Graham Sewell

I have a 1700 xflow which I set up as follows: Choke 32 Main 130 Emulsion F16 Air 180 Idle 45F9 These jets were then confirmed on Andrew Walker's rolling road as being pretty close. For a minor gain at peak power with small loss mid-range, the mains could be swapped for 135. Hope this helps. Graham

I went for the spare being the nearside, and two guesses. I picked up a nail in the offside rear tyre... Just as well that A021s can be run either way (even if they are handed). Cheers, Graham

I did this mod to my live axled Supersprint a couple of years ago. Thee are two options:- 1. Adds an additional link to the upper link to provide triangulation and this still uses the original ARB. This is the cheap option. 2. Uses most of the parts from the current double wishbone setup and replaces the bottom wishbone (getting rid of the trunnion with a proper ball joint) and uses a proper upper wishbone that will allow adjustment to camber. In my case, the chassis could not be modified to allow adjustment of caster, but this is probably more refinement than my driving would appreciate. I went for the latter option and the work was done by Ratrace. However, depending on what your car is currently fitted with, there may be cheaper initial starting points such as tyres and brake pads (see other threads in the past but I use Yoko A021Rs and Green Stuff). Cheers, Graham

Just remember to put down the Gauloise first....

I had this problem when I first got my Seven (about 6 years ago) and was advised by Len to use silicone sealant along the top and sides and ensure that the slots in the lenses were at the bottom. No problems since, and no I haven't blocked the 'large hole' through the wheel arch (but it was only just large enough to get the cables through in the first place). Cheers, Graham

As far as overtaking safely is concerned, I do not understand the 'requirement' for more 'power'. As far as I can tell, a basic engine configuration will supply a given max power at a given engine speed. The route to more power is normaly to increase the max engine speed safely. However, for overtaking, one rule of safety is not to change gear during the manouver (sp?) and this become difficult with a revvy, peaky engine (and close ratio box). So what is required is a broad torque band so that the overtake can be started at lower revs and therefore not need a gearchange. This is something that I would imagine a TVR would do well, and a Seven would not be as good. There is no real substitute for a larger engine. Don't get me wrong, I love my Seven on a country lane, but overtaking is always a risky business and opportunities need to be assessed carefully to avoid bending metal. I remember John Lyons once telling me that the hardest people to overtake are those who are driving between 50mph and 60mph as very few cars accelerate well in this range to get a suitable approach speed after committing to the overtake. Just my tuppence worth... Cheers, Graham

The easiest way to get a manual fan switch is to use a relay near the 'thermo-switch'. The best way I found to wire this is to take the permanent live from the thermo-switch and then route a low current wire to ground via a switch on the dash. The worst consequence of this would be that the fn runs continuously. This permanent live is then continued on to the switching circuit of the relay and the switched current returned to the similar connector on the thermoswitch. All of this can be achieved with piggy-back connectors. The wires for the live feed and the switched return must be capable of handling 10A (15A peak for a couple of seconds while the fan starts with a steady state of about 8A). This setup has worked for me for about 4 years (since I got caught in traffic of a hot summer night and had to turn the heater on full blast to prevent a major over-heat). Cheers, Graham

What is all this about breathers.... My 1995 (year) x-flow doesn't have one. The hole has been plugged and I get a 'gentle mist' coming through the filler cap - most noticeable when idling at traffic lights. I don't object to this too much as it means that I don't have to waxoyl the engine bay smile.gif. Cheers, Graham

Following my prang, as detailed above, I had to take my wife to hospital A&E (ER in US?) because she had a tiny cut to her head (later diagnosed as the plastic strap at the back of the baseball hat). The doctor could not believe that we had been hit by a car doing 60mph without having a broken limb, damaged kidneys, whiplash, etc.... "especially in a kit car, they're not built like ordinary cars!" - thank God.... Cheers, Graham

Push fit with an internal circlip (IIRC). This hacked me off when I bought my kit, because I bought all the tools advised in advance, but had the gearbox/engine installed by Caterham. This is the only occasion where an internal circlip is used. Cheers, Graham

Yes it was about 2 years ago, and just why are you called 'Wallbanger' [:?]. Mine was the green/yelow aniversary car on the opposite corner. Glad it all worked out for you. What did you replace your car with? Cheers, Graham

Side impacts in a seven are not that bad - providing the fight is fairly even. What I mean by that is my seven was hit by a Citroen AX which was doing about 60mph at the time. His front bumper hit my front wheel at a near 90' angle. The Citroen was written off with the driver recieving 2 broken ribs for his trouble - my wife and I walked away and had the car rebuilt (the front was about 2" out of line with the transmission tunnel). While it was being repaired, we saw the results of a similar impact between a seven and a Golf GTi. In this car, the Golf hit the seven between the wheels and caused a bending of the chassis at the scuttle. Again, the seven driver walked away - shame about the accident as he was driving to a circuit to race (750MC I believe). The side chassis rails and honeycomb ali panels work. However, I would not like to think about the consequences of a side impact from a lorry sad.gif. Until the previous post, I was worried about frontal impacts but it seems that the chassis is as strong in that direction. Cheers, Graham

There are two trains of thought here: 1. Rigid cell with passenger securely locked in. This works well in the long term as soft tissue and skeleton survive well, but the passenger may suffer whiplash and bruising - but otherwise unscathed. 2. Soft crumple zones with a loosely secured passenger, assisted by explosive bags, etc... In mild collisions (<30mph) the passenger should walk away unscathed. Above this, the car and passenger cell do not have the rigidity to stop the bulkheads and engine entering the cell and smashing the lower limbs. Add the dangers of airbag deployment (unless you're >6'0") with broken ribs and wrists as common 'side-effects' and generally, the passenger will not walk away. Out of these two, I prefer a rigid cell and properly adjusted 4-point harnesses. As an example of what the body can stand, an american (had to be) decided to strap himself to a rocket sled and set light to the blue touch paper. At the end of the rail track, the braking force exceeded 10g. Because of the harnesses, he walked away almost unscathed. The only reported problem was detached retinas leading to temporary blindness (a couple of days IIRC). Cheers, Graham

Something I was taught years ago by a friend who worked for a local garage, was to put the wheels that you have just taken off under the chassis. That way if the stands fail for any reason, the chassis will land on the tyres and cushion the blow to your chest. However, doing this on a Seven may buckle the chassis rails if you are unlucky, but that would still be better than buckling your ribs. Cheers, Graham

I have adjustable height Spax's in my live axle - don't know the spring rates 'cos they came from Arrowstar as their 'club special'. I have the ride height set to 0.5" above that specified in the build manal - this gives me about 4.5" ground clearance under the sump and I haven't hit a speed hump in ages. For road use, the handling doesn't seem to have been compromised to any noticeable degree - either that or I'm not going fast enough cool.gif Cheers, Graham

Why bother with these poppers at all. I have left them off the boot cover and the hood and just tuck the material between the tyre and the back of the car. For the hood, the poppers either side of the tyre will hold it in place, and the boot cover flap is held in place by its velcro strips. That way, you only need about 5mm clearance which the wheel spacer provides (assuming 185/70R13 tyres). You guys with big fat tyres may have more problems smile.gif Never had the hood leak, no anything nicked from the boot. Cheers, Graham

There are two sizes of filler, the larger (JPE) has 8 holes, the smaller (Supersprint) only has 6. You may find a beter range at Demon Tweeks as they have fillers from a few suppliers (not just Caterham). Good luck. Graham

Making a massive leap of faith, surely if you have a vauxhall engine in at the moment, and it is a derivative of the old Family II engine (OHC 8v) as fitted to Cavaliers and Astras, it shouldn't be too difficult putting in a 2.0l unit from the Cavalier GSi 16v... This could then be easily tweaked to 175bhp a la HPC variant with relative ease. Cheers, Graham

Sometimes my 95 1700 xflow is reluctant to start - normally after serious rain storms as she is left outside (without a cover). MY normal first instinct is to renew the contacts at the coil is this is just underneath one of the bonnet louvres - just pull the connectors off the coil, spray with wd40 and replace. I think my next cause of failure, though not proven, is that the air filters are saturated with water and this causes the mixture to become too rich and foul the plugs - I haven't thought of any way to prevent this, and the only suitable test would be to try and start the engine without the filters in place. Generally, the usual method to start (i.e. full throttle twice and then turn the key) works albeit after a few tries. Sometimes the engine needs nursing a bit before it will idle smoothly - which again I put down to water on the filters slowly drying out. Hope this helps, Graham

Ratrace sometimes have them - else try your local Lotus dealer... Cheers, Graham

I assumed that 12.9 was an alloy rating for tensile strength - so any 12.9 would behave the same way. 10.9 would be a different alloy. Ready to be corrected. Cheers, Graham

[teaching granny] You have forgotten the 3rd speed (intermittent) achieved by rapidly turning the wipers on and off (just once not every sweep). Below that, you'll need to switch them on for two sweeps each time manually. [/teaching granny] smile.gif Cheers, Graham

So what should they be replaced with? Cheers, Graham

Remove the mirror completely and learn to survive on the door/wing mirrors. THis is not illegal and gives far better forward vision. Cheers, Graham

Check on the specification of the bolt that sheared. It could be that some 'wise' person substituted stainless steel for the usual bolts. S/S does not have the strength for critical components and should not be used. I nearly fell into this trap until I read the Namrick catalogue a second time. Also, if this has happened on one side, make sure that the bolts are replaced on both sides. Cheers, Graham Edited by - Graham Sewell on 19 Oct 2000 16:35:46