slomove

I can imagine....but that was the "easy part". Anything lined up as replacement? Gert

More than you ever wanted to know....

Jubilee Clip/UK - Hose Clamp/US Wing/UK - Fender/US Windscreen/UK - Windshield/US Petrol/UK - Gas(oline)/US Tyre/UK - Tire/US Gallon/UK - 1.2 Gallons/US Left/UK - Right/US

I had a new windshield made with the old one as template for something like $80. That did not have the heater wires laminated in like the original but I live in California....

But with polished aluminum you can get twice the exhaust at no additional cost:

I don't really complain about it, but I don't enjoy it, either. I noticed over the 7 years of ownership the frequency of a complete re-buff has gone from 3 or 4 per year to annually and still declining. But I guess for the Summer trip I will spend another afternoon to get the little car shiny again.

Well, the lunch of course! BTW, we have annual mandatory training in the California harassment legal stuff so I guess I know what not to do as her manager.......

The "wow" effect is a bit limited here in LA where a bunch of real fancy cars are around. But you can see smiling faces, thumbs-up, a lot of dumb and a few smart questions quite often. Once a while I take the Seven to work and usually take one of the guys in my department as a passenger to the chosen lunch place. At one time I had the new compliance engineer as passenger. That drew some strange looks on the freeway. Me (mid fifties) in a fancy car of sorts, with a good looking Asian chick (mid twenties) as a passenger. Oh well, all for a good purpose.... Gert

Come on.....give the marketing folks some slack. In their world every fraction is rounded up and uncertainties are treated like truth ;-) Gert

Just remember these flush caps are pretty generic items. You can get it from Caterham (I believe with some printed logo) or much cheaper about anywhere......Even in the US. On the other hand, if you buy a new roller you may want to pay the few bucks extra to have it already in place. Gert

I used spray can liner (some stuff from the auto store) on the rear wings and it is kind of O.K. but not as thick and rubbery as I have seen with the pro liner. After a few years it tends to flake off in some places, but that may have been the insufficient surface prep. On my Birkin the GFRP is rather strong and the liner has more of a cosmetic purpose. I know that the thinner shelled Caterham wings are more prone to star cracks on impact and a durable thick liner may be better. On the other hand the thick liner will defeat the weight saving purpose of the thin wings...... Did anyone invent a flexible wing made of rubberized material yet? That would solve the problem with autox cone damage too ;-) Gert

Hangover

Whatever comes out of it, make sure to meet up with us 7/9/2009 at Skip Cannon's house details here (hope you don't mind me inviting people to your home ;-) ). I suppose Erie isn't that big so it should be right in your neighborhood. Maybe you have Seven by that time and can drive along at least for a bit Well, and if not we are friendly to an Exige, too.... Gert

Now that is great!! I really hope that works out. I am beginning to count the days. That may be helped by the fact that I am on a short work week now due to economic circumstances. But then....it gives me ample time to check the car. Gert

Does not really depend on the car (maybe rather on the age). When I am driving the Honda Accord I get a bit stiff after 2 hours. Same in the Seven but otherwise I have been driving 8 hours or so no problem. I have the Cobra Roadster7 seats. Gert

Thanks for the explanation. On the other hand, even running track days here in the desert at 100+ degrees I never had any heat related trouble. That means, maybe I had but the car did not. From the point of physics it also smells like a motoring legend. At full speed (when the fuel temperature/density argument should count) the fuel is moving in the hose at a pretty good pace. For a 200 hp engine with 30pound injectors I estimate about 3"/sec even in the leg to the last injector. That would not leave much time for heat soaking. But since the heat transfer from the aluminum rail to the fuel is anyway much more efficient than from the hot air to the rail, I suppose the consumed fuel will just cool the rail down to whatever temperature is has. That all may be different, though when idling. But once again, no problem here. Gert

2 cents more: I believe some unofficial established wisdom is that the screen itself is the culprit. The wings are maybe contributors. It is kind of understandable since the screen deflects a fat air stream upward over the cockpit. Like on any good airplane wing such upward acceleration creates a slight vacuum (also creating lift) that wants to be filled from somewhere. That would be mainly the "door" cutouts and explains the positive effect of the doors and half-doors. Add to that the vortexes created by the windscreen's and other part's edges. It also explains why Brookland style screens and aeroscreens have less apparent buffeting, because they just don't displace that much air and create less vacuum. I found the small wind deflectors to be only minimally effective. At the end they only help moving the buffeting zone a bit backward/outward. To get the turbulence out of your face you need something more substantial. I made large transparent half doors for my car that help a lot to increase the "quiet zone" and get the buffeting out of my face. I can wear a hat at any legal speed but even then I still feel the turbulence in the back of my neck. On the other hand, all that is part of the experience... Gert

Actually you can see it quite well on this picture. The hose on the front actually goes to a fuel pressure sender, that means is practically capped: http://home.earthlink.net/~slomove/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/withfilterleft.jpg

Bob, that is what I am running. The fuel flows through the regulator into the rear end of the fuel rail with front and capped. No problems at all, work s fine. Why shouldn't it? Gert

I am with Mondo....most sensible opinion I have read for a while on any blog. If your car's ECU software has a bug you are not going to fix it with a file and a screwdriver. Given that the economy is way more complex and less deterministic I am convinced that similarly simple solutions to fix the economic mess are foolish. On the other hand, looking at the economy eggheads in and around the administration I just don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling they know if their recipes will work. But if not them who else? Surely not Joe Schmo parroting left or right wing party propaganda. I am an engineer and not an economist so what do I know...but what I never understood is how a country living high on the hog can allow to let its manufacturing base die and have a sustained trade deficit over decades to pay for imported goods and materials. That is indeed pretty simple: at some point the collateral and the credit runs out and you are bankrupt. I have also a hard time to accept that this is an irreversible result of globalization. Oh well, in 20 years there will be other problems... Gert

Now that would be nice, hope you can make it!

Any plans for the 1000th member? Free ride for 2 in Mazda's Monster (not including airfare)?

Well, come along on our Rocky Mountains Se7ens trip in July....we will be in David's neighborhood. Gert

I heard a rumor about a group of six Se7en drivers who got pulled over by CHP in one batch for passing on double yellow only based on the ridiculous account of a witness (the passed truck driver) and "citizen's arrest", that means the officer was not present at the time of the alleged offense. All drivers contested their ticket by written declaration court trial and still lost. That is of course just an unsubstantiated rumor and I am pretty sure it never happened last September in Northern California on Hwy299......

I guess that is an attempt to have the buckle inboard to avoid skin damage when dangling outside. But definitely not the right way of doing this. I swapped the fixed side lap belt on my 5-point buckle and it was a pain in the neck with little springs and bolts flying all over the place but it is possible. Gert