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OK. The remanufactured starters I have work perfectly in the Birkinized Caterham. On the Birkin, they fit, they spin, but apparently do not engage the flywheel.

Does this "Lotus 8" belong on the weekly for sale list? It's like they started with a 7 and then subtracted Collin's "lightness"... https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/972968951771613

Thank you! No plans to add any stripes yet, though my son is lobbying me to add black stripes to the bonnet…

Scored a clam. Thanks, Craig Chima!

FYI The 1966 Lotus 7 S3 that was on Facebook Marketplace at: https://www.facebook.com/share/178YRz7o5t/ (Link listed above is dead) The seller has placed another new ad at: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/27170235592582954 This Seven was for sale on Facebook Marketplace for some time. An interested buyer pointed out some problems and owner/seller took it off Facebook Marketplace while he had a mechanic check things out. The owner/seller had been claiming it was an original 1966 Lotus 7 that was completely restored and updated using Caterham parts in 1992 by Sevens and Elans. He had been asking $49,900. I messaged him several times with questions and comments but he has never responded to me. He posted it on the Lotus Club of Canada’s Facebook page and yesterday I noticed he’d changed his ad text both there and on Marketplace. He now admits it’s a Caterham and that the Lotus registration was a “US import practice”. However, he is still selling it as a 1966 Lotus because that is the way it’s registered in Quebec. He has also lowered his asking price to $42,000 Canadian.

I really like how your car looks in solid yellow/gold with no stripes. I didn't notice if you're planning on adding any, but it's a cool look as-is

I catch some flack for being a polishing queen. But I keep some waterless wash and wax in the boot. Hit any fuel spill over with a generous dose and wipe it down with micro fiber. I also have mini spray bottles so not to take up much space. https://a.co/d/02yciLTE https://a.co/d/00TTX4JD

I think if I combined both of these products with a keen eye on the bottom of the funnel, I might be able to manually fill the entire tank without overflowing. We'll see?

I have never been able to use the auto-shutoff at the pump, but I do carry one of these which lets me fill up gas way faster than I could without it. This will probably be totally unnecessary for those of you in states that don't have evaporative fuel nozzles, to people who've modified the internal flap on their filler necks, and to those of you who have figured out the secret to getting fuel in. But for me? Lifesaver! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEPIU4M Lisle 17232, made for filling annoyingly-placed reservoirs but snaps right into place on a Caterham fuel filler... That being said, I just found this when looking for a reference image for our non-California friends... https://www.aerostich.com/products/gascard As for overflow, I've been there too. My way to avoid it has been to only fill up 5 or 6 gallons when I've traveled more than 100 or so miles. I'm definitely leaving some range on the table with this policy but I haven't overflowed since the one time I got cocky and went for 7...

I find that at Shell it auto stops (way too early but it stops). At Costco it doesn't do that and just keeps going so it overflows a lot if you're not paying attention even for a few seconds

I just assumed they all did that. I would say i get spillage/overflow on at least half of all fill-ups.

Exact same thing happened to me at Costco too

It's a small world when you love these small cars, eh!

Checked on this today. Registration has opened: 2026 LUG

Just for another data point, I calculated mileage after a fillup - got 23mpg on a highway cruise back from the track with some intermittent light traffic that kept speeds down a bit.

I’d just fill the tank slowly and only add about 5 gallons whenever the fuel level gets near 1/4 tank. I overfilled the car once at Costco, and fuel ended up spilling from the back of the car. Definitely not a good sight.

The center plaque is for finishing second out of the 8 entrants in Super Stock at the Glen Region Sports Car Club of America Solo event. The Elmira College Domes are the buildings on the grounds of an athletic facility near the town of Horseheads New York. Glen Region honored the presence of the Lotus Owners Gathering competitors in the naming of the autocross: Hethel, Norwich, Norfolk, England is the town where Lotus cars are made. Glen Region autocross results: <a href="http://www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/Results20130804.asp" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/Results20130804.asp</a> PAX results: <a href="http://www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/PAX20130804.asp" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/PAX20130804.asp</a> The mug and the hat combined are the trophy for finishing second in class in the LOG33 scoring for the autocross. The mugs were also used for the Concours, so the other side of the mug says "MY LOTUS IS PRETTIER THAN YOURS". Not really the case for me. I had not talked with Doc Bundy since the race in the streets of Minneapolis I covered some years back. I don't ask people for autographs, but someone (Brian V?) asked Doc to sign his hat and I figured "why not". I had the third-fastest time of the 60 cars entered. (I really don't count shifter-karts as cars.) an SM BMW snuck in-between Rob and me in our stock Elise cars. In the LOG33 results, Rob had FTD and I was second. Rob and Eric had brought both cars to LOG33. For the autocross, Rob drove the Elise. Eric drove the Lotus Cortina. Rob and Eric were in different classes in both the SCCA classing and the LOG classing. Someone at the event told me that Eric B and his wife are past Canadian Autoslalom Champions. Rob riding shotgun with Eric at that 2013 event: The Lotus Cortina was not set up for autocrossing. Beautiful historic car. Of course, Rob beat me again at LOG39 in 2019. Rob had designed the course on a smallish parking lot at Thompson Speedway (site of the first-ever SCCA driving event). The course looked like a Japanese gymkhana. At least I got to join the general laughter when Rob got lost while trying to show us that it was easy to follow.

Here is the car at the LOG39 track day. Do not know which of them is at the wheel. I met Rob at LOG33. More on that in the next post.

The Green Elise' owners name is Eric. He also has a Lotus Cortina and an Elan. However, his son drives the Elise and does track days and some competitions and his name is Rod or Rob. Sorry, my poor hearing is only surpassed by my increasing lose of short term memory. Sound like someone you know or have met? My wife took the rainbow photo at the end of the day. It was a short but heavy shower after a picture perfect brisk spring day on Ontario. I've attached anther photo of the Elise.

Citibank just wanted to point out that I might have a caterham fettling addiction.

HI Ed and thanks for the offer. I just might be able to take you up on those. I have a good friend in Peterboro Ontario that I need to visit. I'll call him tomorrow and see if we can ship to him and then I'll pick em up when I see him. I'll get back to you in the next day or so. Thanks, Mark

The web has a few car forums where owners of cars from small European sports cars to U.S. muscle cars inquire about using valve stem seals with silicon or manganese bronze valve guides. Some say yes, you should fit them, and others say no with a mix of reputable car mechanics advising either way. I have a Holbay Ford cylinder head that some describe as Stage II - fitted with larger 1.6" inlet valves, but not so large as to cause possible cracking between the inlet and exhaust valve seats. The head was new and based on an 1100 c.c. flat cylinder head as there is/was more metal available to grind away for porting (Note: recommendation of David Vizard many, many years ago to use an 1100 uprated flat head on the 1600 c.c. 711M Crossflow which I will be rebuilding). Holbay fitted harder exhaust seats for unleaded fuel, stainless steel valves, and silicon bronze valve guides. Double springs are fitted, but I am thinking of using singles. Holbay did not fit valve stem seals to the double springs. I checked with Burton a couple of years ago as I was considering using 'special' stem seals on the valves (with single springs), but Burton did not recommend using stem seals, as they believe that the valve stem and guide would not receive sufficient lubrication. Some say there is burnt oil smoke on start-up with no seals, and that this goes away quite quickly. Also mentioned was valve stem seizing if there is insufficient flow of oil due to the seals doing too fine of a job. I have read that tuners installing stainless valves fitted in silicon bronze guides normally specify minimum clearances from new, thereby requiring a good flow of oil. Has anybody with road or racing experience seen premature wear with stem seals fitted to bronze guides? I don't want to be trailing smoke and polluting the neighbourhood - even with a car that has no pollution control to speak of - so advice would be much appreciated. W

Hi @Rodnok. I have a pair of Lotus Seven windscreen stanchions made out of 1/8" steel exactly to the shape of the Lotus originals for free which you could use as a pattern, but I think that it may be a hassle for both of us to ship them from Canada to you unless you know of a way? All I would ask for is shipping cost. EW

Wish I still lived in San Jose.... would've totally met up for a drive. Our Sevens are pretty much twins.

Sorry to hear that Charlie, hope to see you at another event this year.