All Activity

If Road America’s carousel is the bar, then I’ll be fine. I don’t plan on taking the Cat to a big track like that. One of the local Caterham peers lent me his spare set of Apollos to test fit and measure clearances. It’s scary. 2.5” of ground clearance at the lowest point of the oil pan with Apollos and well worn Avon ZZRs. I may still get a set, but it may only be a track setup as it will certainly hit things around here. As far as fitment, the rear section of the exhaust is in the way. I’ve been wanting a side exit anyways, so this is a good excuse: I also re-weighted the car on this setup since I had added the lights and passenger seat. This is with 1/4 tank of fuel and 13s. The front 185/55/13 Avon ZZRs on Apollos are 22.6lbs, and the rear 215/55/13 are 27.6lbs. The 15” Caterham wheels with Toyo R888R 195/50/15 weigh 31.2lbs each. Huge difference, but is it worth risking an oil pan for it…

Hi @jmaz. Glad you have found what you were looking for. Apologies for lousy photo, but if the Gates 'T' piece doesn't work, the photo showing the Pex 'T' may be better? I have shown 1/2", but 3/4" the same. I totally agree with Scott that brass would be a better choice, the barbs will probably hold better, and the brass looks nicer. Cheers W.

Ah ok without any oil cooling it makes perfect sense. You may be able to get by doing autox with heavier oil, but i think you will definitely need a cooler for track work.

The Carrousel at Road America?

No oil cooler on mine. Alright, same setup as this one. I’ll think about it. What’s considered a long right in this context? It should be fine in my local track and at Grand Junction, as those are like a big autocross. My concern is Pueblo Motorsports Park and La Junta. Those have longer corners.

Mine were wet sump with baffling - Raceline pan. If you want to try give it a go but keep close watch on the oil pressure gauge and adjust your driving accordingly. Long rights do have a tendency to force oil into combustion and you end up with a smoke screen out the back as you add throttle back for a straight - no harm unless you are following and getting second hand smoke.

For some reason, I have been lucky with these red poly cans. I do not possess great grip strength, but if I tighten the cap as hard as I can, I don't get leaks. The seal has to be good for both gasoline and for air. To prevent overfilling, the hose must reach all the way into the car tank, and the only path for air to get into the can has to be via the end of the hose.

What is the oil cooling setup on that?

Whoa! Ventilated diskies! I likey! Hey, wheres the pedal box and master cylinders? Cat has been up to something...what kind of pedal adjustment do we have?

I would do brass barb fittings. The rule for 7s is everything shakes loose. Or something vibrates and cuts into something. The part may say " for Automotive use". This means it's resistance to heat, fluids and maybe oils, are within typical automotive variables. But 7s are outside of those parameters. I would avoid plastic if possible. Double clamp but don't double the clamping force. Ensure the hoses are tolerant of the coolant used. Test the pressure cap before relying on it. Assume nothing.

Yes I did mean Celsius. Roughly 96-98 Fahrenheit at the track yesterday. Good to have confirmation on this, thanks. I'll run a 5w-40 first, and then a 50 if the pressure still drops too low. Were your Zetecs dry-sump or wet-sump? Man that's kind of a bummer, as I was planning to do a couple of trackdays this year with the local group of Caterhams. Well, only one of the near tracks has long corners, while the others are more like a big autocross with straights. Think it'll be fine for the latter? At any rate, my Miata will continue to be the dedicated trackcar, and the Cat is more of the 4-wheel motorcycle for me. The thermostat is either 90 or 95C, but I don't know for certain. I think the thermostat is working because on the street and for those first 4 sessions it stayed right at 90C, which is near the thermostat temperature. The fan is on a thermoswitch that runs at 90C, and shuts off at 84C. Those may not be the exact numbers but is close. I saw it printed on the switch when I did the radiator but failed to take a photo. But the fan does work, and it starts near the 80C mark on the gauge (which is why I know it reads low), and it was running the whole time at autocross. One thought I had was that there is no baffling between the radiator and the bodywork, so a lot of the air is going around it, and the fan may not be doing much. The new radiator also pushed the fan away compared to the original, which I have to imagine also reduces the efficiency of pulling air through it without baffling. But yes, I'll investigate further, and use the OBD scanner next time to check the real readings too.

Oil is heating from heat soak - 36C ambient is enough for that (you did mean celsius and no fahreheit?). 5W30 is pretty thin - I use it in my cars. You have lubrication but its getting pretty thin. I've always preferred a semi-synth for this reason - it stays slightly heavier under temps. Thats why the pressure looks low - I have had two SVT Zetecs- both did the same. Don't be too alarmed. A slightly heavier weight oil is not a bad idea. Never do any track work without a dry sump on these Zetecs - longer corners are a killer for loading oil in the wrong spots of the engine. Autocross is fine. However, check your thermostat. You should not be overheating, even with those ambient temps. I thought the SVT Zetec used a 95C thermostat? Was fan cutting in and operating? Maybe it was just too ambient hot to get enough airflow? If so then maybe add a manual fan override switch for those autocross days? There is something happening that I would be checking out.

I'm continuing to make slow-but-enjoyable progress on the 310. Some of the more noteworthy things include: Radiator and fan: The 310 Encore uses a 420 radiator with front-mounted fan, with an aluminum deflector plate that gets attached to the base of the radiator. I had to make some modifications to the deflector to make extra clearance for the lower two fan mounting bolts. Engine plumbing: Still not totally done since I decided to upgrade the blue engine-to-modine-to-expansion tank T-piece, and will use a Gates 28635 nylon-reinforced plastic T-piece, following a couple of recommendations received. I appear to be short one hose clamp so bought a replacement from NAPA. The Caterham-supplied clamps have noticeably thicker steel for the clamp band, which maybe yields less stretch over time. Ideally, I'd like to get replace the NAPA clamp with the Caterham version at some point. I'll also go back through the plumbing and wiring to add spacers, zip-ties, adel clamps, etc. where warranted. Headers and collector: This was an easy job, and a treat to add the fun visual aspect to the car. Other issues: The shorter of the two ground cables that Caterham had supplied is too short and won't reach from the battery ground to the mounting point on the top of the passenger footwell. They sent the version used on RHD cars. Rocky Mountain Caterham is sending the correct-length cable. I'm also waiting to get a set of crutch straps (again to be provided by RMC), which I'll install before putting the seats in.

No oil temp gauge at the moment, but I have the parts to install a switch and make the coolant temp gauge read oil temp too. Just haven’t gotten to that yet. I have AMSOIL 5w-30 in it now, since that’s the weight the manual called for. I see Caterham recommends a 5w-50 for their Motorsports engines, even the 485, and that’s why I’m leaning towards trying that. Yes it is odd. It even happens after a spirited drive in the mountains, although not as low as I saw this weekend. Sure seems temp related, but I suppose it could also be the sender or gauge reading low somehow. It wasn’t worth the gamble to me this weekend though

Thanks for that kind offer and suggestion re. the pex version. I'd gotten another recommendation for the Gates 28635 T-piece (from Josh Robbins at Rocky Mountain Caterham), so I've ordered one for around $8.00 from Amazon. It seems like one of those strange ways in which Caterham does things, where they could easily and cheaply upgrade a part but choose not to.

Hmm strange to see oil pressure drop like that -no oil temp gauge right? What oil weight? Seems strange for oil to get hot doing autocross (not very much extended high load/high rpm like on a big track). Granted I have a dry sump, but I would have a hard time ever getting my oil even warm doing autox.

Yesterday was the autocross, and the new alignment (and more confidence) did wonders to the handling. The car was happy to oversteer at will, and was heaps of fun! The engine is so fun to rev out. Unfortunately I had a couple of issues in the hot day. The weather was 36C and after 4 runs the engine was on its way to over-heating territory. I shut it off with the gauge indicating 100C, but it reads about 7C low, so it was really about 107C. The most concerning part was the oil pressure dropping near 0.6 or 0.7bar at idle unless I held the throttle open a bit. However, I called it quits once I saw it struggle to build over 2.5bar at 3k RPM. All returned to normal after the engine cooled down again in the afternoon, but only did 3 more runs before oil pressure started to dip at idle again. At any rate, it was an awesome day. Fun time with friends, and feeling great about the car overall. I could do more changes to the alignment but I'm happy enough at this stage. I imagine 13" wheels will change it a little too, so maybe I'll wait until then. I'm going to look into using a heavier weight oil to see if it helps the hot pressures. It seems the stock Focus SVT has an oil cooler, so I wonder if the oil tends to get toasty on these with 5w-30?

Paul Snyder (User: Foxfire S2k) built this car in 2006. As far as I have found, Paul was not active on forums, but he was on the email lists. He kept impeccable records. The car came with binders full of build details. This includes printed emails in plastic sleeves that I have yet to completely parse through. I welcome any contribution from those with past experiences with Paul and this car. Around the same time this car was built, I was aware of the kits and interested. Really, all I lacked was the illusive lottery win. 20 years later, I was still lusting after the S2Ks in the rare instances they are offered for sale. This car was auctioned on bring a trailer by user Stickerdick (Mark). The auction closed during the 2026 Indy 500 and didn’t meet the reserve. The high bidder did not make a deal, and fortunately, I found Mark’s contact info on this site. After we agreed on a price, the car was shipped from FL to TN. The USPS and UPS both proceeded to lose the title. Mark was extremely professional and patient and I finally received the third title. This car has now been registered in IN and FL and currently TN.

Sold.

Hello all I am fortunate to have purchased another bucket-list car. This thread is intended to document its history and adventures. This picture is after I took delivery from Stickerdick.

The 7 and I had our first encounter with one of the vapor capturing pump nozzles the other day. My filler is directly connected to the top of the fuel cell; I do not have the curved pipe that exits the rear of the car. There was no way for me to make the nozzle happy by pushing it into the filler opening. But I was able to pull the vapor capture shroud up with my hand and, presto, gas came out! It was awkward but ultimately successful. Good thing too because the station I stopped at before then was out of gas, and the car was nearly so as well.

Did a 130 mile blat today with @Pokey.

Took the r400 out for a drive as I've been playing with reducing cockpit turbulence...this is for the road but I'm often at the 60/75 mph level due to location. I hate losing ball caps :). I have the larger wind wings but have cut them down topside to properly clear the half hood...the half hood is on all summer due to our heat. the ambient temp when I went out was 100 F. The hood makes a great dif without direct sun. I put a Lexan piece..9"x36" (shaped) across the rear bar.... I find this works well with the hood... not so effective without but no worse either. It needs to be 1/4 in so as not to 'flap' when the hood is off. The other is how well the cooling system works....I was goosing it and running hard uphill at 60 to 80 mph and it barely got beyond 1 o'clock on the temp gauge and settled at the 180ish/12 if driving at a lesser rate. Strangely I found the footwell heat to be hardly noticeable...much less than the '98 HPC. Perhaps because the pipes are on the passenger side? No idea, but didn't notice that at all. I'll have to check with the doors on only and see if that rear window is an assist. Just an FYI. Love this thing.

Hi @jmaz. I have a few of these that I would be willing to send you for free, but the complicated postal system these days is too much to contend with. You don't mention the o.d. of the fittings required, but go to your local big box hardware store and look for 'Pex' fittings. They should be made of brass (sometimes chrome over brass?) and normally come manufactured for 1/2" pex pipe or 3/4" pipe. You may require metric size for your car, and if so, some Italian manufactured pex fitting may be available, but not sure. Here in Canada, although mostly metric, we rely on Imperial fitting sizes along with many other construction items also in Imperial measure. Cheers W.