slomove

Hello Mondo, that is great! But why only the 10 miles to McKittrick? Not sure what is going on with your car but you might consider this loop. Easy 200 miles and the Bitterwater Road provides an excellent suspension test as other folks on this list can attest :hurray:. A shakedown of your car will get a totally new meaning If your Seven should break down while in our company I always carry a lot of tools and a tow rope. On the highway back home, well, AAA is your friend. Gert

Oh no, just noticed, you DID buy a Seven.....well, then maybe we can drive a bit together.

Yes I remember we met....that is over 2 months now and you still don't have a Seven ;-) Please shoot me your email or phone number by Private Message. As it happens I will have to cut the trip a day short and start only Friday. My son comes home from college, after all and it probably would not be so cool to let him sit home alone on Thanksgiving while we drive around. Anyway, it may well be that we are in your area on Saturday and I will contact you

Big Ornament: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/2009/glance/whalecarcass/whale1.jpg Medium Ornament: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=1159&stc=1&d=1258360672 Small Ornament: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_242PlvPtVpE/SmuLDPUq9qI/AAAAAAAAAfo/_ARCLghCYNA/s720/P1010492.JPG

Just curious...

Thanks for the tips. I tried to locate a manual impact driver bot none of the local shops had that. So I went to work with a 3' extension and finally managed to break them lose without shearing the head off. The screeching sound made me shiver, though. But these Torx bolts are indeed a PITA. Gert

I would agree about the motivation of the car makers, but if you go for higher load than specified in the US it may become a liability issue for you if you ever get into an accident. It sounds like a good excuse for an insurance to weasel out of coverage or to blame you for partial responsibility when somebody else is at fault. The Euro spec is not going to help you. Gert

YouTube - Renault 5

I am in the process of stripping down a used ZX1 engine as spare parts donor. No problems so far, but the cylinder head bolts just won't come out (not any of them). I never had this problem with my old engine when I took the head off in the past. Should I just get a more powerful impact wrench (and are impact wrenches recommended for such stretch bolt anyway)? Or just use a longer lever on the regular wrench? I am concerned that something gives before the thread moves (the bolt itself, the T60 torx bit or the bolt head torx pattern), leaving me even in a bigger mess. Anybody knows a good trick? Thanks, Gert

Not that I know of. Some luxury brands are working on LED headlights but the total power output of a halogen or HID Xenon is still many times higher than any current technology LED. You would need an array of dozens hi-power LED (or hundreds of small ones) to get there and then the beam pattern would be hard to achieve. Actuallt the LED need to run cool for best efficiency and heat dissipation becomes a problem. Typical halogen bulbs have 55 or 65 watts and HID I believe have 35 watts.

Nice car, even unfinished and interesting lights. Don't look exactly cheap, though? For my own headlight project I will stay with a little more conservative design ;-) I did more experiments and found that the Hella module heats up quickly in a tight enclosure. It reached 220 degrees F (105 deg. C) on the module surface in less than 5 minutes and at that rate it would probably have reached some 300+ degrees which is not good, especially since it does have a few plastic parts. I suppose I will need ventilation.

Do you need to feed it and give some attention like these Tamagotchis from 10 years ago? Would be too bad if the car gets sad and gives you bad advice.

Well, I don't know. I just see that lady smashing into the poor kid in front of her. At anything more than 10 mph you can guess the consequences. This is plain stupid but may be that is also how evolution keeps stupidity in check. Even if this was common practice and probably fun in the stone age of automotive transportation does not necessarily mean it is a good idea.

Did some low-beam comparison with my existing headlights tonight: - the top picture is a Sylvania Silverstar sealed beam 4x6" H4666 with SAE beam pattern - the middle picture is with my existing 7" (somewhat dusty) reflectors with H4 bulb and ECE beam pattern (as it came with the car) - the bottom one is the new Hella module with H9 bulb and SAE beam pattern Both H4666 and the Hella module were propped up on the nosecone. Due to the automatic exposure the absolute brightness in the image is not exactly comparable but the H4666 is really poor with an extremely bright spot in the middle and dimly lit narrow sidebands. The old H4 is not bad but the new module is quite a bit better at the fringes.

I do quite a bit of long distance touring and find the Seven at least as comfy as my Accord. Actually for some reason I have less of a stiff back and knees when getting out after several hours drive. Key to the positive driving experience for me is: - good seats (mine are Cobra seats). I have a terry cloth cover over the vinyl to reduce sweating. - 3/4 Lexan doors that keep the open feel but cut most of the wind buffeting. The remaining wind is mild enough to wear regular close fitting sunglasses. - bimini top (half hood) to avoid getting sauteed in the SoCal summer sun. But if it is less than 80 degrees I prefer topless and wear a sun hat with long bill and neck shroud (foreign legion style). - ample water - side exit with sufficiently long exit pipe. When driving slow and around tight curves I still get a whiff once a while but not too bad. - proper suspension setup for a smooth ride - minimize freeway driving and really avoid L.A. freeways (well, if possible) - thorough footwell and tunnel insulation, fresh air louvers for the footwell. - limit daily drives to 250-300 miles on longer highway tours. Gert

Hello Bob, I am not too familiar with 3D Max myself. But I found a bunch of info on the 'Net from people with this conversion problem. According to some of the CAD gurus there, 3D Max does indeed not contain any actual dimensional CAD data but rather the procedural information to build the 3D model. That means a converter would have to be able to execute all the modeling functions of the Autodesk software. As a result practically you can only use 3D-Max software itself to convert and export into another format. Maybe I should have rather asked who here has 3D-Max software..... Gert

I found this model of an R300 and downloaded it in 3D-Max format. I assumed incorrectly that my CAD system can import this format. Was only 10 bucks but anyway annoying. Somebody around here who can read this Autodesk format and re-export in something reasonable (preferred Parasolid and ACIS, but also STEP or IGES or if need be STL or some dozen other formats)? Thanks for any help! Gert

Hello rnr, that would be nice. Here is the plan: We are planning to leave Thursday, 11/26 around 8am from Pasadena, stay in King City (Keefer's Inn), drive up Friday to Carmel and back to Paso Robles (Best Western Black Oak) and return home Saturday from Paso Robles. If anybody wants to join us and meet at some point please let me know. Gert

We were just too late at 11am. Made it to the Rosamond Exit after 30 minutes stuck already on the Freeway. I imagined another 15 miles stop-and-go on the access road and arriving just when the show was finished. So we turned around and did something else. Oh well, next time when the gate opens.....

We are considering something like this . Anybody interested? 3 days with stops in King City and Atascadero. Gert

Don't know about Gaz shocks but with my old Spax as well the current Protech I needed few if any clicks at all. With too many clicks the rebound sometimes took a second or more which leads to a very hard ride. On the other hand even with no clicks the rebound was not oscillating (swinging up and down) so I ended up with 2 out of 12 clicks and that unscientific method gives me a pretty good ride. Gert

Memory is good enough....that is what I have seen as recommendation. Works for me.

I don't know....something is rattling on my car all the time. Once a while I can even identify the source. Sometimes it goes away and then it comes back somewhere else. Kind of got used to it and with earplugs I don't even hear it. As for the alternator bracket I have had several versions cracking until I made one myself and over-engineered it a bit. But normally they announced their demise by desperate squealing.

And no double yellow line or equivalent passing (overtaking) impediment I can see.:hurray:

Maybe she was talking about the practical side? I mean the 500 numbers are definitely gone within hours and the DMV does not need to bother for another 365 days. The unwillingness to keep trying when Sacramento is locked up may indeed be just laziness. Some offices are known to be more supportive than others. There seems to be something new in the making (if it ever gets through...).