kennyrayandersen

that's sick in a good and bad way

Interesting -- that would be a considerable departure from the spreadsheet that you download on the site, but I guess all of the odds and ends add up? I will be back in TX for a week around Christmastime, and if I can scrape some time together (which won’t be that easy), I’ll try and drop by Dick’s place. I’m working in Korea, and with the economy in the crapper back home, I’m hanging on here as long as possible. I was hoping to get cracking on some type of project – either a Se7en or a Morgan clone, but with the way things are it will have to be slid off until things pick up back in the States and I can get home and get started on it. AS noted, the dollar is also getting hammered as well, so it might not be a good time for fence sitting….

Maybe he's trying to encourage hydroplaning to increase the 'fun' I know it's all love here for all sevens but that type IV still kinda of hurts my eyes... a bit.

Any guesses on what that car would run ($) as a self-built? It's VERY similar to what I was looking at, but I REALLY want to build it myself -- mostly for the fun-of-it.

Since I FULLY plan on NEVER driving in the rain, and if it DOES happen I’m not sure them wipers, any of them really, would work for a TX-sized downpour anyway – which would be the only kind of rain you’d get caught in if you’re paying much attention to the weather (IMO). I would be more worries about my personal buoyancy in a tub full of water (everythings bigger in TX – even the rain! Can’t the ‘manual’ wiper I saw at one of the sites posted suffice. Does the wiper HAVE to be electronic at all? I digress a bit, but with a nearly vertical windshield it would seem that a judicious application of Rain-X would be better than a wiper anyway.

Crazy Ross said it best: “If you want to get out of a hole – the first thing you have to do is stop digging!” I’m already paying enough in taxes to buy 2 well-sorted used 7s every year or a new Caterham (and they want more!). I’m guessing that money could be supporting a REAL economy just as well, but the problem for politicians is then they couldn’t buy any votes with that money. The point about good times and bad was well taken. When times are good you invest in infrastructure and save… oops, or go on a spending spree with the accompanying hangover to go with it. We got us a doozie of a hangover and it’s going to be with us for a while.

You are, of course, right – all those zeros! You just lose track of them after a while! You know what they say: a billion here and a billion there – pretty soon it adds up to real money!

slight OT William F. Buckley said "Only children and Democrats think the money from Washington is free". Not sure what anyone's affiliation is but when EITHER party takes to spending money they don't have -- it's a problem -- unfortunately, you are seeing just the start of it... this health care thing, noble or not, is going to ratchet the debt up yet once again. Pish, what's another 1.3 billion? Charge it! So, the exchange rate is going to be problematic for a while...

Now where was the s/n – it was here just a minute ago! Lol Up front or not, it still has the scent of squirrel. At $50K, it should be scentless.

Yeah, I was thinking – I’ve looked a bit at the Elise, but it’s so HEAVY! lol

Yeah, I've never seen on stateside for that. This was a [Caterham] car listed in the UK. It was an '87, but had been FULLY updated in '98 and looked to be well sorted (but who's to tell without a full inspection).

cough, cough... ouch! Still shipping from the UK would be? $500-600 bucks? I saw a REALLY nicely sorted Caterham that had been updated to the 6-speed tranny and a 190 HP Zeetec for around $20K, but it was in the UK -- I'm thinking a lot of this 7 stuff is cheaper over there!

DANG! that dash looks good. I wonder what the angle woulf have to be so the reflection won't whack you in the eyes. It seems like if it were more vertical, it wouldn't have as big a issue? Dang that dash looks good!

Just out of morbid curiosity, does anyone know whether the Caterham 6-speed can be purchased separately (for a non-kit buyer), and if so what does it run?

WOW, I owned a 951 as well – 86 and a real garage queen, so I’m thinking, since it only ever sees the sun (and covered there if parked) maybe what I need is an even higher performing fair-weather car lol. I sold the 951 some time ago since I needed something more practical at the time and just couldn’t bear driving it in the rain etc. Now, I’ll have space, time, $, for a dedicated ‘hobby’ car, so now it will be OK just to drive on nice days, which in TX is about 10 month out of the year!

BTW, do you happen to know the offset and bolt pattern diameter on the Race Dynamics?

rule - a rattle means something ain't right. corollary - just because the rattle has stopped doesn't mean it has 'fixed' itself... Glad you caught it!

No need to get your panties in a wad -- just making an observation and I wasn't knocking anybody. They sell Z06s don't they? I just haven't gotten around to buying the gold chain yet. What one can afford and what one chooses to afford are often quite different. NO doubt $55K is a lot of scratch. If it floats your boat, dive in. Your point about 7s being avail able for many price levels is well taken. I'll try and stay in the part of the pool where I can keep my head above the water -- treading water can get pretty old, or so I've heard. It's all good :grouphug:

It does look like a nice car -- why don't you post a price -- there isn't one listed on Dick's site [that I could see] or posted anywhere. I'm a dork, so I probably missed it.

Not that these cars aren’t nice and all, I mean that’s why I’m lurking, but OMG, at $46K, plus engine and transmission, and I assume wheels and tires, you are looking at mid $50Ks minimum. At that kind of money the playing field really opens up… Hey if you got it flaunt it I guess lol.

It's called maturity...

I wonder how much? Is that the ‘subtle’ dig? This is basically the same set up I was thinking for a Birkin (If I go that way). I think to do a Birkin like that it would probably run you around $30K, no?

From what I read the licensing issues in CA make it even more attractive!

The JDM engine thing is that they are easy to get, and even get in RWD versions that often weren’t available stateside (and thus the total lack of RWD donors). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Honda lump and am a really big Honda fan (one of the reasons I’m actually considering a Spectre (http://www.spectresportscars.co.uk/index.html). I don’t even mind spending the money for the S2000 engine and transmission; however, all of the guys on the Birkin user group are claiming that the tunnel is really small leaving few options, and from what I’ve read and heard the Honda would be very tall in most sevens that are close to the original size 7 (Birkin is an S-3 clone, if I’m not mistaken). I’d like to see the S2000 install into a Birkin and what was/would be required to pull it off. I really didn’t want to get into the whole dry sump shenanigans because I think the closer you keep it to the ‘book’ build, whichever book that might be, then the smoother, faster, and more rea$onable the build will be. I was really leaning toward the S2K in fact just because of the Honda engine, though I’m not so hot on the style (I’m going to go by Brian's and look at the car in person to see whether I like it better in person than in the pictures). The Duratec, which is supposed to be the current ‘hot’ setup in the Birkin, is supposed to provide just north of 200 HP. I think I could live with that, and from what everybody is saying too much more than that is a waste in the hands of 90% of those driving them and I’m probably one of those! lol. I got to say the Cosworth installs look unbelievable, but I’m sure the price of the engine is as well, and they don’t seem to be that easy to find, so I wasn’t really considering that one. I like the 4AGEs as well, but they just looked like they were down a bit on power unless you were willing to spend a fair amount extra (could just be my perception). And isn’t there an issue with the tilt on the later models when mating to a RWD transmission? I wanted to keep away from the turbos as well to keep it all simpler. The turbos can be a bit peaky as well (though I don’t think that in itself is a significant issue) and I’ve read that comment about the S2000 engine more than a few times, though I don’t know how that would compare to a Duratec, for instance – I haven’t seen a side-by-side torque curve (torque moves the car), which would be interesting. Yeah, those Dokervoorts are pretty cool looking, but ouch, one will take a reaming to get one into the garage lol. I think with the bigger sevens (Westfield, MNR, WCM, Dax, etc) that the S2000 engine will fit, but from what guys are saying, it’s pretty tough (read seemingly not worth it) to shoehorn one into the smaller rigs. Again, if you can find the guy, or pics of the install, that would be extraordinarily useful.

Thanks again, Yeah, I'm starting to hear that the 3S-GE is a fair amount bigger (heavier) than the 4AGE. The problem is that there just aren't that many 4AGE donors around, though I'm sure you can get plenty of the engines as they came in MR2s, if I'm not mistaken. The other 'disadvantage' is that most of them are around 160 HP, though they are pretty cheap. I didn't think they would bolt right up to a Miata tranny -- I had heard the T-50 will bolt up (but that's not the one in the Miata, is it?). I was hoping to hit around 200 HP, which I guess sounds like a Duratec with intake, exhaust and cams... Yeah, You could go Miata turbo, but I was trying to keep it simple and I didn't want the HP to be too peaky (am I asking for too much?).