Kitcat

Here are some seat photos. The top one is of the prior owner and pre-refurbishment. The bottom one is the custom interior which I was told cost many thousands of $. I suspect that the existing seats were refurbished. As BudL has noted, stock seats back then were torture chambers and were immediately replaced by CF Caterham seats when I owned my Birkin. That gave me a lot more room and dropped me to the floor. It shows what the owners interest was. I would have spent the $ on track prep and fees. But his approach was totally legit. He says he has put under 1,000 miles on it and that it has a total mileage of around 8K. He never exceeded 3,500 rpm’s on our test drive. That was his driving style. So it has been gently used under his ownership. At my request he took it to 6K revs, tho redline is 7K.

I didn’t check for sliders. I only noticed it at the end, so didn’t explore. The seller said he had a long torso,so? He was 6’ approximately.

Some photos from today.

Anaximander seems perfectly normal to me:). I did look at the car today and it’s the real deal. Some highlights. It was commissioned and first owned by George Hilliard(sp?). George was probably on this Forum at one point. I know he participated in the 2005 Southwest Sevens event. But not necessarily in this car. Anyhow, his name is familiar to me. This Birkin seems to have been touched by the various speed gods. Built by Eddie Archer, motor by FocusPower in NC, maintained by Pauls’ Automtive in Cincy. For those not familiar with Pauls, they entered and won the Grassroots Motorsport Ultimate Track car challenge a few years ago, beating out, among others, a NASCAR team. According to this Birkin’s owner, they rebuilt the engine and did all the maintenance work on the car. In my opinion, that means it was done to the highest standards. The car looks new, thanks to the repaint job. There are a few chips and the rear wings are chipped up, but not nearly as bad as 99% of most Sevens The motor pulled strong and there are no oil/coolant leaks. The owner has a lift so I was able to inspect the underside which was clean and dry. All wiring, hoses and tubing was neat and tidy and squared away. Nicer than any se7en I’ve owned. One of the most impressive moments on my ride (passenger only) was when we went over a series of big bumps and road irregularities and the car was nearly squeak/rattle free. It made big power above 4500RPMs. Sort of night and day difference with lower rpm’s. The rear suspension looks like the preferred version discussed above. I will post a picture later and people can determine for themselves. Issues: the car has a custom built interior which is truly lovely and remarkably comfortable, but it seems to leave the driver and passenger sitting way high, and 3-5”above the rollover bar. A proper race seat would likely fix that? Or it may need a taller rollbar? It doesn’t have a weather package. The passenger seat belt didn’t retract. No idea about the driver’s. Tires have lots of rubber but not sure about age. They are 225 in back and 195 front, on 15” wheels. Summary: A like new, but older Birkin with an impressive refurbishment and strong engine. Is it worth $24K? I have no clue. Though if I were in the market I wouldn’t hesitate to pay that. If it were a Caterham it would probably be a $35K car. It goes on Cars and Bids Monday, unless someone buys it in the meantime. So we should know it’s value soon:)!

11Budlite: The paper work describes the rear susp as a 5 link with Panhard rod. Does that sound like the Woody Harris version? It has adjustable Carrera coil overs as well.

It has a Zetec built by Forum member 1Turbofocus. It dynoed 168 hp, 149 torque on the dyno that I have also used locally and can vouch for. Those numbers are very good for a Zetec engine and are just slightly better than my Birkin’s Duratec showed on the same dyno. It was built as a track car, though the current owner has just used it for blats.

Cueball: check your mailbox for an update. I am inspecting the car this Friday a.m., and will send you my thoughts then.

BTW: cost of shipping is proportional to how quickly you need it. The cost seems ball park to me. I’d describe the things the seller has done as responsible upkeep. Track use IS very hard on all cars, including Se7ens.

I just realized it was full and emptied it. I will contact the seller and will let you know via the Forum’s message system, now that mine is working again. Happy to have an excuse to play with a se7en! Mike

Cueball: I am in Cincy and will be in the seller’s neighborhood tomorrow a.m. As a technically challenged old guy I don’t see how to contact the seller for a visit. If you can get me that information I will see about arranging a look/test drive. Mike

As I have mentioned, former Caterham engineer/mechanic, Nathan Down, participated in the refurbishment of my Caterham before it’s sale last year. He told me that the A-frames were under constant development and that over a short period (6 months), there might be 7-8 different sizes. They would try one out on the track, change it, try again, repeatedly. They have probably settled on a standard size but mid 90’s, early 2000’s there is no one size. So stick with what you have as long as it works. When I replaced mine with the wrong side, it bent the shocks so much they became solid and my rear suspension turned into a pogo stick. And Croc: 10,000 track miles in the Caterham in UK alone? Combine that with miles you’ve logged at NJMP and on European tracks and you must hold some kind of Caterham world record?

Rider: I have had 3 se7ens in the last 15 years but am currently se7en less. My first, and favorite, was a ‘97 Xflow which I put 10K miles on. It was replaced by a Duratec powered ‘09 Birkin. In someways it was superior to the Cat(better suspension) in some ways worse(interior was cramped, seats were torture). It’s poor build quality (due to the assembler, not the manufacturer) led to it’s relatively quick resale(to a member here who completely disassembled it and put it back together properly). My final version was an SVT Zetec powered track only Caterham with a massive roll cage, 21 gallon FuelSafe tank etc. I sold it last year to another member here who bought it to race. I may buy yet another, who knows but, at age 76, it was getting to be a bit more than my aging body could handle:)! I like your approach to this project, I am sure you will love a 420! I agree it is the ultimate blend of handling and power in a Caterham.

I measured the heat in my Xflow powered Cat down by my ankles on a 75 degree day:120degrees. On the passenger side it was 20 degrees cooler. So the observation that the right hand exhaust on the Duratec cars makes the driver’s side cooler seems apt (as opposed to the left side exhaust on all other versions, like my Xflow and my Zetec). The biggest heat mitigation occurred when I swapped in a Brooklands screen for the standard barn door windshield. For whatever reason, the larger windshield trapped hot air and the Brooklands evacuated it immediately. I learned early on that it was hotter to wear shorts than long pants. The Bluejean fabric provided some insulation against the toasty transmission tunnel. And I promptly burned my bare leg on the exhaust pipe’s heat shield. in many ways the Se7en induces so much sensory overload (fierce buffeting wind, intense noise, tooth rattling ride, vibration, minimal height, exhilaration, adrenaline, super car+ status among fellow motorists), that the heat becomes incidental. Some have had success placing space age insulation on the bulkhead and around the pedal box. But all of the ideas you have listed help at least a bit.

The ‘93 is a low mileage (for a 30 year old vehicle) “Limited Edition”, so presumably some collectors would be interested. Unlike most “Limited” and “M”versions, this ‘93 had more than cosmetic changes. It included a Torsten rear diff, Bilstein shocks, BBS wheels, stiffer springs and sway bars and a small air dam and spoiler, etc. Those features were then included in the R Package in the more powerful ‘94 version (which I bought new) and for several additional years. The hardtop is a big plus as well. I think this car was well-bought, as they say. 6/19/23 Update: This car’s twin sold for $19K on BAT yesterday.

Mine was knocked off and destroyed in a track day incident. Josh, at Rocky Mountain Caterham, was unable to find a direct replacement so used the closest thing he could find. Unfortunately, it stuck up even further. Focus-Power in North Carolina is a source of expertise on the SVT and may have a solution.

Caterham sales on BAT have faltered a bit recently. The results section shows that just 2 of the last 8 Caterham auctions have met the reserve. Prior to that the odds of a successful auction were reversed(only 2 of 8 failed to meet the reserve). No idea why. Maybe the reserves kept creeping upwards due to all of the prior BAT successes?

The Birkin has 2” less leg room than the standard Caterham S3. Thanks to its overlarge (IMHO) standard seats, the Birkin further shrinks seating room. The Birkin has an odd(Again, IMHO)arm resting plan with one higher than the other(the arm resting spot heights on the Caterham are the same, so you don’t feel lopsided). I owned both simultaneously for about a year, so did lots of comparisons. The Stalker is more like a SV version of the Caterham.

So $64K in the car, which is essentially brand new, and $9K in the trailer and asking $43K for both? I nominate this for “deal of the century”(so far…). Good luck with the sale, this is an amazing spec se7en, even without the huge discount.

Google Focus-Power. They are in Belmont NC. They do remote tunes, via a SCT device, which they will sell you. They specialize in SVT Zetecs. Presumably, they can help troubleshoot the non start issue first to get things rolling? Then, at a prearranged time, you put your car on a nearby chassis dyno and hook up the SCT device and connect with Focus-Power and they can see/read the dyno results and adjust timing, A/F ratio,etc. They added 9 hp and 5 lbs of torque to my SVT 2 years ago. Quicksilver Race Engines, in Frederick, MD, also has a long history of working on Zetecs. Also maybe consider contacting Sevens and Elans in St Augustine FL. The owner has semi retired but is still doing Caterham and Lotus repairs/restoration . They were located near Boston for decades and sold more Zetec engined Caterham kits than any one else did. So, the owner, Chris T, may have a suggestion for a Zetec tuner closer to you?

Maybe post your question on FocusFanatics.com? They have a subsection on Zetec SVT engines. As I recall, SVT guru, TurboTom(on this forum known as 1turbofocus, I think), says that the stock Ford ECU is the best available option for this engine.

I checked out some early reviews of these models. Motor1 reports that customers wanting better track performance can order theirs with “four-piston ventilated front seats”:)!

Many thx for all the photos Croc! I like the light blue (its own form of adding lightness?)early Caterham, as well as the dark green original Lotus 7. Maybe not the fastest on the track but they get points for longevity and coolness in my book.

Just a note that with my Caterham sold, and my track Miata not compliant with NJ track regs, in spite of Croc/Tom’s generous offer to let me participate in the White run group, I will be sitting out this year’s event. For those on the fence: this is a bucket-list type event. If you have a se7en, it’s worth the effort and inconvenience to attend, even from afar. If you don’t have se7en, see Croc’s for-sale thead:)! It’s never too late!

It has been 15 years, which is scary! And it was 98% you and Mazda, Al, who pulled it off. Here is another fuzzy shot of the stars of the show, and their owners. My Caterham is the dark blue Caterham, second in from the left, second full row from the bottom.

That’s a tempting offer Croc, made even more so by the opportunity to expalin, yet again, to Tom (YellowSS) that it’s not too late for him to receive political enlightenment:). So, I have it on my calendar and, if all goes well, I will be there in my Miata with the same power as my Caterham, but carrying an extra 1,000 lbs! Although I won’t be in your run group I will hang with the se7ens in the paddock, etc. I just hope it’s not like bringing a Birkin to a LOG event:)!