Automoda

BB Gun time, beeyotchez! No. I'm serious.

Count me in on Gert's cruise.

Wow is that a clean engine bay or what? The photography is fantastic. The car is freakin' sweet. I wish you'd tell about it.

I showed this to a friend that does his own alfalfa baling. He cant comprehend how anyone could survive jumping into a baler of any known design. Apparently his machinery can turn anything into a cube. Including....Deer that hide instead of running.

Those are some interesting vehicles! I really like the airbrush work of the Hawiian girl and the wave. It is a brilliant idea and far better than the usual dragon or skulls. I'm not sure what to think of the truck-buggy. It seems like it has some awkward weight distributions and visibility issues with a giant radiator on the nose. Still, I've always wondered why I dont see more tube frame cars like that. The black roadster is certainly evil looking. Its the eyes. And whats with the seats? Metal? Or is it that chrome fabric that Alsacorp sells? Rat rod. I love rat rods. I'd love to build one someday.

You know, I've been trying to hit car shows too. I enjoy promoting the 7 philosophy, and introducing people to the car. Frankly I'd like more people to get hooked and buy one. A ride in a friend's 7 is what infected me with the Lotus bug. It took a few encounters with his car before I couldnt think of anything else. So I enjoy being an ambassador so-to-speak. We had a big show (1065 cars) a week ago and I had the only Lotus there. After your 200th perfect 68/69 Camaro and 200th perfect Mustang, you tend to start looking for something unique. So people gravitate to the oldies, the strange, and stuff with wild paint. I have a trick for shows to get a crowd. I put a hand written note on the windshield (black sharpie) that mentions it was made in South Africa, that it weighs 1250lbs, and engine details etc. Then I put my driving shoes on the seat and mention the tiny pedals. People always lean down and look, pop up and pinch their fingers together to tell their friend what they just saw. I mention the wind, gravel, and what it feels like to drive (4 wheeled motorcycle). I try to get their imagination going. I think next year I may bring a laptop and run videos of other sevens that I find on Youtube. (Here's a picture I took when I found a break in the crowd) http://herb.linkrealms.com/peach_days_crowd_sm.jpg Car shows are a blast just because you get to chitchat with other car nuts. Most are even crazier than I am. )

I use that "Clear bra" material on the front of my rear fenders, despite the aluminum plates. You can curve it a bit around the edge of the fender, but not all the way. They want way too much money for it, but it does a great job. My paint under that stuff is flawless and the aluminum panel is horribly pitted after a few hundred miles. It would be expensive but I think you could easily have a seven's side panels done in it. How well does it handle exhaust-pipe radiant heat? I dont know.

Wow thats cool. Looks like a very nice build so far.

Those are goats.

Wow hey! Thanks ACPolish! When I was doing mine, I wet-sanded the aluminum with 1000-1500 grit. Any finer and I'd just get contamination scratches. Seems to me that the same happens when I try to color-sand paint. Anyhow, sanding is the hard part. After that I used "Magic Mix" which has a rabbit in a red-white-blue top-hat on the bottle to do the first buffing pass. Then I'd go over that with Autosol Metal Polish. Its oil-based and cuts very very well compared to Blue Magic and Mothers and other 'cream' based products. The shine is nearly mirror in some spots. Not perfect in others. Definitely has a tendency to catch swirly highlights when the sun is low. But its not bad and lasts (due to the oily polish I suppose). It was tedious. I used fake wool pads on a drill to do the buffing, and only hand buffed where I had to. My Birkin's hood was a different aluminum with some kind of thin layer on it that was different than what was below. It would not buff, so the idea of a totally shiny car was scrapped. Next time I'll go with ACPolish's methods. His site is bookmarked. http://herb.linkrealms.com/super7polishtest.jpg

Its hard to figure the right price in this economy. Deflation and unemployment are here, yet it is the best of times for the top 1%. And then you have people worried about future inflation and taxes hiding their wealth in art, antiques and ... classic cars. I think the crazy prices I've seen on the big auctions (half a million for a restored Baracuda on Barret Jackson etc) would have absolutely come back to reality by now if it werent for the lack of real investment options these days. Its nice that our 7s havent lost much value compared to other assets. . . so far. Somehow I think Hummers and Saturns arent doing that great on the used car lots ;o)

Thats a perfect photograph. Really awesome. The total-red is very nice. Jealous of your LSD and wide track! The cargo thing is brilliant. My audio system is ear plugs. ;o)

Hm. Mine is a 2003 and it had no seat rails welded in. The whole seating track was bolted to the cross-piece at the front of the seat and the harness tabs on the floor in both back corners. Welded in rails would be a bit tougher to work with. You know, I just thought about it and another solution would be to hold the seats from the sides rather than trying to support from the bottom. Depending on your seats of course. My solution had the seat tipping back a bit, too. I *really* like the position now. (but you have to be careful not to tip back too much or you'll find your knees hitting the underside of the scuttle's framework). But if you're tipping the seat back, then much of the metal (*added weight*) in the flat bar-stock solution people are using is not really supporting the driver's weight because the front of the seat would be sitting on a spacer on top of the cross-piece in order to tip it up. So in that case I think just a short tab of metal that catches the back of the seat, with perhaps a small 90 degree angle cut to a slope (for strength) would work at the back (especially since everyone is welding it, which would make it extremely secure). So I guess my thinking is that if the seat is just being held up at a few points, just make sure those points are strong. I added the wedges to actually help stiffen the bottom of the seat since I am using the fiberglass ones that came with the car (plenty strong to step on). It seems regardless of the method, its a fair bit of work and tinkering. Someone should make a kit ;o)

Imagine a future where we have plastics that act like muscles and the machines are not rigid like the seabreacher. A boat like that could wiggle and curve like a real fish or dolphin. Imagine your car is able to move its tires around, flex around its spine and act like a wheeled animal. I think if we experienced a machine like that we'd have a hard time going back to even our lively 7s. If it was reading input from a driver exclusively, you'd truly be one with the car. If it had some sort of learning AI that made it more like a horse with its own instincts about how to handle the road, it'd be a whole different experience. I think we'd like it.

Thanks for the pictures. I've been curious about this. I remember someone did this a while back and wrote about it on the Birkin email list. It'd be cool to dig that thread up and re-post it here. Of course I sometimes want to just wait and buy a 2nd Birkin with IRS and wide track and LSD and the works... perhaps figure out a little turbo or supercharger... Someday.... You know it occurs to me that the leftover suspension parts could be useful to guys that happen to bend a piece while racing etc. Its not like we have junkyards for these cars ;o)

Those convex SPA mirrors are intriguing. It is exactly what I'd like to put on my Birkin. Has anyone installed them on a Birkin yet? I dont like the idea of drilling holes in the scuttle (cowl). Seems they could be adapted to fit the normal mounting point on the windshield bracket, even if one had to do a little bit of welding.

Wow now THAT is awesome. It temps me to anthropomorphize the car. I cant help it. First drive since the 70s. Its like a dog that has been spending his life locked in a garage finding a new home where he is part of the family (sniffle).

got a good hour in today. I went exploring the old farm roads I used to love riding my bicycle on (still do but havent had time to do long range adventures on the bicycle lately). Instead of country roads it is now a miniature super-highway with cement sound barriers. The country roads may still be there, but most of the farm land is turning into housing sprawl with brown stucco and weedy, unfinished yards. At least the train track crossings are smoother now. I'm going to have to find another place to blat.

Perfect day here in UT. I took a little trip to lunch and the hardware store. I'm putting together a tool kit for the 7. Only 20 miles though. I have the urge to go out again...

What I did was cut 3 wedges of wood (from a 2x4) and screwed them to the bottom of the seat. They'd rest on the floor skin, which is weak and not something you'd want to put weight on... So I welded up some metal brackets that attach to the front of the wedges which allow you to bolt into the factory mounting points (front). Of course that leaves the back side of the wedges, being very thin, with nothing to sit on. So I made some more brackets and put a piece of 2x4 across the back panel at the right position and bolted it to the back seat-bracket mounts. That let me sink some big nasty screws through the seat into the wood to hold up the back side of the seat. Perfecto. It has a bit more recline and it is mounted firmly and is reinforced with the wedges so that you can stand on it (plus a little protection from below). It is as low as you're going to go without dropping the pan, since the back-bottom corner of the seat is touching the floor. Its light too (mostly wood and some metal brackets). Yes, I know-- wood is not a material you use in cars. But it is very difficult to line everything up in the back and just being able to sink some screws anywhere in the area is a lot easier. The wood is painted black anyhow, so it doesnt show-- and it adds lightness and strengthens the bottom of the seat. The down side is it took days of tinkering and welding and filing. And those seat bracket bolts that go in from the sides in back are a pain to thread due to crowding. Slowed me way down. I'd take pictures but I dont feel like removing the seats. Here's a sketch: http://herb.linkrealms.com/seat%20sketch.jpg

As a bicyclist myself, I can tell you if someone decided to do some showing-off and came sliding along inches from me, they'd get the finger at the very very least. I cant believe he did that corner with a bike there. Bad brainwork indeed. And let me tell you, that guy would know he DESERVED the finger or anything else he got.

Hahaha I LOVE It! Those details-- the chest and swords. Especially the chain ship rigging ladders. If you have a top for it, make it with sail canvas.

Its only a photoshop job. It probably only took about 3 hours.

Thats a DNA muffler isnt it. Do you like the sound? I'm still assembling my Birkin but eventually I may go with something like what you've got there. I know some of the guys on the Birkin list are talking about that muffler. I've thought about extending the 4 tubes further back before collecting them, though. I dont see an O2 sensor on there...

Yeah I'm in Bluffdale. Leave me a PM and we can arrange a visit.