escondidoron

I seriously doubt it. It would be extremely difficult to fly multiple UAVs in the tight formations that the service teams fly in. It is not the kind of mission that they are designed for. But if you're stuck on a remote hillside in the middle of the night with bad guys surrounding and trying to get at you while you're waiting for daylight so that a Blackhawk team can get in to rescue you, these are precisely the kind of aircraft that you want flying top cover.

Like the pic. Where did you find it? Predator Bs look pretty cool in the Thunderbird livery. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5104/5645542756_0ef131a9e1_b.jpg

Hi Ian; I have Toyo RA-1s, 205-70x13 on my '62. I like them a lot. I only have about 300 miles and no track days yet. They have proven to be very effective so far for fast road use. Regards, Ron

I had an opportunity to see the Decoliner in person this fall. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6057/6311582876_828bbd64b0_b.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6311583126_800e63ace4_b.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6043/6311583346_917bafe98a_b.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6093/6311063591_e35a1bbb40_b.jpg The pictures just don't do it justice.

Welcome aboard Ronnie. I too have a '62 Super. It's also yellow and still has it's original 109E Cosworth. Mine has the original TR10 rear axle as well. It also has Spitfire disk brakes in the front. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6153/6142568074_2b49277805_b.jpg Drop me a PM. I'd love to compare notes.

I still surf a bit. I don't have the cojones to go out when it's overhead let alone the big waves like these guys are riding.

Martin; Glad to see you still have your 914 that you purchased new. I would still have my original car if it hadn't been T-boned and totaled by a drunk driver. Like you, I can still remember the original date of purchase. I took delivery of mine on 10 December 1969. Sorry, but the 914 was not sold as a Karmann Ghia in Europe. They were originally intended to be a Karmann Ghia replacement as I stated in my earlier post. The cars, both 914 and 914-6, were marketed as VW Porsche outside the U.S. European specification 914s had a different rear insignia and no lettering on the engine cover grille (U.S. spec cars had Porsche lettering on the engine cover). The Euro spec rear emblems reflected the different VW-Porsche joint marketing approach by incorporating both the familiar VW logo and the Porsche block lettering into the 914 or 914/6 rear emblem. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Vw-porsche914-typenbezeichnung.JPG http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-pqr/Porsche-914-VW-Porsche-914-6-1969-Section-1280x960.jpg In the absence of engine grille lettering on European, the VW Porsche rear emblem was the only external badging present on Euro spec 914s. The Euro spec cars also had different tail light lens and front turn signal lens. In the rear the tail light les was tri-colored. I.e. clear for the back up lights, red for stop and tail lights and amber for turn signals. http://www.p914.com/p914_resources/p914_lenses/p914-lenses-tail-tn01.jpg The Euro/German specification Hella turn signal lens has a separate orange signal lamp section and a clear running light section. http://www.p914.com/p914_resources/p914_lenses/p914-lenses-turn-tn01.jpg 914s sold in Italy had a third style of front turn signal lens to meet Italian regulations. The Italian front turn signal lens was clear.

I've had several 914s ver the years. My first brand new car was a '70 1.7L that I owned for the better part of 20 years. Also had a couple of 2.0 litres, a 914-6 GT and a hot rodded 914-6 with a 2.7L back in about '73. Also did a Buick 215 V8 conversion and a Mazda 13B conversion at different times. The rotary is interesting, but quite noisy when it's sitting right behind your hip. The cars are simple, light and very nice driving, better than a similar vintage 911, in my opinion. Even if they were originally intended to be a replacement for the Karmann Ghia. That idea was killed at the last minute when new management at VW decided that the flagship sports car shouldn't be air cooled when the mainstream models were all going to front drive and water cooling. Since Porsche had done the engineering for VW, and the factory was in place, they went forward with the car anyway. Branded as a Porsche in the U.S., it was a VW-Porsche everywhere else. Excellent OEM brakes on all versions. The complete front suspension from a 911 is a bolt-in retrofit. There is a lot of performance potential in the car that wasn't tapped by the factory. After all, why would you want to promote the low buck car at the expense of the 911? Similar to the Boxter and Cayman situation today. Parts are relatively expensive as there are fewer suppliers than for 911s. The '73 - '74 2.0L are the best 4-cyl cars. They have the most power and torque. The shifter is much improved starting in '73 by virtue of the linkage coming out of the gearbox facing the front of the car. The early 4-cyl cars shift linkage had to make a U-turn at the back end to enter the gearbox. All of the factory 6-cyl cars had the front-entry shifter. Besides the engine and gearbox differences, the factory 6-cyl cars had some structural reinforcement in the aft suspension pick-ups. If you're doing any serious power upgrades you want to consider incorporating these. While the front suspension upgrade is direct from the 911, the rear is 914 specific. So brakes and stub axles used to require sourcing OEM parts or fabrication / machining by the owner. There may be someone out there these days who can provide these pieces if you wish to upgrade to the 911 5-bolt wheel format. When the cars were new, they came in two trims: Base and Appearance. The base car had front and rear bumpers painted body color. The Appearance group featured chrome bumpers. Somewhere around '72 or '73 a front chin spoiler was added aloong with a couple of additional gauges (volt meter and maybe a clock IIRC) in a center console. Also around that time the rear pan was revised to make it smaller. The early rear pan was prone to acting like a snow shovel in any moderaately deep snow conditions and bending itself to destruction. The '74 cars got bumper Bettys, front and rear to meet Federal energy absorbing bumper regulations (ugly). '75 & '76 cars got bigger bumpers (uglier, in my opinion). The '75-'76 bumpers were black on all cars. The 1.7L was enlarged to 1.8L, starting in '75, in an attempt to compensate for reduced power output due to the increasingly stringent emissions rules. Both 1.8L and 2.0L cars got catalytic convertors at this time too IIRC. If you find a car with A/C, it was dealer installed and the condensor takes up the spare tire space in the front trunk. Also note that the spare tire was designed to be an integral part of the front end structure in the event of a collision. If you drive for extended periods in high ambinent temperature the starter relay tends to stick open. So if you stop for gas, the starter is dead for a while, until the relay cools down. Not to worry though, the same relay is used for the headlamp motors. Just open the front trunk, remove a headlamp motor relay, and exchange it with the starter unit in the engine compartment. If you're doing this at night, do it with the lights on so that you have both headlamps in their full upright and locked position. Inspect the engine compartment for rust. The battery is located on the right side of the engine compartment and it can boil over under high temperature conditions. This results in rust out of the right hand suspension pick-up and/or engine mount structure. The rear trunk hinges pivot on an 8mm shoulder bolt. It it is not kept lubricated it will break over time. This can result in a bent leading edge of the rear trunk lid. The broad expanse of the rear trunk lid is susceptable to damage from sitting something on top of it or closure on a hard/pointy object inside the trunk. The little rubber top storage clips in the rear trunk wear out and break over time. The top latches in the roll bar can fail if not lubricated every couple of years. The top can leak if the leading edge rubber is not cared for properly. This used to be an expensive molded part. The graceful little outside door handles were getting hard to find a few years back. Don't know if that is still true. The flappy paddle part of the handle can break off if someone "animals" on them when the door is locked. The clutch cable should be considered a consumable item as it makes a U-turn on a little pulley that is about 3" in diameter at the back end. The cable frays and breaks over time. The OEM fuel lines on the fuel injectors on 4-cyl cars are subject to heat fatigue. Replace the OEM fabric re-inforced hoses that are seemingly integral with the injector nozzles with high quality aftermarket high pressure fuel line. Failure to stay on top of this can be catastrophic. Back in the day, the California Highway Patrol had a public service TV commercial to urge motorists to always carry a fire extinguisher in your car. The background behind the motorcycle officer/spokesman shows a 914 blazing along the side of Interstate 8 near San Diego. Weber carb conversions were somewhat popular back in the day on 4-cyl cars. In my experience there was no performance gain without internal engine mod's (cam, valves, increased displacement and/or compression, etc.) at the same time. And the EFI had better drivability, at least for the pre-'75 cars. As for power upgrades, don't kid yourself about the cost of a heart transplant. Based on my own experience, I'd stay with an air-cooled Porsche power unit. They really do offer the best bang for the buck.

Santa brought me some time to work on the hubs so that I can install the new wheels I bought earlier this year: Preparing to install new (longer) wheel studs: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6567541931_eb94ecc2a7_b.jpg Home made hub-centric wheel spacers taking shape: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6567555623_d25f19bfa9_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6567560667_cb35a66ca4_b.jpg I'm looking forward to a blat with the new shoes installed later this week.

Wonderful picture. What an awesome turn out for the event. Must have been great fun.

Very cool pictures. I'm up at Elmo 2-3 times a month. The lakes racing is really cool…..unless the wind comes up. Then the lake bed can be a nightmare! Besides SCTA activities 6 - 8 times a year, the wind racers and the ultra lights make for some interesting scenery too.

Three Lotus Seven Series 1 cars in the video. Cool. The 9,000 + RPM redline was very cool!

+1 I went on a drive up in the hils behind us with some friends this morning. http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6099/6273231075_cf6ed6334a_b.jpg My 85Hp "monster" 109E (1340cc Kent Cosworth push rod) is more than adequate to keep up with the supercharged Exiges in our group…..until we get to any kind of high speed regions. In the twisty bits my car's 980lb weight (with a full tank of fuel) more than makes up for the lack of horsepower and torque.

Hi Dermot; I have several Kent blocks. Some original "L" (Lotus Twin Cam), some 711Ms, a couple of short blocks, etc. Also a complete 711M crossflow engine for rebuild. All in good servicable condition. I'm very interested in seeing some pics of and hearing about your Mallock.

I just bought a set of RA-1s from Discount Tire. They don't stock them and had to order them. It took about a week to get them. The best part was that they price matched an internet quote for $125.27 each (205/60R13). http://tirecrawler.com/shop/detail_tire.php?product_id=8360&t=GS Here they are, installed, just after returning home from my first drive with them: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6142012193_a5d622f8ae_b.jpg and http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/6142568074_2b49277805_b.jpg The transformation from my old Yokohamas is excellent.

That's why we have 2 wing walkers when we tow our planes around.

I have a pair of leather trimmed Caterham seats and tracks if you're interested.

That's a great tip.

Having several old engines around the shop for spares I do the following upon acquiring another: 1) Remove the spark plugs 2) Fit the appropriate size wrench to the gland nut on the crankshaft damper and see if the engine is free to rotate....Taking care not to force the issue in case the rings are stuck, so as not to break a ring or piston. I do not rotate the crankshaft more than a few degrees. This check is just to see whether or not the engine is stuck. 3) Squirt a significant amount of Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder. 4) Reinstall the spark plugs. 5) Store the engine in a dry place. This process has served me very well over the years. It is based on the assumption that whatever damage has been done to the engine is already present. The goal is to preserve it in the as-is state, or better, until such time as you are ready to put it to use. The Marvel Mystery Oil can help to unstick cylinders that are already varnished due to fuel or oil or even very light corrosion of the cylinder walls.

Good catch. Thanks for posting. :cheers:

http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0006/A2/56/A25659B4685E4BDEA8184A_Large.jpg I can remember being at Pole Day qualifying in '62 and thinking that the speed was incredible too. In those days you could look down over the cars as they drove through the short chute between turns 1 and 2. You could see just how close the tires came to the outside wall (just a few inches). P.J. was the 1st to break the 150mph barrier in qualifying driving Ol' Calhoun with a 4-lap average (not the 1st to go 150mph for a single lap). 150mph was just under 60 seconds a lap!

Can't tell the hole spacing dimensions from the picture, but it sure looks like the ones on my S2. I just looked on the Rock Auto website. $7.04 each. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1393051,parttype,5552,a,Search%2Bfor%2BVDO And then there's this one for the '63 XKE at $5.34 http://info.rockauto.com/getimage/getimage.php?imagekey=1133930&imageurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uroparts.com%2Furo%2Fpictures%2Fpicture%2Fparts0%2FC18556.jpg http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1341324,parttype,5552

You might want to check with Jeff and/or Jay at JAE. http://www.jaeparts.com/ The engine mount vibration isolators used on all Ford Kent engined Lotus Seven S2 and S3 are the same. This is according to the book, "Lotus Seven Restoration, Preparation & Maintenance" by Tony Weale. The original donor car source is not specified, but the part number that is called out is BM382. They can be purchased from JAE, they may possibly have them in stock. I'm replacing the ones on my S2 this weekend. I bought them from JAE. They shipped them from stock and they arrived the next day.

I've posted on this topic before, based on my experience driving my S2 (RHD) here in the U.S.. Recently I had an opportunity to ride in my car as a passenger….for the 1st time. It was soooo weird sitting on the left side with no pedals or steering wheel. Not good or bad, just weird. For the 1st 1/2 hour or so I kept trying to steer and use the pedals….that aren't there. Not bad after getting used to it. But it sure was weird at 1st.

Dellortos have these ports as well.