Automoda

The 4644 number has an "X" by it on my whiteboard so I think its kaput. The one I listed worked a year ago, however.

The last number I had is (920)698-7107

When you figure it out, please post the part numbers. My car came with all the rubber (all of it) dry rotted. Must have been a hot trip across the ocean in a box. Anyhow, the ball joint boots are toast and always have been. I"m looking to swap them out this summer. Mine is a 2003 with normal front suspension (not wide track).

Wow! That RX7! I sure hope it wasnt his 'friend' that was in charge of tightening the wheels. You know my aluminum Kodiak wheels feel a little different when I tighten them down. Its like the aluminum doesn't have any spring in it compared to steel or mags. The amount of turning between 'loose' and 'tight' is about half or less compared to my other cars. I tighten them up as hard as I can because of this. Never had a loose lug nut but it just doesnt feel right.

My thoughts: The wheels are very large (which is correct for an old Indie racer) so the center of the wheel is higher off the ground. That changes the geometry of the suspension, so the whole suspension would need a redesign. Keep in mind a higher drive shaft to meet with a higher rear axle, too. Double check your front wheels-- do they stick out far enough to actually allow cornering on the street without touching the body? I'd put the fuel tank on the other side. It'd help with balance and it'd make more sense to put it opposite of the exhaust. Plus I'd rather burn up the passenger than me, the driver. Its a cool looking tank though. The high exhaust is inconvenient but awesome enough to stay as is. Just make sure you can actually step on the nerf bar to get over the exhaust and we're good. To be realistic, you'd need to have fenders on it to drive it on the street. Flat black and tight fitting cycle fenders. The interior is a little hot-rod for me. I think I'd go with something a little less plush. Be sure that it takes a 5 point harness. The 3D work is fantastic. I've never been able to model vehicles. Its a true skill. Great work on that, and the design as a whole.

Highly entertaining.

Frankly that blue car was retarded to just stop in the road for no reason. Not that the truck wasn't at fault. But I hate drivers that get confused by something as simple as some bikes pulled over and cause a wreck. And the truck driver should have been alert when driving past a line of stopped traffic like that. You never know when someone is going to pull out etc. The punchline is that our sevens could have stopped in time.

I keep trying to convince my friend to let me paint his Europa in gold paisley on candy red with simulated wood trim, or else copy the Dukes of Hazard scheme, except it would be the "General Cornwallis". I really appreciate some creativity in the paint. It is because I started off in the VW Bug cult, and you could do ANYTHING with those cars. One of the bugs that I'll always remember had a Hawaiian theme and somehow they had a perfect, raised floral pattern that covered the whole car. I don't know how they did it. Bugs are all curves. I went a little off the beaten path with my paint job, too. After a lot of photoshopping I came up with the idea of some chevrons on the nose to give the car a bit of an angry look. http://herb.linkrealms.com/Rally%20for%20Ron%20-%20Sept%202010%201.jpg I think I've seen a 7 painted with tiger stripes, and one with cow spots. I think my next paint job is going to be an experiment with wrap. I think I can pull-off my candy red / chevrons scheme with some of the fancy new wrap materials since the 7 is such a simple body shape.

I love it! I've never seen one before. Its the kind of car that would attract my attention at a show.

I got one of these "action cameras" from ebay (Mine is all black). 160$ http://tinyurl.com/cqwglue I've used the heck out of it and its doing great. It has 1080 or 720, timelapse features, a screen on the back, can be mounted upside down and if so flips the image, has a standard camera threaded mount, tons of manual adjustments and options, waterproof, gobs of mounting hardware etc, good 2 hour battery life with 12 dollar lith ion battery (get a couple spares), removable flash cards and can take large ones... and on and on. The down side is that there is no remote, and after a year I broke a clasp that latches the screen/door so its not waterproof anymore. Also if you press a button, the sound effect wont override any previous sound effects so you might miss it if you double press a button. Minor issue. In any case I rate it 5 stars.

You know what would look good to me, on a 7, would be something like that but rather wide and very thin. My imagination is going nuts now-- thanks a lot. I wish I had access to CNC. I'm great at 3D models but I need to learn how to model for CNC.

Yes. I'm probably considered eccentric (Like a few of us here, hehe). I drive a 7 and ride this bike: Its a 2003 T-Bone by Reynolds Weld Lab. Titanium. Very fast up or down wind, on flats or downhill. Not so fast up hill. Its fast enough though, that I did very well on that 500 mile RAGBRAI ride in Iowa by gaining enough speed down the hills to nearly top the next one. Once upon a time when the legs were better I could take on most pace-lines solo. Mainly I use it for long range riding. 100 miles is no problem. Yesterday I got the 7 up and running for the year and today I'm taking the bike out for the first time this season. I hate winter. Everything I enjoy is for the warm weather. As for the caterham bike. Um. Honestly it doesnt make sense to me. Its like a McDonnalds crossbow or a Ford tea cup set. I guess Jeep did the same thing-- they have Jeep mountain bikes. http://herb.linkrealms.com/Tbone_3view.jpg

I saw the video. I know they 'passed'. I also know you don't have to be an engineer to figure that the bars on the edges will do nothing useful in a crash. So they technically passed, but only because an idiot set up the test. I suppose if I had an oil tanker, and I had to do a crash test with an ice berg, and they said that the ice berg would hit exactly 30 meters from the bow, I could make my oil tankers safe by only putting a double hull on the area 30 meters from the bow. Its great logic. Great way to build regulations and keep people in society safe. After all it makes great sense putting triple trailer rigs on the same roads as motorcycles and VW Bugs, and then designing the backs of the trailers to decapitate anyone that hits one. I consider it yet another marvel of modern government. Because now that it has passed the 'test', it is hard to sue the manufacturers when your daughter is cut in half by one. This would be different if there were no test and no regulation at all. And if the bumpers were actually safe, it also wouldnt be an issue.

So who is in charge of this 'requirement' and 'regulation'? I've always known those flimsy things wouldnt stop even some motorcycles just by looking at it. So the government required them and never took two seconds to look at it or test it? You'd think the cops would raise the alarm every time they pull another car out from under a truck. And they now have millions of defective bumpers out there. But nobody will be fired.

Look at that stance. It sure is going to stick. The cage is part of the frame. And all those new shiny parts. Cant wait to hear your racing reports! You should tell more about the project.

Excellent! I *LOVE* my Birkin. You made a great buy. The only thing I'd trade my Birkin for is a newer Birkin!

Pics are grainy and small. I cant tell what I'm looking at. But whatever it is looks like a lot of work

Here is the thing. In general, the top of the top did not get their wealth by earning it so much as by controlling government. Government is absolutely the key to the wealth of anybody that has a private jet. They fund the campaigns and have tax and regulation laws adjusted in their favor. There is no reason to have a million pages of tax 'law' if the 'law' was fair. It is a pile of exceptions, loopholes, and favors. McDonnalds is exempted from Obama Care, yet if I were to start a competitor, I would have much higher costs due to the fact that I am not exempted. Primary Dealers get access to fresh printed money while it still has value. You and I are the last to get it. Banks also get bailed out, while my company does not. If I buy a pack of gum for a dollar, I am taxed. If traders buy a stock, they are not taxed (which is good for them because most stocks are purchased by computers and held for under one second as they attempt to steal a few pennies from me by probing my bids at millisecond intervals). The medical system is allowed to "have no idea what something is going to cost" and only reveal it to me afterwards while I'm under duress. Tow Truck drivers are not allowed to withold the cost of towing your car and then shocking you with prices ranging from 50 dollars to 5000 for the same tow. The military industrial complex gets no-bid contracts. The financial industry shuffles papers, producing nothing, and sucks in something like 11% of the GDP. Money won by gambling in the stock market is taxed at half the rate of a guy slaving in the sun. One could go on forever, and if you looked at the actual law, it'd get to be embarrassing that we allow it to continue. My point is that 99% of the ultra wealthy got it by being crooks, and most of them by tampering with government. America is run by oligarchs exactly like Russia. When a company has a billion share holders and most of them are computers, there is nobody to stop the CEO from gifting himself half of the profits as bonus, or crashing the company on purpose to create a temporary glut of money, of which he gets a percentage. In one year he can make more than he can spend in a life time, so who cares if it goes bankrupt after his bonus check clears. (The whole housing loan industry did this) The rich-poor divide is proof of corruption. That is all. And as that divide gets about this big, back through history in every single (think about that. EVERY SINGLE) similar case, revolution and war has resulted. Its all fine to say "well jeez you cant blame the rich for getting richer!" but be aware that people you know and love are probably going to find themselves in a war zone as a direct result of the rich-poor divide issue. (Its already happening in parts of the world where food makes up a larger portion of the monthly income. But it is only just beginning.) When I was a kid, the top of the line Ferrari cost 125K, or about 250K in today's devalued dollar. I see the latest one costs 4.5 million, and has a waiting list. The rich are sooooo much richer than before. The middle class is withering up. This is going to end badly and it seems strange to me that the lesson of history is never learned in this issue. Perhaps they think they can hide out on their private islands. But I sure wouldnt want to piss off 7 billion people like they're doing.

How come it weighs as much as our cars? Bone-like structures, 3 skinny wheels, and it weighs that much? They missed something. Perhaps too much glass or luxury or safety, but it is not pushing the lightness factor the way it should be. All you'd have to do is make a 7 with a titanium-tube frame and a light engine and you'd blow people's minds.

Those prices.. none. NONE of them make sense. Consider the $66,000 VW beatle. You could have any of those cars recreated in titanium and aluminum for a fraction of the selling price. Thats a lot of money to put on being 'original' and 'collectible'. Shows you where the economy is going. Since its micro cars, someone could make a joke about 'inflation' without too much effort ;o)

I went to a car show saturday. Lots of excellent muscle cars and such... but nothing that was so amazing that it sticks in my mind. (Nothing I'd trade my 7 for) This little car, though.... I dig it.

What a beauty! I dont think I've seen a Birkin in that color scheme. It works well.

Wow those baby straps-- Great idea for those going for an old school classic look!

It certainly looks like it'd keep the polished aluminum on the car clean. Forever. And yes, cell phones should come with this on them. But then how would they sell you a new phone so often?

No the car I'm working on is an actual Europa. I was against adding the funny little scoop and fuel filler next to the window, but in retrospect I guess it wasnt that bad. I had other ideas for putting a vent back there that'd actually work and help the car's looks, but I was vetoed. I wanted to fix the front top corner of the door frame where it looks all saggy from some angles, but I was also vetoed on that. And I wanted to put better deck vents on it than those four ovals. Buzzzz. He wants it to still be a Europa despite the modifications to the nose and fenders. One of these days I'll have Lee come on here and post a build thread on it. Its using a ZX3 just like his Birkin and I expect it to be very reliable. He's done a lot of nice things to the suspension in the rear, too.