JohnCh

I've moved the battery thread here: Just a reminder to everyone to please keep threads on topic. Switching it up to ask completely different questions and start a new sub-topic makes it harder for people to perform searches in the future and also means many people may miss the question because they are not watching the original thread. Thanks, John

27-1570SS with the 613/7SS retaining pin. The latch has a safety catch, so with the pin, it's a belt and suspenders approach.

It might be worthwhile to post a picture of a latch so other S3 owners could chime in regarding originality. I'd also start with MV8's suggestion about tightening things up with a new or thicker gasket. Maybe try some foam rubber shims under each latch point to see what works best? In terms of other options, Caterham uses terry springs on the front and conventional over center latches in the rear. For my Westfield, I went with overcenter catches with a locking pin from https://protex.com/. With those pins in place, there is no possibility for the latch to open.

If it's to supplement the Caterham, is an open top a requirement or even desirable? For me, it wasn't and why I bought a FHC Elan. When I want the open top experience, it's the Westfield or Caterham. If the weather is a little iffy, I grab the Elan. If it's really iffy, then the Miata with bolted on hardtop and no soft top, or the 993 get the nod. They each serve a different purpose and accommodate a different mood. Figure out what purpose and mood you want to accommodate with the new car. If you want raw, I suspect you are looking for a modified car. Factory setups have to appeal to the masses -- even if those masses are a relatively small group -- and as a result, rawness is diluted. But how raw do you wish to go? Do you want a modern car, with all the goodies like ABS, traction control, air bags, great HVAC, etc. or do you want something that has reasonable safety, but forces compromise in exchange for the driving experience? With that information, I am happy to help spend your money

Is this to replace or supplement the Caterham?

If you are willing to travel to NJ:

Caterham 310R: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2020-caterham-310r-s3/

No, the blue car pictured was fitted with a 2.4L RST V8. As mentioned earlier, it uses Yamaha 5-valve heads vs. the Hartley's Hayabusa heads. Similar in concept, just as nuts, and sounds just as fantastic, but not the same.

As I recall these were custom blocks with 5 valve Yamaha motorcycle heads. The engine was used in special versions of the Levante, Ariel Atom, and the Radical and available as a crate engine in the day. There was a 2.0L, 2.4L, and a supercharged variants and it was stupidly light. 200lb? Hartley did (does?) something similar, although I believe he built them around Hayabusa heads.

Someone on the USA2005 tour had Caterham fitted with this engine. 2.4L, 400hp, 10k rpm. It sounded like a Cosworth DFV whenever he took off. -John

Congratulations! Glad to hear it was something simple.

Ahem... Welcome @Snowflake !

I suspect that's a typo. It reads the seller has added 200 miles since acquiring the car in 2011. Mileage claimed is ~43,800 with an odometer photo showing 43,758. Yet the invoice from Kampena in 2018 lists mileage as 42,992.

I received permission from Drive Auto Sports to post the video they took of a power sweep. Gotta love the exhaust flames at the end. -John

As per @Vovchandr there is a noticeable difference in size between the SV and S3. You should find an S3 with standard floors and see how that fits. I suspect it will be much better. Below is an overhead shot that illustrates the size difference between the two. Pay particular attention to the interior comparison. It's not subtle. The shifter height in relationship to the dash bottom doesn't bother me at all. I quickly adjusted to moving my hand forward to rest on the gear knob rather than drop it on from overhead. My gripe with location is it's a little further forward than ideal for me given the steering wheel location. But again, it's something you quickly get used to after driving for a bit. -John

Agree. I'd prefer something like these 917 inspired key blanks:

Just order a new car and they'll give you two for free!

To put the weight in perspective: And yes, I was surprised the weight was identical. I even put them on the scale together to make sure the scale wasn't broken. -John

I have heated seats. If you don't make fun of me for that, I'll ignore your carpeting. Deal?

A simpler way to do it is cut out a piece of aluminum, spray paint it black to match the panel, and if you don't want fasteners, adhere it in place with silicone. It's a lot more trouble to remove, but that should be a rarity. If you want to get fancy, make a buck out of an old 2x4 that's a bit smaller than the cover, then gently hammer over the edges a bit (20-30 deg angle). That gives the cover a more finished look and provides some space for the silicone.

The R-pack cars don't come with carpeting on the rear bulkhead, which unfortunately exposes the cutouts to access the upper damper bolts. It looks a bit unfinished to my eyes, but I didn't want to drill more holes to affix aluminum cover plates. So once again, I pulled out the 3D printer. A Neodymium magnet is glued to the print and affixes it tightly to the chassis. For some reason though, printing it flat was resulting in some discoloration I haven't seen before with this build plate and filament combination. Not sure what's going on, but to keep the surface color uniform, I had to print it on its side which resulted in a little elephant's foot, but you have to look closely to see it. The cover is easy to remove, stays in place, and requires no holes. Not as inconspicuous as a piece of black painted aluminum, but I'll take that tradeoff. I also discovered these really are hand-built cars. The cover for the passenger side had to be shaped slightly differently to avoid a gap on the lower left corner. Mirror imaged they ain't. -John

Not at the price I would need to charge

The crate engine, air box, ECU, dash, gauges, switches, dampers, factory fuel system, etc. Anyone want to build a car from my leftovers? I did a little fettling today then took the car out. Temps were still cool and the notorious oil over-cooling on these cars was present. As a result, I never took it over about 4500rpm but the engine felt good. I also seemed to really begin pulling strongly at part throttle at 4000rpm. To temporarily address the cold oil temps, I fabricated a simple block off plate out of thin aluminum. The clamping force is strong enough that it doesn't move once in place, and it is inset a bit, which results in the end caps preventing lateral movement. A couple of zip ties should ensure it doesn't vibrate off. I consider this V1, and suspect I'll make it to V3 or V4 before I'm satisfied. -John

I picked up the car from the dyno this afternoon. It was a day later than expected, and as a result, my alignment appointment has been bumped to Monday. The dyno shop was very, very good. They went over the car in great detail, took pictures of everything they found (lots of little oil leaks that I missed), and kept great notes both on my expectations/instructions and their findings during the inspection. Attention to detail is very strong with them. If you are in the Seattle area, I highly recommend Drive Auto Sports in Everett. As mentioned previously, in theory this engine should be good for > 270hp at the crank, but with the stock 420 exhaust, which is undersized for this engine, the expectation was 250-260hp. If you assume a 15% loss, backing out the wheel hp reveals 255hp at the crank. Pretty much spot on to expectations. The ride home was uneventful but was far from traffic free. Consequently, I never had an opportunity to stretch the engine's legs and can't yet comment on how it feels or if the power level is good enough for now or if I'll want to pursue a larger exhaust over the winter and find another 15-20hp. I hope to get a better idea this weekend. -John

Someone suggested to use this Bosch sensor calibration. https://www.bosch-motorsport.com/content/downloads/Raceparts/Resources/pdf/Data Sheet_70101387_Temperature_Sensor_NTC_M12.pdf . I went with the RaceStudio suggestion of 2700 ohms for the pull-up resistor. I haven't yet confirmed the accuracy at operating temps, but measuring the oil in the dry sump tank with an infrared temperature sensor showed the dash reading was only off by about 4C with the temps in the low 60C range.