Kitcat

Still in the garage awaiting a starter, don't rub it in:(. Turns out, a starter is an incredibly exotic part on my car. After many trials and errors, calls and postings and parts that didn't fit and repairs that didn't work, I ordered a replacement solenoid from England thru RMSC Fri afternoon, air freighting to Cincy, hopefully here by Tuesday. Jeez, and it's 70 and sunny here!

Sweet, a police escort!

Try contacting Feff at his E-mail address. I don't think he visits this forum that often.

Well, obviously the discussion is less than frantic:). Light wheels seem to be every car nut's obsession. People spend thousands of dollars to shave off a few pounds per wheel. Some reasons are: Wheels constitute unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is bad. Because it is unsprung it is harder for the suspension to control it and handling suffers, especially on bumpy surfaces. The ratio of unsprung weight to sprung weight is also important: anything you can do to reduce the ratio of unsprung to sprung is a plus. One (the only?) advantage of the Caterham's DeDion rear suspension over the live rear axle suspension is it cuts the unsprung weight of that suspension component, including the very heavy rear diff, in half. Thus, the DeDion's superior handling on rough surfaces. Wheels are rotating mass. So their weight has to be squared to determine their effect. Thus a 5 pound per wheel savings in absolute weight is worth 25 lbs in rotational mass. Multiply that times 4 wheels and it's worth 100 lbs. Add in the additional unsprung weight advantage and the benefits of light weight wheels can be significant. Bragging rights. Everyone wants the lightest wheel. My Miata came with stock wheels that weighed 9..8 lbs. Everyone was jealous.

I typed "print your own calendar" into Google. Tons of hits, lots of software to do it. We could probably find a commercial shop to do it too. I am not sure we could use the word "Seven" in the calendar title as I think Caterham has it trade marked. We could probably say "Se7en" tho-it's not even a word:). Or we could call it "The cars of USA7s.com". I agree it should feature a shot or two of all of the many brands/makes of LiSS's. Maybe we could get the cost of producing it (paper/printing, etc.) underwritten by Caterham USA/Bruton/Birkin, or by their respective U.S. dealers? Should be an excellent advertising "vehicle". As far as proceeds goes, I am happy if some goes to charity, if the club doesn't need it-I just want a calendar.

Dale: Sell Jack yours (Its beautiful BTW). It will provide the incentive you need to build another. You probably have tons of little things you would do differently to make it better! And, as a condition of sale, require that you be allowed to take your ex-Stalker for a spin any time you are in Hawaii. And, since it's my idea, I think I should have the same privilege:). I can't think of any better combination than Hawaii and a Seven. Mike

Perhaps try Dick Brink at Texas Motor Works? He's listed at the links section of this Forum under "dealers & distributors". He sells Birkins and seems knowledgeable regarding all aspects of the make.

Budlite-very nice! The Dragon "group photo" mite be a keeper too. Ever notice how almost every owner in that picture is touching/caressing their car? It says a lot about the joys of ownership!

I'd be happy to help Martin explore the calendar concept if the "Board" decides this is worth further evaluation. Some of the above photos are amazingly powerful: I keep scrolling back to Scannon's blue Seven in the birches. I think we could almost do a calender just devoted to Keith's car, so many of his pictures are great. My hunch is that the potential market for a calendar is fairly respectable. We have nearly 700 members at this forum alone. I was a Seven admirer for 45 years before I finally bought one-that's a lot of calendars. We send one to Peter Egan, he mentions it in his column and we sell out:). Of course, I know nothing about doing any of this so it may all be so just so much talk. But as people keep adding great pictures it keeps seeming like a compelling idea.

Am I the only one sensing a USA7s fund- raising opportunity here? Folks sell their favorite pictures & proceeds, after expenses, go to the club? I'd pay $20 bucks for an 8x10 of the Deman, the headlights head is a hoot, the sliding Seven, just above, is awesome, and I too love the Seven in the flowers, etc. Maybe a calendar? Keep 'em coming!

What is lucky is that the idiot pedestrians lined up right on the track didn't all get killed!

Look at the last shot of the Deman 27 in the for-sale section of this forum. It shows a clouding sky hovering over a lone, brilliant orange Seven, next to a brown cornfield, green grass, with an engaged driver zooming down a silver road from a lighted area into semi-darkness. It captures the essence of the Seven experience: total ecstasy! I cant afford the car but will happily pay for a 8x10 copy. Anyone else have a favorite?

My compliments the the photographer too! Wow! The bottom shot with the clouding sky, brown cornfield, green grass, silver road, brilliant orange car, engaged driver, high speed, and headed from a lighted area into semi-darkness. It captures the ecstasy of the Seven experience. Best Seven picture ever?

Yes, good job Mazda, et al. BTW-who will get the coveted "777"? I mite have to re-register with a new name to try to snag it:).

I have zero to suggest since I am a mechanical Neanderthal. But my car did all of those things and they were remedied by a tune-up on a chassis dyno at a local shop. In other words, it can be fixed, I just don't know how. But-hey I am giving you hope! As I have mentioned in earlier posts, an earlier tune-up by a knowledgeable mechanic without a dyno got it about 1/2 right. The subsequent dyno tune-up showed I was running dangerously lean tho. After some rejetting and more dyno tuning, I made the same power (93 prancin horses) but it no longer backfired, spit, coughed, etc., etc., and was reasonably smooth at all rpms. Not exactly ECU smooth but vastly improved. Unfortunately I don't know what jets were used or anything that might be helpful. Others commented back then who did have knowledge so a search mite uncover something helpful.

Any auto-x er can tell you that concrete is way grippier than asphalt. Really demands a different car set up. Most concrete auto-x courses around here are on old airport runways. Not many concrete parking lots out there. Concrete is much harder on the race rubber too. Mid-Ohio's concrete patches are tricky but my memory is that is only in the rain, in the dry they have better grip than the mostly asphalt track.

Welcome DEklof! I bought a new Vespa-in 1962:). Mom disowned me. I soon wrecked it and broke my arm. She wouldn't take me to the hospital:"I told you not to buy it!" It's now one of our favorite stories. My best friend had the opposite luck. He bought and wrecked 2 cars, including a TR-3. Then he bought a Triumph Bonneville (see how this ties into the original post?) and never put a wheel wrong. The Bonneville was about the hairiest thing out there in the mid 60's. The MGA is one of the prettiest cars ever, ditto the E-type. What was it about British cars in the 60's? And, look at the prices now. I almost bought a new Healy 3000 in '67. They weren't selling and it was heavily discounted. I ended up w/a new Sprite. It lasted about 4 years before crumbling beneath me. Much like my current Caterham. Tho now, unlike then, I have the funds to keep it going.

Aaahhh, that's better, my eye strain is gone, thanks!

I am getting nowhere in this "contest" as my car has been in the shop for 2 weeks awaiting a solution to the starter issue (wh/we think we have found). It is definitely easier to accumulate miles when your car starts. My wife is out of town next Thurs-thru the following Monday. So my challenge will be to see how many mile I can drive the Seven in that time period:). Assuming the car starts. Robert-my car has the same 100 mph top speed. I think the challenge for us is to see how much fun we can pack between 0-100 mph. So far, my best moments have been like your last trip at relatively low speed. The most glorious was one early Sunday a.m. blat wherein I got caught up in a rural school system's fund raising walk-a-thon. So there I was put-putting along at about 10 mph, passing thousands of 5-15 year old kids walking next to the road. Every little guy was absolutely flipping out over my car! I would blip the throttle for effect occasionally and they loved it. Never saw so many smiles, thumbs up and applause in my life. Felt like I was one of the Beatles. Mike

To my tired, 61 y/o eyes, the print (white on black) is harder to see. THe rest I love.

Won't know the size til I get the car back from the shop that is trying to resolve my ongoing starter problems. My hunch is the Ultralite has a lot more room for a seat than my Caterham. Maybe the official Caterham seats have the Caterham name on them? That ought to at least double the price:).

I am told the problem is the spur gear is too big on the Dave Bean supplied device. Dave Bean said my engine was too "modern":):).

Type "musings" into search. There you will find a hijacked thread that discussed this issue in depth (Note I didn't say "to death", for obvious reasons:)).

The Caterham seats are about $1.1K each, the Kirkeys about $250 each. I have downloaded the dimensions of the smallest Kirkeys and will see if they will fit. Thanks!

As faithful readers may recall, the most persistent problem I have had in my 9 months of Caterham ownership has been my car's failure to start on a random basis. It first happened at the Dragon and has continued intermittently since then. I called RMSC and they said yeah, that's a problem area, best to have it rebuilt. I had the starter/solenoid rebuilt last year-no help. I ordered a replacement starter from Dave Bean Engineering on a recommendation by someone here. After much fussing and fiddling by my mechanic, and a call to Dave Bean, we discovered they only sell stuff that fits on the old cars, my '97 is too new. So the replacement is going back. Thus today's question: is there a replacement starter that fits and works on a '97 Crossflow? If so, where do I get one? A car that doesn't start is really a lot less fun than one that does!