sporqster

Bought Odie last July with just under 5k on the odo, now just over 6k. Driving her to work at least twice a week right through the 'winter' here- in fact drove her to work today! I was driving around town on Hoosier A3S04's as an experiment (40 tread wear) - put several hundred miles on them with almost no measurable wear! Those tires might be a little too sticky- until I put wider front fenders on they would routinely pelt me in the head with rocks. (ow!) Oh - and the Hoosiers are worthless in the wet, not so good in the cold, and (as I must imbarassingly admit) give you very little warning before they give up on grip and send you into a ditch (which has to have been the most spectacular wreck in a 7 to have ever been repaired for a grand total of $6. But that's another story) I now cruise around town on Yokohama Advans, 90 treadwear, I think. Good tire - and were the orignal for the build, so they've got 5k+ miles on them still perform and look pretty good.

I an daydreaming about getting a competition license and dabbling in road racing. Is there a class for Locosts? I see where real 7's are legal for SCCA production class, but I see no mention for replicas... I wish there were something like the Spec Cobra class for 7 replicas... or is there?

From how I read this thread: at LocostUSA this bill just clears up a contradiction in the existing law and officially legalizes kit cars... I'm still confused as to if I'm supposed to tell my rep to be for this or against this?!? For it, right?

You've got my attention - but either I lack the attention span, time and/or legal acumen to decypher that bill linked - what really is going on here?!? I've got my Locost titled as an ASPT (assembled from parts) in GA - and figured that if I was to build another one I would go the same route. Is this legislation changing anything for me or people like me?!?

I was working on my turn signal wiring the other night and Spencer just jumped in the passenger seat like - "lets go for a ride!" I would if I weren't afraid he'd bail at speed. He jumped out of a pickup truck doing about 40mph when he was a puppy - wasn't hurt, but does make me think that I ought to somehow secure him if I were going to take him for a ride! http://www.savannahoosiers.com/dog7_1.jpg http://www.savannahoosiers.com/dog7_2.jpg

I'm just imagining the attention this would draw at track days when everyone's filling up on $5 racing fuel and you're plugging it in at the RV power post ;-) I can't help but wonder if it would be able to hold a full charge through a 20-minute race. I know at Roebling Road my 7 can burn around 3 gallons in 20 minutes - and that is a lot of juice. I like it. any word on the $$$, or has anyone got info on a Locost version with parts that can actually be obtained (i.e. without the use of EV-1 or Prius parts?!?)

I didn't tell you to do this, but just swap the VIN with something domestic from a junkyard (or better yet one that's never been salvaged - avoid the inspection, and the salvage title) that looks close enough to the same thing to someone who actually hates cars and pushes paper for a living at the DMV to not know the differnce... say, a ford Thunderbird. V8, big car, RWD, 2 doors = Thunderbird. Close enough. And you should be able to find a ragged out Thunderbird cheap enough to just buy it for the vin number and use the leftover parts as yard decorations or something. That'll get you through the DMV.... now getting it through customs, well, I would suggest having the engine removed and shipping it as parts. Then your project is almost legitimate. You bought a Thunderbird (perfectly legal) registered it, then put some imported parts on it... imported body, imported driveline, imported interior, imported engine, imported electrical, you get the idea.

where are you? I might want to have a spare!

ok, save it for Bonneville.

Not to hijack a thread - but have you looked at www.uship.com? You might be able to get her shipped to Seattle for not too much money. I sent an Opel GT cross country in an enclosed trailer via uship for just a few hundred bucks once. If it weren't winter time and you had a top I'd offer to drive her there for you! I've always wanted to do a cross country trip in a 7!

If it's unclear when the video was shot, I don't think the state will have much of a case. I think the statute of limitations on speeding is only 12 months. So you can brag about speeding all you want, as long as it was over a year ago. Lawyers? Edit: Having said that, I in no way condone street racing - and really, if you can afford the Lambo, I think you should be able to afford the track time! Save it for the track.

One thing you might consider if you're interested in autocross is that 7's over 2L displacement are E-Modified, rather than D-Modified... so you're doing battle with some pretty serious purpose built race cars. Not that D-mod is all that different... but at least the motors are smaller! It's just something to consider if you're in to that sort of thing- particulary when you consider that there are a lot of sub 2L 4-bangers out there that can produce comparable power to the 60 degree V6 for less weight... But I admit that it's tough to match the V6's torqy-ness with a high strung 4-cylinder. If you're not concerned about your autocross class, the 3.4 displacement issue may be a moot point. But I have never personally been behind the wheel of a Brunton, so take that for what it's worth.

those are 225/45-15 Hoosier A3S03's I got used off the GRMS forums - At $25/tire I can't complain much about them for the price, but I can't get any heat in the front tires to save my life. A stickier cold compound would probably help, but those are considerably better than "street" tires. About the bar - I'm torn as to what I should do about it. If it weren't for my XL size head it would be fine- and I don't know if I should make the bar higher or lean my seat a little further back. I hate cutting through so much perfectly good steel - but you make a valid point.

I had a great time driving my locost at the track last weekend with the local Porsche club. Just FYI, the 'Darkside' DE at Roebling road hosted by Coastal Empire Region PCA is, IMHO, the best run HPDE in the southeast. Weather was great, people were great, event was well-managed, all-round awesome time. Here's a couple of pics- I'm not exactly a phenom driver, but I held my own, and was able to pass every car in the blue group (about 20 Porsches and assorted sportscars) except a Viper R/T and an old gutted BMW E30 (go figure!!!). They moved me to solo by the end of the weekend - wow what a difference a passenger makes! http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/0c8r7946.jpg http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02406.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02409.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02417.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02429.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02430.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02436.JPG http://www.savannahoosiers.com/de_stuff/DSC02437.JPG

Disclaimer, I know NOTHING about the DMV in NJ. I wonder if, from a legal perspective, you could register the car as a "rebuilt" using the donor vehicle's VIN, if it had been totaled- or better yet, find a donor that hasn't been officially totaled out by an insurance company, then just register the car as a Honda S2000, Mazda Miata, or whatever it is to avoid the rebuilt title and inspection. If the DMV up there is like the DMV down here, as long as the car has the right VIN, and make and model are in the computer, they won't even go look at the car. It's when you say those words "Kit car" or "assembled from parts" that they go for the stack of flaming hoops to jump through. Of course you'd still be stuck having to pass emissions just like the donor car would, so better hang on to the cats at least for the annual vist. to the tester. And who's to say your 7 isn't just a REALLY modified S2000? I know of this having worked in Kentucky, but that was on a Mustang Cobra, which became a Factory 5 Cobra, but kept it's title as a "Ford Cobra".... so technically it was just a really modified Mustang ;-)

You know, I'm not sure. I know there is another guy that lives not 1/2 mile from me (who isn't on this forum) that has a Caterham. I would love to participate in some sort of 7 event in the Southeast - and I bet I could get the other guy in the "Wilmington Island 7's Club" (there are 2 members) to come too. How about a rally to Tybee island? The weather's still pretty nice but it's the off season so the lodging is cheap.

I found that a lot of my oversteer was coming from sloppy rubber bushings in my trailing arms, causing the rear end to go into 'four wheel steering mode'. I changed to rod ends with poly races (along with fatter, stickier rubber) and now the car handles much more neutral and predictable... maybe even pushs just a little on track-out. I'm using an Alfa Romeo LSD.

So they both started a religion. Who cares- they're both praying to the same car god, right? Dunno - I bet the ad execs @ BMW knew what they were doing, but they're targeting slightly different audiences, I think. I doubt, (I may be way off here) that a lot of folks are debating between a 3-series and an evo. Kinda apples and oranges if you ask me. Funny thing though, the BMW commercial makes me want to buy an old BMW more than it does a new one!

I have the Megasquirt (fuel only version) on my wife's 911 - and love it - it really gets the techie geek points for me and has by far the most on-line support of any of the stand-alone units mentioned here. I have an SDS (Fuel and spark) unit on my 7- and I am happy with it as well- what it lacks in techie geek points it makes up for in the ease and simplicity of tuning. No laptop needed - just a simple gameboy sized box with an monochrome lcd display (so no squinting to read it in the sun like the laptop).

Have you seen the 7 -'Frappr Map'? http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=1127 Welcome!

That's awesome! - I love the video of the autocross with the dust flying out the top of the car!

So what are you saying Bob? Just grind off the paint and get to welding? Don't disconnect anything? Cranked all the way, my little cheapo chinese mig dumps about 20AMPS at 20V into a weld. How much damage could I really do with that?!? 20V prolly wouldn't blow up anything instantaneously, right?!? I welded up new trailing arm attachment brackets (going to rod ends to make more room for rubber under the fenders) with the battery disconnected, left the harnesses to the computer under the dash alone. http://www.savannahoosiers.com/schemat.JPG

As good general practice, I always disconnect my engine ECU from the harness and remove the ground from the battery before welding on the frame. I always ground my welder as close to the place I'm going to be welding as practical. A coworker seems to think disconnecting the ECU is way overkill, if you're already disconnecting the battery. There are some components that use chassis ground - so I can't think the entire electical system is electrically isolated from the body.... but I do agree that it is difficult the imagine a whole crew of welding electons marching their to ground through a piece of electronics with the battery ground disconnected.... but I'm not confident enough to risk my ECU for it... Just wondering - what do you do to protect electronics (if anything) before welding on the frame?

What distro are you running? I'm using Ubuntu exclusively at home, and run windows with VMware when I need to - strangely enough, Windows running in VMware inside Ubuntu seems more stable than the Windows I have to use at work! The Gutsy Gibson Ubuntu is pretty sweet looking.

Those aren't spinners, they're powered ground effects!