New Guy

[GuyIII]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forum but have been reading post for a while. I just purchased an Atom 2, one of the early ones with the VIN ending in RAM284. If anyone has some history on this Atom I would appreciate it. The paper work shows that it was sold to Don Healy and was possibly used in the Car and Driver March 2007 article Hardcore comparison test. I am not sure I believe that though. I bought it from the second owner. the car is low mileage but needs a lot of TLC so I am working my way from the front to the back detailing as I go. The car was never titled and I am deep in that process here in North Carolina. So far it is going pretty good. I sold a T-rex that I had done extensive mods to, lots of carbon fiber work, but my goal was to have an Atom. I live about 1 hour from VIR and TMI and have visited Mark at that wonderful facility. This Atom though will be street mostly.
Thanks
Guy

[bolus]

Welcome, Ram284 is a very early car, older than Terry's car. I dont think we every heard much from the owners. It sold on ebay in 2010 so that must have been the last owner. Terry will be the person who might know something about it.

With that early of a car you want to make sure the owners went through the appropriate upgrades and fixes that were needed. They are listed here:
Service Bulletins, Recalls, Retrofits, and Updates
Ariel Atom Chat - Service Bulletins

Here are my recommendations of what to check on a used Atom:
http://arielatomchat.com/forums/thread441.html

I'd say checking to make sure it does not have the original rod ends is going to be the most important. If you post a pic of one we'd be able to tell if they need replacement.

If you brought it to TMI they could also do an inspection for you I bet. They did not make they car, but they will have probably pretty much anything you would need for replacements.

This one?

[silver]

most important and most difficult task (if needed) is the gas tank gaskets.
it's easy to check, it's hard to repair.

0: make sure your tank is nearly empty
1: remove the tea tray on the back
2: remove the filler neck tube which is basically a radiator hose
3: remove if possible the filler neck aluminum (some are different than others)...inspect the filler neck gasket, if it's droopy, disintegrated, or doesn't look new in any way shape or form, move to number 4
4: if the tank is nearly empty, put your cell phone down in the tank and point to the left, if your pics show any black stuff in the tank then you need to do a lot of work to fix that problem.


if your gasket looked new untouched and perfect....thank your lucky stars you got a car with a fuel safe gasket.


I only bring this one up as it should be done before driving the car to minimize any possible damage to the car.....and atoms with low mileage are going to potentially require the most amount of work to get them road worthy.

[bolus]

I dont know if he would need to check gaskets. remember mine was cork based and several cars after his.

[silver]

I dont know if he would need to check gaskets. remember mine was cork based and several cars after his.

yeah well, either way it should be checked to be sure, not simply assumed that they used cork on his

[bolus]

a close inspection would be required before undoing the filler neck connected to the tank. mine was bolted to an unattached metal ring on the inside and if I removed every bolt it would have fallen into the tank. If that happened I would have had to remove the entire tank to retrieve it. I was one bolt away from making that mistake, and I ended up not needing to replace the gasket in the first place. Then after reattaching the filler neck the cork gasket was damaged and I ended up having to replace it after all. Should have left well enough alone.

[silver]

point is...look at it, don't ignore it. You can see if it's rubber or cork without removing anything....make that step 1....if cork, done if rubber investigate further.

[Napalm]

Do we know what serial numbers are affected by the bad gaskets?

[silver]

Do we know what serial numbers are affected by the bad gaskets?

Yours probably is/ was. You have number 46 right

[GuyIII]

I have both seats out and the firewall out so visual inspection of the gasket should be easy. The fuel lines have been covered to prevent wear so that should not be a problem. I will post some pictures of the rod ends so that maybe someone can tell me if these have been changed. I have a small problem though. When I received the Atom it started right up and ran great. I then removed the body work and started to detail the car. The first thing I did was remove a rats nest of wiring that was an aftermarket ground effects lighting system, no problem just disconnect it and pull it out. I also carefully cleaned out the fuse box removing the metal cover of the immoblizer. I did not disconnect anything in the fuse box, just a light cleaning and I did NOT use water. On the back of the Atom I removed both the tea tray and snorkel unit but did not mess with anything electrical. Now the Atom will not start. It switches on and when I wave the fob under the dash I hear the fuel pump kick on, the battery spins the motor over at a good speed but no fire. I have inspected to see if anything is disconnected and can not find an issue. Everything works fine, lights, horn, signals, it just will not fire. Any thoughts, anyone!