BirkinBernie

Have you checked the bump steer in the rear suspension? ISTR that Ultralites had some pretty significant bump steer in the rear, and that might explain some of the behavior you are experiencing. Now, this is a memory from quite a few years ago so you might get change from my $.02. Happy Motoring!

I made the dash for my Birkin from .063 aluminum. I cut the instrument openings using a circle cutter on a drill press. For a finish, I used black wrinkle paint. The wrinkle paint wanted to be put on really thick so it was applied with the panel laying flat. The application of a little heat made it wrinkle nicely. A trick I used to develop the layout was to scan the faces of the instruments, print them full size, and cut them out. I could then sit in the driver's seat (accompanied by appropriate vroom-vroom noises - the car hadn't run yet!) and move the dials around the blank dash with tape until I could see them well and liked the layout, along with figuring out switch locations. That is how I ended up with the smaller temp and oil pressure gauges in front of the steering wheel. I discovered that I could not see the tach or speedo when placed there, but I could see the smaller gauges. At the time I had access to a 36 inch wide plotter at work. So I took measurements from the taped layout, transferred them to a computer drawing program and printed out a template that I used to locate the holes on the aluminum. This was 24 years ago so there is likely some better whiz-bang way to do it today.... I picked up a cheap Harbor Freight pneumatic metal shear to cut the aluminum and it worked just fine. (Has your significant other figured out yet that Seven ownership is just an excuse to buy tools?) The .063 aluminum is plenty strong, easy to work with and readily available from onlinemetals.com. Hope some of this is helpful! Some things have changed since the pics were taken, but the idea is there. Happy Motoring!

Back in my late teens I had a mid-engine single seat autocross special. It had a Corvair engine and a VW gearbox. It used a very light steel flywheel and a VW clutch. One day I went to drive it on the trailer at home after it had not run in a while. Just as you described, it would not go into gear with the engine running. I could feel and see that the hydraulic release was working, so concluded that somehow the clutch disc had become stuck (rusted?) on the surface of the flywheel or pressure plate. So I got in, put it in gear, pushed in the clutch, turned on the ignition and had my dad tow me down the driveway on a rope behind his '68 Fleetwood. Needless to say my hand was on the kill switch and my right foot hovering over the brake pedal. Well, after a couple of revs, the engine kicked into life and the clutch popped loose. It worked just fine afterward. The reason for the tow was that while the car had a starter, we used a jump battery to start it at events so the car didn't have to carry a heavy battery. So, if you are as crazy as I was at the ripe old age of 19, and if your car was parked for a while you might try this. Dunno how the starter would like it, but there is always a tow rope and Dad's Fleetwood..... Good luck!

When I was in my teens, my dad and I rebuilt the 472 V8 out of his '68 Caddillac Fleetwood. Full machine shop treatment - rebuilt heads, block crack checked and honed, balanced, etc etc. As I was torquing the last bolt in the sequence on the second head, the bolt started to feel "funny". I about panicked envisioning threads pulling out of the block we were almost finished assembling. When I pulled the bolt I found what you see below. That big bolt had stretched way further than I would ever have thought possible. I kept it to remind me to always install new head bolts!

"I'd like the car (perhaps with a "reasonable" amount of work) to be nationally competitive" That kind of depends on what you mean by "competitive". I *think* you will find that the DM cars that are winning nationally are all hand built, zero compromise specials. Their index is something like .90 of AM. Getting there with any car resembling a standard issue Seven is, IMHO, impossible. (FWIW, I autocrossed from 1972 till 1998, in cars ranging from AM to HS. So I have some background....). But you can have bags of fun trying, and I'd love to see you prove me wrong! I say go for it!

FWIW, back in Birkin's heyday we suggested to the factory that they provide an installation kit for a Miata engine and gearbox. This would have been a great solution for the US, in my opinion, eliminating the need for expensive bell housings and gearboxes. But they refused, claiming that Japan was their biggest market, and the Japanese demanded a "British" engine and gearbox, not domestic. This was 20 or so years ago.....

Birkin provided a perforated exhaust shield with the kit. I later ran without it for a while with the expected result. Later, I found one at the importer that is a sheet aluminum piece with the Birkin logo stamped in it. Looks much better IMHO. Both are mounted with simple home made brackets. The front mounts to the flange bolts, the rear to tabs welded onto the muffler body. Edit - I should mention - the shield does stay cool to the touch.....

FE07 beat me to it. I also wear wrestling shoes when driving the Birkin. Got them at a local sporting goods store. Relatively cheap and no wider than necessary. Oh, one other detail that hasn't been discussed. Start exercising your grin muscles now. If you don't, you will surely get face cramps soon after your first drive. I've had my Birkin on the road since 2001 and it still puts a silly grin on my face.... Happy Motoring!

Hey watch it....

Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, TX and an autocross at Texas Motor Speedway.

EDIT - Oops, misunderstood - please ignore...

I found the British www.Se7ens.net around 2000 when I was building my Birkin. A very active mail list, and very entertaining. They have no bias about what brand of Se7en you had - all were welcome there too. One of the lists was specifically for them to talk about touring plans. These folks really did it up. They even had their own van fitted out and painted as their tour support truck. It carried spare parts, and could carry two Se7ens inside if needed. They have had multiple tours all over Europe and the British Isles, about two per year as I recall. Then there was the USA tour in 2005. I was lucky to be able to join them - one could almost write a book about it. The logo for the tour is attached (to my shop refrigerator).... I started the Yahoo group "birkinowners" in December of 2000. Within a couple years it became very active, with members from all over the world. Lots of technical discussion with documentation from several members of repairs and modifications they had carried out in addition to build threads. It kind of petered out after about 2014 or so. Then Yahoo dumped all the groups so that was that. While they did let us download all of the messages in compressed files before they pulled the plug, all of the attachments and photo galleries were deleted. It was fun while it lasted! Happy Motoring!

Yeah, I'm old - 69 years worth. Built the Birkin when I was 46. My boys will be selling it after I'm dead and gone if I have any say in the matter. Neither of them fit, or have even the faintest interest in cars. I tend to move from one thing to another slowly. I worked for the same company for 43 years, have been married to the same (wonderful) woman for 40 years, still have an '86 MR2 that my wife and I bought new in May of '86, lived in the same house for 27 years prior to retiring. Still drive the Birkin regularly, and it still puts a stupid grin on my face. Second childhood? Nope - still working on the first one...

Hi Mark - I would monitor battery voltage and see what it looks like when the alt light flickers. That might tell you what is going on, if anything.

Hi MV8 - FWIW, I have run that same alternator (though with different mounts) and a small PC680 battery for many years and have never had an issue. Woody Harris (West Coast Birkin importer back in the 2000's) designed and sold the mounts Mark is using and provided these alternators on the new Birkins he commissioned for customers. I think it is a pretty safe bet - at least I have never heard of any issues. Happy Motoring!