Davemk1

We have a local guy who has a few hundred cars (no exaggeration) in his yard. You know the type.........cars everywhere. A good friend went to this guys place to buy an old Europa from him. The seller wanted to prove that it ran well so went to start the car for the buyer. The buyer still had his money in his pocket when the seller got the car running. They smelled something and looked to see a fuel line leaking onto the exhaust. Before they could do anything the car was fully engulfed and burned to the ground. A wad of burned fiberglass and metal. My friend the seller was pretty happy that he still had his money in his pocket. That old Europa is still there. The would be no way to tell what it is....or was. Bummer, Dave

Looks like our cars are cousins..........mine is #1009. Dave

I believe my Birkin was built near that same time. What's your chassis number? Dave

Very good point about the ferrules on the housing ends. They make the housing seat well and take out slop as well as providing a seal to crap getting in. Dave

My car has a Zetec and the overflow bottle is right below the pedal box almost under the steering shaft. seem fine and never really thought of it. Dave

Any quality bike cable and housing should be fine. Most cable is made by the same company and then sold under a number of different names. If you want to be 100% sure you've got good stuff get Shimano............that's always a safe bet. Dave

That is more or less how my Birkin is set up. The inner cable is fixed and the housing floats. You are right that the housing rubs against the pedal box hole it passes through but mine has a delrin guide that keeps it from binding or abrading the housing. It helps to make sure that the first half of the cable run from the pedal is clear an also the the cable to move naturally when you push the pedal. Mine didn't work that well until I replaced the cable and housing. Being in the bicycle biz I naturally used bike cables for the job. They work much, much better than the crap Birkin cable. I used an inner cable that has a teflon covering and an outer housing that has a teflon lining and there is now much bette throttle control as you can make very small movements with little to no stiction. It also takes less effort to push down the pedal and it returns all the way very quickly. If you want to get extra fancy you can use bike gear cable and housing. The cable is about the same as brake cable but the housing is a good bit different. Most housing is like the stuff on the Birkin...........it's a coiled wire with a rubber coating over the outside. The coiled wire compresses a good bit under pressure and can give the cable action a good bit of slop. Gear cable on the other hand uses metal but it's not coiled. Gear housing uses small metal rods running lengthwise and arranged on a circle to make a tube. This tube is then lined with teflon and covered with plastic on the outside. This in done on bicycles to give very precise shifting. It also works very well as throttle cable for the same reason. The housing doesn't compress. Good stuff. Dave

Good deal. I love my Birkin and bet you will love yours too. Dave

As much as I love living here and can't imagine ever leaving it does have it down sides. I say this so that folks considering having the meet in this area can keep this in mind. Driving for sport over some of the roads here in the summer can be a frustrating deal. The Beartooth has to be one of the coolest roads on the planet but during the summer (as long as school is out) there is a good bit of traffic and it goes slow. Folks are taking in the views. I've driven over the Beartooth a few times but never in my Seven for sport fun. It was a bit frustrating even in my VW station-wagon due to the motor-homes and the such. I imagine that if one were to drive it at first light it might be much better but keep in mind that the pass goes over 10,000 feet and it will be cold up there in the AM. Near freezing wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Something similar in Yellowstone proper. During the summer it's just plain crowded. Not so much that you can't have fun sight seeing but if you want to drive for fun it might not be that much fun. The east-west route across the northern section of the park (lamar river valley) would be the best bet and spits you out of the park into Cooke City and later Cody if you like. This section has the least amount of traffic/tourist and could be fun early in the AM. Kit Kat has it right that there are many long straight stretches of road. It is very open here and if it's hot or it's windy then you'll be hot and blown around. Most areas have little or no shelter. There are very few tree lined back roads that will protect you in an open car. I can promise no shade and at altitude the sun is strong and hot. When you get away from these tourist areas there will be no one. The population density is bizarrely low. With all the election hub bub recently it was pointed out to me that the state of New Hampshire has a higher population than Montana does. This combined with an east-west border to border distance that is about the same as Chicago to DC means that there is no one here. The folks are are in in the summer all go to a few spots and all drive Motor-homes with Apache written on the sides. With careful planning routes could be picked that have fun twisty roads mixed with long straight open sections that will have near zero traffic. Just keep and eye out for wildlife on the roads and you'll have fun. Anyway..........I feel like I'm trying to talk folks out of coming here and that is far from the truth. I write the above so folks know what they can expect and plan accordingly. I just pictured us all stopped atop the Beartooth highway and getting lots of dirty look from folks who thought it would be empty. Thanks for reading. Dave Bozeman MT

Nice to see people are interested in seeing MT. I like it here. The photo is taken from my home office window here in Bozeman. Another day in hell. Dave http://www.serotta.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35475&stc=1

I agree that hoping for any real downforce is silly. I realize I'm splitting hairs here with the wording but I can picture reducing lift a bit and making the car a bit more slippery with the removal of the windshield, a front splitter under the nose-cone, a tray under the rear axle and a diffuser. Seems like those things could add up to make a small difference overall. Thoughts? Dave

I'm looking for added performance in autocross. Since most autocross speeds are pretty low in the big scheme of things I'm not sure how much advantage there is to be had. I guess my main goal would be to add downforce. I think the easiest way to reduce overall drag is to remove the windshield and that's pretty simple. I'm not sure how it is on other Sevens but on the Birkin the area under and around the rear axle is open and the rear rises at too steep and angle to function as a diffuser. So my rough idea is to make a panel that will fill in the area around the axle as best possible and to make/buy a diffuser for the rear under the tank that doesn't rise as quickly and would better manage the air flow. Thoughts? Dave

I'm thinking that I might want to make some changes to my Birkin to help in the aerodynamics dept. I was thinking a front splitter and a rear diffuser. Designing and making the splitter seems pretty simple. I'm less confident about the rear diffuser design. Anyone out there in Seven-ville know anything about this or know of anything available? Thanks, Dave

A Seven could never be in the biz.....Seven's give more than they promise not promise more than they give. Dave

Anyone know this car? Dave http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1969-Lotus-Seven-SS-Mk7-400-hp-Turbo-13B-Rotary-TEC-2_W0QQitemZ200180604575QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200180604575 http://www.rpmengineering.com/20071206/7/IMG_1673.jpg

I don't know what the easiest way is but this way seems pretty easy. I used string pulled across the sides of the rear wheels pulled forward past the fronts. The rear track is wider than the front so you can pull the string right past the fronts. Then measure from the string in to the front wheel. On my Birkin the rear end was twisted. I installed Woody's trailing arm kit and they are adjustable so I was able to adjust the length of the arms and get the rear axle perpendicular to the chassis center line and parallel to the front axle centerline. After I did mine I noticed that the rear just felt more stable at highway speeds. Not a day and night difference but it's nice to know it's right. If you are careful and take your time you get very consistent, repeatable results. I hope that makes sense and helps. Dave

Did you ay you checked the rear thrust angle? Dave

It's been a very good year from me and my Seven. Lots of miles, no break downs, a few big autocross wins and lots of fun. I just got done with a few improvements and couldn't resist taking it out for a run today. It was about 25 degrees but sunny and still and the roads were dry. It was fun to feel the improved performance I'm getting with the new aluminum flywheel and undersize aluminum crank pulley. I removed over 13 pounds of engine rotating weight with these two changes. It certainly revs much quicker now. Couple these with the newish free-flowing side exit exhaust and the car really moves. Lots of fun for sure. There are three photos. One is of a Golden Eagle sitting on a pole near my house. He just sat and let me take his picture from the car. The other two are roads near my home. Sometimes they can make one feel small. Tomorrow the car goes into storage until March when it will come home for another season. Thanks for looking. Dave http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1793171636_DSC_7700.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/550626806_DSC_7713.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/998887990_DSC_7732.jpg

Oh the humanity! Dave

I live and in Montana and as much as this might be a surprise it's not good Seven weather here year around......just too much snow. But I do get out about once on month during the dead of winter just to stay sane and keep the car happy. I drive mine in the 20's a good bit and usually just use the side curtains if the sky is clear. Right now my car is up on blocks with the engine out so I can upgrade the clutch and install an aluminum flywheel. I hope to get it back on it's feet this weekend so I'll have a few more weeks of driving before the snow really flies. Once the snow does come it will be snowboard season.............not like driving a Seven but a good time anyway you look at it. A few feet of fresh on a clear morning is good at making one live in the moment. Dave http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1648096176_Recovered_JPEG Digital Camera_1803.jpg

It's a bit hard to take photos right now as it's a bit dark inside and it looks like snow outside. But I think you'll get the idea. The SuperTrapp thing came with a 2.5" O.D. flange which wouldn't fit over the 2.5" O.D. exhaust so I made a new flange for it so it just slips over. The flange has hacksaw slots to allow it to compress and grab the exhaust when clamped with a stainless hose clamp. The bracket is a bit harder to show. It's a 3/4" square steel tube. I attached it to the seat belt bolts that protrude from the bottom of the car using pieces of angle steel bolted to the 3/4" square tube. The 3/4" stuff runs across the bottom of the car so it picks up both seat belt bolts. The part that sticks out is pretty easy to see I think. There is a stainless exhaust clamp that bolts through holes drilled in the 3/4" tube. It seems to work very well with no funny vibrations or rattles and was very simple to make and pretty darn cheap too. Does that help?? Dave http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/111564468_DSC_7400.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1330146691_DSC_7401.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1809254526_DSC_7403.jpg

It is a DNA truck muffler. It's the longest and supposedly the quietest DNA offers. The sounds is good with a nice bark to it. Overall it's a bit loud for residential use so I made up a slip on SuperTrapp exhaust tip for it. It just slips over the end and secures with a clamp. Now I can drive out of my neighborhood at 6AM for an autocross and not feel like a criminal. I get to the event and undo the clamp and throw the tip- into my tool box. Seems to work out very well. The added tip seems to take the edge off but still flows very well. If you'd like I can post a picture of it. I wonder what the most effective length of the collector tubes would be? Mine are as Birkin supplied. It would be interesting to know. The is no O2 sensor. The car runs on Webers. Dave

So I made myself a new side exit exhaust system for my Birkin a few weeks ago. The stock system went from a 2.5" collector down to a 2" pipe that went all the way out the back. The exit out the back caused exhaust fumes to come back up into the cabin too often and the 2" pipe seemed to be choking the engine at high RPM's. So this new system is 2.5" all the way and much shorter exiting on the side. This has stopped the fumes issue and really opened up the top end of the RPM range. It used to fade when getting toward redline and not pull as hard and now it pulls with urgency all the way up. It's noticeably quicker now. And it sounds like a Seven should. This weekend the car finally gets it's lightweight aluminum flywheel and undersize crank pulley. Should be good for another boost of power and more smiles. Thanks for looking, Dave http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1686905587_DSC_7337.jpg

How does one say"bad ass" in French? Dave

I bought my Birkin from Dick Brink in Texas. He was great to deal with and very honest. I see he has a Birkin for sale right now in the low 20's. Scroll down on the page to find it. Dave http://www.texasmotorworks7.com/racoca1.html