Kitcat

Partay! Maybe I will buy my X-flow back, at least it ran:). Beware, everyone who attended last year's event w/an X-flow, is coming back w/more power. Tho as has been previously posted, many times, the X-flows were no slouches. And based on our one track event together, yours was certainly more peppy than mine. Looking forward to meeting up w/everyone. Hopefully, the rain gods will smile.

Nice, 3 red Sevens. The other cars all look huge. Vintage event? The sevens have standard over bars, no cages. All have cycle fenders tho, where are the clams? Track data says 400' elevation change? Sure don't see it in this video.

Check out the NJMP event 6/26-27. See the thread under Northeast Region section towards the bottom of this forum. Should be a little of everything and lots of friendly drivers trying to get you to drink the se7en coolaid:).

I have a brand new Caterham wide track steering rack that I bought for my '97 S3 DeDion but never used. It cost $600 in 2008 and is described as "Rack LHD wide track 22%". It was sold missing one of the end pieces so you wld have to supply that. No idea if its "quick" rack or not. I thot the standard steering was amazingly quick. Happy to sell it for 1/2 cost of purchase + shipping. If interested, PM me. I also have Karl's 4 virtually new Caterham super sport 15" wheels, gun metal gray, in perfect condition(I never used them, he put approx 700 miles on them). Happy to sell for reasonable price as well (For rain tire/track tires?). Mike M.

Jakal is correct, they are 2 halves of a Caterham Tonneau cover. Pull off the removable headrests on a stock Caterham seat. They snap onto the rear boot , scuttle at the front, and just below door cutouts. They zip together down the middle of the cockpit area. I typically zipped them up and then put the whole thing in place in one piece. Much easier than erecting the top.

Just an update to keep track of everything in one place, tho all has been posted elsewhere: Blown engine at recent track day. Inadequate baffling of oil pan seems most likely culprit. Clutch is shot. Perspective: my Caterham's clutch was original after 30K miles, ditto engine after 30K miles, including many, many track days. As also mentioned elsewhere, both rear axle boots came off at 1st track day at speed. They were improperly installed, expensive to replace. The rear brake line does not fit into caliper, so Birkin just jams it in adds a bit of goop to hold it there and calls it done. That had to be redone by my mechanic as it was leaking badly. My just diagnosed tranny leak was a result of TMW not putting the rubber boot that goes over the gear shift lever to seal the fluid in place. So, it was open and splashed out everywhere. Oil pan gasket improperly installed so it leaked. Current theory is that is why the clutch went as it was soaked by engine oil. I have put, maybe, 350 miles, total on my Birkin since purchase 9 months ago, and, combined w/prior owner, car has 1100 miles. (I put 1100 miles on my Caterham the 1st week of ownership). But the Birkin has been in the shop virtually non-stop since purchase (in fairness, it was in storage December-March) and I am essentially rebuilding it, part by part. It took prior owner $1,500 of tuning/re-enginering, to get the engine to run/make power after he had the car built new by Texas Motor Works. And this whole thread started when I had to have wiring redone (at sizable expense) to eliminate the numerous shorts that kept killing the engine. I am not hating on the Birkin per se, clearly folks with mechanical talent build solid, reliable cars.

Given the heroic measures (cubic $'s) Karl and I are taking to get to this event again, people will need pretty good excuses for not being there:). It is less than 6 weeks off. Sabbot? MichaelD? Scott? Dermot? Who else? I understand BBall, and probably others, holding off to see if we reach critical mass so now is a good time to sign up.

Is it a '91 or a '97? The ad says both. As noted elsewhere, I drove a BDA Cat last year and it felt as fast as my Duratec. I know the butt-0-meter is highly variable, but the power difference over my Supersprint X-flow was shocking.

John: I have peeked inside of Zakira's on occasion. Its is THE place to go for high-end restorations in this region. Probably way outside my price range. Anyhow, I have a trusted mechanic, our age, who has worked on everything over the years and specializes in odd-ball cars, like ours, and odd-ball customers, like us:). I will share 1turbofocuses' thots w/him regarding vents, catch can, etc. If his shop had been closer, he'd be doing the engine.

I recently did what W Tex suggests to see what it wld cost to ship my 7 to an out-of-state engine builder. I got 38 e-mails and 10 phone calls and they are still pouring in. I learned that there is a central registration board where your trip is listed. Then the mad scramble begins for your business. Variables are enclosed vs open (2x as much), and timeliness. If you are in no hurry, you can afford to wait til someone has a light load and will add you for a lower cost. The more you agree to pay, the more likely that your load will be picked up. The bids varied enormously; $375 low, $450 average, $750 high, all open (for a 500 mile trip). Enclosed was more than 2x those amounts.

All has been on hold while I debated whether to take it to out of state expert on Duratecs or stay local. And while I decided what I wanted to do as far as spending $, upgrading, and to what spec. Finally decided to stay local, so process of evaluation started to move today. Seems to be a spun rod bearing. Why? Who knows, engine will be torn down now to find out. Theories are many. Apparently Duratecs have oil cavitation in Birkins on hard breaking w/sticky tires. The baffled pan that Birkin uses is good for lateral G's, not braking G's. It needs a mod. Wish I had known that. And the 3 breathers on crankcase can fill up and stop functioning. Wish I had know that too. And engines can lean out and burn a piston wh/then pulls the oil out of crank (my mechanic's favorite theory). Anyhow, I am hoping to be rebuilt to similar hp spec, but stronger, more robust, in 4 weeks and be ready for NJMP. Are you still debating NJMP? Hope you can get there w/us.

DaveD: I had shoulder impingement surgery abt 10 years ago: I was a one armed bandit for 1-2 months. Took way longer to regain function than I expected, but has been wonderful since then. Karl: Wh/was more $, the new frame or the air freight:)?

I have no doubt my engine issues will be resolved as I have 6 weeks to do so. Real concern is what the next "Birkin surprise" will be and will it prevent my attendance:).

Thx Steve: I am exploring the possibility of using this as an excuse for a bit of engine "upgrade-itis". Lemonade out of lemons, etc. Mike M.

As I recall, I have 3 crankcase vents for that very reason. Stay tuned, shd know tomorrow.

Agreed.

Tom: What is cost of the above Raceline dry sump system? It looks pretty cool.

Tom, thx, yes the car is on the way to my mechanic's and once the source of the problem is known, we will go from there. I did multiple fast laps over 2 days in it at NJMP last year w/o incident so no idea why oiling wld be an issue now. In any event, I will upgrade oil system regardless of problem, just to be safe. What do you (or others) recommend as a dry sump system on a Duratec? I see Raceline has options but for lots of $$$, anything cheaper but also effective?

Tom: Yes, Duratec, stock oil pan, as I recall unbaffled, and whatever oiling system Birkin puts on their cars. JohnK, yes it will be someone else's task to solve this, I dont have the skills.

My problem plagued Birkin (aka, Old Reliable: Because I can always trust it to break down), developed a low oil pressure issue and simultaneous engine clatter today at my first track day of the year. It ran strongly, for 15' then I heard some engine clatter and saw oil pressure was at 20 rather than the usual 60-70lbs. So I pitted and discover the oil catch can was nearly full, and the dip stick was registering no oil. So I let it sit. After 40', 2/3's of the oil returned to the sump and the dip stick showed it was low abt 2/3's of a quart. I added another 2/3's to top it up and started it up. Pressure was 40-50lbs but the clatter was still there and was synchronized with the revs (more rev's, more clatter). It sounded a lot like my Miata's hydraulic lifters before they warmed up. I took it for a spin and the pressure stayed up but clatter was there and it was definitely down on power and wasn't reving as freely. So onto the trailer it went and back to my mechanic's it goes on Monday (I am single handily keeping him in business!). Any and all theories are welcome. I am assuming the worst, but who knows?

Palatov: 430 hp, 1100 lbs, all wheel drive.

What's really amazing is that he wants to change gearing in order to go faster:). Looks like a great track, looking forward to vid.

A few other thots: There is no lockable storage in a Caterham/Birkin. So when you stop for a bathroom break, anything of particular value has to go in w/you. The heat in the cockpit of a se7en with the exhaust on driver's side can be overwhelming (X-flow/Zetec-Hasn't been an issue so far in my Durtec'd Birkin). Nonetheless, w/5 sp transmission, Dedion, stock suspension and cloth seats, I went up to 600 miles a day in my Caterham. The seats, with an after market lumbar pillow, were incredibly comfortable, the ride was very pleasant, no worse than my M3 BMW. And no idea how it compares to Tr3 but EVERY stop you draw a crowd and are asked the same questions. If you are in no hurry and are enjoying the ride, it's nice. But if you are on a time limit , or not feeling sociable, it is annoying/time consuming. Finally, I did a tour long ago w/my brother in his TR3. The drill was always, get up, repair the car, drive, stop, repair the car. The Caterham stranded me 1x , at a track day, in 16K miles. And once the various bugs were worked out, it was bullet proof.

Thx guys. Stig-mostly track use, but track-days, not competition. So shaving tenths of a second is irrelevant. I like the nice, predictable feel of a standard clutch. And it will get considerable street use as well, I averaged 4K miles a year in my Caterham. Maybe it will dry off, if Martin's theory is right. Or, maybe it has suffered premature wear due to all the slippage as a result of the oil? We shall see. I have a track day in a week. That will tell the tale.

I am continuing to "rebuild" my Texas Motor Works Birkin from the ground up. On the way back from my mechanic's today for other issues, the clutch slippage got worse. Mechanic says all adjustment has been used, wh/I have verified. So the question is, what to replace my 5 sp T9 transmission's clutch with? The stock Caterham clutch went 30K miles and is still as stout as the day I bought it. So perhaps whatever clutch Caterham uses? The Birkin uses a Tilton based annular clutch system wh/TMW advertises as having "nearly infinite life" (or 1K miles wh/ever comes first , I guess). Perhaps I will just call TMW and see what they recommend but thot I'd throw it out for comment here first. The car was at mechanic's because the oil pan gasket was installed with washers between the gasket and pan resulting in a leak. Also the brake lines were loose and leaking, and TMW forgot to put in the rubber boot around the gear shift so transmission fluid was leaking there. And this after I had to redo the many wiring shorts, and almost endless niggling issues. The car has a total of 1K miles, of wh/I am responsible for 250 so I am unimpressed with the quality of their build. And, at this point, I am assuming the clutch was improperly installed, but that's just a guess. But I digress, clutch ideas anyone?