mudguard

Hello from yellow SV! Fine choice of colour scheme .....

Hello from yellow SV.

Good point about counting turns - thanks David. But it looks to me to be the other way around - turns would have more effect on the front. e.g. assuming lower wishbone parallel, front damper sitting at 45 degrees with a length of 30cm, then if adding 1cm to the rear needs 10 turns, only 7.2 turns would be needed on the front. That's if my trig is accurate! Better to measure as you say.

I definitely have (very) big wings! Clearance now is around 12mm at the worst point, previously was around 4mm. Clearly the smaller wheel doesn't "fill" the wing in the same way, but then you could argue that the HPC wheels "fill" the wing a little too much! To my eyes at least, it doesn't look ridiculous. Are there any non-aesthetic concerns with the wing being the larger size and the wheel being smaller? i.e. am I liable to reach orbit?

I've seen a number of discussions on BC about changing from HPC wheels to a smaller size and thought I would chime in with my recent experience. I've driven the car for over 8k on the HPCs and ZZ3s - which are an old set nearing the end of their useful life - purely on roads and also touring 2-up The majority of opinion seems to be that the wheels, whilst visually attractive, are big and heavy for the car and the tyres hard. This being my first Seven I wouldn't know any difference, but in comparison with observations from other Seveners driving I've been finding the back end a bit skittish, and the ride quite jolting on bumpy roads. I was considering a change to 15" wheels when I bought the car, but now I've done it, thanks to BC for-sale and another club member. They are currently shod with some 45-profile CR500s, at 16psi, oldish but in good condition and comfortably legal tread. I know everyone has their own preferences and driving style, but for me, at least, the effect of the change is very positive - and certainly not small, immediately noticeable just from some bumps a few metres from my driveway. The suspension now seems to absorb the bumps much more, and the ride is much less harsh. The steering is about 30% lighter, and the car feels much more responsive. Cornering, the rear end moves around much less and it feels much more glued to the road. Overall the car feels much more comfortable, confidence-inspiring and safer. Now I'm slightly sad that I've spent a year driving around in (effectively) lead boots and a car that was suffering due to having (IMO) the wrong wheels. But it was still a fantastic year! I have adjustable platform suspension but haven't tinkered yet so I've lost about 2cm of sump clearance from what was about 9cm (unladen). No sump strikes yet but I'll probably want to recover at least some of the lost clearance, either through the suspension, or a new set of 50 profile tyres, or a mixture. I thought I might have to go to 50 profiles anyway to get a softer ride, but it's not the case. If I adjust the suspension I was planning to do an equal number of turns on all four corners to preserve the rake. Speedo over-reading slightly which I know can be corrected with the pot inside the unit. I was intending to keep hold of the HPCs but there's little point now as I won't be going back. BC for-sale beckons but I'll have the aging paint tidied up first. Thanks to everybody who pointed me in the direction of better wheels - you know who you are!

Just in the remote possibility that this is of any use to anyone, here are the recent results (it passed!) from my EU3 1.8K VVC on 28k miles: Fast idle 2675 RPM CO 0.07% HC 29 Lambda 1.016 Idle 845 RPM CO 0.04% The tester added a note to say that the engine was warm during the test!

4pm. Hello from yellow SV.

Amazingly there are at least 4 Sevens that are not actually at Donnington! And what a day to be out.... 8am. Front car R300 xxx, silver with black stripe, rear car orange. We honked and waved from the yellow SV.

Hello from yellow SV!

Hello from yellow SV! Great day to be out.

Was likely me. Hello!

Hello - yes we noticed your flash and waved. Like that road very much, shame about the 40 limit but understandable with all the deer.

You missed the other yellow seven (ours!) parked outside the pub on the left.

Four spots in one afternoon - a record! Eastbound near Frant, black with white stripe. Southbound near Edenbridge, orange with yellow stripe followed in convoy by BRG with yellow stripe. Then, 2 minutes later, another BRG with yellow stripe plate R400 SKR?

Got the car back today. CC only took two days over it - I just couldn't collect until today. They've had the engine and gearbox out and replaced the gearbox nose seal and the bellhousing gasket. The rubbing noise was from the wheel bearings, not the brake pads. Apparently it just needed tightening. Bit puzzling as I was under the impression it was kept at the right tightness with a split pin. Anyway.... SWMBO was with me, not wanting to miss the glorious weather. It was easy to convince her that the best route home from Gatwick to Croydon was via Petersfield. It was less easy to convince her that plenty of WOT was needed to "check that CC put the engine back in correctly". Of course being a Seven the journey wouldn't be complete without something else happening - and that something was the decorative stainless steel sleeve around my CAT deciding to make a bid for freedom at 70MPH. Fortunately its escape didn't do any damage to my car or anyone else's, and I was able to retrieve it. It will need to be made cylindrical again before refitting! A job for tomorrow, maybe.... Gearbox sounding noticeably quieter and happier now. The car just pure joy as ever.

Light blue with orange stripes, at the roundabout at the west end of Fleming way, Crawley. Presumably heading to CC. Another Seven in the Billingshurst area, yellow with green stripes (?). C7 TK? in Midhurst, dark blue (?) heading east. What a fantastic day to be out in a Seven!

There's a healthier car to be heard on an older clip, although there is more wind noise (it's Scotland after all!) As you can see - and hear - the RAF were kind enough to scramble a few jets to fly in formation with us.

The Seven sounds very strange at the moment due to the second thing CC are looking at for me, which is some sort of loud rubbing noise coming from the offside rear wheel, aligning with one wheel rotation, disappearing on jacking-up, and disappearing (sometimes) after rest. I have no idea what it is, but CC believe it's just a brake pad problem, in which case I'm happily paying for it, because all friction materials are my responsibility under the warranty. However, the pads and disks look to be in pretty good shape. That noise dominates the clip especially as I approach the give-way. Subtracting that noise, the GoPro mic position and the tendency of its housing to resonate with the rollbar, makes the Seven sound strange through it anyway. All of its noises such as the K-rattle at certain revs, and the whining of the diff etc, are just part of its character! The only explanation for the other driver's actions I can derive from the road layout is that the other driver didn't spot that the roundabout is 3 lane. They approached in the middle lane, which on a typical 2 lane roundabout would be the right lane, so they drifted towards the right lane on the roundabout proper. Only I was there, in the correct position for the right approach lane. No high-temperature washes needed today! Luckily I saw the situation arising soon enough to apply rational avoidance tactics, rather than instinctive panic!

A super-friendly and personable CC technician took a glance under the car when I dropped it off. After about 2 seconds he said gearbox oil seal, common problem with K's, not a biggie but does need fixing and dead easy for us to do it. Mentioned engine out job in much the same casual way as I would describe placing laundry in the washing machine. I guess if you do it every day.... As always it was a wonderful blast to get down there, tempered by an almost coming-together on a roundabout in Crawley. I've taken to routinely using the GoPro and this demonstrates that's a good idea. Fortunately the other driver noticed their mistake with plenty of time to correct it and I was applying avoidance tactics in case they didn't.

Yes, JV. I did my homework on the price and discovered that I was paying a significant premium to CC versus PH private classifieds. As a total Seven newbie, and with little car knowledge, I was happy to pay that premium for peace of mind. Also I think it's at the very least fair play to let CC see the car with a problem in its early stages rather than expect them to pick up the tab for any later, more expensive consequences. I don't care about any oil on my drive. I just care about the car and being fair to CC.

Quick update on this. The sheets of paper show it's definitely not dripping when the car is sleeping on the drive, even after a blat. However, after a blat I think I can see more oil on the gearbox. So it's minor. Still going to take it down to CC for them to look at on Monday, especially as another unrelated problem with the car has emerged Judging by the experience of the other couple of warranty issues I've had, I've total confidence that they'll sort these things for me.

Thanks - I'll keep driving! I didn't notice the oil at the end of last year, and neither did CC when they serviced it. So it seems like a small, new, leak, only with heat and movement. There's probably plenty of oil left, at least for the next couple of weeks and driving it down there. Good to have the reassurance though that it does need sorting and that I'm not sponging on CC's warranty with trivial problems. Not that an eventually-seized gearbox is a trivial problem.....

Thanks John. I've spoken to CC and they do want to see it, but I'll have to sit tight for a couple of weeks before a slot is available. I take it from your suggestion that this is likely to be heat/movement related? This does seem to be the case. I left a sheet of paper under the gearbox overnight and no drips at all have appeared on it, so it seems to settle when cold. So next thing I'll do is warm it up and drive it, then repeat the visual and paper check. I'm reluctant to wipe the oil off because I don't want to have nothing to show CC when I take it down there!

To my (novice) eye it appears to be leaking from the gasket between the bellhousing and the gearbox. This picture shows the shininess, but what it doesn't show so well is what appear to be liquid track marks running down the end plate of the gearbox, perpendicular to the ground, just to the left of the gasket.

I used weathershield gloss, came up a treat. Decided to leave the steering arms au naturel as they shined up very nicely. Spent so long admiring the result that I feared I might be showing early symptoms of the incurable disease of polisheritis! Then - a bombshell! My happy bubble was burst with a huge bang when I checked underneath the car. The underside of the gearbox is damp with oil, but not dripping. Oh no! - there are no circumstances under which this can not be a very bad thing! it was shifting beautifully yesterday - as always. Thanks heavens it's still under warranty. Will call CC tomorrow.