Kitcat

So pretty, it hurts my eyes to look at it! It should sell fast. Mike

Yes, carbs tend to go off-song slowly and this was sudden. When mine did what you describe, my radiator hose had sprung a leak which blew coolant back onto the distributor, which soaked it and eventually shorted things out inside. As you say, it was ugly (first and only time in 12K mikes of driving my se7en I ever needed a tow). Mike

The Crossflow should be resgister-able in NJ-mine was. And you have all that new $ burning a hole in your pocket:)! Mike

The gaps on the die-casst look much more authentic than on the e-bay car. My relentless internet research reveals a comment by a Lotus employee who helped write the shop-manual for the Elite. He notes it was difficult to put anything in writing about the car as the specs were constantly changing. He says if a part lasted a day as deigned, Chapman put it into production. If it lasted 2 days, Chapman considered it to be over built:).

The e-bay auction still has 4 1/2 days to go on the Elite. My brief internet research on prices for Elites suggests it will go for something around $65K, assuming it is as represented. Thankfully the color isn't BRG (My son's college fund is still safe, for the moment). The baby blue does little for me, tho shows the soft brown interior well. My brief research also showed that Time magazine listed its as #11 on the all-time 50 worst cars (What do they know!?). Apparently they were put off by the fact that the car, frame and all, was fiberglass and had a tendency to break at certain stress points (e.g suspension failures). That may have been addressed if it was a high-end restoration as those weak points are typically reinforced if the car is conscientiously rebuilt.

:):)

One of my favorite cars ever, if not outright # 1! Looks beautiful, probably better than it did when new. Gaps look perfect. Current bid is $30K. Any guesses as to where it will top out? I'd say$55K but that's just a wild guess. Not many come on the market.

I thot that Caterham almost immediately added some structural components to beef up the chassis (that had been previously sacrificed on the "adding lightness" alter by Lotus?). Urban myth, my creeping senility??? At this point, apparently not a single component on a new Caterham is a carry-over from the last Lotus 7. Again, could just be my rapidly failng memory in action. Mike

I was just wondering this. I saw a post on the Sevens mailing list a while back that said that, for a modestly powered car like mine, removing the windshield was worth 20 hp, due to wind resistance. So, rather than removing it, I thot about adding more slant. Probably irrelevant in a high hp car like Mazda's tho. I ended up buying a Brooklands screen set up, so we'll see what that does to top-end speed. Mike

Mondo: I wear sound-deadening "ear muffs" for protection from the noise and they have the added benefit of holding my ball cap in place. Mike

My 7 has the optional Caterham foot-well insulation pkg. It did help a little to put on header wrap from the top of the headers all the way down to the external muffler. The first, and only, time I wore shorts in my car, I scorched my bare leg on the muffler when I got out. It can get a little toasty but I have driven up to 500 miles in one day with no seriously adverse symptoms-you will need a shower as soon as you exit the vehicle tho. Wearing a very light weight runners shirt helps dissipate heat.

You get an "A" for effort and for trying to maintain the purity of the Se7en experience. When you & I were were reading about Lotus 7's from our sequestered Road & Track magazines in high school study halls, it was unthinkable that we'd let someone else have all the fun of building our car. And now you get a "A" for common sense. By adding the logistical nightmare of commuting from Alaska to the normal challenges of Se7en construction, you had assigned yourself an almost impossible task. I have no idea how you lasted this long. Nathan is a real pro and he'll whip your car into shape in no time . Then you can start enjoying driving the car, which was really the main point of all those R & T articles we so coveted. I only wish it were at "Kitcat's Pacific Coast tour". That honor belongs exclusively to Slomove. And, as his group tours make clear, the real fun of Se7en ownership, at least for many of us, is in the driving. Mike

The sagging suspension theory seems valid-certainly consistent with the distinct wear pattern. Maybe you shouldn't have used R-compound rubber on the trailer:)?

My cracked windshield (what an adventure) is being replaced. The mirror glued to it is gone so the replacement from Mirrors for Sevens, is waiting in the garage for the car's return.

Google Sevens and Elans. I get most of my stuff there, tho Cat USA works as well. I have generally found Chris T at 7's & E's to be more accessible that Ben at Cat USA. Both are very friendly, very knowledgeable. but its not like calling your Ford dealership: both are frequently out of the office for long periods and call backs can take day-weeks. Mike

I wear heavy ski socks on long trips. Try doing a search, this has been a topic of past discussion. The basic problem is the car is designed in England around the driver sitting on the opposite side of the exhaust system. Thus the heat is dumped out the left hand side, where, unfortunately, we American drivers are sitting. Put a flashlight in your pedal box tonite and peer into the engine compartment for where the light is shining thru. Start there with caulking. See your search results for more advanced techniques, but think "insulation". My informal measurements showed the passenger side is at least 20 degrees cooler than where we sit, with driver side temps close to 120 (pretty toasty).

Very strange tire wear pattern, especially after just 2K mikes. Time for a trailer suspension alignment?

I made the same deal w/my wife to buy my new M3. But then I got a severe case of Se7en-seller's remorse, so I eventually weaseled my way out of the promise to sell the Se7en. How, I don't know, mostly by being the pathetic car addict I am, I guess. I am sure the trip to Paris didnt hurt tho! I know I made the deal and bought the M3 in October when car market for Se7ens was dead. So, I had till April or so to work my weasily magic. I guess my advice is to buy the Cayman before selling the Se7en and then see what happens. I will be interested to see what price you get for your car. Anyhow, I love the Cayman and think it's a terrific decision. Is it an "S"? I am all for experiencing as many cool cars as possible before shuttling off this mortal coil, etc. And when you need a Se7en fix, just come hang out here a while. I can tell you tho, that there is no substitute for a Se7en, period. It's like comparing a a boat to a car, it's so different. So, while the Cayman will be huge fun, I don't think it will push the same buttons as the Se7en, even tho it will do so many things better. Time to get weasily? Mike

I have a feeling the price will be of historic proportions as well.

Awww, this guy is getting way too much credit. Let's face it, he moved his living quarters out to the garage and rented his house. But if he really loved the car, he would have moved it into the house and rented the garage!

A blast from the past:)! What a great history/story! Your pedal box is even smaller than mine, I will quit complaining. Time for a tire upgrade? Also, one of the biggest improvements that I made was replacing the engine mounts, which were shot and allowed the engine to move around with various strange results. Might be worth an inspection. The Twin Cam engine makes it even more special. Mike

Welcome-I look forward to picking your brain about the numerous Se7en issues that seem to crop up on a monthly bases. At the moment I am looking for a cure for an unrelenting case of up-grade-itis. Any ideas, aside from abject poverty? Edit: just noticed you are selling a ton of Caterham parts elsewhere on this site. To someone like me, you are the automotive equivalent of a "pusher":). Mike

The car looks brand new! Don't worry about punching it with the wheels turned: one of the fun things about our modestly powered Crossflow Se7ens is the ability to drive flat-out so much of the time. Mike

When I took shop class all those decades ago in high school, "foundry" was one of the cycles we rotated thru. I never got it right. The sand always crumbled in some critical corner of the pattern and left a glob of metal where it shouldn't be. Very tedious, given that the shop teacher was a stickler for detail and wanted it perfect.

Snow? Did he say snow?