slomove

Bear with me....I am still in the research phase. There were 2 questionable motels in town but maybe the route will go somewhere else, anyway.

Cash for Clunkers? But that is a clunker I would not mind to have....

One more endorsement for Hwy550; I drove part of it on USA2005. However.....it is a bridge (or more) too far for me on a one week trip. But Hwy 550 would be an excellent road to get to Arizona ;-) I am not sure about the actual overnight stops yet, but one place in the middle of nowhere is the Hon-Dah casino and another one is Casitas de Gila (nothing special, just found it by coincidence). After all, the feedback tells me it is doable Right now I am planning for the week of 4/3/2010 through 4/10/2010 Gert

128 mph at the end of the NASCAR oval on the Califoria Speedway according to the GPS log with 170 RWHP and full screen. I found it quite impressive, especially considering the lateral acceleration and steep banking in that curve (not to mention the upcoming 90-degree corner). But then, I did a leisurely 130+ for more than half an hour in a boring VW Passat Diesel on a quiet Sunday early morning on the German autobahn with the radio playing. It's all relative.... http://www.californiacaterhamclub.com/chat/attachment.php?attachmentid=585&d=1245116394

Cool, how about Arizona next April :seeya:

Thanks for the info. I will keep updates posted here.

Well, I was not really planning to do dirt roads (although somehow I always end up on one or the other...). While not sure about the quality of the pavement of all of the highways, I have been through Globe, Alpine and Silver City before and these roads were actually quite good. There is a piece west of Alpine that is a Forest Road and was recommended somewhere as one of the nicer Arizona Byways but that needs a bit more research if it is really suitable for a Seven.

Oh my....just returned fom CO/WY I am already wondering about the next tour. Since it will be early April and only one week (i.e. Spring Break) it can not be that far from SoCal. So I was considering to trailer to a place like Prescott, AZ and go on a 7-day loop from there along the Mogollon Rim, White Mountains, Gila NF, Coronado Trail, Fort Apache, Salt River and back to Prescott. Something like that, but just a first rough idea: Prescott-Show Low Show Low-Silver City Silver City-Gila Gila-White River White River-Punkin Center Punkin Center-Prescott Now my question for the Locals (Lowflyer comes to mind)..... Does that sound reasonable with a Seven? Or is it just too friggin' cold and risking snowing in at that time of the year? I don't mind packing a down jacket but I was not really planning to suffer. Thanks, Gert P.S.: By the way....would anybody be interested?

I have the Whistler Cruisader bike radar detector but only installed the main and auxiliary laser detector looking forward. I could not imagine what a rear detector should be good for. I mean if a cop raises the radar (not to mention laser) gun from behind it will probably just serve as ticket notification device? Unlike the pickup of spurious radiation while approaching the trap you have really no reaction time when gunned down from behind. Or is that only for the case that a cruiser is following you with radar turned on?

That is what I did and it appears to work well. I just tighten the front strap until the wheels hit the chocks (they hold forward and to the side and are bolted to the floor). For the rear strap I go around the rear roll-bar stays; that is much easier to access than the axle. I wondered to have the strap crossed but after many miles of towing I found the car is not moving at all, probably because the suspension springs are a little under tension all the time. I understand the comments that the bearings will be loaded in one spot but I can not see that the load is that much higher than when driving, not even talking about driving potholes or track days. Did somebody ever hear about ruined bearings from trailering? Gert

Yes, that is strange...I still have the VDO electrical temp sender/gages. They are not as bad as the electrical pressure devices and I calibrated them to check their reading a while ago. The water temperature sender sits in the Raceline water rail and for the oil temp sender I drilled a hole in the front sump plug for the suction tube strainer (also Raceline sump). That way there is always guaranteed immersion and heat transfer in the oil stream. I can switch between both senders with a pushbutton. In town and on the highway temperatures are identical. Freeway around 75mph will see the oil temperature maybe 10 degrees C higher than water and at the end of a track session the oil may go up to 125 degree C. Overall the Laminova device seems to do a good job, although I probably should have bought the next bigger size. Gert

On my older ZX1 Contour engine with totally different oil pump the numbers are also pretty similar. Maybe hot idle and hot running (@80-90 degrees C) are a tad lower with 20-30 and 60 psi respectively. FWIW due to the Laminova heat exchanger the water and oil temperatures on the road are almost the same. I had replaced the stock Birkin/VDO mechanical pressure gage with a VDO electrical sender/gage and after 3 years went back to mechanical like other folks mentioned. The electrical gage reading was a crapshot all them time, very non-linear and battery voltage dependent.

My wife returned from a 4-week trip to the Old Country today (had not seen the new paint job yet). Looked at the Birkin, mumbled something about "nice color", "beautiful paint job", "better than new" and "looks great" and then...."but it does not look like our little car". Oh well, I think she needs to get used to it now. And honestly that was my own feeling after I put it all back together. Amazing how one can get attached to a certain appearance of a thing that you really like, even if you don't like the appearance itself. I guess another trip or two and we will be over it :driving: Gert

I run 325# front and 175# rear (with ball joint radius arms, no rubber bushings). Gert

Thanks guys, it is about 1.5" from the side wall. I think I will just take a 12V compressor with me. Gert

My left rear tire was slowly leaking air for the last few weeks. Since I will be going to the Monterey Historic Races on Friday I had another look and found this nice antique nail (maybe 1/2" long or a bit more) sticking in the grooves of the tread. Since I don't have an opportunity to take it to a tire repair shop tomorrow, I picked up one of these tire plug kits at Autozone. No big deal, plug went in in a few minutes and holds pressure. Technically it looks like a decent way of sealing a tiny hole and I believe the pro repair shops don't do much differently. Now it does mention it is only intended to get you to the next tire shop but that might be a product liability disclaimer, I guess. Anyway, should I be concerned to just keep it that way and do the 800 miles round trip to Monterey? Thanks, Gert

Stripping and powder coating is probably a good idea. If you don't mind a little bling you can get it chromed for reasonable money. I got a taller roll bar a while ago that was used and beat up. I took that to a local bike parts polish shop (one of these grimy garage places) and they stripped the paint, polished the steel, copper/nickel/chrome plated the whole thing for some 200 bucks. Admittedly a matter of taste, though.... If it is well chromed it will hold up to a lot of abuse. Just give it a wipe and it looks like new. Gert

Beg to differ....I think the market is relatively good right now. Given there are probably less than maybe 1000 Se7ens in the US (just made up that number but sounds reasonable) you can not expect a whole shopping list available at any given time. But if you keep looking and are willing to hang in for a few months some nice opportunities may show up. I would look at one of Dick's new IRS rolling chassis and just build it out to exactly the ax car you want. Not sure what your mechanical experience is or your willingness to pick it up. It is not rocket science, anyway (even I learned some of that). But that would be a good thing to have with any Seven. Good luck! Gert

The article is actually not that bad, provided you can read German ;-) But it is a motorsports magazine aiming at the younger population and therefore it contains bit of youth slang that Google has a real hard time to translate. Overall I think that Google gadget is a great tool to get at least the general meaning of a web site (including the pictures). BTW, in this issue of the magazine there is an interesting Maserati slide show. FWIW "Fußspitzengefühl" kind of just means a sensitive foot "Muckis" isn't really a German word but but funny slang for big muscles Oh yes, and "Schmackes" means forceful, with effort. This is Ruhr area local dialect. This concludes today's lesson of German for Se7en drivers

That is nonsense. My Seven is completely reliable. I can rely 100% on having the tool bag out on any given trip.:smilielol5: Just joking....on that 2500 mile Rocky Mountains trip I just topped off the oil and water. Gert

It is rather simple: clean the aluminum and if you have those tiny rock impact craters (unavoidable in some areas) wet sand protruding metal smooth with 1000 grit paper. Then you get going with polish compound (I use Mothers) and a buffing wheel on a hand drill. Brush a thin film of compound on for a square foot at a time and polish that out. You will get the hang of the polishing pattern so that the wheel will remove its own black residue and leave a mostly clean metal surface. If the buffing wheel gets too clogged up take a new one or refresh it by rubbing against a sharp tip (e.g. large nail) Then clean the metal with mild soap solution and rinse. Wear a dust mask and gloves. You will still look like a pig at the end from all the flying black residue. If you need showroom quality you can remove the swirl marks of the buffing wheel with more compound on a soft bonnet of a disk polisher or just by rubbing out with a terry cloth. Polishing the seriously dull surface of my car took me a full day. But I do that only every other year or so. Gert

Thanks Kiwi, just let me know when you are in town.

Sorry to hear that but whatever works for you.....and good luck with the swap. I suppose I am a bit weird in that regard. Up until I bought the Birkin I was not really a car guy, even less a sports car person. In general a car is a means of transportation for me and a medium sized quality sedan is the most convenient way to achieve this. I like the looks and style of a Porsche or Elise or the like and I would not mind driving one but it is just not important enough for me to shell out serious money; these are just fancier versions of my trusty Accord. The Seven is different because it is not just an exciting and seriously raw car but also a hobby in itself. Actually a long time ago I had pledged (to myself) to never buy a car for more then $20-25k (or the equivalent in the currency of the country I lived in at the time). So far I could keep that pledge, even including the Birkin that I bought used. Don't ask me about all the upgrades, though..... But then again, I think I mentioned I am a bit weird. Oh, did I mention that I am cheap, too ;-) Gert P.S.: Sorry, I just noticed I hijacked your sales thread...

Stan, Bingo!!!! It is indeed Sun Fusion Yellow (Code 5A3) of the Toyota FJ Cruiser. I am not exactly a fan of this car, especially the wart-like rear lights. But a while ago one was driving by and the color just hit my nerve. I think you now richly deserve your 8-hour ride with me but thinking about it, I believe we have already planned one for next weekend It is just that you may want to drive yourself anyway. Thanks to all the feedback, praise and opinions on the looks of the car. I hope it was a bit of fun. Gert P.S.: Since many of the color proposals are almost identical to the Toyota color, everybody who participated is invited to ride in my car ;-)

Stan, you are getting really close now.