Klasik-69

When it comes to autoX, be careful not to suck up a cone with one of the rear wheels while using tires like the Hoosier A6 or similar compound. It will get stuck to the tire, wrap around and fling the rear wing right off the car. It also rips out the riv-nuts out of the aluminum if yours uses them (not sure on your car). I learned the hard way, slung mine up about 15 feet in the air, then spent about two weeks repairing it and the body. Anyway, you're not supposed to run over cones. Nobody told me, I thought it was like bowling, the more your got, the higher the score. Well, I was right about the high score.:ack:

On the tunnel heat issue, there is a thin ceramic based insulation material available that I used on the firewall & floorboards of my 69 big block corvette that worked great. It's about 1/8" thick, white, and very pliable & was available from http://www.ecklers.com. Wasn't cheap but before I put it in, you could cook your dinner on the floorboards. No heat transfer at all. I didn't use it on my 7 because I race it primarily & don't worry about tunnel or firewall heat. Some guys have incorporated a footwell vent via a vent hose placed ahead of the engine, which seems like a pretty good idea.

Skip, that is one neat little car. The outfit who made it for you is obviously very good. Is this a normal product for them or did you have it custom made ? If you wanted this car to hit 45 mph, it would only need an 8 or 10 hp engine at the most. Regular go-carts can almost do that speed with a 5 hp B&S engine. You may want to take a look on ebay for the Chinese made (yeah, I know, yuck) for "pit dirt bike engines". They have 125cc 4 speed engines that will easily get this little car in the 50 mph range, and they're incredibly cheap. I bought a small 125cc pit dirt bike recently that I take with me to the track events to allow me to go from the timing tower back to the paddock in short time. Yes, they're really cheap crappy products but they run pretty well and have good power. Also, the engine is leaning forward so there is less of a height requirement. You could hook up the shifter, add a clutch pedal and you'd almost have a mini-duplicate of a seven driving experience.

Thanks Paul. Yeah, you're right, I missed the date when I went back to check..................speed reading 101 must have been a weak point. :grouphug:

Ok, there needs to be some adjustments; 1. Car is too hot inside Wrong, car is a friggin oven and is actually to your benefit. You will lose weight without having to go to the gym or reduce your eating habits. A definite big PLUS 2. Car is too loud This is actually a safety feature built into the design to let others that you're coming, and you're so friggin hot you may not be able to steer or brake, so get the Hell out of the way. Another big PLUS 3. Engine runs hot Well, so are you so why not share the pain here. 4. Need for mirrors (not on doors) Ok, let's think about this. You're hot, the car is hot, your size 13 boot is stuck under the clutch pedal, the friggin noise from the exhaust has given you a migraine, and you're worried about who is behind you. Forget who's behind you, you're looking for the closest bar so you can have a drink. By the way, if you drink enough, you won't notice how hot you are, and you won't give a damn about how hot the engine is either, and you sure won't care about the friggin noise. ALL YOUR PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED :cheers:

What time of year are we talking about for this gathering ? I may want to do this.

Great to hear. Did you notice any power gains from unleashing the mechanical water pump ?

That was an excellent link that really explains in detail the nature of the problem. So a $10 bearing will f&^% up a $20K motor ! Isn't that always the case, one cheap little insignificant part in a very significant location, the weak link in the chain so to speak. As the author implies, using better oil and changing it more often can alleviate the issues and lengthen the life of the bearing, and thus the motor. Maybe Porsche figures that some of the problems may have been aggravated by owners skipping on oil changes, or as I said earlier, using the Jiffy Lube oil change stations. That may be Ok for a Chevy Impala but the Impala's engine is far cheaper to replace. However, knowing the problem and being able to avoid it are two different things. That bearing is burried in the engine. How many owners are able to yank the engine out, tear it apart and replace that bearing ? How many owners can afford to pay a shop to do it for them ? I'm pretty mechanically inclined, and I have the tools, lifts, space to do it.............but I'd be a little short on skills with a Porsche engine. Yeah, I can take most anything apart. Putting it back together seems to be the challenge. So the GT2/GT3 engines are different. I believe the GT2 is turbocharged like the 997TT but without 4 wheel drive and the GT3 engine is a boosted na larger displacement 911 motor. I don't know why they don't have this issue, perhaps they don't use this kind of bearing on their IMS. If this part is inside the engine, why didn't Porsche design an open bearing with oil feed like the rod and main bearings ? There must be a good reason but I don't know it.

He did pick a nice looking car. I was surprised how low he sits in the car with his head clearly 3" or 4" below the roll bar. I really can't stand that arrogant smug SOB but he is plastered with money and can afford any car he wants. I would have thought the 7 to demand too much of an input from him. He'll tire of it shortly and I can buy it for around $15K............................maybe. What's that you say, there isn't a tooth fairy ?

I think you're absolutely correct in the connection with Audi/VW. The small minded BOD of VW is thinking with VW minds when it comes to Porsche, and that may be a big mistake. If I remember correctly, Porsche has one of the highest customer loyalty bases in repeat sales. That means that the guy who owns a 911 likely had one or two before that one and WOULD likely buy another one after this one. If you make him eat that motor, the bad taste left in his mouth will linger long enough to make him shop for another brand. Porsche doesn't sell a lot of cars, they don't have to with the prices they demand. If you lose your customer base, big numbers show up quickly in sales dollars. If Porsche (VW) continues on this mindset of denying fault, they need only look at what happenned to GM when it ignored product failures and thought they were too big to fail. Would Toyota be as big today without the help that GM gave it in the 70's, 80's & 90's.

The strange thing about the documented failures are the variance in mileage reported with some as low as 17,500 miles & some in the 80K range. I wonder about how the maintenance level that was performed played on the failure rate. I had heard of $400 oil changes by the dealer & suspect some went to Jiffy Lube instead.....& got their monies worth. Porsche isn't commenting on this so it's hard to tell. Their reputation for quality is second to none but so is German snobbery. I'm not going to consider any 911 between 2001 & 2005 at any price.

Although this forum is all about the wonderful 7's, a lot of us have other performance cars, some of which are Porsches. So at the risk of discussing an outiside subject, I'll bring up an article that popped up in Autoweek magazine in their September 16th edition. The author, Dutch Mandel reports on the apparent engine weakness in the Porsche 911 and Boxster models which involve an intermediate shaft bearing failure for models built between 2001 and 2005. Following many failures and an aggressive class action lawsuit, Porsche finally agreed there was a problem and have agreed to fix some of these with certain limitations. The major limitation is that the car has to have been in service less than 10 years. Also, the time limitation for filing a claim is October 15th, 2013 (2 weeks from now). Those of you with a 2001 or 2002 model are obviously screwed. Some 2003 models are equally up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Porsche has been anything but cooperative in helping customers, as reported by Autoweek. Since there are a lot of us on this forum who venture on the track or street with other performance automobiles, or who may be looking to buy a Porsche (me), we don't want to buy something that is going to grenade on us, especially an engine as expensive to fix or replace as this one. Following this article, the current issue of Autoweek has a few Porsche owners write in to report how badly Porsche had treated them. One gentleman who purchased a brand new Panamera Turbo S had the car fail a few days after getting the car. The dashboard went blank and the car sits at the dealership waiting on a part which has no number assigned yet. Porsche told him to call back in about 8 weeks to see if there was a part number and/or availability yet. I think that car sells for around $135K. I'd be a little pissed off and would definitely invoke the lemon law which makes the dealer take the car back after 30 days of accumulated loss of use. To be perfectly fair to Porsche, they have not had the opportunity to respond to these claims and as is always the case, there are two side to any issue. Running an engine without oil will result in catastrophic failure. Jump starting a car incorrectly can also kill the electronics which would include the dashboard. However, as Autoweek reported, about 8% of their readers are Porsche owners and need to know what lies ahead. All of this makes my 7 and my Vette just that much better.

You're right about the kids today, it is giving a big scare to the auto industry. Who will buy their cars ? I have an idea for this truck. Take it one step further. Stretch the bed out, build a hydraulically powered slide floor that slides back and tilts like a tow truck and put the 7 in there for track events. Your daughter's mini could fit in there too if going to autoX events. By the way, you did a beautiful job on this truck. I like the simplicity and clean lines, no clutter and it looks purposeful like a well designed tool.

Yelowss7 & others are right, brakes are never an issue. I run Motul RBF600 but only because I run it in every car I race & the power bleeder serves all of them. In my Z06 Vette, brake use is a different issue & I flush even the Motul every other event. The 7 brakes so quickly that a 2 second brake duration would be an exception.

I think you've got a great idea mounting the electric water pump. For starters, you've cut down on some wasted horsepower draw on the mechanical pump. Secondly, fixing or replacing the electric water pump looks like a 5 minute job. I'm going to look at this pump myself since I'm looking to boost HP to get more speed. The downside of this is the draw of current will also bring about a little more draw from the alternator to provide the current. Overall, I think electric is more efficient than mechanical and should yield a positive gain. Let us know how it worked out for you.

I just went over to look at my motor which is a Zetec 2.0L and the front of the engine is different appearing than mine. And my belt is routed around the crank by the idler pulley on the left side and around the water pump pulley. Attached are some pictures in the hopes it helps you.

You may want to look at the Brunton Stalker website. They have a simple trailer you could build yourself

Ok, its official now. If you fart while blatting, you're BLARTING :hurray:

All of this brings me back to the original thread. I can really relate to Yellowss7 enjoying the blat. We were just in North Carolina for a week at our vacation home. Temps were 60 for a low and 82 for a high, bright sunshine, and I was wishing I had the 7 up there to romp thru the mountain roads. If ever there was a car designed to do just that, it must be the 7.............open cockpit, fresh mountain air flowing by, beautiful scenery. Here in Florida, temps in the 90's, humidity nearly the same, with spontaneous showers and blind 90 year olds driving old Cadillacs looking to run over something, it's a bit of a challenge. Pa sounds like an ideal place to drive around. I'd love to have the 7 up in the Amish country area East of Hershey or the Catskills in NY, or similar places up north. Vermont brings good memories too. You guys up North have better scenery than we have in Florida, and for the most part, better roads too.

Ok, now we have the official definition of Blatting (assuming one is doing a Blat). One step further.............if one farts while Blatting, is one then flatting or blarting:driving: And all this started when one guy took his car out for a ride. I used to call that just going for a ride. Now I know I was really going for a Blat

I don't want to sound stupid...............well, OK, it can't be helped............but what exactly is a BLAT. Is it a short drive or is it a spirited drive or is it just getting the car out on the streets ? AND, I'm with you guys too. Taking the track wheels off and restoring the car to street use is a bit of a chore. And having a host of other cars to drive lessens the spirit. However, nothing compares to the open canopy drive of a 7.

The other caveat to this is since it is DOS based, you need a retarded computer that will run it, and one with a serial port. I tried the USB/serial conversions from about 5 different vendors and none worked, and none would have worked with Windows 7 or 8. So I went on Ebay and bought a used Dell laptop with Windows XP Pro and a serial port for $100. What really pisses me off about this is this old Dell runs better and faster than my brand new HP lap top that doesn't do very much at all. As Dallasdude stated, tuning is really pretty easy. I added an AEM wide band gauge to the car and there was already a second O2 sensor port in my exhaust so I was able to monitor the AFR from the car as well as on the dyno. The really good thing about doing it yourself is when you need to make a change, you can do it yourself. Monitor your AFR and you won't blow up you 600+ HP, or 1200+ HP, or whatever you have. It makes no difference what engine, what HP, they all run the same and its based AFR and ignition, plain and simple. My "Tuner" was talking about charging me between $500 and $750 + travel expenses, and he would learn about my car along the process. Yep, thanks a bunch for that deal. On top of that, I had the cost of the dyno. Add it all up, and you're talking $1100 to $1200. I did it myself with my dyno guys while I sat with the lap top, one of their guys in the car and the other running the dyno, $285 later I'm done. AND, now I know how to change the set up any time I want to and don't have to beg some prima donna tuner to give me some of his precious time while I give him some of my precious money. I can now piss away my money on the track :lurk:

Why don't you do it yourself. If you have the ability to hook up a laptop to the ECU, and have access to a dyno, it's a matter of working with the fuel map first and make changes that keep you in the correct AFR range. Following that, you make small changes to the ignition map to see any improvement or degradation in power output. I ran into the same problem with my Pectel T2 in that nobody had worked with it. The Pectel distributor suggested a motorcycle tuner about 150 miles away. After calling him and being told he charges $75/hour from the time he leaves his front door, and he never worked on a Zetec engine before, I figured I had as much knowledge on this as he did. We spent almost 3 hours on the dyno making run after run, making adjustments with the laptop, and following that I had a great setup that has provided fantastic results. By the way I had never done this before and learned along the way. It's simple, Air Fuel Ratios are the guideline and you adjust the pulse time on the injector to get the up or down you need at the rpm you're working on. Timing is a bit more subjective and there, the power gain or loss is the telling factor, assuming you're after track results. Actually, street tuning is pretty much the same but likely a little less agressive. Beware of pre-ignition (detonation) and err on the side of caution.

After running at Barber this Labor Day, I can say that the car is now very neutral after corner weighting. I don't get the feeling that a left hander is easier or harder to negotiate than a right hander and transitions (hard left to hard right, or vice versa) are much smoother. Having said that, it is possible that my mind is playing tricks on me by making me think that it is now better since I went to all this trouble. You might call it optimistic expectations. I wish I had run the track previously and had lap times to compare but I don't. I am very happy with the car and how it handles. Hardly a scientific evaluation.

It would take a lot of participants. This track is quite expensive from what I was told. We typically have 65 to 80 participants in timed trials and it isn't enough to defray the cost of the track. This is why this time we combined with the SARRC road racing guys for a combined 160 or so entries. It may be a better idea to join in with Chin, HOD or other HPDE event organizers and let the masses defray the cost. I think it would be a blast to have a "7" track day and would definitely be interested in joining in. I don't know how many guys we could get. It seems to me from this forum that most of the 7 owners are in the Northeast or on the West Coast. In our group, we have only 3 "7" type car owners who participate on tracks. Barber is a blast but perhaps a track more centrally located would be a better draw..............not sure. I think most of the Northeast guys don't have trucks and trailers to use for a long haul.