powderbrake

There is no replacement for displacement :_deadhorse: one of the things that attracted me to the Ultralite was the Honda engine. After several Honda motorcycles and cars, I had come to the conclusion that Hondas are bulletproof.

From your replies it appears that you have tried all the common fixes. Sorry that it got to the purchase point before the difficulties arose. The Ultralight has more pedal room than any seven I have ever sat in. Perhaps a seven is just not feasible for you. You loss will be someone else's gain, as the price seems very reasonable.

slngsht, you are too late, I already made the deal with Mr Chan. He told me that he had already ordered the Porsche from a Hong Kong dealer, and all that I had to do was wire him the $10,000 for the customs duty. I didn't have a check handy, so I decided to use pay Pal, gee, I hope he has a Pay Pal account, I'd hate to have the Porsche tied up in customs.

The sevens list is a very good resource, I have been receiving it for several years. In addition, if you go to the bottom of the reference page, you can click on "overview of all 7s mailing lists" and see the other lists ( primarily in the UK). I was happy to see the USA7s website be set up, as I find this forum an easier method of communicating and it's easier to follow a thread than receiving the emails.

I couldn't agree more. Last Saturday, being the first good day in several weeks, I took my Ulltralite out for a tour on some twisty roads. I decised to take a liesurely cruise, because you never know how much traffic there will be an a Saturday, vs a weekday when I normally cruise. At the beginning I kept telling myself " You are not racing, you are not in a hurry, you don't need to power drift the corners". After a few minutes of both sharp and sweeping turns, dips and rises that revealed vistas of forests, under a 70 degree clear sunny sky, it all became the "Gearhead Nirvana" that GBOLT described. All relaxation...... seven heaven.

Great looking car, love those "minilite" wheels

Loren: It's really not too radical then. Basically stock reciprocating parts. It's sounds so simple when you state it in a paragraph or so, but the execution had to be anything but simple. I imagine getting a good fuel map on E85 took a lot of know-how on the engine management system.

I understand your apprehension regarding Superformance S1 parts, perhaps one of the S1 guys here could give us the scoop on this. Thay are a beautifully finished machine, more like a regular car than most other se7ens. You have selected a price range that will allow the purchase of many fine 7's, as indicated by your list. There really isn't a bad car on your list. An awful lot of your choice rests on your desire to get as close to a Lotus as possible. The farther you get from that "original" provenance, the lower the cost of the car. The Caterham and the Birkin are the most Lotus like of the batch. If that is not as important to you, many more possibilities open up, including some Ultralites, Stalkers, Locosts, and Demans, which are not on your list. Whatever you do, by all means, go see and ride in some of these cars. I believe this weekend at Carlisle PA there will be a bunch of se7ens, maybe you can work it in. see the Mid Atlantic thread, Carlise Car Count.

Kevin, Loren: It would be intersesting to get a short recap of the mods that you made to Mojito. For example , why the three sensors in the exhaust pipe? What blower and accessories did you use? Which tires did you select? What rear end ratio? Etc.

I warm the brakes up a bit before I adjust my Prodigy controller. The car must be on the trailer for the adjustment. I always run the max pressure on the tires. Recheck your wheel lug nuts after running for an hour or so. If you ever get some sway in the trailer, and it begins to whip back and forth, like when you are passing a semi at 80 mph, reach down and push the manual brake lever, it straightens the trailer out immediately. The electric brakes are a very good idea, good luck on your first tow.

My Ultralite gets about 20 to 22 mpg during "spirited"driving on the twisties. I have not checked it on an interstate, way too boring to actually find out the answer. On the track, under full throttle, it drops to around 6-10 mpg

Morris Clements was the guy who did the seminar on chassis design and adjustment at Run & Gun. He alo supplied the cornerweighting equipment and helped each of us with recommendations on chassis setup and weight balance. So basically Morris's car was set up by an expert (himself), delivered 700 to 800 hp, and was hammered by Dennis Brunton. As Jack said........ Sevens Rule !!

I am in awe of Kevin and Michelle and Loren. Anyone who can endure the transits in all weather conditions, the mechanical problems, the grueling schedule, lack of sleep and stress of the situation has my eternal respect. These are the real Iron Men"

Verrrrry Sanitary ! You obviously have done some wiring in the past. It all looks great.

That is SCARY !!!! I'm not sure I would have enough guts to do that.

Welcome to the USA7s Walrus. I love your car. The classic BRG with the yellow nose, and it's an SV. Perfect!!

Here are a couple shots of my seat mounting. My seats are the Ultrashield 20 degree layback drag seats. My seatbelts are secured at the uppper seatback bolts with the seatbelt anchors between the seat and the cockpit shetmetal, and the two nut tabs on the frame near your hip points of the seat, and one bolt through the bottom center of the seat and the floorpan, with the anchor between the seat and the floorpan. There are two seat/seatbelt mounting tabs with nuts welded to them, just below the crossbar at the rear of the cabin. Lay the seat in the car with the small ( approx 8 to 10"wide) flat bottom of the seat flat on the floor. Slide the seat back until the upper back of the seat touches the rear sheetmetal/upper cross bar. Clamp in place and with a smaller diameter pilot drill, drill through from the trunk side of the cabin sheetmetal. Remove seat and enlarge holes to accept the bolt. ( you may want to have the seat belt metal tabs in place between the saet and the sheetmetal for an exact location, but it's not necessary) Bolt seat in place, and drill one hole through the seat and the floorpan in the front center of the seat bottom flat area. Use a bolt with large fender washers to secure the seat and the seatbelt tab to the floorpan. The seat location is not too adjustable. You will find that when the seat fits flat on the bottom against the floorpan, the back is about at the sane angle as the cockpit sheetmetal. Here is a pic of the tab locations in the upper rear, and the side belt location at the lower rear. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/33565473_IMGP4512.JPG Here is the one bolt hole through the bottom. The hole is located right next to the tape measure. Note that I have raised my seat by placing two 1"square aluminum tubes on the floorpan, located at the front and rear of the flat area on the seat bottom. I placed some sheet rubber on the tubes to prevent squeaks. You can also see the seatbelt tab on the tunnel tubing at the rear of the seat location. Your side belts are attached here. ( I would probably leave the risers out if I had to do it all over again, to keep my head lower and more out of he wind, but at the time I felt I needed to be able to see more of the right front fender and right headlight, now I realize I don't need that.) http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/138026230_IMGP4598.JPG I don't believe you need extra bolts on the seats. You are secured to the car by the seatbelts and 4 seatbelt tabs that bolt directly to the frame, and the one bolt in the center bottom serves to hold the anti-submarine belt. Hole locations http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1315966748_seat.jpg I added about 1 inche of foam to the bottom of the seat , and 1" to the length of the back ( about 10 to 12' wide), and an additional 1" at the lumbar region. The lumbar foam is glued to the back foam, and nothing is glued to the seat, just held in place by the seatcover.

Here are my motorcycle mirrors. They work just fine for street use. I have them set "wide" so that I can see cars in the two blind spots (I can't turn my body to see over the shoulder when in a 5 point harness), and as a result I can't see very well directly behind me. I can however, see behind me if I lean my head to the side. For track use, I tilt them "in" for a better behind view. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/953962599_DSC_4287 (Medium).JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1500606705_DSC_4288 (Medium).JPG

That is wierd, The same thing happened to me on a test drive in Texas from Brian's shop, as I was buying a car. It turned out to be the 12V to the coils coming loose from it's connector on the breaker. Brian came out and fixed it on the spot. I was all smiles anyway, and wrote him a down payment check on the spot when we got back to his shop. Basic rule of Ultrallites. Never mash the trottle in 1, 2 or maybe even 3 gear, without the car being in a straight line.

great looking car !!! Do all the Ultralites have inboard mountwd shocks now, or was that somthing you requested from Brian? Watch out for water with no front fenders. :7rain:

I ditto redrockt's reply. Have had no problems on my Ultralite's fan mounting. That white thing in the upper right isn't the inlet is it? It appears to be on the wrong side of the car.

I use State Farm, which I also use for other cars and house. By carrying it with them, my umbrella policy is in effect. I am limited to 7000 miles/year, but no other restictions like Hagerty or the specialty car insurers. It is just another car in the household.

Generally it's: Q: What is that? A: A replica of a Lotus Model Seven Q: Is it a kit car? (and /or) Did you build it? A: Yes At this point, by the look on their face the next question is either Q: What is a Lotus? A:An British sportscar, built in the 60's. or from people who know what a Lotus is: Q: Cool ! What kind of engine is in it? A: A Honda The knowledgeable ones then ask Q: Which Honda engine ? A: S2000 Q: Coooool ! Then ewe generally get into weight and frame ( everybody thinks a kit car frame is from some other car) and other mechancal components. Occasionally some old fart (like me) will ask " how do you fit the VW engine in that small space behind you?" They just can't imagine a kit car that isn't powered by a VW, so I sometimes tell them the VDUB engine is in the front. Some version of this conversation goes on almost every time I stop for gas. I enjoy talking about the car, and hearing about their cars. If it's someone with a kid, I generally ask the kid if he wants to sit in it. The kids love that, and their parents do too.

I made a lot of bends in heavywall electrical conduit as an apprentice electrician, so I believe you could check the radius of the benders available at Home Depot. It may be a cheap solution to your needs.

I haven't bent any large diameter tubing, only smaller stuff, but that "bending tube" link is a terriffic reference. It makes the layout, bend set points etc., almost idiot proof. Thanks for the link, BusaLoco.