jimrankin

I had the Dunlop Star Spec's on the 7 (205 X 16) and found them a bit too easy to get loose. Replaced them with Nitto NT 01's and love them. I tried to sell the Dunlops but no reasonable offer so put them on an old set of Inke superlight 16" rims for my MINI as it needed tires. They are GREAT on the MINI, can't beleive what a difference the car makes to the tire performance. Guess the Dunlops were just a smidge too hard for the weight of the 7 and perfect for the weight of the MINI. Think SOFT, like wear under 100, and it will probably work well on your 7, no matter what brand.

I have been running the Nito NT 01's and the work great for both street and track. Good progressive no surprises breakaway, good breaking etc. I lost count of how many heat cycles at about 50 and am only now starting to feel them getting a bit less grippy. I was at Thunder Hill last friday and was talking tires with a couple of "low weight car" drivers. Turbo Ariel Atom and an Exige were both on Hankooks and loved them. Both also had no real problem with heat cycle degrading. Not really sure we light weight car owners really cook the whole tire carcass the way something with real weight does so maybe we scrub off as much as we bake. All of us were runing in the 13-16 Lbs cold starting range. Air temp went up to 105 degrees that day and have no idea how hot the track got in the sun but I didn't seem to have to let any additional air out to keep grip. I was just out having some fun so just left it where I started, wasn't even bothering to pyrometer the tires to see if I actually had a hot center or not. Since it wasn't really getting loose think the "light car just isn't working the tires very hard" theory is at least partially correct. I guess tires are a bit like women, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what works for in the long run probably will be found by going through a few yourself. LOL

I had no problem with the CHP on the inital inspection to get a VIN number assigned and installed. CHP office in Redwood City said only one officer could do it and a six week wait for an appointment, went by the CHP station in San Jose and they said "haul it down anytime, I did it the next morning and they not only had me out in an hour but were great about things like "where do you want the tags"? Wish I had gone there when I built my Harley. The "officer" in Redwood City took out his pocket knife and without saying anything just started scraping a huge spot, over twice as big as the tag, into my custom paint. As far as the "no front plate" issue, just don't drive up Automall Parkway in Fremont and your OK. Have several thousand miles on the car and both traffic stops have been in a one mile stretch in Fremont, not on my regular way to work, so in about 4-5 total trips up that stretch, two stops. Both times by the Black Pickup's they use to check the trucks. First officer said he was going to have me towed because of so many infractions since he had no idea of what was required. He took "first year of registration, 2009" to mean I needed everything up to and including air bags etc. Could not convince him it was only meeting 1960 regulations for kit cars and couldn't get him to check it until I refused to sigh or get towed without his supervisor showing up. Longest traffic stop in record as he sat in his truck detailing ever regulation and still wrote me up for a dozen non-required items such as side marker lights, windshield and wipers and front and rear bumpers. Only the "no front plate" needed compliance, everything else my local police agreed was good as it was.

In the far past it was "laid back" San Francisco Bay Area and "uptight" SoCal. Guess things have swapped because I had to go all the way to Santa Cruz to even find a Licensed Inspection Station who would even look at the car. Every station in the bay area said if they couldn't bring up the car on the computer it was a "not us, too much risk" situation. My inspection in Santa Cruz was pretty involve, right down to stopping the car with the emergency brake while driving. The brand new 12" Wilwoods rotors were not stamped for their "minimum thickness" and almost got me failed. The inspector took a micrometer to all four and luckily they were all exactly alike so he figured they hadn't been turned so he made a note "New" on the State form. I have no idea where the "average" inspection in California lands because I've met one owner who ended up using a friends address in Nevada because of the inspection requiried too much and others, like Mondo, who just waltz on through. Maybe Mondo just has a friendly face. LOL.

This was my first height set. Had them on for a while but took them off to get past state brake and light inspection and even for that had to ass 2" risers between the light and the bracket. Gotta play by the CA. rules or no Tin Plate. LOL.

Wanted the lights down out of my view. These headlight brackets are my raised ones". I made a first set without the twisted rise I did on these and you couldn't even see the lights from the drivers seat. Even these are below CA minimun height and figured the really low one, although they looked hella cool, might be a cop caller. Since then I've seen a few street rods with lights even lower than my first set. My office is right off a main street that truckers use to bypass the scales so both the CHP and the Fremont Police stake it out and I've already been stopped, hence the front plate being installed.

I felt so bad about not doing more than a "twist it back" fix at the track a couple of months back and just leaving it that way that I decided to take the headlight off and straighten the bracket. If the post work again you can get a better idea of what it looks like. I have had the plate on at well over 120MPH and no problem, other than bird strikes.

Mt plate shares a mount with the headlight. All it takes is one hard ass and your in for a fix-it ticket, which in California has gone from $10.00 to about $65.00 in the last few years. I never seem tom be able to attach photos but I'll give it another try. If it post you will see the plate and bracket are a bit Bent, caught a mid-sized bird at the straight into turn ten at thunderhill just at the breaking point. Bird go Boom! Car get painted with bird parts! LOL.

I spent a great deal of time this past winter taking the car apart and then putting it back together with some upgrades, but mostly I was chasing rattles. Was really confident it would sound, if not like my BMW, at least less like a rock crusher. Should have just stayed inside drinking. A bit better but still has several annoying sounds that I have no idea of their origin. I'm just telling myself "it's gotta be the best you can get a steel suspension car to sound" and focusing on the hunt for better ear plugs, preferably bluetooth, so I can crank some Led Zepplin at about 105DB. That should about cover it. LOL.

A bit off thread but seen on a local "import" pickup truck "MISNAV8". Us lucky Califirnia guys get to use 7 spaces, that's because we need something to read in traffic. LOL.

I guess their point is that some of these were "turning point or benchmark" cars. That doesn't mean that things weren't turning down or a new low benchmark wasn't being set. LOL.

Damm, I can never seem to quite remember the mix ration on the nitro....this should be OK though...LOL

Maybe I will re-mount the fire extinguisher in my "7". Either that or up the insurance coverage. LOL.

Having an S20000 powered 7 I can tell you it's very low maintenance and solid as a rock. On the down side that STUPID V-tec system may be OK for the commuter cars it was designed for but it is a drawback for daily/street type fun in a seven. Keeping the motor up in the V-tec range is OK on track, but you really draw the wrong kind of attention on the street. If you can find a quad four cheap buy it!!! These were fantastic motors that will really scream and put out the HP. They were installed into cars that were way too heavy for the four cylinder to really work well in. Not enough bottom end off idle torque (kind of like the early Honda S2000) and you know us americans, we want tire smokin' power off the line. They used to have a problem with head gaskets blowing out on the early motors but got that fixed pretty quick. If you "drove" that power plant with the RPM's up it was downright fast. GM put all of it's American small power plant focus on the V6's as they were better for both touque and the "smooth" idle the four just wasn't ever going to deliver.

I was waiting in an office and picked up about a two month old car magazine ( not sure which one, R&T C&D Motor-whatever?)that was talking about how Ford was pushing it's small Ecoboost motors but hadn't done any real promo about how it was doing some major rework ( read more HP and better fuel milage) on the standard duratec that was actually the most used motor in it's small car fleet. Most people aren't spending the extra cash on the Hi-teck EB motors, and the artical said the reworked duratec was almost as good and much cheaper. Probably a bolt in replacement and cheaper than a rebuild for some of the old tired Duratecs. Should have played the nasty guy and ripped the article out but Mom raised me better. LOL.

Problem with wheel nets is they need to have anchor points just far enough ahead and behind to get the angles right. Too close and the car rocks, too far away and the don't "cup" over the tire right. If you are setting up your trailer with tie down points where you want them then the net are really a great and the easiest way to go. I have always used rachet straps and never had a problem (other than dirty shirt backs from laying on trailer floors to get up under the cars LOL.) Just one comment about straps, spend the money on the "back" set as unless your driving a really powerfull tow car the only heavy stress will be from emergency stops. If your really going to do a lot of trailering spend the money on having attachment loops welded on to the frame. I was lucky enough on my Jag to have two round holes in the frame that I couldn't get a strap or the clip on the strap into but had two "S" hooks bent up that slipped right into them.

He did the Boogitty-Boogitty-Amen! at the end. Was funny to watch the drivers faces, took them a bit to understand what he was doing and then they got with it and had a laugh. I told my wife he should have had product endorsement patches sewn to his suit. LOL. When I lived in the south we all thought the Baptist just didn't have a sense of humor. Guess they lightened up over the last 40-50 years

I watched that race, and even though he didn't sing that's what he said, right down to "and thank you for my smokin hot wife Lisa". Was kind of cool for a Baptist minister. LOL

Don't get stressed and sell it too cheap. Used to be a real problem getting CA registration for kits but things are caught up with all of the "old" pre SB100 cars so no real problem registering/selling one here now. No snow shovels hanging on the walls (got a chill just looking at the ones in your garage) here either so a longer "selling season". Might want to add you will deliver to the mid CA area for the right price.

If you have a stick test this way. Try to start with the starter, if no spark do a roll/push start and if it fires the coil is good, the battery is too weak to support the current draw of the starter without dropping the voltage too low for the coil to spark. This still does not mean that the coil is up to specifications, it could be getting weak and needs a fully charged battery to work. You can also test the coil by using a spare spark plug, widen the plug gap to about twice normal, bring the motor up to that plug firing position in the distributor, connect the HT lead to the spare plug (ground the plug)disconnect the coil wire and then touch power to the primary side of the coil with a jumper from the battery. If it's working well even a weak battery will fire it since it's seeing no other load, not even a turned on ignition system. If you have an old spark plug HT lead you can just use it right off the coil as an even simpler way to do this test.

If that's in California I'd love to know where because Mondo has it right, "failed private development" on the valley floor somewhere and I'd love to go test it myself. Either the video was shot in the spring or it's out of state because it's getting pretty dry out here now and failed property isn't paying for water. Be interesting to con a desperate realator into your seven for a "quick tour of the available house lots" and see them all in about a minute, pegged at the rev limiter with the back end powersliding at every intersection. LOL

Having had a bunch of diferent tow vehicles and trailers I can say for certain that electric brakes are the only way to go. Surge brakes work really well for straight line stops with even a marginally large enough tow vehicle but are worthless once the two are out of line in a panic situation. Some people claim EB's require too much maintenance and a new breakaway battery every year or two but newer sets seem really foolproof/low maintenance and the new batterys are good for years. If your shopping for a new or used trailer go for the Electric brakes, set them up for just a bit more trailer brake than tow vehicle brake and your as safe as trailering can get. Won't be long before someone markets a reasonable set of electric disc to go with the radial trailer tires and that will really put some stop back there.

All I can say is I hope whoever does have the spare cash also has the desire to keep the car active in the vintage racing events. Something about cars from the era of resonably (or maybe unreasonably) high speed without massive technology involved that just makes for great viewing and if you have the money, fun driving. Due to a mistake at birth I wasn't born into a filthy rich family or I'd be adding that one to my collection. LOL

I guess the difference between "BMW & Porsche owners" in general and the ones we meet at track days is just that, the ones at track days love CARS, the ones who we find a bit less than friendly are probably more into what they think the car makes THEM, and they love THEMSELVES. LOL.

An all wheel drive actual dual purpose car like yours isn't quite what I was referring to as a "beater rice rocket". It seems like the less the car is actually set up (and probably less insured) the more the owners like to zig zag lanes on the crowded freeway. I have to drive in it every afternoon and watch someone do thirty lane changes, piss off twenty people and then exit the freeway about five seconds sooner than just staying in one lane would have been. Yes, I guess I'm just getting old, but even at twenty I kept my radical dumb ass driving stunts off the public highway (most of the time anyway). LOL.