JohnCh

Were these ever finished? If so, pics please! Thanks, John

I've noticed that I stopped getting email notifications from the forum earlier today and have confirmed they are not landing in my junk folder. Is anyone else seeing this issue? Thanks, John

When properly sorted, Westfields are very nice cars. If it's mechanically sound, the price sounds reasonable given the fuel injection and Jay Ivey connection. I can't comment on the body condition other than to say Westfields are unpainted and put the color in the gelcoat. Painting the bonnet will never be a great match with the rest of the body unless you paint or wrap everything. Freshening the interior, however, should be viewed as an opportunity to make it yours. Cars from that era used very low quality carpet and handbrake/gearshift gators that unnecessarily cheapen the interior. It's not hard to change. Here are a couple of photos that show my Westfied when I bought it in 2001 and what it looks like today. That's not to say my aesthetic is the way to go, but simply that making changes is not that difficult and make a huge difference. There are also a lot of parts available in the UK to upgrade the suspension and brakes. Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk more about this car and things to consider. -John

Done! And the cost is you need to tell the new owner about the forum

Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. And details from day 1. Document how you do some of the less mundane aspects that can be accomplished in more than one way, or when things don't go according to plan. I'm sure others will jump in with additional advice. To me the benefits of a build thread are twofold. First, and selfishly, it becomes a great reference for you in the future. It's amazing how many of the little details you forget over time that come in handy down the road. Memorialize them in the thread and they are easy to find. I've quickly located part numbers, torque settings, thread locker compounds, assembly sequences and more, just by searching one of my build threads. Some may say the forgetful aspect is just old age, but I think a lot of it is down to PTSD and intentionally blocking out the bad aspects of the experience. And yes, there are bad aspects Second, people follow along and become invested in your success. Run into a snag or need a sounding board? There are people who happily jump in to help, not just because they are nice, but because they've developed a personal interest in seeing you reach the finish line.

I was curious, so dug through my phone. The photos I shared above were from a 420 kit that had arrived at Beachman Racing in April of 2022. I just found the pictures of my crates when they arrived on the trailer in October 2022. The dimensions printed on that engine crate are 38" x 26" x 40" and 343 lb. So much for consistency. Bottom line @hahuang65, they are big and heavy

They may not be standardized. Or Caterham put the wrong dimensions on the crates. I never put a tape measure to them to verify but these were photos I took at Beachman Racing before my kit arrived at the garage so I could map out where things would fit. C3 is the engine crate: -John

In return, you are now obligated to start a build thread once the crates arrive We love a good build thread! -John

These were the measurements printed on the crates and converted from metric. My car is an SV so the chassis crate should be slightly heavier, but I imagine Caterham standardizes the crates across chassis sizes.: Chassis: 130" x 51" x 54", 590 lb Assorted boxes: 78" x 47" x 56", 538 lb Engine: 67" x 35" x 33", 304 lb

I forgot to add that the engine crate is over 300 lb. Even with three people, you will need to figure out a way to get that off the truck if it doesn't have a lift gate. With a tilt trailer, you will have more options. -John

I went with option 3: my dealer is local to me and had the crates loaded onto a trailer then we used two pallet jacks to remove them and position them in the garage. If you have a few people to help, then using either a box truck or trailer and breaking down the crates in situ might be the cheapest and easiest method. I have dimensions and weights of the three crates if you need them. -John

I have to admit, when I saw @Vovchandr's comment about $25k, I thought no way. It will be much closer to $30k. Very well bought!

I reached out to Greg almost 3 weeks ago Good call on the Raceco. I had no trouble getting in touch with them a couple of years ago, but not much luck lately. Let me know if persistence pays off.

Based on the timing, it looks like that was sent recently. I'd give them 5 business days then pile on if there is still no answer or give them a call. At least you know you aren't the victim of a scam.

Do you mean caterhamparts.co.uk or caterhamparts.com as written above? The latter doesn't resolve for me, but the former is the parts department for Caterham and is legitimate. If it is Caterham, are you sending an email or messaging them through your account page they should have required you to create as part of the online order process? I've found them pretty responsive to their order messaging system.

Seconded! How much of a basket case, and when are you hoping to complete it? @fotsyr, other than the upper links, what parts are you missing? Someone here might be able to assist. -John

You mean the purple doesn't make it better?

I don't want us to go too far off topic on this thread, but happy to chime in on a new thread if people want to delve into this. I took @Vovchandr's comment as a reference to forum features or processes, not correcting a false statement of fact contained within threads, library downloads, or articles. I think it was also intended as a broader statement that applies to business and was likely in support of my earlier statement about squeaky wheels being ignored. One of the things I've learned in business is that the people who are most valuable aren't those who point out a problem, it's the ones who also identity the solution and then dig in to implement it. The term backseat driver is considered a negative for a reason. Vlad, I don't want to speak for you, so please correct me if I have this wrong.

Thanks for the full list you provided! As for using the Library for this, unfortunately that software feature, which we cannot change, is designed to only work with downloads. That means any time someone wants to look for a vendor, they need to download the document. I can insert a text block on that page that contains a link to wherever the list resides to help with discoverability, but keeping the list there as a download is suboptimal. One thing we're kicking around is changing the name of Articles to Articles & Resources for clarity, then placing that link at the top next to Library. There are a lot of considerations I won't go into here that don't make that a great solution. Also, there is a massive software update coming from Invision in the next few months with a lot of new functionality and some deprecation. One of the new features may offer the perfect solution. TBD.

Interesting topic, but what are the parameters? Are they the only two cars in the garage and one needs to seat at least 4 adults, or can we throw practicality out the window and look at what are a perfect pairing if there is a third, practical vehicle in the garage? Given the level of practicality needed by people can differ wildly (e.g. from no kids or pets to a family of 6 with a pair of large dogs), I vote for the latter.

Thanks. Keep in mind, for this to be useful, it can't simply be a list of links, and we can't expect @Croc to do all the work to figure out the specifics and why a link was suggested. As a user of the resource, which can quickly grow to 20-30 links or more, think of the information you would want to understand for that link to be useful. Croc may request additional information to aid the creation and management of this resource, but at a minimum, I imagine it's Name, location when not in the US or Canada, brief description of what they do or why the business is relevant to a se7en owner, and the link. In this instance, providing something like the following is helpful. Holden Vintage and Classic UK-based specialist manufacturers and suppliers of classic automotive parts, accessories and apparel. https://www.holden.co.uk/ To put together the description, I simply went to their About Us page and copied and pasted the relevant information.

Let me help you with those two items. Based on feedback provided in this thread, the Downloads section was renamed to the more intuitive term, Library, and it was elevated to the top-level navigation to make it easier to access. See red box in screenshot below: There is no General Discussion forum. There are several forums bucketed under the heading General on the Forum home page, and there is a General Sevens Discussion forum. As per that page, it is defined as being "For general Se7en-related topics that don't fit elsewhere in the forum." Keep in mind that this forum heading layout has been in use since Mazda (aka Slngsht) launched the forum almost 20 years ago. It is a convention similar to many other forums. That doesn't mean it couldn't be clearer, but changing all the navigation and associated terminology of a site with this much data and this many users can have significant, negative implications for the community at large. If creating a general "How to navigate the forum" Help Guide is of value, I'm happy to throw that together.

Firstly, things aren't always as simple as they seem on the surface. Without unlimited resources, all work must be prioritized from the standpoint of the business needs, or in this case the forum. From my perspective, the time I spend dealing with scammers and spammers, is more important than time making the UI better; i-e. I need to optimize for fixing things that are broken not to improving things that, while not optimal, are good enough. As time frees up, those less important items can be addressed provided they meet the objectives of the site. Case in point, it was suggested that we make this a paid-only forum as a means of deflecting the scumbags who register. Would that barrier help with the sleaze who don't also steal credit cards? Sure. Would it be pretty low effort to implement? Yes. But closing down the forum to only those willing to pay $20 is 100% counter to the mission I mentioned earlier. Therefore, although it's a good idea under some circumstances, it's not for this forum. Secondly, this is our community. The easy way people help make a great place is through their posts. Staying on topic, providing insight to questions, and some banter to create connections between us, builds that community spirit and creates value for members. But the other way is through the articles and Library. Although we receive a lot of submissions from the community for the latter, there has not been a single one for articles since the forum redesign launched nearly 3-1/2 years ago. Not one. Do you have a long thread that you've looked at and thought to yourself "if we had a club magazine, I'd turn that into an article and submit it for publication."? Then do it. That's the point of the articles. They are a place where interesting stories can be shared without the back and forth that comes with a thread. We do really well with threads, but we could do a lot better with articles. So how about thinking through where you can add value to that section, and start with something simple like providing some vendor links and descriptions to @Croc?

@Croc made a great start but it currently isn't prominently displayed because it is a work in progress. As he mentions, if you have a supplier recommendation, let us know. Contribute! Actually, from a laptop or desktop, it's Home>Browse>Articles>Looking for a Se7en?>Useful Resource Links Found on the Internet for Se7ens. When you are going to be sarcastic to make a point, don't undersell it. Also, when you are going to make a point, please take a minute to think about how it will be perceived. I receive random PMs from people with ideas, or complaints about how things work. Most of are respectful and polite. However, there are a few who come across as the petulant customer dealing with a business; "I'm going to be the squeaky wheel and get what I want!" Those people lose sight of the fact that neither Croc nor I have a financial interest in USA7s. We volunteer our time because we are both passionate about the space and want to enrich the ownership experience and get more people behind the wheel of a Se7en. We aren't asking for thanks or praise, just be cognizant that we both have real jobs and other things vying for our time. Squeaky wheels are typically ignored. In life, we all have a choice to be part of the problem or part of the solution. Throwing ideas over the wall, then expecting someone else to do the work, is not the solution -- and no, I'm not referring to MV8's post; this is a general rant. Do you have an idea for an article you wish to write? Then follow the steps on that page and contact us to discuss. We'd love more community involvement in that part of the site. It benefits all of us. Lastly, there are some potential navigation changes that might be coming that are similar in nature to the change made to Downloads. Stay tuned!

I just had a member reach out to me to identify a potential spammer, who was subsequently confirmed as a scumbag and banned before he was able to bother anyone else. This reinforces the importance of contacting me immediately when you are PMd by a suspicious person.