slngsht

well, you have hit the nail on the head as the root cause. we can't be for a global economy and expect to have a higher living standard. Similarly, a low skill assembly line job that pays 60K a year with health benefits is not sustainable. If it's sustained, we get to where we are now with GM. Like it or not, our future is tied to India and China. Even if the economy was not as global, they would dictate what happens here simply by their oil consumption.

Hard to tell without running the numbers... usually, if the uppers have an extreme angle like that, you'd get huge camber gain, BUT, in this case, it does not look like the uppers are any shorter than the lowers, so that would balance out some of the camber gain.... so it's hard to tell by just looking at it.

I love the front. frame looks a little weak around the sides. I don't care much for the rear styling.

The union members who enjoyed the benefits are going down with the ship. Reality is hitting like a ton of bricks. This is what GM was offering them to leave last year. How many businesses are forced into forking out that much money when they're crashing and burning? The model has changed. The big 3 got into this mess when employees were lifers. Once that model changed and their competitors were not bound by that, their employment models became obsolete, but through a combination of bad management and union power, they were never able to restructure - just keep fighting over a shrinking pie.

Having recently turned 40, I decided to go in and get a general checkup. My doc is a nice lady with a good sense of humor. I was telling her the laundry list of little things I've noticed, among them some joint pain, slower recovery, etc... She looked at my weight on the chart and said "Your weight looks normal. What you really need to do is lose a few years. "

they're holding their hand out because another one of their body parts is being squeezed by the union. it's a no-win situation.

Buick is doing well. tough to take down the brand on top of the JD Powers list right now. If anything, they should do away with GMC. Is there anything they sell that's not a rebadged chevy truck? Pontiac has had some really decent cars of late. But not to worry, .gov will tell them what to do.

moving to general section... reserving the "Member Rides" section for introduction of members' cars.

I've never turned down giving anyone a ride

It's good to see Leno is doing well. Nice pics. It was too damn hot to enjoy the seven around here... already in the 90s

Let's say GM goes through restructuring, and the UAW ends up as a large shareholder, which is a real possibility with government telling GM management what to do, Dems in power, and GM owing big money to UAW. How does that affect Ford, when they go into negotiations with UAW in the future? They'll be negotiating with a group that's a large shareholder in their direct competitor.

Hi Martin. There was a higher purpose in your picture taking The main dimensions I need are... 1. from the back of the pumpkin to the mounting surface of the driveshaft 2. from the back of the pumpkin to the center line of the half shafts 3. from the bottom of the uprights to the center line of hub 4. a couple of pics of the pumpkin mounting points if you have it out of the cage. I'm pretty sure I can find one of the jag rears that's already the right width to match my axle. I would not be reusing the jag links or cage, and would go to single shocks on each side... BTW, if you're rebuilding that rear, this site is worth a read... seems very thorough: http://home.bresnan.net/~dazed/JaguarIRS1.html

k, I have played with my shocks a little bit. I used to have the shocks at 7/4 (compression/rebound), then lowered to 4/2, the switched and made rebound stiffer than compression @ 2/4 - that seems to give much better ride, but more squat, and I'm still not happy with wheel control over bumpy surfaces. On another note, I think a Jag style IRS may actually fit. The main reason I have no room for traditional dual Aarm IRS is that the frame is boxed in near the rear wheels. As Dean mentioned, the Jag setup is similar to C2-C4 corvettes in that the half shaft also doubles as one of the links... so there is a lower link and the half shaft. I have asked one of the Jag vendors for dimensions. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Jaguar_IRS_coloured_diagram.png

not sure if they would go with any other seven, but the combo works nicely on yours.

Ian, I think what you refer to as "climb the gear" is exactly what he was talking about. also, the definition of huge depends on whether there is an actual problem with the current setup. I have one right now, so, in my case it's huge. I'm playing around with shocks and springs to see if I can find a happy medium, but if my unsprung weight in the back was 40 pounds instead over 200 (not counting wheels), I think ride quality would just be better.

I believe something similar happened to a group of 5 sevens on the east coast. Just a rumor

now THAT's low flying.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/24/exotic.speeding.oregon/index.html

Yeah, I was kinda wondering about the axle situation with the Jag rear. hmmm...

That one was well earned

On the way to work this morning I pulled over a couple of times to play with my shock settings. I decided to stop at my regular coffee place to grab a cup and make another adjustment. There is a motorcycle cop that sets up shop there occasionally, hides behind the bushes, and snags speeders coming the other way. When I pulled into the shopping center he was writing up another victim. I parked, got out, went into the coffee shop. When I looked out the window, he was looking through the car, then went behind for the plate, and started writing stuff in his book. At this point I'm thinking "Crap... he's gonna light me up." Later on I came out, saw no tickets, and he was back at his post. Talked to a couple of gatherers, finished my breakfast, set the shocks, hopped in, fired it up and pulled up to the exit, where he was standing. He turned around and said "what is it?" I started out "It's a Lotus 7 Replica called a Rotus...". He cut me off and said "2nd one ever made, right". I'm like . He said he pulled the tags . He asked a couple of questions about whether I race it, the engine, etc... and then said "have a nice day buddy" with a smile

I think I just threw up a little.

Gert, I've been playing with my shocks a bit, but not spring rates yet. I'm curious - do you know how much your axle - including rotors, calipers, etc..., minus wheels - weighs? My problem may be that my axle is heavy (but then again, so is the car) at 215 pounds. Anyway, I'm casually thinking about a jag IRS rear with inboard brakes, adapted for deDion use... That would minimize my unsprung weight.

That was my number 1 choice 3 or 4 years ago before I went with the LS1, but at the time, Solstice / Sky had not come out yet, and the RWD solution was a bit more involved. I think it's a great choice

I've not picked up the sawzall just yet