powderbrake

Steve, Mike, Dave: I had to change some plans , but I can make it on Wednesday evening. I understand it's the Tap Room, but what time? It's supposed to rain, so I won't be bringing the seven.

I have one and it was easy to order and when received was as described. I welded some studs to it, painted it, and mounted in my Ultralite. I am very happy with the results. Here is a link to some pictures. http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3769

I am out of town the 15 thru the 18th, but I can make something on the 10th or 11th. or the 14th. I just put a new battery in the Seven, and I'm ready to go.

Senator Schumer is no way as nice as a scumbag. This guy is so far left he has no idea of where the middle is. The concept that a hot rodder has lots of money is laughable, and the concept that the hot rodder should owe someting to the government just by owning a car is just WRONG and UNAMERICAN.

Dave M: I'm in the suburbs of St.louis, and have an Ultralite with a Honda S2000 engine & transmission. I won't be in town on the 15th but let us know your schedule. Our plant is in Weldon Springs which is near St.Charles (we make steel shooting targets) maybe we can make a connection.

The sonic type earplus that we shooters use have a flap valve inside to close upon a loud noise. They also have a small hole in them, which, when the wind blows, creates a noise that is a real pain in the rear. So, DON"T use them in a windy car, they will drive you nuts.

I'll bet Maxwell Smart misses his "Cone of Silence"

Congrats on passing theemissions, that is always a dreaded day.

No, but like the announcer, I do have a golf club so I can stand back and "whack off" the intruder.:blush:

I had retired and wanted to build a car, and for many reasons decided on a Seven. It was more of an "assembly" from a kit, rather than a "build". That in itself was great fun, and the source of great satisfaction, but the real fun began when I fired it up for the first time. WOO HOO the first drive was a blast!!! I had thought that I would race it or autocross it when I finished. I did do a few track days and a couple autocrosses, and they were great fun and exhilirating. The real fun has been as an (expensive) toy used for blatting around, driving twisty roads, going to the grocery store, taking friends for rides, going to an occasional car show, and meeting other seven owners. The seven is an experience in itself. The tinkering, deciding which tires to buy, communicating and receiving helpful suggestions on the USA7s forum, the 7/7/07 meet at the Tail of The Dragon, the kids leaning out of minivans and giving a big thumbs up, the guys in rat rods or duece coupes giving a big thumbs up, the people who swarm around at the gas station, the explaining what it is, all these are part of a wonderful experience. Of course the best part is the driving. The sense of freedom, the domination of the twisty road, the wind in your face, the sounds of the engine, you feel like you have just died and gone to car heaven. It's like a mototorcycle ride, but better. The ownership experience has been much better than I expected, particularly in the relationships which came with the car, and primarily through this Forum. I'm pushing you, don't wait, do it NOW, you won't regret it.

John: A couple notes regarding the Ultralite. #1) West Texas s2k and rdrockt are the Ultralite experts, and you can take what they say to the bank. 2) My Ultralite comes in at about 1420 pounds, less driver, so we are very close on weights. I don't worry about the weight, it is what it is, and the S2000 engine will rapidly get me to my level of incompetance. I corner weighted it at Run & Gun a couple years ago, and was able to adjust the spring seats to get it very evenly balanced. 3) I don't have the inboard brakes, I have the 12" Wilwoods all around, and I had to shift the bias bar on the master cylinders all the way over to lighten the rear braking. On the track that still wasn't enough, so I added a Wilwood Brake Bias Valve right under the dash where I can reach it while driving. That did the trick to keep the rears from locking up. I think you probably have smaller rotors in the rear. 4) A few track days, and mostly street driving have not created any problems with the differential mounting sysytem on my car. Of course, I haven't looked in the last couple years, because it hasn't needed any maintenance. 5) I have the 4:44 diff, and it's a hoot when you get on it. Driving at 70mph, it runs somewhere near 4000 rpm. Like Loren said, its fine for those typical 150 to 250 mile blats that I take. The wind noise is still louder than the car noise, so the RPM really isn't a factor. 6) I didn't check any of you numbers, just a note that the transmission output is at a higher RPM than the engine input in 5th and 6th gears, they are overdrive gears. I have lots of pics from my build so if I can be any help , just ask.

Here is a Dutton that was sitting next to my Ultralite at a Kansas City car show. It ws a 1974 model, and check out the front bumper. The car is better in person that in pictures.

With those nice shiny chrome wheels on the Ford, it's probably the first time he has been "off roading".

Arya: Thanks for the info, I have passed it on to my son (official Torchmate operator). We are very pleased with our Torchmate, and the water table really does keep the smoke and debris to an absolute minimum.We had people comment on our cut quality on the armor plate that we use for the targets. All we need now is more customers to help pay for the darned thing. Tell all your shooting friends to check out our webpage www.CustomMetalProd.com

Thanks Russ. It's a major task to get the word out, and we appreciate all the help we can get. It has been a lot of fun. Sometimes I'm the designer, sometimes the lathe operator, other times the welder, sawer, or floor sweeper.

Well I didn’t do much driving of the se7en this past summer, and now it’s in cold storage in the garage. The reason for the lack of use was my son & I starting a new manufacturing business. My son decided to start a company to build metal shooting targets, so I jumped right in with him. I have been retired for 10 years, so I’m not sure why I am working every day now, but it’s too cold to drive the se7en, so I might as well work. On September 1, 2010, we leased a 3800 sq ft shop in an industrial park. We were fortunate that we took over a space being vacated by a tool maker, so we bought his CNC vertical machining center, a big 19” LeBlond lathe, a couple of Bridgeports, and a Powermatic band saw. The big advantage was that all the 3 phase electric was already there, so we saved a bundle on wiring costs. We bought a horizontal band saw to cut the angle iron we would need for our target stands. We also bought a new MIG welder, and I brought my TIG machine from home and we fabricated a 4 X 8 foot welding table. We then bought a 5’ X 10’ “kit” CNC plasma cutter which came all in pieces on a skid. We assembled it, and proceeded to build a 5 foot by 10 foot water table to support the plate being cut by the plasma. The table is 4” deep, and has 40 4” high X ¼ thick slats which sit in the water and support the work piece. We placed this under the plasma cutter and we were almost ready to go. We needed a crane to lift the 500 pound 4 X 8 sheet of 3/8 thick armor plate that we use for the targets. We then built a 16 foot long I beam crane similar to a jib crane, but supported at the end with rollers, so the whole crane could swing around the table, and we fitted the beam with a traveling hoist. Now we can lift the full sheets on and off the table. Here is the plasma table. And here it’s cutting. The water absorbs all the smoke and most all the splatter. Here are some typical targets we make. The target faces are all AR500 steel, which is a through hardened 500 Brinell plate. The “mini pepper popper” is typically used in action pistol competition, and falls when it is hit. We added a twist to that by spring loading the pivot so it leans back after being hit, and immediately returns to its upright position to shoot again. The static targets we mount on a stand which is angled to direct the splatter downwards. We can cut any shape on the plasma cutter, so we do rounds and squares and chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams for silhouette shooters. Other assemblies are dueling trees and swinging targets, and we are prototyping a plate rack that should be done in a few weeks. We also display at the local gun shows, here we are at one last weekend. We do custom work, so if you need a part cut out for your Se7en, or need a silhouette of a horse for the side of your barn, give us a call. Take a look at our website, which has all our products http://www.CustomMetalProd.com Hopefully, by summer, business will be going well enough to hire a helper, and I can go back to sleeping late in the mornings, and driving my Ultralite in the afternoons.

I have this #3045 ( or it's equivalent) on my Ultralite. Very durable and reliable and adjustable.

Retirement is wonderful! Don't "risk your early retirement plans". Take the wife & kids skiing at a rental occasionally, while sticking to your present plans of money management and investment risks.

glentwincam's apology to the calmly stated rules, along with Vogue's calmly worded replies once again shows what a fine group of gentlemen populate this forum. :hurray::hurray:

This one doesn't lock(with a key) The lever lifts up, and then you can rotate it to remove it. The silver looking thing on the top of the cap is the air vent. I have one on my Ultralite

Here's Jay's sevenesque Bently http://www.usa7s.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=1118&d=1257611274

Is this a great country,..... or what? As Lee Emery said, " that is relaxing"

I hope I never mix up their tee with my regular tees.:rofl:

IF I can find the time, I plan to replace the windscreens with the Poycarbonate with the scratch resistant finish. Right now the Ultralite is just sitting in the garage with a battery tender on it. The battery will likely be replaced in the spring, it was getting weak. I have a very small battery from a Ski Doo, and it has been reliable until last week.

You want motocycle skills, check out this early morning commute. The guy could have been killed a hundred times. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/27/video-moscow-motorcyclists-crazy-high-speed-commute/