lowflyer

Welcome to the asylum! While I don't wish to "put down" the English kit car manufacturers here's a couple of thought for your consideration. Many of them are made for folks that don't have that "proud American body", you know "porkers". In my mis-spent youth I had occasion to drive a Series III Lotus 7 on occasion and found it very tight, and I weighed about 175 then. Now that I am in shape (round is a shape) I find that I need a larger cockpit to enjoy. My choice was the Stalker kit, out of Florida. If you are on the "big side" this is a major consideration. That brings up another point to consider... do you want to wait for the ship to bring your parts from the other side of the pond, or would you be happy picking them up at NAPA, Checker, Autozone, etc.? A kit car is never going to bring the kind of money that an original or restored Super 7 will. They are essentially just toys, great toys, but toys still. Building your own car is a great adventure, but not for everyone. You should evaluate your abilities, along with things like do you have the garage space? How about your tools? Most people don't build every part themselves, although some do. On my car, I had professionals do the painting and interior work. The Cobras are cool, but most insurance companies won't insure them, not even the specialty houses... another consideration. There is a builder of Stakers in Texas, by the name of Suger Grove Auto. Not sure of there exact location, but someone here can probably provide that. So, first try finding a car and sitting in it. Determine if you can drive it comfortably. There are a number of members of this forum in Texas, so finding some cars shouldn't be too difficult. Do, as you are doing, talk to folks that have different makes and get there opinions. Lastly, buy what you like and enjoy it. :seeya: :seeya:

In California they have "street legal" engine oil???? Oh, my!

I had a similar "clunk" in my Stalker. After much looking, testing, etc. I discovered it was caused by a can of tire sealant rolling rearward and hitting the bulkhead under acceleration. The can had a piece of towel wrapped around it with a rubber band on it, to keep it from rattling against the metal floor. The rubber band had broken and the can had "unwrapped" itself causing the metal to metal contact. I was even able to reproduce the noise in the garage with the engine off. I'm not suggesting that this is your problem, but sometimes the easiest and most obvious things are overlooked because we are looking for a real mechanical problem. On another occasion, I found that the locking nuts on the rear trailing arms had worked themselves loose in two spots. No noise, just found them while doing some normal maintenance. It's all part of the "fun" associated with our type of car. :party:

One caution... when they closed their stores here in Arizona the sales went to a "liquidation specialist". It seems that almost all of the good stuff went somewhere else. The specialist then raised all the prices back to full retail, before discounting them 25% to 40%. In many cases you could buy the same thing cheaper elsewhere. The final insult was that they brought all kinds of junk in that CC never carried at outlandish prices. If you go, know what something is worth before you assume you're getting a deal. BTW, my wife told me that Mervyn's did the same thing when they had their "going out of business" sale.

That's a Fisher Fury, isn't it?

Here's a picture of the flywheel I used on a crossflow. It was custom made from steel billet by a fellow I met online who lived in South Africa. He was a retired engineer for Ford (S.A.) and raced an early Escort. The flywheel weighed 5.5 pounds, which is really too light for street use, but mine was in a formula car. It still made moving the car from a dead start a tricky deal. It could have been even lighter, but I wanted to use the stock clutch assembly. Sure made the engine rev like a sewing machine though, and coming off corners was a lot more fun. BTW, the wheel only cost me about $100 at the time, about 10 years ago. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1250341768_XF75 (2).jpg

Got a new personalized plate for my Stalker about 2 months ago. I thought about varietions of Stalker, Stlkrv6 and my personal favorite Stalken (my name is Ken). None of these passed muster with my wife. Since the plate stays with the owner, even after the car is sold I decided to go with something more generic. All during the build, my wife's favorite question was, "well, how's the dream coming?". So from there it was easy. The new plate is THDREAM.

To offer a slightly different idea.... I first used a dash mount mirror, very similar to those found on Cobra kits. It actually comes from an English design and was used on the full sized Austin Healey 3000's. I found that the mirror was too low for my use. I'm about 6'2" and my shoulder blocked most of the view (as in rear view). When I had a passenger on board, it was worse. I then remembered a design used on MGA's and B's, along with some other English roadsters, and similar to something I had on my Porsche roadster. It's a mirror designed to mount on a 5/16" thick rod, and through a locking set screw it's adjustable anywhere along the length of the rod. I welded up some of the rod, mounted to a small steel plate. The rods are formed in such a way as to also provide an additional brace on my Lexan windshield. The rubber bumper at the top is actually a vacuum tube block off plug from a Holley kit. It rests against the windshield and pretty much removes any vibration from the mirror. The best part is that being adjustable, I can set it at a position ideal for me, or move it for someone else to drive the car. In addition, there is a chrome "racing" mirror on either side of the car, for a wider view of the left and right lanes. The center mirror came from Ebay, as much of my car did, and cost around $20-25. The gold anodizing is original to the English piece. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/915227180_stalker210.jpg

$47,000 dollars, less engine and gearbox!!!!!! What a friggin' bargain.

Hey, we have to make up for the 110 degrees somehow!

At the risk of receiving hate mail.... just got back from a trip to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch. The temperature was a brisk 71 degrees, but we were able to compensate for this (and the wind chill factor) with sweatshirts and light jackets. Lunch consisted of delicious burgers with grilled onions and an order of fries, consumed at a picnic bench under a huge Pine tree. Being shaded by the tree made it a little cool for my wife but, trooper that she is, she perservered. Sometimes there are benefits to living in Arizona! :cool:

Yeh, that's what I meant.... that whole "inversely linearly proportional" thing. You're also right about caster settings The negative side of reducing the castor is that you also lose some of the steering "self-centering" effect, as well as a little bit of steering stability at speed. This, like most things in life, is a tradeoff.

One other consideration you may wish to make is that the smaller wheel also requires more "Oooomph". I ended up with a 10" Formula car wheel, simply because the larger wheels cost too much in thigh room. The downside is that the steering has a much heavier feel than if I had used a larger wheel. It all has to do with leverage, but I will leave that discussion to the engineers in the group. If you have the chance drive cars with different sizes of wheels before you make a final decision.

Another vote for the suede. I've had the smooth leather wheels in other cars and they tend to get slippery when you're hands are sweaty. As for the black residue, I have it all over my face after a couple of hours driving, why not on my hands?

Any fire extinguisher is better than having none.... that being said, I would give more thought to shutting off the fuel flow first with an easy-to-reach switch. Ditto on shutting down the engine and all of its electrics. If you do have a fire inside the closed hood the worst thing you can do is open the hood. Just adds oxygen to the existing fire. Chances are if you shut down the engine and the fuel pump the fire will not last too long on one of our cars. Damage would likely be done, but that's probably a given anyway. Another good reason for preventative maintenance on the car, especially at the beginning of each season and after it's been "rode hard and put away wet". I've been carrying a fire extinguisher in all of my cars for over 40 years. I've used them at least a half a dozen times, thankfully, never on my car. Heck, I even used one on my neighbors house many years ago.

I also have a Haulmark Low Hauler, although mine is the "Edge", which doesn't come in a V-nose. I would have preferred the V-nose, but when buying used your choices are somewhat limited. I've towed with mine a couple times and find that it does pretty much what I expected. The flat front is topped with a roof line that is rolled back, as are the sides some they offer some slight aerodynamic advantages over the typical flat nose. One thing I did do, which you may find helpful. After determining the location in which the car would best fit, I screwed a couple 1"x2" wood straping pieces to the floor of the trailer. I also marked the location of the inside of the left front tire on the door ramp. Now it's easy to locate the correct spot for entering the trailer in the center as well as having the front tires "drop into" the correct spot. Doesn't allow the car to roll back or forward if loading on a grade either. Good luck with the new piece.

My wife and I went out early on Friday for a blat to our favorite breakfast spot. The temp was about 45 and at highway speeds the "air conditioner was working great". I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, so I can easily relate to the comments about putting the car away for the winter. Sadly the only place I know of that has ideal weather most of the time is Hawaii.

Hi Gary, I used to live about a mile from this cruise night. It's certainly grown since the "early days". I'd be happy to meet you up there, if you tell me when you're going to be here. The cars normally start showing up as early as 3:00 PM. The normal turnout is around 500 cars. With the exotic car auctions scheduled for January, the unusual/exotic/expensive cars will start showing up in droves too. I have my wife convinced that going to the McDonald's cruise night and having a Big Mac is "dinner and a show". :jester: :jester:

In the "alternate universe" of Arizona, winter IS the time when we drive our non-AC cars!

Cross posting from the Autocross section. Heavy duty, vinyl "no cones" stickers guaranteed to keep away those pesky cones on solo/autocross courses. O.K., maybe not guaranteed! I made them up several years ago for the local SCCA region and they just surfaced in a corner of my office. No wonder my wife keeps yelling about "cleaning up your office". Anyway, for sale here as well as the Stalker forum. $ 5.00 a pair, can be mounted on any clean, smooth surface. Contact Ken at lowflyer1@cox.net if you want a pair. http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/462219849_nocones.jpg

I've just "discovered", in the corner of my office, a quantity of No Cones stickers which I made up for my local SCCA region (and myself) several years ago. The stickers are made on heavy duty vinyl, designed for exterior usage, and measure about 3 1/2" across. The feature an orange autocross/solo cone with the red international symbol for NO. They can be mounted on any smooth, clean surface. I'm offering them, in pairs, both here and on the Stalker forum for $5.00 - which is about what they cost me. Contact Ken at lowflyer1@cox.net if you would like a pair. Payment can be by check, m.o. or Paypal.http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/1725753037_nocones.jpg

Congrats! Just think of it as doing a "partial, frame up restoration".

How time flies!!! I'm old enough to remember when the Lotus 23 was THE car in under 2 litre modified class. And while some remember that Pete Brock had some involvement with Cobra (he designed the Daytona Coupe, among other things), he was also quite famous for making Datsun a winner on the race tracks. With both the 240Z and the 510 sedans, his team BRE won just about everything that there was to win. I found the comments of the viewers of this film (on the film's website) quite interesting. Talk about a generation gap! They were more interested in the present day "ricers" than this, without knowing that if Brock and Datsun hadn't hooked up "back in the day", there might not have been any Japanese tuner cars now.

re: rollbar bracing. That is the "SCCA bar" as defined by Dennis (the father of the Stalker). It is a standard piece of the kit. It bolts to the bar with a two piece collar and bolts on to the floor of the car. Dennis installed a steel plate, welded to the frame through which the bottom plate on the bar can be attached. The nice thing is that it is removable for everyday driving. Some organizations, including some of the NASA regions, don't accept this, however. They insist on having two braces running rearward of the rollbar. The thing that they don't realize is that there isn't a whole lot of material to weld/bolt the braces to behind the seats. The fellow that originally built this car, chassis #46, worked on it for 51 days from start to finish. As he put it, 51 days from crate to road.

Great story. You should be committed, but I loved the story.