Kitcat

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

The Cat definitely used all of the track:). Video shows the advantage of the inside line. A Radical shd kill a Caterham, even a high end one. Where was the track? Very small (40-44 second laps) and very tight.

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!

Weight distribution of the mid-engined Lotus Elise is 37-63.

MM-I definitely concur-looks like a very popular place to "plow the field".

Thx, for posting, makes me want to get a GoPro. Interesting spin:Cold tires? Off line? In too hot? Braking mid turn? Effect of the passenger's additional weight? All of the above? You were hanging out the rear pretty good a turn or 2 before but this one seemed to catch you by surprise, no counter-steer, the car just whipped around on you. Nice track on which to spin tho, nothing to hit but mud. I also subscribe to the: "How do you know where the limit is unless you exceed it" theory of racing. I get no thrill out of wrecking my car tho. Mike

One last thot on possible things to check/fix quickly: Engine mounts. They wear out fast even on our modestly powered Kent engined cars. And this can have a adverse effect on everything from handling to power. Mine needed to be replaced when I got my car and it was 1/2 as old as yours and had 1/2 the miles. Unfortunately, it took me 3 years to trouble-shoot the source of the loud metallic noise on sharp right-handers and loss of power on left-handers (engine shifting caused the whole thing to roll onto the intake system causing an air leak into Webers, causing power loss). Check for tightness also, my replacements have come loose. Mike

Skip: What a day! I am worn out/bummed out and it wasn't even me. I guess the upside is there were no injuries to driver or passenger. Back when I tracked a Miata, I occasionally make the same shifting error, but always backed out of it as soon as I realized something was wrong and managed to avoid the big over-rev. Good luck w/repairs! Mike

I notice bidding has ended on the Canada 7. Is it yours Twobone?

Your 911 is a very nice CAR. A Se7en is not a car-instead, imagine riding to work on a roller coaster ever day. Or on a magic carpet that responds instantly to every input. It is unlike anything. And it cant be appreciated w/one drive-where all you notice is noise and how low you are. After the 2nd or 3rd drive, where you start to calm down, it starts to sink in how different it is. You will be a one car rolling parade, kids smile and wave, women stop and stare, men's heads swivel. And everyone wants to talk about it with you: How much, how fast, what's the gas mileage, is it a kit-car??? You can not drive it and be anonymous. I have a new 414 hp BMW M3. Great car. Like, your 911. Fast, much faster than my Cat. But, just a car. For a purely transformational experience, nothing approaches a se7en. Mike

Things I replaced on my 10 y/o, 13K Cat, within 1 year after purchase 3 years ago: Tires, hydraulic clutch slave cylinder, water hoses (upper and lower), did radiator flush, tune up, new spark wires, new spark plugs, changed diff oil. All this prior to extensive upgrade-itis. Is it the long cockpit version of the S3? I can not imagine what smog test my cat-less Kent engine wld pass. Not even the "sniff" test, or even the "laugh" test:). Good luck-it seems to be a beautiful car, assuming its the one noted elsewhere here in the For-sale section. Mike

Unless, Caterham prices have spiked up, $23K US seems a bit high, esp IF is solid rear, 4 speed. OTOH, it looks like new (repaint?) and well cared for. Interesting roll-over bar. Looks stouter than the stock bar tho less so than the Caterham FIA bar. RHD is a plus too, much cooler temperature wise, and puts you on the inside of the car wh/is nice at most US clockwise tracks. These cars are so narrow, I don't think its a disadvantage for the driver to be on the "wrong" side of the car as a driver. The $1K seats are steep but not as steep as my $1.7K Tillet and definitely more comfortable:).

So sad. As they say, he died living.