Myles Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 I couldn't believe it! In the space of seconds, I saw the nosecone of my 7 crunched *and* the same idiot shunt into the back of my tintop Luckily, I have the insurance details - but I don't think I'm going to make a claim (or even two...) Let me explain... I'm having serious starting problems with the 7 - it won't even usually start from cold - I get k-clicks but the starter doesn't engage. Having replaced the solenoid, I'm beginning to suspect that the main lead from the FIA switch is crisped. I''ll replace it next week... Anyway, I usually have to go through a sequence of rocking the car in gear and then retrying to start the car - that sometimes works - otherwise I have to wiggle the wires (hence the belief that that might be a partial cause)... Anyway, every so-often, the solenoid will lock-on - this usually causes all the electrics to die as the starter is consuming a large current but is effectively jammed- the trouble is, in this state the starter button and ignition-switch are bypassed - the car can start itself if you're not careful... ...and this is what happened. I popped it into gear and gave it a rock - this freed the system sufficiently for the starter to kick-in - dragging the car forwards... I tried holding on to it - but the force of the starter was too strong... I tried flipping off the ignition-switch (aircraft-style) - forgetting that this was bypassed by the jammed solenoid/starter... By this point, my 7 had impacted with the back of my tintop (they are parked nose-to-tail) and GRP was starting to crumble - Ifinally managed to get to the FIA-switch - but by then my cars were mating. 😳 The rear bumper of my tintop and the nose were compressed sufficiently that I couldn't pop the gearlever out of first without releasing the clutch... The nose spent the next 30-seconds making relieved cracking sounds. Fortunately, my GRP nose has been crunched twice before - by other idiots - so I'm not worried about that. Luckily the tintop is absolutely fine. The only way I could have avoided this would to have killed the FIA switch before rocking the car in gear - but if I hadn't had one fitted, I'd have been in real-trouble. I'd have had to jumped into the car and banged it out of gear. Not too hard when your tintop is arresting movement - but not so much fun if the 7 is running down the road and trying to cross a major highway. So there you have it. I killed my grandfather before I was born. Or something. Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Hard luck Myles ☹️ I spent a day playing with permutations of sump/foam and baffle. Will test drive tomorrow and report if anything interesting comes up. I have a funny feeling I may have made a 'schoolboy error' with the wolverine gasket. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickh7 Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Hi Myles DOH! Springs to mind Ive been using your instructions to fit the Aircraft style switch. So I say a BIG THANK YOU for you that. Any Idea what the thin red wire on the ingintion does 🤔 Its left over Nick h Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Nick - nope it's too long ago* - but I can probably take a look tomorrow and see what I did with mine... *part of the reason I started the site was that my memory is often useless. Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobbo Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Myles That reminds me of my hillclimb Mini. My drive slopes downhill, I was working on the Mini, lent through the window and pressed the starter, the car started instantly but unfortunately was in gear. No problem the garage wall stopped it, I was delighted as about 1 millisecond before it looked like the 7 was going to stop it... 5 years of competition motoring and the only 2 incidents were on my drive, that, and SWMBO but i'm not allowed to talk about that one.... Rae New Caterham Book Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frying Pan Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Reminds me of my neighbour a few years ago. Our houses had a very sloping driveway from the garage down to the road. He was a motorcycle sidecar racer, and was always fiddling around with the bike / sidecar in the garage at the weekends. One day, I was the lounge, when I heard him shout "*****************!" follwed by CRUNCH! BANG! and more swearing. Looked out of the window and it was carnage Turned out he'd dropped the bike/sidecar off the jack, and it had rolled out of the garage, down the drive, where it hit his road bike (some huge engined Jap thing), which in turn fell over into the door of his car 😳 Result was broken fibreglass on the race bie, broken fairing on the road bike and a big dent in the car door. Not a hapy chap, but was able to laugh about it after a few years Guy See some pictures of the build here. 5000 miles completed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Happy days Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nifty Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 A variation on Molly starting herself and driving across my drive into nextdoor's flowerbed 😳 😳 Keep off the straight and narrow 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 Reminds me of the guy with an automatic Rover 3.5. The car was in a multi-storey parking bay, facing the concrete wall. He was leaning over the front of the car (between bumper and wall), peering under the bonnet with the engine ticking over. For some reason, he tweaked the throttle. Unfortunately, the car was in D. He lived, but his legs were a bit of a mess.... JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Ford Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Ask Chelspeed about hydraulic handbrakes and sloping driveways. And about the expression on the bloke-over-the-road's face when you try to free your car from his tree smelling of beer after a major night out (without the car, of course, but is he going to believe that?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Or the employee of ours who parked an 38 tonne artic on a steep slope, lowered the trailers landing gear and just pulled the fifth wheel disconect lever. This is a major no no as you should always disconnect the airlines between tractor unit and trailer first to apply the brakes. Trailer runs away down hill and snaps off the airlines but before the emergency brakes can stop its momentum its crashed into a barn and torn part of the panelling off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie adams Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 a little like the day my morris marina 1800 coupe (class!!) decided to explode its master cylinder thus making the alreadty rubbish brakes rubbisher, not a problem as i was travelling slowly, only trouble i was just turning into my parents house and my dads brand new saab turbo was on the drive !!!!!to add insult to injury i ran into the back of him the next day when he was towing me to the scrap yard. he does talk to me now ....i was 17 then . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now