slomove

Without wanting to start a meaningless brand related discussion, I want to dispute this claim. From what I have seen all brands have a serious depreciation from new (obviously that is not an issue for a Lotus 7). But it applies even more to very high spec cars (CSR or R500 come to mind). However, once through the first depreciation, the values become rather stable for all of them. Usually you will have to pay a bit more for a used Caterham than for a similarly spec'd Birkin or Westfield or other make. But then, somebody had to pay a lot more for the Caterham to start with. So, my recommendation is to drive a few cars, look at the quality, see which you like best and that you can pay. And, if you are not dependent on the heritage aspects just don't worry about the badge. Gert

In the meantime I took the engine apart. Nothing seems to be broken, at least. The combustion chamber has a bit of carbon deposit but that may be due to the original webers and some rich injection maps after the conversion. The 2nd cylinder has low compression (195,165,195,195) and rather high leakage when tested with a leakdown tester. I took the offending piston out but nothing conspicuous that I can see, at least no broken landings or such. However, I noticed two things: - the top piston ring gap is 0.7mm (bottom end of bore) and almost 1 mm (top end of bore). I do not really know what is required for the Zetec ZX1 engine but I would assume it is rather something like 0.4 mm minimum. From what I read the wide gap might cause the leakage and possibly even the earlier discussed ring flutter. - while the bore surface is rather smooth (only a few vertical traces), I do not see anything resembling a cross-hatch hone pattern that I read was required. Is that only worn away and normal? I am wondering if I just should get new piston rings and hone the bores and put everything back together. ... Any opinion? Gert http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/758108043_No1.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/23153318_No2.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1878800884_PistonNo2.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/90066712_RingGap.JPG

Certainty: 90%+ Legs attending: 1-4 (but I would return to Chico where my trailer is stored) Hotels needed: Chico through Ft. Bragg (not sure if to stay in Chico the last day or further south) Pre-tour: 0%

Maybe I should clarify that I mentioned the 5-day-during-the-week option just as a discussion point. It would make some sense to me but I am not really opposed to going over the weekend plus some days before and after if others have trouble doing a full week. Gert

I am running a 2.0 l Zetec ZX1 (old Contour model) with individual TBs, Stage 2 cams and 10.6:1 compression. The engine generally runs very well but something bothered me for a long time: while the oil consumption is really negligible when road driving it spits out a lot into the catch can when running hot and hard on the track There is even an annoying external oil leak somewhere from the valve cover that I could never pinpoint. After each track session there is a small puddle under the car, but never when road driving. Anyway, I did my first dyno session today with a few other local Seveners and pretty decent results (see below and click for full size). However going beyond 6000 rpm the engine started belching big blue clouds of oil smoke, something that I usually would not see on track, given the air flow and attention on track traffic. In the same range there is also a pretty steep drop of torque and flat power. The opinion of the dyno operator and other folks present was that my engine is probably suffering from piston ring flutter. That may also explain the increased oil spillage and leakage at high revs, given the significant increase in blow-by that my (small) vent hose my just not be able to let go with consequent pressure build-up in the crank case and valve cover. Any other opinions about this effect? And, if this is really ring flutter, is there anything I can do about it, except for driving slow or replacing the engine? I read somewhere this may be improved by opening up the 2nd ring gap.... Thanks, Gert http://home.earthlink.net/~slomove/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/slomovepwr.jpg

Traveling Wednesday to Monday will mean to take 4 days off. Then I can just as well take 5 days off for a full week and have flexibility on both weekends (packing, etc.). For that matter I think keeping the trip within one week may have an advantage. I am pretty sure I will be solo. School starts end of August and there is no way Rosie can come along (not that she would not like to...). But that means if anybody needs a ride there is a spare seat. Gert

"It is a well-maintained dirt-and-gravel road"....:ack:

Well, maybe a tad of preference for route A. But I would do either one....I think both options cover great roads and on PNW2007 we have done only a small part of them. I am not sure if the stretch between Alderpoint Road and the 101 is actually paved? At least on Google Maps it is just a gray line, i.e. smaller than the infamous Mattole Road which was really hard on the cars. Maybe we could do the Mina Rd instead but I have no idea about the condition of that road.

Well, the car lives up to its promise.....visually very nice and mechanically perfect. Now.....we'll have to see what it can do when we get Morgan out for a track day :7fume: Gert another "street legal ride" at the Supercar Sunday: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/203105820_StreetLegalFormula.jpg Slomove and Orange: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1098382434_SlomoveOrange.jpg

The 2CV was used in a James Bond movie and in another one with Demi Moore: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/2CV.jpg Very practical car..... Gert

Well, there is a few things that can help to make her agreeable (actually some of that is also necessary to make me agreeable): - Make sure the seat is comfy enough - Most important for So-Cal: get a half-hood for sun-protection - Insulate the footwells sufficiently to not cook the passenger legs - Earplugs - I needed a cushion over the emergency brake lever to avoid bumping the elbow - find a reasonable way to keep the hair untangled. My wife tried bandannas, head scarves and the elastic balaclavas. At the end she settled on the "foreign-legion" style hats (like a baseball cap) with a bill and a shroud around the neck.

What are you guys doing? My wife has been a week and 2000 miles on the USA2005 tour and that did not discourage her to do the full 17 days and 4000 miles of PNW2007 (mostly as passenger but occasionally as driver as well). Admittedly I don't drive in a maniac fashion with her aboard but then I rarely do that on the road anyway. Today we drove maybe 120 miles in the local mountains, just cruising and enjoying the scenery and I must say it is more fun with company than by myself. She went to a performance driving school a few years ago but found the whole track business not to her liking. Oh well, something I got to do be myself then.... Gert

I could possibly take off a week plus driving up and back on the weekends. I can probably do this towing up in 1 day (590 miles to e.g. Weaverville) but it is a little on the long side. Actually I noticed it is almost the same distance from LA as from Seattle (600 miles). I am somewhat leaning to suggest the Labor Day week. I know there is a bit more traffic on the holiday but last year when we returned from PNW2007 that weekend it was not bad at all until we got closer to Napa Valley. If we stay north near the Shasta /Redding area it should not be an issue? Gert

Yum, something like this? or this? I don't think we should do Mattole Road again Gert

Oh my....I am with you but last time there was some fierce resistance from a very small number of members (more precisely from one member). I have kind of given up on this. There is just not much push and motivation to do it. Annoying but I can live with it.... Gert

yes, can be flashed. The updated PC software (rev. 1.8) has an additional field in the "Events" tab for dead time (I use 1 ms) and there is a new firmware file that Emerald needs to send to you according to the serial number. I know they have done this for other folks, too. That is not too surprising, given Benoulli's law (IIRC). Carbs are kind of self-adapting to altitude. That should work but extrapolating this to zero absolute pressure it sounds like the zero voltage offset is also negative (like my GM compatible SU105 from Well's Manufacturing). This one has a theoretical -0.84V offset (which my Emerald software just would not accept) and a slope of 0.0547 V/kPa. That gives almost the values you mention, maybe the same sensor inside? Gert

That should not be hard, provided you are willing to spend maybe 50 miles to get there. From your place the next owners I know of are probably in the SD area (Brad can help) or, if you care to come to Pasadena I always look for an excuse to drive out to the mountains. Otherwise there are Seveneers I know in Redondo Beach, Victorville, Thousand Oaks, Eagle Rock, Tujunga and very soon in Culver City. Each of them different..... Gert

more here and here "Hey Sven, how many Swedes does it take to grease a combine?" "I don't know, Ole." "Only two, if you run them through real slow." Ole and Lars worked on a construction crew. One day Lars noticed that the foreman always left the project about an hour early. "Say Ole," suggested Lars, "Why don't WE take off a little early too... yust like da foreman." So they agreed to try it. As soon as Ole got home, he looked all over for Lena. Finally he opened the bedroom door...and there she was in bed with the foreman. Ole silently closed the door and tiptoed out of the house. The next day, Ole confronted Lars. "Ve better not try anudder stunt like ve did yesterday. I almost got caught!"

Hello Bob, that depends what kind of sensor you got. If you have it calibrated (i.e. slope and offset to create actual baro pressure readings) then it is simple as the mixture should be leaned out proportionally to the absolute pressure. This approximately -10% per 10kPa pressure drop (and vice versa for pressure increase). I my case however I used a cheapo GM baro sensor with negative zero-offset voltage (the old Emerald M3D model can not do that) and I had to fudge the offset and slope values to simulate the proper reading. If you have such a situation I can provide you the spreadsheet with the calculation although after 3 years I have a hard time to understand myself what I did there. But it works well. Another problem with the old M3D was the lack consideration of injector dead time in the baro compensation. When I was driving up high in the local mountains the idle was starved to the point of stalling. After I complained I got a special PC software and firmware version from Emerald that was never officially released. But I suppose they fixed it in the new K3 model. Let me know if I can help. Gert P.S.: for the simple case mentioned above your reference pressure is whatever you can get on an average day from the local airport (I suppose you are already pretty high up in CO), assuming that is the altitude what your map is optimized for.

Looking back at the PNW2007 tour the roads leading to the Shasta Trinity area in NorCal near the OR border (and down to the coast) were by far the nicest Seven roads of the whole trip. Not crowded, winding etc..... Let's see....one day driving up, maybe 2 or 3 days there, one day driving back. Sounds reasonable. If timing is right I would reallly like to do this. Fourth of July is coming up or maybe when it is a little cooler in September or early October? Gert

Since I added that Canned Heat song "On the Road Again" to my video from the King's Canyon Blat (and listening to it maybe 5 times while editing....) I have a hard time to get it out of my head. That said, I really like Canned Heat. Gert P.S.: Now I have done it....it is back again :crazy:

Hi Kevin, I appreciate your praise of my humble pootling around this nice track. But I suppose the wide angle lens made my speed look more impressive than the lap time :lol: In this video I did not push to much and probably got around 2:15. My best lap time ever at Buttonwillow was 2:07 in a time trial (Birkin w/ 180hp Zetec on ACB10 tires). Good Seven drivers I know can regularly do around 2:00 and times of 1:53 are not unheard of (e.g. Jon Stokes in a 260hp Cosworth Duratec Caterham). But I hope it serves at least to show the track and I think I got the line pretty good (except for 2 corners I screw up every time...). If I was just not so chicken about the brake timing. "Lost Hill" is indeed *interesting*. The way I drive I feel the lift but I am still a bit away from lift-off. But I have seen some nice photographs of flying cars in this spot. It is "blind" so you must have some confidence about the further course of the track and that nobody is in the way. If you blow it you end up in the weeds which is kind of bad if it has rained before. I have seen cars rolling and being tractored out after leaving the pavement and hooking up in the mud there. But the downhill section is a real good place to set up for passing. You will enjoy it. Remember, this is for the more common clockwise direction. Some events run the other way around which is completely different but I find even more interesting. I had not planned coming out to BW but I might (depending on other plans...). What is the schedule for the event and when will you be there? Gert P.S.: If you want to see a FAST driver doing the track, see Pierre Demartine's video: If you want good advice you should contact him (I can PM his email address if you are interested)

Did somebody ever try the "Pods" movers? They can drop an 8x8x12 container at your home that you can stuff with one or two Se7ens without time pressure and then have them haul it wherever needed. But I have no idea how much that costs.... Gert

Cool. I will be there....1650 miles one way, not too bad. I might have preferred the Wyoming place maybe a tad more but I see the reason. I think we all can make it very successful and fun event. Now I just need to come up with a creative idea to sell this to my boss as a business trip (we have subsidiaries in Shawnee, OK and Little Rock). Al, are you going to have a new (old) Se7en by then :bigears: Gert

well, maybe a little on the thirsty side and subject to improvement ....but judging from many posts on Blatchat it is not unheard of for X-flows.....