FE07

Decided to get a jump on nutting and bolting my car for NJMP in July and discovered something loose I've never noted before. Thought I'd share it with the group as an FYI. Small recessed bolt at front lower shock mount to A arm. It's a 1/4" allen and mine was loose on 1 side. Not falling out but I've never seen it loose before and it would be easy to miss since it's recessed. So.......... add it to the list of things to check!! See you at the track, Jim A.

Have used Horseless Carriage in the past and can recommend them. Brought a race car from California to Maryland. Call around though. Sometimes you get lucky and they either have a delivery near you or other pickup near the car you're buying and you can save some money. Jim A

Stewart- Glad to hear your progressing and sorry about your limited use of the Caterham. It certainly is a pretty car. Gotta agree with Croc that you'd probably get more $ out of it selling the car with the crossflow in it and then the BDA seperately. I'd consider posting the BDA for sale on Apexspeed. Always a Chevron owner or some vintage formula car/sports racer looking for one. SVRA website, Vintage Motorsports etc... Jim A

Absolutely, freaking awesome. On my bucket list. Thanks Mike. Jim A.

The risk of any four point harness is of submarining below the belt in a forward collision. Some (all?) Schroth harnesses with ASM technology being the exception. For track use you want to have at least a 5 point harness. The sub strap keeps the lap belt down around your pelvis where it should be. I have 6 points in my car which is a formula car harness. Eliminates any metal in the uhh....private parts. Much more comfortable and safe. To the original poster- my subs are mounted on plates along with the laps where the original laps from Caterham were mounted. Not screwed through the floor. Jim

I'll bump as well. Pretty and fanatically maintained 7 at a good price. If you're looking for a nice car- look no further. Jim A.

Inchoate, I've got a set of 6" (maybe7"??) x 13" wheels. They've always been track wheels that I got when I bought my car. Have old rains on them now which are beat. Just sitting in my garage. If you're close to Philly, may work well as I'm outside of Baltimore and don't really want to ship. Give me your email and I can try to send you some pics if you're interested. Jim

Michael Just bought a Golf R for daily driver. 292 HP. Haldex 4 WD. 6 speed or DSG. Back seat for kids. Check it out- sounds like it might fit your needs! You're welcome to drive mine if you're interested. Let me know. Jim

Michael, Sorry to hear you sold it. Anytime I talk to anyone at Summit Point about a Caterham I get- Hey do you know some guy named Michael with a green one?? Hope your out there with something else to play with. Jim A.

Thanks for the advice guys. Taking it up tomorrow and I'll see what they have to say. Like the idea of the VCT eliminator and more adjustablity of cam timing. Have worked a little with Tom in the past and I'll give him a call. Keep the ideas coming if any more. Jim

Almost positive it's a ZX2. Apparently from a Contour not a Focus. Trying to maintain fuel injxn as opposed to ITB's. Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'll talk to George and see what he suggests. Jim

It's a Zetec with variable valve timing on intake and a modified intake cam. Engine has about 13K miles. Had a modified Ford ECU but had idle issues and a weird/sporadic engine miss (fuel?/ignition?) which cleared up with a stock ECU, so currently running a stock ECU. Have dealt with Turbo Tom in past with modifying the ECU tune so guess could go back to that as well. Car is both for street and track. Will never see more than 2K miles/yr with me. Believe the throttle body is stock. Has nice headers. Budget- guess it depends on what $ get me for HP. Don't need to tell you guys that 10 HP can make a big difference in these cars. Willing to spend money on head work while apart. Guess just wondering what's the best bang for the buck while it's apart. Thanks guys, Jim

Well- appears my head gasket is blown and has probably been slowly leaking for at least a year or so. Symptoms- on track- a combination of heat and revs (more revs) lead to pressurizing of the coolant overflow tank and spitting of coolant. On street- couldn't figure out why I seemingly always had to tighten the hoses clamps on my silicone hoses. Car always had a slight 'eau de antifreeze' after a couple of minutes of driving! Car is going up to George Alderman on Tuesday and he certainly knows his way around Caterhams. Just thought I'd ask the group for any suggestions to increase performance of the engine when the head comes off and any experience with mods they might have done in the past. Thanks, Jim

Steve, Thanks for the uhh..........timely update:) Found a Petty strut a while ago and have been using it when the car is tracked. Hopefully someone else can get some use of yours. Nice thing to have to maybe stiffen up the car a bit. Jim

These are really cool cars. Have never seen one in person. Believe they're 2 seaters with seats behind each other. Given that they're designed by Gordon Murray- they should have some collectibility and probable appreciation in value. Not sure about street legality in the USA. Unless I'm mistaken- they haven't been produced in a number of years and were only built in limited numbers- not more than a couple hundred. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Jim A.

Mike, Tom and the rest of the group, Sorry but won't be able to get there this year . Family vacation plans and of course only time it worked was around the 4th. So... Montreal and Quebec City instead of NJMP. Seems I just got the idle and fuel delivery issue I was having solved as well by switching to a different ECU George Alderman happened to have sitting in his shop. Hope to get up with you another time before next year!! Be thinking of all the fun I'll be missing that weekend. Hope everyone has a blast and remember............keep it on the black stuff!! No agricultural racing. Jim A.

Dermot- glad you got a car! Did you get my PM about registering the car?? Jim

Tom & Mike, Plan to be there. Looking forwards to it. Jim

OK Mike- we already know he's fast but we don't need him to think he's THAT good/God;) Jim

Wow.........Extremely jealous!! Looks like an absolute blast. Thanks for putting this together Mike. Love to join you but probably gonna have to wait a couple years. Still trying to get to Spa. Probably have to make due with Log 37 next year. Talledega and Barber. Hope to get there. See you at the track, Jim

Michael, Hoosier was a family run business and I understand it was sold when the younger members of the family didn't want to take it over. According to the scuttlebutt on some SCCA related boards, shouldn't be too much of a change but no one knows for sure. They certainly make great race tires and have always had great trackside support. Would suck to have them go all 'corporate'. Jim

Thanks for the replies guys. Any thoughts on mohair vs. vinyl. Doors and boot cover are vinyl. Mohair fold up smaller as not so thick?? Jim

As Tom suggested in another post, maybe now is the time to pick up some parts from England with the exchange rate. On that topic- anyone have a half hood?? Looking at Softbits and Thundersports. Biggest question- do they help with wind control with the doors off or is it still bad over 40 mph? Thanks all, Jim

That Merlyn looks like an awesome car to Vintage. Just don't hit anything hard with the front suspension or you'll have lower suspension arms through your ankles!! Maybe I shouldn't go out in the garage right now and look at the bottom of the front A arms on the caterham Have a great day off tomorrow everyone. Jim

They're Avon ACB-10's. Pretty sticky and not probably the best street tire but have actually lasted quite well between street miles and some track events. Car doesn't really see any rain. You can get them from Roger Kraus racing in California. Come in 3 different compounds so if you're really interested I can let you know which ones I have. Believe I have one compound in front and another in the rear. Have to check the sidewalls. They're DOT approved. Uhh........ I think? Jim