southwind25

LMAO!! Mike we will have a date planned to give you, and the lotus club at the car show. Mike and Jen, if the weather is nice, want to go for a blat somewhere after the car show? Maybe get a bite to eat? sorry, would have wrote you otherwise, but i know you changed your contact info, and we cant find it...

Role call, who else might be going to the Solon commons North east Ohio british and sports car car show (austin healey club sponsored)? Mike and Jen? Gary?

Anyway, I think Wall Street has a lot more explaining to do than the UAW. Sorry if I sound like one of those commie, pinko, socialist... I'm really not. We'll always have lazy people and greedy ones, but the U.S. needs a strong middle class and not turn into (or should I say not go back to) a country of the few haves and the many have nots. good observation, and probably very accurate. still i hope the solstice hangs on, i would like to find one for a beater in about 5 years.

GM cutting Pontiac. They make the solstice..which is actually a decent sportscar. this is bad news. Why not cut Buick? And instead of trying to sell off Hummer and Saturn. Cut Hummer and Saturn. I really never liked GM cars that much… except for corvette and a few Pontiacs. GTO’s Firebirds early trans am’s… pontiac has allot of history. Hate to see it get deleted. This is really sad.

What a great weekend... well sorta. Beautiful ,sunny, warm. Just perfect for...uhhh, having the car on jack stands and cleaning and polishing it, getting it ready for the brit car show in NE ohio next weekend. But whats this?.. we put 200 miles on it last week, and so far no oil leaks?!?!?! Did i forget to put in fluids? It's still a british engine and transmission, how can it not leak (even with new seals)? Usually there's leaks after 50 miles.. something is wrong here. Well for those that dont worry about waxing there belly pans, we saw dozens of brit cars out this past weekend.. and starting next weekend, we will be out getting ours dirty again too!! YAY!

Ok, this might be a bit early to post, but Trina and Mary are going to put together a winery tour in northeast ohio. uhhh,,,ok, no DUI's.. but we will be probably stopping at 3 wineries with a nice little drive in-between. just throw the good Vino you buy in the boot and we can share it later? More details and date to come.

YAY!!! on the road again! With a little help from Mary and Trina, (thanks gals!) we got the se7en all put back together last night and i took it to work this morning. How awesome it was to actually enjoy the road again after a long winter. The new clutch seems to be fine. of course we need to fiddle and tune it in after it's long winters nap. You know how that is, adjust this, screw and unscrew that, until it's running perfect, exactly at the settings you started off with anyways. Gosh it's good to have it back running again! Now it's going to need it's spring polish and get ready for the cleveland brit car show. YAY!!! Oh and yes, get your hair ties girls we are going for rides tonight!

Roller rockers.. when i first got our car, i had to replace one of the rockers because the adj. screw was stripped. I was looking into the roller type to just replace them all. Really nice..but probably the last modification i would do to the engine all said and done if i had money left over..which i never do.

yes! we have installed a little handle, and my passengers LOVE it! it gives them something to stabalize themselves, and it's sort of a psychological security device. it also seems to help some people balance themselves as they adjust their seating position. We actually made ours out of aluminum. it wieghs very little. . i think you can find pics of it in the members ride section, southwinds 7.

It's getting to be that time!! Well, we have been very busy here at the Southwind garage this winter. No,,sadly not a new engine..the budget wouldnt allow that. But we got our flywheel redone and all new seals and clutch. A bit of spit and polish and she's going back together now!! WOO HOO!! some pics of the latest..

Nice Birkin! They are awesome cars! (been gone from here for a bit...just way busy.)

We have our shocks set midrange at the moment. We also went to other front springs because the ones that came with the car were way too tall! the lower A arms on ours is now about 1-2 degrees downwards(falling away) when fully loaded, and i think we have 296MM between ours. We lowered our tire pressures WAY down to 18 lbs..and would guess better tires would give a better ride yet. We also padded the stock seats a bit..LOL!(still need something better there) The ride is awesome for a car this size/weight.

We fabricated a really nice rack for the Birkin. people have even said "nice rack". Anyways we simply used a harley leather bag on it. and it works great! We used round tube on ours and polished it.

Al, My bad... sorry i didnt reply but yes we recieved the decals and materials.. Thank you!! (sorry might not get a chance to answer later, i am taking care of a house full of flu victims) :ack:

Nice clean undercarriage by the way...

Beware the "clAnk....clunk is not bad...clank is

Yes i would very much consider getting the existing flywheel lightened.. But the setup i have seems to be either non-standard, or it IS a standard way of bastardizing diffrent parts to work together.. yes i have the typical 1" x 23 spline t9 box. but the current pressure plate/flywheel is set up for a 7 1/2" clutch. the clutch plate is a solid center 1" x 23 spline 7 1/2" disc.. which seems to complicate the whole thing because i cant seem to find this combination of parts anywhere. most 1" x 23 discs are 8 1/2" not 7 1/2 (unless you go to a 7 1/4" racing setup or something. the 7 1/2" discs seem to all be 7/8" x 20 so if i could fit a diffrent flywheel to the engine i could use a more standard (potentially better??) pressure plate and disc. otherwise it seems as if i am stuck with a very stock yet very expensive prssure plate /disc. i know the 7 1/2" has a lower moment of inertia, but i think this gets lost in the massive bulk i am spinning around in the first place. so i am trying to find out if i can fit a lighter flywheel that will accept the 8 1/2" setup. and yet all work with the heightwise with the existing throwout bearing location and type. uhhh...can someone explain to me what i just wrote?

Ian, i dont know! i will surely check that possibility though! Thanks for the idea. The slipping started mid season though and thats why i thought of the leaky seal. WHOA!! nice flywheel! very cool. i used a aluminum one in the A-H sprite and it was very streetable. i like it allot! I am still looking for a good combination of flywheel-pressure plate-disc. lots of options for formula fords, but the disc has the wrong splines. i am also sadly cant just spend what i want, thats why i am looking to match up some good, but affordable bits.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-2002-Dare-Sport-1972-Dare-Ginetta-TG-Sport-Convertible_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem180319446306QQitemZ180319446306QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks

Has anyone taken a ford focus/zetec flywheel (aluminum) and mounted it on the x-flow? just exploring options..

I think i'll do this while the assembly is out...good tip!:hurray:

Ok, we finally got the engine-tranny out of the Birkin last night. WOW what a tight fit! incredible! (i hope that zetec fits someday!) anyways...we took the tranny off looking to find what was making it slip so badly, and.. there was nothing in there that said "here's the problem!" hmmm.... well i am going to replace the tranny input shaft seal anyways, and the clutch disc and pressure plate. the disc looked like a aftermarket piece with solid center yet stock material. the pressure plate looked stock. Who is a good supplier for these parts? i looked in pegasus racing BUT i seem to have a 23 tooth spline x 7-1/2" disc, not 20 x 7.25?? dang this flywheel weighs ALLOT too! need some parts supply suggestions. do i go through dave bean?

AHHH,, what a fun collection of toys and projects.. life is good for you!

Well our new years started in with a "bang". New years day we were traveling to see our partner and... "BANG" :shocked: Suddenly the subaru station wagon lurched and there was smoke pouring from the car. We are talking batmobile here!!! The back of the wagon was filled with smoke as was a wall cloud behind it... Pulled over to the sound of a coffee grinder, got out and Holy Smokes..We were on FIRE!! The differential had exploded and there was flaming grease all over the bottom of the wagon! We got out and ran some yards away, called 911 and waited for the gas tank to let loose. Luckily the police arrived in time to put out the flames before the fire spread. Soooooo, the last couple days i have been trying to replace burned out diff mounts and a toasted diff.. :banghead: i hope the rest of the year goees better?!

Lets see.. I had my neck fused about 3 years ago.. 2 discs worth. the recovery was phenominal..and it's as if it never happened.... hope your luck is the same. I tend to use my mirrors a bit moe than turning my head backwards now...not a bad thing.