scannon

I'm freaking pissed because after all that anticipation & preparation, I can't make it to the 7/7/7 meet.:cry: :banghead: :cuss:

Thank you! Skip

Some people have asked if all LSiS were welcome at LOG27. Most of the LoCo meeting was about the LOG27 event. When they started talking about the track event I asked if all LSiS were welcome. The answer was a resounding YES! LSiSs will be welcome at all the events including the concours, autocross and track day. There is a class at the concours for Replicas. A number of the Lotus people at the meeting were suprised and expressed concern that owners of LSiS might feel shunned by other Lotus clubs. They consider LSiS to be part of the Lotus family. Registration closes soon, so if you are interested, go to www.log27.com and check it out and send in your registration and check. One thing that I don't think is on the website is that Harry Mathews is going to open his personal collection for viewing on the day after the track day which will be Tuesday. Harry is a genuine car nut and has a large collection of Mclaren race cars as well as Hot Rods, Corvettes, motorcycles and other cars. He also has two racing Elans and an original Elan. He and his son race the two Elans along with some of the rest of the collection. If anyone is interested in sticking around after LOG27 I would be willing to put together some drives in the mountains and/or other activities. Anyone who is a Miata owner might also be interested in attending the Flyin Miata Open House which is the weekend prior to LOG27. It is held in Grand Junction, about a 4 hour drive West of Denver. They also have a track day on a kart track. See www.flyinmiata.com for details. Skip

Some people have asked if all LSiS were welcome at LOG27. Most of the LoCo meeting was about the LOG27 event. When they started talking about the track event I asked if all LSiS were welcome. The answer was a resounding YES! LSiSs will be welcome at all the events including the concours, autocross and track day. There is a class at the concours for Replicas. A number of the Lotus people at the meeting were suprised and expressed concern that owners of LSiS might feel shunned by other Lotus clubs. They consider LSiS to be part of the Lotus family. Registration closes soon, so if you are interested, go to www.log27.com and check it out and send in your registration and check. One thing that I don't think is on the website is that Harry Mathews is going to open his personal collection for viewing on the day after the track day which will be Tuesday. Harry is a genuine car nut and has a large collection of Mclaren race cars as well as Hot Rods, Corvettes, motorcycles and other cars. He also has two racing Elans and an original Elan. He and his son race the two Elans along with some of the rest of the collection. If anyone is interested in sticking around after LOG27 I would be willing to put together some drives in the mountains and/or other activities. Anyone who is a Miata owner might also be interested in attending the Flyin Miata Open House which is the weekend prior to LOG27. It is held in Grand Junction, about a 4 hour drive West of Denver. They also have a track day on a kart track. See www.flyinmiata.com for details. Skip

Most of the LoCo meeting was about the LOG27 event. When they started talking about the track event I asked if all LSiS were welcome. The answer was a resounding YES! LSiSs will be welcome at all the events including the concours, autocross and track day. Registration closes soon, so if you are interested, go to www.log27.com and check it out and send in your registration and check. One thing that I don't think is on the website is that Harry Mathews is going to open his personal collection for viewing on the day after the track day which will be Tuesday. Harry is a genuine car nut and has a large collection of Mclaren race cars as well as Hot Rods, Corvettes, motorcycles and other cars. He also has two racing Elans and an original Elan. He and his son race the two Elans along with some of the rest of the collection. If anyone is interested in sticking around after LOG27 I would be willing to put together some drives in the mountains and/or other activities. Anyone who is a Miata owner might also be interested in attending the Flyin Miata Open House which is the weekend prior to LOG27. It is held in Grand Junction, about a 4 hour drive West of Denver. They also have a track day on a kart track. See www.flyinmiata.com for details. Skip

LOG27 is August 24 - 27. The website is at www.log27.com. There is a class for "Replica (Westfield, Mk1, etc.)" in the concours so it would seem all LSIS are welcome. I am going to the Lotus Colorado (LoCo) meeting tomorrow evening and I will confirm whether all LSIS are welcome. We were also handing out flyers at the car show which invite all enthuasists to the event. LoCo is the hosting club for the event which includes an autocross, track day at Woody Creek Raceway and the featured guests are: Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain de Cadenet, Peter Egan and Peter Darley. The theme is A Tribute to Colin Chapman. They have even arranged transport for cars from anywhere in the continental USA so you can fly into Denver and drive from there to Aspen/Snowmass for the event, then drop your car off in Denver and fly home. Cost is $1,500 roundtrip to transport your car. Skip

That hurts! My first trip to the DMV was like that... But I'm still not going to move from Colorado to Illinois.

:hurray: Finally got the plates today :hurray: The CHP attached the new assigned VIN tag and off I went to the county DMV. The same lady waited on me as before, this time she went over each and every one of the 15 or so pieces of paper in the packet, made several phone calls to make sure she was entering things correctly, took my check for $1,401 and handed me a set of plates. I told her I wasn't answering the telephone any more this week (a reference to her calling me as I was about the install the last set and requiring me to return them). My Caterham is now registered as a 2007 Cat, Model CV, even though it has a 12/03 build date and was listed as a 2004 on the MSO. I think it is done this time. The sad part about this is I can't drive the car today, I am waiting for a new throttle cable as the old one started sticking and holding the throttle open at the track Saturday. Oh well, a couple more days and I will be able to have a proper blat. :hurray: :cheers: :hurray:

The word in the Miata world is the '90 - '93 6" diff will take no more than 200 whp and only then if you have some mechanical empathy. Their viscous LSDs are basically worthless, quickly becoming open diffs. The '94 and up Torsen diffs are good for around 300 whp. With a lighter car like the SR7 the later diffs may hold up to 350 whp unless you do a lot of drag racing starts.

Very nice. Please post some more pictures of the engine and of the intercooler with the nose cone off. Will a 6" Miata diff really take 350 HP? Skip

I seem to recall reading that someone is already using this and wondered if they would be offended if I used it as well. I am in Colorado so there probably shouldn't be a problem with the DMV as far as duplication.

First Track Event Report Not a perfect day, but not too bad for a new car that has only about 10 miles on it. The track is the Colorado Highway Patrol training track which is not really a race track, more like regular road with a center crown, but after losing our three best tracks in one month a couple of years ago, we can't be choosy. It is essentially a large triangle with a series of four 90* turns on one side and a large whoop-de-do on one of the others. It is far more a horsepower track than a handling track. A couple of problems were obvious right from the start. The engine was running rough and would go off song between 3,500 and 4,500 rpm, losing power and making funny sounds. Below and above it was strong, especially above. I downloaded the fueling and timing maps and comparing them to ones from my Miata decided there was a lack of fuel across the board so I used the master fuel control to enrichen the whole 96 zones. This helped some all around but the gap at 3,500 - 4,500 didn't improve much. There was also a problem with the oil pressure gage. It would flicker up and down, then off. I had seen this before in the few street drives and it seems to be a problem between the British spade connector on the sensor and the SAE connector on the wire. I decided to ignore this and press on. Handling seemed soft, but I decided to spend my time on engine tuning and live with the handling. I had the tires at 20 psi front and rear (cold) and since I couldn't find my tire pressure gage, just left it alone. I'll work on handling next time. I think there are probably stiffer springs and shocks in my future. I will also get the adaptors made soon so I can use the Miata track wheels and tires. Most sessions were short until after lunch when I decided to try to keep the revs over 4,500 and see if it would overheat. So far heat had not been a problem even with the air temps hovering around 100* except that the cooling fan wasn't adequate to cool the engine after a run. The temp would actually go up in the pits without the benefit of moving through the air. I will get a larger fan and see if that does it. I ran 10 laps using full throttle down the long straights and eventually hit the overtemp limiter set for 110*. The limiter puts the ECU into limp home mode allowing only 3,000 rpm. I got about 1/2 lap at a much lower speed and pulled into the pits. Knowing the fan would not cool in the pits, I shut it off and after a few minutes, heat soak over filled the recovery tank and dumped a bit of coolant on the ground. Once it cooled off, the pressure tank sucked back most of the coolant left in the tank so perhaps I had too much in the tank to start with. I might need a larger recovery tank. During this last session I had the laptop onboard and connected to the ECU and dataloged the whole session. Looking at the data, it appeared that there was a problem with the throttle position sensor data so I decided to calibrate the sensor again. This involves taking a reading at no throttle and at full throttle and ajusting the ECU to a value of 10 at idle and 100 at WOT using the keypad. As I pushed the throttle to WOT (engine off, key on) the throttle felt funny and the pedal stayed on the floor. After checking things out, it appears that the problem is the throttle cable as after freeing it up and disconnecting it from the throttle body, I could feel a grittiness moving the cable back and forth. At this point it was time to call it a day and load it on the trailer. The last session was fun even with the above problems. I was feeling comfortable with the handling and braking and pushed it much harder that before. I will replace the cooling fan, throttle cable, investigate the TPS and have the experts at Flyin Miata take a look at the datalog. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the Highway Patrol to get the new VIN plate attached to the car and then I should be able to register it and do some street driving and tuning of the ECU.

Is anyone besides me coming to LOG27? I believe all of our cars would be welcome. Maybe we could have an LSIS gathering after that event and play some more in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has a huge variety of twisty roads and spectacular scenery. Skip

I can't really call it an upgrade since there wasn't and engine or transmission to start with, but I have "upgraded" to an 1,800 cc Miata engine and transmission with the addition of a turbo, intercooler and custom exhaust system. I have also swapped out the original MOMO steering wheel for a used no-name (literaly - I can't find any ID on it at all) wheel that is about an inch larger in diameter. I have threaded coil spring adjusters in the shop, to be installed next week. I need to raise the car a bit to get back some of the sump clearance I lost. I also have the Caterham chin spoiler and the whiskers for the nose cone ready to be installed sometime soon. Future plans include: Brooklands windscreens Adaptors to fit Miata wheels on the Caterham hubs so I can use my lightweight 15" wheels and track tires on both cars. Video camera mount Bore & stroke the Miata engine to 2 liters, head work and forged internals for about 340 WHP. Other than that, I will keep it stock.

Great idea! If he decides to make a run of them, I'll buy one. He can have a ride in my car any time he comes to the Denver area. Skip

Actually, I think it is good as he seemed interested in helping me get the car registered. He said he picked up 60 new VINs to install last week and it may be that his people haven't got to mine yet. All he does is certified VIN inspections and installation of new VIN plates. You have to get reservations a week or two in advance to get the inspection.

From the Miata.net Forum. What is this car? Is it a one off or is it available as a kit?

New website updates. The project is up and running and will have its first track event on Saturday. Licensing is inching ahead smartly.:banghead: I talked to the highway patrol trooper in charge of assigned VINs today and he has red flagged my name and will call me as soon as he receives the new VIN plate from the state DMV.

Mazda, What kind of system are you using to clock the 0-60 data? Is it part of your digital instrument panel or a stand alone? Skip

Al, I've had good luck wandering through the racks of radiator hoses at local parts stores looking for likely candidates for my various engine configurations. Having your old hose along to compare just might score you a readily available replacement. There are literally hundreds of shapes, sizes and configurations in stock to compare to. I found a Cadillac Escalade hose about 3' long that with a little trimming on each end goes from the rear water outlet on the Miata engine to the Caterham race radiator exactly as if it were designed for it.

If you watch his hands closely, you will see his fingers working the paddle shifters which are obviously connected to the sequential shifter.

Many years ago in California, I was passed an early VW panel bus. As I was in my '63 Corvette and moving pretty fast, I was extremely curious. I followed him at over 100 mph until he got off the freeway and pulled into a gas station. The whole bus was rocking side to side with a wicked exhaust note. I got the driver to open the side doors and inside was an Allison V-12 aircraft engine. I suspect it had a pretty good power to weight ratio.

Is that enough pressure to heat the pads?

My SV roller came setup for the Zetec. It had the exhaust cutout and no cutouts in the bonnet. I fabricated my own motor mounts with help from a machinist friend, same fo adapting the Miata transmission to fit in the tunnel. Motor mounts are very easy to make. I used the Caterham rubber mounts and we made the struts going from there to the motor. The biggest headache I had was wiring the aftermarket ECU into the Miata engine (it was designed for a Miata) and Caterham chassis. I spent more time on this than anything else. If you go with a Ford engine, you will have plug and play wiring and ECU. If you go with a Zetec, I still have a brand new Caterham header and silencer/cat that I will sell you for half price. My custom downpipe was a little cramped because I used the existing hole in the side panel which was a little forward of the ideal spot for my turbo outlet. I think you will have to source a custom oil pan for the Zetec, probably from Caterham. Skip

I trailered my Caterham to a charity car show on Sunday. One of the Lotus club members brought 5 of his cars including this 5/8 scale Lotus 7 named .7 (Point 7). He drove .7 to the show in the early morning using the sidewalks and side streets. It has a small single cylinder engine in the boot. After the show traffic was too heavy to drive it home so we loaded in on the back of my trailer.http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/140559968_DSC02863.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/697282265_DSC02865.JPG