Kitcat

Amazon sells a six pack of 15 oz bottles of Lucas octane booster for $60. If you add 3 oz to 5 gallons of gas, it adds 3 octane points(91 becomes 94). You can do the math and see how that compares to the roughly $10-12 gallon for 100 octane at the track. It is also a lot more convenient than carrying cans and pouring your own gas at the track.

Needs more tire:)! Great looking car, congratulations on this inspired purchase. I will now hand comments over to Croc....

I think USA7s member, Norm McDonald, put the first Zetec in a Caterham, anywhere. He was (and likely still is) an avid autocrosser. The rules of his class (E-Mod?) allowed engine swaps, so out went the X-flow. He did the engineering himself. Apparently, Caterham took it as a proof of concept, and adopted it, for US cars at least. Michael D and Norm are great friends and were fellow autocrossers and my guess is that Michael got the engine idea from Norm? Props to BBall, CarlB, and Croc for shedding additional light on the somewhat haphazard evolution of these cars. I agree with BBall that this is likely a one of a kind Caterham. Props to UlfarE for stimulating this mostly irrelevant, but nonetheless interesting (to me), topic.

I agree ir’s irrelevant (but fascinating:)). The Google says Autocourse was putting Duratecs in Caterhams in ‘03. They describe Autocourse as the #1 importer of Caterhams in ‘03. Who knew?

Good point Vlad, the frame notch was Zetec only. Otherwise the engine would not fit with the stock Zetec intake manifold. This per a recent chat with Nathan Down (the Caterham engineer who designed the SV frame back in the day) about my notch-frame Caterham.

I dont think this ‘03 Cat came with a Duratec. The engine of choice in 2003 was a stock Zetec and with luck, maybe a SVT Zetec. I think the Duratec was introduced in ‘04, and after, on the CSR version. It was an upgraded version of the slightly larger SV Caterham and featured, among other things, IRS and upgraded shocks ( in addition to the Duratec). I don’t think the Duratec became common in standard S3 Cats until ’08 or so? It is a mystery tho. The Hillbank ad linked earlier was from 2018. So maybe this Cat was assembled after ‘03 and in the Duratec era? It only had 500 miles in ‘18, suggesting that it was built closer to ‘18 than ‘03. It is not unusual for Caterhams to be built long after the kit was first sold. A Google search shows that a commenter in ’18 noted it was on tires mfg’d in ‘93! Quite apart from all of that, it’s a great car! There are plenty of us who love the clams and prefer them to cycle fenders. And regardless of its history, the Duratec is a big plus.

I’m totally blown away by your skills and knowledge. What an epic project. It’s on a much higher level than the typical Caterham assembly. Few, if any, here could do it and we have some very impressive folks. The combo of this engine and the Sadev should make this very competitive on the track.

Very impressive!

As noted earlier, this Cat had a fairly ambitious engine swap somewhere along the line. The 2.3 Duratec is a huge step up in power from the 1.8 Zetec it came with. New intake/exhaust/ engine mounts/ECU/ wiring, probably significant fuel system modifications, etc. It is surprising that such an ambitious and $$$ effort didn’t include intake filters. I am willing to believe that was of minor consequence though, so keep us posted on how the engine fares.

Papak. If you are trying to see if the Caterham aeroscreen fits a Birkin, I can confirm it does not. Ditto a Caterham standard windscreen. I owned both a S3 Cat and standard Birkin at the same time for a while. I had a Caterham issued Brooklands set up that I tried to fit to my Birkin. It wasn’t close. The shapes of the cowls, while visually similar, are actually very different.

My driver’s side failed after that, on track. Damaged: wheel, brake disc, halfshaft, wheel bearing/CVJ, A-frame, Panard rod, rear wing misc other parts. Car became a 3 wheeler at 90 mph on a turn, sandwiched between 2 Porsches at a Putnam Park track day. I went careening off track but, thx to the very safe track design, did not hit any thing. I had a spare half shaft:). But replacing the other parts was the Caterham equivalent of a scavenger hunt. The most elusive was the “uprated” rearbrake rotor. I was finally back on track 6 months later. Anker: if the other end of your drive shaft is intact, keep it as a spare(assuming you replace everything). That was the part I was unable to find, for a half year.

Steve: Wimp! I feel better already:). Actually, those are good numbers for a stock Zetec (vs. my SVT version).

My Zetec makes a bit less power....:). IF, we reduce your numbers by, say, 16% for driveline power loss, then my engine’s chassis-dyno numbers are sort of competitive with your engine-dyno numbers up to, roughly, 5K RPM’s. After that though, it’s game-over!

What is redline (7800rpms?)? What is the octane required? Combined with the Sadev and paddle shifters this should be formidable at the track.

Speaking of assembling a Se7en, I just read an article on the Lotus 7 history. They were marketed as kit cars to avoid the draconian sales tax on new cars then in place in the UK. The catch was, to qualify for tax exemption, the kitcar had to be sold with out assembly instructions! Chapman complied: every kit came with “diassembly” instuctions, which the buyer followed in reverse order:). Thus launching a tradition of supplying challenging assembly instructions, a tradition that Caterham has proudly continued.

Nope, only went off once, and not here, but you were also there to witness it, so you know of whence I speak. Fortunately, the photographer was not there:).

The second shot, above, illustrates my firm belief that you have to use all of the track to be fast:)! And the puff of dust on the driver’s side shows I was definitely doing that!

I guess not? But I will be watching USA7S member, Craig Chima, when he lines his pole position Lotus 7 up tomorrow for the FP class race at the SCCA’s 2021 Runoffs. Craig won the FP race in his Lotus 7 last year. Can he make it 2 in a row? The racing gods typically have something to say on the matter, so we shall see.

Looks pretty awesome! I have spent a lot of time looking at their tempting Zetec line up. The other nearby engines suggest it’s still with Raceline in Great Britain?

Thx Carl and John. Lots of info to gather first, esp as to costs of upgrades. Like you guys, I love my Caterham, so we shall see.

Hey gang: the sale of my Caterham has been paused. I have decided to explore restoring it cosmetically and make some mechanical improvements. The idea of running it at NJMP last weekend was to see if it was track worthy, since I hadn’t driven it in 2 years. I discovered I had 2 frozen rear shocks which led to some entertaining handling issues. And since it’s going into the shop for that, I will also explore a more comprehensive set of improvements. I may even decide to keep it. If I do I may change my screen name from Kitcat to Catkrazy….

Great eye Jeff! You have obviously done this before. The shots of Paul and Lori, Vlad and old reliable, and Blake in his Caterham, are all character studies! And, after the shot of your BDA with the Sunoco signage in the background, I think we all have to now admit that “Stuart’s BDA” is now, officially, “Jeff’s BDA”:)! I just read your about your trailer drama. Between our cars and our trailers, it’s never dull. For what it’s worth, I got home at 1:00 a.m. too that day, after an incident free but traffic challenged 12 &1/2 hour drive from NJMP.

Jeff’s picture above shows the red Caterham’s owners/drivers, Simon and son, plus Croc-supplied mechanics, TJ and Ian. Apparently working on a rare se7en mechanical problem:). This photo illustrates the effort Croc and Tom put into making these events so terrific. When have you been to a track event that supplied, free of charge, skilled mechanical staff to help troubleshoot any issues you may develop there?

The pictures are perfect! Looks like a great car and a great find.

Some of my random shots. The top 2 are the lovely rear ends of Vlad’s and CarlB’s cars. Carl’s pays homage to Folis Jones, the most prolific Birkin enthusiast of all, until the day of his death, a few years back. Next up Vlad receiving his award for? I forget. I am sure he was hoping Croc was going to hand him the mustard bottle next the the other awards. For the record, I also got an award, which I tossed almost immediately. I will only say that when I got home 24 hours later, I had glitter on my face. Below that, a detail of a beautifully prepared Lowcost. Then Jeff’s blue BDA engine. After that Tom’s “deplorable” Orange SuperDuper Se7en. And some crowd shots. It was a memorable event:)!