Rex

I live in Pennsylvania , where the winters are pretty tough. I have driven my 2002 SV all winter long for 20 years. I avoid driving it on bad weather days. There is no visible rust on any painted surface, including the black painted headlights. If I crawl under the car, I"m sure I can find some surface rust in spots.

I lived near the sea in Los Angeles where there was little precipitation and no salt on the roads. All of the chrome bits on my Honda bike were destroyed by rust within a couple of years.

My car is a 2002 with 45,000 miles. The left side stone guard still looks good. The one on the right side is hopeless. I finally replaced it. There does seem to be a difference in quality of the CF pieces.

There does seem to be a difference in the quality of the Carbon products. ''''The left side stone guard still looks good. The one on the right side has never been any good. I finally replaced it with a new one. My car is a 2002 with 45,000 miles.

My Zetec engined Seven has a lightened flywheel. I really like it on the way up, but it does have a tendency to stall on the way down. I hooked up a very crude cruise control which pretty well solves the problem. If I have to brake suddenly, I can feed in the proper revs by hand while keeping my foot on the brake.

My SV came with fasteners on the top only. Never had a problem but one of the fasteners eventually wore out after 20 years. I now use a nylon bolt and wing nut on both sides. Works great.

I had to replace mine some years ago. I got it from Redline.

Does anyone know the weight of these wheels from CC? I assume they are alloy. I have the 13" Apollos now, and they weigh about 9 pounds each.

Thanks for the advice guys. Most garages in the states know a lot about pick-up trucks and SUV's, but zero about sevens. Blatchat has been a life=saver for me. I managed to get the bottom collar loose, so hopefully I can finish the job.

I have a new pair of adjustable Bilsteins on my 2002 SV, but I don't seem to be able to adjust them. Right now the clearance under the sump is less than it was with the original non-adjustable Bilsteins. Do these shocks have to come off the car to adjust/raise the ride height? I can't seem to turn the collars with the spanners I am using, though I've tried jacking up the car and removing the wheel. The local Ford garage says they know nothing about adjustable shocks. (I believe them)

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I think I'll be giving Chris a call at Redline.

My car is a U.S. built Zetec. The 3 1/4" measurement is at the lowest part of the skid plate. With me aboard it is 2 3/4". It has Bilstein non-adjustable shocks. They are the original shocks from 2002.

Well when I look under the car, it appears to be hitting on the aluminum sump plate which is welded to the bottom of the sump. The dirt road I live on is sort of crown shaped, ie higher in the middle. I didn't realize that 3 1/4" is already considered to be higher than most. I also hear it hitting on paved roads if there is any debris present. It doesn't sound very good when it hits something, but I must say that it doesn't seem to be hurting anything.

My 2002 SV has always scraped on dirt roads like the one I live on. I have a skid plate and my clearance without me aboard is 3 1/4 inches. I was just wondering if I bought some adjustable shocks would it be feasible to raise the ride height a bit?

I have the 5 3/4 ones in stainless steel with the original brackets. I think they look more streamlined.