RGTorque Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Ill start from the beginning. In july i was looking to sell off all my corrado stuff and maybe purchase a locost and to my surprise i found a s2k for sale on ebay. the car was started its life in the hands of Brian from WCM but the build was cut short when the new owner picked it up and wanted to finish building it himself :banghead: anyway i made a crazy offer to the seller and he accepted! o joy... the car was listed as "perfect, undriven, turn key, complete" . when i got the car is was FAR from it. since i got the car i have had to deal with the following: 1) leaking rear brake line and NO fluid left in brake fluid canister 2) bakes much stronger in rear then front 2) e brake does not work 3) speedometer does not work 4) idle was at 2k 5) front suspension very loose 6) broken/cracked nose cone on transmission 7) multiple lug types of lug nuts 8) seats not bolted to the car floor 9) knocking sound coming from the rear when giving throttle in first or reverse 10) leaking front shock just a few problems right... i spent the first week of ownership calling and speaking to EVERYONE and getting the full background on the car. note to self, do this before buying a car next time. story goes as follows Brian was building this top notch one off miata powered ultralite because the owner was a lil girl and thought the s2k motor was to powerful. part way through the build the new owner took the car and tried to build it himself. when he failed at that he gave the car to another shop that "completed" the build. while the car was now on all four wheels i would not consider it built. the miata drive train remained nonoperational because of the immobilizer that came in that year ecu. so what to do? they find the only person in the woods that does not know how to work on a fuel injected car and have him rig up a harness and install SDS engine managment (vomit) . now the car is considered complete since it "starts and runs". after a few months of sitting the owner, a car collector, says hes lost interest and gives the car to bay city motors in MI to sell this beast on ebay. they are told the same story as i am, and thats what they list on ebay. now that the car has been in my hands since july i have taken care of the following. 1) leaking rear brake line and NO fluid left in brake fluid canister ~ installed a different fitting that does not leak, bleed all 4 calipers and now no leaks. (cost me $45 in fluid and fittings) 2) bakes much stronger in rear then front ~ adjusted the willwood brake bias bar ( cost me 2 hrs of time) 3) speedometer does not work ~ still no idea why this does not work, went through the autometer setup but no dice... 4) idle was at 2k ~ this is an ongoing project, basically im removing the sds and all the gm coils and sensors that that put on the motor because its shooting fuel at intake and exhaust strokes and it cannot control the vvt leaving me with no top end. ive already contacted ken hill or oracle tuning and we are going head first with a hydra engine managment system that will not only take care of the idle and vvt but also give me 10-15% power increase :7fume: . (cost me $1500 for hydra system + $1200 for install and dyno tune + cost of missing sensors (unknown as of yet) 5) front suspension very loose ~ i know you can see the fenders move but i dont think they should have a death rattle... upon further inspection the lack of washers has proven near fatal. the suspension bolts are a certain length and need washers!!! they were not in your build kit for looks dude! (cost me $1.25 and 45 min ) 6) broken/cracked nose cone on transmission ~ this was fun, the first car inspection proved entertaining. found the nosecone on the trans was cracked at the mount because some genius over torqued the bolts and stripped them out of the trans, and just left them there. at some point 1 of the two bolts that were not stripped got enough torque to crack the mount. i a new nose cone was purchased and had the engine and trans removed to install the part; while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eVox Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 I'm glad most of the issues are relatively small. I am a little scared about the people that originally assembled the car! What else might be lurking to come undone? I'd do a through inspection of all the bolts before the car gets up to speed (I'm sure you already have though). I liked the video of the rear end. It took about 3 seconds to guess what happened. :banghead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Roman, that's a shame as it's a great looking car. If you had the time, I agree with Evox, I'd take it all apart and reassemble it to make sure every thing is done correctly. I find that it's not uncommon for even nylocs to come loose. Make sure that you routinely do a tech inspection after every couple of blats. Now get those seats bolted in so that you're ready for the first Philly region Autox at Warminster in April. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGTorque Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 at this point ive gone over the entire car two or three times and damn near everything but the sheet metal has been has been removed and replaced. lucky for me now i am very familiar with the car and will recognize the sounds it wil make if and when certain parts come loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Well at least after all that work, now you can say you built it ... wouldn't say it was a turnkey;) Like I said before, your car on Ebay was the one that got me looking into 7s, and after all is said and done, I will be picking up my black S2K from Brian in 2 weeks. Glad you've found solutions to everything, that ECU stuff scares me....:crazy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 OK, I will quit complaining about my Caterham's occasional hiccup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxologist Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 congrats. tom says ur gonna have to come out to an AutoX or we'll trailor Yellow to ur place and rev its engines till all ur neighbors pissed. we'd use my car but no one even knows when its WOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Roman, Love that vid of the rear movement, no not really. Glad you have sorted out the issues, because you have a nice seven, and I want a ride in it. See if you can get some miles on it,and shake it down I ALWAYS do a nut and bolt check, and have found things that can be deadly. Then we can run our cars out to the KIT car show and enjoy all your hard work. Does your car feel faster than Tom's? Well Done Roman, Steve :hurray: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Roman. In spite of all the problems you will love the car even more now that you are more intimately acquainted with it. It always feels so good when you finally fix the problems and know that you were able to cope with them. If this Ken Hill is the fellow who used to work for Flyin Miata, your car is in good hands. He is a master tuner of Miata engines. Tell him hello for me. Do you have a turbo on it? I got my Caterham as a rolling chassis. Several people advised me to check every bolt. I did and found some loose ones. I also found a leak in a T connection in the brakes but just a quarter turn with the flare wrench fixed that problem. Skip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 S1 Steve wrote: Does your car feel faster than Tom's? What's this, pick on Tom time? :boxing: Of course his will "feel" faster, it has no real windscreen. But it's way too heavy to "BE" faster. It's still pretty though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGTorque Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 are you asking me if its faster? cause at this point its slow on the top end because of the ecu. yes ken hill from flyin miata is my tuner and no i have no turbo. plans are to drive her down to Brian in a year or two for a s2k swap when more power is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Roman, I am trying to find out if I am going to get my ass handed to me by one yellow 7 and a black one at Philly's auto-X this summer ???? :banghead: :banghead: Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Steve, the Driver makes waay more difference than the amount of power. Warren Schiff kicks my butt with a little 1275 in his series 2 Lotus 7. Steve you have lots of experience, bring it on!!!!! :party: This may turn out to be a great year in the Philly region for DMOD. Now if only we can convince Al that he should concentrate on his driving not adding more power. :lol: :leaving: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Steve, the Driver makes waay more difference than the amount of power. Warren Schiff kicks my butt with a little 1275 in his series 2 Lotus 7. Steve you have lots of experience, bring it on!!!!! :party: This may turn out to be a great year in the Philly region for DMOD. Now if only we can convince Al that he should concentrate on his driving not adding more power. :lol: :leaving: In retrospect, adding more power is relatively harmless, as long as the tube frames are intact. I certainly enjoyed running with you guys at Aberdeen and plan to do it again (if Aberdeen will still be around). EvilRomeo, sounds like your car is in decent shape after some TLC :thumbs: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHKflyer52 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Roman, I am trying to find out if I am going to get my ass handed to me by one yellow 7 and a black one at Philly's auto-X this summer ???? :banghead: :banghead: Steve Steve, I do not know if it will be handed to you but I can tell you Tom and his 7 are very fast and smooth and I say that from having watched Tom and his 7 run and having at Aberdeen Md and heard other people at that autocross say that he is the guy to try and beat in his class. If I am not mistaken I think he had the FTD that day and was very smooth and fast, like being on a rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Hi Martin, I have seen Tom drive his 7, he does it Very well. And better yet he is a good guy, never had an offer for a ride in someone's car during Timed runs, but Tom made the offer !!! And Roman took him up on it , and loved it. My car is in D-Mod, My formula ford used to be in D-Mod !!!!! Tom and Roman checking the fuel in the booster rockets !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxologist Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Steve, the Driver makes waay more difference than the amount of power. Warren Schiff kicks my butt with a little 1275 in his series 2 Lotus 7. Steve you have lots of experience, bring it on!!!!! :party: This may turn out to be a great year in the Philly region for DMOD. Now if only we can convince Al that he should concentrate on his driving not adding more power. :lol: :leaving: lets start the fun early. run your mouth and your motor time! Tom's scared of being beat by a green and yellow 7 on street tyres. this year i won't have to resort to stealing the timing equipment!:crazy: :jonautox: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGTorque Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 you guys are crazy. i have NO seat time in any formal track or event. i dont even have a set of track wheels with "real" tires so please don't count me in for anything interesting at an autox. i will def try to bring the car up in April to warminster since its only a few blocks from home base but i may miss the date if the cart is still at the tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxologist Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 don't worry. I make interesting on a regular basis. :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGTorque Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 if anyone has some free time to teach me some driving skillz when i get this beast on the road it would really appreciate it. i can repay in food and beer? help me make your autox experience "interesting".:7head: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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