slomove

I modified mine a long time ago. Removed the fluid reservoirs and mounted them onto a small tray in front of the firewall and added an aluminum angle to the firewall so that it can be screwed down from the engine compartment side. Also added an access hatch to get to the windscreen wiper gear nut. I can take the scuttle off or put back on in 5 minutes.

Bead blasting will surely clog the small passages and the bead stream will not get into the nooks and crannies anyway. The SeaFoam solvent is supposed to be a good carb cleaner for soaking or just regular carb and injector cleaner spray (use outdoors only) to quickly blast through. Both at any auto parts store.

Somebody correct me but the normal ZX3 has no VCT. The ZX2 (quite rare) had VCT on the exhaust side. But if your engine has intake VCT it sounds like a Focus SVT type engine. If that is true, compression is already increased, valves are bigger and the cams are hotter than a standard Zetec. You can surely get even more aggressive than that but might not be 91 octane compatible anymore. Otherwise, maybe ITB setup, aftermarket ECU? Removal of the VCT and adjustable cam sprockets might make that easier but I found on my engine the removal kits are not easy to get anymore or don't work properly. But it might be an idea to take a turn on the dyno and get a baseline where you are now. If you see already 170-180 hp at the rear wheels around 7000 rpm that is about as good as it gets with a streetable 2 liter Zetec on 91 gas (without turbo or high rpm modifications). I guess that is equivalent to about 210-220 hp at the crank.

What is your starting point? Just a stock Zetec with stock ECU and TB ? What is your budget? And how many miles on the engine?

In principle no difference (as it should). But the hall effect sensor is not a potentiometer with a mechanical slider on a carbon strip. It is all solid state, no-contact and sealed so should be more reliable. Not sure about your symptoms, but if you can get the TPS to respond under certain conditions and not under a different condition it may not be the TPS after all but the ECU or the wiring? Can you tap into the TPS wiring to check the if the output voltage is changing when moving the throttle?

I had the Colvern TPS fail after hosing it down by mistake and replaced it with a contactless (magnetic) Penny and Giles TP8RH sensor. Works great but very expensive. May also need tweaking of the injection map since the response is not exactly identical to the Colvern TPS.

Not exactly Bay area...but if you can make it to Los Angeles you are welcome for a ride in my Birkin. Please see also PM.

Hm. that sounds like an interesting route. So far I had planned to go to Huntington and then along the Ohio river scenic byway, also all off the freeways. Should I change my mind?

Duh, now I mangled not only Dayton but also Charleston. I should not write such stuff from memory when traveling in Europe... But thanks to All for the tips. I have already changed the route. Maybe I should also visit Biston, Schanactidy and Portsland :jester:

O.K., good advice Minor difference but Florida was not really part of the plan. Also thanks for the tip on Boston and Nazareth. I have seen the Constitution many years ago but probably time for another visit and never been to Bunker Hill (other than the one in Los Angeles...)

So, we are going on our annual road trip (unfortunately sans Seven) in a u-loop end of June covering western PA, WV, eastern OH, northern PA, mid NY to Boston. We picked already a good number of attractions but I am looking for more recommendations. We are just not the cruise vacation people. Itinerary is: Pittsburgh-Morgantown-Lewisburg-Charlotte(WV)-Cincinnati-Berlin(OH)-Altoona-Scranton-Schenectady-Boston-Portsmouth. Some of the items on the to-do list are the Fallingwater museum, various local breweries and other town attractions, just the Appalachian scenery, the Daytona Airforce museum, Ohio Amish country, railroad museums in Altoona and Scranton. No freeway, just highways and country roads. Any other secret destinations along that route? I must admit I have been a Bluegrass fan for a long time and would appreciate recommendations for good local joints where such music is played. Maybe some flatfoot dancing as well. Googling did not get me very far other than Youtube links. Thanks guys!

:rofl: As for the scale you will have a hard time to get the car exactly into the same balance position when you move the scale from one wheel to the next. A small fraction of an inch can make all the difference in the scale reading (keep in mind the front springs have at least 250 lbs/in stiffness). Also, the wheels tend to move a little horizontally when loaded and the bathroom scales don't like that at all. Another problem when adjusting the spring platforms is that moving one will change the reading of all four. Very difficult to optimize when you can not read all 4 at the same time. At some point I built a set of 4 jigs with mechanical 300 pound bathroom scales ($10 each) where the wheels were sitting on a lever that reduced the weight force by a factor of 2 and eliminated the horizontal forces. Kind of worked but was still cumbersome to level precisely and load up with a jack. It was much easier to go to a friend who has a professional Longacre racing scale set.

One more vote for the Emerald. I have it for 12 years now, no problems and upgraded to their newer firmware a while ago. Easy to program and map, includes a data logger function. There is no Emerald harness that I know of. It comes with a big connector to be crimped or soldered to the various wires but has a good description what goes where. The TPS can be calibrated if the output is somewhere in the 0-5V range. It does need high impedance injectors and I suspect it can be used with any common coil pack or COP.

Looks fabulous...care to explain which roads you have been on? We are planning a drive in June from Morgantown to Lewisburg, Charleston, Huntington and on (no Freeway but rental car, though :ack:) and would not mind some good recommendations. Is that all Kudzu in the photo, that is really taking over....

If you are from the area you may know most or all of them already. - My local favorites are the Little Tujunga Canyon, various canyon roads in the Malibu area and during the week even Angeles Crest Hwy. - Little further away San Francisquito and Bouqet Canyon Roads, Lockwood Valley Road/Hwy33, Cerro Noroestre and Tepusquet Canyon Rd. - Even further away Hemet-Idyllwild-Banning, Hwy38 to Big Bear, Mt Palomar Road, Mesa Grande, Sunrise Hwy, Hwy 58, Pozo Road, Naciemento-Ferguson Rd., Caliente Bodfish Rd. - More fabulous roads in the mountains of NorCal of course. - Best of all: Beartooth Highway. Not exactly local ;-)

Sometimes I find it hard to believe myself. There are fabulous roads here in the mountains up to 7500' altitude. Glendora Ridge Road is only 40 minutes from my home: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=12137&stc=1

Yes it is. I was surprised the road was in good condition after the storm. Just a few rocks and many bicyclists on the pavement.

Yes, I made a first version some 12 years ago. They are more half-doors than wind deflectors and cut out the buffeting almost completely. Together with the sun-roof it is also a good rain protection and key to comfortable touring. I had posted the story of the second improved version (including a failed attempt), what worked and some detail pics including the gullwing swivel here

Nice day for trip to the San Gabriel Mountains after the heavy rain storms... Sometimes hard to believe this is Los Angeles.

How is the crankcase vent plumbed? Does it go back into the intake like many cars have or does it go into a catch can. In the first case I would agree with previous opinions, in the latter case it may have a more ominous meaning. In any case, high revs tend to foam/atomize the oil in the crank case and lateral acceleration in right hand turns will slosh the oil against the breather opening (after all, the engine was designed to be mounted perpendicular to a Seven installation). Then it needs only a little piston blow-by to force the oil into the breather tube.

Very small amounts can come from the coolant pump weep hole (a little hole in the side of the pump housing where the shaft bearing sits). A few occasional droplets may be o.k. but if large amounts come out the pump seal may be bad. I would tape a piece of paper towel to the pump and check if it is soaked after the drive.

I have an external Bosch fuel pump that pulls from my fuel cell through a low pressure filter and feeds the injectors through a high pressure filter. The Fuel Safe cell has a small slosh tank in the bottom to deal with lateral acceleration. This is install next to the tank side to the skin so that the bolt heads are inside the rear wheel wing well. The Bosch pump and high pressure filter were sold by MSI (Woody Harris) some 12 years ago as a kit mounted on an alu plate with rubber feet/bushings (to reduce the pump whirr). Has been working without any trouble since, even in 100++ degrees heat. Unfortunately I don't know the part numbers and don't get to the parts without major disassembly. You could try and ask Larry at MSI in Vacaville, CA even if they don't do Sevens stuff anymore.

Not sure about the Caterham but I had to tweak the front wing stays of my Birkin to get 205's to fit without rubbing. But after all, I must say the handling with the wider front tires is rather worse than with the 195 I had before.

I have that Quaiffe LSD installed on my Birkin and IIRC there were folks on the Birkinowners list who researched an alternative for long time consulting with diff specialists and no alternative was found. Not to say there is none but apparently not so easy to find. As for the usability, I appreciated the LSD a lot for track days on dry pavement and obviously it would be great for autocross where wheel spin becomes an issue. But if it was for public highway driving I would not bother. Besides the improvement in acceleration I noticed a serious downside on wet and slippery curvy roads which may not be intuitive. It happened to me once at the Infineon track (or whatever the name is nowadays) and once locally on Mulholland Highway where I lost traction at one rear wheel on wet pavement due to a mud patch while driving fast but not spectacularly so. The sudden torque doubling on the remaining rear wheel that still had traction broke that one loose as well. At least that is my theory for a spin out of nowhere and without warning. I guess without LSD the spinning wheel would rather relieve the torque on the other side and keep that wheel able to keep up with the lateral forces.

Sorry, removed the reply. Read first that it was for an LSD not a gearbox.