KiwiBirkin

Another shot of Noosa beach http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/A00B8D56-BFEE-4FB2-8A15-F81686253138-291-0000003EE988557A.jpg Saw my first Seven on Sunday a 2004 Birkin http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/9D4016C8-F296-443E-9F03-C417A71C4035-9790-00000FFC903360E0.jpg Having breakfast at one of the many Surf Life Saving Clubs along the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/BB00737C-7AA8-4877-86F8-CE9E294008A7-291-0000003EA02127F9.jpg

Well we have arrived and are settled in to our new country, I arrived 4 weeks ago and Marg joined me last week after staying behind to tidy up the house sale and some other issues. Our container has not left NZ yet and leaves on the 26th Sept and arrives on the 9th Oct. We have purchased a stock 2007 JK Wrangler Jeep and love it, we looked at lots of cars but didn't want a boring tin box to sit in so picked the Jeep as it will be a fun car to own and gives us some options opposite to what the Lotus gives us. Loving the weather so far, QLD has been 41 days with out rain and clear blue skies and the winter temps have been about 5-7deg in the morning up to 20-25deg by late afternoon, temps are starting to creep up now with the arrival of spring. Grabbed a nice 9"6 long board but the surf has been flat since getting it :ack:, still its great to be able to sit on the beach in winter and swim in a mild 20deg sea temp, started to look at house's and have decided a pool and out door living area is a must have for us. Anyway a couple of pics from out new country of residence. The Jeep http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/8072C285-4DDA-45BC-B2A0-0F607E32E4F4-4350-0000088FBB2F931A.jpg View from the Q1 tower of the Gold Coast http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/D0E97A47-B81D-4E09-B96D-784F0C610779-9790-00000FFCA0C9F2E3.jpg Not a bad spot for a winters day. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Aussie%20Holiday%20Nov%202011/aussie%20move/3DC773A1-F263-4FE5-858C-D78DA165E993-291-0000003EDE1DC005.jpg

Just made it my background too, looks great on my 27" monitor. Thanks Stephen

Well thats it Grace is in the container and awaiting the rest of our gear, next stop Brisbane and warmer roads ......see you on the sunny side guys. Delivered to Crown Removals and Graces only ever trip on a trailer as I didn't want her getting dirty after spending 4 days cleaning her, thanks to 7ish for the trailer and lift...oh and BTW managed to get past 60000km on the clock http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/IMG_1807.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/P1050042.jpg

Mike sad to see your Birkin go , but glad you have kept a 7 inspired car Good look with the new project, one day I will come the the US and vist you and have a good look at your cars.

My Permit has arrived for my car so that is the last piece of this jigsaw puzzle and a load of my mind. As for (a) we drank it all with a :party: this weekend just gone, as with (h), Croc sounds like you have some experience with this

Update. House has finally confirmed and the deposit has been paid, Grace is back in the garage after getting a once over by McGregor Motorsport who have looked after my car since I started ownership, now I just have to give her the final clean before going in the container on the 22nd August, I did managed one more final run in her this weekend just gone and now its timeto deregisterd the car in NZ. I finish work on the 10th and leave on the 13th to the Gold Coast where I will stay with a mate for a couple of days, a side trip to Byron Bay is on the cards to check out a new Mctavish 9"6 longboard I have my eye on. Marg finishes work on the 17th and is staying on to pack the house up and then will join me in Brisbane on the 31st August. We have our eye on a 2009 Rubicon Jeep Wrangler and a Jayco Hawk off road popup camper, this will allow us to get away on weekends exploring the coast N & S of QLD. The board shorts and jandels (not sure what there called in the US maybe flipflops, thongs ??) have been brought out of hibernation so we are good to go for the warmer climate. Cheers Stephen

Ok trumps http://www.nzsnaps.com/Motorsport/Fiat-Lancia-track-day/i-3hDfFJw/1/L/20120317115925NZS4742-L.jpg

Girlfriends http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends1.jpg

Jim that is a great looking car, you just cant beat that much aluminum on a Seven it looks fantastic.

Welcome to the madness, your car looks great, forget about adding big rubber to these cars you have more fun on skinny tires.

The mounting plate was drawn up by McGregors and then they had it lasercut. The only part of the Willwood setup they didnt use were the rotors and replaced them with a Ford Cortina unit as we were on a limited time frame for this fitout, the Willwwod rotors required a mounting units to be machine out of a aluminum billet which would have taken about 2 weeks to get drawn up and made. I think they are a great upgrade and should really help with stopping the car and at least now I have something off the shelf and not a custom made rotor which is what the Birkin part was and was unavilable to me in NZ & Aus. I need the car back by the end of this week so I can give it a good clean as it goes in the container for Aussie in 3 weeks.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/2012-07-20161733.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/2012-07-20161721.jpg

My Car is in McGregor Motosports getting a check over for the move to Australia and while it was there I decided to replace the rotors, anyway Mark spent a considerable amount of time trying to get rotors that matched what was on the Birkin and there was nothing in NZ that matched. So it was decided that to ovoid the same issue in Australia a brake replacement was the best thing to do and Mark suggested a set of 4 pot Willwood brakes and disks, these were to be put on the car and all set up and the car driven to make sure everything is right, the kit will then be pulled off and I will take them to Australia as a kit and put them back on there when the car has cleared all the customs and checks that it goes through for it to get on the road. Having the Willwoods will at least allow replacement rotors to be easily acquired. Some pics http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/2012-07-20161831.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/2012-07-20161745.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/2012-07-20161751.jpg

Are you intrested in selling the Birkini hood and hoop separately, I need one for my car and it's move to Australia and would be keen to purchase it.

When we get Grace there were going to take the car to the workshop to see if we can make a frame to mount on the car to put a Whispbar roof rack on it to carry a 9ft longboard, it will be a interesting project and great if it works out and I can drive Grace to Noosa with the surfboard.

Yep thats the one, I will be designing and developing how they attach to car roofs and also what gets put on the rack as well to hold all the gear we carry.

Cheers Bruce, I know for a live axel the height at the point in the picture should be around 160-165mm if its the same for a IRS then thats good I can convey that msg to Don with the IRS Birkin

After quite a bit of discussion with my partner Marg we decided a while ago to look at moving to Aussie for a change of pace after the EQ here in Christchurch and also looking for a warmer climate, we decide Brisbane would be the place to start this new life as we liked the city and also have the Gold Coast on one side of the city and the Sunshine Coast on the other side of the city, best of both worlds really. While on our most recent trip 3 weeks ago I had a chance meeting with a mate at Christchurch airport who was moving to Brisbane with his company from NZ as they were setting up shop after being brought out by a big international company, I ended up having a very informal interview for a job while on holiday on the last day. On Thursday I ended up with a final interview with the GM here in Christchurch and have now had a formal offer of a job with the Yakima Products as a Product Development Engineer (you guys will know Yakima). I have accepted and they want me to start on the 20th August.....eeekkk... that was fast. As soon as I get the contract and sign it my house will be up for sale and the stuff we dont want sold or given away....cars will be sold, the Birkin will be sent to Aussie under the Personal Import Vehical scheme once I can get the permit issued, I will be there in 6 weeks with Marg following with out housload of gear and Grace in a container as soon as lose ends are tidyed up. So its done, we are on moving across the ditch with the many other Kiwis who are moving to Aussie in greater numbers each year, dont get me wrong I love NZ its a beautifull country but after 27 years I feel a change is needed and slowley the life force is being sucked out of the working population here and they have no respect from those who use their taxes. Cheers Stephen

Aye the seats were crap but there an easy fix, I will definatly be getting a IRS Birkin at some stage of my Seven ownership as its was such a nice ride and I loved the Duratec.

The only issue the car has is its sits too low the ref height for a Birkin to be set up at the rear is 160mm under the chassie by the rear wheel arch, Dons car was at 130mm and sits way too low in the picture. (I have a question in the tech section about this) http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends6.jpg The car has been dynoed at 225hp and 184hp at the rear wheels, I took the car for a drive and have to say I was very impressed by the torque of the Duratec and how quick it was to pull away through the gears, the IRS gave a lovley ride over the bumpy roads around by me and was much nicer than the live axel is over the same roads, I like the wide track too and felt the turn into corners was a bit quicker. I was very impressed with the whole 2010 car and really like the new center consol and the room it gave in the cockpit which was more then my car, plan for me now is to one day upgrade to a IRS Birkin and have a Duratec motor in it.

I had a visit from a guy called Don the week before I went to Aussie, he was interested in buying a 2010 Birkin with a 2.0L Duratec in it that was in Christchurch and had 600km on the clock, Don wanted to try a Birkin on for size before he went to look at the car and also to find out what I knew about them and the car he was going to look at, anyhow after spending a couple of hours with me and going over my car and finding that he would fit in the 2010 Birkin was purchased through a deal with McGregors and it was in to get a new ECU and tune up as the Emerald ECU it had in was a pain in the arse to tune due to softwear issues. Don got the car back and came out for a visit, it was intresting to see the 2 cars together with nearly 10 years of development between them, Dons car is a the IRS version, Birkins rear IRS was designed and developed by Arrow race cars in the UK and is really really nice (Just as Mark from McGregors what he thinks) the car has the widetrack front end introduced in 2001 and also the new center console, longer passenger footwell and a few other bits of steel tube added in to the frame, other than that the cars are identical in chassis and panels, rollbar and dash, the bonnets can be change from one car to the other they are that identical. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends4.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends1.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends7.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/Lotus%20Cars/Birkinfriends2.jpg

Hi guys I have a mate who has just purchased a new 2010 model Birkin S3 IRS, its sitting very low at the rear and needs to be adjusted up to the right ride height and its probley different to my live axel Birkin. Can some one with a Birkin IRS tell me what you have setup for the height from. Picture for ref of where to measure. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/bits%20and%20pieces/RideHeight.png Cheers Stephen

Lanclyd I'll get some close up pics for you next time I see Evan and his car.

Croc we passed Porter Heights, Mt Cheesman and Craigiburn ski fields on the way to Arthurs Pass. What possessed us....nothing we like to drive our cars About a week earlier the snow was like this, but I missed it as I was surfing in Noosa in 22deg water and 21deg sunshine.