenging because the radiator has to be tilted backward for hood clearance. IIRC, your EcoBoost engine is mounted significantly differently than any M-Spec Stalker that I have seen or owned and so my setup may not be helpful for you? I know when I run LS3's in the Stalkers, the engines are designed to run hotter (about 200-215) than the older school engines. On this build, I am including an overflow tank (2.5L Universal Aluminum Coolant Radiator Overflow Expansion Tank Reservoir Recovery Water Tank Bottle) that you can get on Amazon.

BEAUTIFUL!!! Congrats in a big way on such a wonderful car.

Building

Car Guy, Those Falken RT660's are very well thought of 200TW tires. The Yokes are probably not really 200TW tires. They wear more like 80-100 and grip like all get out. However, those Falkens are almost half the price. I autoxed my XL a few times and it was a LOT of fun! I did it on a local track and also at Sebring International Motorsports Park parking lot with the local SCCA group. It did amazingly well in the sweepers. It is a bit wider for the slaloms and/or Chicago Box. I would love to share my good fortune on this Memorial Day. The complete brake system is now installed and the center console has been fitted for the Wilwood brake bias selector, gear shift lever and the 5-point harnesses. On Wednesday, we plan to re-install the engine/transmission/drive shaft. The professionally built top end is going to need priming prior to start-up. I also just received the alternator, starter and some fuel line components such as the 10 micron fuel filter. I have to get the spec for the fuel regulator and order one of those. My painter said that I should be getting the body panels no later than this coming Friday. Things are moving along. I have the wheels in shipment and already have the Avons so things are perking along. I need the big 16" tires mounted on their wheels to determine where to set the fenders and the rear suspension. That part of the process should commence mid next week. Again, I am hoping to have this hot rod fired up by the end of June 2040. I moved the date out hoping that my body wouldn't give out before I complete the build and so setting a very distant number might be physically protective against old age? Bob

G'day Croc! The AXR is currently being reassembled. Most of the suspension, foot controls are back on and I will finish installing brake lines by the end of this Memorial Day! I will also finish mounting the center console to accommodate the 5-point seat belt harnesses today. Then, reinstall the floors and rear cockpit aluminum sheet metal. At that point, the LS1 engine, GForce transmission and drive shaft will be installed and coupled to the 8.8 Ford 3.73 LSD rear end. Then the task of wiring and connecting up the engine accessories, fuel tank, etc. will commence. The body work (bright red) is at the painter's shop and should be completed in the next week or two which coincides (hopefully) with my ability to install them. I have the tires (Avons) but am waiting on the front/rear wheels and that should come in the next couple of weeks. Hope to have a trackable car by early July. Already have the Aluma 14" tilt trailer with brakes in my neighbor's garage. Thankfully, my neighbors only occupy this second home for the Winter golf season.

Kitcat, The XL Stalkers were primarily designed to be track cars as they are 10" longer and 10" wider than the M-Specs (the cockpit is 4" wider and the foot well is larger as well). Since the XL has similar wheelbase dimensions to a C7 Corvette (105" length and 76" width in the rear), some modifications would be in order to make it more of an autocross weapon. Primarily, the size of the rotors/wheels/brakes on the XL were spec'd for track use with 12.75" rotors. To make it more efficient for autox, one would want to put smaller rotors (10") on the car allowing for smaller dimension wheels and tires. Trying to use street tires on a LS3/430 or LS3/480 are like driving on ice in terms of overall tire grip. If it was going to be used for both street and autox use, then a set of Yokohama Advan AO52's would be about the closest you could come to having both street/autox tires with some grip. Currently, I am in the process of putting together a Stalker AXR which was specifically designed for autocross and is 6" shorter than a regular M-Spec with the more narrow width (except the wider rear end to accommodate the 16" wide slicks) but can also be tracked. It can also be setup for some street use which I do not plan to do. On my M-Spec AXR, the rotors are 10 1/8" in diameter front/back. It will have 16" wide rear Avon slicks on the rear and 10" wide Avon slicks on the front. The rear hubs need wheel spacers to fit the wide rear tires. The height profiles of both front/back are much smaller than the XL's or even the M-Spec tires.

Car continuing to be upgraded.

Cueball1, The 2012 Brunton Stalker with the LS3 sold for $49k a couple of days ago with BaT's 5% auction fee added to the selling price of $46,750. I am absolutely astonished at how much money our se7ens and sevenesque cars are commanding??? And on top of that, I see Croc's listings shrinking as we move into the warmer selling season for 7's. It feels like the whole market for just about any kind of goods/services has been going out of sight, price wise. I frankly wonder about the sustainability of all this economic chaos.

With a lot of help from my racing buddy and a bunch of sweat and calculating, we finished the fitment of the AXR body panels, pedals, etc. and began the deconstruction yesterday and completed it today. The chassis and body panels will be going to the painter later this week. If it were not for my friend, I am afraid that I might have drowned in the deep end not really knowing the proper way to do things even though Stalker Cars provides excellent sequential step-by-step videos developed and presenting Scott Minehart as he explains the compartmentalized tasks. I have realized that there are many gaps in my limited automotive assembly capabilities and it is very helpful to get assistance from someone who is quite versed in construction techniques, especially with Stalkers and Miatas. I think if I had the opportunity to build several of these that the tasks would be significantly less daunting. Having owned a number of prior built Stalkers, I am extremely impressed with the quality of the chassis construction and how precisely things fit with each other.

Cueball1, You are absolutely correct on all counts. The new suspension on the M-Specs has a lot more adjustability and rides better than the original Brunton Stalkers. However, I really, really enjoyed my last Classic Stalker with the supercharged 3800 in it. It was very nicely built, tuned up by Scott Minehart when I brought it home and gave me several years of absolute joy.

The rear deck lid and side panels atop the rear clip were cut and fitted today which took a surprising amount of test fitting and trimming. With patience and some great tools, the job was completed. We removed the racing tires, put the car back on the roller wheels and will do a complete deconstruction of all the loosely assembled parts to get the car back to its native chassis and ready for paint. I will be very interested to see how challenging it is to remove the engine/transmission. It feels like the second phase of the build will be behind us when the components requiring paint go out the door. I am also pumped that my Aluma tilt trailer that I ordered a couple of months ago will be ready to bring home sometime late next week. I had planned to use that trailer to transport the chassis to the coater but may have to rent a trailer for a few hours to get it to the painter's shop. I have elected to not worry about scheduling a powder coat for the chassis because it would likely significantly delay the build/coordination toward completion and the paint shop will be using special hard automotive coatings that should withstand most of the potential abuse thrown at it with the reconstruction of all the component parts. Being that it is an open cockpit race car, it will not be subjected to rainy days if they can be avoided. I do not have any interest in learning how to drive with great precision on slick surfaces or with rain tires. That level of competition does not seem appealing to my old bones.