dvl

I spoke with the owner, Smoke, on Thursday of last week and it sounds like an interesting project. I'm tempted to check it out, buy I need to finish my own Seven first, before looking at other cars. Anyway, Smoke seems like a great guy and seemed to love talking about his Seven. -Dave

Glad to hear your OK. Sorry about the car. Dave

Wow. That's nice work Dave

I highly recommend an Aeroquip (Eaton) Port Idenification Kit. The kit contains a booklet, a special pair of calipers, and a series of thread gauges. It's available for around $60 and helped me to figure out the fitting for my brake system. I hope this helps. Dave

I'm continuing to make progress on my Seven. The brake lines are complete, so after completing the fuel plumbing and electrical, I can actually start assembling the car. The finish is starting to tarnish a bit, so it looks like I'll be doing some more polishing before I set it on the ground... The most recent pictures are at the bottom of the link. https://plus.google.com/photos/107842303641673876589/albums/5513939936660402577 Cheers, Dave

Does anyone run a bypass style fuel pressure regulator such as the Aeromotive or Fuelab units, with Weber DCOEs or Dellorto DHLA carbs? I've read about the technical benefits of bypass style regulators, but at the low operating pressures and moderate flow rates for Crossflow and/or Zetec engines, can anyone speak to their actual performance benefit compared to a blocking style regulator or a 2 to 3 psi Facet pump and no regulator? I'm routing my fuel system and am debating the option of adding a return fuel line. Thanks, Dave

Sube Sports in Huntington Beach, CA is a Lifeline seller/distributor, so they may be of help. I have no affiliation with them, other than sourcing a set of harnesses a while back, but they seem to be a pretty knowledgable group. http://subesports.com I hope this helps, Dave

I have a set of Tillett B6's in my Series 3 style Seven. The edges are trimmed to fit in the tub. At least in my car, the seats will not fit without trimmed edges I purchased them from Tillett USA. http://tillettseats.com/products/full/b6 I hope this helps, Dave

I purchased the clamps from Aircraft Spruce and lined them with adhesive backed silicone sheet, from McMaster-Carr. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/lineclamps.php The clamps are manufactured by Denunzio Racing Products. I shopped around for a while to find a clamp of this type and from what I can determine, only Denunzio and Aircraft Spruce sell them. Anyway, they're inexpensive and a handy thing to have around my garage. I hope this helps, Dave

Hi, Here are some more recent pictures of my car. Work and life have been getting in the way of the important stuff like building my Seven, but I have been making some progress. I've mostly been aquiring parts of the past 6 months or so, but as of last night my stainless steel brake lines are nearly complete. I'm planning to really crank on the car have it completed this year. Most recent photos are at the bottom of the page. https://plus.google.com/photos/107842303641673876589/albums/5513939936660402577 Cheers, Dave

I've been really happy with Eastwood's engine paint. I brushed it on my engine block after removing the light surface rust with a wire brush, followed by their Fast Etch product. The Fast Etch leaves a zinc phosphate film on the metal surface, that may be used a primer. Here's a picture: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wkj2add6UZBPhBktUiHV19MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink Dave

Thanks MoPho and dallasdude. I would have replied earlier, but I've been out tending to a cold... MoPho, Any evening that you are free, let me know and I'll drive out to measure it. I believe we met a few weeks back at Super Car Sunday. Thanks, Dave

Does anyone in the LA area or SoCal have an ATL or Fuel Safe fuel cell installed in their Seven, specifically the ATL Caterham unit or the Fuel Safe Lotus unit? If so, is it possible for me to see it and take measurement? According to drawings from Fuel Safe, their cell is about .5 inches narrower than the mounts in my chassis (that is, it would fall out without an adaptor bracket) and ATL stated they do not have drawings or CAD models. My chassis is a new/old Arch Manufacturing unit built to modified Lotus S3 specs. Thanks, Dave

Here's a set of 40's for sale. Hope this helps. http://www.lotus7.com/AUTO_JUMBLE.html Dave

An aluminum and red Seven passed me on the I-5 yesterday, just before downtown LA and the 10 and 110 interchange, yesterday afternoon. Thanks to whomever it was. After seeing one on the road, my girlfriend now is even more excited to ride in (and drive) mine, when I finish it later this year. Thanks, Dave

I have 3rd hand knowledge, at best. Based on the car's description and location, I went to engineering school with the (then current) owner's son in the late 90's. Dave

I highly recommend the Garmin Nuvi 3790LMT. It was given to me as a gift (luckily, because it is a bit expensive). The multi-touch screen interface is incredibly easy to use. The most useful features for me have been the real time traffic data and red light camera notification (stops me from trying to make yellow lights). The rerouting feature to avoid traffic has sent me on some fun and interesting new roads and areas around LA. There is also an optional OBDII adaptor, for monitoring fault codes and real time data. The OBDII adaptor has been really useful in cars other than my Seven, specifically for monitoring fuel effciency and trouble shooting. I hope this helps in your selection. Dave

Nice scale pictures. For how few original Lotus 7's there are, it's amazing how frequently they pop up. There's an old S2 autocross car hidden away in the back of a shop here in Pasadena. I stop in occasionally and make offers on it, but the owner plans to restore it one day. Dave

Stay safe Kiwi. I'm sorry to hear about the damage in Christchurch as well. DVL

Yes. I was the first person in line and I was issued SB100 number 130 at 8:10am this morning. There was a mistake on the perviously generated paperwork as well (year was listed as 2010, not 0000), but the clerk fixed it before calling Sacramento. From what I could tell, I was the only person at the WeHo DMV for an SB100 sequence #. Thanks again for everyone's help and comments. Dave

Thanks again for the advice. It's all taken care of now. I had all the necessary paperwork in order this morning. I was in and out of the WeHo DMV in 20 minutes, with a correctly generated TIN in their system, a form to take to the CHP, and temporary registration. I'll be back there again Monday at 4am... Now I just have to finish assembling the car... Dave

The clerks at the West Hollywood DMV are my new best friends. They only do registration, are friendly and helpful, just had exhaustive training in SPCNS and SB100, they had all their SPCNS memos and training aids on hand, and the place was nearly empty. They even said they would be happy to see me Monday morning for SB100. I half expect them to serve breakfast... I highly recommend this place. It's 10000X better than Pasadena. Dave

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try the West Hollywood DMV and maybe drive out to TO if that doesn't work. I know I should have started earlier (aquiring parts, life, and a loooong jury duty appointment got in the way). Anyway, thanks again for your advice. Dave

I was just at the DMV to get my temporary VIN (TIN) and pay my taxes, in preparation to be issued an SB100 number on Jan 3rd. The DMV clerk told me I needed to bring the vehicle in, so they could issue a VIN; as opposed to a TIN form and a CHP issued VIN. My kit is not fully assembled, so bringing it to the DMV today is out of the question. Having the DMV issue a VIN is inconsistent with everything I've read about registering a specially constructed vehicle in CA. It may be fine, but there is no way I will have the car completed today for a DMV inspection. I was just at the Pasadena DMV. Is there a DMV around LA that people have had good experiences with, for SPCNS? Thanks, Dave

Wet sanding the aluminum before polishing helped considerably with my Seven. When attempted to polish without sanding, the new body was littered with microscatches and cloudiness. Dave