SENC

Thanks! How could I forget?!?

What's the latest? Has Barney been liberated? Do we need to start a protest?

Got offered a deal I couldn't turn down recently, and now own a 1988 Mercedes 560SL. Definitely no lightness added to these vehicles, but a nice car nonetheless. As with all 30+ yo cars it will need some service and TLC - I'm finding some good support at benzworld.org, but nothing like we have here for our Sevens! So, this is first and foremost a post of thanks for this great community that readily shares ideas, expertise, and advice. Secondly, if there are any other 560SL owners among the group, perhaps we can share notes and tips as I learn how to maintain my new car.

What's really in that container? https://www.postandcourier.com/business/feds-seize-2-fast-2-furious-car-say-north-charleston-business-illegally-imported-vehicle/article_7a36ee46-3a5b-11e7-bacd-f34ca15bbbca.html

I imported an old Seven in late 2019. The best advice I can give is to hire an agency/company that specializes in importing vehicles to assist. There is a lot of good information on the import process on the web - just Google importing a car to the US. My take home after researching was that though importing is reasonably simple, there are a number of areas for potential problems that can have high risk/cost, up to and including a vehicle not getting approved at port of entry. An experienced company and agent can significantly reduce the risk of a big issue. I used Schumacher for an all-inclusive import - from document assistance on the export side to shipping contracting to document assistance on the import side. They also identified an import/export attorney to serve as my rep at the port of entry to make sure things kept moving at customs, DOT/EPA, and the warehouse. I think I figured the process cost me a little over $1k more than if I'd done it solo, but it gave me some piece of mind and also likely saved me some warehousing and delay costs. They were particularly helpful in determining best and most cost effective method of shipping and export port. On my own, I may have chosen a roll-on/roll-off method to save money, but with their assistance I ended up shipping in a container at not too much more cost and knowing it had been packed well and would be more protected. As for strength of the dollar, that should definitely be useful - but while down from their peak, my understanding is shipping costs are still fairly high so that may eat and currency exchange gains. Good luck!

Looks great!

Meh, what could go wrong in port?

tick tock

Good luck!

There was import/DOT/EPA paperwork that had to be filed when I did mine and I couldn't be on-site as it cleared to do that - so I had to have a broker and give power of attorney to file that paperwork on my behalf. May be different in your circumstance, but definitely check with Caterham and the shipper.

Looks like it took a couple days to get unloaded and staged then a couple days for customs clearance and delivery to the warehouse, then a day or so before they let me know I could pick it up. The funny thing is, I had only a brief window to pick it up before accumulating charges so I remember being quite nervous about getting notification. Hopefully Caterham advised and assisted, but did you complete and submit the necessary import and EPA forms and have an agent paying customs and getting the paperwork through? If none of that rings a bell I can search for old emails for the guidance and assistance I got from Schumacher to send you.

I'll look back at my paperwork and see if I can find the wait once in port, but seem to recall it was a bit longer than a couple days. I do recall being forewarned it could be as little as 2-3 days or considerably longer depending on the customs inspection. I'll PM you my information, but if you get in a bind I'm in Wilmington and could potentially meet you down there with my trailer to help you get it home if it can be rolled out of its crate and into the trailer.

Just trying to help you pass the time. 30 seconds in... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/travel/video-1499755/100-foot-wave-hits-ship-intense-storm-North-Sea.html

Yes, and I remember that being a little nerve-racking as there was near-total radio silence once in port and as I'd been advised early on by my shipping agent that this stage we were not only at their mercy for timing but for what level of customs scrutiny/inspection. My Seven came in a container, and it had been explained that while most common was a fairly expedient paperwork review that customs could decide (randomly?) to set the container aside for a full inspection - and that if that occurred it would be at my cost (and wasn't peanuts, as I recall). I did get a kick out of picking it up at the warehouse once cleared and unpacked. They were (appropriately) focused on mass shippers/volume, with little/no facility to support the single unit importer like me. Once in the gate (no problem with paperwork in hand), I was on my own to figure out where to park/stage and not be in the way of the big-rigs and then to find someone in the warehouse willing to slow down and help. I found my car within 30 minutes of walking around, but was there another hour+ waiting for "the right guy".

Is it headed west? Hopefully a southerly route?

I should recognize that @Crocwas dead-on about hurricane season, though. Hopefully Nicole will be gone before anything purple heads west. @UglyFast, you don't have any ex-es named Nicole, do you?

But that's a cruise ship... Quit your worrying, @UglyFast, surely this won't happen again... We visited Sea Island GA not too long after this wreck in 2019, and had dinner at a golf club that had a great view of it. I have to say it was an impressive sight, the enormity of the ship on its side. The multi-year cleanup effort was fascinating to follow online. For those whoay not have followed the story at the time, the ship was carrying over 4,000 cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, into a massive roll-on/roll-off port nearby. Wondering if a lightweight, aluminum and fiberglass vehicle would fair any better.

Yes, I realize it technically still is the season - but living in a part of the Carolinas that seems to be a magnet, I stop watching after about mid-October. The Sandys are thankfully rare, relatively speaking, and "feel" out of season to me. But now that you've given @UglyFastsomething else to worry about...

As I recall, mine went from Southampton to Le Havre to Antwerp to Rotterdam to Amsterdam and maybe back to Le Havre before the long journey west. It then stopped in NY/NJ and Norfolk before it was unloaded in Savannah. I could locate which dock the ship (COSCO Vietnam) was on when it was in any port, and by watching the reported height above the waterline could tell whether they'd taken on more than they delivered at each port. It was really fascinating. I was glad it wasn't hurricane season, as I'm sure you are as well.

I had a great time following my Seven through various European ports before it started across the Atlantic - the anticipation mounts!

Bill - I've an old set I'm not selling but would be happy to pull out for measurements, detailed pictures, etc. if you need to start from scratch. Commercially, I'd reach out to Chris Mintoft at Redline and Mick at Xtraspecialsevens (both uk). John Donohue @SevenAmerica might have some leads stateside.

Good read JB, thanks for sharing. Practical application and testing like this is always valuable to me in understanding how things work. The primary focus on airflow as a priority definitely rings true to me. The water pump and flow testing was also of interest, though I would have liked to see them measure flow in some way as they measured air flow. In Elan twinks, it is well known that the water pump simply doesn't push enough water at idle for good circulation (the same is surely true for our early Sevens) - that it really needs to be over 1500 rpm for sufficient flow to cool. Many have solved this issue with electric water pump conversions, some with smaller pulleys to lower needed rpms. I haven't changed either, instead relying on throttle blips if stuck at idle for any period.

Agree with MV8, slower flow allows more heat transfer per unit of liquid... but increased flow means more of those units are passing through, so total heat transfer (generally speaking) increases with flow. A limitation to this, as MV8 mentioned, is when flow reaches a point it causes cavitation. There was a great discussion on this on lotuselan.net a few years back that I refer to periodically, I'll find and link. In the particular case of my precrossflow 7, as it was apparently designed for use w/o a tstat I adopted the opinion that operating without would not result in cavitation. So far, lack of overheating whether at long upper-rpm speeds or in low-rpm traffic suggest it is ok. https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29674&f=39&start=0#p197209 and an on-point excerpt from that thread, if you don't wish to read the entire thing... As they say in the mythbusters - "warning a little science needed here" Heat transfer rate = K x A x LMTD K a nominal constant but determined by a number of geometric and surface condition factors including "Reynolds number" which is a measure of turbulence in the flowing fluid A the heat transfer area LMTD is the log mean temperature differential You are correct AHM in that there is no specific mass flow term but there is "Reynolds number" this typically increases with increasing fluid velocity increasing the K factor. Thus increasing mass flow through a heat exchanger typically increases heat transfer coefficient but the rate of change is nomrally small . The big effect as you observe is the increase in what is technically known a LMTD = "log mean temperature differential" as increasing flow means the flowing fluid heats up less as it pass through the engine and thus picks up more heat from the engine as there is more temperature differential driving the heat flow. It picks up less heat per unit of fluid flow but more fluid flow so overall more heat transfer from the engine, I think it is this complexity that people somethimes get mixed up with. In an engine you have two heat exchangers in series - the first is the engine sending heat to the coolant and the second is the radiator sending the coolant heat to the air. This makes the overall situation a little more complex but in general a faster coolant circulation will tranfer more heat --- which is why the thermostat opens to control the engine temperature. Removing the thermostat could cause a problem with the water pump cavitating and flow dropping off rather than increasing but i dont think this is a problem with the twin cam. Removing the thermostat reduces the pressure differential through the heater core so it will reduce the heater effectiveness. It also means a longer warm up time which is not good for engine wear. it may also mean the engine runs so cold that blowby contaminants stay in the oil and dont boil off leading to oil contamination and engine wear due to this also. cheers Rohan