Shaun_E

It was a Drupal security update :-) I've asked NDP to stop the mail queue until the problem is resolved but there may still be a backlog getting through.

Looks like a bug with the mail queue system - there's a whole backlog of notification emails queued and I guess these are getting sent a few at a time. I've reported it to our support team. The latest security patches have caused a number of issues which we are working to get resolved.

OK I'll rise to the bait again. Benefits of the new world: Single sign on vs 3 different ones (Blachat, website, 7FAQ) - this is important as hardly anybody used the website or 7FAQEvents calendarEasy content posting for MT and ARs (news, events, member benefits)On-line payment for eventsTechnical "Guides" content (now with Wiki functions ready to be launched)Web pages for Track-days, Speed championship and Area Meets (including international)Private messagingon-line chatSingle search across all contentBefore someone tells me yet again that search is rubbish, it works exactly as old BC did except it defaults to OR instead of AND but, lets face it, will never be google. If that's a problem then use google - it works. On the website search, you can filter the results by content type, forum, person who posted. We have over 2 million posts on the site - it's always going to be a tricky to find very old posts. On old BC you had to scroll through pages and pages of results to find what you wanted and you didn't have the filters you can use now. I've just done a few random searches to test. I tried french AND seven and then filtered by author Wile7 - 163 posts. I tried Halfords AND voucher and filtered by author Geoff Brown - 5 posts all referencing the Halfords voucher scheme. I searched "K series" and filtered by author Peter Carmichael and got 70 posts. It's not that hard and I've posted the 3 main search tips many times. Use term 1 AND term 2 to get posts with both terms in e.g. oil AND filterUse "word1 word2" to get the exact phrase e.g. "oil filter"Use the sort and filter functions to narrow down the searchHaving multiple platforms with a single sign on costs more time and money to implement, is unreliable and has to be tested and tweaked every time one of those platforms is updated. In IT the hardest thing to do is integrate separate platforms which is why the club made a decision to have a single platform and accept some compromises. IT is expensive - with every additional functional requirement costs go up - we can't have everything we want and have to prioritise what we believe are the best value changes. We do listen to member's requests but sometimes the cost benefit isn't there. I know it's not perfect and it never will be but, for most members, it is good enough and for the club it is good value.

I have no problem with people suggesting changes and we have implemented many suggested changes. In some cases though 1) we disagree or 2) there is some constraint preventing a good value result. Let me give you an analogy - why spend 1000's developing a fundamentally flawed engine? If you want reliable big horsepower, why not choose a Duratec? if you want a high revving engine with sequential and paddleshift, why not choose a Hayabusa? Each of those solutions (including the one chosen) presents it's own unique challenges and compromises - you have to work with what you've got. By the way - an article on your car development would be fantastic for either Lowflying or the website. We have Wiki functions enabled on the website now so anyone wishing to write technical articles is most welcome. It's the same for our website and forum - we made a good decision to move to a single content management system which brings a whole heap of advantages but of course there are some compromises, in this case some constraints on ability to implement some functions easily and cost effectively. We are working with what we have. Ian - I wish I had thought to request that historic posts in for sale and wanted be tagged during the migration - an oversight on my part - sorry. Your second point was what I wanted but it was not a simple change. Please don't forget that this wasn't a single isolated change - it was part of a larger package of work and consolidation of forum sections which in general has been successful. To make changes to one small element of that now has a disproportionate cost. We can make this website and forum do exactly what we want - for a price! It is my role to balance the functionality against the cost to provide good value for money for the club and it's members - that is the difficult bit. I am well aware that it doesn't really matter what I think or write here - some people will always believe there is some conspiracy, some hidden agenda and that we don't listen to the membership. Well those people are wrong, it's just that it's always a bit more complicated than it seems. It becomes soul destroying constantly trying to defend every decision - by all means make suggestions but if it doesn't go your way then accept it and move on. If we made every suggested change either the club would be bankrupt or membership fees would have to double - nobody wants that.

Hi Steve - the problem is with your specific email address. Better call Mark Lawrence for the ins and outs.

We're all entitled to our own views - it doesn't make them "correct". In fact neither of the opposing views can claim to be "correct" - they are just our opinions. I prefer the 2 sections combined as do the rest of the IT working group and the MT. I am a regular user of Blatchat - I couldn't perform this role if I wasn't. There are over 2500 members of this club and half a dozen have said they don't like the new "Marketplace" forum. Well there are more than half a dozen on the MT who all agreed this was a good move - so who's right? Again neither are - they are just opinions. The MT don't just sit here thinking up ways to pi$$ off the membership, we do stuff we genuinely believe are improvements. The creation of a single Marketplace section was part of a larger overhaul and consolidation of what had become a very fragmented forum with too many sections which was confusing to members. You think you are allowed to disagree with something but I am not allowed to disagree with you - that's what I find most frustrating about doing this role - the MT can never be right but "man on the internet" is always right! I'm happy to accept criticism and argument but I have as much right to my opinion as you do to yours and we won't always agree. We have made alterations to functionality in the past when changes we made didn't work well but in this case we happen to think this change is good. I will investigate the cost of moving the for sale/wanted radio button to the main tab as I agree that would be better but sometimes we are constrained by cost - bespoke changes cost much more than using the Drupal standard.

Doing a hill-climb school is a good idea as no licence or safety equipment other than a crash helmet are required. Gurston is a good call and Prescott, Shelsley Walsh and Harewood all run school days. If you want to compete in the UK you will need the relevant licence from your FIA approved issuer (the FFSA?). The MSA in the UK can only issue licences to UK residents. It's not clear what licence you would need but probably some type of "International" licence. You would need to check with the MSA to be sure what they would accept from the French licence issuer. Your car would most likely be eligible for one of the "Road going" classes as long as it competes in road going condition (usually taken to mean MOT'd, taxed and insured). At some events there are "historic" classes which your car might fit into. Road going cars do not need any FIA approved rollover protection so your rollbar is fine. There are restrictions on the tyres that can be used though. Finally, be aware that our hill-climbs are a lot shorter than the typical European ones

Speed and Track are sub-communities of the L7C and during the season are much more active and generally of little interest to members not involved in those activities. We also introduced a "Tour" section as that is another sub-community. The logic behind combining For Sale and Wanted is that if you are posting a For Sale you may see a Wanted for the thing you are selling. Likewise when posting a Wanted you may see the thing you want For Sale. There is a radio button to choose between For Sale/Wanted and when selected, the relevant text is added at the beginning of the post title making it very clear which is which. This was discussed among a group of people on the team and agreed to be a good solution. The unfortunate issue is that the quickest and least cost way to implement the radio button was to have it on the "advanced" tab because that was the option offered by standard Drupal. If we could move the radio button to the main tab, would that be more acceptable? We can do anything at a price but someone has to decide whether the price is good value for the members and whether there are better value things to spend the money on. We all work in different ways and we will never get everyone to agree on a single answer - just look at the huge variety of Seven specifications and the disagreements about the "ultimate seven"! Despite human nature, change is actually good and we have to keep moving even if sometimes we move in a way some people don't like. We have listened but we disagree and that is OK.

I might be little but not quite that little

It's a bit like politics - you can't please everyone. When there were 2 forum sections we got complaints about that - no-one ever looked in "Wanted" before posting a for sale item. If the "tick box" to select FS or Wtd were more obvious, would that be better? It's easy enough to have NDP re-instate the Wanted section and re-name the Marketplace to For Sale but it will have a cost. Not so easy to find the "Wanted" ads and move them though unless members have selected the type!

One for me please (size S)

I think it's been done at some point but I'll check the bellows carefully before I start.

Thanks Guy - grammar not important to me but good advice is :-) I'll have a go at it this weekend.

So my repair kit arrived and it looks very much like the one in Guy's picture. The dimensions of the "can" seem right - diameter and length identical. The rubber bellows measure up to the advertised dimensions but there is one issue - the driveshaft is 32mm in diameter and the smaller end of the bellows is 22mm - is this correct? I hadn't even thought to measure the driveshaft! Looks like the bellows will stretch enough to fit but I'd like to know this is normal. I guess replacement steps are: Remove the metal tie wrapsRemove old bellowsat this point it looks like the drive shaft will separate at the point hidden by the bellowslever away/remove the "lip" on the old can at the larger endslide old can offslide new can on"peen" the can to form a new lip slide new bellows onto driveshaftrejoin driveshaftFit new tie wrapsI can see there are new O rings in the kit and I guess it's reasonably obvious where these go and at what point to fit them but any tips gratefully received. At which stage should the new grease be added? Finally, what is the best way to peen the new lip on the can? Thanks, Shaun

https://www.lotus7.club/forum/chitchat/famous-mike-bees-canoe-tale in case you can't find it.

Hi Justin - tillets are a good choice. Forget the Caterham ones as they aren't great for HANS and also not comfortable with a helmet. If you want a headrest then the B6 is the one to go for (which we have) but a few people are using the low back ones (W1i). With either, you should have a head rest support bolted to the rollbar/cage. The alternative is to make a bag seat - this is the perfect solution but takes a bit of practice to get right.

Which chassis do you have? If you don’t know then what year is the car? It does need a fine thread..

OK - I've ordered one from Autodoc. Thanks for the tip Ian. Guy - that's the one. I'm not in a desperate hurry so I'll wait and see what I get from Germany! Thanks for the offer though. Shaun

Thanks Guy. Does that have the metal cup/can as well as the gaiter/bellows? I can't find anywhere on line that has stock of that part number so wouldn't want to leave you without your spare. I found part number 6127557 which appears to include the cup/can but has slightly different dimensions for the gaiter (1mm longer and, probably more importantly, 1mm smaller diameter around the driveshaft (21mm vs 22mm). I'm sure it could be made to fit but I'm concerned that it would eventually fail again.

Is this the right replacement part? https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/spidan-7118105.html

When Andy at PGM was corner weighting my car, he noticed some grease on the side of the diff which looked like it was coming from the drive shaft "cup". I removed the drive shaft on Saturday and it was obvious where the grease was coming from: So a few questions: Is it easy enough to replace the "cup"? Does anyone have the part number and a good source?Any thoughts on how this occurred and how to prevent it happening again? It looks like it's been rubbing on the diff housing and has worn through.Thanks, Shaun

For track work, you'll probably need an oil cooler of some sort to keep the oil temp down. A Mocal Laminova is a good idea along with a better radiator as the Laminova will effectively dump more heat into the cooling system. 110 deg oil isn't a major worry but you probably wouldn't want those temps for a long period. I had the same issue years ago when I had a K series so fitted a Laminova. When I moved to a dry sump K the issue went away but now with my Duratec I'm back using a Laminova. It has the additional benefit of a faster oil warm-up.

If members select either "For sale" or "Wanted" when they create the post, as described above, then it should be very clear. People have different ideas about how things should work so we can't please you all. This change was made by a team of people experienced in IT and was agreed by them all.

Yes, there is a bug with "Breadcrumbs". Will get it fixed at some point.

You can set that in your profile. Click on "My profile" in the red menu bar, click "Edit", click on the "Advanced" tab and then tick the check box and select "All comments" in the drop down.