Kitcat

Please expand on "etc." Pictures are essential. I looked at the pictures of the Caterham I bought from this site every day for months until I could no longer resist. Overall, sounds like a fair price for a nice car. Who built it?

15". When I recently upgraded the 195 x15 Michelin's it came with by using 205x15 Toyo R-1's, I discovered the marginally wider spare tire could barely be jammed into the spare tire holder on the back of my Caterham. Be forewarned.

Turns out it's a bit more complicated: Did I mention it's a hydraulic clutch system, not cable? Probably not since I hadn't noticed that little detail myself. So yes, my tweak solved the problem, for 12 hours. It stopped working totally, & stuck in 3rd gear, as I left the parking lot for home yesterday. Thanks to incredible luck, clever driving and a wanton disregard for the rules of law, I got home without stopping or shifting out of 3rd once. BTW: There are 8 traffic lights and 2 stop signs on the way. I parked it and noticed that the hydraulic fluid reservoir for the clutch which I think had been full the day before was totally empty. So now I am on the Internet trying to determine the best way to bleed the air out and add new fluid, for starters. For the "I built it myself types" its no big deal, but for some one like me, who doesn't know the difference between a cable and a hydraulic line, its a big adventure. Trail of parts: Overheated (boiled over) 4x, coolant shorted electrics 1x, replaced coolants hoses 1x, ignition developed a short and refused to start-too many times to count, speedometer broke 1x, speedometer fell out of its housing 1x, driver's seat back has come unglued and all the foam has fallen out 1x, webers out of tune 1x, gas spewed out of carberators and on to the front clam, constant. What's amazing is not just that this happened in 2 short months of ownership but that its all happened in spite of the fact that its been non-operational much of the time! That, and the fact that I love the car!

Well, that was easy. Just undo the foot well cover, loosen lock nut, spin the clutch adjuster bolt a few rotations to provide about 1/4 " more movement, tighten lock nut, reassemble, drive off a wave of relief. While an amazing # of things have stopped working in my 2 short months of ownership, most have been easily self-repaired, thanks to the erector-set design of the Caterham.

Yes, a Ford T-9. I was counting on it to be the one thing not to break. I will fiddle w/the clutch cable now that I am back in town. It seems weird that sometimes it works perfectly some times, other times not at all. Back in the dark ages in the early 60's, my US manual transmissions would jam up -there was some type of linkage issue-the transmissions were fine. This feels just like it. But-enough speculating, I will adjust the cable & see what happens. I do remember doing this, again in the dark ages, and screwing it up so that yes, the clutch disengaged fine-too fine actually, it never fully engaged after my tinkering and I ran thru a clutch in no time. Hence my motto-give me a good set of tools and I could destroy the world (inadvertently).

The shifting in my 5-sp '97 Caterham is getting progressively more difficult. Sometimes I can not get it into any gear unless I shift into neutral and let the clutch out. It started as a race occurrence but now it is happening 20-50% of the time, even upshifting from 2nd 3rd, etc. Clutch engages just off the floor. Time to adjust the clutch cable or is this something more serious? I have learned that these early warnings of trouble usually foreshadow total failure (Like my intermittent starter failure, occasional speedometer wackiness, intermittent miss, etc).

Wow, you really moved the tire wall and it did a fantastic job of absorbing the blow. I have no side protection on my 7 except for my left arm, do you have a cage?

I noticed that Grassroots Motorsports car mag matched Keith Tanner's $10K Lowcost against the megabuck Ariel Atom at the race track. According to the October '07 issue it was no contest: Lowcost 1, Atom 0. Congrats Keith! Also noticed that it's possible to rent Bruton Stalkers for trackdays at VIR. Go to www.rent-a-racer.net for details. Seems like a great way for a person to find out if its their cup of tea, before taking the plunge.

It is totally whacked to run race speeds on public roads. When I was there I dodged a few errant bikes whose speed exceeded the rider's skill/experience. The Dragon & other public roads are fine places for "spirited" drving, say 6/10th's. But if you respect the center line, you can't come close to a racing line and if you can't do that, you ain't racin. Also, the lack of run-off area makes any mistake a potential jackpot and oncoming traffic must proceed at its own risk. If you are serious about speed, find a race track. You might be shocked at how slow you are at 9/10's, compared to experienced drivers in theoretically slower cars. Being relatively speedy on public roads, only because you are willing to risk your safety more than the saner drivers around you, proves nothing. Rant over!

My '97 Caterham Crossflow has a faulty ignition switch. Is this switch available at the local parts store or do I call Rocky Mountain Sports Cars? If locally availble, what is its name/#? Thanks, Mike (I am looking forward to not having to always park on a slope)

The best solution is to switch to RHD: 20 -25 degrees cooler. Also, puts the driver inboard which is where he wants to be on all these clockwise race tracks. Putting a vent on the driver's side as currently configured mite just draw in more warm air as that's right above the headers/exhaust.

My car would be fast if Tommy Archer were driving it:).

Who was fastest? I saw that the stock Nobles were hitting 153 mph & the race prepped Noble says he was hitting 168MPH, at the end of one of the straights.

Did it several years ago. The ride on the train was worth the whole trip. We stayed at a cabin and when the 55 year old female owner met us she had a live crow perched on her shoulder. Our kids loved it. While we were there, the paper reported a 9 year old being attacked by a mountain lion in his garage. Definitely a different world. Mike

Run the heater (auxiliary radiator) full blast!

That is a better example. The felony murder rule is interpreted differently in different jurisdictions so who knows? Since the death would not have occurred "but for" the felony, it still mite be covered, tho its remoteness from the crime probably means it is not covered. That may not stop prosecutors from arguing that it is a "colorable" violation of the law and using it as a bargaining chip during plea discussions.

It's called "The felony murder rule" and is widely used. Example: Your son runs with a bad crowd and is persuaded to serve as the lookout while they stick up a liquor store. The clerk resists and is shot and killed. Yous son is as guilty of murder as the guy who pulled the trigger. The guy who shot the clerk might even get away, or get off at trial. Remember, now, I am just the messenger. Mike

Motorcycle helmets don't have to be fire proof, for obvious reasons. If you wear glasses, some full face helmets can be very hard to use (impossible to put on your glasses once the helmet is on, and impossible to leave glasses on while putting on the helmet). Open face helmets are less of an issue for glasses-wearers, but don't provide as much protection which, in a 7, is relevant.

I think that was listed here a few weeks ago and has already sold. Or, it's an identical twin. Beautiful car.

As I noted a week or 2 ago on the Se7ens mailing list, I took temps in my 1700cc Crossflow with just a handheld digital room thermometer. On a 80 degree day with the top off and side curtains up: Passenger side 85 degrees Driver's side- 111 degrees on my lap with side curtain fastened; Driver's side- 101 on my lap with the bottom 1/2 of the side curtain flipped completely up (where air pressure holds it in place @ 70 mph ). All temps measured in the shade, on a mostly sunny day. Toasty. On a really hot day, I am sure the #'s would be much higher.

I was truly stuned at how great some of the Stalkers at the Dragon looked. And, man, they were fast!

My 1700 cc Kent Crossflow is still pumping quit a bit of oil out thru the air cleaners & onto the clam shell fender. The build books suggests making a catch tank. I can easily see where the oil is being vented out of the carburetors, and I have an unused plastic catch tank already in place. My questions are: What is the best tubing to use, and, If I do this, the tube will have to exit the air filter which will compromise the filters' effectiveness (because I don't see any way of tightly sealing the tube where it would exit the filters). Any ideas? Can I add a sock filter over each Weber trumpet to deal with any unfiltered air that may enter? Thanks, Mike

My speedometer/odometer failed last week too. Then to add insult to injury, the entire speedometer unit fell part way out of the dashboard. I have been too busy dealing with the fact that the car also has quit starting to spend any time yet on the speedometer, tho I did find the brackets and nuts that hold it place on the floor. So I was able to put back in place at least. All of this in the middle of a 900 mile trip. I discovered one of the benefits of always attracting a crowd at every gas stop:"Uh, any of you Caterham admirers care to volunter to push me so I can bump-start this little beauty?" Never failed. My hunch is I heave a dead ignition switch. I will get to it this weekend. At the Dragon a fellow Sevener said his son asked him how he too could learn about cars and he advised his son to buy a British sports car. Its working for me.

I typically wear a helmet for anything more than around the town, even with the windshield up & top in place. And, I may start doing it around town too. It makes it quieter and I like doing something to try to offset the car's inherent lack of driver protection. With the screen you are selling, where does the wind hit your helmet?

Is there a measurable performance advantage at the track with a Brooklands screen? I assume if there is, it's with top speed. My 1700cc Crossflow SuperSprint is good for about 110 mph indicated, probably more like 103 mph, corrected, and it's pretty slow getting there after about 85mph. Since one of my main focuses with my car is doing track days, is this worthwhile? Is it that hard to swap out for the windshield (I don't trailer, I drive everywhere, and would want the full windshield for the road). Mike