Marek

I hadn't considered rake - my math says you are recommending ¼ - ⅓ degree of rake (I am accounting here for the slight differences in our wheelbases). I don't have the caster numbers handy - but I will check those a well. Which leaves us with tire fitment/construction/pressures. From your comments, I am clearly running much too much pressure across the board; so your experiment is the right place to start. 12 psi is generally beadlock territory; but agreed it shouldn't be a problem for straight-line testing. Wider front wheels or a 215 on the current wheels looks like where this is headed - preferably with a switch to Avons or maybe a similar LL rated tire. Perhaps we'll have a break in temperatures in the next few weeks and I can report back the results.

<eyes averted> I see I missed a detail. Rubber on the car is 225/50-15, 235/50-15. A 225 is the limit for a 7" wheel - so some curve across the contact patch is a possibility as you suggest. Camber as delivered was 1 ⅓ degree. Now decreased to ⅓ degree. Toe was 1/16". Now increased to ⅛". The new settings are tame and non-controversial; so unlikely to be a major factor. The current R888Rs are the only rubber I've had on the car (and they are old), so fresh tires will go on this spring. R888Rs are a known quantity and seem very unlikely to be part of the problem. Which brings the question back to tire width. I've been thinking 205 or 215 and your comment on curvature reinforces my suspicion the 225s on a 7" are the root cause. As for tire construction, I am curious if you have any insights into how sensitive these cars are to the squareness of the tire shoulder. Though the R888R is not unusually square - so unlikely to be a factor here. Thanks for sharing some wisdom! </eyes averted>

Do you have any experience with Sevens tramlining after moving 13" -> 15", or wider tires, or modern compounds? My Seven left the factory with 13" Panasports, but came to me with modern 14.5lb 15x7/15x8s with 888Rs. Visually they do suit the car and drop a decade or two from its looks. But, as delivered, I've never see a car more desperate to explore the full possibilities of every single road imperfection! We've since shared some quality time on the setup pad and the problem has dropped from diabolical to just distracting. My next step is to reduce the front tire width. What would you anticipate on a 255whp Seven?

I was only half joking in calling my 1-series a winter beater. It hasn't seen many miles this year as my daily has been my 944S; in all its glorious 80s lines and 16v song. This is my second 944 and has been with me since 2011. The miles are high and in 2020 we gave it a father-son pandemic refresh. Very analog, very simple, yet still feels modern in a way few 80s cars do. Light, but not fast, by modern standards. It moves well and encourages you to carry momentum. Modern cars, with all their power, feel heavy in comparison and encourage you to point and squirt. The hatch is cavernous - swallowing a pair of road bikes by only taking off the front wheels. My previous 944 was once tagged my German Pickup for its ability to swallow anything. Another feature lost on modern cars. I'd have sold this car years ago to make room for the next experience. But it is too practical - at least that is my excuse. Since the refresh I share it with my son who has taken to commuting with it to his job as a Mercedes and classic car mechanic.

Patience is required. I wanted an M-Sport manual in a non-neutral color, non-black interior, and no nav/iDrive. After searching for 6 months I compromised on a 46k mile M-sport manual from South Carolina with dark grey/two-tone light interior with nav/iDrive. The iDrive was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Having spent time in other E82s, the extra complexity is worth the trade-off to have nicer controls. The M-sport suspension and interior/exterior trim was also worth the wait. This is the only car I have owned which I have not put a suspension on. Also in the network is a stunning 48k mile blue/red without iDrive (3 month search, a lucky pandemic-timing find on FB Marketplace), a high mileage Sedona Red from Georgia (5 month search) which needed paintwork, and a silver with higher mileage. Start looking now. I am skeptical we'll see a similar package of a car any time soon for the same reason we aren't likely to see any analog cars anytime soon - all the trends are towards complexity. These are simple cars by modern standards.

The N52 is a high point in BMW engine history. My favorite application is the E82 128i - a classic big-engine/small-body car. My winter beater is a 128i M-Sport manual. I have a network of friends with the same spec cars. Besides my Seven, it is the only other car I have with a network of owners.

Thats it! Welcome to the forum.

New Years Eve arrived with nice weather and clean roads - so why not a little afternoon blat? After returning and tucking the Seven back in the garage, my wife asks if I got her text to stop at the store.... But instead of jumping back in the Seven I take my Porsche 944S. Mistake. As I enter Sudbury, MA from Rt 20 eastbound I pass a lovely blue Caterham with bundled up passenger and driver clearly having more fun than I. This will be my story of how I just missed spotting a Seven in the wild while driving a Seven. Don't let it happen to you! (If the Caterham was yours, I was in the the red 944 you passed just before the intersection with Horse Pond Road.)

There is still time. This afternoon was a chance to take a long route to the local orchard to restock on fresh cider.

In my first year of winter Seven ownership I am trying to apply my winter philosophy from cycling and camping - it is not a weather problem, but a wardrobe problem. So far, so good. Here we are in early December in Massachusetts and I am still maintaining at least one drive a week and two have been under 40F. This is without any cockpit cover or wind deflectors. The limitations will be either the first salt or a snap of below freezing weather. The Toyo R888s are the real limitation. I have too much respect for stray spots of patch ice to test the R888s below 32F. The first salt will be my signal to start the winter updates (front harness restoration, clutch plumbing, engine cooling updates).

For Sevens, should we be comparing miles or trips? My former seems a disappointment, but I am quite pleased with my later.

The comment on having to learn the car is a good one which made me stop to think. I rotate daily drivers from different eras and have made a habit of deliberately switching and dialing in techniques to suit the car of the moment. But mostly this means selecting between a car you can drive on the nose which rewards momentum, or short wheelbase, peppy, and darty, or modern over-competence which can't be really exercised within the the extended limits of the law. But tall with modest power and even more modest grip would be an all new experience. I think I would start by dusting off Piero Taruffi's The Technique of Motor Racing for a refresher.

Getaway....In a Reborn Legend.

So much good advice in this thread! I've been on the seller side 7 times but never as a buyer. I'd do it again, but selectively. The car, the condition, and the timing all matter. As does your engagement as a seller. Over-communicate and be positive and supportive of commenters. For us, most auctions had a vibe. If we did our work preparing and presenting the car and telling its honest story, that vibe was positive and paid off. But once a vibe goes sour it becomes tough to turn around. And then sometimes an auction has no energy at all. Our sample of experiences with both BaT staff and buyers were all positive. BaT is also a victim of their own success and decisions they have made on what level of buyer protection to provide. In doing so, they left room for Cars & Bids (where we have also sold) to fill a different niche; which they are also doing successfully (your patience with Doug's persona aside). My advice (on either platform) is do your research - understand the history on all platforms you follow of cars like yours. If you are a seller, thoroughly prepare and commit to being engaged in the auction. If a buyer, get answers to your questions and be prepared to walk away. My own minor peeve with both BaT and C&Bs is photography. Please, please, sellers, don't take pictures with your phone fully zoomed out. Step back, zoom in, and give us pictures with realistic perspective. Proportions and lines matter with cars - take the time to show us how great your car looks.

Say the decibels are what limit the length of the jaunts in your Seven.... Do I want a side or rear exit exhaust? Should I point the tip to the side, down, or to the rear? Anyone have experience with https://spintechmufflers.com ? Either results or with fitment. Currently I have a single 3" pipe (correctly sized for the 13b rotary) exiting the side of the car. My experiment with a Supertrapp provided amusement, but failed as a solution.

Regardless of weather, I regret this year is not an option for me. I'll continue to live vicariously through this thread. Maybe I'll map a NJMP-shaped loop from local roads that I can take my Seven on this weekend. Looking forward to reports and pictures.....

On that point, does anyone know of shops willing to take on apprentices in the northeast or mid-atlantic? I've come to be friends with a mechanic who graduated from the High Performance program at New England Tech, was scooped up by the BMW STEP program and spent the obligatory two years at a BMW/Aston Martin shop before joining an independent. He now has his own shop and is doing well. But I find, and by his own admission, the current training paths have their limitations when it comes to classic and specialty cars. At the same time, a nephew has just graduated from aircraft mechanic school. His entire class had solid offers from airlines three months before graduation. Talking with an acquaintance who owns an aircraft maintenance business in NE, he will gladly take these graduates on as apprentices - though he struggles to entice them with the same glamour the airlines spin. I don't see that willingness in the automotive industry. I know another talented young mechanic working on classic and sports cars - entirely self and mentor taught and with the discipline and curiosity to succeed - who is hesitant to take the certification route as he doesn't see that it helps him become part of the next generation of master classic car mechanics. Of recent he has talked of buying a ticket to the UK and seeing if he can find a shop that will take him on. Like so much of the rest of the economy, the specialty auto industry is in a major transition none of us can predict what the outcome will look like. I can only be certain there will be people whom, through some combination of luck or foresight, will see the opportunity in change, take some risks, and become the industry winners the rest of us will talk about in the future. God-Speed to them and send me their contact information.

My car arrived sans-battery. Based on the collective wisdom of these forums I reconfigured for a PC680 and have been pleased with it. Aside from being compact, the chemistry suits the infrequent use. Shown is the prototype V1 mount. V2 uses an aluminum top cover which fully encases the battery and bolts to the baseplate.

A 1993 Rotus-BMW on BaT.... https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1993-rotus-seven/

Exactly. I didn't really know what Seven I wanted. As someone commented, all Sevens are the same except every one is different. Then I found one that tickled me and now I have a Seven I like. It might not be the Seven I really want - but the car I have will help me figure that out much better than watching them come and go for sale.

I have a brand new MBE 967 ECU plus a new connector kit if interested. This is the serial-based predecessor to the 9A4.

How was the turnout? Pictures? I had a prior engagement, but I look forward to the next one.

This car was previously local to me and I had the opportunity to admire it up close. When it went up for sale I very seriously considered it. It is a great looking car and the mechanicals were to a generally high level. But the complexity.... My thought was to go the same Less Is More route as the new owner. Nice to hear it has turned out well and in the hands of a good owner. In the end I bought a different Seven with a personal connection and a drivetrain on my engine bucket list.

The local forecast for the next week is rain - and the promise of the beginning of a season with salt-free roads. My winter project work is in the home stretch and the car may be roadworthy as soon as this weekend. At that point only a delayed delivery of fresh harnesses stand in the way of a first drive. How are everyones else's winter projects faring?

Put me on the list.