Marek

1000 miles. Akron, OH area to north of Wichita, KS.

Are there secrets to renting a truck and trailer one way to bring your new found, non-running, car home? Few companies appear to rent trucks for towing and most want to give you a moving truck. We only need to trailer the non-running car. The moving van is an option as is paying a carrier. But my son is trying to keep down the transport cost as a percentage of acquiring the project (which is not a Seven).

Mine is just a "Seven". Or when I am referring to it, "the Seven". If anyone searches on "Seven car" they will reliably find all sorts of good information. If they persist, I will add, "The car was built by a US company in Maryland called 'Rotus' and has Mazda rotary engine. It is similar to a Caterham or Lotus 7.". At that point, most of the conversations turn to rotary engines. (Fact: 82% of car guys under 36 are star struck by rotary engines.) The Rotus name is simultaneously confusing, marginal, and too clever; so I don't dwell on it.

Mountain Detective, S3 Ep3: At 25 minutes in, the protagonist arrives at a villa where outside is parked a red Seven. A couple walk up, gets in, you hear it start, and they drive off. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15085688/ https://www.pbs.org/video/cold-case-eecifw/

From my years in direct-drive karts, I can tell you they only turn by unloading the inside rear wheel. The rear grip is high enough to over-power the front, causing the kart to push. But the engines are rarely at a rev range where there is enough on-demand torque to rotate the kart with the loud pedal. If you don't unload the inside rear, you will scrub the fronts into the corner and find yourself braking far sooner than everyone lapping faster than you. Doing this successfully requires both a setup and line as @Croc suggests. I have never attempted this on a conventionally sprung vehicle. I'd expect doing it consistently in differing corners would be very difficult.

Others will have better insight into mileage. My Seven came with a set of 888R and I replaced them based on age (and a decision to reduce the front tire width). Based on experience with the 888R on other cars, the aged ones on the Seven were well past their best days. I gather this is common on Sevens that aren't tracked - to replace on age rather than wear. @wdb makes a good point on aesthetics. My Seven has a more modern look than most and the Toyos do not look out of place. I don't think they would look as good on a more classic Seven.

Tires are always a very personal choice, and so I can only share my own experience.... I am on the second set of 888R on my Seven in dry, damp, and light rain. The grip has always been predictable. Be careful when they are cold and when the road is wet. But once they are warm, you are fine. Do note the Load Rating. I believe all 888R are XL, which is well above what any Seven needs. And so you will want to run low pressures. Ideally, probably lower than you think.

Penciled in. Maybe three tries is the charm.

If I were to buy new, this is what I'd look at. For light & low cars, a tilt deck is so much nicer than using ramps.

Previous rig. Honda Ridgeline and Featherlight 3110-17'6" with brakes. A nice trailer, but definitely not light. We were trailering all sorts of cars at the time and the 5000# capacity was handy. You could feel the trailer behind the Ridgeline and the V8 4Runner we used, but never a real problem. New trailer. Worthington 14' deck, single axle with brakes. 2990# capacity. Much more manageable. Tows easily behind the Ridgeline and a ML350.

What a nice setup. We've found the Ridgeline tows very well and is a comfortable ride; and that even with the heavier Miata, the single axle with brakes is never a problem. There is so much trailer anxiety in the US and we only have to look at the trailer and tow vehicle configurations common in the UK to see it. Add Lightness works for towing too. A tow rig with a capacity 3x the weight of our cars doesn't really add comfort, convenience, or safety. If you are looking for a good budget tow vehicle and don't mind something a little older, the previous generation diesel X5 is a great candidate. They are cheap, the drivetrains are very low maintenance, and the tow very well.

@savagete2860 Have you considered a Softbits Storm Cap and an open trailer. That would give you a very light, compact, setup which is much easier to load than an enclosed trailer and still provides weather protection. Don't underestimate the convenience of a trailer you can disconnect and easily maneuver into place by hand. In the UK, clamshell covered trailers are quite common. But hard to find in the US. Futura might have a clamshell model.

Ours is a Worthington WU-6414 (14' deck, 16' overall). 2990# capacity, aluminum construction, wood deck, single axle with brakes, aluminum ramps. One person can roll it around empty without much effort. Worthington has been out of business for some years, but the Aluma 6814H is very similar. The Aluma is a bit lighter, aluminum deck, and available with a tilt option - which would be nicer than ramps. Light trailers with aluminum ramps can be noisy as the ramps rattle over bumps.

We run a 3000lb-rated 16' single-axle open aluminum trailer with brakes to tow Sevens and Miatas. It is a dream to tow. The single axle is plenty and even without the brakes (controller problem!) it handled well. Don't over size your trailer. I recommend brakes, but stick with a single axle.

Yes, that car has an original roll bar and is a simpler trim using carpet. But remove that carpet and the sender and pump will be mounted from the top. The 16.5 gallon tank is horseshoe shaped where the arms tilt towards the front of the car; so that the tank sits above and straddles the rear axle but the ends of the arms extend in front of the axle. There is a balance tube running under the driveshaft to connect the two arms and the pump reaches down into one arm. Unfortunately I don't seem to have taken a picture of the tank when mine was out of the car. But the sender looks like this:

As the Rotus tank is directly behind the seat back, the pump, sender, and filler are readily accessible under a vinyl cover (not shown here). The vinyl is fixed with an aluminum trim attached with screws.

Regardless of how easy our cars are to work on, many shops struggle with them because they are not familiar. One alternative option is KTR European Motorsports in Ayer.

One is not enough? I am impressed!

Can you share pictures? I have only seen Tilton masters on these cars. What is your gearbox?

Congrats on acquiring the car! And fire away with the questions.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Ck3FMbA3i/ When will you ever again see a purple Seven sitting next to a maroon Seven?

Does MassTuning has any specific requirements for Sevens?

If you are considering the Beta tools from Pegasus, also look at the USAG and Facom from Ultimate Garage in NJ.

110mm or 114.5? The axle in my Rotus is from the Celica-Supra and definitely 114.5mm. I'd be surprised if Toyota was dabbling in multiple wheel patterns. The good news is 114.5 gives you plentiful options.

Aren't timezones the ultimate local issue? If you've ever implemented timezones in software, you've been faced with the choice of wracking yourself in frustration from the apparent madness or finding the humor in humankind's ability to complicate the rising and setting of the sun. Here in New England we have a different gripe with our timezone. As we poke way out to the east in Eastern Time, in the winter it can be dark by 4 pm; and so there have been serious discussions of adopting Atlantic Time. In the end, if we 'solved' this 'problem' would we miss having one less topic to complain about?