slomove

Hey, that is not political, religious or controversial. That is just funny. Maybe an aspiring streaker should at least wear glasses.

Dick, that brings back memories of touring with you, Bernie and Mitch at USA2005. Would be great seeing you there!

Depending on your mechanical inclination that is what you may want to do anyway. Leave the engine and tranny in but disassemble at least the suspension and plumbing, check motor mounts etc. It surely takes a few days to strip it down and put back together but it gives you an opportunity to learn the intimate details, check for rust in corners and fix all the minor and major things that come to light even in a well built car. After that you will have much more confidence to go a distance. When I rebuilt the front suspension recently I came across a few wear and tear things that should have been fixed long time ago.

I believe 15 ft-lbs for the normal Zetec. The SVT probably the same?

The more the merrier....the Canadians let us in with the Se7en group in 2007 so I guess it is just fair to have a few Canadians on board for this trip :seeya:

Suggestion: would be nice to add captions which type of car or any special information if available. Maybe the owners can leave comments on the Picasa page with this info. I sent a link to pictures of my Birkin.

That would be great meeting you there. *Only* 1500 to 1700 miles from Atlanta, depending where you want to join. But maybe it is easier if you bring your wife on the trip? If she needs any convincing I can gve her my wife's contact info. She loves touring with the Seven and may be able to alleviate some concerns. On USA2005, my first longer trip she did not have the time for the full 2 weeks and took a plane to Durango, Co for the return trip to Ca. Such a partial trip may be an alternative. Good luck!

No I missed that. Very cool. But I guess before Stiglet grows tall enough to reach the pedals you have worn it out. Is that from the same outfit?

Nobody should blame a Seven driver to resemble a sane and resonable person :smilielol5: But given that these are handmade pieces in very small quantity the price makes some sense. Probably only possible because Made in Vietnam.

Can I please have one of those for Christmas? I have been a comparably good boy and would prefer the Bugatti. But the E-type would be accepatable as well.

Given Chapman's "add lightness" creed this should be a swimsuit edition.

I suspect the low rate of 7s touring is related to several factors: - there are some (not all) spouses who just don' like riding along in a Seven for extended time (too fast/noisy/dangerous). I suppose this does not apply to spouses who are used to motorcycles. - many Seven owners have track-oriented cars - many US drivers don't have (or spend) enough vacation to make touring meaningful. - Some drivers just don't like touring In the UK there are many more people touring or using the Seven as daily driver. Here in the US I was lucky to get 8 cars at a time on the Pacific Northwest Tour 2007 ( 2 weeks) and there were 12 cars on USA2005 with the folks from the UK. I hope to get between 3 to 6 cars next year on the Black Hills tour. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with touring in a Seven. A bit more comfy than a bike but still noisy, limited weather protection and limited luggage space. But my wife and I like it much better than touring in a boring tintop. We did probably some 15,000 miles on long distance trips over 3000 miles and another 10,000 on weekend trips. Absolute requirement: a solid build that does not break down every 50 miles. Recommended: good seats and at least a half-hood. Company of another Seven is more fun and an additional safety net (imagine a unique part going out in the middle of Wyoming)

[/url]As a continuation of a previous announcement thread here we are getting to more detail. Most of the hotels are picked (Newcastle still pending), the route is more or less defined and all we need to do is go there :seeya: So, if you are interested (a few people were apparently serious about participating) have a look at the attached table with destinations and accommodation. Many thanks to Randall Z. who did a great job scouting out some of the hotels. After all it was the goal to find places in the $100 range (plus/minus) with close access to the cars and good traveler reviews. This mostly (not always) ended up as an old fashioned motel with parking in front of the room. I made my reservations already and recommend to do the same if you want to be there next Summer. Depending on the location you may have some time but in the interesting places it may sell out soon. For the central place of Custer where we want to stay 5 nights I picked a well recommended moderate cost place. There are more fancy hotels in Custer close by if somebody prefers that. If you want to come along, I would appreciate if you could let me know for a tally who to expect. Otherwise it is a completely self-organized tour. So, here's the deal..... --------->>>>>> deleted to avoid confusion, new itinerary here:

I used to have a Weberized Zetec (before I switched to EFI) and had an Emerald 3D ignition-only ECU. Worked excellent.

Yes, nice road that is. We went there last Saturday with Doug and Randall. But don't be surprised by the wildlife (I posted that a few years ago).

You could measure with a volt meter on one of the instrument ground wires if it is really ground (not more than a few 100 mV to the battery negative). I guess some return wire connection is broken or corroded.

If you happen to have a fuel cell it may weep if older. Mine does, actually it dribbles gas when standing more than half full. There is somewhere at least one pinhole and I guess I need to replace the bladder soon. But then I have been living with it for the last 2 years.

If that is vinyl it may make the difference. Clear paint protection film is extremely tough (and expensive) polyurethane but also with an acrylic adhesive. While a heat gun makes the polyurethane a little more pliable, there are limits with complex curved surfaces. I suppose vinyl will give much more with heat but nevertheless I would buy double quantity to allow for a learning curve and to get it right.

I did not know about the colored films but clear paint protection films have been around for a while. I suppose the issues applying them are similar. I applied such a clear film myself last year and, while it came out well, I am not sure if I would do this again myself. An advantage of the color film may be that you don't see every tiny bubble or dust speck, that means more forgiving. However, the side flanges of the wings and the nose cone are very much compound curved surfaces that need precisely matching pre-cuts. I matched most cuts on the fly with an Exacto knife but that did not work out perfectly all the time. Also, the smallest amount of grime, dust or grease on the fingers will leave an ugly blush with the clear film. It is one more thing I don't regret having tried but the results are probably better when a skilled person is doing this for a living and knows the pitfalls. May cost a bit more but save a weekend and some frustration. If you do find a professional make sure to get some references for similar jobs.

That has been known for a while http://www.motorcycle.com/news/harleydavidson-seeks-federal-bailout-87855.html Not sure what to think of such practice, given the circumstances. I hope the government makes at least a buck on such guarantees (given the risk) but I don't know the details. If I read that right it was to keep the finance arm liquid so that more people could keep buying overpriced motorcycles they can not afford? While I own a Yamaha myself I understand the value of HD as an American icon.

That was my first thought when I saw them on a CSR (compared to all the other bulky suspension hardware protruding from the chassis). Without detail analysis of the aerodynamic efficiency, the dynamic pressure of air at 150 mph is (if I am not mistaken) about 0.4 psi. Given the small horizontally projected area of maybe 2-3 square inches, I suppose the best lift you can get of such a whisker is maybe 1 or 2 pounds which does not strike me as significant. Typical aerodynamic helpers tend to be rather snow-shovel size or bigger. But maybe there is some other aero magic going on and I do not have measurement data to prove otherwise. So who am I to question the believers?

Thanks for the tip. I heard about the felt method but I only found synthetic felt that would not have survived the temperature. I am pretty sure I could have a achieved an acceptable result eventually with continued experimentation. But honestly my patience ran out and at $35 per 16x32" per sheet the experimentation gets expensive pretty soon. I am quite satisfied with the result anyway. I don't regret giving the thermo-forming a try (old R&D wisdom: fail early, fail often) but the method with the frame is just much easier.

Unfortunately it is not a simple repeatable molding process as originally envisioned. But doing the tube frame is actually not that difficult. It is 5/16 thin walled 304 stainless tubing that can easily be shaped with a tube bender by hand. One 6' stick plus 5" extension is sufficient for one side. It took me maybe 3 or 4 hours per side, bending, fitting, tweaking over and over until it was right. Since I don't have a jig this can only be done with frequent fitting on the car. Then I welded the swivel mounting plate, a dowel to hold on to the windscreen stanchion and a steel strap for the door sill. The swivel is a nylon ball joint in an aluminum shaft collar. Depending on the collar tightening the swivel has more or less friction.

That was last year's project: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4498 In the meantime I ditched the separate swivel stem and re-mounted the headlights a little lower on the shock bracket from the newly installed Birkin widetrack kit. Looks more integrated and less vibration.