southwind25

pardon my naivity,,,what is "ITB"?

So when we got the car it didnt have the K&N filters mounyed, so thats #4 on the list and we put them on.. But AH HAH! thats why they were not on, the bonnet wont fit now! The filters are about 1/2 to low and wont fit it he opening..drats:banghead: they nearly rest on the frame rail. well ok,,,so what to do? i dont want to start carving up the bonnet. perhaps the engine is mounted a little low for some reason? maybe remake the backing plates so they are offset? but at best when it would be correctly centered the opening is darn small and i can see the paint getting rubbed of REAL quick with vibration and the bonnet would be harder to get off-on anyways. so alternate filters? hey that pipercross unit looks good, what about individual trumpet socks? but how do those individual socks mount? do they interfere with flow much? what pipercross are people using on the 1600 x-flow? any other thoughts or good solutions?

30 degrees but who's counting? Hurray for us! We took her out for the first time ever today a nd spent the evening driving around Akron. So mary calls me(bob) and says, "hey the sun's shinning lets go for a ride!" So we get the side curtians on and take a trip to the local race-supply house to pick up a few stray parts.. ok...they were fittings for the heater which wasnt connected. and who do we come across? Mike and Jen R from up north in Cleveland! How ironic! The car is Awesome! she did great on her first outing with only a slight electrical hiccup. what a fun car! and actually, not all that uncomfortable even without heat. just bundle up and with no snow we were good to go!

We just found out the original manufacture date for the kit was 08/1999 anything i should be aware of for that era? found that the heater wasnt hooked up so thats on the list as well..

sent PM yes i am interested.. the adjuster screws seem to be .4125 across the thread diameter,,if that makes a diffrence?

Ok another question. The car was recieved with an overflow bottle losely tied into the frame in front of the engine. more or less laying there. i believe this is an overflow tank and perhaps not an expansion tank sincetheres no cap on the tank. Its a 1600 with the cap on the thermostat on the engine, with the overflow tube right below the cap does it matter where or how high i mount this? should it be an expansion tank?or this is open overflow is normal for the birkin as well?

Wow,,,i had no idea...sounds like good stuff. We have a good bicycle dealer close to us. does this have a trade name or should i ask for a brand name? or just print off your reply and ask for help? dont get me wrong i am pretty good mechanically..but this car is a learning experience! got the brake lights fixed too...it's all going well.

Ok,,,so it.s not so crazy..thanks Gert, and i appreciate the picture! but i will try and make up some kind of sleeve so it has a better wear in that little thru-hole without binding either shouldnt be hard to do. .

Ok Birkin (and perhaps others?) owners....heres a question: i knew my throttle was sticking a bit and wouldnt fully return to it's stops. So i am looking at the problem and find the spring return on the carb end isnt working right, thats an easy fix...but i couldnt believe the way this thing works! On the gas pedal end...the cable housing is connected to the pedal!! HUH?? and the cable is held still. On the carb end it is normal where the cable housing is held still and the cable goes thru a normal lever. this is wacky!! t seems to sorta defy physics a bit and i have never seen a throttle with a moving cable housing on purpose. is this right? further the cable housing rubs through a hole which i am afraid will soon rub through the housing cover and housing? is this the way the birkin is made? or did someone screw up the build? anyone have a picture of there setup?

Not unlike your metaphor, everyone has there preferences it seems for headlights. and well...originality for us is not critical just so it still has a classy (not neccissarily classic) look. we thought these would look awesome on our 7... smaller, streamlined looking, and hopefully durable. we see the ones that came with the car dont have a quality mounting nor much plating. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/980320957_headlight_8_2.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/674887111_headlight_8_1.jpg

Step #1 done! had friends over for a bathe the 7 party...and what a diffrence! She cleaned up real well and now it's time to start on the fix list. Got the seat fixed in a jiffy now onto other items. Also ordered some of that "top of the line" polish for her brightwork. Hopefully we will get her to a mirror finish or at least darn nice. Does anyone in NEohio have a suggestion where i could get the corner weighting done? or perhaps the equipment i can use? RK

The red wheels were our photoshop experiment. it will eventually get some red panasports...but thats way down the list at the moment. The car came with a pair of new K&N filters. We will put them on before she see's the road.

Its HERE!!:hurray: :hurray: Finally..we recieved the 7 this morning at 9:00 am. The carrier was actually a day early. The first thing that shocked us was the (insert colorful metaphor here) owner, had not put on the Top or even the tonnau!:shocked:. The car is absoultly filthy inside and out. We figure it went through a dust storm moments before the rainstorm. needless to say step 1 will be giving her a big bubble bath:thumbs: As well before she hits the road the list needs addressed and we found a few other items as we looked her over. BUT SHE"S HERE!! This car was mostly built for the owner as he was one of those that was probably dangerous with a wrench. besides the things needing fixed, and the filth she seems like brand new! We will know more when we start cleaning her up. and we are now official 7 owners! We will post some further pic's but heres a few to get things started.http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2133066282_BnY S3 LF.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1576928086_BnY S3 DSC.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1498404096_BnY S3 EC Exh.JPG These pictures are actually the ones we recieved when we bought it so she's gonna claen up nice we think. She's very "stock" but as time goes on, and budget allows it will become the Southwind 7 More fun details and dozens of questions to come.

Fun Fun!! glad none of those spins at the end turned badly. have more fun in 08!

Nothing could be worse than the very first car i ever bought. A FIAT X-19 :_deadhorse: That car was on jackstands more than on it's wheels. :ack:

Needed: for a ford 1600 does anyone have a spare valve adjusting screw, and possible rocker #1. i was told the screw cracked in the process of it's adjustment. I am not sure why, it might be a simple fix, but i also might need the rocker if it's x-threaded-galled-or whatever. I want to fix this when we recieve the car. anyone have a spare? Thanks RK

more drama than i Chick? OH most Deffinitly! Well the Birkin was picked up Sunday afternoon, and is supposed to be delivered this friday! :hurray: Drama..OH yeah! so AFTER he recieved the Check..he procedded to give me his list of things that needed fixed! a couple items i knew about no problem..but others..i hope are not too involved. Once again..i love working on my cars and am very used to doing everything to them..but that wasnt the point of buying this one. At least I wanted the pleasure of breaking things! ahh well..it's on it's way to a new safe and mostly sane home now. Pictures will be posted and comming and we will have a name the 7 contest !

((we couldnt find this though we are sure it's been talked about)) What are people using to polish up there aluminum..and Keep it polished. Mike/Jen R, you mentioned something but we cant remember what it was.. any other suggestions? This car (hopefully on it's way from texas) will be driven in the rain sometimes, :7rain: and we want to keep her aluminum brightwork as new as we can for as long as we can. A mirror finish wouldnt hurt either. We have polished Much aluminum in our day, small parts with a rouge and buffing wheel, but it doesnt last and we guess thats not wise for the thin sheet.. this car wont be blindingly fast with it's 1600~~~ so maybe we can make it blindingly shiney. ((OH HEY..the new smileys are way fun!)

interesting... in the following comments after the picture..someone calls it a "Lotus eater". kinda makes you feel good the porsche guys have lotus guys as a target! says something for lotus eh?

What a roller coaster.. But things are looking up at the moment, The owner has come to his senses, and decided to honor his initial deal...in writing. if all goes well...the Birkin should be in it's new home by next weekend. IF..all goes well..

Gary: We have used the follwing for many years with resonable success in our vintage race cars: OIL: we have use castrol 30 in our race engines for quiet some time with reasonable success. This is changed out quiet a bit though. We do use a castrol synthetic in our other street cars that have been broken in. never use less than a fram filter. and the new lotus will get an accusump-pre oiler first thing! hydraulics: we as well have always used the Castrol GT lma fluids. they have a good boiling point and always freindly with the british rubber. Again we changed this out frequently so we dont worry so much about the hydroscopic nature. We use the same in our street cars. We use the redline mtl in our gearboxes. This will help the old british metalurgy hold up. We use a redline rear end oil as well, with a anti slip additive. We have used this for our limited slip clutch type diff. works great and you can regulate the slippage by the additive. However..i would go with what Quaife reccommends on there website. for the cooling we never used any antifreeze. basically it is illegal to use any type of antifreeze when (vintage) racing because any resulting spill is very difficult to clean up and very slippery on the track . (synthetic oils have been under protest for the same reasons for some time now) We use distilled water and the "pink"-redline waterwetter. this acts as a slight lubricant as well and works great. We have heard the urban legend that this combination will raise the freezing point but have never had that problem. but that hanger gets cold...brrr. We simply use prestone in our street cars.

A letter has been sent to the broker. If i dont have a positive answer by weeks end, i am going to request my money back. Agreed this situation is not only on the hands of the owner but the broker as well. This wont hurt our desire to own a seven whatsoever, it's not the cars fault. And we are sure that Not all 7 loving texans would make this situation what it has become. stay tuned..

Mike.. being an honorable guy sucks..but i am going to wait the promised several days before i send a letter to them. however at that point i will write the fact i will seek legal council if the BS contiues. if you send me a personal mail here i will send you what i believe to be important mails including the invoice. The biggest stumbling block is there may not be a written contract between the broker and owner-seller and their agreement may have been purely verbal. This is an assumption but i wasnt able to even guess at this till i had the car paid for and the renig happened. hough the broker did not have physical possesion of the car i could only assume they had agreed on a price it was to be sold for. I assumed it was a simple transaction since i was working through who was supposed to be a reputable broker. perhaps i was an ass...but this broker has been around for a long time! there was a writen statement that if i was not satisfied with the car, after the broker had looked it over upon it's physical reciept to him i could back out. However there was nothing about the owner being able to back out. in the meantime back at the ranch...i will look into the others for sale right now in case the money ends up comming back to me.

Oh...this is incredible!! :mad: After agreeing to buy the car nearly 2 months ago now..and it being FULLY paid for, for almost a month.. After being instrumental in getting the car running to a condition of which it was being sold to me in the first place..((finding a mechanic willing to do a house call!!, thanks Seth!)). NOW..... The Owner is Reneging on the whole deal and wanting MORE money for the car now that it's in the running condition it was claimed to be as it was bought for!! :cuss: :cuss: he wants more time now to try and figure out what the real market value of the car is now that it's what was claimed in the first place 2 months ago!..:nopity: .after already making a done deal! :bs: I even have an invoice from the broker! i cant find a little smiley icon to express how i really feel at this moment! but i am MIFFED! I dont want to just get my money back and tell them all to put the car where the sun doesnt shine...because i have been assured the car is eveything i want and indeed a worthy steed! So if i give up at this point someone else is going to end up with a sweet ride that i have worked 2 months of BS to make happen. I am trying to be patient, and not trying to sound like a whinner...but DAMN! I dont know what deal the broker and owner have as a agreement but i am right now screwed because of the BS between them. If i start wanting to seek legal council or action, that will probably only aggravate a bad situation at this point. sadly..like ANY transaction, you have to somehow pay for the item before you recieve it..wether a loan or whatever.. I did that and then some! Ok... i have had to arrainge for the shipping and i am going to need to get the car titled and liscenesed . ok i will deal with all that but i have done more footwork than i would have imagined...working through a broker. :ack: AND..in the meantime back at the ranch, i have let go the opportunities to buy another nice 7 to honor the deal i have made.. what happened to honor?? :flag: what a way to start the new year..i was hoping to be polishing the aluminum new years day! :nonod: if this falls apart...and it all falls through..it will NOT speak well for the owner or broker at all! :smash:

We really appreciate your help! :hurray: If your ever around Akron, we owed you big time!