Silber

Looks like a lot of fun! Did you and your friend road-trip in the Cats, or did you trailer them? One day I'd like to do a trip out to Colorado in my Birkin, and after watching your video Grand Junction Motor Speedway looks like a worthy stop.

I really appreciate that! I'll see if I can get a log sometime this week.

It is definitely an ECU marketed to the V8 american muscle crowd. I had some trouble finding someone to dyno-tune it because most local shops haven't used it, but eventually found a Subaru-focused shop that happened to also have a Dodge Charger with this ECU, so the tuner had used it before. It runs very well for the most part, but I do still get some occasional misfires when I go above 6000 ft elevation. I would be very interested in hearing your feedback on the software.

I'm glad I finally made it to the track this year too. I'm thinking the noise is something loose and rattling with either the shifter linkage or parking brake mechanism. It is independent from clutch input or vehicle speed and intermittent, which is why I've lowered the priority of chasing it down. The ECU is an older FAST XFI 2.0. According to Tom Carlin who built the car, the original owner had issues getting the engine running right with a Haltech and I guess the XFI 2.0 worked better. I know you have plenty of experience tuning, have you ever used this ECU?

Scratching it off my to-do list to give an update here. I've been able to have some good times with Bones this summer and into fall. In preparation for the track session in July I swapped out the roll bar for the roll cage. The roll cage is a custom piece the original owner had built, and it included an integrated windshield that was fine, but I've liked the looks and benefit of aeroscreens, so I removed the windshield and added own DIY aeroscreen. I'm a frugal guy, so instead of buying an aeroscreen for hundreds of $$ I made it for $0 with materials I already had on hand. It's not pretty, nor perfect, but it functions great. No photos of the process, but I used cardboard to make a template and then cut it out of a plastic sheet I had, then used generic L-brackets to mount it to the scuttle. I used two existing holes (for the heated windscreen wires) to bolt it on, and the other brackets are double-sided tape. Having Bones on track was enjoyable. I went to West Desert, formerly Utah Motorsports Campus, formerly Miller Motorsports Park and ran the East Track configuration. They do a "Wide Open Wednesday" program at the track where folks can sign up for limited lap time on a Wednesday afternoon/evening, so I signed up for an hour of open track time. I ran almost the entire session non-stop, taking one 10-minute or so break in the middle of the session, and with only three other cars in my session traffic was almost non-existent. The guy in the C8 Z06 Corvette was willing to do some lead-and-follow, which was nice because the Porsche 914 and the Spec Miata were definitely slower than Bones. The driver in the Spec Miata also was not great at giving point-bys, which you can see in the videos I posted. I was cautious with my driving, and was definitely driving below the car's capabilities, but still turned a 1:50.xx. I'm okay with that, but I know there's more on the table. I also posted about the drivetrain noise I noticed, and that is still unresolved, but it is intermittent and doesn't appear to be anything major. Considering how noisey the Birkin is anyway, there is a fair chance it's always been there and I just haven't noticed Otherwise, I've replaced all the lights on Bones with LED replacements. The original taillights were in very poor shape and required constant fiddling to make them work, and even then they weren't very bright, so I started out with some lights suggested in the Budget LED Taillights? thread. Then I turned to the headlights. I've disliked the original front turn signals, so I went with a headlight with integrated turn signals and completely removed the originals. I'm happy with the results. I had a tough time getting the headlight bowl reattched on the first side, but removing the upper damper bolt helped a lot, and the second one went a lot faster. Luckily my flasher relay was up to the task of controlling the turn signals, but the indicator light on the dash was acting as a bridge, thus linking both sides and causing both sides to flash instead of left/right. I disconnected the indicator light for now so that the turn signals operate correctly, and will add some diodes in the future to make the dash light functional. I'm happy with the look, and the lights were pretty affordable as well.

I think you're right, as it was a really tight fit. I may go that route and get these grommets to fit better, but I'm also thinking about finding an alternative that covers a little more around the hole, as the outer mounting holes from the original lights are not covered well. Either way, I'm pleased with the lights and are substantially better than the factory units. Thanks for pointing them out to me!

Getting around to replying to this thread. I did the same lights on my Birkin with some generic rubber grommets. The fit of the lights and the grommets is less than perfect, but will do for now. I like the look and the price was excellent compared to the Caterham-specific kits.

The car show wasn't today, but this screenshot is. My work had a car show recently and took photos of entrants as they arrived and shared them in a great way to get some perspective on the sizes of different vehicles:

I just drove 89 on the other side of Prescott, driving from Flagstaff to Prescott. Excellent drive and I particularly enjoyed entering Oak Creek Canyon, as well as driving up through Jerome and the following few miles. Arizona has some beautiful scenery. I wish I could have incoporated the drive to Wickenburg, but I was travelling for work and needed to be back in St. George the same day.

@pethier I hope the weather is better out at the track than it is along the Wasatch bench. I wish I didn't have to be at work today, but I unfortunately couldn't get away to go play at the track today.

Not sure if you're looking for a bolt-on or a weld-on solution, or if you just want extra hubs to be able to easily switch steering wheels without swapping hardware, but the Caterham parts appear to use Lifeline quick releases (based on the pictures in the links you posted). You can find them here and here.

I wasn't able to commit to the whole thing, and thus didn't register for the event, but I would still like to see if there are any parts that I could join unofficially, or if anyone is interested in an unofficial USA7's meetup while folks are here in Utah. Any input on either option from those who are attending?

The website does list one station with 93: Miller's Travel Plaza - Chevron 2410 West Main, Tremonton UT 435-257-7249 But most of our gas stations here in Utah just sell 91 octane or lower, and I can't think of any that I frequent that have 93.

No proper update yet, but the car has been parked since the track outing. Why, you ask? Because is developed a noise in the drivetrain: Life with the family has been keeping me busy, so this has been backburnered, but I have an event I'd like to take the 7 to in a few weeks, so it's time to get my butt in gear and figure out what is making the noise. For those who want to try and diagnose just from the short video clip (and give me a clue on what to look for), some background information: Noticed the noise in the pits after the end of an hour-ish on track. Noise appears to be coming from the transmission, not the enginex. Car drives and shifts fine, just makes the new noise. I drove the appoximately 35 miles back home from the track with no incident. I'd be happy to hear any educated guesses from the great folks here that know way more about these cars than I do.