slomove

Hm. Trading the San Andreas Fault for the Cascadia Subduction Zone....:willy_nilly:

Yes it is a local dry lake. But the mud is high in alkali salt. After the trip the car was covered in a fine tan powder and I made sure to wash down everything with lots of water. Not going to do that again but I wanted to try at least once.

Salt? What salt?

No firm plans yet, but some budding ideas…. a weeklong drive last week of June through NorCal (the real Northern California) on roads that are new to me and some nice ones that I know. Something like that: 6/25 – Trailer to Sonoma (or vicinity) 6/26 – Sonoma-Oroville via Lake Berryessa, Hwy16, Lodoga 6/27 – Oroville-Burney via Lake Almanor and Lassen NP 6/28 - Burney-Weed via McArthur-Burney Falls, Lava Beds NM and around Shasta 6/29 – Weed-Eureka via Gazelle-Callahan Rd and Forks of Salmon 6/30 – maybe a day in Eureka 7/1 – Eureka-Fort Bragg via Alderpoint Road and Hwy1 (Shoreline Hwy) 7/2 – Fort Bragg-Sonoma via Orr Springs, Booneville-Ukiah and Skaggs Spring Roads 7/3 or 7/4 Trailer back home to LA Anybody interested in part or all of this trip?

If it is unknown that the car was ever set up and ran properly, I would not discount the possibility that the ECU setup is more or less screwed up. But cleaning injectors and replacing the fuel lines would not hurt and if the problem does not go away a dyno session may be required.

I have seen several similar reviews of various vintage of Sevens over the years. They have a certain point but (like most journalists) totally exaggerate because nobody would buy the story if they just wrote "great drive, fun on windy roads but a bit loud and windy". For that matter, my wife and I have done some 30,000+ miles on long distance trips sometimes with pouring rain or scorching heat but never regretted a mile. That said, good seats, footwell insulation, sun roof and effective wind deflectors are kind of necessary.

I don't believe this is an issue. I have the catch can vented to the engine compartment, not the intake. No problem with my old Zetec and so far not with my new SVT Zetec as well. I don't smell oil and the little oil mist that does come out takes care of the corrosion proofing But if you vent into the intake, the minor vacuum (intake flow greater than blowby flow) will probably make sure that the fumes go back into the engine and do not escape through the air filter.

Sounds like a plan and this should work, as long as you don't forget to drain the catch can in a timely fashion. Spitting a lot of oil into carbs is not that great. On my old engine, it spew very little oil under normal highway driving (mostly condensed water/oil slurry, drain every couple of months). But it spit out a lot of oil on the track. The windage and aeration at continued high revs, high temps, increased blow-by and cornering/braking hard (sloshing the oil in the sump) made a big difference and required draining after every track session.

Reminds me of an argument that was made that students who drink hard have better test scores and are more successful in life. Goes like this...everybody knows that alcohol kills brain cells. However, for obvious reasons the weakest brain cells die first, leaving the proud owner of the brain with only the strongest brain cells and therefore at a competitive advantage. I have now set up an elaborate test program to prove that it also works at my age. So far I had the best results with Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA

Oh yeah, ask me about it. Great fun with aluminum retainers cracking when driving in the Middle of Nowhere. As you can see from the nicely rounded pebbles of the fragments this must have been going on for a while before the retainers finally failed. I think you can call yourself quite lucky. Cause: And effect:

Well, saying he survived with minor injuries (not sure how he managed to do that). Don't see what brand that was, not a Caterham or Birkin I guess one of the two or three German versions.

Not sure if the clam shells contribute to the situation, but I suspect the side exit is just too short. Usually they end right in font of the rear wing so that the exhaust gas is blown clear off the side of the rear wheel. I your case, the exhaust gas may get caught up in the turbulence of the rear wing and some of it get into the cockpit. Quite often drivers opt for the side exhaust in spite of the noise because it make less of a stink than a rear exit exhaust, which is known to pull back fumes over the boot. I have the crankcase and valve cover breather into the air (via catch can) and no problems, but that may depend on how much blow-by your engine makes.

Forgot to mention...I have similar "skirts" or mud flaps as shown in the previous post. They are cut from generic Autozone truck mud flaps and riveted to the wings in a similar fashion with a gap of about 1" to the pavement. They do reduce some of the direct blasting of the car sides and rear wings as well as pebbles in the cockpit. However: - while they are quite rigid, when driving the wind bends them up somewhat and allows more rocks to escape below. They are not completely effective. - the rocks that are captured, bounce around inside the front wing and are mostly spit out to the front of the car. Many of them end up on the bonnet, the wind screen or in the cockpit. I am sometimes wondering if this is responsible for my rapidly pitting windscreen - it happened twice to me that the mud flap got caught between the wheel and a shallow curb while driving backward. That will reliably bend the wing stay tubes and require some repair. I may just remove the flaps sometimes because I am probably better off without.

Kind of....I have usec ClearMask Aeroguard to cover the front and rear wings as well as the nosecone. However...practically all the brands on the market are owned or controlled by 3M so I guess it is pretty much the same as ClearBra, Invisishield or other derived 3M brands. I did cover the high impact front of the rear ones additionally with a 1/16" sheet of hard rubber that wraps around the rounded wing edge. Now, after 7 years and some 25,000 road miles it still looks reasonable but there is some wear and tear. The smooth rubber surface is now also a bit rough , and there are 4 or 5 places where rock impact from unusual angles has torn small pieces (up to 1/4") from the clear film. The nosecone is dull in a few spots from boiling Chemtool solvent that I squirted by mistake from the spark plug holes (while un-freezing a stuck piston ring). However, I guess the car is in much better shape than it would have been without the film. At some point I just have to replace it (and hope it goes off without the paint...) Anyway, as a sole protection of the rear wing front the clear film is clearly insufficient

Not familiar with the one linked one but if you have more than a few rivets to set (and a compressor), a pneumatic one is MUCH nicer to use. I have been using a rather cheap one from Harbor Fright and it works O.K. for reasonable money.

I used the speed bleeder check valve nipples for a while and they are easy enough to use when pumping with the pedal. But they are even better with a mity-vac style pump on the nipple. Just pull vacuum, open the nipple until it starts bleeding and watch that the reservoir does not drain fully (in that case I close the nipple and refill the reservoir before continuing). I don't worry about fluid color changes but keep bleeding until I refilled the reservoir 2 or 3 times plus another time for the other side caliper. Takes less than 10 minutes for all 4 corners.

With that and otherwise stock parts you may get 170-180 at the wheels (~210 crank?). That is at least what I got from my deceased silvertop Zetec and similar modifications: FZ2002 11mm lift Kent cams&springs (comparable to Focus12 cams for the ZX3 Zetec), ported but not bigger valves, ITB, 10.6 compression) measured on a precision hub dyno. To get more you may need forged guts and a billet oil pump so that you can rev it to 8krpm or more. I would not try that with stock pistons, rods, etc. Even more radical cams (require piston modifications) may help, too.

You have to be more specific if that hp figure is at the crank or at the wheels. I noticed such specs in Europe generally and from "normal" car manufacturers often mean crank hp only.

Ah sorry, forgot that. Apparently Gary posted it there for the Birkin community. I would suspect he will try to sell elsewhere, too. I can PM his phone number from the other post if somebody is interested. Here is the text, IMO a well spec'd Birkin: I am selling my 2001 CS3 DIY1924. It is a competitive and fun autocross car. Never been street driven only autocrossed. Does not have any lights, windshield or interior panels. Zetec with Ford head Comp Cams stage 2 cams Lumenition 45MM throttle bodies SDS ECU 1 1/2 quart Accusump Esslinger adjustable cam pulleys Esslinger aluminum flywheel SPC Close ratio semi-helical T-9 Quaife LSD Howe steering quicknor Autometer gauges Koni double adjustable aluminum shocks Front and rear sway bars Rear diffuser Two removable rear spoilers 7" and 10" tall 4 13x10 Panasport 3 piece wheels 4 13x8 Kieser 3 piece wheels Outlaw 4 piston calipers front & rear Wilwood master cylinders Tonneau cover and car cover Spares - Zetec short block, starter, alternator & fan motor Asking price $17,000

Here is one I found on the Birkinowners list. Not a 500hp monster but I think a very good price for a car with decent power. Set up for Autocross but I suspect it could be retrofitted for road use with limited effort. Disclaimer: I don't know the car and only the name of the owner.

Since it has that hole already, can you pop it off with compressed air? I removed the dust caps off my trailer hubs a while ago and it drove me nuts. Half an hour with hammer, screwdrivers, pipe pliers etc. The caps were toast but cheap to replace.

This one...we took opportunity of a (slightly) cooler weekend and enjoyed the mountain roads. Otherwise it has been so stupidly hot since July that we did not drive the Seven. Looking forward to Winter, but with El Nino coming that may be screwed up as well. Oh well.

That was the idea. Normally we buy our cars cash and drive them 10-12 years. But with the limited life of batteries and rapid rapid pace of technology this did not make sense here. When we have to turn it in 3 years from now I suspect there will be mainstream electric cars with 200-300 miles reach (this one has 80-100miles). However, I also suspect there will be no incentives anymore. E.g. the $2500 California tax rebate for plug-ins will be available soon only up to a certain income limit and the federal one is capped at 200,000 cars total per manufacturer (IIRC). GM is almost there. I did a quick acceleration test with the smartphone app. With 9.4 sec 0-60mph a little faster than spec. Won't beat the Seven any time soon but pretty good for my commute.

I just bought an VW e-Golf for my extensive 12-mile per day commute (and other local trips). Given all the subsidies, the gas savings and the company's distress discounts I found the 3 year lease to be way cheaper than continuing to drive my 8-year old Honda Accord, even including the charger installation. Since the Golf used to be branded as VW Rabbit I will just call it the Battery Bunny. Actually quite fun to drive with great acceleration from stop. Other than no engine sound, not much difference from a "regular" car. Obviously not made for long distance trips...But I still have the Birkin and an SUV. Anybody else has an EV, and what are the experiences?

Yes, absolutely. Most owners here love their cars and are enthusiastic about it. But many of the Sevens for sale over the years have been bought by people who liked the concept or the looks but found it scary or uncomfortable after short time. I would say post on the California forum as earlier suggested and ask for somebody in the neighborhood. Once a while we do a weekend drive, too.