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build diary August 22, 2004: It's been a hectic few days. On Thursday, I put the car on our dyno ("rolling road" for those in the UK) to see if we could find the missing power. Bill Cardell took a lot of time he really couldn't afford to try and solve the problem, but it kept on getting weaker. There appears to be a fuel delivery problem that gets worse with the heat. This meant that my engine was only putting out 107 hp at the wheels instead of the 130 it has achieved in the past. The next morning I popped in a new fuel filter and determined that the tank wasn't starting to pull vaccuum. The tach needle was found under the driver's seat and some glass was added to the gauges. I then headed to the track. After the first session on the track, I was second fastest behind Bill! This filled me with much happiness. I was still feeling my way around and managed to cut a good chunk off my time as the day went on. I had a passenger every time I went out (of course!) and was having a complete blast as I tore around. The front was solidly planted and I could steer the rear at will. The car was more composed than the Miatas through the bumpy downhill chicane. Unfortunately, my fuel delivery problem started to come back to the point where I was only able to achieve a couple of good laps each (short) session. It was enough to give me the 4th fastest time of the day although a naturally aspirated Miata did manage to beat me despite a 1000 lb weight penalty. I don't care - there's no way the other drivers were having as much fun as I was. Even if I hadn't built the car I'd be grinning like an idiot but since it was the realisation of years of dreaming it was even better. The corner workers were giving me big thumbs up signs as I went by. I felt it necessary to give them some lurid tail slides on my cool-down lap in return. I think the kids call it "drifting" but it's what I always called "power oversteer"... The next day I was working hard in our shop and didn't manage to get the Seven out on the road at all. It simply sat in the shop and was drooled upon. I did take a few folks out for test drives in our supercharged Miata and came back smelling like tire smoke for some reason. At the end of the day I jumped in the Seven and headed out to a Sonic drive-in restaurant where the Miata folks were gathering. On the way, something went awry in the electrical system and the headlights went out. For some reason the hazards decided to come on instead which was a pretty good fail-safe when I think about it. I frantically tried to fix the problem as the dusk got duskier but despite all the Lucas jokes from the bystanders I wasn't able to find the problem without tools. I had to quickly run the car home in shame. An embarassing end to a very good weekend. We did manage to get a bit of video and sound from inside the car. Outside video will be coming soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go relax for a while. entry 603 of 1439 |