Kitcat

FWIW-all theory aside, I have had zero problems with storing my Seven for 4 months a year or my snow blower 8-9 months a year with pump gas containing the usual amounts of ethanol. Maybe the problem isn't as big as advertised? I always add Sta-bil tho don't know if it helps or if there really is no problem. Mike M.

Tom: I just measured my center mirror and it is identical in size/elevation to the one you are looking at-in fact it may be the identical mirror. It is what Sevens and Elans sells as part of the official Caterham-Brooklands set-up. Mike

Interesting as I was at the '08 PVGP at BeaveRun and hanging w/Andrew7 as well. So, you and I may have met. I drove my se7en there from Cincy, see avatar to check if you recognize it. It was parked next to Andrew7's, tho I left before he did. Mike

Nice work! Forum member Andrew7 is a Pittsburgh based Lowcost builder. He and his father both built cars. A7's has a bike engine, not sure about his dad's. Edit: I just read thru the 1st few months of your build diary and am changing the "Nice work!" to "Phenomenal job!" Those of who buy cars that are already built have no real appreciation for how many details and challenges were sweated over during the conceptualization and build phase. Mike M.

I am up to 13K miles on my soft Toyo RA1's. 15x 205's all around. Not much tread left tho (naturally shaved) so not safe in the rain. Lots of previous discussions on this forum abt tires/wheels so maybe try a search?

Part 2? I'll have to recover from part 1 first-I am feeling queasy:)!

Or, Google: "woolies trim". Then search their site with the word "screen". Mike M.

Dave: My flickering light issue has disappeared, at least for now. Why not do a separate post on your fuel delivery problem? One of our members (JohnK) used to tune and/or retune S1 engines for Super Performance. Maybe he'll have a thot? Mike

Always been a fan. I happened to be watching the nite of his first appearance on the Johnny Carson show (1963?). He was a riot. Talked about the challenge of driving a stick shift VW on San Francisco's steep streets. After his routine, he got invited to sit on the couch next to Johnny, which was always a big honor, and demonstrated the performer had impressed the host. And he was even funnier ad libing w/Carson.

Now that's what I call a rear "wing"! (And it has "happy mods" too!). Seems to have had a pretty impressive auto-x history, esp., for a 1600 Crossflow.

Nice!

50% ethanol? That cant be good! What does adding "Stabil" do for longevity/stability of the mix?

Hijack: Mighty Mike, everytime I see a photo of your car I am blown away by how perfect it is. Mike M

Mike: As a former Sprite owner (bought it new in '67) I agree that fun and aesthetics are separate from speed. My base Sprite lacked the coveted wire wheels and just ran on 4 little boat anchor steel wheels and it was a total blast to drive. It cranked out 55hp as I recall and did 0-60 in abt 16 seconds. I think it had a 1100 cc engine. It mite have been an earlier year model as the dealer was unable to sell it. Its all a bit foggy. Mike M

Thx Skip, finally got to see what everyone was talking abt. Notakit: Your album says you are ditching the snow tires. What abt the wire wheels? They are very authentic but are probably 2x as heavy, or more, than a stock Caterham Prisoner wheel and the other modern lite wheels out there. Unsprung weight is never good, and esp so on out little lightweight flyers. Mike

Michael: THe se7en in your photo shows you running a full standard windshield. Have you tried substituting a driver's side Brooklands screen or simple wind deflector? My experience w/Brooklands is that it added a bit of top speed as well as improved acceleration. (I left it home for the trip to LOG30/Summit Point as I drove my car there and wanted the added protection on the highway and against the possibility of rain). Mike M.

The 1st mobile phone I ever saw was in early-mid 70's. It was about the size of a regular phone and the owner had to carry a large battery around with him, abt the size of most se7en batteries. Of course, it had no video capacity since that hadn't been invented either. I suspect, tho that, unlike Slingshot's pitiful little thing, it wld have made excellent door stop. The progress since then has been spectacular-science fiction level almost.

Where are you sourcing your parts for rebuild? I spoke with Jay Ivy last year and he has loads of Crossflow upgrade parts. Not cheap tho. As I recall, an aluminum head, wh/saves 20 lbs, was $2K. What will RPM max be? How much of an overbore? Did you ever chassis dyno your existing engine to see what the power was? FWIW, when my stock engine was dynoed, it made 95 hp and 93 lbs torque. Also FWIW, Ben at Caterham USA recommends selling Crossflow engined Cats and buying Zetec or Duratec engined Cats due to the immense hassle of doing such an engine transplant.

For the sake of us other Crossflow owners with "Zetec envy", plz post details of planned mods. Is the goal power, reliability, both? Cost is an obvious factor, what are you budgeting for this rebuild? Mike

One person's "modern" is another person's "butt-ugly":). It looks like a garden variety se7en w/some areo mods stuck on that should make it grip better. So it lost me on the aesthetics but the mods shd enhance on track performance.

Great project, great concept! Any photos of progress to date? Your tranny tunnel probably will act as a heat radiator. It did in my '67 Sprite and does in my '97 Caterham. Heat is one of the 7's nemeses. With or without the fully skinned body, heat will find its way into the cockpit. Since you are building from scratch, you have a chance add insulation in the engine compartment/tranny tunnel as you go, if you want. Do a search here for various solutions tried, none of wh/have solved this problem 100%. Mike

Add Stabil to gas tank, run it a few miles, hook it up to a trickle charger, put the car cover on and tuck it in for the next 4 months.

MoPho: Impressions of the Galardo Balboni? Did it live up to it's hype? Is it even more beautiful in person? Did it draw as many gawkers as the se7en? How did you back it up (I recently saw a video of Balboni himself backing it up by having the door up and sitting half out of the car)? Mike M.

Cry, cry, you guys otta try being a Bengals fan! I too saw about 20 minutes of Top Gear. Boring, pointless, juvenile. I actually liked the Sarah Palin show on Alaska better. Without her heels, she's kind of a shrimp. Turns out, it's hard to look totally put together in freezing weather on a fishing boat. Seeing her beat the one fish senseless with a baseball bat and hold its still throbbing heart in the air gave true meaning to her "Mama Grizzlie" moniker. Think of what she'd do if she got a liberal like me in her clutches:)!

Croc: Love your "marriage" comment:)! I can't imagine anything more terrible than looking at neked pictures of the average middle age, overweight traveler. I don't think even the rare buff female wld be enough to offset that parade of horribles.