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"Mark 'F355', Angus and Wile7 at Abbeville Feb 2006"
A fitting farewell tribute to Marks gorgeous seven (and some funny hats along the way)- Read more...
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Latest Entry
Home made aero-Brooklands
You will need :
- 50cm x 50cm x 3mm transparent polycarbonate.
I was lucky enough to find a sheet which corner had been damaged, so I had it for 25% the normal price
- 1m of 10mm x 1mm aluminium stem
- 1m of transparent 5mm OD hose
available in pet shops for aquarium air piping
- 2 motorbike mirrors with a threaded link between the stem and the mirror ball joint.
Mine are Suzuki Bandit accessories
- Threaded (rivnuts) and classical rivets
- M4 stainless screws
Step 1 : Make a template
Using cardboard, scissors and duck tape, make a template of 1 of the screens. Be precise on the scuttle / screen interface : that detail will make your work look "pro". Or not.
If you wish to be able to go back to windscreen (see "lessons learnt" at the end), locate the wiper shaft position and make a suitable hole.
You then can make the other side's template by turning this one upside down. Be careful for the wiper shaft hole : they are not symetrical.
Note : due to copyright issues, I can't post cardboard template images. See the website of the rights owner. They ask for huge fees to anyone who uses their revolutionnary concept.
Step 2 : Cut
Quite easy with an angle grinder with discs for metal. The melted polycarbonate breaks fine along the cutting line. Gently file the edge with sandpaper.
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/from%20LHD%20passenger%20seat.jpg%20
From the LHD passenger seat : clean -and safe- edge.
Step 3 : Cut and bend aluminium legs
Make 3 legs for each screen.
To be able to revert to windscreen, set the right and left legs on the windscreen rubber gasket footprint on the scuttle.
The center leg will be located as close as possible to the scuttle / bonnet junction, and go under the bonnet (you will have to cut 1.5cm of the rubber band under the bonnet.
Step 5 should help to make it clearhttp://my.lotussevenclub.com/Providers/HtmlEditorProviders/Fck/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/confused_smile.gif.
Step 4 : Protect against screen / scuttle interference
Use transparent 5mm OD tube.
Step 5 : attach legs to screens and legs to car
Legs to screen : use 4mm rivets and washers. Sequence : rivet - screen - washer.
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/rivet.jpg%20
Rivet from "inside". Note the washer.
Legs to car : use 4mm rivnuts and stainless screws
http://my.lotussevenclub.com/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/scuttle.jpg
L-shaped legs linked to the scuttle with rivnuts
Central leg : go under the bonnet !
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/central1.jpg%20 /Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/central2.jpg%20
Views of the central legs. Remove 1.5cm of the foam strip. Rivnut + 4mm stainless screws in the bulkhead.
Step 6 : Wide-track mirrors
As said before, you need mirrors with a threaded link between the stem and the ball joint. That point will be the "head" of the tripod. Being a M6 thread, you will need to drill 6+mm holes in the aluminium stems. The most difficult is to bend the stems to the right shape, but a little fiddling and 2 spanners should be enough.
The three legs of the tripod will be :
1- The mirror stem, in the rearmost stanchion hole
2- An aluminium stem, from the front stanchion hole to the "head"
3- Another aluminium stem, from the external screen L-sahped leg to the "head".
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/side.jpg%20 /Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/tripod.jpg%20
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/tripod2.jpg%20
Re-use stanchion holes !
Final result :
/Portals/14/Blog/Files/27/98/final.jpg%20
Lessons learnt
1- Use polycarbonate. My first attempt was with acrylic. Much cheaper, but prone to become brittle exposed to UV. They lasted less than 1 year. My polycarbonate ones are now 4 years old and still OK.
2- Never mind the wipers shafts. Never mind the rivnuts position. You will NEVER revert to windscreen.
3- When I do a good job, I should always take step by step pictures. There will come a time when I will want to share it, and words are never explicit enough. Especially in english.
The question is : How to know BEFORE that it will be a good job http://my.lotussevenclub.com/Providers/HtmlEditorProviders/Fck/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/confused_smile.gif ?
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Latest Entry
Getting started
Well, having got out of the company car game, I decided that I needed a sensible commuter car to do the motorway run to my new place of work. I looked and looked, weeks came and went, and I still didn't have a car. Options ranged from a late series Range Rover, through Volvo V70's to lotus Elises and 7's. In the end I went up to Gateshead to view a potential car with suspected HGF with a fellow member (who shall remain nameless until I ask if he wants to be named :) . All was good, apart from the suspected HGF, so a deal was struck and it was trailered home.
A day-or-so later a incredibly long day was spent in a luxury garage, pulling the little 1.4 apart, until we were back to the short block. A quick test of the head for flatness and the re-assembly was on. New steel dowels, a spangley multi layer head gasket, head bolts stretched and torqued down to an inch of their lives, a new 82deg thermostat and the timing belt back on. Last job to do was to drop the sump, ditch the last of the grim oil/sludge that was residing in there, replace and fire it up.
Bummocks. Un-seeable from the outside, the sump was cracked. It had been welded, but was found to be sealed around the welded wound with silicone inside, the baffle plate was FUBAR and several of the sump bolts were even missing. I did have another caterham sump on a spare engine, but it was a good hour's round trip away and it was getting late (past 10pm). So, after over 12hours of work we loaded it back on the trailer and towed it back to the ranch to fight another day.
It was around this time that I took a well timed week break. In-between jobs, I was going to drive back on Sat and hopefully fix the car on Sun in time to drive to my first day at the new work on Mon.
This time things got better. The sump was dropped, the baffle plate swapped, new sump on. most bolts back in ;) then fluids. Under the watchful eye of mate Snr, it was cranked over... ...nothing. Then again... ...nothing. A quick check revealed that the HT lead to the coil hadn't been replaced (probably my job). With a full compliment of attached leads, it was cranked again. This time SUCCESS! A quick play with the hoses and all was going well, until the new thermostat opened, the J-hose popped off and let a good dose of the new coolant out onto the floor.
A quick trip to Halfords and £7 later, we were back in business. This time a bit more pressure was put on the jubilee clip and we left the cap of the expansion bottle for a little longer, hoses wiggled, squished, and wobbled. Rad's bled and fingers crossed, or was it the other way round? Result. We were in business, just in time to step out of the garage as the snow fell. An easy trundle down the motorway back home and it held together well. Nice 80 deg temp and good oil pressure. That was in Feb, over 4,000 miles ago, and I am well due an oil change. Which I guess will be the next post.
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Latest Entry
Nearly Curborough time . . .
Well it's all getting a bit close now. I'm going down in convoy with Dave Lynch so we've sorted out a set off time from sunny Barnsley!.
www.metcheck.com has slight amounts of rain showing for Sunday. Does that mean it's going to be slippy and slithery, if it is that'll mean any knowledge I gained from the test day in February will need shall we say "tempering".
The other thing I'm excited about is the length of the entry list. It'll be the most 7's I've seen in one place ever!! I know, how could I have had such a sheltered 7ing life ;-)
The aim for Sunday is to get around in one piece, remain on the black stuff and generally enjoying the day. Let see what happens . . . . .
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South Yorkshire Meeting - April 2006
Held at the Ladybower Inn as a one off. I believe (and I'm sure someone will correct me) that it is now the permanent home for the South Yorkshire Club.- Read more...
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Latest Entry
Confessions of a Newbie: 1st ever Sprint at Goodwood
After 10 years of ownership which has seen the 7 used for blatting, touring, trackdays and all manner of club activities, I decided it was time to try a new challenge and that this was the year to try my hand at sprinting and hillclimbing.
So, after much encouragement primarily from Mike and Tam Calvert , I set about getting my licence and preparing the car. Many thanks also to Mark Durrant who spent time exchanging emails and 'scrutineering' my car before the 1st event. I'm aiming at competing in around 7 or 8 events in my first season. My 7 is an 1800cc 140bhp x/flow and for my first season I'll use 32Rs for the dry and keep a spare set of wheels with 21Rs for the wet. So that means Class 3 for me.
Although Goodwood is my nearest venue for this year's championship, Maggie May and I decided to B&B it the night before to save on an ungodly early start on Saturday morning.
Strangely enough, I didn't feel too nervous about my first event (I guess the only things going through my mind were: don't make a fool of yourself and hoping for good weather). Unfortunately the weather forecast was not looking good, heavy rain in the morning!
Anyway, at 5.30am the alarm goes off and it 's not raining. Phew! However, at 6am the heavens just open up and I get drenched just hitching the trailer onto the car. This most definitely isn't helping my nerves now!!.
However, on the way to the circuit the weather starts to improve quite quickly and we arrive at 7.20am in sunshine, broken clouds and a gentle breeze. We find our allocated garage quickly and in no time we have unloaded the car and all accessories from the trailer.
So far so good. Next, off to registration, which is so much easier and less time consuming than trackdays (is it always like this?) and then as I get back to the 7 I'm next in line for scrutineering. All goes well, but I have to trawl around the paddock to find a scrutineer to sell me my helmet sticker. Now I'd better go for the noise test. Now, I've never failed a noise test but with the x/flow I'm always slightly apprehensive. My rev limiter is set at 6,500 revs but the power tails off at 6,000. So I tell the tester max revs is 6,000. So I'm instructed to bring the revs steadily up to 4,500 and hold it there. Oh, the embarrassment a x/flow at only 94dB. The exhaust recently had some work done on it by Powerspeed who also repacked it with a ceramic blanket which obviously works very well.
Next up, drivers' briefing, again, so much less formal than trackdays. Still no nerves (something must be wrong, what could I have forgotten?).
It's soon time for the first of two convoy runs. I've already decided to do both as I've never driven Goodwood before. First point to note is that the track is still quite damp and there is standing water on some corners. Now all of a sudden I start to have second thoughts! Especially as these runs are not that fast.
So back to the garages and find that Symmo, Tango Tart, Prangerman, Myothercarsa2cv, K16TOY, Crudders,Rich Watson and Clive & Yvonne from the Kent meets and also Brent & Tricia and Andy Webber from Hants have blatted down to support me. 'Twas very thoughtful of Brent to text me earlier that morning with "Don't bin it 'til we get there".
Meanwhile I get talking to Mike & Kate Sankey and Graham Wardall in the adjoining garages and say hello to a few other seveners that I already know. Everyone is so friendly, it certainly didn't feel like it was my first event.
Now it's time for practice, 2 laps, the first from a standing start for a practice time and the 2nd lap will therefore just follow on. Waiting at the red light I set the revs way too high and slither and squirm away from the line with too much wheel spin, I change to 2nd very quickly and I'm still spinning. Too much enthusiasm on a slightly damp grid. I fly round at breakneck speed and find that Mike Calvert, despite starting some 20secs after me has caught me up at Fordwater! Reality check; I'm too slow
My practice run was timed at a sedate 118.62 secs. Back at the garages, the 'fan club' amass and want to know my thoughts. Then it hits me, I haven't checked my tyre pressures and I realise that they are probably too high. With pressures adjusted downwards by a few PSI all I can do is wait for the timed runs to start for the L7C after lunch.
Within no time it seems we're called for our first timed run so back to the car and off towards the mass of 7s waiting for the call up to the grid. After practice I set myself a goal of getting down to 110 secs. Green light, and again too much wheelspin, but the track is now bone dry and that really helps my confidence to push harder. I still don't really know the circuit and find myself backing off too early for some of the corners. Nevertheless 1st timed run 111.76 secs. Wow, what an improvement. Now I want to go again now! But alas it doesn't work like that at sprints so it's back to the garages and time to reflect. I'm sure I can go quicker.
Later, we all line up for the 2nd run with a good chance that we may even get a 3rd run. I'm in the queue for the 2nd run and the timing equipment goes AWOL and we wait for what seems like an eternity (20 mins I think?) and all I can think is that a 3rd run probably won't happen. Eventually, the equipment is back up and running and I'm now on the grid. Green light too many revs again, squirm away from the line but I feel more confident but can I go quicker; It certainly feels quicker and as I exit the chicane I'm probably carrying too much speed and end up with the offside wheels well and truly on the grass. Quick decision required; does car feel 'planted' or should I back off. Planted so I keep my foot in and head for the line. Best time yet,109.75 secs;. Great another improvement.
Just get back to the garages, get out and we are told that anyone in the L7C that wants a 3rd run should make their way to the holding area asap. Excellent, another chance to go quicker and I'm sure I can.... This time I use less revs away from the line. Bugger! This time too few revs and the car bogs down a little. I'll get the hang of this starting lark one day.
Anyway, I'm sure my lines are better and although I get a bit of a wiggle on exiting the chicane I cross the line for my best time of the day 107.82 secs.
I'm well chuffed, my first sprint and I manage to better my times on each occasion by a reasonable amount. I'm also beginning to wonder why I didn't try sprinting before. I think the best time in Class 3 was around 97 secs and I've no idea of the other times in Class 3 but I would expect to be the slowest on the day after all it was my first sprint and I guess I'm probably down on power compared to a few others, running with less stickier tyres, and have no experience of this type of event.
All in all, a great day out, can't wait for the next event and I'm more than happy that I didn't make an arse of myself!!!
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Latest Entry
1st event of the year..
So I'm back from Goodwood, the first round of the series this year and my first proper outing in my car since it was rebuilt last year after a pretty comprehensive crash at the end of 2007.
The weekend started for me on Friday night as I headed down to a B&B near to the circuit, the journey down was pretty good and the weather looked like it would be OK. However when I woke up on Saturday morning all I could hear was heavy rain outside, not what I was hoping for. My first sprint in the rebuilt car on a wet Goodwood circuit didn't seem like the best idea http://my.lotussevenclub.com/Providers/HtmlEditorProviders/Fck/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/omg_smile.gif
However by the time I got to the circuit the rain had stopped and it looked like things were drying out. After saying hello to some familiar faces I unloaded the car and went of to get signing in, cue me noticing that hadn't signed my race license! frantic scrabble for a pen whilst in the queue to sign in so they didn't notice.
I took the opportunity to go out on the convoy run as it's been almost 7 years since I've been to Goodwood and the last time was with a 150bhp Crossflow not a 250bhp Duratec. Initial impression was the track was still quite damp and certainly very slippy, it was also very quick! a lot quicker than I remember and this was just on a convoy run, oh well just hope it dries out in time for my runs.
The structure of the day meant that the 45 odd cars that were not part of the Lotus 7 series ran first then they ran all the L7 Series cars in reverse order, this meant that I'd be the second to last car to run each time around. Not a bad position to be in a it gives you a chance to see what everyone else is doing.
So onto the first practice runs, by now the track seems to have dried out pretty much completely. Following the rebuild I have all this fancy new suspension (Freestyle Pushrod with 3 way adjustable dampers on the front and 2 way adjustable dedion at the rear!) which means I have even more things to tweak to make the car handle badly http://my.lotussevenclub.com/Providers/HtmlEditorProviders/Fck/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gifNot really knowing where to start I'd had a quick chat with Gary at Freestyle before the weekend for some pointers, he suggested starting quite soft and seeing what happened.
On the first run I'm lined up 2nd on the "grid" next to a very serious looking turbo charged single seater, it's slightly unnerving if it's your first time as it seems like the car next to you really doesn't have a lot of space. One small mistake of the line and it feels like they could easily take out your car! however the single seater seems to get of the line pretty well and disappears of down the main straight.
Then the light goes green and it's my turn, dial in about 1800rpm drop the clutch and woah huge amounts of wheel spin, grab 2nd and it's still spinning, back of the power and finally some traction then it's up through the gears into 4th before a very cautious entry into Madgwick. It doesn't really feel like the front of the car is sticking to the track combined with not really being able to see the exit means I'm very late getting back on the power on my first run through then it's flat to Fordwater, a small confidence lift on the way through as the car feels like it's moving all over the place then I notice I'm catching the single seater! oops clearly I'm either much quicker than I thought (not likely) or he has a problem. Now I remember from the briefing them saying if you got baulked on your second lap you wouldn't get a rerun but not what would happen if you got baulked on your 1st lap but there was definitely no overtaking! so I bimble along behind the single seater (quite a fast bimble at about 80mph) until he pulls in after just 1 lap leaving me to continue on a second practice lap.
So where were we, oh yes into Madgwick slightly more speed this time but still very cautious on the power through to the exit. Flat through Fordwater this time then a much bigger lift into noname followed by a stamp on the brake pedal and a locked front into St Marys, oops not so good on the first practice lap! then back on the power down to Lavant, drop down into the 3rd (wrong gear I realise later on) and power through, again to cautious on the exit and flat all the way down Lavant straight. Brake way to early for Woodcote and completely forgot it's a double corner so I completely miss the apex and almost understeer of the track, a bit of a wiggle through the chicane then on the power over to the left hand side of the circuit to avoid the noise meter and over the line.
Back in the pits a marshall comes over and tells me I get a rerun as I was baulked on my 1st lap, good news so I head out again. This time around my start is a bit better, still cautious through Madgwick but I'm much better through St Mary's and stay in 4th all round Lavant which seems to work well. I remember what Woodcote looks like but still manage to get it wrong, then on the second lap of my practice I catch up with another single seater! . End result a 90.87, top of the class after the practice laps.
However by now the car is won't idle properly and seems to be running a bit rich, not sure why but I decide to ignore it for the moment, always a good plan... cough ...
A quick check of the times and Adrian (my main competition today ) is in the 91's so it seems like a good start.
There's a fairly long gap to the 1st timed run so I have a wander around the paddock, there's some pretty interesting machinery around with everything from a Pug 106 through to a 550bhp Skyline GTR out for a bit of fun.
I head up to the grandstand to watch a few runs and happen to catch the Skyline on the start line (I didn't know it had 550bhp at this point). The owner goes for a proper 5000rpm drop the clutch launch and the car rockets away from the line at an incredible speed. However I know how heavy it is and figure that it suffer in the corners, 80 seconds later he's coming out of Woodcote and crosses th line with a 90.09 lap time and tbh I was pretty stunned, enough to wander down and have a chat with the guy. Hence I find out it's got 550bhp, R888 tyres and trick suspension, he's hitting 160mph on the back straight but even allowing for that it's a decent bit of driving.
Timed run 1, by this point my car is clearly running way to rich. Clouds of black smoke out of the exhaust and it just won't idle at all, fingers crossed it'll clear once I get going so we queue up for the run. It's hard work keeping the engine from stalling but eventually we line up on the grid. Clouds of black smoke but I dial up around 1800rpm and go to pull away, then there's a tremendous pop and bang and the car misfires really badly although the way through 1st, 2nd until eventually it clears it's throat in 3rd and takes of down he straight, there goes a few valuable tenths straight away. A lot more committed into Madgwick this time, much earlier on the power on the exit and a nice run through Fordwater hitting the 134mph rev limiter in top well before Noname, a reasonable but not huge lift and carry a lot of speed into noname, firm dab on the brakes then turn into St Mary's and back on the power, let the car run out wide and and modulate the power a little to keep it on the track. Another lift into Lavant then back on the power about halfway through the first right and stay on it all the way through the second part of the corner onto the back straight. Flat all down the straight then a firm press on the brake pedal for Woodcote, completely fail to get the apex again, drop down to 3rd for the chicane and hard on the power through 3rd and 4th over the line.
End result, 89.46, 1st in class after the 1st timed run.
After the first timed run most people decide it's time to stiffen the suspension, it's at this point that I discover I've had the rear dampers full hard rebound and full soft compression by mistake! oops that could have explained why it felt like the car as moving around all over the place, oh well it's sorted out now.
Final timed run and once again lots of black smoke and the car feels horrible, this is definitely my last run of the day what ever happens. Off the start the missfire is even worse, this time it doesn't really seem to clear properly at all. Madgwick seems ok, pretty committed and early on the power but the misfire is there and it seems to take longer to pick up speed. Carry decent speed into Noname and through St Mary's, Levant is Ok but coming out of Woodcote it misfires again and just isn't pulling properly, I keep my foot down but suspect this run is going to be slower.
End result 89.08, 1st in class (somehow!) although only by 0.05s from Adrian!
My days done as I'm concerned by the clouds of smoke and horrible misfire so it's time to pack up. There have a been a few delays so I'm kind of sneakily hoping there isn't a 3rd run however there is. I get my car packed up and then go and watch Adrian's final fun, he does an 88.93 pipping my best me by just 15/100th's of a second!
Congratulations to Adrian, hopefully next time my car will hold together, it's great that we're so close and I suspect it means we're going to have a bit of a battle all year long.
Overall a great first event of the year, lots of people got out and thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we really got lucky with the weather. Roll on my next event at Curborough.
Footnote: Once I got home I plugged the laptop into the car and reset the TPS as we thought this maybe the problem, sure enough it seems fine. Note to self bring your ECU cable with you next time!
Rob Grigsby
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Latest Entry
First contact.
Much as I would like to be able to generate and thereafter contribute to two Blogs I think that I'll maintain just the Wordpress instance that I've already started.
It's at; http://kev7cat.wordpress.com
P./Portals/14/Blog/Files/17/49/Paddock%20Pierson.JPG%20
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Errors when uploading pictures to your blog
Have you uploaded a picture to your blog and then discovered that it wasn't displayed?
There is a bug in the Blog module whereby any pictures that have spaces in their filenames are not successfully copied into the correct destination. I'm hoping the there will be a fix in the not too distant future, but in the meantime, please make sure that your image filenames do not contain spaces.
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mattjamesw's Photos
Various images of my 1.6 VX ex-Grad race car.- Read more...
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Latest Entry
Welcome to my L7 Blog
Well this looks good. All I have to do now is think of a good blog post!
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