slomove

Don't laugh....with fuel prices going up at the current rate this is an entirely reasonable approach! Gert

Got that in the inbox today from CostCo. An $80,000 aluminum Cobra style kit car w/o drive-train but including garage cabinets, floor tiles and a vault. Does that make any sense? Gert

No, I did not. What is the easiest way to do that? Just measure the distance between the front and rear wheels? How much tolerance is acceptable? Gert

I will drive any distance in the Seven in any weather, given the road is fun. Unfortunately sometimes you just need to cover some annoying distance (I5 from LA to Sacramento in Summer comes to mind) and I just can not see a good reason to tear up the Seven and myself for that. Or, when going to a track day I prefer to take some tools, fuel, wheels, maybe a canopy etc. that I can not load up in the Seven. That is when the trailer comes in. It was also pretty handy as support vehicle for the PNW2007 tour. Right now I am working on a shell for my open bed trailer (better protection and a sleeping place at the track). Will post some pics when I am done. For now I am that far: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1762320699_P1000506 Large Web view.jpg Gert

No, he stopped well before he hit the rocks.

Thanks all for the advice. I guess just assuming that the suspension setting is still as it was 2 years ago isn't good enough....I will do a thorough adjustment and joint/bearing check. One good point was mentioned: with the PNW2007 tour and our weekend blats I did almost all of the mileage with a passenger while I did the measurements just with a simulated driver weight. Also, most of the mileage was on crowned country highways which I read may make a certain difference (compared to flat multi-lane roads or race tracks). Gert

Video Link

Well, here a tiny snippet of the video I took last weekend. This road has, ahem, little margin for error. It is really a shame...there is probably some 30 minutes of awesome roads and scenery that I had to skip for space reasons. Oh well, I have seen it Gert For the educational benefit of others I even rejected the bribe of the individual who got caught in the sand trap to not post the video :lol:

Here a picture of another mountain road vista point (Nacimiento-Fergusson Road): http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2018708562_NaciementoFergusson.jpg San Luis Obispo is a college town and it appears the rising tuition has some consequences for the choice of vehicle (Of course with rear license plate, windscreen, lights and in perfectly roadworthy condition) http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1586032312_RustBag1.jpg http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1345276816_RustBag2.jpg

After only 6000 miles (and otherwise still in pretty good nick) my right front tire shows some disturbing wear on the inside, see below. They are admittedly not the top notch (Yoko AVS ES100) but not that bad for touring. My previous tire set did not do that and I did not change camber or toe. The setting is anyway a compromise with my bias ply track tires (0.5 degree negative camber and 0.25 degree toe-in) and I would expect rather some wear on the outside with these radials. When I let the steering wheel go, the car runs dead straight ahead. Am I overlooking something here or may there be other reasons for this? Thanks, Gert Right front http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1768032691_RightFront.jpg Left front (much less wear but also unsymmetrical) http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/562386580_LeftFront.jpg

Well, not that much contrast.....Driving up through the Los Padres NF and the next day in the morning out to Parkfield the temperatures dipped below 40 or so. Normally not a big deal but with temperatures in the low seventies here in LA we had packed a little lightly. That means we froze our butt off and stopped at the next available Target store to add a few layers and get gloves. My fresh-air footwell ventilation did not really help and I plugged it with a shopping bag. Gert

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's out stretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Sorry, only in German language and some of the listed car models are not sold in the US.... but anyway fun and you will figure it out. I got 4 out of 6 points here Gert P.S.: Can I have that Aston Martin, please?

This is a funny question in the context of a Seven....but if you are looking fore a refined sports car driving experience you may want to consider a Porsche Joke aside...I guess for most of us being a little raw and unrefined is one of the desired properties of a Seven. In terms of ride quality (if that is what you mean) my observation is that rather depends on the individual setup than on the Brand/Type. Gert

Yes, they do (with minor modification). I have them in my Birkin, very comfy and looking great IMO. Not the ultimate lightest and not exactly cheap after shipping, especially at the absurd exchange rate. The US importer for Cobra does not carry this model. I did however remove the adjustable seat rails to drop the seats to the very bottom. Gert

That is probably a good idea, i.e. removing any protruding features that may damage the tank skin in an impact and some kind of plate to blunt what can not be removed. The fools who assembled my car even let the bolt stick out an inch. Gert

Yes!! I still have some space under the bonnet. I think he may allow us to install this? http://www.fnherstal.com/images/MRP.gif I might vote for him Gert

wow, good outcome..... That happened to me a while ago. I wish I could say the latches broke but, alas, I just forgot to close them Unfortunately on a Los Angeles freeway the bonnet rather looks like this :cuss: ( 2 trucks giving it a fancy shape...) http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1707093252_BonnetCrunch.jpg Somebody suggested I should sell it on EBay as a piece of art. Gert

Well, that was part of the problem. I still had the spare carrier mounted at that time but no spare tire on it. The center mounting stud being pushed in was what caused the puncture (a nice clean 10mm hole). With the tire in place that may or may not have happened. Otherwise, the damage would probably have been similar. I think the issue is just that there is NOTHING but a thin ali sheet and a few flimsy steel tubes that are trying to prevent another car from invading the boot/tank area. It takes a bit more to stop 3000-4000 pounds moving at street speed. We are always bragging with how light a Seven is but there is an obvious downside to it. But, I consider the Seven still much safer then e.g. riding a sports bike and take the remaining risk for the sake of fun. Gert

I have the ACB10 for the track and like them very much. But they are known to be pretty horrible on the road because they follow every rut and will lead you left or right depending on the curvature of the pavement. For the front tires I run 1/2 degree negative as compromise with my radial road tires to no ill effect other than slightly uneven wear. But then, I am not the fastest on the track and that gives me always a good excuse :lol: Gert

They are used for very lightweight, rigid, mostly internal structures and typically laminated with thin composite sheets outside. That way the panel can take some bending loads (which the thin composite alone can not do). Optimized for this purpose the sandwich core is pretty resistant to vertical pressure when distributed over a large surface area and as long as the comb structure is intact. However, when a local impact penetrates the thin face sheets, or the foil making up the honeycomb begins to crumple under load, the entire structure crushes right away. I would admit some effectiveness if the impact is blunt and distributed over the rear panel. But most impacts hit with a corner or an edge of the colliding vehicle. So, IMO it is a little better than nothing but I would rather invest this money in a fuel cell or a good dinner. We should not have the illusion that a Seven is even remotely safe at today's standard and any rear impact over 10 mph is really bad news. I had a rear-ender at pedestrian speed and that was bad enough: $3000 damage and a punctured tank. The offending Honda Civic had barely a scratch on the bumper. I guess even the infamous Pinto was probably much safer in comparison. But that is why I have a fuel cell which may help me up to 20 mph ;-) Gert

I don't know who ever got the idea of using aircraft-style honeycomb sandwich panels for impact protection. Especially the aluminum and Nomex/phenolic cores have very little resistance to impact (maybe a little better than nothing, though....). I think some people even use the honeycomb core material without skin sheets which is bizarre. In a lab where I used to work we had aluminum honeycomb that got damaged by just moving it from one shelf to another one. Sandwich panels with polypro honeycomb, high density PVC foam or end-grain balsa core (with aluminum or steel skin sheets) are supposed to be better in impact situations but specialty products, not available off the shelf. Gert

Sounds like yes and no..... I know other people of your size who drive a Seven, even of the standard Caterham or Birkin width variety (shoe size 15 may be a problem, though). On the other hand, if you find a Solstice or S2000 too tight I guess the Seven with be the next level of torture. If you consider building one yourself you have obviously some options. Gert

I ended up rewiring my '98 Birkin. But that was not really because something serious did not work. The vital functions were all O.K. It just pi$$ed me off that I could not troubleshoot the wiring ratsnest under the scuttle when the fast wiper position failed. Being an EE I just could not stand that. I know a few other people did the same but surely most people with older Birkins just drive it and don't worry about the cable mess. After 2002 (I believe) this was vastly improved. Before: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1908723839_haywire2.jpg After: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1579700_WiringComplete1.jpg

Here is another one: Not knowing what I was doing, I used to have the anti-sub belt of my previous 5-points going around the front of the seats. At one time I got a tirade from the NASA tech inspector for that. Since my Cobra seats don't have a hole (and impossible to make one) I swapped the 5-points for 7-points from Racerwholesale ($139) with the center strap still going to the front of the seat (to hold everything down) and the 2 side straps going back under my bum to the lap belt mounting points (to prevent me from slipping forward while protecting sensitive body parts). http://www.racerwholesale.com/images/7102a.gif That held me well in place but unfortunately the setup as designed made the side strap edges press into my thighs and was very uncomfortable. I changed it to cut the side straps from the anti-sub buckle tab and connected the end loops with a short piece of high strength chain that is run over the buckle and under the shoulder belts (not sure if that explains it....). When the buckle is released and the shoulder strap tabs slip out the loop with the anti-sub side straps falls to the floor. Since they are longer now they conform with the thighs and don't bother me. Gert