justcallmemac

Hi, I've received this email, (pasted below), from Andrew English of 213 Performance, the authorised service agents for Stack in the UK. He's asked me to get this message to you and for you to give him a call as he might be able to help! Good luck! Steve Hi Steve, Apologies for the contact out of the blue. I hope all is well with your R500? You may recall that we had an E-Mail conversation about the gear number that appeared on your STACK dash. Sorry to spring this on you, but I have just noticed a post thread on Blatchat from a gentleman struggling with the RPM display on a STACK dash: https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/stack-dash-help I imagine he has been in communication with the factory in the USA because neither myself or Peter have spoken with him about the issue. I wonder if you might be able to message him and ask him to give me a call? I think I may be able to help him out. I can make some suggestions on what to do that should get him up and running without needing to take the dash out of the car. As a non member, I can’t post to the thread. Once again, sorry to bother you! Best regards. Andrew. Andrew English Director 213 Performance Limited E: Andrew@213Performance.co.uk W: www.213Performance.co.uk P: +44 (0) 1869 205 160 M: +44 (0) 7584 057 763

Very interested as was looking at fabricating something very similar based on a Google search. However this is much smarter! Thanks, Steve

Latest from Andrew at 213 Performance below. Again, I'm hugely impressed by his speedy assistance and I'm posting as this could prove useful info for others. Thanks. We have just programmed up an R500 dash, and you do need to short the gear input to ground. This will make the gear number disappear. The gear input is on Pin S of the military connector that plugs on to the back of the dash. Unfortunately the chassis loom was not made by STACK, so we have no information about where you need to look to find the connection. However, my money would be in it ending up in the transmission tunnel somewhere close to the gearbox. Please let me know if you need any more information. As a new start-up business, we appreciate all feedback (Particularly positive – Its good for our ego’s!!!!). We have a fully equipped electronics workshop located in the heart of “Motorsport Valley”. As well as our other electronics work, we are able to undertake all service and repair work on STACK products. We work very closely with the factory (who have been incredibly supportive, and remain committed to the UK and European markets). We would appreciate the word being spread through the Lotus 7 community! Best regards, Andrew.

Hi Jonathan, I contacted Stack and also 213 Performance Ltd, the UK distributor. Incredibly, I had a detailed response from Andrew English (213 Director) within half an hour and confirmation that they will attempt to identify the cause of the problem. Talk about fantastic service!! Anyway I've pasted his response below for the possible benefit of others. All the best. Steve Things have changed with regard to STACK in the UK recently! STACK in the UK closed at the end of November, and all commercial and technical activities were relocated to the head office of Auto Meter in Sycamore, IL. USA. Peter Allen and I started up this new business (213 Performance), and amongst other things are doing some work for Auto Meter (The American owners of the STACK brand) looking after their European customer. We have been appointed as the factory approved service and repair facility for the STACK brand in Europe by Auto Meter. We believe the problem you are seeing is because the dash was built to work with both sequential, and “H” pattern gearboxes. The gear sensor input on the “H” pattern cars was shorted to ground, and the gear number was not displayed. When fitted to a sequential gearbox, the input was connected to a gear pot, and displayed the gear selected. Until we program a unit up, we cannot confirm 100% that this is the case, but we believe you are looking for a connection for the gear pot somewhere close to the gearbox, and we think that you are likely to find that whatever was fitted to short this connection is damaged or missing. We will attempt to program up an R500 dash, and confirm this theory in the next 24 hours. Best regards, Andrew.

Good morning, Was out in the R500D, (manual), enjoying a blat at the weekend and noticed a large numeric '5' suddenly appear in the middle of the Stack digital display. It's never happened before and I can't find any reference to it in the documentation. I don't think it's a warning of any sort. Might disconnect the battery later to see if it disappears but in the meantime, any ideas? Thanks PS. Thinking out loud could this have anything to do with gear selection on a sequential box? Maybe those with a sequential can advise. If so, my manual has had a sudden case of mistaken identity and regardless, the gear I am in has never been displayed. (Car is currently in neutral by the way and the '5' does not change regardless of gear)

As above. Ordered some from Softbits last week. Delivered very quickly http://www.softbitsforsevens.co.uk/page42.html

A bit 'out of left field' I know but why not consider applying self adhesive, window tinting film to dull the glare. Would avoid the hassle of messing with the electronics. Alternatively take the car in to a local wrap / window tinting specialist. That way they can overlay tinting film of various strengths until you find the right one, (in both daylight and darkness) and I'm sure they could then do a neat and tidy application job as well. Just an idea!

Hi, Just picked up a Caterham carbon aeroscreen but it didn't come with the two central fasteners to connect to those already in situ on the top of the dash.(See pics below which I shamelessly borrowed from a member's build blog!) Can anyone point me in the right direction for the correct parts please. Thanks.

Looks like a leak at the fuel tank end. Noticed a few drops of petrol on the corner of the frame directly underneath the offside edge of the fuel tank, which had just started to drip on the garage floor. Had a good look around the filler cap, hose and filter assembly but they were spotless and from underneath, around the seal gasket but couldn't see anything obvious. Had a clean up anyway but evidence of the leak soon returned in the same area. Unfortunately I can't easily identify where the fuel is coming from with the tank in situ but I suspect the gasket might be an issue and it seems a pig to get to. Looks like a tank removal jobbie unless anyone has any easier solutions.

Hi, I've recently had my R500D remapped. About an hour or two after a drive, once the car has cooled down, there is a strong smell of petrol but I cannot see any signs of a leak anywhere and there is nothing on the garage floor. Complete PITA as smell gets in to the house although it eventually disappears. Any pointers and as I'm a complete novice, please provide as much detail as possible. Cheers.

Have you checked that the relays are seated correctly? Had an issue with indicators last year after fitting a new touch-type immobiliser and it turned out I'd inadvertently knocked a relay although it was far from obvious it wasn't seated properly. Failing that, you should be able to feel the offending relay clicking in and out, with a view to replacing it if needs be.

Thanks everyone. Control module is indeed located against drivers side bulkhead as others have stated. Not sure if it's quickly removable, which would make things easier but I'll have a look later. Looking at the manual, it doesn't seem too difficult to set both the final 'Shift Up' and first 'Up-Light' positions and I take it the remaining lights in between are sequenced automatically, as equally as possible. James, I had a great day at Track 'n' Road and was blown away by how dedicated 'the two Steve's' were in mapping the car as it wasn't entirely straightforward. They sure are a double act and watching them work together to get the best result possible was good fun and reassuring because they kept going until they were completely happy. After an excellent compression test, (just over 1,000 miles on the clock so had hoped that would be the case) and fitting a new ECU, (swapped out the factory MBE with an MBE 9A4), I ended up with 265 bhp at 8,974 and 169 LB/ft at 6,191. (Mapped on Esso Synergy Supreme+ 97 octane) I'll therefore set the upper shift light at 8400 / 8500, which is circa 260 bhp, to give myself some leeway. Took the car out for the first time on Saturday after taking it off of SORN and power delivery felt so much better. Pretty much linear throughout the entire rev range but bonkers from around 5,000 rpm and so much so that I took a sharp intake of breath on a couple of occasions and am going to have to re-familarise myself with the car as the characteristics are different from before but definitely for the better. The only issue I have, as I've always had, is that at low speed / low revs she's still not the smoothest and I'm having to use lower than ideal gearing, (manual gearbox) and balance on the throttle / clutch to manage the 'kangarooing,' although it's not as bad as before. Not sure if this simply down to the high state of tune and unavoidable as a result but I'll talk to Steve G to see if it's something that can be sorted at some point. Get beyond that though and it's all sunshine and roses!

Hello, Just had my R500D remapped by the two Steves at Track 'n' Road and ideally need to modify my shift lights to reflect a change in shift points as they are peaking too early now. Are the changes carried out on the shift light panel or is there a control module hidden somewhere? Many thanks.

I used Avon CR28 on 13's (185/60 & 205/60 soft-compound) on my Westfield and in really wet conditions they were excellent, confidence inspiring and shifted a huge amount of surface water. However they are not suitable in damp / drying conditions as they soon start to break up as temps increase. Avon ZZS or Toyo 888 SG are better suited to a damp track but the latter especially will wear fast once the track starts drying.

Resolution in the end was to remove the Sterling and replace with a contact-type immobilser. Relatively inexpensive and no more waving the fob around waiting patiently and hopefully for the system to disarm. Should have done it a long time ago. Happy days.