jimrankin

Invistigate the lack of low and mid range power and late V-tec onset / or replace the ECU if I have to but would rather stay stock Honda if I can make it work. Recarpet the floor as my heels have created a hole. Add a leather /rubber "heel pad" at the wear point. Reinforce the front and fab a center mount brace for the dif. Replace the grade 5 bolts with grade 8's. Relocate the fuel cell all the way to the passenger side and add an access port to the rear cover so you can re-fuel without unsnapping the whole thing. QUIET the harness mounting points. Sounds like Santa is coming with all that jingeling. Maybe even put an inch more lift under the passenger seat so my wife can actually see whats ahead of us. Bigger better center mirror or just better mirrors all around. About a dozen minor tweaks I won't bother to bore everyone with. Happy Holidays to everyone and I hope Santa brings you all the parts you want, or at least the ones you need.

Research what a kit and the finishing parts will cost, and then factor in the changes you will probably want to make not long after you find you didn't like everything you already did and buying a well built and shook out used 7 will really make sense. There is also the problem of "tools", and I don't mean just wrench type hand tools either. Drill press, grinders, MIG/TIG welder, tap and die sets etc.......Even the most talented builder can only fab to the point where he needs a special tool to do it right, or even do it period. I bought a very slightly used top end build 7, took just about anything with a bolt through it off, back to the basic frame and panels and then put it back together properly torqued, locktited, aligned etc. just so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable at 120+. Drove it and began pulling it apart again to make changes and then spent a lot of time on track/highway with it this season and still found more I'm going to change this winter. All in all it just means you aren't really missing that much in "putting the kit together" when there will always be something else it will need or you will want. I've built custom bikes, boats and extensively modified cars and have the luxury of having just about every tool I ever wanted (unfortunately, comes with being older) but still thought buying a really good used "7" made more sense (unfortunately that aquiring of sense comes with being older too. LOL)

I just wonder where he found all that junk. Better hope it's fast so he doesn't have to hear the snickering too long...

There is nothing that says "early English road racer" quite as well as a set of Panasports. When I was younger a friend of my Dad's had a nearly new Bug Eye Sprite and he put Panasports, or their exact duplicate, on it as soon as he got it. It would be interesting to know how long that wheel, or something that was it's insperation has been around. I always thought my first set of "American Mags" was a bit of a rip off of that look.

If your running aero screens replace the plastic (or glass if it's not safety laminate) with a fairly thick (1/8"is easy to find and OK, but 3/16 worth looking for but harder to shape) piece of polycarbonate. It can be purchased with a "scratch resistant"(not proof)finish. Polycarbonate is used for bulet proof windows and in aircraft, it's a totally different material than plexiglass. I have had a marble sized piece of rock hit my areoscreen while at 70MPH with the rock doing less than half that and all I got was scratch on the screen and two missed heartbeats. The "whack" when it hit sounded so solid I know it would have taken a piece out of my old plexiglass screen.

I was going to mention that once you owned it you could drop off that front bumper/nerf bar monstrosity and pass as reasonably good looking. LOL.

Always loved "rounded" bodywork (AC Cobra/ XKE/ front half of a Morgan etc.) so this one isn't all that much of an eyesore to me, not perfect, but still something to bring to the dance if you know what I mean. Should make someone very happy at that price as it's probably three times that to duplicate it "one off" now. Not going to be as nimble as a 7, but probably way more comfortable even if not much more practical.

Energiser Bunny has gone missing... last seen in the northwest.. How much can that Rabbit weigh? Probably about the same as a vapor battery.

The Rangers might be a bit off but WT is right on. At anything under a 100 MPH it almost always comes down to suspension/tire set up if the car isn't stable. Jack up your tire pressure well past where you are normally running and see if it's sidewall flex before you do any other suspension changes. If that didn't show that the sidewall flex is the problem move on to getting a copy of their exact set up from a "like" car on this site, not just another 7 clone, that isn't having any problems and copy it. If your still not stable at highway speeds you either have a broken weld(s)somewhere letting the frame flex or you just aren't used to driving it yet. Most new cars are set up really castered and quite a bit towed in so they feel "stable". Since the average driver isn't concerned with turn in response and power steering can overcome the caster easily you get used to that type of driving feel without noticing it till your in something fun.

Short of fabbing the whole thing yourself you may find it cheaper in the long run to purchase a really commercial heavy duty engine stand and fab just a yolk to use a side mount like the Volvo one shown. A far as what a Jag motor weighs, well, the crank has enough counterweights, main and rod bearing journals to melt down and build TWO Novas!! The only problem I really had when mine was on the engine stand was it was "front heavy", my stand was pretty cheezy, I was using the stand off spacers so I could mount the flywheel and clutch/pressure plate and the motor is long compared to a big block Chevy. Pay the extra money and get one that is really solid and has casters that actually roll under a load, has good long bottom legs and four casters and you won't need the side mounts.

Don't know anything about the cars but nex to the S2000 motor I have in the S2K the BMW six would be my best choice for more power and just as reliable.

Looks like a well done build and after the last 300 mile blast in my S2k the full windshield and side curtains look like a really nice option. I'll bet that 25K fall weather price will look like even a better deal to the next owner when spring rolls around. Probably couldn't get all the parts together for anywhere close to twice 25K.

The Lotus "aficionados" take one look at our cars and know they are not a "real" Lotus, everyone else won't care even if you tell them, but all said and done, I love the badge!!! Cool!! And I love my "Notus" too. LOL

Am I mistaken or did they say "kit"? If 79K is less than retail, and it's not even put together, what is a factory assembled Cat going for? And no, I don't mean the one Top Gear put together. LOL.

And I was wondering why I keep finding myself stopped at green lights. I kept telling myself I was going to try to figure it out later but seems I'm always forgetting...........

I actually wish there were more red light cameras in the SF Bay area. It seems like over the years the yellow lights have just become a warning to speed up, not prepare to stop. It's nothing unusual for me to start to slow down because the yelow came on when I'm a couple of hundred feet or more from it and have a car behind me jump lanes ans nail it. The light is red befor they hit the cross walk 99% of the time. On the other hand speed trap camers are crap. Frankn7 can stop in half the distance and also out avoid people doing things like stupid lane changes and turns better than about anything on the road. A minivan on a set of PepBoys 4 for $99 tires is unsafe at less than the speed limit yet can cruise at 11 MPH under all day without getting sited. I got a ticket for 65 in my race prepped MINI Cooper on a straight country road when farm trucks pulling trailers were doing 60 in the 55 posted area without a second look. Says a lot about the tickets being for "safety".

I can't even park in San Francisco for $40.00 and you get to SPEED!!!!! Lucky Guy.

And the Lord said "Let there be light", but George was nodding off at the moment so there wasn't. Having owned three MGA's, a Jag amd a Triumph I can tell you first hand that he was "the man who invented darkness", and lack of fuel delivery also. LOL.

Don't know the car but probably worth a second look, seems to be within reason at 25K or a bit less. Unique dash, not sure that would be my first choice. Lack of low end torque in the rotary isn't such a drawback in a 1300Lb. car so should "drive" OK and really scoot when the rev's come up. Rotary's are fairly heavy but the weight is compact and low so should handle too. Already having an SB100 registration in CA is a plus but not as much of an issue as it was before the economy and along with it the "build a track/road toy" segment did a nosedive.

Team Dynamics turns out a really nice wheel. Ordered a mixed set of two 17" X 8" and two 17" X 9" with offset to fit the S2K and had to wait for a run of wheel stock so was way past the original delivery estimate (and they ship by SHIP from England) but are really well made and the finish is nicer than wheels I've purchased from "high end" manufacturers. If you order a size they have in stock, or can wait for them I'd say you will have a hard time getting anything better or much lighter without spending a lot more.

All this talk about how much we drive got me hot to get in the car today. Lucky me, I had two different job walks to make this morning and decided to meet a friend for breakfast at 6:00AM instead of starting in my office. Got to drive pretty much around the entire south bay with my fourth stop back at the office and think I'll leave eary and go by couple of GC's offices and do some "marketing" (good way to make it the LONG way home). LOL. Hope everyone has sunshine today and gets the time to make good use of it (and their 7's).

The delay is the way Honda and other manufacturers keep from "shocking" the slack out of the drive train when power shifting, helping low torque motors stay friendly with getting the cars off from stopped with out stalling and making shifts feel smoother than they would feel with a quicker take up. There is really no use for it in a performance environment.

Hi Quebec, I feel for you buddy, lived in Maine as a kid and will never live in snow again. To paraphrase the county sone "happiness is any part of a Maine winter in the rear view mirror". It's crowded and expensive here, probably because it's soo nice. I can be at the ocean in minutes, the valley in an hour, the foothill lakes in two hours and the snow in four(if I had any desire to do that, NOT). Makes being a "7er" here easy. It's you hardcore types from the far frozen north and the 30 minute weather change areas who really prove what these cars mean to us, putting up with the worst because these cars are the best. Have a great eight months!

I'm only about 6' but was having to bend my knees with the original pedal set up. I did the fopllowing mods and now one of my 6'4" 200++Lbs friends can fit comfortably. When the pedals are moved forward it did get "tight" but I shaved the break pedal lower inboard edge and took 1/2" off the gas pedal width and moved it slightly inboard. There is still more adjustment when set for 6'4" driver. Pictures aren't in order and I did a bunch of related changes to the slide mount and mounting brackets for the whole mess but this gives you an idea of how much room an S2k actually has.

I seem to have a problem attaching photos to this site but (if it's here)thought this was kind of funny and in the same nature as the passenger & air tank load. I keep my boat in storage about 135 miles from my house (but only a mile from my houseboat, LOL) and went up in April to do my "spring cleaning". I packed a 50' garden hose, small floor jack, wheel bearing grease and rags, electric buffer, polishing compounds and wax, spare clothes and tennis shoes, wash bucket and other goodies in the passenger seat and a 2.5 Gal. gas can in the "boot". Luckily I keep the small generator in the storage unit because otherwise I would have had to bungie it to the roll bar! LOL.