Kitcat

Twobone-Really love the look and as long as you are running a full screen it should be enough. But if ultimate protection is your goal, why not a full face helmet? BTW-why Twobone (and not three bone, for instance)? Kitcat (Kit Caterham)

You definitely nailed the experience! The Crossflow has its shortcomings (modest power, lousy gas mileage) but it takes a back seat to no engine when it comes to the glorious sound it produces: it just makes you want to run up and down the RPM range all day long. And it crackles and pops and snarls and you start to feel you are in a no-holds bar race car.

There was a photo here somewhere a while back of an undercut deer that landed in the windshield of a se7en, a Caterham, I think. The windshield was buckled and bowed but provided sufficient protection so that the driver, unlike the deer, was uninjured. I think it came up in one of our periodic discussions abt the pros and cons of using a Brooklands screen (this was, of course, a con).

If the mirrors are adjusted right, the HANS isn't an issue on the track. I don't think it wld be a plus on the street for me tho, because I do a lot of scanning for distracted drivers, hidden cops, etc. With a HANS, lateral head movement is almost non-existent. Takes a ton of time to strap in with it too. Again, OK for the track but seems like a lot of work for the street. Helmet on the street is doable (tho hot). I wear ear plugs with the helmet for reduced noise. Many places make it illegal to drive a car w/helmet tho I doubt the cops will care. Never have when they have seen me. They have never complained abt my absent front license plate either.

Thx for the excuse to push on to 2000 Martin:). I am an attorney in a 3 person law office. Since it's a small operation, I am often here, metaphorically bailing water, breaking rocks and other stimulating activity. So I frequent this, and other car sites, as a break from both the tedium,and the excitement, of a bustling law practice. My firm does two types of law: we help veterans obtain disability benefits from the VA AND, we help regular folks get disability benefits from Social Security. Why do people need attorneys to get what's theirs, you ask logically? Because the laws on their behalf are not self-executing. So it helps to have an informed person on their side shepherding things along. And, as you can probably appreciate, the bureaucracy these folks deal with is not exactly user friendly. We all know of all the hassles of getting our cars registered at the BMV. Now imagine what it would be like if their rules filled hundreds of books and tens of thousands of dollars were at stake. The worst of the bunch is the VA. We have had several VA cases take 20 (Yes as in 4x5) years to get resolved, with the VA kicking, screaming, obfuscating, misleading and outright lying along the way. There you have it, and I am already 1 post closer to 2000:)> Mike

1000 posts. I am standing by in anticipation of the upgrade to my club membership, and the attendant emoluments, that automatically come to those of us who have joined this exclusive group (loose women, free horsepower, etc). Mazda are you reading this??? Obviously I have had fun. I find it a refreshing alternative to work, where (like now) I invariably am when I visit this site. Mike (shooting for 2000)

The foam pads are reusable. I get abt a month of use out of each set before I lose them and go on to the next pair. I have a set stuffed in my pocket now that have lasted this entire season. Seventy five might be a lifetime supply:).

With two long high speed sections, one ending in "roller coaster" and the other leading to turn one, the typical se7en is at a disadvantage at VIR. (Altho not when its top speed is 169.5 mph!). I'd love to know what the various se7ens speeds were in the "uphill esses". I scared myself doing 110 mph in my Evo there years ago.(So much so that I sold my Evo and bought a Prius-a brief phase of sanity ending with the purchase of my Caterham). I recently saw a comment by Randy Pobst saying he hits 145 mph thru the up-hill esses in his Porsche race car. I can not imagine it,

I saw the rest of the results and Folis Jones did a 2'19 in his Birkin and Michael Daugherty did a 2:24 in his Caterham. I know of them and their cars. What about Pete Challinor, who did a 2'11" in his '10 Caterham. Any info on Pete or his car? Se7ens were well represented with 4 entries, just behind the most popular make the 'Vette.

Tom: Congrats on the new granddaughter! Don't hesitate to post a photo of the her snuggled up in the passenger seat of the Se7en:). Sounds like it's going to be a memorable trip, for many reasons, all of them good. Mike

Thx all. After calling Dave Bean, I learned the replacement pump was $80, not $750, so i ordered it. I will give it a try, if pressure doesn't move, BBall is right. If it does, and I start springing (more) leaks, Dingo is right. The engine does make nice power and if it was a really big problem, it seems unlikely that I wld have logged 27K miles. Still it makes me nervous to see 28 lbs of pressure at 6500 RPM's, after all is nicely warmed up. Mike

It has been suggested that a quick/cheap way of remedying my chronically low oil pressures wld be to shim the pressure relief valve (so as to allow greater pressure build up). My question is, therefore, where is the valve and how is it accessed? I see the oil pump hanging off the side of the engine, oil filter below, etc. But does anyone have a blow-up or schematic of how it all fits together and where the pressure valve & spring are and how they are accessed? Are there any tricks to it (hidden clips that have to be removed, etc.)? I have the book:"Ford Kent Crossflow Engine", P & V Wallage. It shows the pump, but no details as to location of the relief valve. Or, should I just buy the Dave Bean upgraded oil pump (for a mere $750.00), and be done w/it? Thx. Mike

Call Tire Rack and explain your parameters. They have been very helpful/knowledgeable when I have called. The Toyo RA1's that I use (not carried by Tire Rack) have a wear rating of 40, well below the 160 wh/is the hardness rating of most high performance street tires. Even so, I have some tread left after 10K miles of driving, wh/includes many track days. When I ran them on my Miata I got abt 3K miles in combined street/track use. The downside is they pick up tons of little stones and either fling them in the cockpit or sandblast the body. So ultra-grippy has its downside. Mike

As to the 2FNKWIK, noted above,the BMV person really grilled me when I signed up for K8trum7. She was sure it was some kind of obscenity. I had to tell her what my car was, sound out the plate phonetically, and explain how this fitted the car. Even then, her demeanor said she just knew I was pulling a fast one:).

I think the short answer is, no. Caterham does publish a build manual that is abt 100-150 pages long that comes with its dissembled cars. It provides a lot of detail. Mite be one on-line somewhere. Mike

Anyone going to the trackday at LOG 30 on 185's ? I will be there on 205's and we can test the tire width theory there at the track. Mike

All season tires???? As I have posted (frequently) elsewhere here, the biggest single improvement of the (many) improvements I have made to my Cat was the addition of set of race rubber to replace the hard as rock, no-grip 10 year old street tires it came with. I try to avoid rain and certainly snow and salt. Unless you are going to be driving in the snow, why not get a set of super high performance street tires without the snow capacity? That way, you will have more grip in both the dry and the wet. Just a thot. Mike

Your 1600 cc Kent engine will do fine on 185-205 tread width. Your car is so lite it will be hard to warm them up if they are much bigger. I have Toyo R1s 205 15's all around. Plenty of grip. I run abt 18 lbs pressure in rear, 16 up front, on street and at the track. Adding lightness to the wheel/tire combo pays handling dividends. The big horsepower cars do better on wider wheels than our Kent power 7's but I think even the new 260 hp Caterhams use 195 fronts.

I do not see how you can have an authentic se7en experience without excessive foot well heat. I didn't realize the Stalker was deficient in this critical area. I would suggest running the heater full blast while you develop some long term solution to this problem.

Hijack: Looking at your photos, does your gas accelerator cable pull or push the accelerator lever on the carbs? On LHD cars, like mine, it pushes on it, wh/always seemed backwards-maybe it is? BTW, your dry sumping system is pretty cool. Mike

Good luck! Either would be great tho I am partial to Birkins. Fyin Miata does a nice version of a turbo'd Westfield, have you seen their site? Whatever you build, I guess it is a given that it will feature a "flux-capacitor", in view of your avatar. Mike

Asylum67: What species of se7en are you building (Stalker, Westfield, etc.?). Mike

My plate says: K8trum7.

I use 6.5K as my redline. I have seen as high as 7K at the track a few times when I have gotten carried away. My engine is totally stock as delivered by Caterham. Apparently valve float intervenes before things get too ugly.

My kinda kid:). Yes, hammer down is the rule. Nothing has broken yet (tho a few non-essential parts have rattled or blown off:)). The power is modest in our Kent engined cars but the sound is intoxicating. And the faster the engine spins, the better the sound, so go for it!