'Tis the (upgrade) season! What are you doing?

[slowdude]

29 minutes ago, Croc said:

Remarkable really.  I am on original pads front and rear for 15 years on my CSR and have only just changed rear pads on the 420R after 30000 track miles since 2018.   

Agreed. Pads I pulled off last year were at 48k miles and had plenty of meat. They must have been from 07 or so. The ebc green stuff i have is wearing surprisingly quick

[KnifeySpoony]

1 hour ago, slowdude said:

Agreed. Pads I pulled off last year were at 48k miles and had plenty of meat. They must have been from 07 or so. The ebc green stuff i have is wearing surprisingly quick

How much track time is that and how much power is your car making?

[slowdude]

7 minutes ago, KnifeySpoony said:

How much track time is that and how much power is your car making?

Half a day of track time and 6k miles of road use. Half "spirited" road driving and Half commuting.

[Croc]

12 hours ago, KnifeySpoony said:

Which pads in the rear? OEM pads I went through in 8 days, so I "upgraded" to Ferodo DS3000 and only was getting 5 days. And one of those sets had catastrophic failure on the 5th day (completely crumbled off of the backplate)

My 420R track car has always used Mintex  1144 all round and I am very happy.  
 

TFL has been changing its track customers over to the F2R compound.  Harder to warm up but once warm they stay strong with little fade.  Only one of their customers has asked to go back to 1144.  I would not use F2R on street though.  Once I go through the current 1144 pads I will try them.  
 

 

 

[S1Steve]

On 12/14/2024 at 7:07 AM, Croc said:

 

Nice choice of P-Zeros.  I just changed to those for my 13 inch wheels.  Lovely grippy things - lots of stones thrown back in the face.

These tires don’t seem to throw any more stones than any other 100 wear rated tire I’ve had on. The r888’s really started to self destruct after 6 winters. But there’s warnings 888 don’t like cold weather that I ignored……

[John B]

It’s really more like maintenance, but my 7 started running like crap all of a sudden. Connecting to the ECU revealed a TPS sensor fault. Once removed, it felt really “crunchy” when the internal disk was rotated with a screwdriver. It took a little sleuthing to find a proper replacement, but once I had on in hand and installed it my 7 fired right up like it used to, and showed no more TPS fault.

It runs like a scalded cat again! 
 

A small victory, but I’ll gladly take it!

[Slonie]

I'm gonna try and resolve my throttle hang issue yet again, and find a replacement dipstick as mine broke off in August or September (somehow, it hung on and did not get lost in the bottom of my sump though!)

[MV8]

On 12/19/2024 at 7:49 PM, Slonie said:

I'm gonna try and resolve my throttle hang issue yet again,

Lubricate all those spherical bearings (8). They all must rotate in the housings. Also make the housings lay flat when torquing the jamb nuts (housings should not be allowed to rotate to touch the nut/bolt head when torquing the jamb nuts), and lubricate the return springs (3, with one on two of the itbs). No need to add extra springs/pedal effort.

Edited December 21, 2024 by MV8

[Slonie]

On 12/20/2024 at 3:08 PM, MV8 said:

Lubricate all those spherical bearings (8). They all must rotate in the housings. Also make the housings lay flat when torquing the jamb nuts (housings should not be allowed to rotate to touch the nut/bolt head when torquing the jamb nuts), and lubricate the return springs (3, with one on two of the itbs). No need to add extra springs/pedal effort.

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll get in there once again and see what I can do, hoping to be able to work on it in-situ even though it's a pain (but maybe less of a pain than removing the throttle body, for now?).

 

I did not realize there were return springs inside the throttle body itself but looking at a photo of one off of a car I can see what you mean. Would you recommend a dry lube for them? I did a search on lubricating spherical bearings and came up with "unless they have grease fittings, don't lube", but open to suggestions. In any case, reading Vovchandr's experience with Borla's rebuild costs has me definitely wanting to try and resolve this without sending it in. Although I might add, the dual return spring was a standard feature on all later units shipped.

[John B]

Here’s what we’re doing.

 

[MV8]

15 hours ago, Slonie said:

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll get in there once again and see what I can do, hoping to be able to work on it in-situ even though it's a pain (but maybe less of a pain than removing the throttle body, for now?).

 

I did not realize there were return springs inside the throttle body itself but looking at a photo of one off of a car I can see what you mean. Would you recommend a dry lube for them? I did a search on lubricating spherical bearings and came up with "unless they have grease fittings, don't lube", but open to suggestions. In any case, reading Vovchandr's experience with Borla's rebuild costs has me definitely wanting to try and resolve this without sending it in. Although I might add, the dual return spring was a standard feature on all later units shipped.

There are too many different types of spherical bearings and conditions to limit lubrication to those with fittings. I'd use an aerosol lithium on the bearings and springs or you could just periodically use wd40 to clean and penetrate. Overspray of either will not hurt anything. I'd use dry graphite with a cable lubing tool on the throttle cable if it has not been previously lubed with grease. Dry lube is very messy and watery while the propellant evaporates to leave the graphite.

Sounds like the dual spring is a good idea. May be the typical dual carb springs (dual in case one ever breaks).

 

I'd also look in the throats to look for shiny areas inside where the butterflies may be rubbing on the bottom from the weight of the linkage on the outside.

 

 

[slowdude]

Bumping this thread to the front page for motivation for everyone. Spring is around the corner.

[slowdude]

On 12/12/2024 at 10:58 PM, Outbound said:

I have a laundry list of things to do for my Superlight R

 

- new Emerald ECU to improve that 1.8 VHPD engine from Dave Andrews

- pulleys associated with it.

- jack webb road tuned Nitrons

- the various bits and bobs to get the bumpsteer and alignment under control.

- new gauges and switching to a gps speedo.

- machine some nice pedals after some reverse engineering. Have a new Haas VF2SS being installed at my warehouse, and intend to do a few fun projects.

- replace the radiator that seems to have a small leak.

- whatever else to get it ready for a few track days next year, and just to be able to idle in traffic fine.

I have a few DVA Maps for the K series. PM me if you need one you can start work on.

[Outbound]

Just now, slowdude said:

I have a few DVA Maps for the K series. PM me if you need one you can start work on.

I just dropped the car off with Aric Streeter a few days ago to get all the engine stuff done. Sounds like he’s got experience with those DVA maps. In a small world, his shop is only a mile away from my house!

[slowdude]

Just now, Outbound said:

I just dropped the car off with Aric Streeter a few days ago to get all the engine stuff done. Sounds like he’s got experience with those DVA maps. In a small world, his shop is only a mile away from my house!

You found an Emerald tuner in the states? Please share. I'm on an island out here.

[Outbound]

Just now, slowdude said:

You found an Emerald tuner in the states? Please share. I'm on an island out here.

Hes a part of yawspeed up here in North chicago with another experienced racer (jason, won the 2007 mx5 cup championship), they have a small shop running from the headquarters of gridlife.

 

https://yawspeed.us/

 

not sure if he’s publicly out about doing Emerald stuff, but Dave is the one who put me in touch, telling me he was the expert here stateside. Will find out in a few weeks how it goes.

 

i ended up doing all the nitron stuff from Jack Webb on my own, but going to let aric get it dialed in. Got those new gauges in as well, next up is still to get the custom pedals designed and made.

 

 However i have a new stable mate coming. A 1970 mini cooper track car in the same shade of orange.

 

 

[EdWills]

On 12/24/2024 at 9:55 AM, MV8 said:

There are too many different types of spherical bearings and conditions to limit lubrication to those with fittings. I'd use an aerosol lithium on the bearings and springs or you could just periodically use wd40 to clean and penetrate. Overspray of either will not hurt anything. I'd use dry graphite with a cable lubing tool on the throttle cable if it has not been previously lubed with grease. Dry lube is very messy and watery while the propellant evaporates to leave the graphite.

Great forum idea with excellent advice.  

 

Also a great idea from MV8 re: dry graphite.  Locksmiths use dry graphite to lubricate locking mechanisms (such as keyways, padlocks etc.) - never oil, as any kind of oil or lubricating fluid (grease, silicone) will just attract dirt and jamb up the mechanism.  You can obtain grey graphite or use white 'talc-like' lock lube if the grey looks too messy in the engine bay. Possibly locksmiths will sell these to you, or perhaps any NAPA type shop?  Cheers, W.

[JohnCh]

1 hour ago, EdWills said:

Great forum idea with excellent advice.  For any Lotus Seven owners on this forum, what are your preferred tires in 175-70 R13, 165-70 R13 or as some Lotus owners (and possibly Lotus themselves advised when the Series 3 was originally produced) - 185-70 R13 as an alternative option to 165s?  A tire company in the U.K. that sells tires mainly for sports cars, advises to use inner tubes inside Michelins, Pirellis etc.  The previous owner of my car used inner tubes with the Pirelli Cinturatos, and neither of us had any problems.  He installed 185-70 R13s, on the 5-1/2J Cortina steel rims, but I wonder if 175s would be a better compromise?  Your thoughts please.

Hi @EdWills tire questions always result in deeper conversations that will take this thread too far off topic and will make it harder for people to find this in the future when they have the same question.  Please start a new thread in the Wheels & Tires forum:  https://usa7s.net/ips/forum/32-wheels-and-tires/.  I'm happy to edit out that portion of the post above once your new thread is live

 

All, please wait for Ed to start the new thread and post your answers to his tire question there, so I won't have to go back and move posts later.

 

Thanks,

John

[EdWills]

Hi @JohnCh.  Apologies.  I should have realized that a new thread should be used - my bad.  

 

I will repost in a new thread.  W.

[JohnCh]

1 hour ago, EdWills said:

I will repost in a new thread.  W.

 

Thanks for creating the new post.  I've edited your post above to avoid confusion.  Link to the new thread is here:

 

Now back to winter upgrade updates...