What does "Sorted Out" mean?

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and have not yet purchased a Spyder, but am actively looking. I keep seeing the term "sort out" used again and again. Obviously it must refer to some breaking in process, but it seems to be more than that. What exactly does the term mean and when is a car considered "sorted out?" What types of things go wrong?

Thanks for your help,

Craig

As all of these cars are of varying degrees of build quality some are 'turn key', some are 'self build', some have been 'failed' builds and 'sorted' by other persons all may have 'inherant' build quaility faults.

'Sorted' means exactly what it says on the tin.

you get what you pay for and sometimes you don't!

These cars are NOT for beginners unless you have a friendly 'spannerman'

good luck

Magwa ( worried)

fully 'sorted'

When I describe a car as fully sorted, here's what I mean.

All cars, even producton cars, have minor assembly issues that rear their heads soon after they hit the road and "adjustment" issues that must be delt with. A new engine for example, will require a break-in period that will include oil changes and usually a valve adjustment within the first few miles. Cables stretch (clutch and throttle) an must be adjusted. As the body of the car sits on the suspension, it settles and the alignment may need to be done again. If a motor is going to fail, it usually does so pretty early in the game.

Parts that are defective out of the box rear their heads in the first few thousand miles (including engines). As many of the parts for our cars are not OEM, that means more of them may need replaced as they are not high quality German parts. Example - I went through three flasher units in the first 1000 or so miles. One came with the harness (crap), one I bought (crap) then I bought a good one and have not changed it since.

After the first few thousand miles, everything settles in. The flaky bits have been sorted, the valve adjustments done, motors broken in, alignment finalized etc.

At that point, the car becomes a reliable little "driver." It is then sorted. My "sorted" point arrives when I can confidently drive the kids to school, dentist appointents and haul ice cream in the summer. It must start under all conditions, never overheat and under no conditions quit running. Everything "works." When I feel that confident, the car is trustworthy - sorted.

angela

Along with all the wisdom Angela mentioned above, here's a bit more on "sorting out".

When I picked up my 550, the very wise folks on this site had recommended I get it on a lift to check out and tighten everything.

I put it on my friend's lift my second weekend of ownership. I found several lose tap screws, one loose bolt, one loose motor mount, and two missing exhaust clamps. None of this was earth rattling, just took some good old fashion wrenching.

I also took the opportunity to give it a 100K oil change. I did find a few, very small, bits of grit after running my finger around the inside of the lip where the "tea stainer screen" sits.

While up on the lift, I took some photos and wrote down the socket size of each of the fasteners and the size of the oil plug nut.

This last thing was great when I did my next oil change flat on my back with the oil drain plug 3" above my nose. No rolling in and out to find the correct sized socket. (FYI, I found no bits of grit this time using the trusty finger test).

have fun!
Keith

Sorter Out means all of the above and also if tou are into hard driving, tire pressure, shock settings, ride height, sway bars, etc to get the car to handle the way you like it.
( may not be it's best but what you like.)

I like driving hilly crooked back roads rather than acceleration or top speed, been there done that, you can make a Spyder into what you like and don't worry to much what others think.

Now that I am getting mine close to what feels good I may try it at a Solo event this summer. Have Fun Jerry