| Event/mileage |
Issue |
Solution |
| 4rd
Year. |
2002 |
. |
| 2/1/2002 30,500 |
I'm back -
Wisconsin Hobbyist plates do
not permit
driving in January. Normally this is ok, but this year there is no
winter. |
. |
| 4/21-30/2002 31,500 |
Swap in 2.0 Focus
Zetec |
.-
see XF-Zetec conversion page |
| 5/2/2002 32,000 |
Remapping of GEMS
fueling map
continues. Mileage
now around 17mpg, but a lot more power |
Note: (5/03) - lean
out cruising map - AF approx. 13.5 -
gives
23mpg freeway, 20mpg country roads
|
| 5/30/2002 32,800 |
Running good,
except odd event where
revs limited
to 4500rpm |
The issue disappeared. ECU
gremlin? |
| 6/4/2002 32,900 |
(GEMS) ECU
overheats - 3000rpm
see near the bottom of XF
conversion page |
Added cooling.
Conditions:
95F weather, sidescreens in, heater valve
not
completely shut off. ECU mounted on the Exhaust side firewall inside
the
scuttle. ECU too hot to touch. Issue resolved with added ECU cooling
installed. |
| 10/25/2002 37,300 |
Clutch cable brakes
again. Seems
underrated.
Too much force is required. Snaps off, 1/4" back from the eye in the
footbox. |
replaced cable for now -
considering hydraulic.
Craft something from Pegasus or Jegs parts. |
| 12/19/2002 39,500 |
Weather perked up,
so out I was, but
speedometer
failed again. |
replaced 1" flexible cable in right
angle drive
at the gearbox. Also shortened both ends of the main cable to make sure
it runs free enough to spin the speedo by hand from the gearbox end of
the cable. |
| 12/20/2002 39,501 |
Battery failed -
low temperature starts
killed
it off. Fully charged, but capacity is not enough to crank a 10.5 CR
Zetec
at -0C /<32F temps. |
New Johnson Control (aka Sears Diehard)
sealed
Gel battery ($45) is perfect. Slightly lighter, fits about in the
same space and 340CCA ! Need to device pole caps for general
& track
safety. |
12/22/2002
39,600
|
Parked for the season
|
|
| 5th Year |
2003
|
|
| 2/1/2003 39,600 |
Back on the road |
|
| 4/15/2003 40,100 |
installed
adjustable Leda shocks
and new
springs - however 275 / 200 lb/in F/R is too stiff . |
Handling improved significantly, but
since it's
a daily driver, I
ordered 220lb/in Front and 150lb/in Rear
springs.
Running 275/150 F/R now.
|
8/23/2003 44,000
|
rattle inside
the muffler,
sounds like a weld had given away
|
lost 1 of 3 #4
exhaust
header bolts, others loose. replace/retorque - fixed.
|
10/08/2003 46,200
|
deDion tube failure...whoOAaa
Left rear shock mount cracked, causing 1" left rear suspension drop.
|
weld up the old tube
to
close the season, and ordered a new tube.
But..we're back on the
road within 2 days, let's hope it holds up.
|
11/07/2003 47,100
|
Speedometer
out again. 1" flex drive wire broken - this is fragile when it gets
cold and the bowden cable stiffens. This is Wisconsin, and it does get
cold
here.
|
use a 1" x 1/8" square brass rod
section as a link between
right angle box and gearbox - no more troubles. Also, no more wavy
speedo needle.
|
11/25/2003 47,600
|
new deDion tube received.
Looks reinforced.
Also received hydraulic clutch actuation parts
|
Mounted - slight adjustments
needed, for brake-T mount and Z-arm openings, otherwise fits fine
|
12/09/2003
47,800
|
Season ends
- snow and salt are here.... it's hard to stop :-)
|
|
6th
Year
|
2004 |
|
2/1/2004
|
Back
on the road again of course !
|
|
5/1/2004 49,000
|
Starter solenoid keeps hanging up.
This is still the old starter from the Crossflow. It's a Magneti
Marelli.
|
lubricate solenoid plunger. Dry
graphite works best. Also added heat shield wrap to the starter /
solenoid
|
7/6/2004 50,900
|
brake pads glazed (still about 30%
left)
|
replace (original) brake pads
|
7/17/2004
51,500
|
Nothing
to report, just running
great, except the weather has been lousy here in Wisconsin, hence not
many
miles have accumulated this year.
|
July
3/'04
Black
Hawk Farms track day...
kinda washed out
|
12/31/2004 53,000
|
The car
has been very solid this year, but driving has been curtailed by THE worst weather we've seen here
in Wisconsin in a while, with perpetual downpours. Some rain is no
problem, but there are limits :-)
Fortunately the 2004
driving season ended with a perfect 45 degree F -
blue sky day - I suppose global warming has even reached Wisconsin
|
7th Year
|
2005 |
|
March
53,000
|
Back
on the road!
|
|
May
55,000
|
Just
running good, but the weather has not cooperated. Cold is ok, but
rain is not great.
|
Brake light
switch is out again... need to really fix this..
|
September
58,000
|
Rear
brakes glazed
|
new
rotors, new pads
|
11/30/2005
59,000
|
Season
closed, early winter
|
|
|
|
|
8th Year
|
2006 |
|
February
59,000
|
One
30mile spin - 35F, but that's enough!
|
|
3/12/2006
|
Last
spin with the old gearbox - time to change!
|
3.36
1st / 1.81 2nd gear a 3.92 diff and a 2.0ltr Zetec does not work well.
Last year October visited Brian Hill and his team at BGH Geartech. He
put together an E7 kit for me, which I'm about to put in.
Original ratios: 1st - 5th 3.36 / 1.81 / 1.26 / 1.00 / .82
New ratios: 1st - 5th 2.75 / 1.75 / 1.21 / 1.00 / 0.85
|
3/29/2006
|
Not
much spare time, but, the box is done - time to put it back in the car
|
See Gearbox upgrade
page for details
|
4/1/2006
59,250
|
1st
run with the uprated box
|
sofar
so good. Better put some miles on it.
I just noticed that the old T9 boxes actually used trust washers on the
layshaft, hmm..maybe I improved it :-)
|
5/20/2006
60,000
|
Front
rotors worn
|
New
rotors and pads.
|
| 5/22/2006
60,400 |
Lotus
trackday at BHF - |
Gearbox
worked great! No more 3rd gear crunch. The dreaded front wheel
lift-off due to the 3.36 gear has finally been put to rest. Last year
with 3.36 and the sticky racing slicks, the car did a mini-wheely on
leaving the pitlane and I almost hit the exit wall, close one that.
Clean
starts now with these new ratio's. |
6/2/2006
61,000
|
coolant
in the driver side
footwell - heater hose split
|
replaced
|
7/30/2006
63,000
|
ECU
overheating again after
coming of the freeway in 100F weather.
|
Added
noise filter to 5V
regulator, increased cooling fan capacity - seems to work
|
9/1/2006
63,500
|
Throttle
cable frayed... hanging
up in the sleeve
|
Replaced
it with the old
throttle cable I still had laying around from the Crossflow days.
|
10/15/2006
64,500
|
GEMS
ECU fails - replaced with DTA
S60
DTA S60 PRO is DTA's latest
development
|
This
DTA is excellent. Features, programmability, monitoring is quite a step
up. Great
logging features!
Combined with a WB02 (Bosch NTK) gives much closer tuning than the GEMS.
|
12/1/2006,
65,000
|
Season
ends... it's very cold
here (10F)
|
|
12/12/2006
|
NOT!
|
Back
in the car! It's 35F
and dry, some rain washed much of the salt away.
|
12/31/2006
65,500
|
Balmy
50F!!!....
yes, this is Wisconsin, not
Florida
(normally 10..20F this time of year)
|
|
9th Year
|
2007 |
|
1/3/2007
65,500
|
Left
lower A arm balljoint needs replacement.
Locknut mysteriously loosened itself. Retightened for now, but
need
replacements. Not bad for 65k miles.
|
new
ones ordered - will install these when it gets warm(er)
|
1/5/2007
65,510
|
Left
lower rear shockmount bolt shears off.
Had to get tools from home (10mi's) and do a roadside repair.
|
Replaced
all lower suspension bolts with Grade 8 plated.
Suspect this failure was due to trapping some piece of bushing rubber
under the bolt washer, preventing proper bolt tensioning,
causing significant bending stress.
|
1/26/2007
65,550
|
Using
full sequential injection mode causes cam sensor errors below 1200rpm,
i.e. idling >5 secs stalls the engine.
|
Replacing
Ford's magnetic cam sensor with a Honeywell Halleffect device. The DTA
S60 ECU has both magnetic and Hall effect inputs. The Honeywell-IGT101DC
does not quite fit, thus a bushing is needed to fill the gap as well as
an
O-ring to seal it off. Bushing: L =
.5", ID = .705", OD = 1.01"
Zero cam errors now!
Solid idle, smooth shifts.
|
5/31/2007,
67,000
|
Throttle
cable is not fully returning
|
Replaced
with 1/16" heavy duty mountain bike brake cable.
|
5/31/2007,
67,000
|
Overheating
when sitting still in traffic jams in 90F weather
|
Replaced
cooling fan
thermoswitch (in filler neck) with a 75C model (was 92C) - works
perfect even in super hot 90F (32C) weather with traffic.
|
7/22/2007, 69,500
|
Front
wheel balance issues.
Haven't had this in a while. Proper centering of the rims is important
as I've noticed that with hasty wheel mounting (track days) the rims
may not be perfectly centered possibly.
|
Last
session had 22 (!) stick-on pieces of lead on one of the
wheels..
Back to traditional transverse and radial balancing solved the issue.
Just 2 small rim weights / wheel. Wow.. now it's good.
Oh.. that's $12/wheel.
|
| 10/16/2007,
71,700 |
Speedo
out again. - check
this eve, probably the cable at the right angle drive fell off.
The
Oct 8 Road America track day was great, but new Avon's did vibrate
slightly, causing
things to come loose.
|
The right angle drive had vibrated
loose.. no big deal. The high speed running at Road America probably
did that. Car still vibrates >100mph and power is off > 120mph,
due to having "lost" the ECU map after the TB issue... to be corrected
over the off-season months.
(see follow up 6/18/2008)
|
11/22/2007,
72,100
|
Snow
came
last night and a lot of salt. That's it then. It's early this
year, but given the length of the "to-do-list", it may well be a good
thing, as I can't stop driving this car.
|
|
10th Year
|
2008
|
|
3/11/2008, 72,100
|
At last.
It's a balmy 33F, almost +1C. Still sheets of
ice and snow, but no salt!! Salt ran out in January having
received a record 98" of snow fall.
|
Car needs tuning, the TB's aren't
properly tracking since last year, drawing false air on idle...
I'll work on it, but I need to get some driving in first :-)
|
4/10/2008,
72,600
|
While
adjusting the TB balance, I noticed the top alternator bracket was
cracked. About 80% through.
|
 Machined
a new beefier one from solid 6061 Alu. Note the crack in the original
(left).
|
6/18/2008,
73,500
|
TB's
still not balanced at idle. The Jenvey/Lumenition TB's are relatively
high tolerance items, and clearances for a good idle setting just
aren't there.
|
Used
the last track session at the Lotus track day to collect some steady
high end (6000-7500rpm/100% Throttle) data. Thanks to Graeme for
fearlessly hanging onto the laptop and O2 electronics gear.
Updated the Fuel maps and balanced the TB's at quarter throttle. Wow,
what a difference. "Z power is back" |
8/8/2008,
75,400
|
Top
right ball-joint creaks, also, the rear ARB drop links have developed
some play
|
received
fresh ones from RMSCI.
Drop links are installed, but I need to allocate more time for the top
ball-joints as it'll require re-alignment. (jackstands / strings &
ruler method)
|
11/22/2008,
78,000
|
Season
close. Snow is on the way. (12/6/2008 - 12" on the
ground already )
Certainly a good year, with some longer (700mile) trips during the past
weeks - it's going to be 10 years with this car. Even past 77,777
miles, and it still make kids smile and it still gets greetings. I can
still look ahead by looking under those silly
King-Kong SUV's.
|
|
|
|
11th
Year
|
2009
|
|
1/25/2009,
78,000
|
 Winter-white-out.
I should really do some
work on the car, but at a sustained < 10F
for weeks
now, I wouldn't even try change the oil, unless I used a spoon.
I know
there's se7eners further North of me, so I'll save my complaining. The
weather forecast is showing a warmup to maybe the 20F's, the week after
next.
And... the new local
low-salt road-maintenance policies should indicate
early clean roads! Keep hoping.
|
2/11/2009,
78,100
[ 10 years ] ]
|
20's--30's--40's Mid winter thaw, and
some strategically selected salt free routes. Put the 1st 100 miles on
it. Started without trouble. Good to be
back driving. Got a few incredulous looks from the SUV parade,
but
hey, it'd be difficult to explain.
|
7/7/2009,
80,500
|
Rattle
in the back
|
parking
brake cable worked
itself loose. Sleeved it with 5/8" rubber hose and ty-raps to the lower
diagonal frame rail
|
9/21/2009,
81,500
|
Front
pads worn
|
 new pads (Mintek) and
standard
solid rotors.
|
10/2/2009,
82,000
|
Alternator
bracket
broken. This time it's the delrin slider. Too many miles I suppose.
Just wonder what it is with alternator brackets. The Valeo 45amp
is very light, and the Zetec runs pretty smooth, maybe not at idle
(light flywheel). So.. I dunno. Just replace it and see what
happens.
|
 
I made the new one from
delrin (as was the original from Raceline) a
bit
thicker and added a
"brow" hoping to help avoid
resonance (we'll see if
it helps)
|
12/08/2009,
82,600
|
Season
close. 24F and dropping rapidly. 12" came overnight, so that's
it. April seems very far away.
The car has been very good this year. Over the winter, when it's not
too extreme, I plan to check the rear suspension, as I still heard
something make noise, although it doesn't affect handling. Maybe it's
something with the wooden floor board in the trunk.... yes, my car has
a 'trunk' :-)
|
|
|
|
| 12th
Year |
2010
|
|
2/21/2010,
82,600
|
Snowcover
since Nov '09 leaves time for upgrades - Battery, and front
brake-line (too close to one of the primary pipes).
|
Installed
an Odyssee battery.
Looks like three resonable choices:
PC545, PC625, PC680. No need for the metal jacket or terminals.
Picked the 680 for it's very low internal
resistance (7 milliOhm) and good capacity/volume ratio. Although rated
at 17Ah, it can deliver over 500Amps for 20sec. (or 680Amps for 5secs).
Odyssee specs (220CCA), or 220 cold cranking amps at 0F and for 30secs.
Starters can't run for 30sec without taking damage. In other
words, more than sufficient cranking power.
|
 
|
5/23/2010,
84,500
|
1.
lost left front bearing dust
cap during a trackday
2. Oil breather catch tank drain spigot plugged with emulsion
3. right front suspension crunching noise
|
1.
replace dust cap - cheap at
$4/pc!
2. Wash out the tank and filter.
3. tightened upper A-arm suspension bolt (wheels on the ground)
|
9/14/2010
86,000
|
rear
suspension noise over large bumps.
|
rear
ARB drop link interference. I replaced these some time back and they
never fitted right... made a new offset interface.
Not pretty, but very effective.
On the left the original in actual orientation (angles), leaving
no room for any deflection w/o interference.
Center is an intermediate version, which didn't work well.
Right is what I put on the car and this works well.
Overall weight left vs right is about the same (Alu block)
|
11/21/2010
87,300
|
Season end. 23F is too nippy.
Didn't get the tonneau cover to fit (yet). I'll figure it out next year.
I do have to fit those half side screens sometime before Spring.
|
|
|
|
| 13th
Year |
2011
|
|
3/31/2011 87,500
|
Weather
is a more than balmy 37F for several days now. Heater full on,
throttle full on, sunglasses on and we're good to go.
|
5/16/2011 88,300
|
cam
errors after track day.
|
reset to non-sequential injection
until I find a new cam sensor
|
5/21/2011 88,400
|
|
All fixed. Runs smooth again, zero cam
errors.
Honeywell-IGT101DC
Digikey carries these
(again) - straight swap, added ty-raps for the wires, which had broken
due to vibration.
|
6/1/2011 88,700
|
clutch
cable broke 20 mi from home, prompting another clutch free drive, and
reinterpretation of stop signs.
This is the 3rd cable to break in about 90k miles. I guess time's up
for this archaic method.
|
Spare
clutch cable turned out to be 2" too short. The proper length isn't
available (supposedly it never was?? haha... funny).
Whatever, it's time to convert to Hydraulics at last : See below:
|
 
 |
Left pic: note rubber washers under
the slave cylinder to help clear the bellhousing edge (interference
spot not visible in picture)
|
Center and right pics: hydraulic
line route. The line is a bit short actually, but it's not too bad.
Overall more linear operation than the cable.
|
10/4/2011,
92,200
|
rubber
washers under clutch
slave cylinder deteriorated (as anticipated)
|
machined
Alu replacement
|
12/11/2011,
92,500
|
Getting
cold, season end is
near. Drove in some <28F and thought it felt a bit cold. Aging
maybe? Nah..
|
Put
the hood up next time
|
| 14th
Year |
2012
|
|
4/7/2012,
92,750
|
Right
front (LEDA-24)
shockabsorber has slight free play at full extension
|
consider
having these dynoed and
rebuild. LEDA is unfortunately out of business - nevertheless excellent
shocks.
|
6/12/2012,
93,500
|
Right
Front top ball joint has developed slight play. Supposedly 7's are hard
on balljoints. Probably applies to any car driven quickly on crumbling
roads.
|
Replacements
on order (backorder)
|
8/11/2012,
94,200
|
|
Replaced
top RF balljoint -
sharp steering has returned
|
|
|
|
| 15th
Year |
2013
|
|
4/20/2013, 94,600
|
seats and tunnel worn. Not bad for
this level of use.
The Odyssee battery didn't live as long as expected
Light slop in the front ARB
Alternator bracket cracked (1st time for this one)
|
replaced seats, tunnel cover.
Black/Black
went with another
pc680 battery
replaced front roll bar
ball ends
machined / replaced top alternator bracket / accessory belt |
8/1/2013, 96,000
|
clutch slave cylinder linkage
failed -- too much stress
|
repaired, added spherical
washers to accomodate the slight angular movement
|
| 16th
Year |
2014
|
|
| 1/16/2014 |
This
winter is fiercly cold (a week below -25C), and taking the car
out is a ways off. Projects from last year have accumulated, and I hope
to get to them before the roads clear up.
|
5/5/2014,
96,500
|
Driving season's a bit late this year. About
7C now. Not much time for driving in the past year due to personal
circumstances.
Redid the hydraulic clutch cylinder using pivot washers, accommodating
the slight arc motion.
|
5/19/2014, 96,700
|
Annual Lotus Trackday at Black Hawk Farms, produced
an 'off', which folded up the exhaust system. Yes, I went out in the
rain on semi slicks and had a lazy spin. The tailpipe tip just caught
the concrete curb edge, going backwards. So much damage in so little
time.. really.
|
All
repaired. Raceline
had another set
of headers made, which fitted perfectly. #3/4 are 'standard' but
#1/2 are different for the LHD car, i.e. special order of the already
special order.
|
5/19...6/18/2014
|
 
|
 
|
6/12/2014
|
Timing belt replacement
(maintenance)
|
|
| 17th
Year |
2015
|
|
10/19/2015, 98,000
|
No repairs - just driving :-)
|
Weather is unseasonably warm (65F), and the
symbolic "100k-miles-in-a-Seven"
is approaching. It'll read 95,000
since there's the 5k unregistered miles due to a couple early failures
(see '99). Very Se7enEsque! Everything has a story and is
non-average. Who'd want to be average anyway.
|
11/1/2015, 99,300
|
replaced rear rotors & pads
- 50% left, but crumbly
|
12/19/2015, 99,400
|
I think this is it for the
season - 22F
|
|
|
|
|
| 18th
Year |
2016
|
|
3/8/2016,
99,400
|
1st
drive
|
|
5/19/2016
100,001
|
100k
in a Se7en!
On the way back from the Black Hawk Farms Lotus track day, it ticked
over to 100k when entering the driveway at home. The odometer reads
95,001 as mentioned previously.
|
..if
it's some form of affliction, no cure is anticipated or sought.
In summary, I recommend this car.
|
7/17/2016
|
Exhaust
flow issues, limits top end (track day) . Inspection shows internal
damage (kink) from 2014 track mishap
|
Replaced muffler, flow restored.
|
8/20/2016
|
Running
on battery only, alternator is not charging
|
Corrosion
of terminals. Cleaned alternator spades, replaced connectors, all good.
|
11/26/2016
|
End of Season - Salt on the road
= no more driving
|
|
|
|
|
| 19th
Year |
2017
|
|
|
misfires
|
new
sparkplug cables
|
|
End of Season is nigh 35F,
but no salt yet!
|
|
|
|
|
20th
Year
|
2018
|
|
|
|
|
