KiwiBirkin

Hi guys I was asked by a member here via email if I could get my lotus 7 grills done in aluminum, after some discussion it was expensive to geta 1 off done so it was decided too not go ahead. Anyhow I now have a chance to get a min off 3 cut in Ali at a cost of $70 each plus postage so if the guy who was interested in a Ali 7 grill would like to contact me again please do so we could discuss this again if you are interested, also if anyone else would bee keen on a Ali one feel free to contact me too.

Hi guys I have now packed and posted the grills, so far I have 5 going to Australia & 4 to the USA. USA Orders Dion Davis Richard Collier Jasok K Alford Jonathan Schaller If your name doesn't appear on this list yet it means I have not received a Paypal email to confirm you have paid if you have placed a pre-order you should have received a email from me confirming the payment process, if you did not receive a email from me please email me again and I will send the details again. hotdognz@gmail.com Cheers Stephen http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/P1030118.jpg

I went for 3 laps in one as a passenger at one of the track days I attend, it was a very boring 3 laps but dam quick, we even had the radio on and were having a chat while driving its was that detached from the experience of a trackday. I also went out in a supercharged Exige now that was one hell of a ride.

Hi again thanks you too everyone for the promt payments for the grills, I will be picking up the airmail packs tomorrow from the post office and will get them addressed and packed up ready for the post on Thursday, as soon as they have been posted I will leave a msgs here. Cheers Stephen

Hi guys the grills have arrived and 10 have been sold, if you had a pre-order for one and have contacted me via email you will have received a email with payment details in it, as soon as payment is received the grills will be sent. This is also the last time I can sell them at this price as steel has risen 20% so the next lot will be a bit more expensive im afraid, Im still waiting on 3 more orders to be confirmed which leaves me 2 left out of the 15 at this stage if any one wants one. Thanks for your orders guys and I hope you like them when they arrive. Cheers Stephen

Looks great you have a made a real nice job of the car.

Grills have been cut and I should pick them up this week by Wed I hope and they will be ready for posting out by the end of the week.

I have started to put some ideas together for mounting my GoPro HD so I can use it for other shots other than my car or as alternatives to the roll bar mount and Suction cup mount I have already, I need a way to mount the camera so it can be hand held and came up with this. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/P1030107.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/P1030106.jpg Its a old handle from my power drill I cut the screw thread off and filed it flat and then mounted one of the quick release GoPro mounts to it, works very well and is really steady to use. Video is in 720p format at Youtube, the songs also quite cool and fitting.

Timax nice video, what did you use to shoot it.

Couple more http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1900.jpg http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1902.jpg http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1969.jpg http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR2287.jpg

Managed to finally get out and about in Grace on the weekend and recce some of the roads we used to drive which turned out to be ok it was a stunning autumn day too. I was also experimenting with my GoPro HD using the mode where you can set it to take pictures every 1,2,5,10,30 or 60sec and had it set to every 2 seconds and ended up with something like 1000 pics to look through, here are a couple from the 1000 or so. Really pleased with the picture quality too. Margs having a bad hair day in all off them I think the bike is a Hybusa http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1883.jpg http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1704.jpg http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/Kiwibirkin/GoPro%20Pics/GOPR1886.jpg

Hey Jerry hope your getting the car out for a run now its spring Guys I have place a oder for grill badges and have 3 left from the 10 I have ordered if any one wants one please email or send me a PM. Cheers Stephen

Hi guys I have sold a few of these to USA7 members and they have been really happy with the quality and how they look when put into a cars grill, I have had 3 orders from the OZClubbies lotus forum and need 5 to make it cost effective to get them cut. So if any one wants one let me know. Laser cut Caterham 7 front grill badge ideal for adding into your 7 replica/clubmans grill. Laser cut from 3mm mild steel so its thick enough to weld or braze in without any distortion to it. Size is 195mm wide x 185mm deep US $55 + postage (US $11 via airmail) Item is in NZ and postage is via airmail and they normally arrive within 5 working days. The only way to pay is via Paypal as its easy and the safest option and this is done once your grill is cut and ready to post. PM me or email me at Hotdognz@gmail.com if your interested or want any photos of what it will/can look like in your cars grill as I have one fitted in mine. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/GrillMain.jpg Cheers Kiwibirkin

Looks like a nice car and much like my Birkin when I first got it except its younger than mine and has clam-shell guards. If it has a South African built 1600 Crosflow motor then its should be a AX block (only produced in SA) which are very sought after as they are stronger again than the 711M blocks and it will be pretty much bullet proof for a crossflow. Im not sure of the price for cars in the US as I dont know the market but it seems to be good value compared to a new car from Dick and if working on that pricing and its a 1999 car it seems well priced for its age and condition. I loved my car with the 1600 Crossflow and the twin webers and the T9 gearbox, it was lovely to use and I only re-powered to my Toyota 4AGE because the Crossflow on the webers was quite thirsty and the millage I do each year it was costing me a lot to run it.

Your lucky guys your heading into spring its autumn here and one of my fav times of year to drive because we normally get settled weather, but no not this year its been a wet wet autumn and Grace hasn't been out much at all with nearly every weekend since the start of March wet .

You know it's nice to come here and see this level of support from the community here, one day I'll make a plan to visit the US and make sure I get too meet some of you guys and have a beer or two with you.

Great pics Twobone, I may try and beat you with one in snow this NZ winter

Hi Martin Sorry I meant to report in earlier Christchurch is still a mess and will be for a while lots of roads need fixing and all the good Seven roads around the E& S side of the city are stuffed, lots of buildings in the CBD to come down still before the rebuilding can start and the estimate for that is about 2 years. We are still getting some big after shocks with the latest a 5.2 on the Sat just gone but they are less frequent than the Sep 7.1 EQ which helps, still plenty of peoples nerves are fried and Christchurch is estimated to lose 15% of its population over the next year because of the aftershocks and because of job losses due to the EQ as well, they say it will take 10 years to recover this loss . 5.1 might not sound a lot but all the Geotech reports put our 6.1 last month and the one that did all the damage to buildings as 4x more powerful than the magnitude 9 that hit Japan (we didn't get a Tsunami) due to high Gs acceleration through the volcanic rock that we have around us amplified the force 4x and this coupled with old buildings caused havoc with the violent up/down movement it produced rather than a rolling EQ's most places have. Still where ever you go there are people who are helping each other all around the Christchurch region and plenty of people/organizations from around the world helping us too which is really great the support keeps coming. Autumn has set in here now and its turned wet & cold very fast which has meant that Grace has not had a run out for a while, but if the weather improves she will get a run out as soon. I love driving in the autumn with the top down. We have also added another soft top to our cars a 1998 MX5 Vspec (Maiata) which is a great car and Marg just loves it, we are using it as a daily driver so we get out hood down fix a lot more now . Take care Stephen.

Just a small update on Christchurch lads and a link worth looking at. Christchurch CBD is porked 75% of the buildings within what is known as the 4 avenues (5km block) will be coming down due to them having major structural damage this area has about 54,000 jobs and all these will be gone mostly unless the business's can relocate and that is only if they could get in to get servers and important stuff which they cant due to unsafe buildings. We have been told that the central city CBD and a bit more will not have public access for over 1 year maybe longer the 6 big hotels in Christchurch have all been condemned as well so we have lost over 4000 tourist beds which include some backpackers & motels, this caused Christchurch to lose its 4 World Cup Rugby Games along with our big stadium having bad damage too. 230,000 homes are badly damaged with 100,000 of them being condemned with most of the 100,000 never to be rebuilt on that land again due to liquefaction issues. 70,000 people have left Christchurch and dont plan on coming back. Nearly every road in Christchurch City on the E,W & S side are in need of repair due to movement under the road estimated repairs 38,000 kms of new seal. Still it all pales into significance with what hit Japan but estimates are Christchurch will not be back to normal for 10 years. Have a look at this link showing the damage around the CBD and Christchurch what is doesn't show you the badley damage buildings that haven't fallen down. http://eqviewer.co.nz/index-imagery.html Cheers Stephen

Great looking car Croc the color is fantastic love it.

After what hit us here in Christchurch I cant even begin to think about something being 8000 time more powerful than that, watching the Tsunami sweep away lives and villages live on TV yesterday just had me in utter despair for the people of Japan.

Hi guys Small update house is Ok, Lotus is Ok, we are Ok although nerves are fried so with that we decided to leave town for a week and head up to the top of the South Island to get away from all the aftershocks, truth be know we had this vacation booked for this week prior to the EQ, once Marg had finished helping her brother shift in with us and we got Margs mum and nephew on flights Auckland to stay with her sister we decided it was still a good thing to get away as Pohara were we have gone to in Golden Bay is a lovely spot by the Able Tasman national park (Google it). As for Christchurch last news was 150+ confirmed dead with 220 un-accounted for in the CBD in the outer suburbs lots of house wreaked with heaps of liquefaction which has brought up a ozzing muddy sand to the surface of a lot of streets and house the reports are off a 150,000 tons of this silt with it all being shifted by spade and wheelbarrow for the first few days untill diggers got out into the suburbs. Power restored to 80% of the city but water supplys are very bad still and sewer is pouring right into the main 2 rivers that run through the city as lots of the underground pipes are broken. Latest reports are that 500+ buildings with the 6km square block that is the CBD witll have to be ripped down right away as they are that badly damaged. Have found out that the Red Cross have a donation process on there web bapes and I think this is the best method of donating anything to help out the Chritchurch people who need it the most. As for me and Marg our spirits are lift each day while away, I will be back at work for Pratt & Whitney at the CHCH Engine Center next week as we suffered no damage and still have international airlines who need their V2500 engines back on time. Marg is just waiting for a call back to work from the Christchurch City Council and once back will be very busy with Civil Defence work id guess. Cheers Stephen

Croc New Zealand's the place.....well it was until the EQ wreaked the roads these holes below the van has fallen into are every where now. at least the North Island is still ok with great roads. http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/20119/A_220211NZHBPQUAKE2-620.jpg

Hi guys I think the RED CROSS have one set up for the Canterbury EQ if not I will check the news over here and see what I can find. Peaceful night last night with only one after shock that i felt and the sun has come out today and stopped raining so will help to lift the spirits of those searching for the missing.

Once again guys thanks for your thoughts they are really comforting. Its been a strange day here the house is full with friends and family who have come out of the city to stay with us as we still have running water and power so can help that way, my wife's brothers house is trashed and now un-liveable so he will be staying with us for a while I would say. As we watch the live broadcast from the TV all day is hard not to break down and cry (as i have done several times) as you watch the heartache of people clinging on to hope that there family members are still alive in the worst affected buildings all most of the CBD is wreaked but what isn't being shown yet on TV is the outer suburbs and the damage to peoples property this quake hit places that were untouched by the 7.1 EQ 5 months ago so i would say now that about 75% of Christchurch city has some major damage. As Jim said its that primordial fear that sits in your stomach its such a crap feeling to have and it just doesn't go away, my wife is already talking about emigrating to Aussie to get away from it as she has vowed she does not want to go through the last 2 days again. Stephen