Jackal

Wow! Great work. I'd love to see Randy's vison of a car hauler.

Awesome!! Thanks for the advice.

I also thank you for sharing that with us.

Hi Everyone. I was not sure if I should just post this in my build thread or in Gen Tech. Sorry about the following Noob question. I am looking for pictures on how to mount the rear calipers to my Birkin LA. The clearance doesn't seem to allow for a nut on the disk side, but I don't think I've ever seen brakes mount without a recieving nut on the end of a bolt. Do I use a lot of thread lock and wrench it within an inch of its life? I'm guessing the caliper bolts are around 45mm in length. Does that sound about right?

No affiliation, just spotted it on the weekly kijiji searches. http://alberta.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-Lotus-Caterham-Super-7-W0QQAdIdZ323984324

I am very happy to hear that the lost pipe has been found at another Birkin owners garage.

I guess the issue was going to be cost. I know to get everything lined up with the other three could take a bit of bodging, and time is money. I have sent out a call to one of the other guys that got a car from the same place, and hopefully he has it mixed in with his stuff.

Hi everyone, I am looking at the possibility that the cylinder 1 (front) header pipe was missplaced, and that I will need to look for replacements. I have spoken to the folks at Birkin, and have a couple options. I know I can get a shop to help bend the tube and build one, but I wanted to see if there was anthing more cost effective than trial and error to match the one pipe to three others. I wanted to test the waters here and see what may come back. Thanks Duane

When it was delivered, all the wheels were on incorrect accept the drivers rear. All that need to be swapped now are the spare and the rear passenger.

I happen to be free this weekend.

Thanks Bernie, That's exactly what I was thinking about.

Bill, I find myself saying I have lots of time, but I know that there will be a crunch time to finish the build. Next time your in the garage, could you send me some pics of how your shoulder harnesses were mounted to the car Please?

Will do. I have had to rent/borrow a garage from a guy I met through the Subaru club. (Westernsubaruclub.com) and I managed to get a corner I can work in. As expected the car has a bunch of parts missing and as such I spend much of my time behind the wheel making motor sounds. I am currently drawing up a PO for the Zetec plumbing kit, fuel pump, Jenvey intake (twin two barrel) and alternator bracket. That should get me moving again. I have gone through the car and torqued everything to spec. Everything except the nut on the back of the uprights, the one that also holds on the fender bracket. I can't for the life of me find the spec for that nut......anyone here know? My big project until more parts arrive is sorting the driving position. I am a shorter fellow at 5'6", but my co-driver (and generally better half) is all of 5'. I find that with the pedal box all the way towards the cabin, I still need the seat partially moved forward to be comfortable, but this doesn't feel comfortable for the arms. Karina (the better half mentioned earlier) still can't reach the pedals when the seat is all the way forward. I was thinking about fabricating some extensions for the pedals to the tune of around three inches. Has anyone run into these challenges? On with the pictures.... (This one courteous of Bill)

Unfortunately Beatrice did not yet have an engine, and I waited a few more weeks to pick her up. The man I purchased her form was kind enough to drop her on a motor, and we were in buisness. Shortly after that I came to pick her up. A pal offered to assist by towing her back, but I would need to help him with a little side project. As it turns out, his Mother in law deals in Pez, and had located a large collection up for purchase in the same area as Beatrice. I had hoped to enjoy the looks of approval for the fantastic car I had just purchased, on the ride home, but as you can see, nobody could see past the PEZ. :banghead:

I picked up my new toy a month and a bit ago, and finally figured it was time to start a diary of the build. First a little about myself. My name is Duane and I have been a car guy for a long time now. First car I had was a 1968 Beetle that turned into a full custom show car. Basically all show no go. I moved into a Lada Niva after that, and boy do I miss Natasha to this Day. She looked like a peice of crap, but it got me into the bush for a days wheeling, and never left me stranded when it came time to get home. Funniest story with Natasha was pulling a small Coke delivery truck off a pile of snow at the local gas station when there were a bunch of bigger trucks and owners looking on in disbelief. Most recently I got into Subaru's and had an 03 WRX with an EVO III 16G turbo swap (Betty). I have competed in auto-x for the last three years but really got serious the last two. An opportunity to purchase a 7 came up, and I could not pass it up. Enter Beatrice. Here is a shot of her the day I bought her, In fact I had owned her for less than 5 min. It is a repost from the Alberta "introduce yourself" thread, but I figured it would be allowed at the start of the build thread.

My goal at the latest, is for the first CSCC event of the summer Auto-x season.

I sure am digging the sound of this trip. 2013 gives me plenty of time to have the car built and all the bugs shaken out. Should even have a "backpack" built for Beatrice.

I have no affiliation to this sale. I found this on Kijiji here on the Calgary area. I emailed the owner and asked his permission to post here. http://alberta.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-Super-7-Birkin-IRS-S3-W0QQAdIdZ309813946

My Girl came up with the name for the Birkin as well. I have always named my cars. The WRX I just sold was Betty.

I'll need to relearn how to drive I think. I'm used to a heavy AWD. Any time your in trouble, just get on the loud pedal. I feel I'll need to be less ham fisted while driving now, and learn to respond better to what the car tells me.

Hi Everyone, My name is Duane, and I'm one of the potencial owners Bill has talked about. In fact I am not a pending owner anymore, as I brought my 1999 Birkin home last night. The Birkin (Beatrice) is a rolling chassis right now with a 2.0L Zetec, and a T9 trans freshly installed. I will have to finish all the the rest. She was never assembled when originally purchased and has been shipped around a bit until I purchased her. I have never built an engine like this and will have to learn a lot. I feel a little intimidated, but I know that there is a great community of folks here willing to help with any questions I have. I recently sold my Street Modified 2003 WRX in favor of Beatrice. It was a little tough to take, as I had to bail on a season of Auto-x that I was doing well in, but when opportunity knocks, you have to take advantage. I look forward to getting back into Auto-x, and racing against some very tough competition in Calgary. Here's a picture from last night as I was picking her up to come home.

I agree that the last revision of the EVO is a more aggressive car than the more recent batch of Subaru's. I wouldn't say that it was always more aggressive though. I am a little biased towards Subaru though.

The 2011 STI has a much more stiff chassis than the previous GR's. (2008-current)

I have been emailing Dick a little bit in the last while as well. When finished with the Duratech supercharger, they plan on one for the Zetec also. I figure the delay will give me time to get used to the power/weight in the Birkin with the NA Zetec, before going looney with the supercharger.

I would bet that in the same Top Gear format Tanner Foust, Matt Farah, and Adam Carrolla would have been a good mix. I have watched Matt Farah on the Smoking Tire, and Garage 419 podcasts for quite a while now, and he really is pretty good. He also tried out for Top Gear America, but was turned down for Woodridge.