jewish luck

[RGTorque]

BEWARE, RANT BELOW :rant:

 

 

A few weeks ago i dropped my 7 off at Classic Competition in Dublin PA to get the car aligned since i was coming up to my first track day (aug 29th) about half a day later i get a call from BJ McDonald (owner) that my car has... several issues.

 

shocks are not good

heim ends are worn

steering rack is worn

wheel being is bad

damaged suspension spacers

 

im asked what id like to do and i tell him to go ahead and do the wheel bearing since it was not safe to be driven. i took the car back and said i will get the other parts while he is on vacation the next week and bring it back for the alignment.

 

the first thing i did when i got the car back was order the steering rack. the first and second place i ordered from both called me back within a day telling me that its out of stock so i ended up paying top dollar and ordered the rack from flaming river direct... ok shit happens

 

while i wait for the rack i count up all the heim ends and figure out what hole/thread/shank i need. i also order shocks and springs from QA1, and spend an hour on the phone with FKrodends regarding what rod ends to use.

 

while i wait i take the suspension rods off the car. 4 days later and i have the rod ends with teflon inserts in my hands, great product.

 

a day or so later i get my shocks/springs from qa1 but my jewish luck steps in... springs are to big. unless i do some fab work, which i dont know how to do, this will have get sent back.

 

the next few days are spent replacing the rod ends and on the phone with qa1, hypercoil, a1racing, Loren and Kevin (mojo) and a few others trying to figure out what shocks/springs i need. we figure it out and i order my new qa1 non adjustable (no adjustable offered in my size). my jewish luck steps in again and i get a call 3 days later only to be told the shock i need is on back order until mid september which is past my race date.

 

a hectic call to advanced racing shocks and Cory says he can have me the same setup as Loren and Kevin use via next day air (today). this is great because BJ said he can align, corner balance, and set up suspension today.

 

so today i got my shocks and springs. i was as happy as a jewish kid getting his first gift on Hanukkah. i quickly got the suspension on the car and drove it to Bj's to get setup for race day (tomorrow).

 

1 hour after i get back jewish luck sticks again. the shocks are to short, nothing to do now but send them back to Cory at Advanced racing shocks

 

there goes my friday track day and sunday autox

 

live and learn

 

that is all, thanks for reading.

 

 

[slngsht]

things like this rarely go according to plan.

 

how close are you to Baltimore?

 

Look up autofab racecars... they stock an entire wall of various spring rates and lengths, and are a QA1 dealer. Very knowledgeable people. Always interesting projects in their shop.

[Boxologist]

BEWARE, RANT BELOW :rant:

....ie blah blah did we welcome u to se7en ownership? blah blah ...

 

there goes my friday track day and sunday autox

 

live and learn

 

that is all, thanks for reading.

 

 

ask Tom if u can codrive. run teh street tyres unless he insists that u too should have slicks:7head: then he can codrive urs when its all back together.

[solder_guy]

Many consolations .. there will be better and other race days!

 

(My car has been in the shop for 9 months!)

 

Rob

 

[RGTorque]

things like this rarely go according to plan.

 

how close are you to Baltimore?

 

Look up autofab racecars... they stock an entire wall of various spring rates and lengths, and are a QA1 dealer. Very knowledgeable people. Always interesting projects in their shop.

 

thats where i was getting my suspension from, i am about 2.5 hr from Baltimore.

 

i dont think tom brings street tire to the autox plus i dont think he would let anyone drive, especially after the flying fender incident.

[Kitcat]

Sounds a lot like my Irish luck with my Caterham:). I too have a new steering rack waiting to be installed, etc. Seems like the only thing I haven't replaced/upgraded in the last year is the frame and the engine. Chris at 7's and Elans tells me the engine will need a rebuild at 25K( 22.5K on the odometer at the moment).

 

Who knew steering racks even wore out? Anyhow, there is always another track day, right around the corner. My car has been amazing sine the various repairs/improvements have been made. I am faster and safer at the track days and, while I hesitate to use the word "reliable", it has been bullet proof this year (I know I will pay now for saying that).

[JohnK]

BEWARE, RANT BELOW :rant:

shocks are not good

heim ends are worn

steering rack is worn

wheel being is bad

damaged suspension spacers

 

 

So how many miles did you have to put on your 7 and how hard were they in order to generate so much wear?

[RGTorque]

 

So how many miles did you have to put on your 7 and how hard were they in order to generate so much wear?

 

i do know have many miles on the 7, 1000 miles give or take...? the spedo was not hooked up until this past week . i think a lot of the problems came from poor assembly by the previous owner and my ignorance when i bought the car. i just drove it and fixed problems as i found it instead of fixing the entire car at once. also i did not have anyone in my area knowledgeable enough to really tell me what needs to be done until now.

 

shocks are not good - aldan eagle shocks were not great to begin with, which is why WCM no longer uses them

heim ends are worn - i imagine this is from the road use in humid weather and bad shocks cause the suspension to move and travel way more then it should.

steering rack is worn - this is just bad luck

wheel bearing is bad - this was not tightened down correctly to begin with so it has to much play. the cage was broken and the bearings were ROASTED

damaged suspension spacers - could have been prevented with 4 washers but i did not know... the spacer was aluminum and one side pressed against the knuckle and the other on the heim end. as i tightened the bolt the aluminum would crash and mushroom which mean the end link on the other side was always moving around (yet another work out heim end) and cause my alignment to change as i go over bumps . i have replaced this spacer with a chomroly piece and added washers.

 

most of these issues could have been prevented if the PO or myself could had capable and knowledgeable techs to spot these issues before the car went on the road.

 

[DeanG]

With cars such as ours the joy of having a good shop is boundless.

[JohnK]

I find this sort of thing very frustrating all the way around. I read the UK list for years to get an idea of what ownership of a 7 was like; spent 6 months as a consultant developing a bespoke wiring harness for the Superformance S1 and Zetec EMS; and over a year,again in a consulting capacity, tuning cars on a both and engine and a chassis dyno with aftermarket EMS systems. If you've ever worked as a consultant you know that in that position you have a great view of the whole of an operation, and as such I learned much more here than just the tasks at hand. It became very clear that the owner/builder/dealer has an awful job because the product is, with the possible exception of a Caterham, something that's had very little development behind it - read: has all sorts of undiscovered problems. Also, because the cars are produced in small numbers there's no way anyone's gonna develop an ISO 9000 plan for its assembly, i.e., a procedure that ensures a good product. (Sometimes I stop work on my car and go over and fiddle with my daily-driver Honda Civic and marvel at what an extraordinary piece of engineering and manufacturing it represents.) So we're at the mercy of the small-time builder/seller - if that guy has a pretty loose idea of what's OK to send out the door, we pay the price. And, of course we've all got stars in our eyes because the product is, at least in our dreams, so cool - so that 'discriminating buyer' just doesn't apply here - until you've been really burned. The reason a Honda Civic is such a great car is the same reason that a Ferrari or a Porsche costs a lot of money. it takes a huge investment in development and testing in order to develop a really good car. On the other end, you've got the people who deliver the mechanical goods. I had the great opportunity to spend time hanging around a museum-class repair shop here in Cincinnati, and to see how the 'mechanics' approached their work. The skill and experience, and especially the technical understanding I saw was awesome. Such people are few and far between, and invariably overbooked. To me, all of this says either buy a Caterham after you locate a really really good shop that's willing to take your money, or prepare yourself to learn more about being a mechanic that you ever thought you were capable of (I happen to have found that this can be a LOT of fun).

I tend to get pretty angry with what I see as the out and out dangerous crap that some builders deliver and some dealers send out the door - but the other side of that coin is that, if the design and manufacturing were done 'right', it would be really expensive and take way too long. So consequently, and from everything I've seen, the responsibility for making sure a 7 is working right ultimately falls on the owner - be careful, you can hurt yourself.

 

 

 

[RGTorque]

i would honestly say you are correct, the responsibility falls on the owner. i would however like to point out that, in my case, the issue was to many shops/people working on the car before it was setup correctly. the issues i have experienced are due to non experienced hands trying to accomplish more then they know how to. as i learn i will be able to maintain the car better and recognize issues prior to them cost small fortunes as in the current case.

 

regarding the caterham vs WCM ultralite issue, i would say that the caterham may have the finishing work that the ultralite does not have but the build quality and engineering behind the car is quite good and has proven itself to be on the same level multiple times.

[Kitcat]

FYI: JohnK is building (re-engineering?) a WCM kit and I suspect many of his comments reflect issues he has faced in the course of that multi-year project.

[southwind25]

I guess we have Slovack luck...

 

yes it's true we whine about our nasties as well...but..

 

it's more fun to drive the se7en with a slipping clutch full of oil..than my work car.

 

our car was full of past owner faults...i only hope we are much better at it.

[gjslutz]

EvelRomeo:

 

Here is my fun 7 purchase story:

 

I had been looking for about a month. I still had not looked at any, other than 2 at the Pittsburgh Vintage GP. I had seen Mike & Franks Caterham there. I had wanted a 7 for several years prior, but never took a close look.

 

I found a 3,000 mile 7 (Birkin) listed on: USA7’s.org that looked like a reasonable price. It had some spares as well as the heater & wiper kit in a box. I have a friend that removed his rear seats from his A/C. We flew up in the afternoon to Syracuse, N.Y. and met the owner at the airport. He showed up with a great looking car that was as advertised. I paid him and we loaded the parts & extra wheels & tires in the A/C, had lunch and we all departed. When I got home the parts were in my hanger.

 

Problems:

 

At the first fuel stop I sat by the gas pump and cut the sides from my gym shoes I used for hiking. I also stuffed some waded up paper towels in my ears, due to the drone @ 70-75 MPH. I had about a 350 mile trip home; all but 20 miles were on interstate roads. I arrived at home at 11:30 PM after stopping for a great dinner about 120 miles from home. The wife looked into the garage and said there was no way she would ever ride in it as it was too small for the road. After the first ride the next day that changed, she has become a real pest for rides after that.

 

I spent several hours over the first 3 to 4 months adjusting pedals and seats to fit me, repacking the muffler, and after modifications I wanted, I was done. In the 4K + miles I have done in the 11 months, it has been bush start button and drive car. I feel cheated; I missed all the hair pulling, good thing as none to pull!

 

OHIO LUCK!

 

[kitmfgr]

John K. ordered a one off special Kit that was not a WCM production product. It was more or less an experiment in a different direction that he chose to go. The standard Ultralite S2k has proven it's engineering many times over the last eight years, without any major changes to design. Knowing John, I am sure his finished design will be fantastic, and the time spent just makes it that much more to his liking.

[RGTorque]

just got word from BJ at classic competition. he says the car now setup as as possible (shocks came in late friday). we swapped out the advanced racing oil shocks and went with a smaller gas shock, which im told is better. a few other things noted was that the rear end is still very stiff and that the 280 spring i have is just to much. he is recommending a 225 spring with a bump stop on the shock to keep it from bottoming out. all in all the best news ive heard in weeks.

 

i am picking the car up at 7am tomorrow and going right to the autox yayayayay.