Kitcat

Put it in Hemmings. Also list it at elisetalk.com, a gathering place for mostly Lotus Elise/Exide owners. But there are a smattering of Sevens owners there and Caterhams occasionally pop up on their Lotus cars for-sale section. Your price is fair, tho maybe $27-28K is more realistic. Winter can be a hard time to sell a Seven. Last year a 3 year old Superlight with 220 hp, carbon fiber everything, 11K miles sold for $32K on the Elise Talk site. I wish I had bought it! I watched prices on these for years before taking the plunge. The prices for nice Kent-engined Cats seems to be $22-25K, for Zetec versions add about $3-10K depending on power, options, condition, mileage, usage, etc. Of course, truly special cars have higher value. Yours is a bit of an odd-ball in the states because of the engine type but is clearly comparable to the Zetec cars.

From a purely theoretical perspective, how much $ for an engine like yours and are they available from Cosworth in Torrance, CA? Can the T9 transmission handle 240 hp? Your car is carbureted, not turbo-charged?

First hole (smallest size).

Kudos to the designer!

I run 20-50 weight oil in my Crossflow. Should I change to a lighter weight oil in the winter? I try to "exercise" my Seven 1-2x a month if the roads are dry & salt-free. With the top up and the heater blasting, outside temperatures are irrelevant. But, am I risking damage to the engine by starting it in such cold conditions when the already thick oil might take a long time to warm up and do its job? If lighter oil is warranted, what weight?

All three boys (ages 18-31) were thrilled that Santa brought them each a Tony V "Seven" t-shirt. Hopefully that means I will get mine back sometime soon!

I switched from 3 point to 5 point belts a few months ago and the new belts have made the car much more enjoyable. Instead of feeling precariously attached to the car, I now feel glued to it. So I am much more in tune to what it is doing and can take full advantage of its responsiveness. Sure. it is a bit of a hassle to belt up every time but this is offset by the opportunity for another Walter Mitty experience (Here's the intrepid Le Mans racer now, belting in for what promises to be a historic drive....).

Bidding ended at $22.8K, no sale.

Since it was nearly 60 degrees in Cincy yesterday, I decided to forgo X-mas shopping one more day and take the Seven out. It was great to see all the smiles again from adults and the waving and pointing from the under-12 crowd. What a car!

Thanks, Mike. I will order some once the holiday hub-bub dies down. Mike

Are the watches being sent directly to those of us who ordered them, or to some central person (Mazda?) who is then going to forward them to the individuals ?

Steve: "Excellence" magazine has a nice section on used Porsche prices each month. Take a look. This month's magazine (Feb '08) features 89-98 911's, some of which fall in your price range. Mike

That car has been on RMSC's used car "for sale" site for about a year. First it was $40K, then $30K, OBO. Does seem like a nice car, tho getting parts for its Vauxhall engine may be a challenge.

Remove the windshield.

Catalyst????

Start & die? Never had that problem with my Crossflow:).

I note at the bottom of this site it says the most users ever was "77". Are you toying with us Mazda? I know folks like to rib you for being "ruggedly handsome", a comment you may never live down. But that same source also described you as "certifiably insane" (tho they said it like it was a good thing:)). Are we expected to believe that this 7's site which is full of 7's owners had 77 visitors at one time? Fess up, that isn't right (is it?).

Mike: Good job. I look forward to your comparo of the Caterham CSR 260 vs the Exige 240S. My money is on the 260, as long as the track doesn't have a lot of long straights (No tests on the VIR long course, please).

Doesn't seem heat related as tapping it w/a hammer wakes it up & gets it going. RMSC says its a fragile component that can be reliably repaired IF the person knows just what to do. Something to do with a wire that shakes loose and has to rerouted and re-soldered. Clearly neither I nor my mechanic were up to the challenge. So I ordered a "house brand, no-name starter" today from Dave Bean. Cost $218, weighs 8 1/2 pounds. They swear by them. Salesman said no problems with the one in his Europa after 10 years. The Tilton which is also nice costs double and weighs a pound less.

The weight for this combo is consistent with the other magazine articles I have read (Stalker & Ultralight owners can quit hanging their heads). It's 200 lbs more than my Classic, X-flow, which I had weighed a coupla months ago.

My friends at RMSC suggested I check for a loose wire on my oil pressure problem. Bingo: pressure is back after I re-crimped the connector to the sender. My starter has been working too. I must be livin right.

SW25. By chance, I have 2 copies of the Wallages' book:"Rebuilding and Tuning Ford's Kent Crossflow Engine". PM your post office address & I will ship one out to you, gratis. When I asked Rocky Mountain Sports Cars about swapping my X-flow for a Zetec, their recommendation was to sell the X-flow car & buy one w/a Zetec. Yes it can/has been /will be done, but it's a huge hassle. I find myself so busy re-repairing things that were repaired 2 months ago, that adding unnecessary repair projects seems overwhelming. Besides, I think the X-flow engine is a safety feature. Why? Because you will be going just that much slower if something ugly happens:)).

It's on the Tennessee side of the Dragon. I think the 777 event did its auto-x there last July. I am adding this to my list of possible road trips. Its only about 4 1/2 hours from Cincy, via interstate.

Jbanker. I expect to partake of some of the LOG 28 events. Definitely Putnam. I did it with them last year following the US GP. I mite try the auto-x, which I have never done in my 7, tho many times in other cars in years long since passed. Anyone else? Will this be a semi-official Midwest Sevens gathering? We already have a Stalker and a Caterham. My impression is that the organizer, Young Kim, is right up there with Al Navarro when it comes to putting on an event!

If there is a better auto scribe than Peter Egan, I haven't stumbled across him yet. He could make driving a Model T seem like a an exciting automotive experience (In fact I think he did that already). I started reading R & T in 1962, and soon thereafter developed a severe case of Lotus 7 lust. Peter has done everything he can over the years to keep that lust alive. I read his Lotus 7 restoration articles in the early 90's, suffered with him when he sold it, and stayed connected to the Seven model thru his occasional reviews of newer 7 vehicles (The RMSC site has his R & T article on a later model standard Zetec-engined Caterham). Now, there he goes again! Its nice when someone can put into words what we all feel about these evocative, mysterious little cars that are so much more than the sum of their very few parts.