hms

Posted a little bit of video here: h

Yep, superb day, Roofless has now posted a slideshow of 183 pics of the day! The more I drive the Hornet, the more I'm realise what an great little car she is. A little more power would be nice, but without it we're having to learn to carry speed into and out of the corners, (a useful skill to have even when you have power!), even with my lack of driving skills there wasn't much that could get away from me in the corners. As you may see from some of the pics, she now has her rollbar, but with the drivers seat it's still 'heads above the bar'. The bar is as high as it can be , yet still use the softtop. The rollbar has stiffened up the back end considerably h

The pics are all rooflessdriver's (Sean's) doing. He did the photo's for WIM of the Ferrari meet. I just did the (bad) driving! h

The Hornet was out again at Colerne on Saturday. Great day as usual, see the Planet forum, here: http://www.planetmx5.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4641 for the thread on the day and piccies. h

Probably the T&C's are onerous. Tyres to be at the correct pressure. Pressures to be checked weekly. Tyres to be visually inspected weekly. All of the above to be done by the insurers agent at a cost to you? If not, how do you prove you complied with their requirments! h

Whatever you do for those couple of days, forget WIM, forget us lot here, go and enjoy sometime with the missus. h

You could always take the wife to a BBQ in Maidenhead on Sunday! Alternatively, you might like to keep your testes where they are! h

Don't know the weight, doesn't seem absurdly heavy. Just solidly built. Edit to the original post. It's Sunday 12th not Saturday! h

Well we finally have a roll bar for the Hornet, and will be fitting it this next Saturday (12tj July) at the Midenhead Tresure Hunt/Tech Day/F1. The bar is made by TR Lane, is a hoop with diagonal brace and harness bar. Picture of Lexie with the bar fitted. Lexie's was fitted on Saturday, the hoop is mounted by 4 bolts each side to the chassis, the legs with a further 2 bolts to the chassis per side, finally sith two tabs that mount to the seat belt bolts. Very secure. As well as the increased safety, it has stiffened up the back end a lot and given me seat travel back that I lost when I fitted the Mazda style bar and wind blocker. More details on the Maidenhead event can be found here: http://www.planetmx5.com/forum/viewtopic.p...4c112f9aa7b6692 h

This has probably been posted already. http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html h

Blimey this is bit of a 'Heinz' car. Midget bodywork BMW drive/axle/wheels Herald front end TVR suspension. I thought most people building this would use a single donor car for parts. Interesting thing on the s'evenesqe' self builds. They are now starting to use BMW's as the donor cars. They have finally run out of Sierra's to use. Should prove interesting. h

No... this would involve cutting the existing chassis and shaping a new rail, i'm better off with a fail safe solution like this> By eck they look nice! The existing wishbones are probably DIY as per the chassis. They look standard for a locost type 7 h

If you're lowered then I'd, just this once, disagree with Tony! If there is only one in the lane, I take it to one side, if there are two, one in each lane then i try to rive down the middle of them. Driving on the sides means the pillow is lower, also means I've less chance of bottoming out on the so and so's. h

Is it the NSF mounting point for the wishbone? Would it be easier to move the mount rather than engineer new wishbones? h

How this now looking Tony?

Can't see the pics. h

Heat from use? Perishing through age? These are the only things that I can think of that could affect a tyres rubber over time. h

The sills are quite complicated structures, braced internally. Don't know what the chassis rails are for, additional rigididty, front to rear? There are chassis rails available which bolt over the chassis rails to give exdtra rigidity (P5, Flyin Miata.) h

I would really like to know what the cause is! I cannot think of anything intermittant that would cause pulling to either side. Both sides possibly, but not one or the other. Does the ABS work diagonally or is it each side independant of the other? h

For interest, the chassis rails are not structural, which is why they take damage so easily, although at either end of the rail is a piece where it is double skinned and has the strength that they can be used to support the car on axle stands. Hedging and ditching, if it's been lowered more likely cuplrit is sleeping bloody policemen! h

That's not what I was expecting at all! I was thinking it would be a 'low cost' lotus seven alike. Self built chassis with parts from donor cars, eg suspension, steering, power train etc. Looks interesting though. h

Morning Tony, that's quick, answered whilst I was editing the initial post. h

Self builds go through an Single Vehicle Approval (SVA), which is in process of becoming the IVA (Individual ...) so it should be safe (ish!) These test normally take 4 -5 hours and are rather comprehensive, from switches and warning lights to chassis, wiring and brake line runs etc. Extract from the Caterham build manual: TABLE 2 RECOMMENDED SUSPENSION ALIGNMENT - ROAD USE STANDARD AND WIDE TRACK FINAL CHECKS Front Rear Tracking 0° 20' ± 0° 10' Toe-In N/A Camber 1° 20' ± 0° 15' 1° 30' ± 0° 15' (Negative) (Negative) Castor 4° 00' ± 1° 00' (0° 20' variation left to right, front) Are Caterhams and the like on the Database of the alignment machine? I would like a 7esque for touring France, where I could turn it up for use on the track also. You can pick up self builds at around 4k with not too much mileage on the clock as they tend to be fair weather used. Self build kits start around 4.5k. (Robin Hood Zero, including new 2.0l zetec engine with manifold, GAZ shocks and springs, (thought you might like to hear that Tony), space frame chassis, Interior and exterior panels, full lighting set, wiring loom, 15" alloy and Yoko tyres, steering rack, pedal box, windscreen kit, and a pack of bumpfh to get it through IVA. Seems to be almost complete. All the missing bits come from a donor Sierra. Now if only I had money and a garage to work in! It's going to be a challenge Tony, if you can resolve the geometry on this, which I'm sure you can, then take one big feather for your cap! I'll await photo's, hopefully, with interest. h

Sounds like a DIY 'Seven' Be interesting to see photo's, as one day I would like a Caterham, preferably, or other 7esque car. What basis would you set this up Tony, what defines the starting point? h

These are my thoughts. Any comments on the logic or oterwise would be appreciated. Temperatures consistant with a clockwise circuit as the NS outer and OS inner are at higher temps. Silverstone is an anti-clock circuit? I believe, ideally the centre temp should be the average of the two outer temps ............O C I I C O NSF 61.3 | 54.5 | 53.4 | 54.5 | 51.4 | 49.6 OSF NSR 74.0 | 64.0 | 64.0 | 64.8 | 61.6 | 57.5 OSR Average NSF 57.35 OSF 52.05 NSR 69.00 OSR 61.15 On the OS tyres the average temp is within 1 degree of the central temp. So the assumption (of this particular idiot who know's nothing!) is that the OS set up is OK under cornering, but something is altering the camber of the NSwheel on cornering to remove weight from the inner to the outer edge of the tyre. Is this camber, toe or tyre under pressure and scrubbing? Or could it be just the time taken to measure the temps? Having just looked at that again, the max difference from average to actual is 5 degrees. What is the aceptable limit for temp differences before we say, yes there is something not working OK and that is down to 'noise,' time taken to read etc h