Kitcat

Just got back from today's field trip to my garage: A defective engine "kill" switch was killing engine all by itself when hitting bumps or on big lateral G's. So it was removed, circuit hardwired, goodbye kill switch. All is well. After that fix, the car ran like a top, tech takes for a spin, car dies, tech has to call a tow truck to get home, then, one bad electrical connector after another is located and replaced, engine works, then, dies, more trouble shooting, then loose electrical connectors are tightened and now, suddenly, many, many, many dollars of tech time later (they finally double teamed it w/2 techs at $100/hour, per tech), it seems to be fine, tho battery is shot and needs to be replaced. So much for my bargain Birkin. And I have a funny feeling that this is the start, not the end of this saga, we shall see. It has covered all of 6 miles thus far under its own power so stay tuned, I suspect this is not the final installment here:).

Skip: Google "ancient moves for orthopedic problems". It should bring up an August 1, 2011 Jane Brody article in the NY Times about how a simple yoga move lasting 30 seconds eliminates the need for shoulder surgery in most patients. Mite be worth a shot? "Dr." Mike

Your photos are amazing! Lotta potential "screen savers". Loved the ones w/the herd of cows surrounding your cars. TG the side screens were in place:)!

They look terrific, and match the character of the car. What does it mean that VTO drilled them to your spec? Are they a one-off custom build? If so, what approx cost?

One of the most comfortable car seats I have ever sat in is the stock cloth Caterham seats (Tho I added a small lumbar pillow). If cruising is important, comfortable seats are also. Ditto heat. These cars really get HOT inside. A Duratec, with headers annd exhaust on passenger side shd, in theory, be cooler. And its nice to have an overdrive 5th gear so the engine rev's dont drive you crazy. Wind buffeting is an issue too. On my new cycle fendered Birkin there seems to be much less wind intrusion as comapred to my clam fendered Caterham. So, just break the bank and get a new Duratec Caterham:).

Brief chat w/my tech guy today. Doesn't plan to get into the problem seriously til Monday. But did a quick look and saw battery terminals were not tightened-he cld spin the nuts by hand. So he snugged them up. And saw a fuse had blown (perhaps as a result of intermittent battery connection), so replaced that. Car still won't start tho. I drove the Cat today: automotive perfection (ok, it was annoying that the breather tube pulled out and lost it's grommet and was spraying oil mist). My goal is to get the Birk to the Cat's level of comfort and feel. My garage now has both cars and I am having the seats swapped out and my RA1s swapped over to the Birkin, getting it aligned and, hopefully running. I have a track day at W-Glen in 2 weeks so that's my deadline. I'd love to take both cars and do an on-track comparo, but reality intrudes.

Fiercely carving a set of zig zag turns on a one way park road, 20-25 mph maybe, max lateral loads, and car stops running, just as if I turned it off. I tried jiggling ignition switch, popping clutch to bump start as I slowly rolled to a stop, etc. I first thot I had accidentally bumped the key into off position, since that's what it felt like. No splutter, no nothin, except a dead engine. After stopping car, it cranked just fine.It has a nice big powerful Optima battery. But it never fired up, or even spluttered. I tried restarting every 5 minutes for 20 minutes, thinking it was flooded or something. Prior owner says never had it happen and has run gas down to way below where it was today. The only "uh-oh" was I cld feel my knees bushing against the pile of wires and connectors just behind the dash when engine died stopped and I thot I had maybe knocked a connector loose. But saw nothin obvious when I looked.

Previous owner says no fuel cut off. I still feel its something basic (dumb). My mechanic says he's stacked up til Monday so hopefully I'll hear then.

Good idea Steve. I was thrashing it back and forth thru some extreme twisties and my knees were banging around as a result and I thot they mite have hit something under the dash, but cldnt see anything obvious. BTW John, it's a 2.0 liter Duratec, not the 2.3 version.

The car had 742 miles on it when I got it, ater 2 1/2 years. I asked the previous owner what the redline was and if engine mgt had a rev limiter and he said he had no idea, he'd never gotten close to redline:). So maybe the car was so shocked or stunned when I floored it that it just shut down? The engine compartment is pristine. The prev owner spent abt $1.5k on cosmetic changes there (it IS nice!). He pointed out his system for keeping any oil overflow off the engine. I thot abt my X-flow wh/frequently blows oil all over the engine bay and driver/passenger as well if we have not been behaving:). So John, maybe I need to dump some sacrificial, high ZDDP oil, all over the perfectly maintained engine bay, as kind of a se7en christening?

Thzx Guys. I think BBall is on to something:). Tom suggested car is just out of gas. Mite be tho gauge shows 1/4 tank. If it is tho, add inaccurate gas gauge to issues car has. I do like its large, stout roll-over bar. It purportedly made 215 hp at rear wheels when tuned by Abbacus. Sure feels like it. Has a Raceline oil pan, water rail, stage 2 cams, Jenvey throttle bodies, Haltec engine mgt, ,ceramic coated headers, IRS, wide track, LSD, Gazz adjustable shocks, adj perches, braided brake lines, annular clutch, 5 sp T9 trans, Wildwood calipers, Ultima battery. All in all, a pretty trick car (when it runs). As to comparo, it feels a lot like the '78 (short cockpit) Caterham of Craig Chima's that I drove a few months ago. Not nearly as comfortable a driving position as my '97 Cat. Can an uncomfortable driver turn fast track times? We shall see. (Croc: it IS on:! My straight line driving skills have suddenly improved).

Well, after buying a used '09 Birkin for its Duratec power and reliability and towing it back from Virgina Beach I was eager to jump in and do a comparo w/my Caterham. First, seats are good substitute for water boarding. "We will keep you strapped in until you confess!". Also they are slippery and huge so they shove me up into the steering wheel, even with the seat all the way back. So the seats are gong, the sooner the better. Instruments: the steering wheel obscures 50% of the very small tach. Guess I will shift using the ear tach. Horn, not as loud as the turn signal indicator (really). So it has to go. Pedals: hard to reach tho they are adjustable so that may help. Mirrors: much better than the Caterham. Seat belts: junk, more for show than track use. They will be replaced. Power: wow! Sound: not bad, but it's no X-flow. Handling:excellent, it seems equal to the Caterham. Structure: There seem to be more triangulation in the chassis than w/the Caterham. Looks: both are show stoppers. No photos to post yet but the car is in the red/silver stripe livery of what I think is the 45th anniversary Caterham. If you are desperate, go to Texas Motor Works website as it is there as representing a finished Birkin (It was their first Duratec). Reliability: I got 3 miles today before it broke down. And unlike my X-Flow, wh/didn't break down for 1K miles, this thing is impossible to trouble shoot standing at the roadside. So the wrecker is coming as I type this. Sigh, not a good start....

Bruce: Max dittos: 340R VS. Elite. Of course, almost any car loses a beauty contest w/an original Elite!

Iain: ya got dibs. Croc: thanks for the support!

Iain: Yes, the car is often in the ground level pkg lot at 9th/Main. Hard not to notice it:). I am asking $24.5K (but will take $22.5K). I will send you a list of the extensive improvements/maintenance over the last 4 years when I get back. I can say it is in much better condition than when I bought it (except for road rash on paint). Mike

Iain: I just resurrected the old for-sale post for this car("Sold-1997 Dedion"). It was the first car ever sold on this Forum). When I get back from vacation (where I may not have internet access), I will post some more photos. The car has 29K miles and has been used mostly for blats and as a summer daily driver, tho track days have been an ever increasing focus. I just got back from Mid-Ohio where it was in the top 1/2 of the intermediate group. Its 106 mph top speed was a huge limitation on such a big track. The smaller/tighter the track, the better it does (I "owned"Waterford Hills, for instance:)). Mike

Bump. After 4+ years of automotive bliss I am selling this for a more track oriented 7. It needs a few items of routine maintenance (speedo just quit, oil change, tail light lens broke, etc.) and I am leaving for vacation now so its not officially for sale for anther 2 weeks. Mike

Iain. I am lookin to sell a Caterham, tho a '97, not a '98. I dont know of any difference between the 2 years, tho. It's an X-flow 1700cc, 5 sp, Dedion, full weather gear, heater, etc. And I am in Cincy. If nothing else, I'd be happy to take you for a spin. Am leaving for a week's vacation Sat, and it needs a bit of upkeep (Just back from Mid-Ohio). Mike

Looks great!

Or, offer to a Caterham dealer.

Croc: I will give you "suave":).

I hired a financial adviser and now he does the worrying. He kinda reminds me of Croc. Up til then I was the classic, sell low, buy high investor (Panic and sell as market bottoms out, finally regain confidence and buy back in, just as the market is peaking, over and over, sigh).

Something tells me that the Mighty Cosworth Duratecs will still be leading the pack:).(At least until I add the supercharger, wh/mite not take long:)).

One of my favorite topics. I was determined to get a Zetec but wasn't able to afford anything more than the $22.5K I spent for my X-flow, 4 years ago. Overall, I'd say an X-flow is 95% of the Zetec or Duratec experience. The only time the higher hp engine seems especially relevant is at the track If you want a weekend car, I can't imagine the engine being that critical. My car makes great sounds, feels like it is doing 90 mph when its doing 60 mph, has a comfortable "touring" suspension, nice seats, heater, top, etc., just like a fuel injected car. I get worse mileage than FI cars, 20 mpg at 70 mph, 11 mpg at the track. Again, if it is an occasional car, mpg is less important. I drive 2-4K miles a year. So a more fuel efficient Zetec wld save very little $. But as noted the hp advantage is relevant at the track. Tho as noted elsewhere on this forum, I was able to hang w/the zetec and duratec cars at the NJMP racetrack 2 months ago, and even got the occasional point by, depending on where we were on the track. But my se7ens lust is leading me to more track days and fewer blats. So, for my new track oriented use, hp is very tempting. I started a thread on the sevensnet a few weeks ago. I spoke to many people, including X-flow and Zetec engine builders. What I learned was it is possible for $3-6K to add a few ponies to a X-flow. For $10-15K its possible to make about what a mildly tuned Zetec makes. And that a 300 hp supercharged Durate goes for around $7.5K. In other words, the newer the tech, the cheaper the hp. And converting an X-Flow to a Zetec is very expensive and even more so for the Duratec as its intake/exhausts are on opposite side of X-flow, Zetec. Different springs, fuel pump, ancillaries, different bell housing, you name it. The consensus was, its possible, but its cheaper to sell the car, X-flow and all, and buy a new car, with the desired engine. At least for someone like me w/no tools, time, space, or mechanical talent. This site has lots of skilled mechanics who cld do it and if you are one, then the cost drops since you are not paying someone else to do the job. So my conclusion was since I "Need" more power to hold my own at track days, I shd sell my X-Flow and buy a new, much more powerful, track oriented se7en. Which is my plan. In fact I have made a deposit on a used Duratec powered Birkin w/2x the hp of my X-flow and will be putting my X-Flow up for sale here, assuming the Duratec deal doesn't fall thru. Let me know if I have convinced you that I have the perfect car for you:). Mike M.

Well, that was terrifying! The video says the action wasn't sped up, but watching the speedometer go from 140 t0 160 in a few seconds was a little hard to believe. I had a nearly identical spec Evo VIII and anything above 140 mph was slow going. Now my '08 M3, yeah.