Davemk1

Windage tray not in place? dave

I owned a live-axle Birkin years ago and autox'd it a lot. It had an open diff and spun the inside wheel all the time. I put a quaife in it and it worked perfectly. No wheel spin and no understeer. After the first few solo runs I forgot about it. I've driven, but never owned, a few cars with welded diffs and they just flat out sucked. Unpredictable rear end behavior but totally predictable front end push during acceleration. It sounds like Quaife doesn't offer their LSD anymore? Is that right? That would be a bummer. I'd search long and hard for one. dave

I'm using the Mintex 1144 and like them very much. Great cold bite and not fade. I've not tracked them, only autox and street. dave

Thanks for the interest - they are sold and paid for. dave

I returned your PM - dave

For sale - one pair of genuine made-in-England Brooklands screens. I used these for a short time years ago on a Birkin and loved them. When I sold the car they got wrapped up and put in a box and I forgot about them. I was cleaning and came across them and now they need to find a new home. I would say the condition is a 9+ out of 10. The finish on the metal parts is as new and the glass is spotless. I'd say they are perfect but nothing is....but they are close. All mounting hardware is of course included. I'd like $130 for the pair shipping included to any place in the lower 48 states. I can ship further and the price will need to be adjusted. Payment via paypal please. Thanks for looking, dave

This guy makes them......very well made and a fair price for carbon I think. dave http://www.carbon-nv.co.uk/

A fall sunset photo of my Westfield taken near my home in Bozeman....winter is coming. dave

I have a Westfield that uses the S2000 engine and trans and it suits the car perfectly. Mine has all stock internals and ITB's that bump the power up some. Currently it's putting 220 hp to the wheels and so far it's not given me any trouble at all. I just love it. dave

My sense is that unless your caster is very low that you have more camber than is optimum. I would want to autoX the car or set up a slalom and run it and take tire temps across the width of the tire tread. My money says that you will find that the insides are a good bit warmer than the outside and that you aren't effectively using the entire width of the tire. dave

Yes....D Mod is limited to 2.0L and if you go above that you'd be bumped to EM. I don't recall the exact min weight for E Mod but I think you are very close with your guess of 1700. dave

Good deal! dave

This may have been addressed but i don't recall seeing it...........but, and this is with all due respect and then some, have you driven a Seven before? If you have then you will have a good idea of what lay ahead of you and that is a very good thing. If not I would suggest doing what you can to take a drive, or get a ride, in one before embarking on your adventure. I've owned two Sevens (a Birkin and my current Westfield) and many friends think it would be really fun to long distance tour in one.........and then I give them a 20 mile ride and they most often change their minds. Many will say something like "I know what it would be like because I got a ride in a Miata once" and the difference between a Seven and a 'normal' car like a Miata is much greater than most would anticipate. To me they are much more like a very low 4 wheeled motorcycle than they are a car. I've loved most every mile I've logged in Sevens over the years (about 30,000 miles and counting) but I've never been seriously tempted to make a long distance road trip or spend any time on an interstate highway. But a sunny and cool weekend morning and some empty back roads and I'm in heaven. I hope it all works out for you regardless of what you end up doing. These things are so much damn fun. Enjoy. dave

You are referring to side-to-side weight which can not be adjusted out using the coil over spring perches. One can however have a car with even ride heights and 50-50 corner weights but you will always end up heavy on the driver's side due to the weight of the driver. dave

That looks great! Did you, or will you, install a clear bar material on the sides? dave

I run a Westfield with an S2000 engine an trans and it's wonderful. I see zero reason to go with boosted brakes on your car. Size the masters right and it will be great. My car has dual masters with a bias bar and of course no booster and the pedal is firm and high and the power and modulation is perfect. As for exhaust - I'm wondering if the Westfield S2000 header might work for you. It of course bolts right up to the Honda engine and comes out the side at a good angle for a seven. I wonder if maybe you could use the entire system - header, second pipe and muffler? Something to consider. dave

I think having her sit in a car would be a good idea........that said I've owned both an Elise and a Birkin S3 and the Elise is like a limo in comparison. You sit in the Elise and you wear a Seven. dave

I insure my Westfield with Grundy and when I spoke them them they were surprised to learn I lived in the state of Montana and didn't just register a car here! Once they found out I actually lived here all was good. dave

Beautiful ride you have there. Have fun! dave

I'll be the first to say that you really need to post a photo or two. Congrats on the purchase! dave

I was so very sorry to hear of your father's passing. I didn't know him beyond some phone calls but I got the sense that he was a good man. I was the previous owner of this car and I just loved it. I sold it to buy an Elise thinking that doors and windows would be a good thing but after a few years moved back into a Seven with a Westfield. Whoever ends up with this car is going to have a lot of fun as the handling is just wonderful and now with that much more power I'll bet it's a real rocket. Good luck with the sale. dave

Have you tried Roger Kraus racing? http://rogerkrausracing.com/ dave

Powder Brake - Butted tubing was first developed for the bicycle business a very long time ago. The outside diameter of the tube remains constant so the tube looks 'normal' but the wall thickness is greater at the ends and thinner in the middle. The thinner middle section (where the stress is low) saves weight and the thicker ends keep the strength where needed. One of the issues one sees when you weld tubes together is that the welded area, due to the heat used during joining, becomes weaker and the added wall thickness is used to keep the strength up in that highly stressed area. So just like with a bike frame butted tubes can cut weight while not lowering the strength or having a significant effect on stiffness. All good stuff. I think the difficult thing for Caterham will be that they will go from using 20' long mill runs of tubing that they just cut to length to having a specific tube for each and every section of the space frame. Managing this inventory and all the SKU's will no doubt be a challenge. I've had a 25 year relationship with the tubing company Reynolds (through the high end bike biz) and know that they can offer cut-to-size services and this might make the whole thing that much easier for Caterham to deal with on the production floor. They could in effect have Reynolds deliver a tube set in a crate with all the tubes needed for a chassis cut to length and mitered at the ends as need be so that Cat would just load the tubes into the jig and start welding. This would no doubt cost an arm and a leg up front but drastically cut down on labor cost in cutting tubes to fit into the jig. I expect to see Reynolds offering special titanium tubes this summer for the upcoming ultra light Ariel Atom. They should be able to cut chassis weight by about 30% compared to the steel they are using but I expect cost to double or more. Ti ain't cheap. dave

I agree - the First Amendment and "freedom of speech" only applies when one of parties involved is the congress/government. If the government is not involved it's just citizens expressing themselves. In this case it boils down to manners and being polite. To my knowledge there is no law that says I can't go to church on sunday morning wearing an anti-religion T shirt.......the only practical thing that keeps this from happening is peer pressure and respect for the institution. I think where the trump thing has come off the rails is that trump himself has shown disrespect and contempt for so many and that they feel compelled to push back and shout him down. He expressed himself and they countered. It's the same with a KKK rally........they get a permit and they say what they say and fly their flag and they are legally within their rights to do so. And likewise those that disagree with the KKK can stand across the street with their own flag. I think the old adage "if you can't take it, don't dish it out" and trump wants a one sided conversation. It doesn't work that way in public life. It may work that way in his private business but once out in public all bets are off. Or as my dad would have said - "don't sh!t where you eat." dave

I've been working on the car getting it ready for the upcoming solo season and doing my best to drop some weight and increase the power a bit. Most weight savings changes don't look like much but this one does. I've installed an aeroscreen in place of the windshield and dropped 20 pounds while reducing drag in a real way. So far I'm up to 67 lbs of savings this winter with another 15-20 to go before the first event. Next up is the carbon dash and lighter battery and then onto the big one - Omex ITB's for the S2000 powerplant. Fun stuff. dave