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I had something very similar happen with the Westfield many years ago. It turned out the ground on a rear taillight was bad.

Good news! The fuel has stayed in the tank since the Autocross, and what was dripping didn’t smell like fuel, instead some sort of glue or residue in the underside of the aluminum shelf. Since cleaning the shelf and the tank as best I could this hasn’t returned As far as overall fuel smell, it is much better. I only smell the breather doing its job when I slosh the tank on a spirited drive and it subsides after some cruising. Decided to do an LED swap with tail lights and indicators from Just Add Lightness, and headlights from Summit Racing. The headlights leave a little bit to be desired in their beam pattern but it’s decent. The tail lights are good and bright as needed. The indicators have not worked well so far, and cause all the lights to panic! With only one indicator on, all of the car's light flash, including the gauge lights. If I turn the lights on, then the buzzer is constantly on and the indicator bulb is lit. That’s a first. I tried disconnecting the tachometer to test the theory that the telltale could be the cause, but no dice, and not really sure where to go from here. This issue only happens with the LED indicators installed. Here is a video of the behavior with only the right indicator on: Another interesting new quirk is that while driving with the lights on I can hear the buzzer and see the indicator bulb light up intermittently as I hit bumps. This is making me think there is a bad ground somewhere.

I have one. Located in southeast Pennsylvania USA. It came out of a 1995 S3. If you're interested reach out and I'll send pictures etc.

I actually like that quite a bit

To you its THE car. To any regular mechanics its just A car that will be more pain in the ass, more scrutinized and pay the same or worse than others for the time invested. There's just no business sense for regular shops to care for special cars. Special cars need to go to special mechanics which will demand special pricing for special treatment which isn't a lot of people are willing to accept. I will venture a guess and say @Croc knows quite a bit about that with the amount of specialty vehicles he deals with and outsources the work on. This is why I do pretty much all my own work on it. You should hear the stories that real exotic car owners have to deal with. There are as much as 5 and as little as 1 person in the whole country who can do certain work and you have to ship your car to him and wait for availability. That's just the name of the game.

I love this one as it shows the clam shell style fenders.

Caterham Seven Miami Special Edition .pdf

Bravo, Speedwagon. Therein lies a good point. The local mechanic has invested in tire changing tools, and some others I can't afford or rarely need. Farm out those jobs. Why he can't bring himself to buy even a torque bar for that demolition wrench is beyond me.

Looking for a pair of Caterham Fiberglass race seats to replace my leather seats. Long shot but figured I would ask.

Blipshift, a "Crowdsourced car shirts, apparel, and accessories" site has a 7 shirt available for the next few hours. The way blipshift works is that people submit designs. Chosen designs are made into swag that is available for a limited time, usually a few days, and the artist gets a cut of every shirt made. Blipshift had had multiple 7 related shirts in the past, and this one is currently available for the next 17 hours. https://www.blipshift.com/products/yeehaw-2

It's up for a spanner check. The best time to have done that would have been BEFORE hearing new noises. Second best time is now, right? On the plus side, look forward to a checklist of bolts with wrench sizes and torque specs soon... Also, I brushed a metric tonne of bugs out of that radiator, and ordered a straightening tool, let's see how that goes!

It was out!

Raining pitchforks and hammer handles today. Rainy days and Mondays. Well at least it IS Monday and nobody was planning on autocrossing around the Twin Cities. Probably tomorrow I will look into replacing that battery in the Birkin. The easiest way would be to get the same size battery. Would have to be an AGM to mount it the same way, as it is lying down in there.

Yeah, the fictional TV show was different, They were out in the countryside somewhere. DIdn't even talk to the guards, just ran it at high speed. Another actual escape was folks who manufactured their own balloon and flew out of the country.

An actual event during the Cold War. https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/this-austin-healey-sprite-escaped-east-germany-twice/

I recall an episode of Run For Your Life wherein two guys ran a border crossing in a sports-racing car (sans rollbar). One guy was crouched down and steering while the other guy was stuffed in backwards holding a mirror and giving directions to the driver. Zoomed past the border guards and under the turnpike.

All This gearbox is sold.

trust is a dirty word. when it pertains to anything that you risk your life with. I always loved the tech inspections as they added to my safety.

Yes. most are competent enough to mount tires, but too lazy to use a torque wrench. So farm out the dumb jobs till you find a smart, willing, and honest wrench operator. (and he will not be at the stealership).

Yes but I had to make a periscope in order to drive while hunkered underneath it.

Thanks so much. I'd like that, but don't want to inconvenience you. What works best for you? Weekends? I'm retired, so generally available.

Thanks ... and good point!

Nice work, newer blogs like this are helpful to future builders, as Caterham makes lots of small little changes over time so the older blogs can have some confusing/incorrect bits in them. PS I saw a mention of painted bolt heads to ensure they are tight on future checks. Many bolts go through powder coated parts and you can NOT trust a painted line. Just because the bolt hasn't backed out doesn't mean it isn't loose. Prime candidate bolts for this issue are the engine mounts into the block. There are others as well. Bottom line is, on a 7 you need to do proper spanner checks regularly.

And sun, and keeps the heat in for the winter. Zip up and you get weather protection too

Did get a drier Sunday. Raining when we arrived at the site. Managed to wait out the rain and get annual tech inspection on the Birkin. Then I put the car in the trailer in cse it rained while I walked the course. Not raining when it was time for my first 3-run heat. I was not getting traction on the dodgy surface of Canterbury Park's overflow lot. Ever since they sealcoated this lot, it releases aggregate we call "Canterberries". These tires may wake up with a better surface and warmer temps. When I went to start the engine for the third run, I needed a push start. Cranking slow. After the run, I found a place on the paddock lot higher than my rig. Turned off the engine to see if it would restart. Nope. Pushed it down the hill to my rig. Removed the air filters. Removed the hood. Fired up the F-150 and hooked up the jumper cables. After a while, I was able to start the Birkin. Let the big Ford charge the little Ford for a while. Turned off the Birkin, disconnected the cables and tried to start it again. No go. Hooked up and let the big Ford charge the little Ford again. As time approached for my three runs in the afternoon, I started the Birkin, refitted the hood, reinstalled the air filters, and drove the Birkin to its spot in grid. DIdn't turn off the car until I had completed my runs and driven the car behind my trailer. Winched it in and tied it down. I carried passengers all day. My best was 39.859. FTD was 33.405. Not exactly great. Still was fun. Now I will have to figure out whether the battery is toast or the alternator circuit is not working. My money is on the battery.