Silber

Not going to be able to get to working on it until Friday at the earliest, but here's the plan: Prop up the rear of the car and allow engine to warm up enough to open the thermostat and run the fan. Purpose is to see if the system will burp and operate normally. If Step 1 does not result in normal behavior, drain and flush the system while also changing the routing to bypass the heater completely. The fan switch for the heater doesn't work, and I don't drive the car in the winter due to salted roads, so removing the heater was already something I was considering. Repeat Step 1 with the new routing and flushed system. I'll report back here with my progress.

It also looks like the Zetecs have a different location for the thermostat, at the back of the engine instead of next to the water pump.

The thermostat housing is on the front left side of the engine, and the small hose from that runs to the heater. The small line from the expansion tank runs to the manifold on the back of the engine. I made a new drawing with a different program that should make it more clear. Looking at the other drawings, it appears that expansion tanks typically have a third hose for a breather. I only saw two lines coming from the tank, so I'll need to take a closer look tonight.

That's the thermostat. My system looks fairly similar to the Duratec diagram, but the bypass from the thermostat goes directly to the heater core, and the expansion tank is in a different location.

Here is a really quick drawing of the layout of the system: Black box on the right is the heater core. The bypass from the thermostat goes to the heater core. The "t" on the manifold on the back of the engine also has a sensor in it, not indicated in the drawing. Only spot to burp/bleed is the expansion tank. The line you are referring to on the expansion tank goes to the manifold on the back of the engine. I plan on renting a pressure tester. I'll keep the vacuum method in mind if I don't feel confident the system can be bled through burping. Thanks for the link. The advantage is I already have 4+ gallons of green, haha! I'll stick with the G-05 for now, and plan on doing a proper cleaning/flush of the system if problems persist. I'll report back on progress when I get back to working on the car this weekend. Thanks for the responses everyone! My conclusion is that there is a solid chance that the system just simply needs to be properly burped, so I'll start with pressure testing the system and burping with the rear of the car raised, while also verifying that the radiator fan is spinning the right direction. If the car is still exhibiting the same behavior of long warmup/insufficient cooling at operating temp, I'll proceed with cleaning and flushing the system.

1) The car has a standalone, F.A.S.T. XFI 2.0 2) Interesting idea, and could be valuable to have a visual confirmation of what is happening if the issue isn't resolved . 3) There is a heater core (sitting under the brake/clutch reservoirs), but I'll look into that tool. 4) Agreed that a pressure test would be prudent. 5) I have a similar large funnel that I use. I guess the Caterham radiators are smaller? You would think with a large radiator the car wouldn't have a hard time staying below 215 degrees... Low hanging fruit for diagnosing the issues appears to be making sure the system is properly burped. I'll try jacking the car up in the rear to guarantee that the expansion tank is the highest point. Using an older picture, I am only trying to burp the system from the expansion tank. I haven't noticed any other bleed valves, but could easily be missing something.

Thanks for the replies everyone. My follow-up comments and questions (in bold) are below. Confirmed that Motorad 512-185 is the part number. It's a 180 degree thermostat. That's why I was checking the upper/lower radiator hoses while letting the car warm up after installing the new thermostat. My concern is the upper/lower hoses and radiator itself were not heating up until much hotter than expected. The fact that the fan kicked on before it appeared any coolant was flowing to the radiator was a big red flag, and having confirmed it was a 180 F thermostat I installed, coolant should have been flowing well before 195-ish degrees. I'm familiar with burping cooling systems, but not with the 7. This whole process occurred while I was attempting to burp it, but as the expansion tank and only entry to the system is behind the engine, I had the car flat on the ground and could very well not have burped it properly. Do you think a big enough air pocket could restrict the coolant from flowing to the radiator? Do I need to raise the back of the car to burp it properly? This is the path I want to avoid if there is an easier fix, but I recognize that I might need to just properly flush the system to ensure everything is cleaned out. I replaced the radiator in my XJ Cherokee and flushed that system. Made an awfully big mess in the garage... I've got a ton of standard universal green coolant laying around from that job, so anyone see any concern in switching to universal green coolant instead of Ford-specific G-05 gold if I thoroughly flush the system? The highlighted part voices my concerns exactly. It just doesn't behave like I think it should. The Birkin was original with the Duratec. Here are some pictures: The mess of hoses. Water line. Front view. Side view. I can make a drawing of the system and post it hear and also compare it to the drawings shown in the thread you posted, but you can see the expansion tank mounted to the firewall. The heater and expansion tank run to the manifold just to the right (aft) of the valve cover, and the water line between the valve cover and the air filter runs to the upper radiator port. Lower radiator hose crosses in front of the engine to attach to the thermostat. That means the system is flowing "backwards", pushing hot coolant up through the radiator. Looking through the other thread, this seems to be the typical routing? Good suggestions. I'll check the fan direction but didn't see any bleed valves. I've always burped cooling systems by having the front of the car up in the air, funnel in the radiator with extra coolant, letting the engine run at operating temp with heater on until no more bubbles coming up through the funnel. What do I need to do differently for the 7? Like I mentioned, the expansion tank is above the radiator, thus the highest spot in the system, but I had the car flat on the ground. I didn't get to the point of really watching for bubbles because I was distracted by all the odd behavior and rising coolant temps. Thanks, Gregory

Hi folks, Hoping that those who are more mechanically inclined and more experienced with 7's can help me here. I have a 2009 Birkin with a 2.0L Duratec out of an '07 Focus. Since I've owned it I've noticed that the coolant takes a while coming up to temperature, especially while driving in cooler weather, but then has a difficult time staying within operating temp once hot. For example, driving the car with temps under 180 F, I'll see the temp drop and hover around 150, but once the coolant gets up over 195-ish, it'll continue to get hotter without decent airflow. Thus I figured it was potentially a stuck thermostat, allowing coolant to the radiator and overcooling while cold, but then not flowing enough and undercooling when hot. Getting ready for driving the car this year, I installed a new thermostat/housing, but had some observations today: Coolant didn't appear to be flowing through the thermostat to the radiator until over 195 F coolant temp. Coolant reservoir with the radiator cap is located on the firewall behind the engine (highest point in the system), so I had the car flat on the ground with the cap off and a funnel in the reservoir. Putting the cap on seemed to help get coolant flowing, but can't say for sure. The upper and lower radiator hoses and the radiator itself were all ambient temperature when the radiator fan came on around 190 F. Once over 200 F and coolant obviously (finally!) circulating through the radiator, the temp just continued to climb, while just idling and also when taking the car for a quick drive around the block. I didn't let the coolant get over 220 F. The coolant I drained out of the system appeared orange/gold. I put in Zerex G-05 gold coolant as that is what was standard for the '07 Focus. I feel like what I observed is not ideal, and feel like I have one of the following going on: Perhaps the new thermostat was a dud out of the box? Perhaps I put the wrong coolant in? Perhaps there is a blockage somewhere else in the system that is restricting flow? Perhaps this is all normal behavior and the 7's cooling system just isn't fully adequate. Asking for advice on next steps do diagnose and address the odd behavior. It was very strange that the coolant get fairly hot before the thermostat opened, and even when it did the cooling system as a whole didn't seem to be adequate. Thanks in advance.

Admittedly not as well as she would like, towards the bottom of the timing sheet instead of the top. We took a bit of hiatus from autocross when we started our family, and she is still getting used to the 7 compared to the Miatas we drove before (this was her first SCCA autocross with it), so we are working on building the speed back in. The emphasis this time out was on having fun and being safe, and without me there in the passenger seat tempting her with "MORE GAS" "BRAKE LATER" "GO FASTER!", she erred on the conservative side. But she can put down some good times. This was her in my D-Prepared Miata back in the day:

One of the many things I love about my wife is that she participates in the "gotta drive cars fast" thing that I've got going on. I got to spend the day with my two little girls, and my better half got to take the 7 out to Utah Motorsports Campus to participate in the annual Utah SCCA Oktoberfast auto-x. The mountains aren't quite as pretty this time of year, but provide a nice backdrop to the track located near Tooele, Utah.

Took Bones to the Wings and Wheels car show/air show at a municipal airport about an hour south of where I live to participate in a non-competitive, showcase-style autocross. There were about 25 drivers from the UT SCCA, and we were offering to any spectator who'd sign a waiver the chance to ride along. There was a bit of showboating, lots of slides, and the course was short and simple, but it was fun. With only 25 drivers in a casual environment, I would say I got somewhere between 30-40 runs on course, 99% of them with someone who has never autocrossed before in the passenger seat. I'm terrible at getting pictures and videos of such things, but luckily my wife recorded a couple runs: The event also include static aircraft and cars on display, air show demonstrations (including some serious pyrotechnics), and a half-mile drag race for the local supercar-owner crowd. I heard some cars were around 190 mph in the half mile!

Others have pointed out some good points, but to answer this question, I would say yes, deflectors make the buffeting tolerable. I've had a couple of Miatas and daily drove one for years, and I doubt one could ever get the 7 to be as comfortable wind-wise as a Miata while still keeping the cockpit relatively open. Go with the wind deflectors and if that isn't enough for you add on the half-doors. Beyond that just embrace it as part of the unique experience of driving a 7 :)

I just usually wear a full-face helmet if I know I'll be driving more than just around town with a windscreen and factory Birkin wind deflectors on my 7. It's quieter and I barely notice the buffeting, plus I don't care if it looks goofy. I can say that the wind deflectors make a noticeable difference, but not a significant difference. It's still windy with the deflectors.

Thanks for the replies @JohnCh, @theDreamer, and @Croc. The consensus is that I was indeed being overly cautious, a little bit of rain won't hurt the car, and in the future I shouldn't be worried about driving it in a rain storm.

You make a good point, but as much as I love science, that is not an experiment I am prepared to conduct. I concede that I was probably overly cautious. I'm still curious to hear if anyone has been less cautious and found that they can drive in fairly bad weather with an exposed intake, or if everyone else just chooses not to drive their 7's in the rain like I did. Another thing learned: The boot space doesn't have a drain hole, so any water that gets in there needs to be mopped up.

Went to an SCCA autocross today. How it started: How it ended: It's tough to get pictures mid-deluge, but long story short, the "15% chance of scattered showers around 3:00 P.M." weather report turned into hours of persistent, heavy rain starting about 11:00 A.M. Lessons learned: 1) Don't trust weather reports 2) The tonneau cover works surprisingly well to keep most of the water out of the car 3) One really does get drenched driving one of these in rain Serious question for those who have ITB's or carbs with exposed intakes: what do you do when there is heavy rain? How effective are these air filters at keeping water out of the engine? I wasn't sure, and opted to better be safe than sorry, meaning not getting any runs in the event and leaving the 7 at a friend's house a few miles from the autocross site. I wasn't about to get caught out in another big storm on the freeway trying to get home. A disappointing day to say the least, but another good story to tell.

I would offer to let you try on my Birkin, but it is the same size as the S3 Caterham if I'm not mistaken. One thing to note though is that the Birkin can accommodate taller drivers over 6' tall (I have the pedals adjusted as close as they go to the driver and the seat fully forward for me at 5' 7"), but it's the width of the cockpit and pedal box that is limiting. The previous owner was over 6'.

Regarding shoes, I believe it was already mentioned earlier in this thread, but you should consider some wrestling boots from your local sporting-goods store. They are built very similarly to a racing boot, just without any of the fire protection. Bring you Pilotis along and compare the two in-store. Regarding covering the car when parked, I just use the tonneau cover. I don't have/use side curtains, so I just keep the tonneau in the "trunk" and put in on when parked in public for an extended period.

FWIW, I didn't put a charger on my battery this last winter, nor any fuel stabilizer in the gas tank. I think I pulled the car out to start and idle in the driveway once over the winter, but it probably sat 1.5-2 months at a time. I didn't have any problems with the car starting and running. Battery type is a standard flooded lead-acid. My experience may be the exception, but I agree with the sentiment above to just treat it like any other car and not overthink it.

Took Bones to the British Field Day in Salt Lake City today. Met up with @Frankie and had the chance to really compare a Birkin to a Caterham side-by-side. It's interesting how similar the cars are, with really just very minor differences. This car show also has a very little autocross course. I had the second fastest time, but was definitely hampered by a lack of steering radius on such a tight course. The fastest guy was a friend of mine who is a very good driver in a heavily modified bugeye Sprite.

This thread is due for an update. Sorry I don't have any pictures. Over the last two months: Installed new 5-point harnesses with pull-up style lap belts. So much easier to adjust. Found out that the seat slider on the drivers side was gunked up and has much more range of motion than first observed. I've got the seating position almost perfect now. Changed the oil. Raised the rear ride height a smidge and stiffened the rear sway bar. The sway bar has five mounting points on each side, giving a wide range of adjustment, so I set it halfway (center hole on each side) as a starting point. The goal with these adjustments is to get the car to understeer less. Took a look at adjusting the brake bias.... that's worth going into more depth about, see below. Attended a low-key, test-and-tune style auto-x event to test everything out. I knew the brake bias must have been off after the first autocross, but when I finally got around to adjusting the brake bias bar I was shocked with what I found. The lock nut on the bias bar was loose, and the bar was sitting about as far rear biased as it could go. There was my problem! I set the bar at an arbitrary point much more forward biased, didn't adjust the pushrods at all, and then didn't drive the car for a couple of weeks. Turns out it was still rear-biased. So several adjustments later, including fiddling with the pushrod lengths, I have it very close to ideal but still with the tiniest rear bias. I've almost maxed out how far the bar can be adjusted for front bias, so I'm a little perplexed as to why the car has such a rear bias, but now the car stops so much better and doesn't instantly lock the rear brakes under hard braking. Success! Testing the car at the auto-x confirms that the adjustments helped alleviate a lot of the understeer, but I think it could still be better. A big part of it is probably tires, which I decided I'm going to burn off these old Bridgestones before getting new tires. Another contributor is probably alignment, but I'm also going to hold off on the alignment until I get new tires. Thus, I'll stick to shock and tire pressure adjustments and just enjoy the car as is. Next step is to test it on a race track now that I have the harnesses, seating position, braking, and handling pretty close to where I want them. Looking forward to getting the car out on track at Utah Motorsports Campus to see how it does.

That was just a picture pulled from a google search. Pictures of my car (but of the interior) can be seen here: I'll send you a text message and we can continue there. Thanks! Gregory

Thank you. I appreciate it. I do have original Birkin seats. They look like the taller seat in the picture below:

Haha, indeed, which is why I asked about shipping. Depending on the cost to ship, my hopefully-not-too-unreasonable offer would be to cover shipping cost plus some extra on top for your time and effort. Full disclaimer I'm considering this very casually. I have one seat that has some minor cracking in the fiberglass, but it's on the passenger side now and not a high priority to fix/replace. But if I can get a bargain priced Kirkey that was already mounted in a Birkin....

I'm in the greater Salt Lake City area.