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The starter is on the left side of the engine as shown in the 11Budlite photo. These starters were held in with M10x1.5mm socket-head cap screws. On the Birkin one of these bolts is loosened with a long extension setup 8mm hex drive in the cockpit through a hole in the footwell. This was a surprise to me, since the Caterham footwell allowed me to reach all the starter bolts from under the car. I think on the Birkin I am going to replace that socket-head cap screw with a hex bolt that can be tightened with an open-end wrench.

I do not blame you for not following the bread crumbs. To recap: The original Caterham 1700 Super Sprint engine, bellhousing, and T9 transmission is now in another state, destined to be installed in a Lotus 7. My autocross friend Steve is building his Birkin into an electric car. He sold me all his gasoline stuff, including Zetec, Birkin bellhousing, and T9. I had a problem (too goofy to recount here) with with "The Steve Engine". "The Steve Engine" is from a 1996 Contour. Ron, another autocross friend, is an engine mechanic and dyno tuner. Ron is going to clean and balance "The Steve Engine". To fill in, I bought a junkyard engine from a 1996 Contour (after learning my lesson and buying the wrong Zetec). Alerted by our fine friends here on USA7s, I checked out a Birkin for sale up north in Minnesota (no, not in Lakeland where others had assumed), and bought it. This Birkin has a Zetec, Birkin bellhousing, and T9. I am soon going to provide more information and photos on these starters I have.

I don't know where the starter came from in my old Birkin, but this is a photo of the setup I had. The engine was from a '96 Contour and the gearbox was a T9 with the stock Birkin bellhousing operated with the slave cylinder mounted on the top of the gearbox cover. I'd be surprised if the bellhousing was the same between the Birkin and the Caterham because I believe the Birkin used the short input shaft, and the Caterham used the long input shaft on the gearbox. I know when I ordered the close ratio gearkit from BGH I had to tell him which input shaft I had. I guess yours could be different though. Is there a P/N on your starter?

As some of you may know, I ran out of gas on the road last week... that event was the catalyst to me finding out the gas tank should be closer to 9.5 gallons, with about 1.5 gallons un-usable. I was always under the assumption the tank was around 5 gallons, so this was great news to me. I also found out that I was filling up the gas incorrectly... just cuz the nozzle shuts off doesn't mean that it's full. I guess the size and shape of the tank makes the gas easily shut the nozzle off. My dealer told me the trick was to fill it much more slowly. I tried this today... I filled it until the nozzle shut off, then filled it more AS SLOWLY AS THE PUMP ALLOWED. I filled it until it overflowed, and then verified that the fuel was indeed filling up the section between the flap and the gas cap... and if I open the flap, it wasn't flowing down into the tank. The math is as follows: When I ran out of gas, I got a 2 gallon jerry can to fill it up. Then drove about 15 miles to a gas station, and filled it up 1 more gallon (it shut the nozzle off so I stopped). Today, the total I was able to fill it up was 1.5 gallons. That seems like I'm still just totaling around 5 gallons. What is my dumb ass missing here? Somewhat related note... I have the @BruceBe fuel gauge mod... it's always designated full tank historically when it's about 1/4 tank and I fill up roughly 4 gallons.

Crap, I missed it!!

they're pretty fantastic. you should grab a pair.

Where does the starter motor mount on the bellhousing. That is an issue. I have a Zetec with the Focus engine and flywheel; it uses a bellhousing that mounts the starter under the intake manifold. My car uses a Focus starter. There are bellhousings that mount the starter down low. They are available to mount the start on either or both sides of the engine. I do not know what starter they use.

I have done that also. It has the advantage of not needing to buy Race Ramps, and the disadvantage of putting more strain on the trailer jack and the person powering the jack. Another factor to toss into the mix is how you get the car into the trailer: Push it, winch it, or drive it. For me, the best way for me to get any kind of car into my trailer is to winch it. With my 3000-pound Champion ATC winch, I can get my 3000-pound Cayman or one of my 1300-pound Sevens in placed exactly on the E-tracks by walking alongside the car with the steering wheel in on hand and a little wi-fi remote controller in the other. When the Champion remote died, I bought a two-pack of remotes of another brand from Amazon for lunch money. I devised a system using E-track parts to change the lateral position of the winch to suit the placement of the "extraction" connection on any car. The Elise is on centerline. The Cayman and Sevens are offset by various distances. Winching allows one to observe how everything is clearing. Also handy for cleaning the stones off your tires while the tread is still warm. If I was going to put a Seven into a motorcycle trailer, I'd want to winch it. With a light, narrow trailer, a smallish truck, and a Seven, the Taber10 method makes sense. Even if the trailer floor is uphill, the winch method makes placement a breeze. After you get the car placed, put your straps over the tires and disconnect the winch cable. Be careful when selecting the winch. I started with a 1500-pound winch of another brand from Horrible Freight. The design was faulty: It allowed the cable to climb over the rim of the spool and a get jammed between the spool and the frame. Don't bother with trying to wire the winch to your rig. A substantial jump box runs the winch just fine. I have my trailer set up with lugs inside near the right door to connect a jump box (or in a pinch, jumper cables). My trailer has a recessed step inside the door, and the jump box rides and operates there. The jump box is easily recharged in my shop or motel room.

I'm interested. Sent you a message.

Gorgeous photos.

Great article and photography!

Haven't digested this whole thread, but the sump problem on my 7 is easily solved by jacking up the front of the trailer with the trailer's jack, taking all of the "travel" out of the tow vehicle's suspension. This makes the angle from the trailer ramp to the trailer floor much less, even straight depending on the parking location. Of course I do have a skid plate on my 7, and I have sanded down the forward edge of the trailer ramp a little bit.

I went to los Gatos dmv even though it's not that close to me based on recommendations that they were more familiar with sb100 than some other locations.

I don't know the origin of the parts in my green Birkin, but the engine certainly looks like a 2000cc non-CVT Zetec like the one in my Caterham. The non-CVT Zetec engine in my Caterham is from a 1996 Contour. This is the junkyard engine bought to temporarily replace the "Steve" engine. Steve built HIS Birkin from a new kit and sourced the non-CVT Zetec engine from a 1996 Contour. The T9 transmissions and the alloy bellhousings in both my Birkin and my Caterham look identical. None of the engines I speak about here are CVT. I will make some measurements and take some photos and get back to this thread. ======= By mistake, I bought from a private seller a Zetec CVT from a 1999 Contour. That engine is is still at Ron's shop and has nothing whatever to do with either of my Sevens.

New Brooklands Screens. One has a very faint scratch noted on the picture. Mounting brackets included. $200 per pair plus shipping.

We drove Purple Reign (cracked fender and all) to our first event of the season yesterday and today. This marks the one year anniversary of the infamous "stop sign crash." It was on Sunday morning, May 4, 2025 that it happened. We left our home Saturday morning around 8:20 a.m. and it was very cold, only 1c but with bright sunshine. However, it quickly turned miserable with heavy cloud cover and the odd rain drop or ten. Around 1:00 p.m. that turned to ice pellets so we packed up and drove home. It is only a 12 minute drive. Even though the weather was lousy the show lot filled up quickly. By midmorning the vender areas were packed. Sunday was still cool reaching a high of around 8c but with clear, sunny skies. However, nobody showed up. I mean it was dead. There were never more than 25 cars in the show lot and no lineups to get into the flea market. Oh well, it's the Boot and Bonnet Club's spring Autojumble and Car Show this coming Saturday, May 9. Hopefully the fender will be repaired by then and the weather will be as sunny as today was but much warmer. (That’s my brother’s ’59 Corvette he calls Betty Boop beside us.)

I was filling up my Locost at a gas station one day and a guy came up behind me and said "I bet you get good gas mileage in that thing?". I said , without looking up, "Not the way I drive". I then turned around and it was a cop!!!!! Russ

Saw them again in a video I posted and it reminded me of this thread

Almost done and doing more shake down rides! Question for those of you in California - are there specific regulations for placement of the CHSML? I just installed the set from CaterLED - deciding between placing them on the roll bar vertically or placing them up top horizontally. Also - as I prep for SB100, any recommendations on which DMV and inspection locations? I’m in Fremont but happy to drive around the Bay Area if it simplifies thing. I’m assuming you need to tow the car for the CHP inspection?

No problem at all. And sorry for the delay in responding. We were traveling for a few days. I can wait until you come back. Have a good trip.

I placed an order with Burton Power last week for parts including a dry sump, differential, and some other odds and ends. The total bill with processing, duties and clearance fees with DHL was about 13.5% of the purchase price. Scott

Okay, you have to enlighten me, how did you come to find this thread again after four years?

I will admit, these have grown on me