BlueBDA

Can anyone tell me exactly what pop rivet size these are? My prior experience is that when I need to replace rivets on my Caterham, the sizes are difference from what I can get at local hardware stores: I need to replace the snap for the tonneau cover at this location, so of course in true Seven fashion I need to disassemble some of the car to get there (to get a washer on the other side of the snap pop-rivet):

No helmets! 0:55 Don't lean on the windscreen!

One more article: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/caterham/seven/first-drives/caterham-seven-170-r-2021-uk-review So it was developed specifically for the Japanese market. Only car I know of that does 0-60 in under 7 seconds and can get 58mpg. Oh but I guess that's Imperial gallons, so around 48mpg US. Still pretty amazing.

Looks like a hoot

Back to this thread. During the Sevens track days Sep 19-20 my car did great, but did still tend to run hot. I just re-drilled out the two thermostat holes I had previously created, now to 1/8" diameter. The coolant did seem to bubble through those holes well when I added coolant. So we'll see if that helps. In the meantime, I'd like to get a new thermostat housing cap, but am having trouble finding the right one. Note in the picture in my 7/8/21 post above how close it is to the cam cover, so the cap needs to have a smooth OD, without protrusions. Can anyone point me to the correct part? Here's the best I've been able to find online: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C5BWX2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 I'm not positive it'll fit, but for $12 it's worth a try. Reviews say it is a 16lb cap. I assume that would be ok to use. Any thoughts on that?

And a story: Heading home Monday night, on 84 North in CT, we hear "fwap fwap fwap...". Oh crap. Pulled off at the next exit and pulled over. Flat trailer tire. No spare. 10:00pm, an hour from home. Ran through the full set of swears, then went into problem-solving mode. Got the Seven off the trailer, the wheel and tire off the trailer, and the trailer off the RAV4. Propped the trailer axle on wood blocks and one of my ramps. Called the police to let them know I was leaving my trailer by the side of the road. Suited up in t-shirt, long-sleeve shirt, hoodie, down jacket (you guys know the drill). Laura and her mostly healed right foot drove the RAV4 home. I drove the Seven on northeastern CT backroads into MA and home (I hate driving it on the highway). Wonderful, fantastic ride on little curvy backroads, with the full moon out and almost no other cars on the road. Got home around 1:00am, tucked the car in the garage, had some bourbon and went to bed. Next day (yesterday at this writing) a local shop got and mounted a new trailer tire. Couldn't find a hole in the old tire, but it sure had severe aneurysms all around its side wall. Mystery why it suddenly went flat. I drove back to collect the trailer. No pics from Monday night (wasn't in a mood to take pictures), but here are some from yesterday when I picked up the trailer. I just noticed from the picture that the trailer wheels kinda match the RAV4 wheels.

My favorite subject

More of my second favorite subject

I'm doing a series called "Vlad Working On His Car"

More Monday

Monday

Sunday

More pics... Saturday night

Another teaser photo...

Thank you Mike and Tom for once again organizing "the largest annual gathering of Sevens in the US". Perfect weather, and much fun on and off the track. I shot a bunch of pictures, but have to sort through them. In the meantime, here's one as a tease.

I'd like to hear that story over drinks tomorrow night...

Thanks, but looking for black leather.

I have the standard Caterham black leather seats, with removable headrests. I have a tear in the leather of one of the headrests. Wondering if anyone has a pair of black leather headrests (or even just the covering) that they'd be interested to sell?

I think I did meet Kitcat 2 years ago?

And, in case you hadn't figured this out, the driving is 2/3 of the fun. The other 1/3 is hanging out and sharing meals with other Sevens nutcases and some of their sympathetic family members.

I'm sure Croc will chime in with details on how to register, but just to let you know you'll run in a group that is only us Sevens. The one exception might be a complete novice, who I believe could run in the novice group, until they are comfortable enough to jump in with the Sevens. There's a wide range of experience and power levels within this group. It's a whole lot of fun to be out there without some Corvette or Porsche wanting to pass you in the straights all the time.

I have fiberglass fenders (obviously - as I would like to repaint them). Anyone have experience using clear film directly on the fiberglass wings? I thought I had read something about getting spider cracks in the paint under the film from stone hits.

I am would like to repaint my rear wings. When I do this, I'd like to put on new stone guards, as the stainless ones I have are pretty pock-marked. I would ideally like to put on carbon fiber ones, but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I look (first-world problem, I know). Anyone have any sources which may have them in stock, or advice?

Thompson, CT. My "home" track. I've also been to Lime Rock and Canaan, NH so far this year. Palmer, MA next week. I really liked Canaan. Small track with lots of turns. More of a Se7ens track vs a Porsche/Corvette/etc one.

Just closing the loop here. Installed my thermostat with small holes drilled, filled with coolant, put car on an incline to get my heater core lower, ran it, and temp stayed under 80C. Then did a track day yesterday. Temp did get up over 80 - maybe 85, possibly touched 90C, but no higher than that. I'm in second gear for much of this track, so I was revving the engine pretty high for much of my sessions, but had no issues. Will check the coolant level and pull off the nose to check the overflow bottle, but I think I'm good.