xcarguy

Oh, sure...drag me into it. :toetap05:

I had four; gave one to my father last year. :jester: On a side note, when HF has a sale, I’ll stock up. For instance, 4.5” cutoff wheels; have three of those.

So true. My last count on hammers was at 21; peen ball set, dead blow set, rubber mallet set, and, and, and . . . :smash:

Here’s a’rule of thunb’ for must-have tools: any tool, one that is required to do a job properly (even though the tool may be used only once) where the cost of rental/purchase is less than the cost of having the job hired out, IS a must-have tool. As for tools you can use day in and day out, at the top,of my list is a good set of both SAE and metric ‘stubby’ wrenches (preferably two sets of each if you do quite a bit of wrenching on your car. These wrenches can reach areas where longer (standard sized) wrenches cannot. Regarding tools mentioned here, my ownership of each are as follows, and yes, I use them all: Floor jacks - 3, Herbor Freight Jack stands - 4, local parts store (would suggest getting all jack stands the same size) Torque wrenches - 3, 2 from Harbor Freight and one from NAPA Can add more tools to this list if you desire. :smash:

Not knowing the shape the car is in, I’d think scrapping the car because the engine is bad would be like tossing the baby out with the bathwater. I’d say get the engine issue sorted (rebuild/new engine) and press on with the current car.

Tom, Congratulations on the long-awaited purchase and ownership of a 7. Shane

Mike, I think the setup I have now will be sufficient. No more issues over the weekend once I switched to the Longacre hardware. If you look at the photo of my car on track in the previous post, you can sort of see the shorter support rods. What you can't see is the brackets attached to the roll bar directly behind the seats to which the support rods are attached. Very rigid setup.

Mike, The event host was Chin. And yes, the Caterham belongs to forum member Conor. In the original write up, I had all the photos arranged nicely along with more detail from the event where I mentioned Conor and his Caterham. However, the post was apparently too long and the images too many. When I cut wording down and removed the images, I lost the mention of Conor and all the photos dropped to the bottom of the post.

The long awaited maiden track day voyage of The Phoenix is now history. We arrived at VIR around 4:00pm and rendezvoused with Mario in the skip pad, the temporary staging area for early arrivals. At 5:30pm we were allowed entry to the paddock and access to our garage. Unloading of the cars, early registration, tech inspection and garage/car setup was complete by 8:00pm. Saturday, day 1 7:40am drivers’ meeting followed by an 8:30am warmup session: all cars on track with standing yellow and no passing (slow pace, but good for those of us who were running the track for the first time). Around 10:00am, the R. Ferri Motorsport race team showed up and began unloading their semi. http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13853&stc=1 It was then that we discovered we were sharing garage space with their car, a beautiful Ferrari 488 GT3. Suave fell in love and wouldn’t part with the beast. He kept squawking about how much bigger the Ferrari’s rear wing was compared to the Storker’s…rude. http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13855&stc=1 First session was at 10:30am. About 20 minutes into the session, the Storker began to lose traction in the rear, loose in turns where it had felt fairly solid early on. I returned to the garage and discovered why traction became an issue. The down force produced by the wing at high speed had bent the wing’s aluminum support rods from straight to an ‘L’ shape. The entire wing assembly had pivoted rearward and downward on the support brackets attached to the roll bar to the point the top of the wing was actually hanging parallel with the roll bar mounts. Mario grabbed one of the bent rods and said, “If we pull together, I think we can bend there rods back straight”. He began pulling on the passenger-side rod and snapped off the welded mounting tab at the bottom of the rod. My first thought was to remove the crippled rear wing along with the front wing and simply slow down next time out. However, a quick trip to the onsite speed shop yielded some Longacre bracketry that worked well. With the new brackets bolted in place (and the wallet a little lighter) and supporting the wing upright once again, the wing held solid for the rest of the event. Our second session of the day rolled around at 1:00pm. Prior to heading out, I decided to dial in another five clicks on the adjustable front shocks to stiffen up the rebound. On about the fourth or fifth lap, I went deep into the braking zone for turn one. When I braked, the left front tire locked up. Seeing that I wasn't going to make the turn, I drove straight ahead into the grass. A couple of laps later, the same thing happened; again, at turn one. And again, off into the grass I go. Started thinking I should charge VIR for lawn service. After the session, Mario beat me back to the garage. I pulled in, shut the car off and told Mario I had a problem; I was suddenly loosing effective braking in turn one and the problem had not been there in the earlier session. I hopped out of the car and decided to dial down the front shock rebound back to where it was for first session. When I tried to dial down the rebound on the left shock, the knob would not move ccw, and it should have moved. I could move it cw and then move it back ccw to its original position but no further. My first though was that I have a bad shock. I tried the right shock and the knob moved ccw just as it should. That’s when in dawned on me; I had dialed all the rebound out of the left front shock and dialed in an additional five clicks into the right front shock. :jester: When I came charging into turn one and braked, the stiff rebound of the right front shock put all the load on the right front tire which, in turn, caused the left front tire to easily lock up during braking. This setup made for some very interesting braking dynamics under load. It’s amazing just how much effect a small adjustment here and there can have on a car’s handling when pushed toward its limits. The rest of the day was uneventful up till the last session of the day: Happy Hour. During this session, all cars are on track with unrestricted passing. Novice, solo, instructors and the professional race teams full bore; quite a mixed bag of talent and the lack thereof. It became obvious fairly quickly which guys had buku lap time at VIR. It was a humbling experience to be on track with challenge series cars. With the sun now low on the horizon in the west, coming out of turn 6 for the uphill climb (straight into the sun) in turn 7 was a bit dicey for this VIR newbie. In this turn, the pros were simply closing their eyes, applying full throttle and letting muscle memory di the rest. On lap four, at the crest of turn 7, a cone decided to commit suicide by throwing itself mercilessly in the front of my car. The result was a shattered front wing which left part of the wing residing among the surviving cones while the rest of the wing was shoved cockeyed up under the nose of the car. It wasn’t until I was back at the garage that I discovered the extent of damage the cone had caused. Once again I’m thinking ‘just pull the wings and slow down’. A few minutes later, a corner worker pulls up to the garage. He gets out of his truck sporting a Cheshire Cat-sized grin and carrying the rest of my wing. I look at him and say “And you didn’t even black flag me”. He continued to grin and commented that we were having so much fun that he didn’t want to bring me in. I respectfully accepted the return of the wind and told him he was a saint. We finished off day 1 with another round of pintos, cornbread and ketchup at the General Store along with a trip into Danville for J.B. Weld. By 11:00pm, I had the wing pieced back together and lights out. Sunday, day 2 With the chump cars done and gone, we switched to running the full course. Overall, it was a grand day on track. I decided to approach my sessions with a totally different mindset; I’d simply pace the field, run a decent line and not risk the car. The strategy worked very well. If there was a particular section of the track I wanted to run hard through (such as the uphill esses), I would either slow down and provide myself a good gap between myself and the car/s ahead, or I would give point-bys till I was positioned for a good run. http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13857&stc=1 During my second afternoon session, I was shut down by an electrical gremlin. The alternator light kept flickering while at rpm on track and about half way through the session, the volt meter went from 14v to 0v. I skipped the last session and happy hour and decided I’d chase the problem down once I was back in AL. I put Suave to work packing the trailer for the trip home. Around mid-day, the Ferrari folks pried Suave's feathery hiny from the rear wing and pulled the 488 out for a few laps. Toni Vilander was behind the wheel, and even with a track full of slower cars, he ran a 1:42 on the full course. To put that in perspective, the Riley (driven by Eric Foss) that set the track record for the UTCC 2017 event last year ran a 1:44. Mario had his own issue to contend with on Sunday; a faulty expansion tank. First, the cap was a low pressure unit that was intent on leaking during every outing. A trip to the onsite speed shop yielded a high pressure cap. This resolved the leaky cap issue, but on the first lap out with the new cap, the tank pressurized and a weak weld in the tank revealed itself on the uphill esses when one of the seams split and turned Mario’s Storker into a steam locomotive. He spent the next session repairing the tank via some onsite welding and gobs of epoxy. He finished up the last session and happy hour running strong. Overall, it was a successful event. I felt right at home both on (and off) the track. Suave’s day was made when the Ferrari guys came over to our trailer to borrow a ¼” drive ratchet. They had packed up their tools and had apparently forgotten to remove the mirrors from the 488 for loading. I obliged and told them I would have the drive gold plated once I was back home. With the adrenaline still flowing, we pulled off the paddock at 5:30pm and headed for AL. Mario left to do a ride with Mario Andretti, but that’s a whole other story. All night driving found us rolling back into Albertville, AL at 4:00am (will never do this again). After a few hours of sleep, I tackled the electrical issue. Believing I simply had a fried alternator, I removed it for testing at the local O’reilly. Surprisingly, the alternator tested well and the volt meter turned out to be nothing more than a faulty ground at the back of the gage that had vibrated loose during the event. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. As I close, Suave is begging me to dye his feathers a brilliant red. Also, does anyone have a copy of Rosetta Stone for learning Italian that Suave can borrow?

Well...if the money's right. :jester:

i think this is BBall’s 7 from the 2014 event. Kitcat, if I’m wrong, please correct me.

Well, Suave and I have been driving full bore for a couple of days to reach VIR. We are here with Mario awaiting tomorrow’s adventure. Suave was a bit loud and clucky with excitement, so he is tucked away nice and cozy in the trailer while the Storkers are asleep in the garage. Feels good to be back. :driving:

But of course. By by all means, please. :smilielol5:

Because one is ‘nearly’ enough? :jester:

The term ‘huge undertaking’ is relative. But before entering into that discussion, why not simply consider buying a different car with the engine you want?

Man, that’s cold. :leaving:

All this rhetorical chat of spinning about while still engaged in a forward gear. Why don't the two of you confer with a professional forward-gear spinner-arounder such as myself? :jester:

Skip, you our beat me to the punch. Agree strongly on both points; less buffeting and eye protection a must. I too use safety glasses for the road. :iagree::iagree: However, now that I’m running the carbon fiber windscreen, I’ve switched to goggles. My son’s hair tells the tale after a spirited jaunt. :troll:

We can go to that wing restaurant we didn't hit last time and pig out in bulk. :jester: Hey, I'm definitely 'game on' for another round of wings at Steve's Sizzling Steaks next trip up. :drool:

Canadian 7, Congrats on the purchase. My father bought this one new (still owns it). I’ve put in a little wheel time over the years. It does feel big compared to my Storker, but a great car nonetheless.

Mike, The Dupli-Color actually turned out much better than expected. Prep was minimal because the wheels were new (just a spray and wipe down with Windex, and a blow dry with an air hose). I purchased a Krylon pistol grip paint can sprayer attachment from Home Depot (these pretty much fit any aerosol paint can of any brand and make all the difference in the world in application; no residual overspray on what would normally be a tired finger from repetitively pressing the spray nozzle). The Dupli-Color wheel coating is a much higher quality paint (reflected in the price per can cost; see Summit Racing) than your normal rattle-can product. It’s an acrylic enamel that produces fairly tough finish if prep and application are followed per the teeny tiny inructions on the back of the can; a phone call to Dupli-Color tech also gave me a bit more product confidence. The paint has a very quick drying time with recommended time between coats being a three minutes which worked great, although I did go 5-10 minutes between coats during painting. For the 17” wheels, I did two coats of adhesion promoter followed by three coats of bronze and two coats of matte finish. For the 15” wheels, I used the same process, but included a black base coat underneath the bronze to produce the darker antiqued bronze look. In truth, the most difficult and time-consuming process was taping off the wheels. BTW, your the lucky recipient of post #3000. This is good for a batch of hot wings the next time I’m in Denver. :jester:

The Great Suave says . . .

I’ve done wire transfer, cashiers check and escrow on both sides of the fence; the buying and selling end. What’s been the norm for me is money changes hands, title changes hands and then the car is either mshipped or picked up. Comfort level can vary (I’ve always had a good experience both buying and selling). As for buying, just as Croc, I’ve relied on photos as well as have someone I know in the area to look at the car for me. I’ve never bought a car that didn’t need work (neither has Croc ) or had something about the car that I wanted to change. Best of luck with your deal. :driving:

Bronze/gold; goes with your color scheme. How about a lighter bronze . . . :lurk:

I’m feeling it. :Chevy_anim: